Thursday, June 26, 2014

Half The Girl I Used To Be: The Sky is the Limit



I followed up with the Bariatric Clinic, today, so I wanted to submit my One Year Appointment Update:

 I have a couple of vitamin deficiencies, none of which are major, and all of which are things that can be easily repaired with close attention. I get to work on making sure to get ALL of my vitamins and minerals in. All the time. No slacking off!

I have to get in with my endocrinologist or family doctor, because my thyroid medication dosage is now TOO HIGH!!!
I'm thrilled, because this was my only medical issue pre-op that was measured by medications I needed to take. It was also the basis on which the internist told me I'd never be part of the 3% that get off this amount of weight and keep it off, without surgery. So for comparison purposes, I've been on a really high dose for years. To need it reduced is really awesome. For me, comparable to the diabetic who wants desperately off their meds, and manages a serious reduction in medication needs.
It's quite possible that I'll never be entirely off the meds, but to know my system is behaving closer to normal, and will need less help to do so, is priceless.
( We'll see with re-assessment how much it's reduced by) 

All about the food
They have upped my calorie counts to prepare me for maintenance. I'm now officially aiming for 1200-1500 calories per day. I know. It seems low to the average person, but remember I've worked my way up from  15 mL cups, taken every ten minutes, and worked each stage, to get to this.
Some people think that once you're where you want to be, you can go back to what you were doing before. To keep what I've got though, this is likely where I will rest for life. (Give or take for exercise allowances) Discipline doesn't stop at one year. Clean eating and lots of  movement has to stay a good habit.

My protein is okay to stay at the levels I'd had them at, which was aiming for 80-100 grams per day.
I get to food journal at my new levels,  and come back in two months.  If nothing else more exciting comes up, I will then continue on to yearly appointments, until the five year mark.

Have we arrived?
They told me to consider myself at goal. Can't quite wrap my head around that one. It's been a year of driving toward what seemed like an impossible goal. What to do with transitioning toward maintenance?
Well, the new goal is daily compliance to the program, that's what.

 The excess skin, they said should be considered to be in the 10-15 lb range, so some of that weight I'm carrying' doesn't really count'. It's almost like the expectation should be of an adjusted BMI because of the skin. It's not a pretty side of going through this, but I can hardly complain. 
 I was reassured, that as far as goal was concerned, BMI is not a great tool for picking a number goal for weight. (We all knew that though, right   BMI doesn't take muscle into consideration.  Arnold Schwarzenegger would be considered obese.... pshaw.)

 Walking in to my appointment today, I was still pretty uncertain as to what my ultimate goal should be
The mental portion of this roller coaster still remains, as far as mentally thinking of myself at goal, but they say I'm there. I'm guessing they know what their talking about and now it's up to me to get my head in line with that.
A friend says that it's just like having graduated. Maybe she's right. Doesn't mean the work stops here, but man it's a great place to enjoy the achievement.

Now on to the exciting part. Everyone wants to know about the numbers, right?
I am down 147 pounds and they consider my results *not typical*.
Typical, they expect to be 30% of total weight loss.
My number was a hair under 48%.
So, for me, this is a good day. It took a lot of work, and a lot of great support to get me here, so I want to express a big thank you to all of you, for your support on this journey. I look forward to days ahead, and long term healthy maintenance.

2 comments:

  1. So excited about your results. Thank you for sharing your journey with us.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So glad that I can share it with you all. If just one person is able to take back their life because I was willing to share, I will consider it to have been worth it.

      Delete

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