You may have heard me mention it once or twice. The long exciting road of the weight loss surgery "honeymoon" ,when pounds seem to come off faster then you can keep track of them, There is this all new very scary and consuming place called Maintenance or in other words "REALITY". I am just being playful and a bit cynical when I call it hell. It's not hell and I would never complain about such an amazing gift. But when the Dr. tells "the fat girl" inside my head that "it's time to start to act like a 125 lb person instead of the 272 pound girl", it's a bit shocking and I nearly feel off my office examine table. REALLY? You mean for the first time in my life I am going to get a clean bill of health at the Dr's office. You mean I don't have one foot in the grave like so many endless amounts of Dr's tried to convince me or assume about me based on my rear end girth alone. Holy Moly.This is new for sure.
And so it begins. You got here. You worked, you studied, you sweated ,you cried ,you screamed ,you cheered and let's be honest when you stepped on the scale and it was below your high school prom weight ,you danced like a lunatic in the bathroom. But NOW WHAT?
This is a place, where for me, a lot of the self discovery has come into place. Through out my journey people were always telling me "you must be so committed" and don't get me wrong, I was (still am) to the point I think I should have been committed. Just Kidding ,sort of. I worked and counted every calorie , but this, right now, is the test of whether you have trained that fat person in your brain. Have you gotten control over her/him?. Has your appetite really changed? do you want veggies and good food or are you fighting the inner beast wanting sugar? Ok, Both for me, Honestly.
For me A lot has changed. Besides the size of my body. I truly do love the healthy foods I have educated myself about. I find them easily in the stores now and I understand labels A LOT more now then before. But don't get me wrong I have so so much more to learn, but I want, to learn it now. I look for the answers and invest the time in a healthy ME, instead of the drive through. Has my pallet changed? yes yes it has, that being said , do I still love cookies and sweets ?YES. and eventually you can eat more then you could in the beginning but all in moderation. Now I have just a taste and I'm satisfied. Have I learned new tricks to keep me motivated ? Yes. I love love clothes. So when I'm loosing or trying to stay focused ,I make sure to put on something that I love. That I could only put on, Thanks to my weight loss. I'm in starbucks in stiletto heels .HELLO!!!!!! and it keeps me motivated . I truly love my clothes, more then my Food......revelation !!!!!
but is it hard? YES. !!!! I feel like I have joined the swarms of women that I always heard about before( and didn't understand as I ate whatever I wanted when ever i wanted too), trying to loose that 10-20 lbs forever. It's a constant battle of what your body wants to do and what you want. My body would like to be at 135. If I even smell a Carb, BAM my weight goes up.135, That was my goal in the beginning . But I have fought to go to 123 and that's where physically I feel GREAT. I saw a scene on a Samantha Who (Tv show that was canceled but reruns show ) where this girl says to Samantha " wow you climb those stairs everyday and Samantha says " Yes! it keeps me below my bodys' comfort weight. you should try it . ( it was a scene where she was the old nasty Samantha). And I thought OMG....this is such a common issue they are joking about it. If I ate a bit more and didn't work quite so hard I'd be at my "comfort zone". Well no thank you. and so goes the battle. Now I'm not perfect. I have Starbucks EVERYDAY. It's a skinny ( non fat milk sugar free syrup and equal) though, so its 1/2 the Cal's and Its the one thing I treat myself too. Actually hubby buys it for me most often when we meet together in the afternoons. and that leads me to the next thing...A routine.
I have found I need to have a routine . One that gets me out of the house .....if I'm home ,I'm going to SNACK and it isn't always going to be healthy. I swear the walls of that house poison my brain with waves of snack-dum. And for get the TV. I think there are waves from the TV that make me want to eat. So what do I do ? I force myself to get up after an hour of breakfast and A hot tea at home( watching One show of my choice) and get all dressed and go out. I use to go to all my stores for clothing finds but I calmed that down based on a lack of room in our house and the cold weather. I most often make a list of all the things I need to do on the computer the night before and I pack it all up and take it to Starbucks. Yep. I'm out of the house. I can say no to the treats at Starbucks, ( non scale victory every time ) I mean they are a bit pricey so that helps. The cool people at our location, let me bring my own snacks too. They know I'm an RNY patient and lets face it, my billboard is right outside. But if you ask your location privately they will let you. Starbucks Rocks. Even if I just grab magazines and go, I'm out of the house and friends meet me there sometimes and we chat, catch up get business done.
It's important to have a routine that keeps you focused and that includes the gym time. I am still trying to work that into my schedule as a regular time.I am not a morning gym person at all. I hate to be sweaty middle of the day once, I'm all dressed I don't want to go do all that work all over, so night time works best for me. I'm working on it with the family and our schedule at home with the kids and hubby's schedule.
Now is the time as my Dr says," to test what you have learned and see if you habits have changed." 2-4 years according to him, is the time that is most crucial to develop new patterns and stay successful. So here we go. Let's test what we have learned ..Let's see what it takes to maintain this tool ,this gift, this new beginning.
And so it begins. You got here. You worked, you studied, you sweated ,you cried ,you screamed ,you cheered and let's be honest when you stepped on the scale and it was below your high school prom weight ,you danced like a lunatic in the bathroom. But NOW WHAT?
This is a place, where for me, a lot of the self discovery has come into place. Through out my journey people were always telling me "you must be so committed" and don't get me wrong, I was (still am) to the point I think I should have been committed. Just Kidding ,sort of. I worked and counted every calorie , but this, right now, is the test of whether you have trained that fat person in your brain. Have you gotten control over her/him?. Has your appetite really changed? do you want veggies and good food or are you fighting the inner beast wanting sugar? Ok, Both for me, Honestly.
For me A lot has changed. Besides the size of my body. I truly do love the healthy foods I have educated myself about. I find them easily in the stores now and I understand labels A LOT more now then before. But don't get me wrong I have so so much more to learn, but I want, to learn it now. I look for the answers and invest the time in a healthy ME, instead of the drive through. Has my pallet changed? yes yes it has, that being said , do I still love cookies and sweets ?YES. and eventually you can eat more then you could in the beginning but all in moderation. Now I have just a taste and I'm satisfied. Have I learned new tricks to keep me motivated ? Yes. I love love clothes. So when I'm loosing or trying to stay focused ,I make sure to put on something that I love. That I could only put on, Thanks to my weight loss. I'm in starbucks in stiletto heels .HELLO!!!!!! and it keeps me motivated . I truly love my clothes, more then my Food......revelation !!!!!
but is it hard? YES. !!!! I feel like I have joined the swarms of women that I always heard about before( and didn't understand as I ate whatever I wanted when ever i wanted too), trying to loose that 10-20 lbs forever. It's a constant battle of what your body wants to do and what you want. My body would like to be at 135. If I even smell a Carb, BAM my weight goes up.135, That was my goal in the beginning . But I have fought to go to 123 and that's where physically I feel GREAT. I saw a scene on a Samantha Who (Tv show that was canceled but reruns show ) where this girl says to Samantha " wow you climb those stairs everyday and Samantha says " Yes! it keeps me below my bodys' comfort weight. you should try it . ( it was a scene where she was the old nasty Samantha). And I thought OMG....this is such a common issue they are joking about it. If I ate a bit more and didn't work quite so hard I'd be at my "comfort zone". Well no thank you. and so goes the battle. Now I'm not perfect. I have Starbucks EVERYDAY. It's a skinny ( non fat milk sugar free syrup and equal) though, so its 1/2 the Cal's and Its the one thing I treat myself too. Actually hubby buys it for me most often when we meet together in the afternoons. and that leads me to the next thing...A routine.
I have found I need to have a routine . One that gets me out of the house .....if I'm home ,I'm going to SNACK and it isn't always going to be healthy. I swear the walls of that house poison my brain with waves of snack-dum. And for get the TV. I think there are waves from the TV that make me want to eat. So what do I do ? I force myself to get up after an hour of breakfast and A hot tea at home( watching One show of my choice) and get all dressed and go out. I use to go to all my stores for clothing finds but I calmed that down based on a lack of room in our house and the cold weather. I most often make a list of all the things I need to do on the computer the night before and I pack it all up and take it to Starbucks. Yep. I'm out of the house. I can say no to the treats at Starbucks, ( non scale victory every time ) I mean they are a bit pricey so that helps. The cool people at our location, let me bring my own snacks too. They know I'm an RNY patient and lets face it, my billboard is right outside. But if you ask your location privately they will let you. Starbucks Rocks. Even if I just grab magazines and go, I'm out of the house and friends meet me there sometimes and we chat, catch up get business done.
It's important to have a routine that keeps you focused and that includes the gym time. I am still trying to work that into my schedule as a regular time.I am not a morning gym person at all. I hate to be sweaty middle of the day once, I'm all dressed I don't want to go do all that work all over, so night time works best for me. I'm working on it with the family and our schedule at home with the kids and hubby's schedule.
Now is the time as my Dr says," to test what you have learned and see if you habits have changed." 2-4 years according to him, is the time that is most crucial to develop new patterns and stay successful. So here we go. Let's test what we have learned ..Let's see what it takes to maintain this tool ,this gift, this new beginning.
