So today marks the one year anniversary of my life-changing surgery. I had my checkup with my surgeon yesterday and got the best surprise.
You see, I have a scale that is consistent but not accurate. It has consistently throughout this process weighed me 5 lbs lighter than the doctor’s scales. I thought I could trust it. Yesterday morning, I got on and it said 198# which I converted in my head to 203#. I had been down to right at 200# and had been waiting to break into what WLS peeps call “ONE-der-land”. I’d perversely hoped that it would happen for my check up day. But alas, weight fluctuations happen and while I wasn’t upset about the seeming gain, I was a little disappointed to have my official 1-year weight over 200#.
But, when I got on my doctor’s scales, this is what was displayed: 199.74# with a BMI of 29.5 – which made me VERY happy.
A BMI of under 30 means I am no longer clinically obese, now I’m just overweight. I actually reached that point a few pounds ago, but this is the first time it’s been recorded in my chart.
I don’t like the BMI for a lot of reasons, but it is the measurement that’s used most often clinically. So getting that “Obesity” classification off my record is a big win.
I don’t usually post a lot of pictures on this blog, but today’s a special day. Here’s where I started. The picture on the left was a few years ago at my nephew’s wedding, the one on the right is my wedding in 2015. I topped out at 306# a little after this. I don’t actually have any pictures of me at my highest weight.
Here’s my pics today:
And a face-to-face comparison from just before surgery to now. This is where I think the weight loss REALLY shows:
I’ve already written about the health improvements I’ve seen from the WLS. While I’m afraid that my rheumatic disease is not, in fact, in remission, the other improvements are amazing.
I was setting up my pills today for the next couple of weeks and kept looking for more pills. That can’t be all the medicine I take! Yep. I now have only 4 prescriptions I take regularly – my allergy medication (one pill and a nose spray), my proton-pump inhibitor to protect my sleeve from meds, and my cholesterol pill. I hope to lose the cholesterol pill soon as well. I do still have migraine medicine for when I need it, but no longer take a preventative. Even with the vitamins and supplements I need to take, I’m taking MUCH less each day than I used to.
So 1 year out. Not quite to goal, but under 200# and that’s amazing.
More to come…
