Plastic surgery…?

With gastric bypass comes a lot of changes. One of them is flabby skin on the arms. Now to be truthful, my skin is not as flabby as others I have seen, but it’s enough to cause me some discomfort. Not so much physical, but more of a self-conscious discomfort. I tend to wear cardigans or something to cover my arms because they are the biggest clue to how much weight I have actually lost. Would I be sad if I never had plastic surgery on them? No…I am cocky enough to not let it bother me. During the summer, I rock tube tops and tank tops and anything else, so the arms are not that big of a deterrent to me.

But if I ever have the money, I would get it done.

Take a look at the progression of my arms

Before surgery

One month after surgery

2 months after surgery

three months after surgery

nearly 3 1/2 years later.

I know, there are toning exercises that I should be doing, but a lot of it is skin. Again…it’s not that big of a deal. Sometimes though…I feel like I could take flight.

For those of you out there that have lost a significant amount of weight…what body part would you like to change as a result of the drastic changes to your body? I’m curious so let’s have a discussion.

What I gained and lost with taking a risk…

I remember the day I went to the doctor and he told me my blood pressure was too high – deathly high. It was not so much a wake up call but a reality check on what my lifestyle was doing to me and my body. At the time of the original diagnosis, gastric bypass was not as advanced. They were still cutting people open and there was little support once you left surgery. Fast forward to 2011, things were MUCH different. There was laparoscopic surgery and a wide support group. There were blogs and recipes and just…so much out there that it made it my head spin. With that, I knew it was time to have the surgery. I wasn’t getting any younger and my body…it was starting to show the strain. So, I took the leap and went to the best bypass surgeon on the west coast. I went to all the classes, did my research and asked all the questions that came to my mind. I needed to be sure that it was the right step for me. I had people in my life who questioned me. They thought it was a cop out, the easy way to get things done. I had people giving me the side eye and whispering under their breaths, telling me about friends who had died or almost died from not eating or eating too much or infection…I had to shut them out. I knew what I was doing and I had the research to back me up. I also knew that it was a risk I needed to take. I couldn’t keep living the life I was in. I needed the change.

I just didn’t realize what I was going to end up paying for this change.

What I gained:

#1– My health. As the weight melted away, my blood pressure dropped, my joints felt better, I could breathe coming up the stairs. Simple things like tying my shoes came easier.

#2 – a sense of relief. Relief that I wasn’t going to stroke out at any moment or wake up with diabetes. Relief that I had broken the cycle of obesity at least a little bit.

#3 – freedom. Not just in my relationship status, but in my whole mentality. I still have habits and things I do that are self-sabotage, but not as bad as before. I am conscious of what I’m doing, how I’m feeling in a moment that would otherwise send me into a tail spin. there is a freedom in not being hostage to my stomach or my emotions. 

What I lost:

#1 – doubt. This is complicated issue, but let me try to break it down. I still have some doubt…all humans do. My doubt is no longer about my weight though. I can’t say that I ever really doubted my self worth, but maybe if I was being realistic about my pride in who I was. Don’t get me wrong…I loved being a big girl. But sometimes under that pride…there was doubt.

#2 – my boobs. Okay…it’s superficial but real. I had breast reduction surgery when I was younger which took me down to a c-cup. Near surgery time, I was back up to a d-cup.  After that…deflation back down to a c-cup…nearly a b-cup. I just…want big boobs again. What is wrong with that?

#3 – my willingness to settle. Once the weight left, so did my complacency with where I was in life. Some people see it as a problem, something to work on. I don’t. Why do I need to be content with mediocrity? What is wrong with not wanting the “same ‘ole same ‘ole”? But this is more than just wanting the better things in life. It’s also about not accepting any one else’s crap. I will not stand for being treated shabbily or sit around while someone walks all over me. I’m nice, but firm.

#4 – my filter. I’m not sure why, but as the weight came off, my desire to please others melted with it. Not really sure of the correlation…perhaps it’s more to do with not wanting to be loud and big…anyone else experienced this?

There are other things that I lost and gained but the things I’ve mentioned above…are the most significant.

tell me…what did you lose/gain by taking the risk?

Flashbacks

I realized the other day that for a blog about gastric bypass…I sure don’t talk about it a lot. So, let me rectify that with a few flashbacks. *lol*

First one is my decision to have gastric bypass. Each person will be different, no doubt about that. You are going to come to this decision one way or another and you have to be sure about. You have to be willing to make that sacrifice to change your life and keep it going. So these are my reasons…

I had been overweight my whole life. Not just baby fat, but fat. I never saw anything wrong with it. I had a daddy who praised me no matter and mother who would make Sarah Palins Mother grizzly’s look like goldfish. Sure, I got some flack in school, but I brushed it off for the most part. Didn’t hurt that I had the largest bra size of ANYONE in school, including grown woman with breast implants. I was fierce and fearless and no one could stop me or bring me down.

It wasn’t until I became an adult that I started to realize what an issue the weight was. How hard it was to climb the stairs, how out of breath I was just bringing in groceries or just walking the dog. Still, I was not going to let that slow me down. Nope, nothing could change my mind about my weight…

Except my dr. and the fact that I had stroke territory high blood pressure. That…that kinda slowed me down, but not really. I still had that notion that I was invincible and could whatever the hell I wanted. Then…my father told me about his father, dying from not being able to get his blood pressure lowered…and my dr. told me I was literally 20-30 lbs. away from diabetes and at the rate I was going, I would be there before I was 35.

Uh…HELL NO! That was not going to be me at all.

So I started looking into surgery, weighed the benefits of all the surgery’s against what I knew were my weaknesses and came to the conclusion that Gastric was the option for me. The band would have been too easy for me to cheat, to never lose the weight. Insurance didn’t cover the sleeve at the time, so gastric was the best option of what was in front of me. I don’t regret that decision at all.

There were/are people who questioned me, wondered why I was doing it. I had the people who didn’t “believe” in because it was cheating or the easy way out. I just laughed at them. I had others who were against it because they knew someone who had left their spouse because of it. Them, I shake my head and wonder if they even knew what happened behind closed doors. Maybe the surgery wasn’t the reason, maybe it was what happened when the other person realized their life was going to have to change as well.

I know there are going to be questions, concerns, people who don’t get why you are making this decision. It’s okay to hear them out, digest the idea behind all of it and use to help your decision. But don’t let them push you away from something that in the end, might be the best thing for you.