2 year surgiversary

Today is my 2 year surgiversary. My highest weight was 292 & I got as low as 144 after all of my skin removal surgeries, but I’ve basically been maintaining 155-160 since 11 months out. Today was 157.4, which is still “overweight” according to the stupid BMI, so there’s part of my stupid brain that wants to get back to 144. But the reality is that I’m pretty happy (& my body seems content) where I am. My body fat is 23.5% (my goal was to be <25%), my RMR is 1660 (pretty much normal for my size), I exercise regularly (OTF, oh how I love you!), clothing sizes are weird but I’m comfortably wearing 8/10/M (vanity sizing still makes me crazy!), and my eating has fairly naturally fallen into the 80/20 pattern (good 80% of the time & not so good 20% of the time). I finally feel like I’ve found my new “normal”! I thought my OSW was 150, and I could probably get back below there if I wanted to start dieting again, but I’d rather focus on being healthy, fit & living my life… so screw you BMI! My new OSW is 160… if I see that number, I’m not going to panic, but I am going to pay attention & make sure that it goes no further! 
So year 1 was all about losing weight & creating new healthy habits. Year 2 was learning to maintain. Year 3 I’m going to focus on fitness! Now that I’ve found OTF (have I mentioned how much I ❤️❤️ it??), my new goal is to increase my lean mass & get down to 20% body fat. Technically, I don’t have to follow up with my surgeon anymore, but my plan is to continue seeing him & get my BF/RMR tested every 6 months. My thinking is that continuing these regular check ins with him will keep me accountable (plus I ❤️ him), & the testing will give me concrete data on how I’m progressing (& since RMR usually decreases with age, I want to make sure I stay on top of that so I can adjust accordingly). 
A typical day for me now looks like this: 

1700-2000 calories, 120+g protein and <100g carbs (primarily from fruits & veggies, with some whole grains)

Coffee with premier protein 

OTF

Greek yogurt with high protein or paleo granola

1 mile walk to work

2 hard boiled eggs with fruit

Salad with chicken or steak

Cottage cheese with whole grain crispbread

Some kind of meat/veggie meal (this week has been bell peppers stuffed with ground beef, zucchini, mushroom, cauliflower rice & cheese)

96+ oz water throughout the day
So that’s my 2 year update! I’m still considering 1 more skin removal to fix my arms & upper back, but that is 100% vanity, so I’m really not sure if it’s worth having to take 6 weeks off from OTF… but that may be part of year 3. Getting my sleeve has changed my life & I’m forever grateful! 

2 years

I had my 2 year follow up yesterday (I’m officially 2 years on 9/15), so let’s start with the numbers. My official weight was up 3 lbs from my 1 year. I lost 2lbs of lean mass, gained 5lbs of fat & my body fat % went up from 20.9 to 23.5. My original goal for myself was to be under 25%, so I’m still good there. Honestly, considering that I didn’t really work out at all for the better part of the year (I had seriously slacked on going to the gym… and by that I mean not at all… right around my 1 year surgiversary), I can’t say the results surprised me. My resting metabolic rate has also gone down some, from 1770 to 1660. That drop is also fairly normal since my body has adjusted to it’s new smaller size & is right where the general RMR calculators predict for my age/weight/height, so no concerns there. 

So with all of this new information, I’ve decided on some new goals. In the next 6 months, I’m going to focus on trying to increase my lean mass a bit. I’m going to do this by increasing the weights I’m lifting at Orange Theory. I really haven’t been pushing myself too hard with weights, so it’s time to take it up a notch. My goal is to increase my lean mass by 2 lbs and get my body fat down to 20%. So that would mean losing about 5lbs total (7lb fat loss & 2lb lean mass gain). I think that’s a realistic and not overly aggressive goal. I’ll go do the BodPod & MedGem again in March to see how I do… plus it gives me an excuse to go see my surgeon again!

I also saw my plastic surgeon and talked about the possibility of brachioplasty and back lift. The results wouldn’t be nearly as dramatic as my other surgeries, so I really need to think about whether it’s worth it. My initial thought was that if I was going to do it, I wanted to do it now, but there’s really no rush. So while part of me wants to just do it and be done, I think it makes more sense to just wait and re-assess in 6 months. I’m just not sure… I may have to talk it through with my therapist!

So life at 2 years post op… what can I say? Life is pretty amazing… better than I imagined it could be! I feel fantastic, both physically and mentally… there’s really nothing I can’t do! When I think about my life before… I was just existing. Now, I’m finally LIVING! It’s getting harder to even remember what my life was like before… I feel like a completely different person in so many ways. But I don’t want to forget the old me, so my other big goal involves therapy. I’ve done a really good job at compartmentalizing the “before” me, so I’m going to work with my therapist on making myself whole again… no more “before” & “after”… just me! I’ve already talked to her about it, and I know it won’t be easy… but I know it will be worth it. 

So there you have it! I can’t wait to see what life has in store for me!