Saturday, March 31, 2012

Bariatric Betty firsts at 6 weeks out

So this has been a relatively quiet week, but I wanted to share a couple of firsts that happened this week.  First of all, I have made it to transitional foods.  I can enjoy small amounts of iceberg lettuce now, so salad has come back into my life (YAY!), and I also found that I can tolerate a hard taco shell.  Better than regular taco shells, I found these mini ones by Taco Bell that come 24 to a box (instead of 12 or 18).  They're tiny, and when I filled 2 of them with some beans, cheddar cheese, a little lettuce, salsa and bit of greek yogurt - DELICIOUS.  As long as I chew them to death ;)

I also am off physical restrictions - so I can now lift more than 10 pounds and I can do any cardio exercise that I want.  So far I've gotten back on the elliptical for the first time in addition to walking, and I'm hoping to swim later today!  Still can't do any weight training because I don't consume enough calories to build muscle.  But not having to worry about how much groceries or laundry weighs is liberating.  And the elliptical felt really good.

I also wore my first size 14 pants this week (followed by my second, third and fourth - thank you budget bin!) and that was wonderful.  I realized I haven't been this weight for about 13 years.  That's a really weird thought.  I haven't seen my weight go down by much this week, but I couldn't fit into these jeans 2 weeks ago, so it's ALL good. 

Here's a funny thing I experienced for the first time.  I was wearing one of my size 14s and walking my dog, and felt this funny pressure on my front in two spots.  Not discomfort, but pressure.  My pants weren't sagging (which happened ALL the time when I was a larger size) off my backside, and I realized that SOMETHING was holding them up.  Not my stomach.  Usually when I had pants that didn't sag, it was because they were cinched so tight around my waist (in the belly button region) that it would start to hurt after an hour.  But that wasn't happening.  My stomach felt comfortable, and the waistband was below the belly button region, anyway.  There was a gentle pressure on each side... the jeans were being held up by something firm... HUH - Hipbones!  I do not mean that my hipbones are protuding, even lying down on my back I have to press into a 1" good cushion of padding to FIND my hipbones.  But, what it means is that the hipbones WITH the padding are now supporting the weight of my pants and holding them up!  OK - for my friends/ readers who have never been obese you are probably going "Ummmm, yeah?" but you need to understand that this is a brand new thing.  I'm an apple shape, and have no easily definable waist for the most part.  Even now as my stomach is decreasing in size, the apron of skin that is growing from shedding the fat is taking it's place as a new type of spare tire.  But it's more movable and compressable, so my jeans have found something new to hang onto - hips.  Huh.  Cool.  And much more comfortable. 

I also enjoyed celebrating my son's 9th birthday last week.  It was great, and since I'm allergic to chocolate I had no tempation with his choice of desserts for the parties (chocolate chip cookies and brownies).  Most fun of all, I got lots of compliments from my friends who saw me.  Talk about getting a swelled head!  I'm looking forward to baking things that are a greater challenge for me to resist and then celebrating my restraint in a couple of months.

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