Bariatric Betty tackles Self Hate and Sabotage

Last Friday I stopped at our local Sears/ Lands End store to try on some tops.  I'm still building up my wardrobe at my goal size - my clothes from last summer are two sizes too big.  I have become a big fan of getting clothes second hand, but also hit the sales racks at places like Talbot's Outlet, Lands End, and of course Target and other places as well when I need something. 

I picked up several Medium Petite (still boggles my mind) tops and went to the dressing room.  Walking in there was a woman trying on a winter jacket (Lands End has GREAT deals on winter clothing right now) and I commented "Cute jacket!".  She replied "Not on a fat woman like me, maybe on somebody like you."  My heart fell.  I hate to hear people being cruel and calling people names, but one of the worst is when they are hateful towards themselves.  I couldn't just let it pass.  Here's a chunk of the conversation that followed:

"You shouldn't be so hard on yourself"
"No, it's true!"
"You know, a year ago I had bariatric surgery to lose over a hundred pounds, and I know it's really hard to lose weight.  Beating yourself up isn't going to make it easier."
(pause) "Wow, you lost 100 pounds!  You look great.  You would never know."
"Yeah, I feel great, too.  But for decades I tried Weight Watchers, Nutrisystem, and all sorts of diets.  When you find something that works for you, you will lose weight.  For me it took surgery to get it all off - otherwise I just kept losing the same 30 pounds.  Until then, you should give yourself credit for doing the best you can."
"I guess.  It all came on after I had my kids - I was never heavy before then...."

I felt so bad - here she was berating herself to a stranger in a public changing room.  I said a supportive comment and ended up hearing her whole weight loss history.  Of course, I shared mine first (heaven knows I like to share happy stuff with everyone) - but can you imagine how much she needed to talk to someone sympathetic that she was willing to talk about something that made her ashamed and mad with a total stranger?  She was perfectly willing to say mean things to herself, and I'm sure has heard cruel comments from others.  The sense that fat people deserve to be made fun of or be the targets of snide comments - or the even more twisted thought process that targeting them might make them more likely to lose weight and be healthy - it's RIDICULOUS.

Here's a link to an interview on the Today Show that showed up yesterday after I started writing this blog. http://www.today.com/health/my-butt-so-huge-fat-talk-common-harmful-6C10109738   It talks about how women hurt their self-esteem and that of others by participating in negative self-talk or negative comparisons to others.  What many may think is trying to help support a friend unhappy with their body, i.e. "Oh, no - my hips are SO much bigger than yours!" is not helping.  It is leading into an almost competitive cycle of trying to make others feel better at your own expense - where the original unhappy person then feels the need to point out that her "flaws" are even BIGGER.  So instead, talk positive.  About yourselves, about others.  When your friend says "My muffin top is turning into a whole CAKE top!", say "I think you look beautiful" - not "my muffin top just filed for it's own zip code".  When you are frustrated that your own physical fitness goals aren't showing up the way you would like,  i.e. "Why can I now see some ribs outlined but still have a jelly belly???" think "I have worked hard, I feel better, and I look better.  I can't control where my body decides to lose fat, but I can make the most of the parts I'm proud of."

Now, fast forward to yesterday, when I tried on a new pair of shorts with an older shirt.  I didn't think they necessarily worked together, so I asked my husband.  He agreed.  I tried a different shirt, and he tried to explain that my top is so curvy, but the bottom half is so straight, and the original combo just seemed to over-exaggerate it.  He was right, I have a large chest and then very little hips or butt.  So I needed an outfit that created a little more balance.  I had unrolled the legs on the short to about a 10" inseam, but originally they were rolled to about a 7" inseam.  I rolled them back up and with the new shirt felt better.  Still, I looked in the mirror several times yesterday morning, and ended up asking my 12 year old son what he thought.  Warning Sign Alert - if you have to ask your 12 year old son for fashion advice, it's a sign you are feeling a little insecure!  The following is a recap:

"Justin, does this outfit look OK?"
"Ummm, that depends... where are you going to wear it?"
(internal alarm, uh-oh, what the heck?  Maybe my tucked-in shirt is showing my extra-skin flaps too much???) "To work"
"Oh, then it's fine."
(???) "OK, just wondering , where WOULDN'T it be a OK to wear it?"
"Ummm, to drop me off with my friends"
"OK, I promise I won't be upset, but I want to know what makes you uncomfortable about your friends seeing me like this." (Oh boy, I hope this doesn't hurt too much)
"Well, Mom, could you wear jeans or something?  I'm not used to seeing your knees, it just seems weird..."

LOL.  Yes, my son wasn't embarrassed by my flaps of skin, or my large chest - he felt that my shorts falling just above my kneecaps was embarrassing!  Watch out - I'm a hootchie mama!  Looking back, I shouldn't be surprised, he told me that if any of his friends wear shorts that don't come below their knees some of the guys at school call them "bootie shorts".  It gets even more funny when you know that I wear skirts above my knee (about the same length as the shorts yesterday), but that doesn't bother him.  But shorts that showed the ENTIRE KNEECAP???? Gasp.

We can be our own worst enemy.  Don't give in to the negative trash talk in your own head.  It makes it easier to do it again, and easier to believe that others are thinking/ saying even worse. 

Speaking of our own worst enemy - I caught myself before I sabotaged myself yesterday.  Yay for the catch, boo for the constant vigilance required.  I have been making meals for a friend once a week - she's been very ill for several months, and a couple of us bring meals a couple times a week to take some of the pressure off the family.  This week I offered to bring "Breakfast for Dinner" - French toast casserole, quiche, and a carrot/ yogurt/ craisin salad.  They have a severe peanut allergy in the family, so it's important to read and re-read the labels.  I started being concerned about the quiche crust.  In the past, I have found it a little tricky to find ready-made pie crusts that don't have lard.  And now I would have to find one without any peanut oil/ exposure to nuts in the factory.   Hmmm.  I started thinking about making my own crust.  OK, that's simple.  Then I remembered how much I like to nibble on pie crust dough.  Yeah, I know, weird.  I don't know why it tastes good to me, but it does.  And then I found myself thinking about nibbling on pie crust dough probably 50 times over 24 hours.  Not exaggerating.  And about how I should probably make a little extra to make sure I had enough dough - but knowing it was really so I could eat some but still have enough.  Yikes.  So I started thinking about going back to finding a pre-made crust.  But they usually come in two packs.  I would have a whole extra pie crust.  Extra pie crust, mmmmmm.  Seriously?  Then here comes my AHA moment.  Wait, I can use that whole extra pie crust to make another quiche for another meal for them.  So I can't break off a piece and eat it, because I will need it for the next week!  Restraint engaged - logic wins!  It was that hard.  You never know where your brain will take you on these weird cravings/ food addiction trips.  Every day is a journey, where we have to make the choices that will keep us healthy.  Some days are easy down-hill paths, other days we have to climb the mountain in the way. 

On a positive note - I saw a wonderful friend this weekend who hadn't seen me for over a year.  She has seen my pics on facebook, and knew all about the surgery, but it was still a shock for her.  I loved getting to visit with her and her family, and of course the complements felt wonderful.  Mostly though, I loved seeing our kids together.  Except for maybe when two of our sons demonstrated their "feedbag method" of eating a bag of popcorn.  Gross. 

Getting ready for summer break to start next week - and it turns out I registered for another 5k I forgot about.  Now I have to figure out if I can do it with the kid's baseball schedules.... 





 

The Honeymoon's Over - Bariatric Betty's Uphill Climb

How many of you have heard someone actually call getting weight loss surgery "the easy way out"?  WLS patients wince every time we hear it, and many of us will actually address the ignorant person who says it.  Chris Christie just "came out" about having lap band surgery 2 months ago, and I can't blame him for keeping it quiet so long.  The judgment that so many people make about someone having weight loss surgery can be vicious.  And that's on top of the judgment people have already made about those of us who are morbidly obese.

In an interview Christ Christie gave with Brian Williams, he recounts his conversation with his doctor when he asked if he should really get the surgery.  He said his doctor said "If you came into my office with cancer and I knew that there was a 40 minute surgery that would give you a 90% chance of a cure, should you get it?"  Here's the thing - the surgery IS simple for most of us. 

The surgery itself (without complications) can have you in and out of the hospital in a couple of days, put Type 2 Diabetes into remission immediately, and start a rapid weight loss that can lead to a healthy weight and lifestyle.  But, what the typical person doesn't understand is that the real work starts before surgery, and continues for the rest of our lives. 

One of the WLS patients on a Facebook support group was preparing for her surgery with a multiple week liquid diet that the surgeon prescribed.  Weight loss just before surgery will shrink a fatty liver and reduce risks of complications.  A week before surgery she had a small bowl of oatmeal, just wanting something "solid" one more time before surgery and the post-op weeks of liquids and then pureed diet restrictions.  Worried that this might put her in danger during surgery, her husband put a call into the surgeon.  The surgeon cancelled the surgery - NOT because of the oatmeal causing any risks - it wouldn't.  Because the woman feeling such a strong need to eat something she had been told she couldn't have (even though it was a healthy food) indicated that she might not be ready for the lifetime commitment to dietary restrictions that a successful WLS patient must have.  She has to meet with a social worker now, and who knows how long her surgery will delayed until she is really mentally ready.

What happens if we don't make those right choices after surgery?  The obvious result - that we won't lose the weight we need to lose, or will quickly gain it back.  Yes, people go through the surgery and then sabotage themselves soon after - whether pureeing the unhealthy food they crave so they can eat it again (cheeseburgers, french fries, etc) or by consuming liquid calories - a big NO in the rules for post-ops.  Eating ice cream, drinking milkshakes, drinking alcohol - they are all forbidden (although some doctors will say you can have a small amount of alcohol occasionally after 1 year post-op). 

What are other outcomes of bad post-op choices?  If your Type 2 diabetes went into remission and you go off plan and gain the weight back, it will come back WITH AN ATTITUDE.  There is a high risk of alcohol abuse/ alcoholism, even if the patient was never a drinker before.  A patient who had RNY bypass will now absorb more of the alcohol quicker than a typical person.  They will get a bigger buzz/ drunker and it will happen more quickly with less alcohol.  Given that many of us were "using" food in an addictive manner, it isn't hard to imagine that we would look to fill that need in other ways.  Increases in alcohol use, drug abuse, compulsive gambling and other addictive behaviors have all been seen in post-ops.  Big hard rule - whatever your problems were before surgery, they will still be here after surgery.  So you have to work on the underlying issues every day, and continue to face up to them.

My honeymoon period (usually seen as the first 12-15 months post-op when you aren't hungry) is over.  I get hungry now.  I also still get "head hunger" - where I crave something but my body doesn't need the nutrition -  that never went away, I just became better at identifying it.  I have found myself eating things for the wrong reasons before and caught myself before it showed up on the scale.  My caramel calcium chews - that I started eating twice as much of as I should - a nice way to get kidney stones!  Threw them out after a week.  The cashews I had gotten to eat as a protein packed snack occasionally - but found myself snacking on multiple times a day (at 200 calories a pop!).  Got them out of the house and kept them out for over 2 months until I was sure I could see them and not be tempted.  The glaze on the peppermint candy cane cookies that I licked off my fingers and then started scooping off the drip tray - I confessed to my husband that I had a real weakness there and he said that the next time I want to make them for the holidays, he and the kids will do the glazing for me. 

This last one snuck up on me.  I was eating homemade popcorn in the evening once in a while if I was hungry, making a big bowl for the family and having a serving size myself.  Then my serving size grew.  Then I was making it every night.  I still didn't realize I was in trouble until I saw the scale change.  I gained 3 pounds.  From popcorn.  Do you realize how much (unbuttered) popcorn I must have been eating?  OK, that's not the only reason I gained weight - I had been doing more walking than jogging.  While I am still very active (12,000 - 14,000 average steps a day) I went from jogging 3-4 times a week to jogging 3 times a month.  Add to that the salt I put on the popcorn, and Voila!  3 more pounds. 

Don't get me wrong, it isn't unreasonable to expect a little regain.  18 - 24 months out the average patient gains 5 - 10% of their weight back, mostly because their stomach has expanded enough that they can eat more/ get hungry again.  Some people never have any regain - and I really want to be one of them.  I told my husband I needed to "go off" popcorn for the forseeable future and from then on whenever my son requests it he says "Mommy's not going to make it, you can make a small amount just for yourself and throw out whatever you don't eat".  Awesome hubby, isn't he?  Sure enough, just 3 days after no popcorn, and my weight was already back down 2 pounds just getting the excess salt out of my system.  I also started jogging twice a week again.

The scary thing is how I didn't realize my new night-time snack was a problem until it showed up on the scale.  First of all - I shouldn't need a snack every night!  First thing I should do if I think I'm hungry is drink, because I'm probably just thirsty.   And if I am hungry, most of the time it should be satisfied by protein.  And I had gotten lazy with my exercise.  I feel embarrassed to have fallen off the wagon - lured back into an addictive eating pattern (eating more, more often).  It will take conscious choices and deliberate actions for me to stay healthy.  I must stay more active than the average person, and I can't think I can snack like an average person.  "Within moderation" is a loaded phrase and WAY too subjective for me.  In the case of popcorn, I've decided it means 2 cups of popcorn once every 3-4 weeks, max.  It means get out of the freakin' house in the evening, when I start to have the head hunger, so I am distracted from it.  Luckily, I've got my kids baseball and soccer practices and games to help with that! 

Finally, to end on a good note - I had a BLAST doing the Akron Color Vibe Run 2013.  I ran 5k in 30 minutes flat - my new best time.  That might have been because it was cross-country - up slopes, down slopes, across the gravel, sliding on the wet grass, splashing through the puddles.  There was NO BOREDOM there, on the contrary - I was terrified I was going to fall and take some layers of skin off, so that adrenaline probably helped my time.  Also, four times along the run we were liberally doused with colored cornstarch, which made it really fun.  Here are some pics (the tutu is a common accessory in these races)

 

If you want to try a fun 5k, I highly suggest Color Vibe and The Color Run!  Lots of fun for the whole family - one of my sons ran it with me, and the other is seen above tossing a lot of magenta cornstarch!

So, to sum up my original thought, getting weight loss surgery may be simple for most of us, but being a WLS patient for life is not.  Running a 5k feels simple now - it's a short amount of time, and a reasonable amount of effort for that time and you're done.  Making the right choices all day every day, pushing yourself to stay active, reminding yourself to stay away from your triggers and deal with your issues instead of eating to deaden them - that's the hard part.  It's part of the reason I eat the same things almost every day - it removes the temptation.  It's like an alcoholic realizing that it might never be a good idea to eat in a bar if there is another option.  Unlike the alcoholic, we can't just stop eating.  We have to choose to eat healthy things that won't trigger overeating, which can rule out a lot of things for each of us.  We have to choose the proteins that will fill us and meet our new body's needs.  We have to avoid the carbs that are likely to make us ill/ get dumping syndrome.  And we need to take our supplements regularly to make up for the vitamins and minerals we can't get absorbed through our food.  And when we do that, we are healthy.  That's how I plan to stay.