4 Weeks Out

I'm happy to report that four weeks out from surgery, I am down 32 pounds.  (40 pounds if you count the two weeks before surgery, and 92 pounds from my heaviest.)  And, since February 10, 2010 (two weeks before surgery) - I have lost a total of 27 inches.  I have a new picture to post - I will try to get to that tonight.

Last night, I went to my first support group meeting.  I listened to a lot of people - some who were pre-surgery, and some who were post-surgery.  I was amazed at the number of post-op people who were talking about eating things like pastries and donuts and drinking pop.  I'm not talking about people who have made it to their goal - or who are two or three years out.  I'm talking about people who are just a few months out.  My heart hurts for them...

I pray every day that I don't become a "crusader" - one of those people who feels compelled to point out to everyone what they could or should be eating - how they need to get their weight under control.  (If I do, the dear friends who are reading this have my permission to shoot me!  SERIOUSLY!)  But as I listened last night, I realized that the most important changes are not happening in my body, as significant as those are right now.  The MOST important changes are happening in my head.  I haven't thought about things like donuts, or pop, or chocolate.  I have not wished I could have them.  I have not felt deprived because I don't have them. What an amazing gift and blessing that has been.

I choose everyday to look ahead - to look at the firsts that are coming...the first time I buy that pair of jeans, the first time I cross my legs (and am not self- conscious about it), the first time I see friends and family from Canada or Ohio or anywhere they don't see me regularly.  I walk taller, I care more about dressing the new body, I even have been wearing make-up! 

Realistically, I know that there may (and probably will) come a day when those things are temptations - even when I make a wrong choice for my new lifestyle and health.  But for now, I figure that the longer I keep focused on my goals - the less I dwell on the things I cannot have - the more I look to the future, the better chance I will have of resisting when that day comes.