1 year

Wow...today is my 1 year anniversary of my gastric bypass. I'm just...surprised. If someone told me that this is where I would be a year ago...I wouldn't have believed them. Especially with all of the plateaus and such I was hitting.





10 lbs away from what I had as my "I would be happy here" goal. It's interesting. There are still SO many things that I'm not happy with when it comes to my weight and my body. I think that a huge part of me sees the 325 lb me. Wow...did I just admit my pre-op weight?? Can't say I *ever* thought I would do that. Especially where all you skinny butt girls could see. Now? Doesn't really matter. I've come to terms with how I got to that point, and have decided that I don't care what anyone else thinks anymore. People can think that I just sat around watching tv and eating junk all day long. That's fine. I know that I did everything that I could...and ate less than most people I knew. It's interesting to me the number of people who get this operation who are ashamed. There is a girl at work who I ran into at the place that I had it done, and she begged me not to tell anyone. How sad that must be! For me...it was the most exciting thing to happen for me in a LONG time. I was finally making a choice to make myself feel better! I'm happy that I don't really care anymore :-) I might even post a "before" and "after" picture later today if I'm feeling *really* brave. We'll see how that goes, heh. The "before" pictures make me want to cry. That helps me see how far I've truly come.

**Edited**
Ok, I decided to just post pictures. Why not? It's not like you all didn't know me then, anyway. Just a note...I chose the "huge" pictures on purpose. I know I look *extra* gross because it was just after a concert. They have hot Pat McGee in them with me, though...so I figured at least then there's someone attractive in the picture (and it's about the only time I allowed pictures of me at the time).

Before....here's what years of operations and drugs and crap in your system will do to you:


Now...


So that's where I'm at now. Craziness. I still have a VERY long way to go...and I would give anything for the money for the plastic surgery it will take for my skin...but I'm SO much happier. Just looking at my accomplishments over the past year. Most of you won't understand this...but they're huge.

• I can cross my legs at the knee again, and now do *constantly*.


• 4 months after surgery I was able to ride on a plane without a seatbelt extender. I haven't been able to do that since I had the surgery to remove my ovary in 2005.


• I went to Disney World and didn't worry about whether or not I would fit on the rides.


• I went to Germany and was able to walk around pretty much anywhere I wanted to.


• The 2 events I've been to for work, I've been able to stay up and walking and mingle with sellers like I'm supposed to. I didn't have to take all kinds of breaks to sit down.


• I wore a swimming suit in public without wearing a shirt over it!


• I can now work out for an hour a day again!! This is HUGE for stress relief.


• I can clean for longer than 15 minutes without having to sit down!! Now if I can just make time for it to get myself all caught up, hehe.

There are literally hundreds of other milestones. I'm just thrilled.