WazzuCoug
Member
I'm sharing a few things, not so much to get "congrats" but for people who are pre-surgery or early post-op wondering about how things might change with regards to their health. I think a lot of us think that good things will happen, but sometimes doubt creeps in, or sometimes it is just difficult to imagine things being different after years of being overweight. While our bodies all react a bit differently, there are some great things that can happen with time and patience in this process.
I hit the 36 week mark this past week, and I did have a scale victory. I hit the 100 pounds lost mark. It is interesting how we assign labels to certain numbers sometimes. I've been hovering between 95-99 pounds lost for a couple weeks or so, and my body fat is in the average range (not overweight or obese), so there isn't a really good reason why hitting 100 should be a thing, but when I saw the number on the scale and knew it was 100 lbs, it really made me smile. I don't think I'm quite at my nadir weight yet, but I don't think I'm too far off. Some people lose faster, some slower, and some have more to lose or less, but we can all get to where we need to go, if we put our minds to it. I'm continuing to focus on making what I'm doing now with food exactly what I'll be doing this time next year, and the year after, etc. This battle is won or lost in the kitchen.
I didn't have a 6 month check up with my bariatric team. I decided that I was going to wait until I was post-second vaccine before going into an active medical facility again. So, my next appointment is a bit later in April, so it will be a 9 month check up. In the meantime, we ran through all of the blood tests.
My NSV is that for the first time I can remember in my post-college life, my HDL was actually in the normal range and not below. It was the first time that I can remember all of my lipid measurements were optimal. My triglycerides and LDL have never been high (high normal/optimal), but they have gotten even better, especially the triglycerides.
All of my blood chemistry was completely normal. A year ago my A1C was 8.4 on medication, it was 5.1 last October and it was 5.0 this last measurement. If the measurement at the 12 month mark is at or near that same range, I'll officially be in diabetes remission; I'm fairly confident that will be the case.
The only things that were high were my Vitamins D and B-12, it look like I don't need to supplement nearly as much and could get by with supplementing once or twice a week, and my ferritin/iron was a tiny bit above normal, but my iron saturation and hematocrit were normal, so there isn't a concern there.
My AST and ALT enzymes used to be off the charts due to fatty liver, they are completely normal now. In fact, with the innocuous exceptions above they were all normal, if not down right optimal! I can't tell you how much it means to me to see those numbers. Although most of my numbers were in the normal range at the 3 month mark, things are even better now at 8 months.
It is these things that motivate me to keep doing what I'm doing. The surgery gave me a great opportunity to make these changes, but I still have to make the right choices along the way to maintain this level of health. I look back at my previous blood tests and see how far I've come and how dangerous things had gotten as a reminder that things were getting dire with manifesting diseases. We can't forget where we came from in this process lest we slack off and slide back into old habits.
I hope everyone is doing well and staying strong in this process!
I hit the 36 week mark this past week, and I did have a scale victory. I hit the 100 pounds lost mark. It is interesting how we assign labels to certain numbers sometimes. I've been hovering between 95-99 pounds lost for a couple weeks or so, and my body fat is in the average range (not overweight or obese), so there isn't a really good reason why hitting 100 should be a thing, but when I saw the number on the scale and knew it was 100 lbs, it really made me smile. I don't think I'm quite at my nadir weight yet, but I don't think I'm too far off. Some people lose faster, some slower, and some have more to lose or less, but we can all get to where we need to go, if we put our minds to it. I'm continuing to focus on making what I'm doing now with food exactly what I'll be doing this time next year, and the year after, etc. This battle is won or lost in the kitchen.
I didn't have a 6 month check up with my bariatric team. I decided that I was going to wait until I was post-second vaccine before going into an active medical facility again. So, my next appointment is a bit later in April, so it will be a 9 month check up. In the meantime, we ran through all of the blood tests.
My NSV is that for the first time I can remember in my post-college life, my HDL was actually in the normal range and not below. It was the first time that I can remember all of my lipid measurements were optimal. My triglycerides and LDL have never been high (high normal/optimal), but they have gotten even better, especially the triglycerides.
All of my blood chemistry was completely normal. A year ago my A1C was 8.4 on medication, it was 5.1 last October and it was 5.0 this last measurement. If the measurement at the 12 month mark is at or near that same range, I'll officially be in diabetes remission; I'm fairly confident that will be the case.
The only things that were high were my Vitamins D and B-12, it look like I don't need to supplement nearly as much and could get by with supplementing once or twice a week, and my ferritin/iron was a tiny bit above normal, but my iron saturation and hematocrit were normal, so there isn't a concern there.
My AST and ALT enzymes used to be off the charts due to fatty liver, they are completely normal now. In fact, with the innocuous exceptions above they were all normal, if not down right optimal! I can't tell you how much it means to me to see those numbers. Although most of my numbers were in the normal range at the 3 month mark, things are even better now at 8 months.
It is these things that motivate me to keep doing what I'm doing. The surgery gave me a great opportunity to make these changes, but I still have to make the right choices along the way to maintain this level of health. I look back at my previous blood tests and see how far I've come and how dangerous things had gotten as a reminder that things were getting dire with manifesting diseases. We can't forget where we came from in this process lest we slack off and slide back into old habits.
I hope everyone is doing well and staying strong in this process!
