Archive for March, 2008

Dear Melinda (or insert your name here),

Wow! You have done a great job in achieving your goals! You set your sight on a goal, worked towards it, and have finally conquered! I’m proud of you. However, this letter to you, or well ME, to Self! serves as a reminder of just a few things…

Remember all of that deep soul searching that you did over the past year and a half? Yes, the painstaking time that it took to recall up old memories, face areas of failure, ripping band-aids off wounds that never healed, as you tried to answer the famous question: “What made me obese?” Well! My friend, you surely do not want all of that to be in vain… Keep those answers ever so close to you… don’t forget them any time soon.

You see, just when you least expect it, something will happen in your life that may trigger old feelings of fear, self doubt, anxiety… and it could drive you once again to that same place of wanting to eat and turn to your “best friend… worst enemy” food! Melinda, Don’t forget that food is unlike any other addiction in the world… people don’t need cigarettes, alcohol, drugs to survive like people NEED food. You have an addiction that is most difficult because while most “addicts” ban their crutches from their lives completely, you are forced to consume it little by little, at least three times per day at every meal (more often if your diet requires it). Be ever vigilant to watch the reasons you are consuming food… “eat to live… live to eat…” which do you choose?

There might be times that your emotions will fuel the desire for food. Fight emotions with emotions! If you feel discouraged, and it leads you towards eating, there are a few things you can do to fight it! Here are a few:

• Get out your before surgery picture, place it next to a current one (this will be enough to evoke a few tears and put a fire under your rear to do what is right!)

• Pick up the tape measure, compare the stats to what they used to be. Revisit the place you used to be, remember how far you have come, and resolve to go further than you ever could have imagined!

• Find your tennis shoes, dumb bells, exercise ball, jump rope – turn on the treadmill… get your butt busy! Get active! This is first of all a wonderful cure for depression and discouragement. Expel those unwanted guests from your life!

• Call your support people! Imagine that you are a runner in the Boston Marathon… and along side the road are people holding cups of water out, waiting for you to choose one… they see you struggling to make it to the finish line, sweat pouring down your brow, and they are cheering, “You can make it! Here, take some water!” There are people on the sidelines of your life watching, waiting, wanting you to succeed! Call them up! Reach out to take the life giving substance that they can provide!

• Don’t forget the basics…

 You’re one year and five months postop now. It would be easy to see yourself as “cured of obesity” and try to resume a normal life. But your life will not be normal anymore. You have shed off the old life, and assumed a new identity so to speak. This new lifestyle will always consist of high protein, low carb, low sugar foods. Watch your daily caloric intake. Surely you will not want to gain those pounds back that you worked so hard to get rid of!

One last reminder. Watch your sugar free intake. Don’t waste calories, fat grams, carbs on foods that are packed full of these… yes though true they may be sugar free and won’t cause dumping, be aware that they still can cause weight gain or a stall in your loss efforts. Don’t trade one crutch for another, as one recent gastric bypass patient appealed to one of our own… Instead, reach for healthy choices, up your protein intake so you won’t crave junk food, and be leary of the carb monster that lurks to possess you!

I want you to succeed… long term. You’ve done great… I’m so proud and I don’t want to see you fail. Keep up the good fight!

Your best friend and supporter,

Self (me, myself and I)

Just a note to my Obesity Help Tennessee Forum. Thank you for the recent thread “So Disappointed In Myself” that really inspired this letter to be written. I hope you all know that you are a valuable and great support team! You are my peeps on the sidelines of my Boston Marathon!

One thing I hated about being overweight:  my legs rubbed together when I walked.  In the summer, my legs sweated, causing rashes and skin breakdown.  It also caused my shorts to ride up (which trust me, is not a pretty site!).  If I wore a certain type of material, it made a “swish, swish, swish” sound when I walked where the inner thighs rubbed together.  I do NOT miss this now that I am thin. 

Walking in to work from the parking garage, I heard that familiar sound:  “swish, swish, swish.” I thought to myself, “OH MY GOODNESS! I am swishing again when I walk! Have I gained weight?” For those who have been large, you know exactly what I am talking about… the sound your pants make when your legs rub together. Exactly that: SWISH SWISH SWISH SWISH SWISH with every single step you make. It always made me feel so inferior, almost as if I could have yelled out loud “Yes, I’m a fatty! Look at me because you already HEAR me!”

You can imagine my horror after NOT hearing swish swish for over a year to hear it again! Fortunately, the person behind me who was in exact sync to my steps slowed down so that I no longer heard the swishes in rhythm to my own steps! Hallelujah! NO swishing on my (hind) end! While I did not turn around and look at the person behind me, I wondered if they just had worn some slick pants like a wind breaker or if they were a candidate for wls. I did not want to know. I was just happy to know that the swishing was not coming from my legs!