Archive for March, 2009

I have a new co-worker.  I didn’t tell her about my weight loss surgery, but she found out in the course of a conversation I had with a few other co-workers.  Not that I didn’t want her to know.  Just that I didn’t find it necessary to say “Hi, My name is Melinda.  I had weight loss surgery!”  Although, everyone finds out eventually. 

So this morning, I’m freezing.  My hands and feet feel like they are about to just snap right off…  kind of like the cracking sound you hear when a huge icicle starts to separate from the roof of your house, then suddenly, a thud!  It has fallen to the ground.  Just plain freezing cold!! 

My new co-worker walked into my office a few minutes ago and asked, “Aren’t you HOT?!?”  Emphasis on HOT.  She said it is sweltering in here, that she has never met anyone who liked it so hot!!  Well, I could probably conjure up a few hundred folks who would love to come in my office and warm their cold fannies, hands and feet…  these folks are weight loss surgery patients!  She asked what was it about losing weight that causes us to be so cold?  She is a tiny thing, and so I asked her.  Imagine if you carried around 135 extra pounds…  that is a lot of insulation. Then suddenly, it’s gone.  You would freeze to death.  But she has always been thin, and used to her body weight… . me, I just got to this point within the past few years.

Oh sure, sometimes I have a hot flash, thanks to Mother Nature who thought it would be funny to throw “hormones” into the mix!  (Dang you mother nature…)  But for the most part, I am cold all the time…  its just part of my lot, or part of the sacrifice of having surgery.  It’s funny though.  I spent so many years covering up or better yet, staying out of the sun because I did not want to wear a bathing suit.  NOW that I am finally able to wear one, I have to cover up again because I am freezing and my teeth chatter!  How ironic is that?

It seems to me that women are very concerned about their bodies, more particularly, how they look in clothing.   And, were willing to turn to these types of garments which have been around since around the 16th century.  According to Wikipedia, most women did not utilize the garment for vanity reasons.  Only the really vain women purchased corsets with smaller waists so that they would appear more petite in stature.  (That has nothing to do with the post here today; I just thought that was interesting!)

Each time I visit a department store, I stop in the shapewear area to see what may be a benefit to me.  Several times this year at Walmart alone, inevitably some poor soul stands confused… you know the look:  Deer in the headlights.  I pull the garments off the racks, feel them, stretch them out, take a look to see what it might have to offer that nothing else doesn’t…  and finally comes THE QUESTION.  “Do you know anything about these things?”  I always respond with a question:  “Yes, but it all depends on what you need it to do. What are you buying it for?”

One lady was invited to a wedding and she hadn’t worn a nice dress in some time.  The only one she had was snug and it was cheaper to buy a girdle than a new dress.  I asked where her “trouble spots” were, and she shared in the mid tummy section.  I wanted to say ‘YEAH, YOU AND ALL OTHER AMERICAN GIRL.’  But of course, I smiled nicely and helped her pick out underwear that came high enough to almost reach her bra.  It also had snaps like a bra so that it would be strong enough to hold her tummy in.

Another time, just a few weeks ago, a lady at Walmart seemed uninterested but hung around for a few minutes.  She acted like she did not want anybody to know she needed a control garment.  And out came the question as she looked over her shoulder to see who might hear or who was around.  “Have you ever used any of these types of underwear?”  And you know the speel…  “Yes… what do you need a garment to do?”  She just wanted to look more pulled in at the hip area, the outer hips, that is.  She was a bit wide and thick, but let me say that her stomach was as flat as a board!  I didn’t want to insult the girl, but I said, “Do you think you are about my size?”  (I hope to God she was not insulted, and I hope she thought she wasn’t much smaller than me!)  And then directed her to a garment that I THOUGHT might help her…  though the outer thighs are not my trouble spots.

Now let me just say, I might be a size 4.  But, don’t let that fool you.  I surely have my share of agonizing body parts that I can’t seem to get control of.  That’s all I am going to say about that!  Through it all, however, I have learned that regardless of what size a woman might obtain, that particular agonizing body part is just as important and a matter of concern at sizes S, M, L, XL, XXL, etc as it was when they were 50 pounds heavier, 100 pounds heavier, well you get the idea.  Yes while it may be true that I no longer weigh 250 pounds, and I should be grateful to weigh 125 pounds, my body is just as bothersome to me NOW with my little fatty loose skin pockets as it was at 250 pounds.  At least then my skin was full and smooth, right?!

I wish shapewear companies would listen to former obese people, folks who are still obese, people who have hanging skin, some extra poundage, who need specialized support garments!  I believe with all my heart that many of those “other” garments on the market really don’t meet our needs because their creators have never been obese nor do they understand our needs.  It’s one thing to be 10 to 20 pounds overweight and “need to lose a little.”  It’s quite entirely a different story to be seventy-five, one hundred or more pounds overweight!

I thought you all might enjoy this “oldie but goodie” picture.  This is about ten years old, prior to my breast reduction surgery.  Prior to my weight loss surgery, too of course!  

I’ve been calling Tim every single day on my way home from work.  “Did I get any packages?”  Finally, yesterday he said, “Yes, you got vitamins.”  Now how did he know that’s what it was?  He said he could hear all the pills in the bottles jarring around, and that’s how he knew.  I rushed home because I have never tried Celebrate Vitamin’s calcium citrate.  I ordered Strawberry Cream and Hot Chocolate.  Now how are those flavors for a supplement tablet?!?  I could wait on the multi and iron.  I could not wait on the strawberry cream calcium.  So I tore open the bottle, and threw a pill into my mouth.  OH MY GARSH!  These things rock the free bariatric world!  They are so dee-lish-us!  Hey, I love great tasting vits and supplements.  Why?  Because as tiny as my tummy is, I have to be very careful in what I put into it.  No more junk or candy.  So these tasty little boogers are my new version alternative of “candy”! 

If you are in the market for a new, better tasting line of vitamins, calcium, iron, I highly encourage you to check these out.  And, if you get on their website and request free samples, they WILL send you some!  Whatchya waiting for?  Visit Celebrate Vitamins!  Here’s what the bottle looks like: