Paula
Well-Known Member
No lecture, I promise. I just see that a lot of newbie post-ops seem to stress themselves so hard over what the scale says and how quickly it changes (or doesn't change). So I decided to tell a little story and I hope it helps in some way.
I'm almost 2 years out from my RNY to DS revision. Revisions are a weird little animal sometimes. We go into this knowing we probably will not lose weight like the virgins do. We (well, I do) live with the memories of feeling like a failure. But we pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and climb back on that bull for our next go-around 8-second ride.
I do not own a scale. This was intentional because I scale obsessed with my RNY and drove myself batshit insane. My weight right now will rise as I'm 19 weeks pregnant...and that's what we pregnant ladies do :LOL:. My barometer of how Im doing with my DS are my labs and my clothes. Still fit in my jeans? Awesome. Labs looking good? Awesome. But that's about it.
This past weekend, I took a flight from Portland to Pennsylvania and back home again. This is my first airline flight since my trip 2 months post-OP to see Dr. Simper and have my first EGD for a stricture. Had to buy 2 airline seats plus use a seatbelt extender. Humiliating, yes...but I understand and it's just what I had to do.
When I boarded my flight at PDX Saturday morning, I asked the flight attendant discreetly for an extender. Did my little walk of shame down the aisle to my seat...but what's this, I could walk forward instead of having to side step??? Whoa! Get to my little island in the plane, eyed the seat, and figured "well, looks like 3+ hours of hip compression by seat arms for me." Sat down...and what's this, I'm not wedged in the seat like a big sardine in a tiny can??? Last ritual of shame...the seatbelt. Since the lady next to me wasn't paying attention, I secretly tried to buckle in using the original seatbelt sans extender. Holy shit, it fit! And I can even pull in a little slack?!?! Handed the unnecessary extender back to the flight attendant with a grin on my face and tears in my eyes.
Ever been to O'Hare before? That place is freakin' HUGE!!! No good places to eat dinner before my flight back to Portland on my concourse (McD's = McPuke in my honest opinion), so I had to go concourse exploring. Schlepped myself and my two carry ons for what seemed like 50,000 miles until I found a place I wanted to eat at. Pre-DS...Id have died 10 feet into this venture. But now, my calves and hamstrings are sore from all the walking...but I made it there and back. Even saw a Chicago sweatshirt at Hudson News that I bought without trying on. Would I look like a stuffed sausage wearing it? Who knows. On my way back from the O'Hare to PDX portion, the United flight was booked solid and I was stuck in the middle seat. No window to plaster against, no aisle to spill over a little into to give the middle seat person room. I was the middle person...and all three of us had sufficient room and I didn't invade their space! And while waiting for my shuttle back to long term parking in Portland, I put on my Chicago hoodie...and that bastard fit beautifully!
My point in all this rambling is that you can find validation in so many more places than just the scale. And somehow those validations taste so much sweeter and feel so much warmer than a scale number ever did for me. If you are new, give your body some time. I can promise you with relative certainty that your DS will continue to shock the hell out of you...even further out. Appreciate the little stuff because those are the things that are going to carry you along...since we don't carry scales with us everywhere we go. Or at least I hope we don't :wink: What the scale says...much like age...really isn't nothing more than an arbitrary number.
I'm almost 2 years out from my RNY to DS revision. Revisions are a weird little animal sometimes. We go into this knowing we probably will not lose weight like the virgins do. We (well, I do) live with the memories of feeling like a failure. But we pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and climb back on that bull for our next go-around 8-second ride.
I do not own a scale. This was intentional because I scale obsessed with my RNY and drove myself batshit insane. My weight right now will rise as I'm 19 weeks pregnant...and that's what we pregnant ladies do :LOL:. My barometer of how Im doing with my DS are my labs and my clothes. Still fit in my jeans? Awesome. Labs looking good? Awesome. But that's about it.
This past weekend, I took a flight from Portland to Pennsylvania and back home again. This is my first airline flight since my trip 2 months post-OP to see Dr. Simper and have my first EGD for a stricture. Had to buy 2 airline seats plus use a seatbelt extender. Humiliating, yes...but I understand and it's just what I had to do.
When I boarded my flight at PDX Saturday morning, I asked the flight attendant discreetly for an extender. Did my little walk of shame down the aisle to my seat...but what's this, I could walk forward instead of having to side step??? Whoa! Get to my little island in the plane, eyed the seat, and figured "well, looks like 3+ hours of hip compression by seat arms for me." Sat down...and what's this, I'm not wedged in the seat like a big sardine in a tiny can??? Last ritual of shame...the seatbelt. Since the lady next to me wasn't paying attention, I secretly tried to buckle in using the original seatbelt sans extender. Holy shit, it fit! And I can even pull in a little slack?!?! Handed the unnecessary extender back to the flight attendant with a grin on my face and tears in my eyes.
Ever been to O'Hare before? That place is freakin' HUGE!!! No good places to eat dinner before my flight back to Portland on my concourse (McD's = McPuke in my honest opinion), so I had to go concourse exploring. Schlepped myself and my two carry ons for what seemed like 50,000 miles until I found a place I wanted to eat at. Pre-DS...Id have died 10 feet into this venture. But now, my calves and hamstrings are sore from all the walking...but I made it there and back. Even saw a Chicago sweatshirt at Hudson News that I bought without trying on. Would I look like a stuffed sausage wearing it? Who knows. On my way back from the O'Hare to PDX portion, the United flight was booked solid and I was stuck in the middle seat. No window to plaster against, no aisle to spill over a little into to give the middle seat person room. I was the middle person...and all three of us had sufficient room and I didn't invade their space! And while waiting for my shuttle back to long term parking in Portland, I put on my Chicago hoodie...and that bastard fit beautifully!
My point in all this rambling is that you can find validation in so many more places than just the scale. And somehow those validations taste so much sweeter and feel so much warmer than a scale number ever did for me. If you are new, give your body some time. I can promise you with relative certainty that your DS will continue to shock the hell out of you...even further out. Appreciate the little stuff because those are the things that are going to carry you along...since we don't carry scales with us everywhere we go. Or at least I hope we don't :wink: What the scale says...much like age...really isn't nothing more than an arbitrary number.
Last edited:
