Saturday, June 5, 2010

A tip post plastic surgery & why the scale does not surprise me

Wait before you try on pants.

I know my thighs are still swollen. I can feel it, especially at the end of the day.  It's like when I used to step on the scale and would be disappointed by the number.  I know better.  

I did something similar last summer after at about six weeks and it bummed me out.  But not having more than these two surgical experiences my learning curve is admittedly a bit steep.  I'm over it now, but when I tried on my favorite jeans it did produce some anxiety and worry.  Most of the I spent 8,200$ on what exactly variety....  I'm over it now.  Sorry, have to say that again.

It shouldn't have bothered me to begin with.  It's like stepping on the scale.  I am never surprised/disappointed by my weight anymore.  It's been years actually.  When I was coming down in weight the second time I realized that I could not let how I feel (or my entire day actually) be affected by the number at my feet.  Once during my sophomore year of college I got so upset by 6 pound gain that I chucked my scale out the window.  It landed smashed into smithereens on the roof of the loading doc and I had to look at it all year.  It taunted me and seemingly as soon as I stopped weighing myself I started a slow gain back to 245 from my high school low of 200 pounds.  My one and only yo-yo.

Nowadays I am a fairly regular weigher.  The number only means as much as you let it and for me it a merely a reflection of how well (or not) I have been eating.  It's not an everyday thing, maybe 2-3 times a week.  If I am giving my food thought my weight will reflect that and I know enough about how my personal monthly fluctuations, salt, alcohol, processed food, lack of sleep and the like affect my weight.

Currently I am weighing everyday, I'm trying to get a handle on where my body will settle again post surgery.  I'm pretty sure they didn't weigh what they took off me, (although I could probably dig up how much a cc of fat weighs if I am able to get that information) as they did not last summer.  It has to go through pathology to get weighed and they charge you more for that was the explanation I was given.  Based on what I know about myself I think they took approximately 5 pounds off me with the paniculectomy and the abdomniplasty .  I expect maybe a pound or so of tissue and fat was removed this time.  Hard to tell.  But it'll be a couple of months before my weight settles probably about the same time as when my jeans start fitting different!

1 comment:

Julia said...

I am so intrigued by the transformation your body is taking - not only the weight loss but also from the surgeries.

I am a obsessive weigh-er (many times a day.) I'm not so much interested in the total weight but rather how liquids, food, time of day, etc affect my body.

Sounds like you know that you've still got some recovery time.

You are living an amazing journey!