Greetings readers! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and spent it exactly the way you wanted. I enjoyed having a few days off to rest, relax, and not work (even though the guilt from not posting hangs over my head constantly).
I decided I should probably fill you all in at least on some level on my newest undertaking that will now be added onto my lifelong adventure with my weight: Gastric Sleeve Surgery!
Long story short: I have battled my weight my entire life. Due to some hormone issues cause by my thyroid and PCOS really no matter how hard I worked I could not keep the weight off. I had done every diet, gotten a personal trainer, countless gym memberships, trained for a 5k, restricted myself to 800 calories a day, etc…. nothing kept it off.
Backtrack to last spring and I discovered that not only did my company’s health insurance cover weight loss surgery, but several of my co-workers had already gotten it! They all raved about it and really encouraged me that I could do it and it would be totally worth it. Getting approved took me longer than anticipated, but apparently was much faster than it would be for other people since I had already done the supervised diet program. I think I went in for my initial consultation in May and my surgery ended up being on October 31st.
I don’t plan to turn this blog into anything really related to weight-loss or fitness, etc., but I did want to go ahead and mention it since it will affect my life long-term AND should hopefully make traveling even easier! No more squeezing into too small airplane seats, huffing and puffing my way at the back of the group, or goring myself on food in the name of vacation. I will get to enjoy life even more while still getting to try new foods, albeit not as big of portions. I am almost a month post-op and already 18 pounds down! I’m excited for this new journey in my life and am going to do my best to be the healthiest version of myself going forward.
Disclaimer: Just because you’re heavier does not mean you are not healthy. I have always been an advocate for plus-sized women and will continue to do so. I had a ton of health problems that were exasperated due to my size and I could not solve the problem on my own. Surgery is not a cop out; you are throughly screened to ensure that you have the tools to help you even after the initial weight-loss since re-gain is a real thing. The VSG (vertical sleeve gastrectomy) is just that: a tool to help you. It’s not a cure-all and I will also have to still make good choices to ensure that I don’t re-gain everything I will have worked so hard to lose.
If you’re interested in following up on this aspect of my life I suggest checking out my fitness Instagram: SavvyLifts. I am also working on creating a youtube channel for my fitness vlogs, but I’m still working on that. This blog will remain dedicated to travel/adventure/life in general.
I will be going on a cruise in a few weeks so stay tuned to see how that goes! Have a great Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanza, Festivus, whatever it is that you celebrate 🙂
Happy Reading!
-Savvy