I'm almost 12 months out now... will be in about a week... so I thought I'd show you all what a daily menu looks like for a sleever who's 12 months out from the op.
I took pics so you can all see. I didn't include drinks.
Breakfast - Sachet of Quaker Oats Golden Syrup flavour, 2/3 cup Paul's Smarter White Milk (brands used change regularly, depending on sales)
This meal has...
233 Calories
6.6g protein
5.8g fat
Lunch - 6 Veri Deli Fig & Mixed Grain crackers, Grunswick Sardines in Olive Oil (I vary cracker flavours/brands occasionally, and never get springwater sardines as I think they taste foul - though they'd be healthier)
This meal has...
236 Calories
19.2g protein
11.5g fat
Dinner - 100g Lean Steak, 1 small broccoli floret (I can usually manage to eat all of this, but nothing more)
This meal has...
185 Calories
33.1g protein
5.5g fat
Snacks -
25g "Fava Nuts" (Roasted Broadbeans, lightly salted)
This snack has...
125.5 Calories
6.1g protein
4.5g fat
Golburn Valley tub of Two Fruits
This snack has...
83 Calories
0.8g protein
0.1g fat
Total Daily Intake:
Calories: 862.5
Protein: 65.8g
Fat: 27.4g
And that's how much I can eat in a day. Not much eh? I do get naughty occasionally, though I tend to waste excess calories mostly on drinks, like Iced Tea. Stolen Recipe Iced Tea is my absolute favourite and I would happy drink so much of it. I'm also a bit fond of a frozen coke when I'm out and about... so yes, I definitely do screw myself over on liquids, even though my foods are fairly good.
Also, you may remember around this time last year I took some "Up Close and Personal" photos that were pretty shocking and had me in tears. Well, I decided to update them all, and compare them side-by-side to my body now. The results gave me a little ego-boost... comparing them to before, I can see such a difference, which at moments I can't see just from looking in the mirror.
Most of these were taken today, with the exception being the full-facial shot, which I took about a week and a half ago. I'm still far from perfect and not what anyone would refer to as skinny, but I think I'm in a place now where people wouldn't really use my body as a way to describe me easily. I'm sure previously, people would have said, "You know... that larger girl..." when describing me. Now I'm not sure they'd say anything about it.
Now, I also took these. They may be NSFW. I don't know what your work filters... and these have some blacked-out nudity, but I wanted to get a good representation of my body. These were originally going to be just for me, but I decided to share. I'm not ashamed of my body, and am quite proud of how far it's come, so I figured I'd share with you all (the VLOG did NOT get these pics... lol).
That side on pic is just shocking. It's almost as if I've been sliced in half when comparing those two. I lifted my arm up because it was just hanging in the way and blocking part of my back. Anyway, this is me now. I can see some saggy bits, especially around my backside and on my belly, and then again on my arms and inner thighs, but despite being irritated at these parts, I am overall so much littler and thus very pleased with my progress.
I know a lot of people will think that it's crazy to be proud of your success when you've had WLS to help you get there, but I think these people also don't realise that you also put in a fair bit of effort yourself. I eat right, in that I focus on the protein I'm supposed to be eating and try to make sure I eat a sufficient amount of that to ensure my body is eating fat rather than muscle. It can be hard - a year of eating mostly protein is tough work. It's strange to think of salad as a "treat meal," because it's got very little protein overall... but I've done what I can to keep my protein intake up.
I also do zumba and weights, despite hating them. So many sleevers come to enjoy exercise, but it seems I'm just not one of them. I loathe it now just as much as I did before I started. I do it though, because I want to limit my sag, and want to increase my fitness levels. I put that time in, despite loathing it, and the results are speaking for themselves.
So I'm PROUD of my loss despite using WLS to help me get there. I've done work myself, and I've also been able to accept that yes, I am fat... no I am unlikely to lose weight solely on my own, and make the hard decisions to get myself to a place where I can be healthier and happier with myself. I think all sleevers should be proud, because it can be such a tough emotional and mental journey... and of course physical too.
The last thing I wanted to add were my updated measurements.
Firstly... I'm 72kg now. Smack bang on 72. Thrilled!
My BMI has gone from 41.9 to 28.1.
My body fat percentage has gone from 51.12% to a very acceptable 29.28%
Bust - 120.5cm to 101.5cm
Waist - 101.5cm to 75.5cm
Hips - 125.5cm to 97cm
Neck - 38.5cm to 34cm
Left Wrist - 19.5cm to 17cm
Right Wrist - 19cm to 17cm
Left Forearm - 31cm to 25cm
Right Forearm - 30cm to 25.5cm
Left Upper Arm - 42cm to 32.5cm
Right Upper Arm - 41cm to 32cm
Left Ankle - 29 to 24.5cm
Right Ankle - 28cm to 24.5cm
Left Calf - 49cm to 41cm
Right Calf - 47.5cm to 40cm
Left Thigh (Fullest Point) - 76cm to 58cm
Right Thigh (Fullest Point) - 74cm to 58cm
Left mid-thigh - (no previous measurement) 47cm
Right mid-thigh - (no previous measurement) 48.5cm
And yes, I have cut my hair shorter. My new hair is starting to grow through, but it is still somewhat thin, so I wanted something to lessen the weight of my hair and to hopefully make it look a little fuller than it was looking... so it's not a concave bob, with quite short layers on the back, and then longer at the chin. I've got baby hairs growing back and they're a few cm long now, so I'm hoping that if I keep it short, they'll catch up quickly and I'll soon have lovely thick hair again.
Hair-thinning sucks, but I'd much rather that than waiting to die of a heart-attack thanks to my crazy blood pressure and feeling horrible because of how obese I was (morbidly so, actually).
