It's 2 1/2 years since I had my op done now, and what a difference it has made to my life! Yes, it's a normal part of life, but it's a new kind of normal... and my life is also a new kind of normal.
There's all the obvious changes... like my diet (I eat WAAAAAY less and WAAAAAAY better!) and my size... but then there's the other things.
Before my op, I was a SAHM on anti-depressants who liked to spend her free-time sleeping and didn't drive, and had pretty much no social life. Seriously. If I had a few hours and nobody was around, I would sleep. Now I mostly make the most of my day... and I only sleep in one day per weekend (if that). Even then, my new version of a sleep-in is much less than my pre-op version. Pre-op it was till midday-ish. Now if I last until 8.30, it's been a long sleep-in!
Now I'm a working mother, with friends, with a social life (still relatively small, given my working hours and my parental responsibilities... but it exists at least!), who drives and who hasn't been on anti-depressants for a long time.
Not only am I working, but I'm doing DAMN WELL at work. I graduated beauty college in 2012, and started working at a day spa at the end of that year. In April 2013 I started working for another salon, and am still there today, where I'm an advanced therapist who is regularly top therapist of the month. You can only do well in that kind of industry with confidence, so there's another thing my sleeve has given me.
Speaking of confidence, I think a side-effect of that is me changing my hair. Pre-op my hair was a few shades of dark and mostly long with a side-fringe (unless it grew out to be an unattractive full fringe). Looking back at my photos, this sleever business is all about hair-changes! I thought I'd share.
Pre-Op hair was like this...long and dark and that's about it.
Post Op Hair though?
So it's mostly been short because it thinned out a bit post-op. But I've been black, brown, red, pale purple various shades of blonde and now light brown balayage (though it's a bit hard to see in that most recent pic!).
And... I clearly have a favourite photo-pose!
ALSO in recent news...
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| !!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
Okay, so it's only 100g into the 60s, but given I've been between 71 and 73kg for over a year, I was VERY excited to see this pop up the other morning.
I didn't think this made much of a difference to my body shape until I went to put on a skirt I hadn't worn since late last year. I think that bit of weight must have come straight from my middle.
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| Um... wtf? |
Shocked, I took out my measuring tape to discover I'd lost about 5cm since the last time I measured (about Christmas time). Last time my measurements were 101-76-101cm and NOW they're 100-71-100cm!
This now brings my BMI to 26 (not that I really put any faith in BMI as a measure of health), and my body fat percentage is also at the same number - 26%.
It's certainly exciting to be losing again, though I don't deserve any real praise because I'm not sure I'm doing anything to earn it. My exercise is all unintentional and mostly due to work, and my eating habits are a little more relaxed that they have previously been, though I still focus on protein.
Now...
ONTO YOU!
I need your help. I want to update next time with answers to the questions YOU WANT TO KNOW. So leave a comment, and let me know... what questions do you want answered? I want to answer all those things you've Googled about the sleeve but had difficulty getting an answer to.
