Research Time - Weightloss Post Gall Bladder Removal

 If you've been here on this blog before you know that I was incredibly overweight (my marshmallow stage as I call it)  I lost 7 stone in a year and I was able to wear a UK size 10 pair of jeans.  I had never been able to do this.  I went on and had 3 pregnancies - I miscarried one and went onto have 2 more babies.  At the beginning of July 2019 I was 4lbs away from my goal weigh again and then I went for surgery to have my gall bladder removed.  I had put on approximately 10-15lbs not long after the surgery and I believed that it was just because I was swollen and the after effects of the surgery ... I put on more weight and I was working out, eating right and not much had changed from what I had been doing before the surgery.  

In January 2019, after pushing myself really hard and doing intermittent fasting, cutting everything out I was 14lbs away from goal.  The a period of depression followed by a really bad bought of vertigo (which last weeks) and then lockdown happened.  I was still working out when I could.  apart from days that I couldn't actually do anything I was making healthy dinners.  I use the pinch of nom books and they are brilliant to encourage healthy and tasty eating, but the weight was piling on.  In the space from March 2020 to January 2021 I put on 42lbs!!!! meaning I have 56lbs to lose!!! I knew that what I was eating could not account for the massive weight gain, i was still moving.  Doing HITT workouts and going as hard as I physically could, but how could this gain be so big? 

Here comes the researching online - after looking up information about gall bladder I found so many others who are in the same boat as myself.  They've had their gall bladder removed and all of a sudden these massive gains and they can lose a little but then stall and nothing happens and then all of a sudden more weight gain.  

Why am I telling you this? Because if you are like me and feeling awful about how you look because you've gained a lot of weight and can't understand why, then I want you to know that you are not alone.  I'm right there with you.  I have always struggled with losing weight.  I figured out what I needed to put into my body for my PCOS and what workouts I should be doing.  Right now I am back to square one on that front.  I am completely at a loss and trying my hardest to understand what I need to do.  

Lockdown hasn't been easy for anyone, COVID-19 has seen an increase in weight for a lot of people, me included.  This weekend I am taking the time to sit and try and figure out where I am starting from with my food.  I don't want to be making more than one dinner so I'm going to see how i can tweak what the rest of the family are having and have it for myself too.  

I want to share with you how I do with food and exercise.  I will warn you - I'm not perfect, I'm not a nutritionist or a body coach or a fitness instructor of any kind but I am someone who is trying to figure out the best way to get her body healthy.  I'm trying my best to get to a place where I am confident and healthy mentally and physically.  Mentally I struggle big time with my body, I don't want the perfect body.  When I was at my goal size I still had loose skin on my stomach and arms and legs.  I had cellulite, I didn't have a 6 pack and i wasn't perfectly toned but I was in a good place mentally because I knew that I was healthy, I was happy that I was able to wear clothes I had never felt comfortable in before.  I wore some knitted dresses that I would never have imagined wearing before (and definitely would't dream of wearing now!) People say to just wear it, but I can't.  I feel incredibly self conscious about how I look and would feel horrendous in one.  

Why do we let ourselves feel like this? 

I do think an issue is social media but I also think it's got to do with how we perceive ourselves.  I don't want the perfect body like Kim Kardashian or someone like that.  I want to feel comfortable in my clothes.  Is it bad that I want to look slimmer beside my very tall and skinny husband and not feel like Violet Beauregarde beside him. 

  

In January 2020 we went away together and I wore a lovely blue dress and I felt good in it.  (I wanted rid of more of my belly but i felt comfortable) Standing beside Dale I felt good, I felt happy that I looked good beside him.  Now, I feel like a whale, a big fat beached whale beside a beautiful tall tree.

 

 

I want to be back to January 2020.  So here we are, yet again looking to restart the learning process of what my body can and cannot cope with.  It's going back to the basics.  It's focusing on fuelling my body with the good things and (for now) cutting out everything that is extremely fatty and processed.  Taking out all dairy (that's right - no sneaking any pieces of cheese or even licking the kids ice-creams, that's going to be Dale's job) No bread (to be honest I don't tend to eat bread anyway so this won't be a hardship)  

I'm going to write in my dairy to do a blog post in 2 weeks time from today and let you know how things are going.  I will be honest with the struggles, with the highs and lows.  I know that there is one day that will be difficult - 20th April - as that is my Wedding Anniversary, but I have given myself time to plan a meal that will be yummy and nutritious and will fit in with what I am eating. 

These pictures are my goal - my motivation.  I want to feel and look like I did there and then.  I'm hoping that I can get there again