life after loss | Transformation Through Loss

I haven’t blogged in awhile. I have been in a weird place lately. Where life is tedious. I don’t want to do anything. And the blog became like an obligation to me. I also didn’t feel like people cared about what I had to say aside from a few (I know people care).

I’ve noticed myself not being myself. I’m not participating in the things that I generally enjoy doing. I almost dread social interaction. I’ve been in this rut. Bare minimum. Come home, do my adulting, eat, sleep. The last weeks have been especially difficult for no single reason.

I’m a passionate person {on selective things lol} and that can really fatigue me. I obsess! I’m a fixer. I want it all fixed. I want to know what I can do to make it better or to tell someone else what to do to make it better. And when that puzzled does not line up, I can kinda take it hard. In fact, I spin out of control.

Case and point…my niece. For months, I’ve been watching her social media posts growing more and more upset about the image that she is putting out there. We aren’t close and I don’t feel that she really respects me or my opinion so I never say anything to her. But after I saw screen shots of bullying, posts that were merely for drama and over sexualized photos for a 14 year old girl…I couldn’t hold it in any longer. So I reached out to my sister. Told her what I was seeing and such. This doesn’t make much sense without a little back ground. My niece is a beautiful girl. She is smart. She has a good heart. She is a typical teenage girl…in love with love. But without a father figure and too much social media freedom, she is attracting the wrong kind of attention with certain behaviors. Okay…so anyways…as her aunt and just as a human being that cares…I worry about her. I want great things for her…for her to have the kind of life that a smart, beautiful girl as herself can have. Well, after speaking with my sister…the posts kind of continued. I reached out again. And my niece says to me “can you please stop sending screen shots to my mom”…um no. And I’m really upset about it all. Just too upset. Upset about something that I CAN NOT change. I have no power here but I get so obsessive and so upset that it causes harm to no one but myself.

Once last week, I found myself snacking on chips that make me sick! And not because I was hungry. I had purged my home of naughty foods and missed this left over bag. I had a handful of chips…cursed myself and took my butt to the dumpster and threw though fuckers away! I came in and I felt shame. I felt AWFUL!

After spending a night with Lisa, I drove back home. But I didn’t go straight home. I made multiple stops at fast food drive-thrus. Compulsively. I wasn’t hungry. I just felt compelled that I needed to have this crappy food. And I sat in the drive thru and argued with myself at each location “What are you doing?! NO No no!” and I reversed and I left each time. I pulled into Wal-mart thinking I’d pick up a few items…and as I sat there, I told myself “Jessica…you aren’t in a great place right now to make good choices”. And I left. It was a true emotional battle. When I got home…I felt AWFUL.

When I got home, I immediately took my Contrave (a medication that helps post surgical bariatric patients with head hunger) and emailed my therapist for an appointment. I felt so bad about myself. Like why do I do this?! I stand back and reflect on how I got here. I’m maintaining my weight but I’m not maintaining the life style change. I’ve been in this very dangerous cycle. High emotions–self sabotage–food obsession–shame/guilt. It is the cycle that got me to 341 lbs. (351 at the absolute heaviest).

But this time, THIS TIME…I did something different. Something that I have NEVER done. I confessed my compulsions/cycle to my 2 co-workers that are great friends. Then I confessed them to Lisa. And, today, lastly I confessed them to my mom. And it was HARD. My voice shook each time. My stomach was in knots. My anxiety was cranked to max. I was so fearful of the judgement; of the shame. And their reactions…were everything I needed and more. There wasn’t a gasp of appall; not an awkward silence as they judged and figured out what to say; no ‘why did you do that’; or “you know better’. I was met with no knee jerk reactions. Each conversation was just that…a conversation that ended with praise for changes in behaviors. And the anxiety that I felt… it melted and faded away. All this shame; all this guilt. All created by me.

My point is this…you gotta let that shit go. Sometimes it is someone else’s shit and sometimes it’s yours. Nevertheless…let it go. We must ALWAYS self analyze and self reflect. To look at where we stand right now and ask ourselves “is this the person I want to be” “is this the life that I want to lead” and “am I happy”. If the answer is no then you have to reevaluate what you are doing and change course. Your destiny is completely within your control.

I haven’t blogged since March so a few things have happened that are worth sharing:

I FINALLY graduated with my Bachelor’s in Nursing!!

My baby sister got married and I was a bridesmaid. It is hard to believe that my little sister is starting her own family.

We {Lisa, myself and the girl child} went to Niagara Falls staying on the Canadian side where we zip lined and rode the Horn Blower. We went to NYC and saw the sights! I left a little of Paul in Niagara Falls and at Liberty Island.

Father’s Day happened where my Dad didn’t wear his teeth when we took him out.

I went to Pride in OKC for the first time!

My Dad celebrated 90 days of sobriety!

And I’m finding my peace through yoga and taking a break from the kind of exercise that I don’t really enjoy.

Thanks for all of your support. Love you all! Live the life that you desire; not the one that life makes for you -Jessica-ism

I can’t believe that it has been 3 weeks already! Time really has just flown by.

My activity tolerance is greatly increasing which is great. I can now start bending as tolerated. Whoa. That’s a stretch. I am still so tight and this makes it very difficult to bend. Having this restriction lifted has made putting on my body suit (body shaper) immensely easier; although, it still is not easy!! Now that I am able to get in and out of it on my own I have increased my wound care. I’m now doing wound care daily versus every other day. I think that this has been extremely helpful and my incisions are remarkably improved. Still the area of concern for me is my pelvis. It really is the most painful part (it is still swollen…gravity ya know). I’m drowning this incision with bacitracin and bandaging it (Um ..can we say OW…freaking mini wax everyday). After showering, I am laying out to try to give all of my wounds some air.

Also, my buttcrack incision is not entirely closed so I have begun to dress that as well. In the second week, it was causing a quite deal of pain but not anymore. Now it’s itchy! My butt cheeks have still not dropped. The right is better than the left though. So at this point, I still have what reminds me of that scene in Sex and the City when Samantha sleeps with that wicked old but insanely rich guy but just when she sees his naked ass walk to the bathroom, she bolts. My ass reminds me of his. But…it looks good in pants. So…fortunately for most…Lisa is the only one that has to bear to look at this…well and you that are reading this. HAHA.

I am standing more upright now. I’m working on my posture but it is difficult. The swelling in my hips is pretty close to gone. I’m very satisfied with how smooth my outer thighs are. My tummy is roll free and now I just have this little pooch. I remember all my life enviously seeing girls with pooches like this. It seems rather unreal that this is me. I have found myself worrying if I’m sweating under my roll…then I have to catch myself and say…we don’t have that roll anymore. But still I check when I go to the bathroom…because I’m so NOT neurotic. And there ya go…dry.

Also, today I was cleaning out my drawers. Well attempting to. And so many garments to subdue the rolls. And I’m not exactly sure what size panties I am…so I actually didn’t throw any of them out. My drawer houses panties from S-XL. Hey..if they don’t fall..they fit right? Not really…because some of the bikinis and boyshorts sit at my new waist. Weird. Like isn’t there where briefs sit?

I took notice when I was walking that I didn’t feel my belly or panties touching the top of my thighs. That’s like way embarrassing to admit but it’s true. These are things fat girls deal with every freaking day…damp rolls, panties to hold the rolls and roll flops. But I’m roll free now. Whatever will I do with myself…when I do a jumping jack. Eek. I’m pretty excited. Now I’m can die from the pain of my gasping breath rather than from the embarrassment of a pannus flop out of my yoga pants!

As you can see, almost all of my incisions are approximated. The lines are smooth and thin (with exception of my pelvis).

20161130_194023_HDR — Week 3 Post op Lower Body Lift. Healing nicely. Bikini panties hide all of the incisions!!!

And anyone who has spoken to me in the last couple weeks knows my obsession. BELLY BUTTON! Guys…I just can’t tell you how awesome it is to see it. I can’t wait to get cleared for exercise because I am determined to get this belly transformed into abs!!

I’m entering into week four which means that I go back to work next week!! Oh…and I ventured out to buy a new set of scrubs. And even though the top has a stretchy side panel…I got XXS top and S bottoms!!! Eep! I’ll post pics in my week 4 post!

Let’s talk emotions. I’ve have been doing so much better this go around but I’m not without obstacles. This is a very hard time of year for me (for all of us). I miss Paul immensely. As I’ve mentioned so many times, I feel that the more I change…the more I leave me behind. I struggle with this constantly. I look at my body and I’m so proud of how it has transformed, how healthy I am. When I sit and think about the road I was on previously and the change in navigation, I’m truly astonished. I think about all of the things I have done and all the things that I hope to do and it is amazing. I reflect on statements that I’m making…how I’m excited to work out so that I can have abs! That’s crazy. This Jessica doesn’t do that…OH but she does! And I’m so happy about all of this. But then there’s that other side and, man, do I struggle with this bitch. The more I change…the more I don’t feel the same. Although I love what I see in the mirror, I don’t really recognize her. I was looking at pictures from Thanksgiving and I thought…who is that girl. The similarity between my mom, myself and Jamie was always so undeniable but now…I don’t know. And I see pictures of my beautiful niece, Autumn, and my niece I haven’t meet yet…and their resemblance to Jamie is awesome. And sometimes this makes me question my identity. Who am I? Paul isn’t here. Just me and that mirror. Lisa has told me multiple times that I am the same girl…and mentions my eyes and my smile. So I got pictures from my sisters and niece to put side by side. All beautiful fair complected brown eyed brunettes. Three ladies that I think of to try to reign in my tether…

It’s just a constant struggle.

Hoping that one day…these two images will merge into one for me. I just hope to one day be whole. Love you all. Thank you for your support!

Transformation Through Loss

Tag Archives: life after loss

Struggles With Compulsive Eating/Behaviors

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A Widow's Journey: ~Weight loss~ ~Change~Skin Removal~Life~