I went to my second post-op visit with my surgeon today. I was a bit worried because I have only lost seven pounds in the last three weeks and all of that came off in the past week and a half. Everyone hits a stall around the 2nd or 3rd week after surgery as your body adjusts. It was a good time for me to examine my diet and make some minor changes (like decreasing my carbs to less than 25 grams a day and increasing my water intake to 72-94 ounces a day). After I did that, the seven pounds just fell off bringing my total loss to date to 34.2 pounds.
Every appointment at my surgeons office starts with a visit to the scale room. Yes, a whole room just for the scale. The scale they have is amazing. It not only tells you the obvious (your weight), but also tells you how much body fat, excess fluid, and muscle you have.
As I sat in the room waiting for my doctor to come in I couldn't help but think she would be disappointed in my seven pound loss. When she came in, she had a big smile on her face and told me how great I was doing. I figured this was a standard statement for all patients so I gave her a half smile. She sat down and said "I know you are only seeing a seven pound loss on your scale at home what you cannot see is the fact that in the last three weeks you have actually lost 16 pounds of body fat and gained 9 pounds of muscle". She was still smiling and said I was doing awesome!
I left the office (wearing my favorite pair of Levi's from 2007 that I spoke about in my last blog) feeling like I was floating on a cloud. Here I had stressed about the scale not moving as quickly as I had wanted all the while my body was ridding itself of fat and bulking up my muscle. I'll never be mad at my scale again...well...at least not for a while.
Speaking of my scale...
Starting Sunday afternoon, I will be traveling for a majority of the month for work and am a bit worried because...of all things...I won't have my trusty scale with me. I know this may sound silly to many of you but the scale has become my friend and I look forward to spending time with it every morning (even if it doesn't always tell me what I want to hear). I will have to wait a whole two weeks before I will see my friend again....sniff...