First things first: I'm two weeks post-op today and feeling better everyday. This past Saturday we went to the mall and walked around for about an hour, went to the grocery store, and then ran some other errands. I felt pretty good minus the Texas heat (106 degrees).

I'm still experiencing some left-side pain and I've stopped taking the Hydrocodone because it's not doing anything anyway. Inspite of that, last night, I did sleep completely on my stomach for about 4 hours and it wasn't too bad.

Today I had an unseasoned egg white. That was a new experience because I'm not used to eating food without seasoning but I figured that was the safest way to go for now.

As for the numbers, I am down 29 pounds since surgery and 40 total (I lost 11lbs. pre-op). I attribute that to a couple of things but namely just having some pep in my step and trying to find some way to move around and do the most intense exercise I can do within my doctor's guidelines. My go to protein shake is 220 calories and 32g of protein. During the full liquids stage (first two weeks after surgery), I got about two of those down each day. Of course, it took all day long to do so but where there's a will, there's a way.

On to more pressing topics....

When I decided to consider having this procedure, I signed up on a popular WLS blog just to glean some information from individuals who had undergone this procedure. Some of the input was good, and some of it was rather asinine. But, what I did notice was an underlying air of unnecessary desperation.

Before I get into this, I want to let anyone who may be reading this know that "mascot" in this case means someone who is the embodiment of negative stereotypes assessed to a group of people. With that said, I was surprised at how many individuals on the WLS boards take on the role of a mascot when it comes to overweight/obese individuals.

WLS boards appear to be littered with tales of people who hide Hershey Bars in the closet, don't go out in public, cry themselves to sleep, lament about never having tried out for the volleyball team, didn't go to their high school reunion, can't get a date, don't play with their children, etc....I sometimes read these tragic stories and wonder how and why people end up like that just because of their weight.

When I look back at my upbringing, I am so grateful that my parents did not allow us to use our physical appearance and how society may feel about it as a way out of participating in life. I've never been thin. I was always the tallest one and I always had extra weight. But, my parents taught me that I can do anything I want to do. Never once did it cross my mind to not try out for the swim team because of my weight. I was good, why wouldn't I try out? Never once did it occur to me to not sign up for summer Track and Field because of my weight. Never once did it cross my mind to not go to the prom because of my weight. Never once did it cross my mind to lock myself in my house because of my weight. Never once did it occur to me that I should be meek, apologetic, or sad because of my weight.

If anything, it was a badge of honor knowing that I was setting an example for other people letting them know that just because you have extra weight on you doesn't mean that you can't excel at sports, go to the prom, date a cute guy, speak up for yourself and all of the other things that unbeknownst to me are supposed to be reserved for people who are height/weight proportionate.

This concerns be more because I truly believe that you pass your junk onto your progeny. This became clear to me when I taught Kindergarten. There was an obese child in my class and her mother was obese. The mother had the same tragic thing going on where she only left the house to pick her children up from school because she was embarrassed about her weight (yes, she told me this). On field day, her daughter, a born chatterbox, sat out of every single event by pretending that she needed to tie her shoe. I watched her stand at the start line and by the time the school secretary got to "set", she would bend down, untie her shoe and slowly tie it back up so that by the time she was done, the race was over.

We all knew why she was doing it. The saddest part is that at 5 years-old, she had already learned that because of her weight, she should automatically exclude herself from the same privileges of childhood in which every other child gets to partake. Repeat: exclude herself. None of us told her she couldn't participate. None of the games had a weight limit. She placed the limit on herself. That was 4 years ago. I can only hope that in 15 years, she won't be someone who is steeped in regret about what they never did in life because she was/is overweight.

As I read through the WLS sites, my long-held thoughts on the matter are confirmed. I read posts and wonder when the individual learned to limit themselves because of their weight and who taught them to do so. To me, it's a tragedy to be 25, 30, 40+ and never have lived out anything you wanted to do because of how much you weigh.

We all get down about something every now and then, but to stay down for an extended period of time, that's where it becomes troublesome. So instead of waiting until you're at your preferred weight or until you can wear a size __ to do what you want to do, know you can do, would like to try to do, would like to learn to do, do it now.