Well, here I am again. Almost three months post-op, and just over halfway to my personal goal of 140 pounds. My surgeon said that 160 would be a very achievable goal for me, but I'm going to try and push it to 140, which would put me at a "normal" BMI of 24, something I have never achieved in my adult life... or my life period, really, since I've been overweight since I was eight or nine years old. Actually, my stretch goal is 135, since I will likely put a few pounds back on after the first year or so, at least that's what I understand from reading what some of the long-term sleeved folks have to say on the maintenance forums.

Speaking of BMI, I now have to write about how annoying I find the whole thing. The person who "invented" the BMI scale never meant for it to be used how it is today. It was meant as a very quick way for healthcare professionals to estimate about what a person's healthy body weight should be, based on their height. It was never meant to be used as the only way for them to determine what a healthy weight should be for everyone, since people are different, we come in many different shapes and sizes! The classic example, of course is the body builder who falls into the obese category on the scale, yet has like 3% body fat. But then there are also those who fall into the "healthy" category, but who have no muscle tone whatsoever, and are in fact very unhealthy! Since I'm a nurse, I literally see this every day. I also see some very healthy people who happen to have higher BMI's. And yet I am supposed to mark "Obesity" as part of the health history for every patient I see with a BMI of over 25. (I don't do this, by the way.)

Okay, off my soapbox, and on to what I am doing to make sure that I fall into that category of a healthy person with a healthy BMI... I have to admit that since shortly after my surgery, I have been very lazy about doing cardio. This is bad, since my surgeon has emphasized to me that exercise is the one thing that separates his very successful patients from his moderately successful patients (apparently he does not have any unsuccessful patients).

For the first two weeks after surgery, I walked about two or three miles every day. But then, I didn't really have anything else to do. I wasn't working, I couldn't eat anything, I couldn't go in my pool. So I walked. Then I went on vacation, and didn't do anything active the whole time. And then I was back to work, but cleared for lifting. So I got back into my weight-lifting workouts, which I had always been pretty consistent with before surgery. I do them with my husband so it's fun, it only takes about 20-25 minutes, and I really see the results, which I like. I have never actually seen any results from doing cardio, I just did it because I knew I had to. But with weight lifting, I can feel my muscles getting bigger, and see them looking more toned. Now that they've slimmed down a bit, I actually think I have very nice legs!

About a month ago however, my husband started bugging me about running. In the twelve and a half years we have known each other, he has never done any cardio consistently (and never really had to, since he's one of these people who can eat like a horse, and not gain an ounce). But I was always telling him that he should, since he is starting to get some old-man problems, like high blood pressure, and high cholesterol, despite being at a healthy weight (ahem, see my rant above). So I really wanted to encourage him, but I hate running! Or so I thought I did.

I had tried to do the whole couch to 5k thing before my surgery, to help me get a jump on the weight loss, but had only made it through week two before I stopped. I just ran out of energy during my two week pre-op diet. And I really had no interest in going back to it, since it was really hard to do before my surgery. And it's Summer in Florida! Ninety degrees, and one hundred percent humidity everyday does not make for a pleasant run! But finally, after about two weeks of him bugging me about it I downloaded the C25K app again, and we headed out on our first run together... And guess what? It was kind of fun! Turns out going running when you weigh in the 180's is a completely different animal from running when you weigh in the 230's. Who knew?

We now go running at sunset on our nights off, mostly on the golf course that's about a half-mile from our house. It's a gorgeous time of day, with the sun setting in the west, and the palm trees swaying in the breeze. Today we were treated to Mother Nature's firework show off to the east of us, with huge, puffy white cumulus clouds and awesome forks of lightning making them glow (miles away, very safe). The sand paths on the golf course are easier on the joints than sidewalks, and our run takes us over a bridge that we always see turtles hanging out under. It has become something that I truly look forward to doing three times a week, and after eleven years of marriage, my husband and I have discovered something new that we like to do together. We are already planning on running a 5k road race in December. Like many other bariatric surgery patients have before me, I feel like I've finally found my inner athlete!