Hello! So glad you decided to pop on over! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Have you ever heard people say that their life is FALLING APART? Have you ever felt that way yourself? I challenge you to change your thinking and wonder if, in fact, your life is FALLING TOGETHER! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the last few years, I have decided to make some small changes to get myself more “together.” In 2018, I got braces on my teeth just before my 40th birthday. My teeth were not “bad” or really “crooked,” but I had some functional issues that I needed to correct, including an old fixed bridge that needed to be replaced with an implant. Also, in 2018, I went back to school. In September of 2020, I successfully completed my Master’s Degree in Nursing Education! That was so exciting! Plus, I have made self-care a priority and turned into a skincare enthusiast!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, there was one change that I had attempted many times, but was never successful at. Around 5 or 6 years ago, I tried a low-carb diet to lose some weight. I am only 5′ 3″ and weighed 263 pounds at my highest. I developed obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and began using a CPAP machine at night. Yikes! I lost nearly 60 pounds, but did not sustain it. I love carbs! They started to creep back into my diet. Then about 3 years ago, I began counting calories with similar results. Lost about 50 pounds, but gained almost all of it back. I had tried again, and failed…again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the fall of 2019 I decided to explore medical weight loss with a team approach. Starting weight 246.4 pounds. My intention was to use the services of a dietician, psychologist, and bariatric physician to get me on the right track. I learned a lot about diet and nutrition, lost around 20 pounds. Gained it back. Again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
By the summer of 2020, during a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, I decided that I needed more help. At that point I began all of the required pre-op testing for bariatric (weight loss) surgery. After discussing it with my doctor, I opted for a vertical sleeve gastrectomy (VSG), a restrictive procedure. I chose this, instead of the more aggressive gastric bypass, which interferes with absorption of nutrients as well. My BMI was above 35 and I had at least one co-morbidity (sleep apnea), so insurance would cover the surgery. I just had to work with the team at the weight loss clinic for 6 months and show that I was attempting to lose weight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well, fast forward to 1 week ago. On March 24, 2021 I had my gastric sleeve procedure. I had to check in to the hospital at 5:15 AM. After following the 2-week liquid diet that included unlimited non-starchy vegetables I had lost about 8 pounds. My weight per home scale on the morning of surgery was 226.4 pounds. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hello! So glad you decided to pop on over! Have you ever heard people say that their life is FALLING APART? Have you ever felt that way yourself? I challenge you to change your thinking and wonder if, in fact, your life is FALLING TOGETHER! Over the last few years, I have decided to make … Continue reading “Welcome :)”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vsg.aliciapurl.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vsg.aliciapurl.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vsg.aliciapurl.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vsg.aliciapurl.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vsg.aliciapurl.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/vsg.aliciapurl.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49,"href":"https:\/\/vsg.aliciapurl.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1\/revisions\/49"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vsg.aliciapurl.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vsg.aliciapurl.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vsg.aliciapurl.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vsg.aliciapurl.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}