Melting Mama - Bariatric Bad Girl : Adversity

Posts categorized "Adversity"

23 May 2013

Carnie Wilson Speaks At WLSFA 2013 Las Vegas Luncheon

Posted at 07:39 AM in Addiction, Transfer Addiction, etc., Adversity, Verbal diarrhea., Weight Loss Peers., WLS Horror Stories., WLS Revision, WLS Success Stories., WLS Support, WLSFA | Permalink | Comments (0)

05 April 2013

9 Years Post Gastric Bypass.

April 5th, 2013 marks nine years since I had roux en y gastric bypass surgery at Tufts New England Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts. I made it another year. I am alive. I made it past your cash bets.

I am approximately five pounds above my very lowest post op weight, which I saw one year post op before I got pregnant and right before I bounced up to 175 lbs. I will say this, my lower weight looks different the second time around. That first low-weight crash post surgery looks like death-warmed over. I look healthier now, and I think it's honestly because I eat food now and haven't had a massive weight loss like in 2004.

People have asked me "What are you doing differently now?"

Food journaling and keeping myself aware of the calories I take in. I don't journal everyday, but I DO journal.
I stopped using soy milk, and swapped to unsweetened almond milk in my coffee and for whatever other "milk" uses I have. I don't use dairy milk at all.
I quit my Starbucks habit pretty much altogether. I get an iced coffee or cappuccino if someone else takes ME out for coffee, but it's rare, and definitely less than once a week. Dunkin Donuts iced coffee, once a week.
No crackers. If I must, one serving, with protein.
No potato chips, etc.
No candy, only super dark 70%+ chocolate if I must have something. One serving.
No protein bars, except to review them, unless I am REPLACING A MEAL with one.
No protein shakes, except to review them, unless I am REPLACING A MEAL with one.
This isn't "new" - but zero alcohol in my house. It's just a rule. If it's not here, I can't have it. It's just the rule.
If there's one thing I have learned this year - it's that I can't graze without noting. I can't just nibble all day long and expect that I won't see gains, because I do. I gain very fast on relatively low calories.

I have also learned that giving up things I can't control - stressors - outside influences - people, even - helps. I started losing the weight as soon as I made this connection.

Look at my weight loss timeline. Look at the dates.

Now look at my regain photos from the last year - same timing.

Seems easy enough, right?

Let. it. go.

“You will find that it is necessary to let things go; simply for the reason that they are heavy. So let them go, let go of them. I tie no weights to my ankles.” ― C. JoyBell C.

People CAN be TOXIC to your HEALTH. Let. them. go.

(*Not the ones in this photo. LOL. But, I am also 25 lbs lighter SINCE these photos and the timeline. It's a visual.)

Here's to YEAR ten. It's a big one.

*foreshadowing....*

Posted at 04:02 PM in Adversity, BBGC, Blogging, Blogs, Body Image, Food and Drink, Motivation, Move my ass!, Superficial., Support Groups, Surgical Weight Loss Methods., Verbal diarrhea., WLS Success Stories., WLS Support | Permalink | Comments (7)

27 March 2013

Shane Koyczan: "To This Day" ... for the bullied and beautiful

Shane Koyczan:

"To This Day" ... for the bullied and beautiful

This. Man. Yes this is a complilation of the video I shared before -- it has MORE.

To This Day

When I was a kid
I used to think that pork chops and karate chops
were the same thing
I thought they were both pork chops
and because my grandmother thought it was cute
and because they were my favourite
she let me keep doing it

not really a big deal

one day
before I realized fat kids are not designed to climb trees
I fell out of a tree
and bruised the right side of my body

I didn’t want to tell my grandmother about it
because I was afraid I’d get in trouble
for playing somewhere that I shouldn’t have been

a few days later the gym teacher noticed the bruise
and I got sent to the principal’s office
from there I was sent to another small room
with a really nice lady
who asked me all kinds of questions
about my life at home

I saw no reason to lie
as far as I was concerned
life was pretty good
I told her “whenever I’m sad
my grandmother gives me karate chops”

this led to a full scale investigation
and I was removed from the house for three days
until they finally decided to ask how I got the bruises

news of this silly little story quickly spread through the school
and I earned my first nickname

pork chop

to this day
I hate pork chops

I’m not the only kid
who grew up this way
surrounded by people who used to say
that rhyme about sticks and stones
as if broken bones
hurt more than the names we got called
and we got called them all
so we grew up believing no one
would ever fall in love with us
that we’d be lonely forever
that we’d never meet someone
to make us feel like the sun
was something they built for us
in their tool shed
so broken heart strings bled the blues
as we tried to empty ourselves
so we would feel nothing
don’t tell me that hurts less than a broken bone
that an ingrown life
is something surgeons can cut away
that there’s no way for it to metastasize

it does

she was eight years old
our first day of grade three
when she got called ugly
we both got moved to the back of the class
so we would stop get bombarded by spit balls
but the school halls were a battleground
where we found ourselves outnumbered day after wretched day
we used to stay inside for recess
because outside was worse
outside we’d have to rehearse running away
or learn to stay still like statues giving no clues that we were there
in grade five they taped a sign to her desk
that read beware of dog

to this day
despite a loving husband
she doesn’t think she’s beautiful
because of a birthmark
that takes up a little less than half of her face
kids used to say she looks like a wrong answer
that someone tried to erase
but couldn’t quite get the job done
and they’ll never understand
that she’s raising two kids
whose definition of beauty
begins with the word mom
because they see her heart
before they see her skin
that she’s only ever always been amazing

he
was a broken branch
grafted onto a different family tree
adopted
but not because his parents opted for a different destiny
he was three when he became a mixed drink
of one part left alone
and two parts tragedy
started therapy in 8th grade
had a personality made up of tests and pills
lived like the uphills were mountains
and the downhills were cliffs
four fifths suicidal
a tidal wave of anti depressants
and an adolescence of being called popper
one part because of the pills
and ninety nine parts because of the cruelty
he tried to kill himself in grade ten
when a kid who still had his mom and dad
had the audacity to tell him “get over it” as if depression
is something that can be remedied
by any of the contents found in a first aid kit

to this day
he is a stick of TNT lit from both ends
could describe to you in detail the way the sky bends
in the moments before it’s about to fall
and despite an army of friends
who all call him an inspiration
he remains a conversation piece between people
who can’t understand
sometimes becoming drug free
has less to do with addiction
and more to do with sanity

we weren’t the only kids who grew up this way
to this day
kids are still being called names
the classics were
hey stupid
hey spaz
seems like each school has an arsenal of names
getting updated every year
and if a kid breaks in a school
and no one around chooses to hear
do they make a sound?
are they just the background noise
of a soundtrack stuck on repeat
when people say things like
kids can be cruel?
every school was a big top circus tent
and the pecking order went
from acrobats to lion tamers
from clowns to carnies
all of these were miles ahead of who we were
we were freaks
lobster claw boys and bearded ladies
oddities
juggling depression and loneliness playing solitaire spin the bottle
trying to kiss the wounded parts of ourselves and heal
but at night
while the others slept
we kept walking the tightrope
it was practice
and yeah
some of us fell

but I want to tell them
that all of this shit
is just debris
leftover when we finally decide to smash all the things we thought
we used to be
and if you can’t see anything beautiful about yourself
get a better mirror
look a little closer
stare a little longer
because there’s something inside you
that made you keep trying
despite everyone who told you to quit
you built a cast around your broken heart
and signed it yourself
you signed it
“they were wrong”
because maybe you didn’t belong to a group or a click
maybe they decided to pick you last for basketball or everything
maybe you used to bring bruises and broken teeth
to show and tell but never told
because how can you hold your ground
if everyone around you wants to bury you beneath it
you have to believe that they were wrong

they have to be wrong

why else would we still be here?
we grew up learning to cheer on the underdog
because we see ourselves in them
we stem from a root planted in the belief
that we are not what we were called we are not abandoned cars stalled out and sitting empty on a highway
and if in some way we are
don’t worry
we only got out to walk and get gas
we are graduating members from the class of
fuck off we made it
not the faded echoes of voices crying out
names will never hurt me

of course
they did

but our lives will only ever always
continue to be
a balancing act
that has less to do with pain
and more to do with beauty.

Posted at 07:38 AM in Adversity, Advocacy, Bullying | Permalink | Comments (0)

26 March 2013

Live ON and be yourself. #noh8

"No freedom until we're equal, damn right I support it."

We press play, don't press pause
Progress, march on
With the veil over our eyes
We turn our back on the cause
Till the day that my uncles can be united by law
When kids are walking 'round the hallway plagued by pain in their heart
A world so hateful some would rather die than be who they are
And a certificate on paper isn't gonna solve it all
But it's a damn good place to start
No law is gonna change us
We have to change us
Whatever God you believe in
We come from the same one
Strip away the fear
Underneath it's all the same love
About time that we raised up

Posted at 11:20 AM in Adversity, Advocacy | Permalink | Comments (0)

05 March 2013

words hurt - choose your words carefully

http://www.r-word.org/

Posted at 06:52 AM in Adversity, Advocacy | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

06 January 2013

People Magazine - Half Their Size - No Surgery! No Gimmicks - A Rant from a Bariatric Patient.

I watched ABC's 20/20 on Friday night as I typically do, and I was half-inspired, refreshed to push forward in my own journey as I continue to press on nearing nine years post gastric bypass surgery and ever so slightly PISSED OFF. Why? Read that cover again. "No SURGERY - No GIMMICKS!"

People Magazine does this every year, much to the chagrin to every surgically altered bariatric patient in the blog-o-sphere. ABC. People Magazine. The show and the magazine, both -- FULL OF GIMMICKS, and quite possibly more than one surgery. "No SURGERY - No GIMMICKS!"

Except when they're touting Beachbody, "lost the weight Atkins" AND a gastric bypass?

Download NatalieJillGetEmiBook <--- Page 46.

Why is it celebrated to Lose Weight With Diet Plans like "Beachbody, Visalus and Atkins" (All three were referred to in the program to at one point in the program ... were they sponsors? Hello, RUBY GETTINGER IS HAWKING the 90-DAY VISALUS CHALLENGE?!?!) but life-saving bariatric

surgery or weight loss surgery --- is shunned in the same category? Diets fail. That's why they are so lucrative! You go ON a diet so that you can fail a diet so that you can get on a diet so that you can fail a diet so you can go on a diet. This is how people become morbidly obese and meet bariatric surgeons.

(Image from Roni's Weigh)

I get it. Diet companies pay to be on the show and in the magazine.

However, those living with morbid obesity also need to see the opportunity for success, and showing them the success of those who have succeeded with bariatric surgery is not something to be ashamed of. Clearly SHAME made the woman in the article hide.

It's time to stop calling weight loss surgery a quick-fix, a gimmick or a cheat and give it the respect and attention it deserves. The individuals who most benefit from having a bariatric procedure can be exposed to it's benefits instead of a constant barrage of useless diet advertisements.

WLS is the ONLY "diet" that has allowed myself, my husband, my mother in law and my sister in law to live within normal weight ranges for the last 7-9 years. What say you about your diet?

Posted at 12:29 PM in Adversity, Advertising, Commercialism, PR, etc., Advocacy, Diets, Diets, Nutrition, Food., Obesity., Web/Tech, Weight Loss Peers., WLS Success Stories., WLS Support | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)

04 December 2012

Not today brain.

Complex partial seizures are often preceded by a seizure aura.^[2] The seizure aura is a simple partial seizure.^[2] The aura may manifest itself as a feeling of déjà vu, jamais vu, fear, euphoria or depersonalization.^[3] The seizure aura might also occur as a visual disturbance, such as tunnel vision or a change in the size of objects (macropsia or micropsia).^[4] Once consciousness is impaired, the person may display automatisms such as lip smacking, chewing or swallowing.^[3] There may also be loss of memory (amnesia) surrounding the seizure event.^[2] The person may still be able to perform routine tasks such as walking. Witnesses may not recognize that anything is wrong.

Complex partial seizures might arise from any lobe of the brain.^[2] Complex partial seizures most commonly arise from the mesial temporal lobe, particularly the amygdala, hippocampus, and neocortical regions.^[5] A common associated brain abnormality is mesial temporal sclerosis.^[3] Mesial temporal sclerosis is a specific pattern of hippocampal neuronal loss accompanied by hippocampal gliosis and atrophy.^[6] Complex partial seizures occur when excessive and synchronous electrical brain activity causes impaired awareness and responsiveness.^[7] The abnormal electrical activity might spread to the rest of the brain and cause a secondary generalized tonic–clonic seizure.^[8]

This morning I was sitting here with Bob and Tristan after the big kids had gone off to school, and we were talking about Christmas presents.

I remember stating out loud, "Not today, brain." This statement is obviously part of a pre-seizure aura, and comes very frequently.

A few minutes later, I seized. My husband and youngest daughter saw, and my husband grabbed my phone and video-taped what happened mid-way through, caught the END and uploaded it to my Facebook page, unknown to me. I apparently just got up after this, walked away and laid down on my couch.

I suppose, after seeing the 86+ 42 comments to this video on Facebook (that I didn't know I uploaded, beacuse Mr. did it, because I have NO MEMORY OF THE EVENT... because I NEVER DO...) it's caused a reaction.

I guess you could say I am surprised by the feedback from the internet.

I appreciate and understand the safety concerns, as I would be equally concerned, and perhaps maybe now my concerns make more sense to you? I live in this body. I have lived in this body with seizures since at least ... 2006. I know many of you have always understood it -- but many don't.

I have been sharing posts, snippets, videos and updates about living with epilepsy for more than five...six... years, and I have had people complain, some unsubscribe, some ask me not to discuss it, some suggest that I have Munchausen's disorder, and that I "fake" it, or receiving comments along the lines of...

"OMG I AM SO SORRY for YOU HOW CAN YOU LIIIIVE THAT WAYYYYY I would just DIIIIEEEEE," I don't really respond well. "OMG, I cannot IMAGINE not being able to...." "You're getting WORSE, you know!" "How are you NOT 300 pounds again? I would just EAT MYSELF to DEATH!"

And, it goes on. I get some seriously shit comments sometimes.

Yeah. I have seizures. I. have. them. all. the. time. So what? I have polymicrogyria. I am considering brain surgery. It is likely that I have a lot more seizures than we know about. It seems like I only notice them when there's an adult home.

I figured that particular pattern out on the last three days the Adult Was Home.

Oops.

I suppose now you understand why I don't take well to those making light of the disease -- it's not something you can "get over." I can't medicate it and go about my day, though I try, the medication makes me a bit uh... where were we?

I have zero short-term memory left, which is likely a permanent neurological condition.

I cannot work, I have been denied disability twice, and I continue to appeal.

Posted at 06:00 PM in Adversity, Seize you, seize me. | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

29 October 2012

Beth Sheldon-Badore Honored with the Obesity Action Coalition’s “OAC Advocate of the Year” Award

Beth Sheldon-Badore Honored with the Obesity Action Coalition’s “OAC Advocate of the Year” Award.

Thank you, OAC.

Beth Sheldon-Badore Honored with the Obesity Action Coalition’s

“OAC Advocate of the Year” Award

Massachusetts resident Beth Sheldon-Badore was honored with the Obesity Action Coalition’s (OAC) “OAC Advocate of the Year” award during the OAC’s Your Weight Matters Inaugural Convention in Dallas.

As a longtime OAC member, Beth has been instrumental in leading the obesity advocacy fight on both National and state advocacy issues.

“Beth has been a key asset to the OAC this year in her advocacy efforts. Advocating for the OAC is a tireless effort and Beth exemplified the true meaning of ‘advocate’ in every sense of the word,” said Joe Nadglowski, OAC President and CEO.

About the OAC

The OAC is a National nonprofit charity dedicated to helping individuals affected by obesity. The OAC was formed to bring together individuals struggling with weight issues and provide educational resources and advocacy tools. For more information on the OAC, please visit www.obesityaction.org.

About the Your Weight Matters Convention

The Your Weight Matters Convention is a national convention focused on providing individuals with quality, evidenced-based education on weight and its impact on health. For more information on the Convention, please visit, www.YWMConvention.com.

Posted at 08:23 AM in Adversity, Advocacy, Conferences, WLS Success Stories., WLS Support | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)