Part Two

Part 1 of my weight loss journey was the surgery. Part 2, and maybe the most important part, is the lifestyle change. The surgery alone will not make me successful. You have to be ready to make these changes. It took me many years to finally be honest with myself and realize that it was time for a change. Maybe it was losing both parents to cancer at the age of 60 within 4 years. Maybe it was the fact that I turn 40 next year. Maybe it was seeing how successful my sister and some other dear friends have been with their surgeries. Whatever it was, I'm thankful I finally took the plunge!

One of the most important parts of this journey is the emotional aspect. I'm reading a great book that was recommended to me by my surgeon's office. It's called The Emotional First Aid Kit: A Practical Guide to Life After Bariatric Surgery. It looks like it's going to be really helpful. Highly recommend it for anyone considering weight loss surgery or for anyone who wants to understand it better. I just read a section about self-talk. If you've known me for any length of time, you probably know that while I try to be positive outwardly, I have the worst negative self-talk! I would NEVER talk to another person the way I talk to myself. I don't know why I do this, but I've worked on changing that for a long time. I love that there are some recent songs out right now that emphasize being good to yourself. Pink's "Perfect" is my new anthem. One of the things the book said to do is to think of your mind as a radio. You can choose to tune into the negative self talk station or tune into the positive self-talk station. My natural instincts are to be pessimistic, so it's a daily struggle for me to tune into the positive station. But keeping my dial tuned in there will only help me be successful on this journey! So if you see/hear me being negative, remind me to retune my dial! :)