I’ve been meaning to come back to this blog for some time now but it’s been a busy past few months. Those of you that are afraid of change may want to stop reading at this point because you will get stressed out just thinking about my summer.
Where to begin? I guess it could go back to January when all of this change was put in motion or the idea of change. I like to spend my vacation time in the lovely city of Manchester where I can watch a ton of footy (soccer for the Americans) and spend days wandering the streets of my musical heroes. Some time near the end of my trip I went to Clint Boon’s DJ night at South which is a fantastic way to spend your Saturday night out. I love to dance and the tunes this night had me out on the dance floor in between grabbing gin and tonics from the bar. After a few songs I would have to go rest for a bit though before feeling the pull of the music again. I was disappointed with myself at having to spend so much time just observing. I’ve spent most of my life being fat but never felt like it stopped me before. Sure I had friends that would go off doing physical things like hiking or 5Ks that NEVER thought to ask me if I wanted to join along, its been decades since I’ve shopped in a non-plus size clothing store and I’ve been using seat belt extenders on most flights for a few years. None of that bothered me but for some reason not being able to get up and throw some shapes during a Charlatans song really cut me deep and I knew it was time to make a change.
Being notoriously undisciplined when it comes to following a diet I had to do something more than just cut out the carbs from my life. I took a couple of months and met with a few doctors to research surgical options and kept my plans to myself and didn’t start telling close friends about this until I had made the decision to move forward. Getting through all of the pre-surgery appointments and procedures took longer than I expected but I finally had a date of August 3rd and the countdown began.
So that was HUGE, like beyond major it’s a complete lifestyle change and I was mentally preparing to do that as well as cut out things from my life like my beloved cans of Coca Cola. In the midst of all that the company I work for decided to have a much needed division to allow everyone to focus on the tasks at hand and build up the necessary support teams to make both be successful. I was given the choice of where to go and I chose to head to our facility in Mojave. I had always enjoyed my trips to Mojave but hadn’t spent more than a few days working there and knew it was time to say goodbye to my team in Long Beach and head north. All of this was to happen at the end of July just days before my surgery.
The great apartment search was underway and I found a two bedroom in North Hollywood committing myself to making an hour plus drive to Mojave each morning. A small trade off for better nights and weekends as I knew even with the commuting time my work / life balance would be better being a bit further away. Movers came to check out my stuff and I started what was to be a very stressful and life changing week. In one short week I had worked my last day in our Long Beach office trying to hold in the tears while I came to the realization that everyone I had spent the last four years with would no longer be daily fixtures in my life, left my beautiful place with the amazing breezes for an apartment in the Valley and had myself medically mutilated! It was absolutely exhausting and when my Dad walked me in to my new apartment the morning after my surgery I lay down on the couch with a big cup of ice chips next to me and fell asleep happy that I had made it through the worst bits.
It’s been nearly three months since that week and what’s different now? Well I’ve lost 70 pounds, nearly everything in both of my giant wall to wall closets fits, my apartment is fully set up and I am using these shoes more often. What’s the point of telling you all of this? Just to embrace the change really, don’t be afraid or put something off. It was a few days of chaos that I made it through and I would gladly go through it again.
Mi Vida Gordita 
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