Healthy Living in Connecticut Blog

It's been over 2 weeks since my abdominoplasty. I can honestly say, I haven't been in any pain from it. I especially love sharing that I never took one pain killer, not one! It's not very common to not have any pain killers but I didn't need them. I did opt for a local anesthetic called Exparel to offer additional comfort after the procedure, but after that wore off, I was feeling OK.

I seem to be healing well. It takes time but I'm taking care of my wounds. I'm not doing any exercise yet, aside from doing some shopping or walking the dog. It will be great to workout again though. My only fear is that I might lose some muscle mass. Hopefully it's not too much muscle. I also hope it doesn't take me too long to get back into my workout routine... but only when the doctor says it's time.

As I am about to have an abdominoplasty this coming Thursday, I was thinking back to the beginning of my weight loss journey. After many failed attempts at losing weight, what stuck for me was a lifestyle change. It's always been about health for me when I lost the weight. Any other time I tried to lose weight, it was never about health.

What started out as a journey to avoid blood pressure medication became something that turned my world around completely. Here I am, with a blood pressure taken a few days ago of 118/72, at the dentist. I felt so happy as I realized that my blood pressure stabilized on it's own... I never took any meds that my doctor prescribed for hypertension.

Today, someone who knows I'm plant based at the gym, asked me if I eat much fruit. I told him I eat a lot of fruit. He asked if I worried about diabetes? I said no, consuming whole fruit does not cause diabetes. He had never heard that before but I'm so glad I gave him something to think about. He was always worried about fruit contributing to diabetes.

And he's not the only one. As paleo diets and keto diets gain in popularity, the misinformation about fruit will continue. But I look at it as a way to teach others and change misconceptions.

Plant based foods are important to me now, and they will play an even more important role next month!.

My scheduled abdominoplasty is August 30th. I never in my life thought that I would elect to have surgery, but my loose skin gets irritated and uncomfortable with certain clothing, etc. It's not a vanity surgery although I have to be honest that I hate the way my belly looks too.

Today, I had an appointment with a podiatrist. It was a routine visit but they had to update the medical charts at the office. The medical assistant asked all the routine medical questions and I of course said no to all of them! You know the questions... do you have diabetes, asthma, etc. Then she proceeded to check my blood pressure. I told her ahead of time that I usually have a higher blood pressure when in a doctor's office.

She happily told me 120/70. Really? Even with anxiety, my blood pressure still was great! It made me think of how far I have come in six years. When I was heavy, my blood pressure was like 140/100. I was told I would need to take medication. To hear that my blood pressure is healthy made me so happy to be plant based.