Healthy Living in Connecticut Blog

After three weeks, I'm realizing how much I miss working out. The first week or so, I thought of it as a much needed vacation from the daily grind. Now I worry about losing muscle mass.

I still have one drain in and that's part of the reason I haven't gone to the gm yet. I hate the thought of working out with a drain. The drain will supposedly be taken out on Saturday. It was originally going to come out this past Tuesday but the fluid output ended up increasing again. The output needs to be at a certain threshold before it can safely be removed. This way, I can avoid fluid buildup in the belly.

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.

I have to admit, I was expecting it to be more painful after having an abdominoplasty. I mean, after all, the incision goes from hip to hip and skin is removed from above the navel to the groin. But honestly, the biggest discomfort so far has been lower back pain from having to walk hunched over.

After an abdominoplasty, patients are required to walk like old men, all hunched over for like a week. This has been tough for me as I constantly like to walk with a straight back. This annoyance will be worth t in the long run though.

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.