Week 70 VSG Surgery- My Trip to Amsterdam

[@SimplyWhitney_AssuredGuidance]

You look so great Wendy

[@mwilson5796]

Happy belated birthday. So enjoy seeing the pictures and videos. I’ve been watching on Instagram also. Glad you are home safely. I’m your age and 15 months out from surgery. I’m stuck right now but my motivation is just how good I feel, how much more I want to do and now I can do it. Also my health has improved so much after the surgery. I have my self confidence back, and I like looking in the mirror now. Thanks for sharing your trip with us.

[@stephanieunderwood8159]

What a fabulous way to celebrate your birthday !! Thank you for sharing the photos and videos of your trip. Holland is beautiful.

[@DiminishingDawn]

At 13 years post op, it’s definitely a combination of both external and internal rewards. It’s also the scale that helps - not as a reward, but as accountability. Physical things can help with intrinsic motivation - eg my new fit bit. Trying new hobbies. Joining an exercise class. I think external rewards can be just as important. I don’t know many that would go to work each day if they didn’t get a paycheque. ;-)

[@vsgletsdothis1351]

Hi Wendy, Looks like you had a blast in Amsterdam and I can tell you are a bit down now that it's over. Glad you were able to get around, but sorry for the pain. Hope the hip surgery makes that significantly better! So, you were in Amsterdam for almost 20 years. Why did you move to Toronto? I lived in Spain and Italy for 7 years, so I understand that it was your home. Thinking about your next big goal should keep you busy : ) I'm just 5 months out, so what do I know??🤣

[@bypasstoaleanerlynn8920]

I think for me, it's a combination of feeling better and I guess, external rewards in the form of new clothes. I have so enjoyed new clothes. I swore I wouldn't buy new clothes until I lost weight and other than underwear, I pretty much stuck to that. It wasn't hard to stick to that because I hated how clothes looked on me but letting go and buying clothes has been fun. When I don't eat well, I don't feel well and that along with my fear of regain keeps me pretty straight. I am noticing though, in the last couple of weeks, the urge to eat more and less healthy foods has grown a lot. I'm really thinking of pursuing counseling before it gets out of hand.

[@sadams2750]

Hi Wendy, I’m so happy for you that you went home to the Netherlands and enjoyed friends, family, music, art, food, exercise, and everything else there! I also lived there for many years and loved every minute of it. Nice to see you back here, too 😄 As for external and internal motivation, for me both are equally important and completely overlapped and blurred. Re my health, I’m driven by intrinsic factors: losing weight, eating properly, and exercising makes me feel fantastic and is the sole inspiration for practicing healthy habits for life. But extrinsic factors are what keep me motivated day to day, so setting very short-term achievable goals are critical, for example eating a lean vegan breakfast each day of the week, or cutting my lunch carbs in half 4 days a week, or promising myself a sauna as a reward after working out when I really don’t feel like going to the gym. I also write a daily goal in a journal and read these at the end of the week to review my successes and take pride in every step I've taken to improve my well-being. So I see the important role that both intrinsic and extrinsic motivators play in my own journey, and how setting and acknowledging the daily and weekly successes of many tiny accomplishments is what builds the pathway to attaining the large long-term goals. From what I’ve seen in your videos, you’re already doing this, and I’m certain that you’ll keep doing it, especially since you also use public accountability to give you a boost when needed. Maybe a new longer term goal will be one that’s centered around a mobility milestone after your upcoming surgery? Who knows? Do whatever works best for you in terms of staying motivated, and if you get some of that feeling from setting big extrinsic goals, then do that. Go Wendy! Go all of us who put so much effort into this stuff!

[@gayleford8277]

Hi Wendy, your trip looks wonderful! Good point regarding motivation once you are past the bariatric honeymoon. I too am past that period at 19 months post. My primary motivation was to be able to get my knee replaced (having lost 170 pounds). Last week, i had my knee surgery and now work through the rehab (gruelling but will be worth it). BUT i was thinking that very same thing, now what? I achieved getting low enough to get the knee done and immediate goals are now knee related in terms of function and pain. What will my motivation to stay on track be and what will those goals be. Lots of thinking to do and which types of goals work best for me? So far it seems external do but then those NSVs give one such a high, but as you are at a more reasonable weight, those too are fewer and further between and do we forget to celebrate them and notice them? Sorry to ramble, I obviously have a lot of thinking to do to ensure i remain on track .............meanwhile, knee recovery is my primary goal with a hope for being more active .....

[@sharonmadison887]

Hello Wendy, I am happy you enjoyed your trip. I really like your videos; I especially enjoyed you taking us around the world with you. Amsterdam is gorgeous!

[@latonyathomas3267]

Hey Wendy so glad you great time on trip looks you loads of fun. In the beginning I did have external rewards but now I’m just motivated just to stay on track and move forward to reaching my goal weight. I do feel there nothing wrong in rewarding yourself when you accomplished something you have worked hard toward.

[@juancarloscorrales9892]

I think motivation it’s a cicle, in the beginning it starts with an external motivation but then after a wile you keep accomplishing little goals and then bigger at the end you keep pushing the line. But are the goals have to be external rewards? I say not necessary the simple action of making something that you thought you never couldn’t could be stronger that anything