When Hard Work Doesn't Get You The Results You Want

Lose weight. Put in the work. Run. Lift. Eat well. Double your workouts. Go heavier. Run faster.
All great but what you're left with after a drastic weight loss is NOT a perfect body. You're often left with excess skin, stubborn areas that refuse to go away, back problems from the extra weight.
I quickly learned that I would NOT end up at the body I wanted after losing weight because my body had already been damaged beyond just the repai weight loss could afford me.
After losing 140lbs, I was left with that body on the left (photo taken Jan 2018) at my surgical consult. This caused me back pain, made running hurt, got in the way of lifting, made my clothes look bad and after all thay work which I was proud of still caused me numerous nights of depression and low self-esteem ashamed of my body.
Im turning 37 in 8 days, so I decided to gift myself part 1 in a series of surgeries to correct the excess skin problems and mental / physical pains I was living with.
The second pic is yesterday 2/23/2018 (one week after surgery). I still have my stitches in; however I am happier, healthier and damn colder. Haha
The surgeons and staff at Evoclinic Cirugía Cosmética did an amazing job. Underneath my stitches it appears the long term scarring will be minimal & I'm thankful to Dr Sauceda & the staff for their work.
Next up I plan on now focusing my attention on abdomen exercises and hopefully going in the end of 2018 to get the excess skin removed from the abdomen area as well. The next step is saving up the money. Unfortunately, insurance doesnt see this as medically necessary so will not assist in paying for anything. Hence, my first surgery I paid 100% out of pocket from my own money - as will be the case with the next one.

Lesson here is dont let people discredit you or make you feel guilty for turning to surgery. I lost 140lbs WITHOUT the help of surgery. I dont feel discredited or any less because I went the medical route because I put in the work for many years before going in for medical assistance. Surgery isnt for everybody, but the confidence, happiness, and desire to go back out to crush my goals and set new ones is something no amount of hard work would have been able to fix.
Keep grinding yall. Happy Sunday. Be blessed.

Post Surgery Update

Surgery on Feb 16th was a complete success. Multiple pounds of excess skin, fat, gland tissue were removed from my chest.
Today I'm 2 days post surgery and I've been up & moving about since the day of my surgery.
I had zero pain & continue to have zero pain. I was awake for the whole procedure, having recieved epidural anesthesia allowing me to be awake and sing and talk throughout the entire procedure without feeling a thing.
The staff at EvoClinic were amazing. I came home the day after surgery and have been able to shower, change and change my dressings on my own.I still have a drain in me to let the liquids, antibiotics, meds and hydration fluids they pumped me full of to drain out.
The results are amazing. After 4.5yrs getting to this point, Im starting to see the body I knew I had worked for and was hiding under there. I love the results and there is still some swelling and inflammation so I cant imagine hoe good its going to look after.
I walked a mile yesterday. I walked around the block a couple times today just to get some activity as Im not allowed to exercise yet but walking is ok. My mom brought me food today. My friend Trina came by & took me to get some Kombucha from TapShack cos Id been craving. Got some Hibiscus Rose & Mango Guava Kombucha.

Love Yourself Through The Trauma

Valentine's Day. Love for myself. Love for the world. Yesterday (2/13) by all accounts should have been a very difficult & emotional day for me, as it was the anniversary of my sexual assault. What took me months to even come to terms with the fact it happened, what took my trust, my passion for running, and at one point almost my desire for life - all at the hands of someone I once believed to be my best friend.
Yes, yesterday should have been an emotional time, yet here I stand. Here I am. I am happy. I am strong. I am HERE. I have regained a love for running and the security to do so and feel comfortable. I have stopped crying myself to sleep at night. I have surrounded myself with communities who have motivated me to grow and have shown me that love and trust can help to heal, that fitness can pull you out of your darkest times & that community can help reinstill trust & mend what once felt torn apart.
Yesterday, should have been a difficult day; however, I have never been happier. God has surrounded my with not one but SEVERAL encouraging and empowering and loving and inspiring people and communities.
It took me awhile to come to terms with what happened. It took me a long time to make sense of it and work through it. But through it all, I made it through. I survived.
And here we are on Valentine's Day 2018 - the day after that anniversary of one of the hardest times in my life and I have never felt more love, more loved and more loving energy in my life than I do now.

This will be my last post before my surgery on Friday. Going forward, I hope to make this a weekly blog focusing on my recovery and the process of getting back to & better than I am now with my fitness regimen.

What Is "Not That Impressive"?

Not That Impressive? Not That Impressive!?
Yes, exactly not that impressive, because I don't see the route I took or my journey as anything truly impressive or exceptional.
I lost weight - lots of people lose weight. I made fitness a priority and started exercising - lots of people do that. I started to eat healthier (not all the time, but you know what I mean) - lots of people do.
Nothing I've done is impressive. I just took action. I showed up for myself and I started caring for myself. I learned to respect my self, my health and my body.
My goal and purpose in finally deciding to blog is NOT to shine any light on my journey or my path, but moreso to allow people to see someone who may be in their circumstance / situation. I want people to see that people with their body types, people with their struggles, people with their past and challenges are still out there running, working out, pushing it.
Not because I see anything impressive in my doing so, but because my hope is that it might motivate them to join me in taking action.
We are all able to start our own journey. We are all able to be impressive - or NOT that impressive

My name is Joalby & I'm Not That Impressive

Hi, my name is Joalby. Im a believer that in life we all have stories. Mine is just that. My story. My journey. Here we go
COUNTDOWN!!! One Week Left.
This time next week, I'll be waking up from the first of two surgeries to fix my body after extreme loss of approx 140lbs left my skin hanging, my back in pain & my confidence and self esteem challenged and shattered.

As insurance refused to pay anything, I had to choose to break it up over multiple surgeries so that I could afford to pay for this myself. My first surgery is Friday which will remove the excess skin, glands, fat & tissue from my chest around to under my arm. They will be removing an approx 8-10inch hanging of loose breast tissue skin & pretty much reconstructing my chest. Yes I'll have some gnarly scars coming out of it, but scars tell a story & Ive never been one to shy away from telling mine.
Noone told me that when I lost weight this would be a problem or that loose skin would make running (something that has become my passion) painful & at times unbearable. Noone told me after losing all that weight I'd be happy with the work and the journey but unhappy with the aesthetic. Noone told me insurance can cover a bypass surgery to help me lose weight, but that if I chose to lose weight with diet & exercise - THE RIGHT WAY, that any upkeep I would end up having to take care of myself.
Still I dont regret the route I took. I would not have the people around me I do and my story would be a very different one.
I'm not that impressive. Everyone has a story. This just happens to be part of mine.