I love him, too!  I am feeling great....I am about 14 months out now and have lost 170 pounds.  Best thing I ever did for myself!

Hope to see you at a Pgh group event sometime!

Your passion, committment, and knowledge are inspirational!   Thanks for sharing all of that with all of us!

Thanks, everyone! 

I found your pics!  What handsome men!! 

My avatar is a pic of my boys and I.  I will try to upload some more!

Today marks one year since my surgery and I am celebrating 170 pounds lost (including 40 that I lost pre-op).  I am profoundly grateful and thoroughly excited about the future.  I have no illusions that the hard work is over, and I am only starting to realize just how challenging maintenance will be.  I know though, that if I work this "tool" it will work for me. 

Thanks to each every one of you on this board.....without this community I would be so terribly lost.  Whether or not we have interacted directly, please know that I have read your words and benefitted from your knowledge and support.  I hope that I will be helpful too, somewhere along the journey!

I drink boatloads of coffee everyday....full on Starbucks with added espresso shots (or two).  I also make sure to drink 80-100 oz of water a day, though.

Me without coffee is not pleasant.

I am impressed with YOU!  A 5k????  That's awesome!! 

By the way....I just noticed that we had the same starting weight.  Isn't this life so different from that one??

I just added some pics to my profile.  Two are from the night before surgery, one is from my twins' birthday in July (10 months out), and one from last night, at almost a  year out.

Everyone else's pics have always been so motivating to me, so I hope these help someone else!

Thank you!!  You are already doing so well!  Good luck on the rest of your journey!

So, I am about 10 days shy of my one year surgiversary and although I am still 8 pounds away from my goal, I am wearing a smaller clothing size than I ever expected.  Today, I wore a size small top and size 6 pants to work.....which is blowing my mind because I began this journey in a 4x top and size 28-30 pants.  I still feel like the fat girl in my head, and am still having a lot of trouble recognizing what I see in the mirror.  Also, tons of people are saying things like "skinny" and "tiny" and that just feels so not me at all. 

Anyway, I don't know if I am done losing or not.  I have been hovering around this weight for several weeks, but I have done that before and then suddenly dropped another 3-4 pounds.  So, I will just wait and see.  I am comfortable with the way I eat now, and have no plans to change it, so whether I lose more or not, I plan to keep on doing what I am doing.  That is odd too....I have NEVER not been actively trying to lose weight.  I don't really think I have my head wrapped around the fact that this is it and that I have the option to simply continue eating the way I have now learned to do, and I can remain at a healthy weight.  Maintenance is a tough idea for me to grasp after a lifetime of dieting/bingeing.

So, I don't know if I will ever hit my numerical weight goal, but I have already achieved so many of my other goals, and surpassed my clothing size goal.....so I am ok with whatever happens.  I am off all of my meds, no longer have sleep apnea and no longer need my CPAP machine, and have discovered that I love yoga and that it can feel GOOD to exercise.  That last one is a true revelation for me.....I have detested all exercise for all of my life.  Of course, at 320 pounds, exercise was damn painful.  I can also keep up with my twins and have so much more fun with them now!  I am healthy, happy, and prepared to keep working on the head stuff that I need to sort out to continue to be successful.

What an amazing journey this past year has been.  I am still not 100% sure who I am becoming, but I know that I am enjoying figuring it out! 

I love it!  The chocolate mint is my favorite, but I actually like them all extra strawberry, which tastes a *****emical-ish to me.

I agree with Nik about toppings!  I usually put some nuts and calorie free (Walden Farms) choc syrup on it. The nuts are extra protein, and even though they are high calorie, it's ok since the ice cream is so low.

I just ate at the one in the South Side Works in Pittsburgh yesterday!  I ordered the chopped vegetable salad with no dressing, and asked for the Weight Management Soy Ginger dressing on the side.  The dressing has 13 calories per tablespoon, so it can't be that high in sugar.  They had that info available, but since I just dipped my fork in it and ate less than 1 tablespoon total, I didn't worry about it.  The salad was delicious!  Tons of chopped asparagus, beets, edamame, cabbage, cukes, etc!  There was also white cheddar cheese, so between that and the edamame, there was some protein. ( I was ok with my protein for the day, so I wasn't all that concerned, but I will admit that it wasn't a hugely protein forward meal.)

I was quite happy with my choice, but I will say that there wasn't much on the HUGE menu that I felt comfortable ordering.   I don't go there often, but I am glad that now I know what to order when I do!

I haven't found anything that I cannot eat either, but then again, there are tons of things I haven't tried.  I have my own set of "rules" that I just refuse to violate.  I am also terrified of bad habits coming back, and for me, it is easier to just say that I "don't" eat certain things.  Based on my past history with self-control, I just don't trust myself to be able to do a bite here and there.

That being said, there are lots of folks on here who do everything in moderation and are ok with that.  It is a unique thing for each individual and you have to do what works for you.  For me, the emotional stress of worrying about it all and being afraid of the bad habits is too much.  It is actually easier for me to have firm and strict rules that I refuse to violate.

Again, this is just my 2 cents......and keep in mind that I am not even 11 months out yet.  I plan to keep going this way and stay in my comfort zone of super strict rules, but I am not arrogant enough to claim to know the right answers!! 

You are doing great, and the fact that you are aware of what you are doing and reflecting on it is already progress!   I am willing to be that you NEVER worried about bites of this or that pre-op!  I know that I certainly didn't! 

Good luck on finding what works for you!