Reflecting on the journey...

I thought I would start the new year by celebrating how far I have come - and to celebrate, I'd like to share my joy with people who know *exactly* where I've been :)

Pics are password protected - pw: ohfriends

So, my before and afters:

Me in my size 5 judo gi a few months pre-op....
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e336/Judo_Val/Before1.jpg

....and, me in a size 2 gi, finally working out again, right at the one year mark!
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e336/Judo_Val/IMG_0408.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e336/Judo_Val/IMG_0788.jpg

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Me a week pre-op, my last big BBQ dinner, in size 22w jeans...
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e336/Judo_Val/Before2.jpg

...and, me last week out with friends, in a size 6 dress from Express!
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e336/Judo_Val/380396_828032833868_46709931_37123267_304345405_n-1.jpg

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I've gone from hiding behind things in photos, cropping out my entire body...
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e336/Judo_Val/Before4.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e336/Judo_Val/Before3.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e336/Judo_Val/n46709931_31 714523_3178.jpg

... to being comfortable in my own skin, loving pictures of me, and feeling wonderful :)
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e336/Judo_Val/338472_22987 52993878_1400756507_31891807_1606142524_ob-1.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e336/Judo_Val/After2.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e336/Judo_Val/After3.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e336/Judo_Val/After4.jpg

I hope you're all enjoying sucess in your journey as well - and falling in love with yourselves :)

~Valarie~

Congratulations on your success. It looks like we share a Surgery Month - August 2010. I had a VSG and I have lost a tolal of 100 lbs after the surgery and 85 lbs before for a total of 185 lbs since August 2009. I have recently seen a regain of 10 lbs over the Holidays so I will be kicking up the activity starting next week to get back on track. Are you still counting calories and Protein?

 I was Sept 1st of 10, and have had a pretty easy time of things. I have never tracked calories at all, only protein - I workout every day, so calories aren't reallly of concern to me :p

Good luck taming the regain - work hard and you'll do well!

Valarie, you look amazing! I have not had surgery yet, and I will not be having the same surgery as you, but I sure as hell hope that I have the same success as you.

 :)

I walked hours every night post-op, and I credit that for most of my sucess... seriously. I put my son to sleep at 8:30pm and immediately left to walk, and was rarely home before 11pm. I did that for months, until I had lost enough weight to do other forms of exercise (running, climbing, judo).

The food matters, but the exercise saved me :p