ONE YEAR POST-OP AND DOWN 153 LBS!! THANK YOU VETS!!

i am very proud to post that it has been one year today since I had my sleeve done and I have lost 153 lbs - more than half of myself and I have gone from a BMI of 57 to 27.6!!

This has been an amazing year full of challenges and learning and the thing I am most happy about is how my behaviour has changed! I will never take my health for granted ever again! I now walk at least 4 miles per day, swim laps 4 times a week and do squats and upper body weight training and i LOVE it! Who would have thought that I would ever love exercise and low carb eating!?!

I have to thank all the vets and other members on here whose advice and wisdom I heed daily and without whom I don't think I would have achieved what I have so far...Elina, Frisco, Shagdoll, Ms Shell, Jub Jub, Keith, Julia, Candy and SO many others whose posts I've read and get inspired from!

The only slight regret I have is that I didn't make it to goal on my year anniversary as I still have 18 lbs to go to be a normal BMI but I can't wait to post that goal post!

http://images.obesityhelp.com/uploads/profile/1008642/albums /121788/before%20and%20after.png

Wow!  You are incredible!  Keep up your hard work, you will get there!!!

Thanks!

Thank you so much for sharing!  You look amazing!  You shouldn't regret anything about your weight loss, especially your year anniversary.  Celebrate just the same because you have done an incredible job!

Kym :)

thanks Kym!

Blessed by this surgery blessed!

You are so right, I am truly blessed!!

Wow.  Thank you for sharing this.  It is so inspiring to me. That's an exceptional  job losing over 150 pounds in a year. Congratulations. 

 I started with a BMI of 60, and have a lot of weight to lose, and I am hearing so much about the "Honeymoon" in the first 6 months.  I was beginning to worry that I would never make it to goal!

If you are willing, could you let me know how your weight loss changed over time?  How much did you lose pre-surgery, the first 3 months, 6 months, etc.  Did you see a big slow-down along the way?  have you been able to hold your calories down over time? 

thanks,

Carol

Thank you for your kind words!  And don't worry too much about what you read about weight slow downs and honeymoon periods, everyone is different and your mileage may vary.

It's funny b/c I started out crying to Elina that I was sure I was going to be a slow loser!  Early out I didn't lose that fast.  I was only on Optifast as a pre-0p diet for 9 days so only lost 11 lbs pre surgery.  Then I was worried I had a bigger sleeve and it always seemed others were losing faster.

I just followed the advice of Frisco and Elina and others and stuck to a solid plan.  I have been able to keep my calories down.  Still at a year out I eat no more than 750 calories per day, 75-85 g of protein, I stay around 25 g carbs but some days it goes higher but never past 40 and I still struggle with my water but I do know that I lose better when I drink more water.  I have had maybe 2 days this whole year where i ate a bit off plan up to about 1000 calories and my carbs went up to 58, but i don't think 2 days out of 365 is too shabby! lol

I didn't exercise as hard until around 9 months and I never noticed that I could eat alot more at 6 months.  I still will get very full at around 3.5 oz of dense protein.  I haven't added fruit or any grain type carbs to my diet b/c I am determined to get to goal before i play around with that. 

When I look back at my weight loss I usually lost around 11-15 lbs per month at the beginning.  I met my goals of 100 lbs lost at 6 months and 150 lbs lost by one year so I didn't worry too much.  I do notice that since about 9 months post op the weight loss has slowed considerably. I never had a real stall the whole way but I my weight loss has slowed to around 5 lbs per month.  I am happy as long as I am going in the right direction.

Don't worry about how fast you get there as long as you get there and don't give up!  You will do awesome!