1 year out today.

Well I'm back from my celebratory dinner...it was a real treat. No cake though. HAHA.  I'm full anyway. ;-)

Figured I'd share my meal with you guys.  I started things off w/ a cup of tomato basil soup and then moved on to my favorite entree', Tilapia Wulfe, tilapia fish (grilled) served with artichokes, sundried tomatoes and some lemon butter sauce on the side.

I can put away a fairly normal sized portion now, huh?





And of course the mandatory Before/Afters:

BEFORE - pic taken a few days pre-op (Jan. 2008)
(6'6", 450 lbs)
Health issues: High Blood Pressure, High Cholesterol, Reflux, Asthma, Chronic Bronchitis, Chronic Back Pain.
Meds: Benicar, Nexium, Advair, Flexeril.



AFTER - pic at official goal weight (normal BMI), reached in October 2008.
(6'6", 216 lbs)
Health issues: none.
Meds: none.
(other than vitamin supplements of course)



Christmas Morning 2008:





And FINALLY...my motivation for NEVER re-gaining a single pound of the 234 lbs I lost:

Day After Surgery, in a coma, on a ventilator in respiratory and kidney failure... Yep, I nearly died...I would do it all over again in a heartbeat though!

Congrats to ya!  Awesome job!  Proud for ya brother. Glad you are doing so well and enjoying your "new" life!

Weigh to go.  Doggy bag the rest of that for lunch tommorow.

Congrats!  What an awsome change!  I hope I can follow your example over the next 10 months.

Thanks for the pictures and updates.  You are an inspiration and have done wonderfully well with taknig care of yourself and looking at food in a positive way.  This surgery doesn't starve us or (for many of us) take away our ability to enjoy food as can be seen by your description of your favorite entree.  One of the things I struggle with is getting rid of the "dieting" mentality.  It is the dieting that I think contributes to most of our obesity.  There still seems to be the temptation for me to return to  a dieter's mentality post op, looking at foods as good or bad,  using excercise to make up for overeating,  weighing myself regularly, counting calories, starving oneself when hungry, overeating when full, shaming oneself, etc.....  You seem to have established a healthy attitude and practice this past year.  Weigh to go.

Fabulous Journey bro. I started out at 455 and would like to get down into the 215 range where you're at but am not there yet. I gotta turn up the exercise and turn down the consumption. Seeing your talapia made me think of a funny story. Over Christmas holidays we're driving through Santa Fe NM on our way to SW CO to go skiing. We stopped in Santa Fe at a mexican seafood resturant to eat lunch. My younger daughter is a real picky eater but she's discovered that she likes tilapia and so when she saw it on the menu she ordered it. When it came out it was the entire fish laying across her plate including the head, with eyes intact, and the tail. They had breaded and fried it whole. It grossed her out bad. I don't think she'll ever eat tilapia again.

Congrats, it sounds like you had a bumpy ride at first.  I'm glad it's smoothe for you now.

Scott

Congrats Adam!!!

You are a stud.

Way to go dude! All these milestones. you are looking great and I bet more importantl;y feeling great. Thanks for keeping us updated.

So was the motivation to never go back the coma or your children?  Both seem pretty big to me. It just was not clear and I had to laugh.

Actually, both. The original motivation to have the surgery was to be around for my son.  After going through what I went through with my surgery (absolute hell), I vow to *NEVER* regain my weight....I've gone through too much.  The joy I have now is more than enough to avoid failure but I will never forget what I went through to get where I am today!