Back from Hawaii vacation!! PICS!

Happy New Year everyone! I am back from Hawaii. What a great vacation it was! I was able to do things that I couldn't before my sleeve, like hiking 3.5 miles into a volcanic crater and then hiking the steep 3.5 miles back out of the crater (and faster than my hubby who's been working out like crazy leading up to this trip!)

I veered further off my eating plan than I intended, but didn't go overly crazy. I probably took in 1500 calories per day or so (estimate since most eating was at the local Hawaiian restaurants). I had three alcoholic drinks over the course of the ten days. A couple bites of my hubby's desserts. More carbs than normal so I could sample the local foods. But all in all, it went very well. My sleeve combined with my new habits stopped me from eating the 5000+ calories per day that I had on vacation pre-sleeve! I LOVE MY SLEEVE!

We spent the first 6 days on Maui and the last 4 days on the big island (Hawaii). Here are some photos. I left for vacation at 168.8 and returned at 169.8... this morning I was at a new low of 168.6. Pretty happy about that!! I have 13 pounds til my surgeon's goal and 23 until my personal goal.

BEFORE (a Feb 2011 vacation photo and I was sucking my gut in):

Another before (May 2011):


NOW:

Hiking the crater on Maui:



On the beach in Maui (with a cheesy smile because I was sick of hubby taking my picture):


WIth the hubby on Hawaii:


And finally at the Seven Sacred Pools on Maui (hate my thighs... them and my arms are suffering the worst with excess skin from being so overweight... but I'm trying to love them anyway!):

 
So frickin Awesome.....!!!!

The rewards for doing all this !!!!

So worth it !!!!

frisco

Thank you!  It isn't always easy, but definitely worth it!

Awesome pictures! Ps I think your arms and thighs look fine!

Thank you!  My arms right up by my armpits are ugly, but very hide-able by shirts.  The thighs are the same - right up by my crotch, so hide-able by shorts/pants/etc.  And probably only really noticeable by me.  So not a big deal.  Thanks for the kind words!

Same deal here with arms and legs....but you look so amazing!! Such great motivation/inspiration!! Keep it up!! I'm glad you had such a great time on holiday!!

Great pictures!  Hawaii looks beautiful!

Were you planning on going to Hawaii before your surgery?  I'm thinkiing of doing something as a reward if I get approved, get the surgery and mabye 6 months out.  I'm not sure what. 

Thanks! We had always wanted to go to Hawaii and we vacation several times per year... but wanted to be in good enough shape for Hawaii to do all the adventure stuff.  So it was good timing to do it 6 months post-sleeve!  I recommend doing something like that for yourself if you can!  

I LOVE THIS!!  I LOVE THIS!!  CAN I JUST SAY  I LOOOOOOOOOOVVVVVVVVEEEEEEE THIS!!  LOL

This report, those pics, that trip...it all sums up what having this surgery, doing the work and changing our lifestyles is ALL ABOUT!!

Thanks so much for sharing all of this!  I'm so excited for you...all of us!

Maria

HW- 315
SW- 286
CW- 274
GW- 160

Thank you!  And I couldn't agree more!  It's worth doing the hard stuff to get the reward!  The head stuff is the hardest, in my opinion, so I'm working on that with a counselor!  It's great stuff even if it scares the bejeebers out of me.