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I'm bearing my soul and body here. I couldn't be more proud of how my body has changed. I've lost exactly 70 pounds since my surgery. Today marks exactly 24 weeks ( 6 months ) since my VSG surgery. There's good, bad and ugly about VSG. A lot of days, I cried and wondered why in the hell I had this surgery, and what in the hell ive done to myself. Throughout this process, I haven't been able to REALLY see the changes. In my mind, I always see a 268 pound fat girl. Granted, I have seen the changes, seen the smaller clothes sizes, but still struggled with my self image in my head. But today that all changed.... I realized today as I was getting dressed that I had on the same exact underwear as the day I took my pre-surgery pictures. Then I realized that today marked 6 months since surgery. So, i decided to take pictures. I haven't taken pictures in this process because of the absolute shame and disgust I feel towards myself. Shame and disgust are understatement words for how I feel about myself. Until today... Today, I feel proud. For the first time, I can honestly say that I don't see "that fat girl" in the mirror anymore. It may not be pretty, it will never be perfect, but it's mine, and today I'm owning it, and FINALLY for once in my LIFE, I'm feeling proud. It's NOT an easy decision to post these photos of me in my underwear. I feel absolutely vulnerable and exposed. Please be kind. It took all the courage I could muster to do this. The current pictures are not the best quality but the best I could take of myself at the moment. All you new VSG-ers, stay the course and have faith. If you have body image issues as I do, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and you are not alone in the dark! Much love from me to you all! [emoji173]️[emoji173]️[emoji173]️ DOS: 12/13/16 HW: 268 SW: 256.6 CW: 186.4

It’s been a while since I’ve posted on this app. I just want to say to everyone post wls, you are successful. Take this journey and make it your own. Be selfish. Put yourself and your health first. Hold yourself accountable and trust the process. Surgery doesn’t make the emotional eating goes away. It doesn’t make it bad to eat those things that aren’t healthy. I fell into that trap of thinking I was exempt and could slide by. But I got myself together and I began to focus on healthy living. I hope this picture inspires you to go forth and become a more healthier you. Take advantage of this new lease on life. Envision how you want your journey to be and make it happen. HW: 399 SW: 385 CW: 168

I feel like crying guys! What an amazing journey of discovering myself and learning how to love me again [emoji173]

I can't believe it guys! I really can't! I am seriously crying tears of joy. When I started this process I was 540 pounds (I'm 5'10) and I wore a size 36/38. As a lot of you know I had my panniculectomy on June 5th and they removed 15 pounds of skin. Before my panniculectomy I wore a size 22 bottom and 14/16-18/20 top. I had bought smaller sized pants before my surgery because most of my pants were held up by my extra skin flap. Guys...I fit into a size EIGHTEEN!!! And I look super good!! I'm attaching some before and after pictures for you guys to enjoy! I can't believe this is real life! My stomach is flat!! (Please excuse my one drain in my one picture!)

Well BP FAM , I'm back again with a rant. My husband and I were talking last night and he made comments in how he wished I never had this surgery. He stated that my butt has gone almost away and he felt all unneeded to do was tone up and lose my belly initially. Well, first of all, I don't know how you tone up 242 lbs with BMI 0f 39( which was my initial weight and BMI). So.... he proceeded to run his mouth about all the things I can't do like drink gallons of sweet tea, eat cake and Cookies, go to restaurants and eat appetizer , entree and dessert.. You know all of the healthy stuff that led me to be 242 lbs in the first place. Well, I was really hurt by his comments. My rebuttal was how much healthier I am , I am a lose size 10 as opposed to a tight size 16, I am no longer out of breath with walking 20 feet and I am able to exercise. I like how my body has changed and I told him I love my size. Well, he said "you don't have to be attracted to you, I do and you only needed to lose a little belly but now your butt has gone down tremendously " well needless to say I was pushed to my breaking point. I was like if you don't like what you see, go and find you a thick chic with a donkey's ass. I'm not even at goal yet so I'm gonna lose more and just ticked that he would say that to me which made me feel a lil insecure about my looks. Then I snapped out of it. I have posted pics on my other forums but I will put my last one here as well. Not tooting my own horn but I worked hard for these results . I had surgery in Dec 2016. I am just like dang I can't win for losing .i really thought I was doing good . My pics show one week after surgery on left, middle is 1 1/2 months post op and last pic on right was about 2 weeks ago.

First I want to say thank you to so many of the veteran posters on here. I hope you gals and guys know how much your experiences and feedback have helped me and I suspect many others. There's just such a fantastic mix of people and experiences - It's great knowing you aren't alone in this journey. The first few months after surgery were easy. The weight was simply falling off, there wasn't anything I couldn't eat or drink - And better yet, I couldn't overeat because of the restriction. I felt fantastic most of the time, had all sorts of NSV's and loved my new life. From August until January I lost almost 50lbs - I was so close to Wonderland I could taste it. THEN reality struck - Suddenly I was one of those "slow losers" - It took almost 2 months to lose 13lbs. UGH, I WAS going to be one of those slow losers. OK, fine, I'm 52 and it is what it is, right? From January until May, I "only" lost 33lbs. Again, every week/month I told myself that I would lose the weight, I was just in some sort of a stall and things would magically pick up. Well, they didn't, I would lose 2-3 lbs and then I would gain 2-3 lbs. Again, "it's normal" I told myself. Fast forward to a week ago - I jumped on here for some motivation (reading stories, etc.) and I took a hard look at what I was doing. Basically, I was being lazy - I was eating whatever I wanted and justifying it by saying "I only eat small portions" - Well, yeah, that was true...BUT I was grazing, I was drinking too much alcohol, and I wasn't tracking. I honetly have no idea how many calories I was consuming (especially on weekends with family and friends). I played mind games with myself and said "As long as I'm not gaining, I'm doing things right." - Well, that was a giant load of (@*$. This past Tuesday (after a weekend of Mimosa's, Crown Royal, and some really great BBQ), I woke up to a 5lb gain (BTW, yes I realize some of that was water retention). WAKE UP CALL. 5lbs? Seriously - Time to go back to basics before that's a 10lb gain. For the first time in MONTHS, I tracked every thing I tracked everything that went into my mouth (water, food, etc) - I did 3 days of liquid - In two days, those 5lbs were off. Rather than what I've done in the past, I didn't stop there - I continued tracking, I continued being cognizant of what and when I was eating. I said "no" to many things that I thought I wanted. I lost 6.8lbs from Tuesday to Sunday. What? I'm NOT a slow loser - I'm a LAZY loser. Folks, for many of us, it's EASY in the first few months, it's EASY to convince ourselves that we're doing OK, it's EASY to compare ourselves to others, it's EASY to ignore signs that you're falling into bad habits, and it's EASY to get lazy. In reality, it's HARD to stick to your plan when you're feeling fantastic and patting yourself on the back for losing so much weight. I'm choosing to be thankful that this happened now rather than 2-3 years into it. I'm glad that reality smacked me in the face and forced me to face the fact that i wasn't doing what I needed to do. Right now it was EASY to get back on track before I let it get out of control. For those of you experiencing the same - Buckle up buttercup, start tracking, weigh yourself often if you need to, and take a good look and when and why you're losing weight and when and why you aren't. Again, a very special thank you to you old timers for always keeping things real and giving out such fantastic advice.

The first and last love is to love yourself! Never in a million years did I ever picture myself wearing such dress. I loved it and how I felt in it. Amazing feeling to experience. When your confident in each step, it shows and it attracts so many good things. One of the most memorable days of my life [emoji813]️

HW: 282 CW: 198 Goal: 160

50 all together counting pre op diet, my doc was shocked.. I am to yesterday was my birthday.. And my weight loss was my greatest gift!!.. I sent this pic to my mom she was so shocker my face has slimmed down alot!!/& I have a neck now lol happy Sent from my Z981 using BariatricPal mobile app

First of all at 5'4 and 165 you won't be skinny or anything close to it. Everyone is so damn fat in America, people don't even know what legit skinny even looks like. Big boned is a myth, yeah some people might have slightly larger frames but big bones is BS. My bones are 3x denser than the average woman my age and they still barely weigh anything, and they look TINY on a DEXA scan. they are covered in fat and muscle. Big bone is just lie people tell themselves and others to justify obesity. Just because the weight is harder to lose or slower coming off doesn't mean you aren't meant to lose it or you can't lose it. You are barely one year out from surgery. It will probably take you another 6 months or so to lose the rest if you keep eating right. People need to think about their general health and wellness. The way insurance is going right now, those few extra pounds can cost you a lot in insurance premiums in the future. Everyone should be striving to get to a normal BMI at this point. And just because you are smaller doesn't mean you won't have curves. I have lost an entire grown man in weight and I still have enough titties for 3 broads and I have hips, thighs and a butt. Slim thick is really a thing. People need to stop kidding themselves. You will never be this young ever again in life. Go for your goal, go for it hard. It is never going to be this easy to lose weight ever again.