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its now been 4.5 years since I was sleeved. my high weight was 323 lbs. my goal weight was low 180's. I did reach goal weight but over the years I realized that my desired goal weight was too low for me. now for the last 2 years ive steadily maintained a weight in the mid 190's and that appears to be where im supposed to be and im happy with that weight. today 10/1/17 I weight 195 lbs. I exercise 3-4 times a week and my choice of exercise is running. I will also be running the 2018 boston marathon and im so excited about being able to run this historic race! im running it for the jimmy v foundation for cancer research and ive committed to raising $6000 which is no easy task. if any of you have ever been affected by this terrible illness feel free to click the link after this post and make a 100% tax deductible donation to the jimmy v foundation for cancer research. every dollar donated goes to research. you will be supporting my run and a cause that affects everyone as everyone knows someone that has been affected by cancer. as far as my eating, I still have to be very mindful of what I put in my mouth. I can eat much more today than I could 2 years ago but still no where near what I could eat before having the surgery. hope everyone on their journey is doing well and feel free to ask any questions. im also attaching my before pic and a few current pics taken last week. have a great day! heres my donation link for anyone willing to support this wonderful cause: http://jimmyv.convio.net/site/TR/Endurance/General?px=1409952&pg=personal&fr_id=1370

Since my weight has come down I'm waking up early morning with massive amounts of energy it's like nothing I've ever experienced before, I'm walk-run-sprinting for 10 kilometres and returning home and lifting weights for 30 mins and still cannot sit or relax due to the amount of energy running through me, normally this has been happening between 8am -9.30am then goes away, anyone else experienced this?

So I have come to the conclusion that I have a racer back gym shirt problem. I keep buying more shirts and they are soo cute and they make me feel cute. I am still kicking butt on my workouts and I have decided to end Keto for now. I have been stressing a lot about food and unfortunately, I hold on to weight that way. It is time to go back to just being mindful of what I eat and how much. Although I look great in clothing, I wanted to show what my body looks like outside of it. My stomach is sagging lower than before I lost weight. My arms are sagging and my breast have deflated. With that being said, I would not go back and change anything. I would not give up being able to jump, bike, go shopping easily and feel comfortable in clothes for anything. I would not trade this confidence or happiness. I am soo a peace with myself and my body. The aches that I feel are from soreness of pushing my body, than from being too heavy that my body cannot handle the weight. This journey has saved my life in more ways than I could ever imagine. I do not hide from the world anymore. I do not hide from people. I go out and want to explore. I meet new people. I have been freed from the burdens my weight had placed on me mentally and physically. With being said, "I LOVE MY IMPERFECTLY PERFECT BODY!!"

Thank you... good luck to u too Sent from my SM-G935V using BariatricPal mobile app

Congratulations!!! There's a Nov 2017 RNY post around here somewhere. But mine is set for November 7th. Yay November!!!

Yay Paula!! Not much longer now

Are you on a laptop or desktop? If so, then in the top bar that shows your name, right next to your name it says "create" that has a dropdown menu, and ticker is at the bottom.

You look good. So much fun slipping into a smaller garment!

I can't wait to have this amount of energy!!!!!

about a year ago I posted my story in the hopes it would give some of you hope to never quit and never give up on your dream. my dream was to lost weight and have surgery. after 3 unsuccessful times being in the operating room in 2004 at 323 lbs and then an insurance rejection of the sleeve in 2010 at 300 lbs, I was finally sleeved in march 2013. now its august 2014 and im 1.5 years post op with the sleeve. before and current after pics are below the story. below is my original story from June 2010 along with updates from August 2013 and today August 2014. if youre reading this, stay motivated and believe that it can happen to you the way it happened to me. best of luck to you all. -------------------------- ORIGINALLY POSTED JUNE 16, 2010: hi everyone! i have read so much in this forum and want to say thank you to every single poster! ive learned so much and sincerely appreciate verticalsleevetalk.com. im a 47 year old male living in brooklyn, new york. i currently weigh 305 lbs and have been overweight all my life. ive been hovering around the 300-315 mark for about 10 years. before that i hoovered around 280-300 for the prior 10 years. my high weight was 323, which was in 2004. the most ive lost dieting and exercising was about 40lbs on a few occasions, but i always put it back on. in 2004 i decided to have wls and was going to have the gastric bypass done. after going through all the steps and being approved by my insurance, i went to the hospital and was put in scrubs for the operation. then i was told by the nurse that the doctor had a family emergency as his daughter was in a car accident and he had to leave the hospital immediately. so my surgery was rescheduled for 4 weeks later. during these 4 weeks i ate plenty and went on a "goodbye to food" tour! this tour took me to all my favorite buffets and i ate like it was my last meal, even though i knew i shouldnt be doing that. 4 weeks later i again went to the hosptial and was put in scrubs and before my surgery the doctor said he couldnt operate because my sugar level was unexpectedly through the roof. i begged him to go through with it, but he said he couldnt and i needed to lose some weight and not do what i did by gaining weight and eating everything before surgery. so it was again cancelled. now i was determined to lose weight before i went back in 6 weeks for the eventual operation. in those 6 weeks i ate perfectly and lost 30 lbs. the day came and i went in a 3rd time to the hospital. again i was put in scrubs and this time all the tests, including my sugar were normal. but the doctor was surprised that i was able to lose 30lbs in 6 weeks. he sat me down and said the operation was a serious one and if i was able to lose 30lbs in 6 weeks, maybe i should give losing weight on my own another try. he convinced me to not have the operation. so i actually went on to lose a total of 89lbs in 7 months and got my weight down to 234 and felt great. i was actually running on a treadmill for a few miles non-stop and was in the best shape of my life. one year later i was again at 310lbs. i never considered wls surgery again because i honestly in my heart didnt want the bypass portion done. and im thankful that even though i was in the operating room 3 different times, i never had the bypass done. later in life i researched the lapband as it became popular, but again i didnt want the lapband either due to all the complications of it. only a few months ago i discovered the option of the sleeve, and it seemed like exactly what ive been waiting for. a tool to limit my intake, with no bypass and nothing permanently inside of me that needed followup adjustments. so im now in the process of going through everything i need to do before my dr. submits for approval to my insurance. the only thing left is the psych evaluation, which im in the process of completing and ill have it done shortly. then ill meet with my dr. again on june 30th for the final time and he will submit everything to the insurance company and ill hopefully get approved. so thats my story. its seems that bypass just wasnt for me. and ironically back in 2004 i was all for it. now today in 2010, i wouldnt do a bypass ever. im thankful it never got done and i believe it wasnt meant to be. especially being in the operating room in scrubs 3x! again, thank you to everyone who has ever posted in this forum. you do not know how much it helps, even the people like me who only read and never posted before. best of luck to everyone on their journey. ----------------------------------------- UPDATE AUGUST 6, 2013: back in 2010 after completing all the steps and requirements with dr. mcginty, I was denied by my insurance as the sleeve was considered experimental by them. they did offer me the gastric bypass or the lap band, but I refused both as I was only willing to have the sleeve done. so dr. mcginty said he believed that in a few years all insurance companies would be approving the sleeve as readily as they were approving the gastric bypass and lap band. and he was right! in jan 2013 I found out that my insurance now did cover the sleeve and I went back to dr. mcginty. I went through all the steps again and in march 2013 I finally got sleeved! today, august 5, 2013 I have been sleeved 4.5 months. in jan I weighed 291.5 lbs. today I weight 210 lbs. I lost 18 lbs before surgery and 63.5 lbs since surgery. this is the lightest ive been in 25 years and my goal is to reach 180. im finally on my way after waiting 9 years! so don't ever give up! the sleeve was meant to be for me...it just took me 9 years to get it done! --------------------------------------- TODAYS UPDATE AUGUST 20, 2014: I was sleeved in march 2013 at about 300 lbs and reached my goal in jan 2014 at around the low 180's. today, Aug. 20, 2014, I still weigh 182, so since jan I have basically maintained my weight for the last 7 months in between 180-185 so I think this is the weight I will permanently stay at. I exercise 3-4 times a week. over the last 1.5 years ive become a runner and do about 15-20 miles per week. i started out by just walking but now ive also completed a few 13.1 mile half marathons and earlier this year I finally fulfilled a lifelong dream of mine and completed a 26.2 mile full marathon. I can definitely eat a lot more now that I did when I was first sleeved, but I do make the right food choices of what I put in my mouth. I can see that if I made bad food choices I could easily gain back 15-20 lbs or even more because like I said, I can eat a lot more now than I could a year ago. so making a lifestyle change is critical for long term success with the sleeve. if you don't make the correct lifestyle changes, eventually you will stop losing weight and as your ability to eat more increases, you could actually start gaining weight again. thankfully ive been one of the lucky ones and ive had no complications or trouble eating. I never hit any serious plateaus as I went from around 300 to the low 180's very steadily. but I did work the program and I always ate right and I always made time for exercise. I think these last 2 steps is what truly made me successful and made my journey an easy one. life is good, the sleeve is the best thing that's ever happened to me and at the age of 51 im in the best shape of my life! NEVER GIVE UP! NEVER STOP BELIEVING THAT YOU CAN DO IT! I HAD 9 YEARS TO QUIT AND STOP BELIEVING BUT I NEVER DID! IF I CAN DO IT, SO CAN YOU! BEST OF LUCK TO YOU ALL, BOTH PRE-SURGERY AND POST OP READERS. below are some before and current after pics. if anyone has any questions for a 1.5 year post op sleever, feel free to ask.