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101 to be exact. Just unbelievable that I've lost that much in less than six months. Went from 44 jeans to 34. BMI started at 44 and I'm down to 30. I'm so thankful that this was available to me.

Coming up on 3 months after my initial post on this topic. I just went through my closet and drawers a third time. With the exception of one shirt, everything is gone. It's almost to the point where my newer smaller clothes are getting too big. This is crazy fun but also scary. I don't know if this makes sense to anyone else but either way, I'm grateful to have this "problem"

Very odd to hear this after years of being unsuccessful. I m averaging about 4lbs a week even with the stalls. I should be close to goal around labor day I think...Thanksgiving worst case scenario....I hope.

Congrats!!!! That’s awesome!!

after a stall around 190 that lasted about six weeks, I have finally broken through. I'm feeling good and 100 lbs lost is getting closer.

4/16 was the one year anniversary of my first appointment with my surgeon! It ended up being a zoom appointment since Covid had just started. I ended up with surgery on 11/10 and I’m 122 lbs lighter today than I was a year ago. Honestly the six month process seems so long but it flies by! Then suddenly they are scheduling your surgery and it’s like wait...this is actually happening!? I’m still losing at 5 months out, with another 52 lbs to go to goal. My best advice is 1. Start losing in the six month preop time unless it would impact insurance eligibility. Every pound lost now is a pound you don’t have to lose after surgery. 2. Start dealing with any food issues you can early on- surgery will force you to cold-turkey some of them like binging or eating nonstop sugar, but dealing with the mental side of that at the same time as surgery recovery would be tough. 3. Prepare yourself to rebuy an entire wardrobe. I was excited about the thought of it until I realized things like I had to buy all new underwear and bras and everything else, not just cute and fun stuff. And it’s expensive! 4. Your mileage may vary, but this is the best present I’ve ever given myself. It’s amazing to be able to free yourself from a lifelong problem that affects every part of your life. Where you are a year from now is going to be incredible.

As of today, I am down 120 lbs. from my highest weight. My HW was 374 when I had my first appointment with a new endocrinologist in July 2019. My A1C was creeping up again and I was put on Victoza. I made a conscious effort beginning at that point, to maximize the weight loss side effect of the medication. I lost about 60 lbs. by the end of the year. In January 2020, my insurance began to cover WLS. I had my first appointment that month. The process of classes, doctor visits and supervised weight loss was going to take a minimum of 6 months. The insurance and program mandated everything was done through program providers. There was no option to see my local doctor or dietician. Covid slowed down my progression and I also made the choice not to rush to surgery when it first became available again. By the fall, I was ready to proceed. I managed to not gain a tremendous amount back (about 8-10 lbs.) but wanted to stop the trend. I decided to schedule surgery for right before the holidays so I could minimize the time off from work for recovery. I weighed 325 on the day of surgery on 12/14/20. Today, I am 254. Surgery was relatively easy for me. I had post-op discomfort, but no pain. I was able to tolerate and progress through food stages as expected. I’ve not been hungry or overly full since surgery. I do experience old, bad habits trying to creep in at times. I know that is always going to be the case. Surgery did not eliminate my want for food nor the thought of how nice it would be to eat large quantities again. That will also be an on-going battle. The hardest daily thing for me is not to eat and drink at the same time and then to wait until time has passed before I drink again. Eating slowly and thoroughly chewing has been a challenge (with sometimes painful reminders) but I am gradually getting more mindful. I feel better than I have in years. I don’t remember the last time I weighed 250. I would like to get to 180 but don’t know if that is achievable or realistic to maintain. We’ll see. I’m tall so that weight would put me just slightly over normal weight. I recently had 3 month labs run. Everything was normal and my T2 diabetes is currently in remission. I stopped all diabetes meds the day of surgery. The pressure was lowered on my CPAP but there is still a need for it. I’m not done. Even if I never lost another pound, I’m happy with the changes and the regaining of health. One of my primary motivators was the desire to not lose mobility. I’m fortunate that I’ve never had any issues with mobility but I could see the writing on the wall if I stayed the way I was or continued to gain. I did not want to have to participate in any of the pre-surgery preparation. I just wanted to have surgery and be done. I thought I knew all there was to know. And while I did know a lot going in, I really did learn things and have benefitted from listening and following the plan provided. I did not want to weigh, measure or track my food. But I did (and continue to) and it’s paying off. I’m troubled sometimes by questions that I read on this board and it leads me to wonder about the quality (or lack of) preparation that other programs offer. It makes me grateful that for once, I listened and learned. What I take away from this board is the wisdom and experience of others who are going through the WLS process now and those veterans who share strategies that have helped. I try remember that everyone’s experiences are slightly different but I still look for common themes (same process I use when I read vacation/resort reviews).

Had my 6 month follow up today with the nutritionist, and surgeon (it will be 6 months tomorrow). They were both extremely happy with my success. I was told that I have done exceptionally well thus far, and to keep up the good work. I have lost 76 lbs., and 77% of my body fat!! All my labs came back good, except I am anemic, but have always been. So now I have to take the bariatric vitamins with 45 mg of iron. I was told to do was to add in some exercise, just light stuff with the tension bands. Only 15 minutes, 3 days a week, then slowly work my way up. I have fibro, so I have to be careful or I will be in too much pain to do anything at all. I am so happy! My journey is far from over, but I am well on my way to being a healthy, productive, active person. My only regret, if any, is that I wish I had this done 10 yrs. ago.

Its hard to believe that there are people who dont believe in wearing masks it is an airbourne transmitted virus that means that you are in danger of contracting the virus everytime you are near someone not wearing a mask i wear two surgical masks ensure the nose clip is. Tightand a visor on top of that as you can contract it via your eyes as well Wearing a visor on its own is of no use without a mask i work as a nurse in an intensive care unit and it is so sad to see young people dying who we simply cannot save .This is a deadly virus and the UK variant is much easier to contract .I think wearing a mask a small price to pay to save your life and that of others in Spain you cannot even be on the beach without a mask The huge problem is all these covid patients worldwide are taking up ICU beds which there is a limited amount of it also means that patients are having procedures postponed as there is no ICU beds available i think if everyone spent one day in a covid unit watching people gasping for breath it might sink home to stay at home and if u must go out please wear a mask it just common sense really

It happens. Just make sure you get your water in and you'll have a whoosh soon. My longest stall was 3 weeks, then I took a big crap, pissed like a race horse for a day and woke up the next morning 8lb lighter.