mom2five

Thank you! I feel the best I've felt in many years!

I had my VSG on January 23, 2013 and at that time I weighed 274 pounds. I am 5 feet tall. This past year has been one hell of a year! I reached my goal of 125 pounds on December 23, 2013. And since then, I've continued to lose. I now weigh 116 pounds. I'm still within the normal weight range for my height, but I'm trying to stop losing weight now. I like having a little bit of a cushion in case I start gaining...but I still have a hard time eating enough to get enough calories to stop losing. I'm working on it though! Here are the pics! My son and I can both fit in that outfit now. Me now, weighing 116 and wearing size small tops and size 4 pants. Before, weighing 274 and wearing size 3X tops and size 24 jeans. Pics taken one year apart I took this pic when I reached my goal of 125.

I was working out the first 7 months but I've been lazy lately. I really need to get back into it though. What do I appreciate most? hmmm... being able to move around better and fit in chairs, and shave my legs, and breathe better. There are so many things, but those are the biggest ones, I think.

It's the best thing I've ever done for myself!

Just a quick update. I had surgery January 23, 2013. I weighed 274 and am 5 ft tall. Now, a little over 8 months out, I've lost 131 pounds and have 18 pounds to go to my goal! I weigh 143 right now. I'm really excited! I'm still not used to being smaller and I really don't see myself as being as small as I am until I see pictures! I feel great and have no health issues anymore! Love my sleeve! Here's a before/now pic .

Thank you everybody for the encouraging comments! I am truly enjoying the process! Can't wait to get to goal! Love y'all!

I'm 40. Thanks for saying I look young! I feel like 40 is old, but I don't feel old. I hope my sagging tightens up too... I really don't want to have surgery for it because people say it is really painful. I started working out as soon as the doctor released me for exercise. I do the Leslie Sansone Walk Away the Pounds workout videos. I started with the 1 mile walk and it was hard to finish...now I've worked my way up to 4 miles with jogging and weights included. I exercise 4 to 5 times a week. I really think the exercise sped up my weight loss a lot. I notice that if I take a break, the loss slows down. But, sometimes we all need a break! Congrats on your loss so far!

I also use an app called body tracker. I really like it. It allows you to add a progress picture for each time you do your measurements so that you can compare. It's a pretty awesome app.

I had my surgery on January 23, 2013. Since then, I've lost 119 pounds and I have 30 to go to reach my goal. I am 5 feet tall. My highest weight was 274. My weight now is 155. Before, I wore a size 24/26 jeans, now I'm in a 13/14. I used to wear size 3X shirts and now I wear Medium. Before, I was miserable. Now I feel great! I love my sleeve. I do have a lot of saggy skin though. I'm hoping it will tighten up at some point. I do exercise a lot so I hope that helps. You can't really see the saggy skin in this pic but if you look closely at my thighs you can see it a little. You can REALLY see it from the front. I don't like it at all, but maybe someday I can get it fixed if it doesn't tighten up. My boobs are very very sad. I'm wearing a good supportive bra in this pic...but my boobs are just...bad. I'm definitely getting them fixed if at all possible! Something that I think is interesting is that in the before pic, my thigh is 2 inches bigger than my waist is in the "now" pic! Seems so unreal!

I will be 6 months out tomorrow as well. I have loose skin too... it's not too bad yet, and I hope it doesn't get really awful but I do have it and I don't like it. I think it is just stretched skin. Some people's skin seems to go right back to normal when they lose weight and other people's skin seems to stay stretched out. I think it has to do with age, genetics, and how long you were overweight having the skin stretched out. I don't think we produce more skin cells.. it just gets all stretched out. Congrats on almost being at goal!!

I'm glad you are ok! I've also learned the hard way. I'm 6 months out too and wasn't taking my vitamins for a while... I started having some problems too that went away a few days after starting back on my vitamins. They are important. I've increased my protein too.

My doctor said to keep the Protein high..that is the biggest factor. I have had problems keeping my protein up, so I did start losing hair around 3 months. I am almost 6 months now and I have noticed that my hair has almost stopped falling out. I'm so happy. It looked kind of bad for a few weeks but I'm noticing some regrowth now and I'm using Pantene Volume shampoo and conditioner for fine hair and it seems to be helping my hair to seem fuller. I've been taking Biotin too, lately. I heard that it won't keep your hair from falling out but it will help with regrowth. Another thing, never stop taking your Vitamins. I didn't take mine for about 3 months and that probably contributed to the hair falling out. I starting feeling like crap too. I wish you the best of luck... losing hair is temporary though. The hair will come back relatively quickly and you will be thinner and healthier. So, to me, it's a pretty good trade out. :-)