beenee

I'm glad this thread has stayed up do long, you know you lost weight when your realizing that in a few more months you'll be looking at XL shirts
( very big deal when you were a 5-6X)

When the smallest size in the plus-size store is too big... I am still in disbelief that a plus size 12 was too big for me at Torrid. OR that I fit a pair of 12's at Express. I'm convinced both designers run bigger, however it was just so cool to see. ☺

7 months from surgery

So, I am 47 years old and I decided (finally) I want to live. This is new......
First, a little personal history.
In 1966 I was born significantly underweight. I almost killed my Mom when I was born (I was always a handful :-) ). She ended up having a historectemy because of it. This was the only point in my life I was underweight or normal weight. Shortly thereafter I was always "pudgy" or "stocky".
In 7th grade I plumped up even more and at 5'7" entered high school at 230lbs. I kept gaining through sophomore year up to 250lbs. I graduated High School at 270lbs. The lowest I have been since 1984 was 280. The highest was (estimated 350ish) and I was there within the last 2 years.
In 2000 I was admitted to the hospital with (BS 964 - yep and I wasn't in a coma) inability to sleep, peeing all the time, and a skin infection that was pretty nasty.....yep, diabetes T2 was with me now. I remember being prescribed a diet where I could eat 2C of raisin bran and skim milk along with some fruit.....but I digress towards a scathing diatribe about 2000's accepted dietary guidelines.
Now all along I have had high blood pressure. Pretty much since high school it was high. I, being a guy and purposefully choosing to ignore the silent things, didn't do anything about it for quite a while. In early 2011 I was fatigued and tired all the time. I had also mysteriously gained 30 lbs in about 6 weeks. So I went in to the hospital "not feeling well" and when the nurse checked my blood pressure hit the emergency call channel to have me admitted immediately (240/180 will do that).....I was in AFIB and it turns out had heart failure from Fluid build up. I lost a bunch of weight after this getting down to 290 (from 340ish), getting my heart back into sinus rhythm. According to my cardiologist he is amazed at my hearts recovery back into what is considered "normal" with my pumping ability (his words not mine) "fully recovered".
So I have Hypertension, Diabetes, Hyperlipidia, borderline Kidney issues, and gout. I am on 11 medications for hypertension and 3 meds (incl Lantus) for diabetes. My Mom had hypertension really bad all her life too, died from cancer though nothing related to the heart.
And it was just a few months ago (my ability to live in denial is EPIC) I finally woke up and said to myself "I want to live"....not just live like in living to an age, I mean actually live life like this is it and not a dress rehearsal.
So here I am scheduled for surgery on Dec 24 and a self-pay to boot (direct exclusions suck).
I am a bit scared of the surgery. I am very scared of me. My ability to live in denial and ignore things that should not be ignored is well refined and dangerous. My Mom 35 years ago has a gastric bypass and she lost 150 lbs and eventually keeping 100lbs off while using OA as her lifelong counselling until her death in recent years. My Mom's sister had the same surgery lost 100 lbs and 2 years later gained it all back plus 50 lbs.....which one am I (says my fear in my head).
I have been trying to not drink 30 min before, during or 30 min after a meal....holy crap I had no idea how much I used liquids to wash food down. This of course adds to my trepidation and general unease.
So, I want to live. I have had two major health warning shots in my life. I believe the Sleeve will aid in this life change. I am a bit scared.
Thank you for reading. Now, off to read all the good info on this site. I will share more as it happens.

I am 47 I was sleeved almost two years ago, not at goal, not an easy road but slow and steady I guess

I'm 42 and I am so happy about my choice two years ago. Two years have passed and I'm still a work in progress which actually keeps me motivated to continue. I'm down 125 lbs and want so badly to get what I thought was going to be a Tummy Tuck has turned into a body lift. Oh well it's all worth it. Lose skin is not fun. I need it gone I am a size 8-10 depending on the brand ms I was told with a body lift I would be a 6. Not that clothes size matters in this journey but I don't ever remember being a 6. Lol !!   

Congratulations to all on your weight loss. This is the best Christmas gift to give ourselves.
I had surgery on 5/29/15
SW 320
CW 200
GW 190. ( I been stuck at 200 for a few months now but doing a lot of weightlifting. ).   

Those are before..

And then, today....
  
I was sleeved in February. I went from 272 to now.. 172

I squatted down with my 3 year old granddaughter to look at something on the ground and realized that a couple minutes later I was still there....I didn't fall over and my feet didn't fall asleep!

~Your underwear that once barely made it to your belly button and always rolled down, now almost fits all the way up under your boobs!!
~Your co-workers start calling you "skinny" even though you are still far from it. Just the change in you has them calling you that
~Had to buy a belt for my jeans
~Shirts that were once too short now come down and hide my belly.

Being able to fit into a Victoria Secret swimsuit is not something I thought I'd ever see! I'm so excited!

Almost a year out, 141 lbs down .Still want to lose another 40-50 lbs, but I'm very happy with my progress so far!!

I am six months out from surgery and here are a couple pics!   
Feeling pretty good! Being festive!

OK, I finally uploaded a couple pictures at the request of a friend. I still don't think I am to the "After" stage, but I am pretty damn close. Here is a picture from me that has to be at my highest weight. I didn't weigh myself back then so I am guessing that I was over 330 lbs:

It's funny, sometimes when I look in the mirror I don't recognize myself. But when I saw this picture, I literally asked who it was! I guess I am getting used to being this guy:

wow...amazing

Just got a new one: when the waitress says "table or booth?"
And you say I doesn't matter!!!!lol and soon I can post when you can walk into Old Navy or banana Republic and actually walk out with with something you can wear!!!!!! Can't wait

wow...amazing

Progress......slowly but surely!!

You start to have a little "thing" with your own shadow. Secret glances. Lingering stares. Looking for opportunities to be alone, just the two of you.
Yeah, I've got it bad.

I weighed 350 December 2013. Today I weigh 203. I hope these pics are ok. I had trouble attaching them.

Wearing a 34DD!!! 34!!! As if! Lol smallest ever for me

This weekend we decorated our Christmas tree. For the first time ever I was able to climb up on the stool without any help or going off balance to reach up high on the tree. And I helped decorate outside, climbing a 22 foot ladder!! I am so proud of myself!

When you walk into church a little late wearing a pencil skirt, fitted shirt and heels and several friends come up to you after and say they didn't even recognize you and were wondering who the new girl was!

I started my journey about 11 months ago. I've lost 97 pounds since then - almost 80 of them since I had my surgery in mid-August.