Desmond Longbottom

BMI <25!!! wohooooooo!

right dudes. progress pics. i'm gonna get mine in order and post soon. Stalled at the moment at circa. 190lbs (not weighing myself nearly as often lately so the picture is blurrier....), but i'm fully aware it's mostly my own doing. still pretty happy with my progress though so hey ho. Break out your best selfies lads.... and ladies lotsa love Des x

googling "man girdle" now That would be funny if i wasn't actually considering it More news at it happens folks!

Urgh.... have to buy a suit for a wedding i'm going to next month. Still feel like my body is "funny shaped". I'm wearing 32 waist jeans, but my suit waist is seemingly a 40....... how does this happen? have i two different waists? wish the wedding was in a few more weeks as i think i'll be at target by then..... sigh...... However i should just suck it up buy a cheap "fixer upper" suit to tide me over through this wedding and deal with suit related issues on a more permanent basis once i reach target..... and this is exactly what i will do..... unless the bride might be willing to postpone until i reach optimum body size..... will give her a quick call to check... sure it's only her wedding day right any news from you fine folk? 10lbs more here and i'm in "bmi 25 land"..... not quite as catchy as "onderland", but much much cooler and the final final Lasty McLastface waypoint before I set my beady eyes on my ultimate target.

So I've done it, I'm below 90kg. Incidentally in lb terms I'm also in the so called "onederland" I've lost almost 67kg or 150lbs. Only 13-16 more kilograms (30-36 more lbs) to go depending on where i draw my final target line. Final Target seemed so amorphous and distant and changeable. It feels so bloody close and real and solid now. I honestly don't know what to think about it. I do know that when i step on that scales, and it says what i finally decide i want it to say, then i'm gonna be one very emotional (yet manly) guy! My BMI is down to 27 today. 16lbs left to get that below 25. That's right I am only 16lbs over normal healthy weight now. i used to be literally 10 times that much over weight. Anyways. Lovely as always speaking to you folk. Des

well hullo everybody. i've had a bit of an interesting few weeks. Highlights included a new job and low points included contracting h1n1 flu..... or as the media calls it "swine flu" which caused me to develop pneumonia. I'm out of hospital and i'm getting better now but i won't be running anything more strenuous than a hot water faucet for a few weeks. Weight wise things are slowing down but still pushing along in the correct direction. I'm now at my lightest weight since I was about 13 years old and soon will be lighter than I was at the end of primary school. Looking forward to getting below 200lbs not that it's of any particular metric to me as i work in stones or kilograms mostly, but it's a nice number to finally sneak under. My final goal which; i feel i can at last actually think and talk about now as it is starting to appear on the horizon, is about 160 lbs/11 st/70kg. Just a mere 45 lbs to go and i've already lost three times that. Sure it will be no bother to me. hope everyone else is doing well. Des x Actual honest to goodness non obese person..... sitting right here typing a message to lovely folk!

so folks? any news?

BMI <30 This is all

Hey hey family. I had a really good day today. My 3 month check up with my surgeon and nutritionist was today. Eavann my nut asked me do i remember what i said during my first consultation on what weight I'd like to achieve with my surgery. At the time I was 156kg 345lb (ish) and said 100kg or about 220lbs. I then proceeded to completely and utterly forget about this. Fast forward to today and i had my weigh in and I was 101kg. She said that congrats were in order as i had essentially achieved my target weight. I was floored.... For two reasons. Firstly the obvious one. I had attained a target! like whoah! Then I had a rush of sympathy for the old me. At one point I genuinely felt that getting to this weight was a stratospheric target.... high high in the sky and possibly unattainable. I thought that 220lb was a realistic expectation for me. Even when asked a lofty pie in the sky question I was unable to even imagine that I plus surgery could achieve normal healthy BMI. My response was a genuine and true..... "but, but, I feel like I've only just started??" She then said that they get that a lot. My revised (official) target is now 76kg or 167lbs and in line with what I've had here on bariatric pal since September/October. She said that I'm 2/3 of the way now, so still a little bit to go. My response to that was a jovial yet deadly serious "Sure, no bother to me". On a more serious note I am so delighted with the changes in my head. Much more so than the body changes. The body is great don't get me wrong, but it's upstairs where the real change lives. My identity crisis is throwing up the most lovely of artefacts. The old me would not in a month of sundays let alone in an instant like that be so sure of himself and while I had genuine sympathy for the Des who sat in that far off consultant's office and murmured that he wanted to be 100kg, I couldn't help but smile at how distant I felt from him than at that point. It was literally like Eavann was describing the actions of another person. In other news Oliver my surgeon is delighted with my every progress. He's asked me to get a Vitamin B12 test done but the rest of my blood panel has caused him to wax lyrical about me! Bad cholesterol down, good cholesterol up etc. etc. the list goes on.... Blood pressure is good and still very much in control. All told things are pretty much in fine working order under my proverbial bonnet. So that was my day. Walking on sunshine right now to be honest. Chat to ye again soon. Des x Man on the veritable cusp of non obeseness.

So how is everybody doing? I'm in week nine from surgery now. It's funny just how much my head has changed since August when i started off on this journey. I feel changed. I used to think it was my body that was holding me back from stuff, but i realise now it was all in my head. My self doubting and anxiety has for the most part fizzled and popped. It's not cured, but i have so much more perspective on it now. Body-wise i have a strange issue at the moment. I have cut my not insubstantial mane of hair off (my Facebook friends here may have seen already) and between that, the weight loss and the change of wardrobe i actually am having (minor) trouble recognising myself in the mirror. A few of my mates didn't recognise me for a second the other day too which compounded the issue somewhat. So my question to all you fantastic bariatric pals is this. How are you coping with all of your own changes? Are you in a mild identity crisis like myself? Personally mine is more of a curio than a crisis but i'd imagine that for others it could get quite rough reforming and reaffirming yourself. Des x oooh fact of the day. Excess weight when lost where does it go?? Well it turns out that the fat stored when used as energy is excreted as CO2. Thats right sports fans. If you have lost 100lbs then that weight now exists as a similar weight of CO2 in the atmosphere. So for me there is nearly 120lbs of Des floating free over Ireland. http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/where-does-your-fat-go-when-you-lose-weight

oh ma gawd.... .8 off of not being obese any more! excitement!

It's an ongoing thing. Dr trying to ascertain just how much meds I need!

Had bloods done today and came home with a 24 hr blood pressure monitor. .. it checks my BP every 20 minutes.

ok i want to get to know you fellas more. My Facebook name is Desmond Longbottom. I would love to add you as friends (and get notifications when we send each other messages..... all about notifications me!) Lotsa love Des x

My Facebook went wild last night..... absolutely wild. This was the first time I shared anything about it in general Facebook not my well cultivated group. Really did feel featherlight seeing it all this morning. 170 likes and over 50 comments on that thread. Followed it up with this and it's started to gain likes already. Fair to say I'm feeling jubilant today!

Hey guys thanks a million for all your support. There have been low points along the way but having this group in place has been a really cool part of the whole thing. So glad that I've been through this with you folk.

well here goes nothing. Feast thine eyes..... May i present my pics. The sonic the hedgehog t-shirt was long a favourite.... clearly too long. The ID pics are dated August, October and January. The other pics were taken just a few moments ago in me bathroom. I'm 110lbs down now. My BMI is super close to not being Obese any more however i still have about 65 lbs to go to target.

hey hye. looking swell there @@ANewMe9/21 you are well on your way. I think i need to share a pic with ye guys soon as well. 108lbs down so far!

I'm still freezing.... starting to miss my sub Arctic insulation which is the oddest thing I ever thought I'd say... lol!

Drawback of being 100lbs down.... I am so frickin cold.... all the time!

well christmas is over..... phew. My family goes a bit nuts when ever everybody is around each other too much. Just before christmas i secured a new job which thankfully requires me to move a few towns away. huzzah! Solid food has been a bit of an adventure. especially over christmas. There has been a lot of temptations. some of which i have succumbed too but i think a half ounce of cheese now and then is not gonna undo my best laid plans. It hasn't affected the scales anyway as I have continued to lose weight. That being said i'm not making a habit of anything. For the most part food and I are in what seems like a long break up process. It simply does not love me any more and I am definitely starting not to love it. I bought one of those hover board scooters the other day. I was delighted to find that i no longer exceeded it's maximum weight limit of 110kgs or 242lbs so i thought. Hey. Why the frick not? Well other than the fact i'm 33 and really shouldn't be spending money on things like that. How was everybody's christmas?? des x

hey all. Thought it was time to check in for the week. Seeing as it's the week that's in it i wanted to share some of the stuff that i've been up to pre christmas. Christmas eve I will be five weeks post surgery and hopefully back in the realm of solid foods. Food and I have kind of become a strange bedfellow. I still have to work on my reasons for eating as i still crave the "enjoyment" and "Comfort" that food brings. However that is a niggle that i am sure I will Iron out. In other news i have completely changed my perspective as regards christmas shopping. I used to love going out and buying other people things. I never really thought about myself as i was certain that almost no shops stocked clothes in my size...... I hated clothes shopping for myself. Boy has that changed. I wandered around Dublin on Saturday loving every thing I saw in front of me and relishing in the fact that not only did everything i try on fit me i also had to find a smaller size in some of them. That has literally never happened to me...... ever...... I was also pleasantly surprised at how much energy i had afterwards. Normally if i was walking around all day i would be very drained. However even after a full twelve hours tramping around shops carrying stuff for mum as is my usual christmas tradition/chore I was fresh as the proverbial daisy. So that's the skinny. I'm now 0.1 of a pound off 100lbs down. yup that's 99.9lbs of weightless since August. My BMI is gone from 46. something to 33.1. Right now of course i am still obese but those days are happily numbered. I'm having an enormous "hey guess what! Des is no longer obese party" when i finally get it down to 29.9. So what about everyone else how are your stats going? Is this christmas looking very different for you guys? Mine will be my most different since i spent it on the beach in cambodia 2 years ago. Might go back there with my rocking new bod next christmas actually.... maybe you guys might join me. They have that plankton in the Water that glows when you swipe your hand through it. Anyway that's the lot for now. Thanks for reading and may your christmas be the merriest and brightest you've ever experienced. Des x

Truly tis the season to be jolly! A toast to lower bmi and higher quality of life!

Well I'm behind you guys quite a bit as I'm still on pureed foods. Coming up on 4 weeks since surgery on Thursday. 1 more week of purees then I is back on solids yo! I still feel my stomach is too small to be effective at keeping me alive in the long term but hey ho. We'll see how it pans out! Since starting in September I'm 98lbs down. This is quite exciting. I'm sitting here typing this message in new everything bar my shoes and socks. I had a great knicker bonfire the other day. Very satisfying. The other day I got some new pyjama bottoms and was pleasantly surprised to find my waist measurement put me as large.... not xx large not xL just L. Been to a few Christmas nights out with mates who haven't seen me in months. One of them nearly fainted when she saw me. I still see tubby tubby des in the mirror most mornings but there's definitely a new guy waving back at me every now and then. 12 more kilograms (27lbs) and I will no longer be obese. Hopefully will be 2 finger saluting goodbye to that particular adjective for good soon. All told I'm pretty happy here in ireland. Will be back on solids from Christmas eve which is marvellous and I'm swathed in new clothes. Friends have been giving me gift vouchers for Christmas in local clothes shops which would never have been any use to me before. So that's me. Working hard and getting payoffs here. Hope everyone else is feeling fine and festive. Lotsa love Des x Non obese person nearing completion.