BelgianGuy

Hello everyone!
I usually don't create a whole topic just for myself, but today is a little special since it has been exactly one year since I've had my surgery, time sure flies, especially when you go through a physical change of this ... magnitude.
In a year, I have indeed lost 53kilos (117pounds according to google). I never thought I would look like I do today and I am really glad I took the dicision of having my gastric sleeve, it has helped my health (no more sleep apneas! I can swim and bike again!), it has changed my perspective toward food (I actually prefer eating now since I don't hate myself after each meal anymore), I have changed my life habits in many ways and last but not least, I feel way happier nowadays.
Here are so before after after pics
Before:


And these after some after pictures:

So, yeah, voilà! Good luck for everyone! I know the first months are quite hard, but it was all worth it for me, and I could not be more glad about the results!
Have a great day

During the months where the weightloss was extremely fast, I did it once a week, but for the last few months, I have lost rather slowy and I am starting to have a stabilized weight, so I climb on the scale every day for a "maintenance" check.
It has somehow become an obsession, when I sleep over somewhere and in the morning a scale in nowhere to be found, I feel weird, it has become a part of my morning habits...Oops.

You should not think about that just the night before your surgery! I told my friends weeks (even months) after I did it, and even if some were worried about my decision, they all have been supportive, I am sure your friend will be too.

Impressive work! You look good
Too bad for the complications, hope everything will remain fine for you.

Hi all,
It's been almost 8 months since my gastric sleeve surgery.
I am sharing this because just like I find inspiration and motivation in people’s stories, I think I could be a source of those too.
I had A LOT of trouble after my surgery. I stayed in the hospital for almost a month due some complications and my life was at risk. I questioned myself so many times if going through all this was worth it and today I can totally say YES.
Yes, it’s me in both pictures. The first one was taken exactly 10 years ago. That was my ‘heaviest’ year (134.8 kg). No, I wasn’t happy, but I had in my head ‘I was born this way’, ‘that’s my karma, there is nothing I can do about it’. Oh, I was so wrong!
I lost some weight on the following years. I reached 116 Kg and I kept it for like 4 years. But my mind remained the same: unhappy, but conformed. It took MANY years – basically, my entire life – to me finally accept and love myself just the way I am. But the funny part is that when it finally happened, I decided I should do something.
"Obesity is not a matter of appearance. It is a disease and should be treated like one. I simply refuse to let my body suffer anymore", I told myself. So I took some action.
Does every fat person have to follow the same path? NO! That was MY choice. I chose this way because I thought it was better for me, but you go to any direction you want, dude. You OWN YOUR BODY. As cliché as it sounds, it comes from someone who truly knows how is to wear those shoes: They will try to bring you down. Sometimes they will make it. But put your sh*t together and demands the respect you deserve. They cannot reach you once you get to the top. It takes time, and a lot of patience. But I like to believe everybody can get there.
Yet, don’t think you will find heaven on this path. It’s more like the highway to hell, but it feels so good to kill some demons.
I did my sleeve weighting 126.6 Kg, in June 2016. Today I'm 82 kg.
I officially ditched obesity and now I am 'just' overweight. It's pretty much the first time in my life I reach this point. I cannot explain the feeling.
Ah, there is another thing I cannot explain: My eyebrows on the fist pic LOL.

Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

During the months where the weightloss was extremely fast, I did it once a week, but for the last few months, I have lost rather slowy and I am starting to have a stabilized weight, so I climb on the scale every day for a "maintenance" check.
It has somehow become an obsession, when I sleep over somewhere and in the morning a scale in nowhere to be found, I feel weird, it has become a part of my morning habits...Oops.

You know you lost weight when friends you haven't seen for a year take a good thirty seconds to realize that it's actually you that is walking towards them!
You know you lost weight when two people can sit next to you in the train instead of one...!

I know it's early to Celebrate (or is it?) or maybe not enough to create a whole topic, but this might motivate people peeking through the endless pages of the forums!
So I'm officially three months (and two days) out of my surgery, and I have lost 27kgs, which translates to 59,5248 pounds according to google!
I am really glad I did this surgery for it has already changed many aspects of my life, it has taught me that life's pleasures do not only revolve around eating/drinking.
I know the "path" is still veeery long and that it will not always be easy, but so far I am really pleased with the results.
Of course I strictly follow my surgeon/doctors advice and I also do loads of sports : I swim twice a week (1,6 miles each time) and I go mountainbiking two to three times a week (depends on the amount of rain my place receives), around 20miles each time.
Cheers everyone, and thanks to people that have been helpful on the forums !

Face update on progress, a year and a half out and I'm still losing weight, albeit a lot slower but still losing!!!!!
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When you have always slept on your left side and you need a pillow between your knees because feeling them knocking against each other is a rather disturbing feeling.

9 months after getting sleeved, I just hit a pretty important milestone (for "metric" people) for I have indeed lost 50kilos!! (which roughly translates to 110,5pounds). I am really happy about the results, my lifestyle habits have changed for the best and I am so very glad I have reached more than my goal in less than a year, I know I'll have to stay focus and do my best to stay this way, but right now I am so glad I did it. Cheers everyone

(Me in July 2015)

And me today (tonight)!

I swan and biked a lot, so for my arms and legs, everything is fine, belly-wise it's not the best but according to my surgeon and practician, it could have been way worse, but it's not very glamorous, still better than having an almost 40 BMI though!
Apparentely some young patients have no trouble with their skin, hope it'll be the case for you!

In one month post-op, I had lost around 27pounds (a bit more than 12kilos). I was very impressed by this very rapid weightloss! Wish you all success

I swan and biked a lot, so for my arms and legs, everything is fine, belly-wise it's not the best but according to my surgeon and practician, it could have been way worse, but it's not very glamorous, still better than having an almost 40 BMI though!
Apparentely some young patients have no trouble with their skin, hope it'll be the case for you!

In one month post-op, I had lost around 27pounds (a bit more than 12kilos). I was very impressed by this very rapid weightloss! Wish you all success

In one month post-op, I had lost around 27pounds (a bit more than 12kilos). I was very impressed by this very rapid weightloss! Wish you all success

In one month post-op, I had lost around 27pounds (a bit more than 12kilos). I was very impressed by this very rapid weightloss! Wish you all success

Wow...the last time I had a date was in1999... Of course, that's when i was at my thinnest (i.e. at normal BMI). That said, I've never been attracted to extremes of any kind - too tall, too skinny, too fat, too muscular - as long as guys have fit into a more average category, whether it be from athletic to dad bod, then the most important thing has always been about personality, humour, intelligence, etc. I do remember once being attracted to a guy who was obese (he was tall and heavy, so carried it well), but decided not to pursue the relationship because I needed to be with someone who would encourage good habits with me, not bad ones (amongst other reasons).
Most of my life I've been overweight or borderline obese, but recently I've come to realise that I have gone from being overweight to obese to morbidly obese in less than 8 years, despite all the weight loss efforts during that time. Like the OP, I haven't dated or followed-up on the few bits of interest I've had over the years because I have not felt attractive enough (or have felt somewhat suspicious of the pursuer - why would he possibly like me at this weight? Something must be up). And even if I'm lucky enough to lose all my excess weight, then there will be the loose skin and deflated boobs - so I know that that will be another thing I need to get fixed before I maybe have a shot at feeling attractive and wanting to be with someone, scars and all.
However, to answer the OP: I've been friends with all shapes and sizes throughout my life and I rarely judge anyone, regardless of how well I know them, because I know full well that a) being large does not necessarily equate to being unfit or unhealthy, that you never know the full reasons why someone is the size they are, and c) if people are losing weight, you don't know what stage they are at. That said, while I try not to judge anyone for their size, if I was to start dating someone, I guess the biggest turnoff for me would not necessarily be their size, but their lifestyle - both in terms of exercise and nutrition. I definitely couldn't be with someone who was a pusher (of food or drink) or an enabler that would get me off-track. But...I haven't even had my surgery yet (less than a month to go!) so this isn't something I'll have to worry about for a while.

Started the journey 12/14
First appointment with dr 1/15
Surgery 6/15/15
HW: 265
Today I weighed 160
Goal was:185
Here is a before and today picture

So this was me, circa November 2015, picture taken against my will by a friend, he sent this to me this morning, had no clue it existed.

And this is me this morning. I have lost 105pounds so far.

Height: 5'3.5
Preop diet: 216.2lbs. 37.7bmi
D.O.S.: 206.8lbs. 36.1bmi
10 week post op: 175.2lbs. 30.5bmi
Total loss: 41lbs (19%), 65 inches.
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Just a few pics from Christmas. It is definately a good feeling to not shy away from the camera as much as I used to. Started out at 304, currently at 187 (2Lbs. from my start out goal). Revised the goal and shooting for 175lbs., 12 to go! *almost 7 months out

My views on fat people? Well... I don't care that much actually, when outside I am either hanging out with my friends or my family, and if I am on my own, I just keep on listening to music and walking, I don't pay attention to people at all and I am quite often in my very own "bubble", I don't feel pity or compassion, neither disgust or any negative feeling. These are just people going on with their life, all of them.
I personally don't know many fat persons, except for one of my sister, she's aware of the problem and tries to lose weight, so I don't push her around because I know how my family works: the more someone from my family told me I needed to lose some kilos, the more I headed in the opposite direction, and I think she works the same way.
I also have this couple of friends that are very overweight, but they love each other and they're probably the happiest couple I know.
On the dating side, well, I have been single for a good four years and I was feeling like the most unattractive being on the planet, so I didn't even make a move or even dared to think about it.
But now I am thin, I must admit I don't find very overweight and/or obese people attractive and to be honest I actually never have.
I hated myself as an obese (young) man, I hated every single aspect of my overweightness, and I don't want to find myself alongside with someone who has poor life habits, the exact same ones I escaped from to build a new healthy lifestyle, it's a turned page and I do not intend to reread it by any means.