Just saw my surgery date ticker and turns out that today, July 19, happens to be 75 days since my surgery on May 6!

My highest weight ever was 357 and my weight the day of surgery was 350... today I am 296 meaning I have lost 61 lbs and broke into the 200s! (is that Twoderville, Twonderland, etc ??)

At 5'9, my goal weight for now is 200, which means I am 96 lbs away and have achieved 39% of my journey!

Now for the NSVs...

I have been Instagraming a lot (as many 21 year olds do nowadays)... I hadn't had any pics of myself on my Facebook in years.

A restaurant I hadn't been to in awhile has very tight booths - for once I wasn't touching the table at all.

I haven't been at this weight since I graduated high school in 2010.

My pants really don't fit! They actually were always too big for me (I guess my waist is just naturally smaller) so now it's kind of embarrassing pulling them up all the time so I gotta buy new ones.

Have a follow-up appointment on Monday so I am excited to share my progress there

and the biggest one coming up... tomorrow is my great-aunt's 100th birthday party where we are first having a pool party - majority of extended family hasn't seen me since Thanksgiving!

So much more left but I am so glad I did this... getting my happy back is so important. I don't want to lose focus by being too proud though.

Thanks all who have been so supportive and encouraging, especially in my "Miserable inside" thread back in May!

~Mark

P.S. Attached one of my Instagram photos so you can see haha.

Thank you all

So my great-aunt's birthday was yesterday... everyone was super impressed and really happy/supportive - felt really good to know that people noticed!

Now, on to replying:

Great story! Takes balls to do what you did at your age. My hats off to ya!

I try I feel like I'm the youngest active member here but someone has to be, right?

Terrific Mark, just terrific. Very proud of you. Glad you posted your picture. Now I can keep an eye out for you when I go to the office for my followups.

I'm going tomorrow at around 4 PM!

Congratulations lucky lady

Last time I checked I wasn't a lady, but thank you nonetheless

I am GREEN with jealousy!! wow you have done fantastic in a short amount of time. Oh to be that young again... *deep sigh*

I will say I'm glad to have done this early in life, but I know that if my mom ends up getting it done herself, she'll be just as happy

I just had surgery Tuesday and I've lost 9lbs! Your story encourages me!! Keep it up!!

I appreciate that!

WOW... I was banded on May 6th too. I have only lost 20lbs.... What are you eating? I barely eat but do try to get Protein in first, either egg whites, shakes or fish... I have had two fills... everyoje around me (family and friends) keep asking why is it going slow for me? I know that I am doing everything right. I started at 218 and now weigh 198 I am 5'4 female age 50 could that make a difference?

Well, being that I am a 21 year old male who is 5'8 (mistakenly thought I was 5'9 before... oh well) and started out heavier, the numbers really have to be customized to you and you only.

Way to go Mark! I know you feel amazing !

Aw thanks I don't want to Celebrate too early on because the journey isn't even half over yet, but it does honestly feel great.

Awesome!!! Congrats!!

I'm 21 also and I have my survey August 12th I hope I lose as much as you! Do you have any sagging skin so far?

Congrats on the successes. For those of you who have slower results, be patient and make sure to get fills regularly to make sure you're in the green zone. I myself was banded April 5 2013 and have lost 80 pounds so far. Lots of NSV's along the way, especially these past few weeks (raiding the back of my closet and finding out that old clothes that I assumed would fit me now, actually are too big!). Lets keep up the hard work and keep moving forward !

I'm 21 also and I have my survey August 12th I hope I lose as much as you! Do you have any sagging skin so far?

Thank you! To be real, it's definitely a concern I have as more weight comes off and I see some excess skin already. Would be exhausting going through plastic surgery later on but if I have to, I have to.

Congrats on going through with it... you're going to regret it briefly at first if you've never had surgery before (like me) but in the end it's a really smart decision.

I think I remember that first thread you did, so it's really great to see an update where you're feeling really positive about yourself!

And as for saggy skin, I think you do dig deep and do what you need to when the time comes. I've had plastic surgery and while I wish I hadn't needed to, if you do, you do. You just do what you need to to get where you wanna go.

I think I remember that first thread you did' date=' so it's really great to see an update where you're feeling really positive about yourself!

And as for saggy skin, I think you do dig deep and do what you need to when the time comes. I've had plastic surgery and while I wish I hadn't needed to, if you do, you do. You just do what you need to to get where you wanna go.[/quote']

You did post in it! Yeah, I agree about doing what's best for you. I wouldn't even consider a tummy tuck "cosmetic surgery" because living with sagging skin can be unhealthy as well. The mantra behind weight loss should be to better one's life.