Hey guys! It's been about 8 months since my sleeve and I'm down 96 pounds from my pre-sleeve weight. The food is still a struggle sometimes, but thankfully the sleeve is a great tool at keeping me in-line. I love to eat and breaking the habit of wanting to gorge on something tasty is tough!

Anyways, I've just bought my first bicycle since my youth and as my first hard exercise since the sleeve, I rode almost 15 miles yesterday. I felt like such a boss and it was so much fun! I have some pretty major lower back issues, and running (or any other "bouncy" activity) makes my looseness bounce too which is very uncomfortable and unsightly, so cycling seemed like the perfect solution. I think picking up a new, fun, hard exercise will jump start the rest of my loss to get down to my goal weight. Speaking of which ... I don't even know what my goal should be! I originally put 225 in for my goal here, but I feel like I could lose more, but I don't know what my "ideal weight" should be. I've never been a healthy weight before. I'm 6' tall. If I could crack into the 1's that would be amazing, but I don't know if it's realistic with my body frame.

Edited April 2, 201511 yr by John.L

Congrats, John. I too enjoy cycling. It's a great exercise. Thanks for sharing.

Looks like the high end of the ideal range for a 6' tall man is 180#. I think shooting for 199# seems like an achievable goal, why not try for it! Congrats on getting the bike. My hope is to one day bike commute to work, it's only a few miles from my house.

Warmest congratulations, but looks like you spent some good money on new clothes. You know you're gonna be too skinny for those clothes too soon enough. Ah well, you'll learn.

I made my first mental goal to cure my co-morbidities: sleep apnea, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and pre-diabetes. Those were all cured within a couple weeks after surgery. I just did a home study to verify sleep apnea is cured, but scheduled for results next Friday. But fingers-crossed I'm cured there too.

After my co-morbidities were cured (I was around 235 or so), I set a goal of a nice even 200. Well 199 to be in ONEderland.

Once I hit 200 my goal was not to go for some super low weight I couldn't possibly maintain, but to try and find that balance between eating and exercise so I could maintain a weight forever. If that weight was 200...cool. But the weight kept coming off.

I exercised a bit less and ate a bit more...trying to find a lifestyle that I could maintain long-term. And I think I've found my "landing weight." I may end up gaining a bit after a couple years due to eating more and I'm okay with that. I just didn't want to hit a "very low" weight, not be able to maintain it, and get frustrated when I gained back 30 lbs.

Point is...try and do what you can do long-term (aka forever) once you get closer to any goal weight you set (or don't set). Try and find a reasonable balance. The goal isn't to be skinny, but do be healthy, and maintain it!

But be sure an congratulate yourself and enjoy all the health benefits and non-scale victories along the way!

Best of luck!

Edited April 2, 201511 yr by AlwaysVegas

Congratulations on doing so well. Don't worry about setting your weight goals too high, it is a process and if you feel you can do better, you can always set a new goal.

I'm 5' 11". My doctor told me to expect to hit and stay around 235. I passed that goal easily and then decided that 224 (my high school weight) was what I wanted. I hit that goal, then 220, then 215.... now I'm easily hovering around 205 - 209 without really trying. I've set a new goal of completing the C25K program and aiming to hit 199. So we'll see, I may not like the way I look at 199. :-P

It's all part of the adventure and your goals do not have to be carved in stone if they don't fit your lifestyle.

Keep Pimpin' That Sleeve!

Good for you buddy, keep up the good work! I'm the same height as you and wondered where I might want to ultimately be. I just decided I'll go wherever this journey takes me, if it stoped here I wouldn't necessarily be dsappointed, I'm almost 100 lbs less than I was when I started. I'm pretty sure we'll know when we hit our new "normal" weight.