I believe I can officially post in here and call my journey a success. I know that one year is a small insignificant amount of time in the grand scope of things. .

The whole process was a whirlwind for me. I contacted Dr Owen's office upon referral from a friend on 2/8/15. Upon talking to the front office they make me aware of pending insurance changes. At the time my insurance didn't require a 6mo monitored diet. Therefore if I wanted to get this done I had to have my surgery before March 15th. This didn't leave much time. However Dr Owens staff is so well versed in the insurance game I was approved a few days later. Reflecting on it now it was probably good that I didn't have much time to second guess myself. It was truly a "crap or get off the pot" moment.

Insurance approved my surgery was set on Mach 11, 2015

I snapped this picture in my pre-opp weight of 380lbs

liquid only phase pre-op to me was the worse part of this whole thing. Being 380lbs and eating like I was the 4 or 5 shakes a day just sucked. I've confessed on here that a few times during that 2 week diet I failed with the thinking "Oh I will never get to have this again". One night I left the house to go to Target and went through a McDonald's drive-thru. I then sat in the Target parking lot devouring a lot of bad food items. I faltered, but I picked myself up and carried on. The day of surgery I had lost 20lbs

Physical recovery for me went easy. I think I took one pain killer the day I came home. I got up and started moving the second day I was home. I just walked around my block over and over and over again. The surgery was Wednesday and I was back at work on Monday.

My Dr. keeps his patients on a post-op liquid phase for another 3 to 4 weeks. This was the 2nd hardest thing. I found myself getting angry because I just wanted to chew something. I think that first scrambled egg I had was best thing ever.

The mental game is REAL. Physically after surgery you are given the tool you need to succeed. What surgery doesn't do it fix the mental side of the house. It took a few weeks for the cravings and the "why did I do this" stuff to work it self out.

I'm not going to diary out the other 10 to 11 months, but I am happy that I did go though with the surgery. I have accomplished things I would have never attempted to do. Namely running 4 different 5K races and most recently my first 10K.

So here it is 1 year and 3 days later and I have lost 165lbs. I am definitely a new man.

Edited March 18, 201610 yr by OneDollarBill

Congratulations! You look amazing! Such an inspiration for the rest of us here!!!

Congratulations! This is awesome!

Congrats on your amazing success!

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Holy crap! Amazing! Awesome!

Wow! Amazing work!

Simply Ahhmazing! Congrats!

Congrats you look great.

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Amazing congrats

Congratulations, you look great!

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Very, very impressive !

Man, you have really done great.

Amazing year for you. Running in 10K races ? Are you kidding ?

Could you have ever seen this happening a year ago ?

Outstanding results, boss. Outfreakingstanding.

Very, very impressive !

Man, you have really done great.

Amazing year for you. Running in 10K races ? Are you kidding ?

Could you have ever seen this happening a year ago ?

Outstanding results, boss. Outfreakingstanding.

You are a beast too man. You have been killing it with you weight loss!

Thanks. Past couple days have been a rewarding reminder that I'm on track.

Congrats! You look amazing!

Congratulations! What an accomplishment.

Truly outstanding work. I hope you feel twice as good as you look!