I didn't want to post in the before & after sticky, as I'm not quite yet "after." Still have about 15-20lbs to goal. today's a milestone for me, in that it is 6 months exactly since my surgery. So here's how things are going.

It's hard to believe that just about a year ago I was 400+lbs. My daughter was born in Feb. 2017, and seeing all the pictures of she and I (a very big "I" ) right after birth made me do a lot of soul-searching about the kind of life I wanted to live and raise her with. I didn't want to be the obese dad that she was embarrassed to be seen in public with as she got older. I didn't want to be the dad that couldn't do certain things with her because I was too overweight. I decided to take action.

On May 30th, 2017, I had my first appointment in the required six-month pre-op process, and tipped the scales at 406 lb. I was mortified. While I floated around 350 to 370 for the past decade, this was the first time in my life I had ever been over 400 pounds. Over the next 6 months pre-op diet my insurance required, I would dedicate myself completely to the surgeon's diet and exercise program. I lost 88 lbs during that 6 month pre-op program. Insurance requiring it was probably the best thing that could have happened to me, as it allowed me to implement lifestyle changes well in advance of the physical and mental changes the surgery would bring.

I had the gastric sleeve on December 11th, 2017. It went surprisingly easy. Not really any pain at all, I didn't have any acid reflux, and as I progressed through the food stages, I could really tolerate anything I tried up to the restriction point. I've continued to track all my food via myfitpal, but I do not restrict or limit carbs. I make it a point to focus on protein first, and then I usually have a small side each of carbs and veggies. At the 6-month Mark, I usually eat about 1400 to 1600 calories per day. I usually end up with about 100 grams of protein, and about 150 to 200 grams of carbs per day.

So the results as of today, 6 months out, are:

- 166.8lbs lost total (88 preop and 78.8 postop).

- 406 beginning / 318 surgery / 239.2 current

- From size 48 pants to 36

- From size 4XLT shirts to Large

- From size 58L suit jacket to 44L

- From high cholesterol, blood pressure, and elevated liver enzymes to all normal ranges

- From sleep apnea to no sleep apnea!

I still have about 15lbs to get to my goal of 225 (I'm 6'3"). Over the past couple of months, I've been really focusing on heavy weight lifting as to not look like a deflated balloon. That has definitely slowed the weight loss, but I expected that to happen as I got near goal. Slow and steady wins the race this point.

Here are some before and current pictures:

Edited June 11, 20188 yr by BlueCrush

Holy WOW! You look amazing! Congrats on your awesome success as you transformed into the "cool" dad! Good luck with that last little bit you've got to go!

p.s. she's a cutie-patootie!

Edited June 11, 20188 yr by Orchids&Dragons

Huge inspiration! Well done on your hard work!

Wow!!! Congratulations!!!

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This is awesome my dude! Congratulations! I'm going in on July 16th and starting to get ancy... Nice to see my plan of changing my current cardio focus to more weight training post op is a good idea.

Thanks much for sharing your amazing success!

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