What a ride this journey has been. I never thought I would ever get this far and definitely not this quickly.

I have worked so hard though; was super strict on myself from day 1; I feel that is just my nature; it's either 110% or its nothing.. go hard or go home!!!

So one morning I just decided this is the day I'm going to start my diet and change my life.

I had spent the past 15+ years of my life helping everyone else in my family and ignoring my own health issues mental and physical.. I researched the surgery options and trawled this website for months whilst waiting for my surgery to happen.

I found a great doctor and surgeon and he agreed with me that the roux en y bypass was definitely my best chance at success and a future.

I took everyone's advice on board but ultimately I knew it would be my choice and my decision to change my life. I also gave up alcohol now nearly 4 years ago..

I started journey at the highest weight of 322LBS with multiple comorbidities and medications keeping me alive.

Eventually I went into hospital on October 28th 2019 and had the bypass surgery and I knew there was no turning back; its now on me to prove to everyone including the doubters I could do it!!!

Here I am 6 months and 9 days later and this morning I weighed in at 175.5LBS and I'm not sure if my body is even done yet... I've had a few stalls along the way but none longer than 1 week so I've been very lucky; I've stuck to my diet pretty religiously since day one.. I was using protein shakes pretty much for the whole first 5 months with some small things like yoghurt and tuna but the past few weeks I've been adding more carbs and experimenting with real foods and not being so strict but still keeping focused on my weight of course.

For the first time in my life I feel normal and I feel happy and excited for the future and I never thought I would get this far 175.5lbs is an amazing effort which equals to 146.5lbs lost gone forever in just over 6 months!!!

I hope I can show others it is possible to change your life for the better you just have to be committed, you have to be mentally prepared, you have to be doing this for yourself and nobody else!!!

I hope I can be an inspiration to others!!!

Love Mikey

You've done amazingly well for such a short period of time! Watch yourself that you don't get too thin, most ladies like a man with a little meat on his bones!?

WOW ! that is just so awesome ! you sound so excited.. love it …… pics please ……..

I'm in a similar boat, started the whole ordeal at around 400 lbs. I've been floating right around 190 for the last year or so now. I never thought I'd see 250 again, let alone be sub 200!!

Congrats!

So happy for you Mikey!

Weigh to go. Your story is very motivating. Keep it up.

7 hours ago, november11 said:

WOW ! that is just so awesome ! you sound so excited.. love it …… pics please ……..

Yeah---pictures or it didn't happen...?

Congrats both Mikey and Matt Z! Both are very impressive!

I have a question if you don't mind. Mikey I like the idea of prolonging the protein shake as primary protein source for a few months. Do your shakes have many carbs? How many were you drinking per day?

Edited March 7, 20206 yr by TryingtoloseTom

Hey ppl thanks for your kind words..

Each shake is 150kcal

30g protein

2g carbs

1g fat

At first I was drinking 3-4 a day for months.

I finally got some new clothes so I'll have to get some new photos soon...

12 hours ago, JRT Mom said:

You've done amazingly well for such a short period of time! Watch yourself that you don't get too thin, most ladies like a man with a little meat on his bones!?

Yes true I've lost the weight next ill need to work out to gain some muscle which will add a little weight too

17 minutes ago, Superman84 said:

Yes true I've lost the weight next ill need to work out to gain some muscle which will add a little weight too

It will be a good weight though - lean body mass. Don't get caught up in scale weight once you start weight training. If you can have a dexa scan to find out your body composition - lean body mass vs body fat percentage.

On 3/6/2020 at 11:36 PM, Hop_Scotch said:

It will be a good weight though - lean body mass. Don't get caught up in scale weight once you start weight training. If you can have a dexa scan to find out your body composition - lean body mass vs body fat percentage.

This is very important. I'm starting to creep up on 200 again, but I've been working out so my body fat is dropping while the weight might increase.

Yea I understand that but I still have a little to lose before I'm ready to start weights

This is very important. I'm starting to creep up on 200 again, but I've been working out so my body fat is dropping while the weight might increase.

Can you explain what you mean by this?

It seems that when I workout consistently, I gain some weight. There have been weeks when I don't exercise, and I drop weight. This is very frustrating. I would love your insight. Thanks.

I recently hit my lowest weight of 174 lbs, but I'm slowing creeping up to 180 lbs despite tracking food and working out daily.

Proper muscle. Lean muscle weighs more than fat. So obviously to gain muscle you need to gain weight but the weight is muscle not fat

7 hours ago, alex76 said:

Can you explain what you mean by this?

It seems that when I workout consistently, I gain some weight. There have been weeks when I don't exercise, and I drop weight. This is very frustrating. I would love your insight. Thanks.

I recently hit my lowest weight of 174 lbs, but I'm slowing creeping up to 180 lbs despite tracking food and working out daily.

As stated above, square inch for square inch Muscle weighs more than fat. So as you reduce fat stores and increase muscle mass, you can see weight gains. That's why I've pushed so hard for people to stop tracking weight as a specific number and start looking at the trend. I've tracked weight and body fat my whole process, not really caring about the numbers exactly, but what I was doing and which direction those numbers moved. The more I work out for muscle, my body fat drops and my weight gains. When I focus on cardio, my weight drops, sometimes body fat does as well, but not as fast as when working out for muscle gain. This is because larger muscle mass requires more energy in rest than smaller muscles do, so, bigger muscle mass, larger fuel requirements, faster fat breakdown.

Plus,our bodies get used to what's going on and start to level off. Check into Intermittent Fasting if you haven't yet, really get me through some serious stalls.