I had surgery on 11/10/20, but started my weight loss efforts on 7/5/20. If you’ve been here a while I’m sure you’ve seen me lurking about the forums.

Stats: SW 339. CW: 165. I am a 5’10 woman in her 40s. I work full time and have young children. My current BMI is 23, I started off with it closer to 50.

I knew it was going to take me a while to hit goal- I had 174 lbs to lose. I did all the calculators pre-op that said I would be lucky to get under 200 lbs, but I decided that just wasn’t going to apply to me (haha). My plan was to focus on fruits, vegetables, and healthy proteins while ramping up exercise. I eliminated cookies, pastries, and candy but that’s about it. I don’t do low carb, because that isn’t how I’m planning on living the rest of my life. I focus on calorie reduction, which sounds like oh if that’s so easy why did you need surgery? Well cutting calories is possible if you aren’t hungry all the time no matter how much you eat, and if you can fill up on the healthy things without it being like flash paper into a volcano. I honestly did need the surgery, and I’m not going to pretend it did the work for me, but it gave me the help for the work I wanted to be able to do.

Six days a week I do a split between running and rowing for a half hour. I’m going to run in a 5k this spring, which has been a dream of mine for years. I exercise on my lunch break every day.

Yes, I have some loose skin. It’s nowhere as bad as people make it out to be. I am not exactly planning on running around in a bikini so it’s not like it limits my life at all. It’s not visible in my clothes, not even tight fitting ones. I might get it removed some day, but if I don’t I’ll still be happy.

This weight loss has been the fulfillment of a lifelong dream for me. Life is difficult when you are morbidly obese. It’s difficult physically, emotionally, and socially. This weight loss hasn’t fixed every problem in my life, but I didn’t expect for it to. It fixed my weight related problems, and I had a lot of them.

This surgery can be life changing, but it’s not a magic bullet. You still have to make huge life changes. But if you feel sabotaged you your own constant hunger, cravings, and binges, this can really be the tool you use to dig yourself out of the seemingly insurmountable weight you need to lose.

This isn’t a finish line for me. I am still working on hopefully losing another 15 lbs, and I’m never going back to my old eating habits. I know I signed up for a lifelong change, otherwise I’ll be right back where I started. But finally hitting goal was a nice early Christmas present to myself. Sorry for the essay, but I don’t really have anyone in real life to share with who gets it!

You look FABULOUS! You did the hard work, even during a pandemic, and you should be so proud of yourself. Way to go!

Yeah, a part of me does kind of feel like…ok what next? But I do still want to lose a bit more weight, and I’m trying to increase my running distance so I always have something to work on. I must confess I do kind of miss the days of dramatic drops in weight…it was pretty exciting!

Congratulations on reaching your goal and thank you for sharing this milestone with us! What an amazing Christmas present to yourself and a great way to start the New Year!

Wonderful work! I hope the best for you in the new year! Great job!

Omg you look great!!!!

Wow! This is absolutely incredible and gives me so much hope. When I read your words, I could picture that being my future self since so much of what you said rings true for me now, what I want to do, and how I want to be. Congratulations and great work on the hard work that you have accomplished. Thank you so much for sharing your story.

You did it!! Way to go

Amazing dedication and work. Way to go!!!

Amazing transformation! One thing you said really hit home for me:

it gave me the help for the work I wanted to be able to do.

That’s exactly the way I feel about the surgery (DS) that I had 6/1/21. So far I’m down 98 pounds (lost 18 pre-op) with another 75 to go to my goal. I feel AMAZING! Congratulations! You are such an inspiration! Thank you for sharing!