1 Year Post-op 🎉🎉

[Bypass2Freedom 966]

I am 1 year post-op today, and I have (pretty much) hit my goal!

I can't believe it has been a year already, it has gone so fast. To think that this time last year I was having surgery (BIG shout out to Simon Monkhouse), and I was starting a new chapter of my life.

I have learnt that I can adapt to change quite quickly, something I didn't think I was that good at previously. I think we shock ourselves at how quickly we can adapt to our new way of living post-surgery.

The NSVs have been life-saving for me. Every time I am walking about, up hills and at a fast pace, I still catch myself thinking "I can't believe I can do this". Before this I would have to stop 3-4 times just on a short 8 minute walk as the pain in my hips and back was awful. Now I can jog and I can ride a bike uphill!!

I feel happier in myself and in my day-to-day life, and while I may still have a long way to go in terms of being kinder to myself, I am learning to love my body. It is so nice to be able to just think less about what I am wearing, how I will look. I am grateful to feel smaller and to have people not notice me in public (as weird as that sounds).

Next part of my journey is just to see where my weight loss goes, then to look into some plastics in the next year or so, but overall, my goal is just to keep living feeling this free ❤️

[WendyJane 21]

Thank you for your inspiration. I just had my surgery on 5/12/25 and I now have your words of wisdom to think about as I begin my journey. Congratulations to you, and to all of us who are searching for a better life a healthier life.

[SpartanMaker 1,116]

Congrats, you've done an awesome job so far!

I'm going to tell you now; transitioning to maintenance is HARD. It's scary to start eating more, it's hard to know how much to eat, and it can be challenging for some to eat all the food they actually should be eating.

I would also STRONGLY, STRONGLY encourage to to work up to at least 1 hour of cardio 3 days a week and 1 hour of strength training 2 days a week if you are not already doing this level of exercise or more. The data is crystal clear here. Those individuals that get at least the amount of exercise I listed are significantly more likely to be able to maintain their weight loss.

Scientists don't entirely know why this level of exercise is needed (it's almost double what someone that was never obese needs to maintain weight), but the most likely explanation at this point has to do with the fact that exercise affects your body in a couple of ways:

• Regular exercise changes the way the brain regulates hunger and metabolism. Simply put, most of us got as big as we did pre-surgery because our brains weren't good at telling us when to stop eating. Exercise seems to help change the way your brain understands and interprets these signals.
• Exercise also lowers stress and systemic inflammation, two huge triggers for overeating.

Best of luck!