My, my, my... where do I even begin?

Let's see. My life has drastically changed. I'm a different person, inside and out. And oh yeah, I found someone who loves me and my child and wants to marry me. Yup. Life is good. Wait... no.... life is GREATTTTTT!

Bottom line, my life didn't begin until I had VSG. Plain and simple. No diet, no magical pill, no trainer workout session would ever get me to the point where I am today. I'm now smaller and weigh less than I did when I was in high school. I had a lifetime membership to the fat kids club, and now I'm on the outside looking in. If I could afford to pay for all my overweight friends and family to get this surgery, I would do it in a heart beat. This has been a high photographic month for me. My boyfriend and I are NOT engaged... yet. However it's on the horizon and we had formal pictures done with my son, and then last week I went on Vacation and he and I went to Las Vegas for 4 days with friends, followed by a week with my family in Colorado. It was amazing. And I lost weight on vacation.... my sleeve is a miracle worker! While the pounds aren't coming off as drastically as they use to, they are coming off. I'm still eating a pretty clean diet, and I work out 3 to 4 days a week for a couple of hours at the gym that has onsite daycare for my son. My schedule is a hectic mess, but once again- if I can do this- ANYONE can do this. There is no magical one thing I did. I did it all. I worked out as much as I could, forced my water consumption, and ate clean. The sleeve did the rest, and the proof is in the pics.

Interesting side story:

While on vacation I visited with my aunt, who has been my stand in mother my entire life, has been battling with a number of major issues that have made her gain 90 lbs over the past 7 years or so. Always a pillar of health, when menopause set in, followed by a major back surgery, she couldn’t stop the weight gain. Last month she found out she has major artery blockage, horrible cholesterol, and high blood pressure. They put her on a super intense strict diet. I sat her down, and told her EVERYTHING. She knew I had VSG, but I told her the good the bad and the ugly. I even told her I went to Mexico for the surgery (she was VERY upset, and I figured this might be her response…).

Then she said something interesting- she told me I was a walking billboard for VSG. We went to lunch and dinner several times together, and she was watching my eating and drinking habits, and started asking me how I was a 2 bite wonder? How I could eat a little bit of everything but not binge? And asked me about how my hunger has lessened, if not almost totally disappeared.She has never seen me so healthy and happy. She said my weight really messed with my head and my life decisions, and she sees how drastically I’ve changed over the past year, and she was so proud. And also found out VSG is covered by here insurance! She has already made the doctors’ appointments to look into it. I’m so blessed and thankful; she looks at me as a success story. She said she would NEVER have considered it if I hadn’t done it. While I wish I could get all of my overweight friends to invest into the VSG surgery, it’s absolutely humbling that someone so close and important to me would consider this surgery. I truly hope she follows through with it, and I hope I’m there when she has surgery.

Height: 5'9

Highest (Surgery) Weight: 216 lbs

Current Weight: 147.1 lbs

Weight Loss to Date: -68.9 lbs

1st Primary Goal Weight: 169 (Achieved 11/27)

2nd Optimal Goal Weight set by Doc: 145

3rd Final Personal Goal Weight: 135

Sleeve Journey:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> 8/17/12- PreOp/Surgery Day w/Pics Posted in Blog

Week 1 (8/24): 204.8 (-11.2)

Week 2 (8/31): 200.6 (-4.2)

Week 3 (9/7): 196.8 (-3.8)

Week 4 (9/14): 193.5 (-3.3)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> 9/17/12- 1 Month Anniversary w/Pics Posted in Blog (-22.5 lbs)

Week 5 (9/21): 191.6 (-1.9)

Week 6 (9/28): 190.1 (-1.5)

Week 7 (10/5): 187.0 (-3.1)

Week 8 (10/12): 181.9 (-5.1)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> 10/17/12- 2 Month Anniversary w/Pics Posted in Blog (-11.6 lbs)

Week 9 (10/19): 181.4 (-.5)

Week 10 (10/26): 177.9 (-3.5)

Week 11 (11/02): 176.8 (-1.1)

Week 12 (11/09): 174.7 (-2.1)

Week 13 (11/16): 173.3 (-1.4)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> 11/17/12- 3 Month Anniversary w/Pics Posted in Blog (-8.6 lbs)

Week 14 (11/23): 173.1 (-.2)

Week 15 (11/30): 167.3 (-5.8)

Week 16 (12/7): 168.1 (+.8)

Week 17 (12/14): 164.6 (-3.5)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> 12/17/12- 4 Month Anniversary (-8.7 lbs)

Week 18 (12/21): Holiday Break/Vacation- No Scale Available

Week 19 (12/28): Holiday Break/Vacation- No Scale Available

Week 20 (1/4/13): 164.5 (-.1)

Week 21 (1/11): 161.5 (-3.0)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> 01/17/13- 5 Month Anniversary (-3.1 lbs)

Week 22 (1/18): 161.7 (+.2)

Week 23 (1/25): 158.7 (-3.0)

Week 24 (2/1): Out of town- No scale Available

Week 25 (2/8): 157.2 (-1.5)

Week 26 (2/15): 157.2 ( .0)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> 02/17/13- 6 Month Anniversary 157.2 (-3.3 lbs)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> 03/17/13- 7 Month Anniversary 153.9 (-3.3 lbs)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> 04/17/13- 8 Month Anniversary 150.8 (-3.1 lbs)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> 05/17/13- 9 Month Anniversary 147.1 (3.7 lbs)