What 15 months and 107 lb weight loss looks like!

Here's the nitty gritty on what my body looks like fifteen months post-surgery. Photo montage over 15 months, and a video of what I look like today. Enjoy! Jo

15 Month Update: Top 10 Things I've Learned

Hi all! Wow, can't believe it's been 15 months already. Holding steady at 143 lbs, down from 250.4 in May 2012 when I had surgery. I've learned a lot from the process so far (with much more to learn I'm sure!), and put together a bit of a Top 10 Things I've Learned list. I put the summary below, but you can watch the video for the details and commentary. Hope you're well! Gastricsleeve4me (aka "Jo")

1. Bad habits won't change with surgery alone.
2. You can regress at any time.
3. A bad day won't hurt, but a bad week will!
4. The honeymoon doesn't end when you reach your desired weight - and the period when you start to maintain is a critical one.
5. Exercise matters. Maybe not for weight loss, but DEFINITELY for maintenance.
6. You will lose weight. You will also lose your hair and have saggy skin. Sorry.
7. Losing weight doesn't make you successful. Keeping weight off for 50 years does.
8. If you're feeding your emotions, you'd better have a plan for dealing with it.
9. Surgery and rapid dramatic weight loss is traumatic for your body.
10. You need a team. Really.

38 Week Update

Time for an update! Let's start with the stats...

Surgery day (May 21, 2012): 250.4

Monthly (e.g., every 4 weeks)
Week 4: 226.1 (24.3 lbs month/24.3 lbs total)
Week 8: 211.8 (14.3 lbs month/38.6 lbs total)
Week 12: 201.3 (10.5 lbs month/49.1 total)
Week 16: 189.5 (11.8 lbs month/60.9 total)
Week 20: 178.9 (10.6 lbs month/71.5 total)
Week 24: 168.9 (10 lbs month/81.5 total)
Week 28: 160.3 (8.6 month/90.1 total)
Week 32: 160.3 (0 month/90.1 total)
Week 36: 151.9 (8.4 month/98.5 total)

Recent Weigh-ins
Week 37 (Feb 4): 151.7
Week 37.5 (Feb 7): 148.4 Passed the 100 lb mark and 37 1/2 weeks!! About 8.5 months after surgery.
Week 38: 148.7 (oops...got excited and gained .3 lbs)

1 week weight loss: 3 lbs
Total weight loss: 101.7 lbs

Obviously a big post this time since I finally passed the 100 lb mark after dancing near it for a few weeks. After a month of not losing (but not gaining!) around the holidays, I was so excited to see a 8.4 lb loss in the four weeks following returning to work post-new years. And 2 weeks later I'm down another 3 lbs so the loss continues, even though I've not really been tracking too closely. That said, I've been following my routines with eating, continuing to run for 20+ minutes three times a week training for a 5K, and lifting weights with my boyfriend 2-3 times a week on top of that. My body is definitely reaping the benefits.

Check out my video for a body shot and hear me talk about my recent visit to the nutritionist and "goal weight". Later! Jo