Happy Sleeve-iversary! 🎉🎊🎈

Hi everyone this post is a very exciting one for me, it’s my one year post sleeve-iversary!!!  Yes one year ago on March 8th I went into that OR and came out missing a piece of my stomach, and it was the best thing I every did for myself.  I have struggled for so long and so hard to feel happy in my own skin and to feel beautiful in a world that preaches you must be an emaciated size 2 to be glamorous—this I have of course learned is b.s.!

The picture on the left was me a few years ago probably at my heaviest point which was upwards of 300lbs.  I reached a point where I stopped using the scale and I just didn’t want to face it.  The picture on the right is me now with lots of room in that same dress, hence the sports bra so I don’t flash the ladies at you all! I am still in the low 200s but I am determined to reach my goal weight between 140 and 150.  I don’t have that much to go.

I still have what we’ll call “mechanical” problems, which do cause me to get seriously sick sometimes.  Supposedly I’m either eating too quickly or not chewing enough and food is gettig stuck.  So I am trying to be mindful of how fast I’m eating and how much I’m chewing.  I’ve overcome the “exercise is a chore” flu I’ve had for so long and realize it’s just something I’ve got to do to live a healthy lifestyle.  As for my diet there is no more soda, diet or otherwise; I’ve cut back the bread and I eat next to no pasta, plus I’m for the most part caffeine free.  I also eat very little red meat and stick to mostly chicken and pork ok there’s an occasional fish stick thrown in there.  I’ve just never been a fish person but baked in the oven it isn’t so bad.  I’ve also cut back on eating out.  One, I feel like it’s such a waste since if I don’t share I end up eating it the next day and throwing out the rest and two, I’ve discovered that most of the time my cooking is way better than what I could get when I’m out.  Plus I can portion out just enough and waste very little.

So am I happy that I did this?? Extremely!  Do I think my weight would have come off any other way?? Probably not.  I’ve now bought a few new t-shirts since I look like a bag lady in my old shirts.  I’ve also discovered things in my closet that I bought and maybe never wore bc they were too small, but guess what they fit now!  What can I say i’m excited about the next phase of my journey and thank you all for coming along with me this past year.  And yes I do plan to keep blogging about my continuing weight loss so stay tuned and happy reading!