Hey guys,

Long time no see... I think it's been over a year and a bit now. I'll be 2 years post-op on March 10th and let's just say I still feel great.

Lots of things have happened within the last year... some good and some bad.

Let's start with the bad! :'( March 1st, 2012, I lost the most inspiring and most encouraging person in my life, my mom! It was very sudden and was a complete shock to the whole family. Luckily for us we are a very tight knit family and we have great friends so it made the grieving process somewhat easier. This shot was taken a couple of months before surgery.

Now on to the good news. On October 6th, my girlfriend and I finally got married. As some of you know, marriage was one of my major motivations for having surgery. My girlfriend was always there rooting for me to be healthier so we could eventually start our life together and it only took me 10 years :/. I'm lucky she stuck around so long for it to finally happen.

After the wedding we headed on our honeymoon and we did a 7-day Caribbean cruise from Miami. I don't know what was in the drinks or the food but when we came back I was 5 pounds heavier and Cath, my wife :), was, well, PREGNANT!!! :) You heard it! We are expecting! Our expected date is July 24th and tomorrow we are going for our first ultrasound to see what that little bugger looks like. We don't want to know the sex right now so what we will do is ask the nurse to write the sex in an envelop and we will give it to Cath's friend who will be taking care of the Baby Shower and once we get to the baby shower, we will be surprised by whether it'll be a girl or a boy (or both... :/ twins run in the family but we should know tomorrow).

On the weight front however I have hit a stall and actually gained a few pounds since last year. I know, not good, right? But it's not the end of the world. I just have to get back to good or better eating habits. So the scale said 254 this morning. That's roughly 17 pounds heavier than the lowest I ever saw on the scale back in July of last year. To my defense however, my scale has been throwing weird numbers these last few months. Some days I hop it says a number 10+ pounds lower than I actually am so who knows what the real numbers are. Also to my defense is that within the last 3 months I had started the P90x routine with my buddies and after completing 5 straight weeks of it I injured myself while playing hockey and took a 4 week break from all exercise. I did complete the rest of the challenge with my buddies put never got a full 90 days in. I am now able to do, 5 pull-ups (~1 before I started), ~40 push-ups (~12-15 before) and can almost complete all the ab-crunches in the AB RIPPER X for those who are familiar with the workout so I know I am a lot stronger than I was before I started so maybe muscle also plays a role in me gaining weight. In the meantime, I'll just keep fishing! :)

Anyways, I have re-set my original goal and am now aiming to complete it by the time my wife gives birth on July 24th. So by July 24th, I should be in the 220lbs vicinity and hopefully a couple of pounds below. :)

Take care guys and it's nice seeing that a ton of people are finally getting their calls and having surgery. It really is life changing! :)

Derek -xxx-

LMAO... So much so.. my bag has been packed for over a week now . I just don't want to forget anything.

Oh man not fun.. I am thinking I should get Ambasol to numb the skin...

Same thing as Barbara above... I had my pre-op tests back in November 2012. 

And Sylvie thank you for thinking about me :)

Very sweet of you ... I hope your day comes soon !!