100 pounds 5 month 13 days

Woke up this morning and my scale was 215.  Thats officially 100# down from my consultation weight. Weight of surgery was 300 even, so 85 since my surgery.

My kickball team still loses every game, but we at least have fun (normally). My last post I had some encouraging posts and I took some little videos of myself in gym and absolutely loved seeing muscles I've never seen. 

My grandmother passed away and her funeral was last week. I dont have any suits that fit me, so I went to Walmart to buy some inexpensive slacks and a shirt... Bought a LARGE and size 38 pants, were too baggy and could almost fit a 36.

Here are some photos of my preop to this morning. The back one is probably my hardest to accept.

On FB I shared these photos and posted the following:

"100 pounds. 5 months 13 days. 

As I get further along in my weight loss it almost gets harder for me to look at, and be happy with, my progress pictures. These are my hardest ones to look at to date. When I was 315 pounds, or even in college at 345 pounds, and I looked in the mirror I didnt see a morbidly obese male looking back at me. I saw a strapping lad. I saw someone with maybe a 20 pound weight issue. Honestly, I see the person that I am today (from looking at my pictures). I take these photos because every day I see the same person in the mirror, with minimal change. I knew the scale was bad. I guess you could say I wanted "scale loss" more than I thought I needed weight loss. I wanted people to stop commenting on my weight (family, friends, doctors, etc). I didnt think I had a problem. Now, I see how big of a problem it was, and it amazes me how blind I was to it. These pictures, while I am proud of them, don't necessarily bring me the joy and happiness I was expecting to have when sharing. Regardless, they're my story and I want to share them with everyone."

My size large

Chris, that's amazing!!!  You look great and should be proud of all your hard work!!!  Best of luck in your continued journey!!

Looking at old pictures do get easier. For a long time I was angry with the girl in the pictures. Felt sorry for her. I felt pity also. 

Now I look back and realize that our body is just a shell that holds our soul. I am not a bad person for letting myself get to the point of needing WLS. 

It is a slow process. I keep a picture on my phone of before so I can remind myself of what can happen if I let myself go. 

I had a particularly bad picture from before that I kept to remind myself why I had surgery.

One day I decided I no longer needed to upset my self and I put the picture in the shredder. 

You carried your weight well and did not look 100 pounds overweight to me.  You did look like big, strapping young guy. 

To actually see the changes, you need to crop out your head or hold your hand over your head in each photo and look at the together.  When your brain sees your face it automatically fills in the weight that it associates with that face.

When you cover your face you will see that you have a completely different body.

Absolutely amazing Chris! I know how you feel because I have always been in denial about my weight too. I actually saw myself smaller than I was. When I would see myself in a pic I would blame it on a bad angle. I had myself convinced that I was happy so who cares about being overweight. But here I am at a 63 lb loss and people are just now noticing. Seeing how much I had clothing stretched out is insane! I was only a size 22 but now clearly should have been wearing about a 26!!! Like you said...BLIND! It's very strange how our brains and eyes could trick us for so long. 

Sorry about your grandmothers passing. Hugs 

Chris - great job my friend! Keep up keeping up! You are doing great and I agree that we have mixed emotions as we lose. I still struggle with perception. Keep it up buddy!

Very impressive man.  The extra skin issue looks to be minimal, too.  Great job, keep it up!  If hoping my results are at least as good as yours, I'll be happy!

Hey Chris! You're looking great! You've done a fine job, that's for sure!

I too, couldn't see that I was as big as I was... now I look at old pictures and cringe. What was I thinking? Of course, looking in the mirror now, I don't really see a different Pamela looking back at me... sometimes I feel fat and frumpy, and I have to remember where I'm coming from!

Hope you're doing well!

Awesome job Chris! Keep it up