7mo update + pictures ||| Down 112 pounds so far

Hey everyone! Just a little past 7 months since my surgery. Everythings still going great. Blood work w/ patches was phenomenal, my surgeon group was very surprised as they tell people not to use them that my labs were so good. Asked if I took any kind of superfood smoothie daily, told them nope! Just normal eating to VSG plans. Said they were going to look into them more, so thats great!

I decided to try to give blood as I absolutely love to donate, and had no issues, so am super happy about that! Will be back again on the 27th of this month! Normally I dont have any issues but I did get a little hot during it, but it passed almost immediately, maybe only 15 seconds of not feeling great -- I do whole plasma or whole blood, so I dont really lose much, they give me back what they dont take.

The "you need to stop losing weight!" comments have gotten to be very often, almost too much. Dont like to hear it, but I appreciate that what they see me as now is such a dramatic change from where I was before. I just laugh and tell them I'll stop once my stomach is skinny, and squeeze my fat to show them I still have it.

Adoption is still cruising along, almost done with Home Study, so thats great, too!

Been big into cooking. Got a Kamado Joe cooker for Christmas, its like a Big Green Egg just red... Did some delicious bourbon salmon on a salt block last night along with some split lobster tails w/ some butter basted on. Had 3/4 of half a tail and a nugget of the salmon and was super content. Delicious, high protein and not that bad (I dont stress about butter)

ANYWAY... the fun stuff! I'm down 113 pounds as of today from my preop weight. I buy all size Large shirts, down from 3x. My pants are now 36 waist instead of 44. My wife took me shopping for our trip to Ashville for the New Year and bought me all kinds of stylin clothes. Felt so weird dressing "like that" but am glad I did :) She did a little photoshoot one morning after we went to the Biltmore. No clue on how many inches I've lost, I never took them. I still have a good amount of belly fat to lose and some bicep fat. 

Hope everyone is doing fantastic!

Here are some photos, including some from our Ashville, NC trip

December 2015 to December 2016

Beautiful Wife and I at Biltmore Estates Bass Lake

At Biltmore Estates looking over the mountains from the Italian Gardens

Christmas Day with my wife at her parents house

One year to the date, Star Wars Force Awakens to Star Wars Rogue One movies

Salt Block salmon w/ split lobster tails -- nom nom!

Amazing transformation!

Your wife seems like a great cheerleader!

Keep up the great work!

Natasha

Thank you! She is great

Excited for your upcoming surgery?!

Who is that dude in the beard?  Chris you have done an amazing job and YOU decide what your goal is.  It's hard for people to get use to the new you and freak when they seeing you getting smaller and smaller.  LOVE the photos and your labs! I just had mine done and everything was GREAT!  The patches are doing their job!

Thanks for the update and WAY TO GO!  

Thank you so much :) Ya its fun to look at my before/after photos. 

You look amazing! Awesome pics! So happy for your success.  You inspire me big time!

Thank you! Youre doing great, too, so far! Keep at it!

My ears perked up at the mention of adoption! So exciting!

I myself, as well as my sister, were adopted domestically. 

Love adoption! It's hard for all parties full of grief and despair, including for us kids, but it's truly beautiful and I wouldn't change it! A beautiful picture of Jesus' love for us.

If you have any questions for an adopted child as well as adoption advocate, feel free to message me.

you guys will make excellent parents! Keep up the hard work. Praying for you!

Thank you so much! We're doing international from Bulgaria :) 

We're excited about it

Well look at you!!! Was wondering how you were doing :) Glad to see you're doing so well!!!

That food porn is too much! I have a salt block, and I have yet to try it out... so, after you cook on it, do you just wipe it off and how do you store it for later use?? Did it make your salmon salty at all?

Those lobster tails look phenomenal!

You have made quite a transition!!! You look great!