My 1 year Surgery Update!!!

So anyway I'll post my 1 year update from Weight Loss Surgery. things are going great. I'm currently at 279, down from a high of 416, for a loss so far of 137. I'm wearing size 40 pants (Got a pair of jeans at old navy on clearance for 11 bucks, and a pair of cords that don't make noise and kackis there for 6 bucks a piece, also 40's). If it weren't for the loose skin on my stomach apron I'd easily fit into 38s by now. That is a loss of 20 inches off of my waist For shirts I'm wearing extra larges, down from tight 6x's. Also a huge loss. At Renewal on Tuesday I put a pair of my pre-op pants and a button down shirt that was pre-op (22.5 36-37) and was shocked myself at how it was so big. It is weird and normal, I still feel like the 400 lb guy until I look at pictures or see myself in old clothes.... I definitely know how an anerexic feels when they look in a miror. One small thing I have noticed though, is that my dimples are coming back! I'm going to send a link showing a photo of me at my highest around my sister's wedding in September 2004, A picture from May 2005, a picture from August 2005, a photo from November 2005, and a photo from Tuesday. Here is a link -- http://photobucket.com/albums/f181/selat2/ Today I met for the final time with Dr. Carey an exercise physiologist I'm particpating in a post weight-loss surgery study for. He tested my metabolism and I'm doing great and at rest it is back up to 2169, which is higher than it was before surgery. This is about 300-400 calories higher than most people are in my position. Also my body composition is only 40.1% fat, which is a drop from 49.9% back in August, a huge drop in % (And down from 60% fat back at surgery) This means that since my 6 month meeting with him I've actually GAINED 6.1 lbs of lean mass and lost 46.1 lbs of fat. This means that over the entire year of weight loss, 80% of my weight loss has been fat, and only 20% has been lean. The average for the study has been between 50 to 66% fat loss to 33-50% lean. Again above average. I have 80 lbs to lose to get to my personal goal and 100 lbs to get to where Dr. Carey says he think I could make it to, but the way I feel, I'd be happy even if I never lost another lb. And I'm actually not focusing on the number, and instead focusing on how I feel and how my clothes fit. Now it is time to start focusing on finding the right guy! John

Congratulations John! You are an inspiration!!! Rosa

Thanks for sharing your story and your pics. I never thought before about fat vs. lean loss. That's quite interesting. Come back and visit us soon! Jen

THANK YOU FOR UPDATING US, YOU LOOK AWESOME. CONGRATS ON SUCH A GREAT ACCOMPLISHMENT.

John, Both your story and your pics are awesome. Way to go. Is there anything you would like to share with the rest of us?? Melissa

Thanks for the compliments, although I'm not sure what you are getting at. John