Progress Through Pictures

The highest weight that I ever saw on a scale was 310 pounds (140.6 kilos), but I may have weighed more than that at some point, because I stopped weighing myself. At my heaviest weight, I decided to get the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy from Kaiser and have part of my stomach removed to assist with my weight loss. For Kaiser to agree to perform the surgery on me, they required that I lose 10% of my body weight from the weight they thought I weighed. On the record, Kaiser had my weight floating around 305 so I would need to lose 30ish pounds before they would help me. After starving myself and becoming an exercise bulimic to get to the weight goal that was required of me, I was able to get down to about 288 pounds before the surgery. They agreed that it was close enough and performed the surgery. The day following the surgery, I decided to take a "before picture" of what I looked like in the beginning of my weight loss journey. Although this picture was taken at around 288 and not 310, it is a good reminder of where I come from and gives me something to compare my current body to.

Shown above is a "before" picture of the day after my VSG surgery at 288 pounds and my body today (12/25/13) at 150 pounds.

You can see in the above pictures where my skin hangs from the rapid weight loss. BUT! Do you want to see what all of that excess skin REALLY looks like? Check out these pictures taken from today.

Although my body may look "normal" when I am wearing clothes, this is what is truly underneath. After losing 160 pounds, my skin was unable to stretch back completely, leaving me with hanging skin on my body. Friday morning, this will all change. I will be having the panniculectomy surgery. This surgery will remove the majority of my excess fat and skin in my lower abdomen and help to make my body look the way it should. The surgery results will look something like this.

I will be posting every day about my recovery and how I am healing in the process. I will also post pictures after surgery so everyone can see how my body is healing. If there are any requests for information, or questions about my surgery, please ask. I am more than happy to answer all questions.