At Goal Photos and Comments

Well finally after what seems like a lifetime, I guess it has been pretty much, but anyway I can now say I am a man of normal weight. This morning I weighed myself and I was at 168.5 pounds. That brings my weight down to a BMI (Body Mass Index) in the normal range. Even though I have an eventual goal of 165 pounds that is the lowest weight I wanted to attain. My real goal was always to be a normal weight person and I have done it this morning.

Now I am going to continue to try to keep myself under this weight. To do that I think I am going to lose down to 165 pounds so that I have a little wiggle room to gain a pound or two and then lose it again and still stay under my goal of having a normal BMI and that was my goal all along.

Now the hard part starts for me, and that is to keep the weight off. I have never really met a goal weight on any diet I have been on. I just kind of ran out of steam and settled for what ever weight I was then and felt good about my accomplishments. Then as it was for many times even after keeping the weight off pretty much for as long as 8 years, suddenly I get on the scale and I was up maybe 30 to 40 pounds and that discouraged me so much that I just threw in the towel and started eating giant portions again and gained everything I had lost.

I may be fooling myself but I just don’t think that will happen again. After having the surgery in May 9^th of 2012, I have not been able to eat more than a cup or so at any one meal. On some solid food like meat, I can only eat maybe 4 ounces, so unless I decide to eat every other hour or something, I don’t understand how I would gain a lot of weight without knowing I was abusing the system. Also my loving wife would kick me where the sun does not shine. So I am a lot more optimistic about my weight future after this surgery than I have ever been.

Please look at the photos I have provided here. The guy on the left, is me at my 70^th birthday party. I had been dieting, kind of, just before that photo was taken. I felt pretty good about myself and I had gotten that blue denim shirt and black T for my birthday. Both were a little smaller than what I had been wearing, so I was thinking I was looking pretty good. What do you think? I was sick, very sick. Diabetes way out of control. High blood pressure. Sleep apnea very bad. Heart congestion. Asthma out of control. My knees and feet were failing and I had already had two knee operations. It was getting pretty clear that I was going to be in a wheelchair pretty soon. In other words I was dying and the doctors told me so.

The guy on the right is me now a couple of weeks ago. He takes no medications at all. No diabetes anymore or any of the other problems I was having. All my blood tests come back normal and my doctors and surgeons are real happy with my progress. But not as happy as I am. I am doing things now that I thought I would never be able to do again in my life. I can actually live like a normal person of my age. I can walk, swim, bicycle, dance, and work around the house without feeling like I was going to pass out or have a heart attack.

People are stopping asking me what I did or how much weight I have lost. They are getting used to my new look and that is great. I am treated so much better by other people who have never known me as a fat man. So much more respect, and of all the things I like about my life now maybe that is the best thing. People just give me more respect. And I am more confident in myself and don’t feel ashamed when I meet people face to face. I always felt they were judging me as a less worthy person because of my weight. Not anymore I am thinner than most of the people I meet now.

I feel very fortunate that I was given this new tool in my life. I have wished for it for a long time, and I resolve to not abuse it or waste the time of all those who have helped me by doing things or eating things that I know are contrary to what I have been taught. This has truly been a learning experience and I know myself so much better.

Thank you all who have helped and encouraged me and I owe you a debt of gratitude I may never be able to repay but I will try by giving my experiences and encouragement to other going down the same path. Thank You All my Family and Friends.