250 to 175!!! (Including Pics!)

I started this journey on January 8th... I weighed in at 250 pounds. I was miserable. I couldn't do half the things I wanted to do in life, couldn't hike, hunt, camp, canoe, or even walk up a flight of stairs without getting winded and gasping for breath. I hated myself and the way I looked. I also physically felt like crap too. I had BAD reflux and kept a constant cough for better than 2 years. My doctors ran every test known to man to try to figure out why I had the cough, but with no success. It was so bad that I' would have coughing spells that literally made me gag and throw up. My chest and ribs hurt all the time, and I was borderline incontinent as well. That kept me out of the woods all hunting season last year. On the rare occassions I did feel good enough to go shoot my bow, I would have to stop every 15 yards to stop and catch my breath...It SUCKED. I wore a size 20 jeans. My *kitten* was HUGE.

<img src="https://us.v-cdn.net/5021879/uploads/FileUpload/be/46cf45eb12071bb90cda8a53b20cb2.jpg&quot; />

My doctor told me I had a hiatal hernia that was causing the reflux and subsequently the cough. He said he could do surgery to repair it, but that I needed to lose 60 pounds first. I asked him "How to your propose I do that?" He said "NO bread, NO potatoes"... Um yeah right. But I had a friend who's son was oon the same baseball team as my son, and I knew she had lost alot of weight using the MFP app... In fact I had tried it a year before but didn't stay committed. So I started back up with MFP more determined than ever to get the weight off so I could get healthy and feel good again.

The first 20 pounds came off in a matter of weeks. It was AWESOME! I started feeling good again and could even cut back on some of the medications I was taking. At 2 months I had lost about 30 pounds. I was now in a size 16 jeans.

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I kept it up. It felt good to go to my closet and not be able to find things to wear... not because they were too tight, but because they were literally falling off me. By th3e time June rolled around I had lost over 50 pounds and my doctor agreed to go ahead and schedule the surgery. I was now in a size 14 jeans.

I had my surgery on June 18th. Everything went fantastic, and I was up walking multiple laps around the hospital ward within just a few hours. I was sore for sure, but I knew it was a new day and the start of not feeling like crap all the time.

At my two week follow up, I tell my Dr that I have not needed any reflux meds since the surgery and that the cough is already clearing up. Yea me! I'm down almost 60 pounds at this point and wearing a size 12 jeans.

By August, I'm down almost 70 pounds and wearing size 10 jeans. I feel like a new person. I look like a new person. It feels GREAT.

<img src="https://us.v-cdn.net/5021879/uploads/FileUpload/07/719d423b7b40ddc60aa0b0672ffd5c.jpg&quot; />

As of today I am down almost 75 pounds and am wearing size 8 jeans. They are a bit snug but I'm determined to get to the point where they are comfortable. Thankfully, my upper-frontal region has stayed much the same... Hubby is happy, and so am I.

This last pic is from 9/20/14. I was at about 73 pounds lost. Not the most flattering picture, but definitly an intimidating one... My *kitten* is TINY now.

<img src="https://us.v-cdn.net/5021879/uploads/FileUpload/31/c69a54a5d00cd767b639a8e41a1ced.jpg&quot; />

I still have a little way to go before I reach my goal of 165, but I'm getting there. I wonder if I"ll be able to fit into a size 6 jeans then? That would be flippin AWESOME. I always used to say that I knew I'd never be a size 6.... Guess I lied!