Obligatory "one year" post, prom pics, and more!

Just wanted to check in.  What a wild ride the last year has been!  In the last year I have lost half of by body weight; I started my preop diet at 251, and today I weigh 126.  I'm claiming the half a pound difference as water weight lol. 

I can honestly say that, if I had the opportunity to do this over or not do it at all, I would go right back to Mexico and do the same thing all over again.  It has really been worth it.  I am at my goal weight (have been for about two months now) and love shopping now... I need to be careful; it may become my new addiction... not good on a teacher's salary :)

Life in general has been pretty good lately for the most part.  I'm almost finished with my master's degree in English Education.  My marriage is getting stronger every day (we did have a little bump that we hit about a month ago, but things have gotten much better since then).  If my work situation would just straighten itself out, life would be great... but it's always something, right?

Here's a before pic, just for reference for those who don't know me.  This is my husband and me at Christmas a few years ago, before my husband's vsg (he did his about a year and a half before I did mine):

And this was last weekend when I chaperoned the prom for the school where I work:

This dress is very special to me.  I wore it as a teenager when I went to homecoming my freshman year of high school.  Soon after that dance, my anxiety problems took over and I ended up withdrawing from public school and homeschooling until I was old enough to get a GED.  Being able to wear that dress out in public again  brought back a lot of memories, some good and some bad, but it felt great to be able to say I could wear it lol. 

The necklace and earrings I'm wearing in these pics are also special because my husband went out and bought them specifically for prom.  He knew I was wearing a bracelet that had butterflies on it and knew I didn't have anything else that really matched that bracelet or the dress, so he surprised me with that set right before we left to go to the dance.  To me, butterflies are so symbolic of my journey, so the fact that I got to wear butterflies with my old dress was truly the topping off of the whole experience. 

The decision to have the sleeve really was probably the best thing I've ever done for myself.  The support I've gotten here, on mfp, and from my nearby friends who have also had the sleeve has been invaluable, and I don't know how I would have gotten this far without so much support.  Thank you to those of you who have supported and encouraged me along the way... hopefully things will calm down at work and school soon and I can go back to coming here more often as I like to do.

Happy Good Friday everyone, and have a great Easter Weekend :)

WOW! What a transformation!! You look amazing!

Don't worry about the bumps in the road. We all have them, and we all work through them in our own ways. Happy Easter!!

You are both looking great! Congratulations!!!

You look amazing girl!!! So beautiful. If I didn't know better I'd think you were a student and not a chaperone!! WTG!!! 

Beautiful pix & awesome post!  Thanks for sharing.  You look wonderful in that dress!

Deb

Thank you for sharing your update and your photos. They are very inspiring! And what a good looking couple. Yowza!

All I can say is, "WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Great job!

Gorgeous!!!  

Wow. Just. Wow. I have a few tears in my eyes. As a pre-op this is so good to see. My surgery is in 4 weeks.

You are both stunning. And look so happy. And in love.

You look beautiful and such a wonderful story of the dress and jewelry! Your husband looks great also.

Congrats!

 

(I post earlier but don't know what happened to it ???)