I started my journey approximately two years ago I spent the first year and a half taking classes and going to therapy to work on my food issues. I really wanted to make sure I was ready for surgery and all it entailed. I had watched three friends have weight loss surgery only to slip back into bad habits. While they still have quite a bit of weight off they've each put weight back on I finally took the plunge on July 15, 2016. My pre op appointment was May 26 at which point I weighed 308 at 5'2" tall on the day of my surgery I weighed in at 287. I had no complications and healed quickly. The first month I lost 19 ponds. The second month 8 pounds,and the third 10 pounds. The fourth month I added 30 minutes of bicycling and dropped 16 pounds. Yippee!!! But then, I only lost a total of .6 pounds the fifth month. It wasn't a plateau. I had to be honest with myself. I had taken on the care of a family member and with that stress had made very poor food choices the first half of the month I had actually gained 5 pounds and after getting back on track lost 5.6 the second half of the month. This last month I am happy to say I'm back on track, making good choices and exercising every day. I lost ten more pounds bringing my total to 80 pounds since May 26. When I get discouraged and feel like it's going too slow I try to remember at ten pounds a month that's 120 in a year!! I've also learned to remind myself to be very mindful about everything that goes in my mouth. Other than when I first wake up in the morning I'm not hungry. My goal each day is to stay under 600 calories with 80 grams of protein and 40 grams of carbs. I see my nutritionist this week and I know the plan is to increase my calories to 800 in about two weeks. That scares me a little because when I gained the five pounds I had creeped up to 800 calories during those two weeks. However, I didn't carefully watch my protein and ate way too many carbs. I have two weeks until I'm six months post op. And I've lost 12 pounds so far this month. I'm working hard to make this a record month!! I've learned that tracking the carbs and protein really helps. Oh and I drink 64-70 oz of water a day. I hope my journey can help someone else learn from my mistakes. By the way I now ride my mountain bike 5 miles daily with some days at 7 miles and 45 minutes.