"My biggest fear is a backslide...'"
Since no one has touched this, and I have some experience with both a rapid loss of a lot of weight and, err, backsliding, here are my thoughts.
1. Get rid of the fat man's clothes, both physical and mental. Having stuff in your closet that you swim in loses its charm after a while. And it's a constant reminder that you CAN go back. I gave away to Goodwill in Pottstown most of my wardrobe aside from shoes and underwear once I dropped a hundred pounds. I kept a belt I'd punched holes in as I lost weight, and a couple of 4x t shirts for the gym, but the rest of it went away. As for new clothes, I'm a good bargain shopper, and I found I could pretty much shop anywhere as a thinner man.
If you can't afford to replace your entire wardrobe, get at least one or two items that make you look good. A t shirt and jeans are fine, as long as they flatter the new you. Heck, I'm as Conservative as they come, and this is what shows me at my best - a t shirt another Bike Forums member gave me when he lost weight:
2. Don't expect weight loss to solve all your problems and slay your demons. In fact, it might bring up stuff you've been putting off and neglecting. That's my biggest failing; being 400 pounds is hiding for me, and probably for other people too. My chronic low self-esteem and inability to handle stress helped bring me back up in weight. Don't let whatever you've been putting off become a reason for or a mechanism to a backslide.
3. Maintenance is going to be as hard or as easy as loss. I was told by someone who had been maintaining a 100 pound loss that I wasn't ready to learn how she did it; "you'd think it defeat when it's really victory" she told me. I maintained for about a year with only a small gain, and then crumbled as the economy did in 2008.
4. Expect your relationships to change with people. Your wife has been constantly supportive of you, and her price is truly above rubies; but other people will become sounding brass. I can't say my own experience is typical, but for the record my weight loss cost me one friendship as it created others - yours included. It also changed my work relationships; there were people in my office who were upset with me for losing weight. (One woman even said so, and apologized for feeling that way.) I share a house with two friends, and they've had to deal with an undemanding couch potato all of a sudden filling the garage with bikes, having people over, wearing Lycra in public, and breaking stuff left and right. Be prepared to work with friends as they deal with Sayre Model 2.0.
5. At some point look at yourself in the mirror, and say aloud "Sayre, you're awesome." Do it when you need to, and do it when you don't.
6. Start the "I Love Me" wall Tom Stormcrowe suggested. Or get someone to start one for you. I know one Bike Forums poster who was surprised on his birthday with a collage of photos of himself. (No, it wasn't me.)
7. And don't forget 425 pounds was a living death. Now you live every day.
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