I am finally a bandster! I was banded at NYU by one of the greatest-no wait, maybe the greatest surgeon ever, Dr. George Fielding. I chose him for more than his supurb qualifications, I chose him because he understood me. Hell, at one point he was me. He struggled with his own weight until he was banded himself over what I believe was eight years ago. So to have the choice of a surgeon who was not only a doctor, but also a patient and has truly experianced things as I would eventually, it was a no brainer. Starting at 325lbs, I went through all the neccessary steps and took back my life on May 23, 2008. That day signifies so many things to me now, and in all honesty, maybe more than me taking back control, that was the day Dr. Fielding saved my life. In a little over a month, with the help of my band and my pre-op diet, I am oficially down 33 lbs! I have said goodbye to the 300's on my scale forever and each passing days reassures me that I made the right decision. I returned back to work just after two weeks and am doing well. I am finding that even with a mere thirty pounds gone, I am more active than I have been in a very long while and my clothes are getting to be huge on me! I know this is probably bad, but I have already started buying cute shoes for motivation to get to my goal weight of 165. I have always said that I dont want to be skinny to wear the clothes but I want to be able to wear all of those cute and sexy shoes a 25 year old wears that I never could! Seriously though, I truly believe with everything in my heart and soul that all the sacrifices, all the work and pain, will all be worth it. More than it already is proving to be even now.

That is awesome!!!!! Keep up the good work!

Dr Fielding is actually the leading expert. He began his practice in Australia (he's Aussie) and then moved to the US to train doctors there, so you do indeed have the best. But he didn't save your life. YOU saved your life by deciding to do something. Way to go!!

Dr. Fielding will be doing my band as well. Yay!!! Hopefully the end of November or early December. I started this process in July - he's so worth the wait!

Do you know which band you have? I'm curious because I think we're starting out at about the same size.

By the way, you might want to hold off on buying shoes for goal. Did you know that your feet shrink when you lose weight? It's true! Many women go down a size or two in number, and of course in width as well. (But if it motivates you anyway, just buy them - once you get to goal you won't care anymore if they fit!)

Isn't it shocking to think we might actually get to our goal weights? I had truly given up on ever getting into the 100's again. Isn't that so sad?

Good luck and happy losing! I hope my band will be as successful as yours!