Bright

yeah he's a pet! He's reading up all the stuff i print off the internet - so supportive, he always has been - he never critisized my weight at all! My Dad is coming to collect my kids this evening - my family think we're just off on a trip to Paris - flights are so cheap to europe here that we often do - we'll be back on friday night, and on sat morning we'll drive down to collect the boys! As i am self pay I am presuming i can pick the surgery date - I don't want anything too immediate anyway - I'm hoping for the end of october, when the kids are on their hallow'een break - we're all going to go to Paris then, and check out Eurodisney! Can't imagine disney without the florida sun tho!!! Anyway - better go pack! flying tonight!!! Yay

Well done - u must feel amazing!!! Think of 40lbs of butter piled up - what a loss! Yay for u xx :banana :banana :banana

yes it's tomorrow! So nervous! So can relate to your fitting on the plane seats fear Babs! I'm bringing vaseline in case I don't fit!!! Am really looking forward to meeting Sarah tomorrow too - actually Im leaving tomorrow night but the consult is actually on Friday - spent the week booking flights, hiring a car and Sarah booked us (husband coming too!) a hotel room - thought I was organised when horror of horrors, I couldn't find my passport!! Spent last night tearing the house apart trying to find it - turned up today neatly stored with all my flight info and my list of 10,000 "Questions to ask your prospective surgeon" ! AAArrrgghh! That'll tell you how stressed I am! Can u imagine what i'll be like before surgery! Wish me luck!:mad:

good to see you here - any weight loss before being filled is a bonus and 13lb is a pretty big bonus! you're doing great - when are you planning to get your fill? That will speed up your weight loss and get things moving!

Wow - congratulations Babs, you are doing brilliant!!!! I can't believe how much you've lost, and even if you'd lost half of that, you are such an inspiration with your great advice and general cheeriness!! I'm thrilled for you - you so deserve all those milestones! :banana :banana :banana :banana :banana

first of all, I heartily agree with all the above and wanted to add another perspective I have: I spent months researching & reading about the RNY and was completely gutted (s'cuse the pun!) when I came to the (sensible, i believe) conclusion that it was a really unhealthy option - in addition to the reasons in all the posts above re malabsorbtion etc I realised these things too: 1. As I read one personal story after another I found it almost impossible to find a person three years out of the surgery (or more!) ('cept for Carnie of course!) You could read tonnes of accounts from people who had the surgery 6 months/a year ago proudly fitting into their leather minis but after that NOTHING! That got me nervous.... We regularly have people who are maintaining their goal weight popping up on message boards such as Robin here, or Wednesday and others - I emailed a few "vintage" bandsters AND they all mailed me back saying *I love my band, go for it* I emailed three times as many RNY veteran's - and NOTHING!!! Nobody got back to me! 2. I read a couple of doctor's opinions of the RNY and the underlying message was: the RNY is not ideal, Obesity is not ideal - the surgery is somewhere in the middle to help people who may die in the next few years from obesity related disease - IT IS A COMPROMISE - much like someone losing their breast after cancer, it's cutting out the "bad" part to give life to the rest of the body - but it's not ideal - they may have other problems and may suffer for the rest of their lives. The Lap band is just a tool - I can use it or it can sit contentedly in my body for years and I can eat around it and stay the same weight. It leaves me in control. 3. Just because people rave about a brilliant new weight loss product doesn't mean it's healthy!!! Hello!!! We know this! Ever since victorian women swore by puppy urine to keep their waists trim, we have tried every lotion, potion under this sun, cabbage soup, grapefruit, atkins, blood group diets, the face reading diet, Hey just cos we'll try it and there is ALWAYS someone who has lost a million pounds on it, doesn't mean it's healthy!!! I sat patiently with my friend this morning who is a very intelligent woman, tell me excitedly about a brilliant new way to "boost your metabolism" - You have to drink three cups of coffee with every meal and hey presto, the fat won't enter your blood stream!??? She said it was all very medical and such and such lost 4lbs in a week with it!!!! Madness! Having said that, I guarantee you, someone will read this post somewhere, and be thinking, hmmmm i DO like coffee....sounds plausible.....!!!!!!!!!!! I know when I get my lap band I will have to conscientiously think about what I eat - i may lapse but I'm in charge! And being obese, I need the validation with each pound I lose, that I helped! I was proactive! It's not just happening to me, I'm doing it - I don't know about you but these days my confidence it at an all time low and I am really looking forward too, to the mental boost the lap may give me! I don't want to exchange one miserable life (being fat) for another miserable life (RNY)! If something sounds too good to be true, it will be!!! sorry this is so long....rambling again......sorry xx:)

Thanks for the translation - i thought I was the ultimate cyber chick knowing BTW or IMHO....learn something new everyday! *Anyway* you'll always be a porn lover to me Donali! :)

I know Shell, you and me, going straight to hell!!!! :)

Congratulations Ginger, Hope it all goes well for you - keep in touch and let us know how you got on!

think I'll have to change my screen name from Bright at this stage, but what does ROTFLMAO stand for ? Or ROFL for that matter Vampy? Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiighhhh....we're very innocent people here in Ireland! Shelly, Soooooo glad someone else shares my mad thoughts!!! Love Bright (real name = Niamh (pronounced Neeve, to rhyme with Eve!)) :)

Yay for u Sheila.....one small step for Man, one huge step for Bandsters.............. (apologies to all fans of Neil Armstrong....)

hey Donali, I've always looked at your signature thing (beside the little mouse guy) and thought, how very odd! I've just realised today that it says POM lover - em, for ages I thought it said PORN lover.....ohmigod I laughed for about ten minutes at myself - had to share!!!! apologies....! Ps - what ARE poms? Are they those little cute dogs? :)

...........did I get that right? Bleacher's are what you guys call those seats at football games, right? Got caught up in the emotion there for a bit, sorry :)

I SO hear ya Megan.... I am also aprehensive about living a new life - after years of comfort eating - I have become comfortable (!) here in a lot of ways. I have amazing looking sisters (all tall & thin) and my three best friends are thin, tanned, blonde and gorgeous - frequently I find it almost a relief not to have to compete - when we are all going to a party they are all stressing out what to wear, shoes, make up hair, etc - It's not that I don't make an effort but I'm the only fat one - I just have to look better than I do when I do the groceries for a party! ! I, as an outsider, find other "normal" women scary - they seem to constantly have to out do each other, if one goes on a tanning bed, they all do and someone eventually "wins" with the best tan - It's like they're all in a marathon and I'm sitting watching (eating hotdogs!). I'm worried about having to get in the race and become one of them! It's funny - I don't worry about men, they have always been kinder to me than women have anyway - plus I'm deliously happily married (14 yrs so far!). I'm also kind of concerned about what will happen if I stop comfort eating? What will I start to do for comfort? (gulp!) And (yet) another thing! Fashion!!! I have some great things from the eighties I am determined to wear again - if you hear sirens, it'll be the fashion police after me..... As I have droned on in another post, the Band is a lot about trust, you have to look at the people on the path before you, thank them for their honesty and step off the bleachers into the race.......

I emailed Sharon (well, her show's) website too so someone here should hear from her to clarify things!

I can really see a difference Shelly gives me hope too!!! I think you look really pretty now! You'll be WoW really soon!

Hi Nikki, can I ask, where did you get the water dispenser? Sounds perfect - I find it so hard to drink the recommended 2 litres a day and I'm not even banded yet!!! :sick

hey I was just reading an article in "Now" mag (english magazine!) about Sharon Osbourne, it says she had her stomach stapled (!) but she was also quoted as having tonnes of plastic surgery! I couldn't believe her "before" photo - she looked fifteen years older than she does now! Apparently she has had a boob job, a face lift, a leg lift (well both legs!), a tummy tuck, her bum lifted and liposuction!!!! She must look like a quilt under all the black!!! Looks pretty good from the outside tho!

Damn Better buy a new whiter than white one then!!! if it's any consolation Alexandra, I prob won't get to see much of Paris - but it's only an hour or so flight away from Dublin....if u ever need a bed! Ps My husband has been offered a job in Delaware and wants us to move to the US! He loved Jersey and has been pushing city guides etc at us over breakfast!!! LOOOOOVE to live in the US but would really miss my family - well we're not going to make a decision til the new year ! Small world xx

Babs, Lulu, Thanks guys for being happy with me! I read the other day on someone's post (could be Spotlights or the Super-Wise Alexandra here!) that a bad childhood or traumatic event can be someone's challenge or another person's excuse... and I seem to have spent YEARS getting over things so this is why my band will be almost spiritual to me!!! you are all so kind and interested! Anyway - can't wait - consult on 26th September....what should i wear???!!!!! Will it be a "best bra" event???!!! :)

hi everyone! Just wanted to share my excitement! I have made an appointment for my first consultation with a surgeon in Paris - Dr Marre (Sarah's surgeon if you've been following her posts!) and will see him on 26th Sept! Apparently he may give me my op date then (i'm hoping for the end of october) as I am self pay I shouldn't have to wait! And I get to go to Paris! Sarah is going to meet me and come with me - what an angel :kiss and even better, then we are going to IKEA ! Yay - I've been so down the last week or so and now I feel things are really moving again - best of all the surgery will only cost €4000 and I had initially budgeted for around €12,000 - Can u smell the shopping already!!!???

nice pic! Verrrrrrry Vampy! See where u get your nickname!

hey babs! great to "see" u again too - I have "personal messaged" you - click on the user cp button at the top to get your message!

I am terrified I am going to be the one this doesn't work for - but everyone has felt that at some point so I am trying to calm down. A lot of pretty dreadful things have happened to me in the last 18 months (2 miscarriages, my granny died, my mother had been suffering from alcoholism & took her own life a few months ago, my sister is so ill from anorexia....shall i go on!!??) and I am putting my trust in this band in a higher power (i am not a believer in a god so i'm not sure what higher power!) and in a way, trusting the people on this forum, because basically i don't trust myself anymore - I don't seem to know up from down and I think I have reached a point where I have to let go, and trust that so many other people have gotten thru this operation and are very happy with their descision. I am kind of shattered by all these events, and when I read someone saying on the Spotlight Forum, that they "suffered" from Analysis Paralysis - I thought That's ME!! - so thru this difficult time, I am determined to come out of it, once and for all, with body and brain intact, breaking the circle of repetitive behaviour and actually changing my life! My favourite quote - Definition of Insanity: doing the same things over and over and expecting things to turn out differently. This maybe unknown territory for loads of us but I am shocked at how raw this trusting of other people feels. Sorry for all this stuff from inside my brain! Aaaargghhh - the control freak letting go is not a pretty sight....

Hey Nikki Well done - you (well you're bum) looks great! I'm in Ireland, and hoping to have surgery done in France next month! Where did you have your surgery done? I was going to have it done in the UK but it's pretty expensive there! anyway great to hear from you!