Frangipani

Hi BandedBabs and Welcome! Thanks for the compliment -- you seem like a pretty cool chick yourself and congrats on losing 50 pounds !!!! Isn't the band wonderful???? A true Godsend for sure!!! You are welcome anytime here -- we always love to have people join us. If you are exercising, feel free to join our exercise thread as well. We keep each other pretty motivated! Looking forward to hearing from you again soon! :smile:

Hi Judi, Good to hear from you and you were definitely missed, you witty and interesting lady! Sorry to hear that work is so crazy for you right now, but fortunately this should help make your wonderful cruise only that much more enjoyable when the day finally arrives. Good point about all the good habits we are developing!

Great post Candle (and Salsa again too)! Once again you have reinforced that PS is pretty much the answer here. Our bodies while at (or approaching) a normal BMI are not the same as a "normal," never morbidly obese, body, and that is the problem. I honestly do think that PS will cure most of my woes because I feel pretty good about myself right now. My only real issue at this point in time is that I am dissatisfied (from a purely aesthetic standpoint) about how my body looks and that I don't have the full range of options as to the type of clothing I can wear. Becky said in another thread that we shouldn't have to carry around a constant reminder of being fat, and I wholeheartedly agree. Once I get my PS (and hence remove this constant reminder), my goal is to let the painful "fat years" fade into a distant memory (while remembering the good times of course). I don't want my life ever again to be about "being fat," -- and to dwell on the fact that I was "formerly fat," would be doing so. Once I get my body into the range of normality, I am fully prepared (I believe) to be very "normal", happy and healthy!

Thanks for the feedback Steph! These responses are very helpful guidance for me. :smile::tt1:

Steph, Looking good :tt1:! It looks to me like your Dr. made a very excellent and meticulous incision, I bet it will heal just beautifully!!!! I'm glad to hear that you are feeling more energetic and were able to get out!!!! I'm guessing I will need to be going to the bank a lot too after my PS, probably for emergency cash infusions ().

Add me to the very long list of those thinking about you and sending the very best wishes your way today. :smile::tt1:

Hi Slimmy120, You do not have to have an implant with a breast lift and there are some surgeons out there who don't even like to do both at the same time. However, if you haven't already, you should look at photos of breast lifts with and without implants, and see what you like best. Also, you should get your Dr.'s recommendation about what would work best for you. Once I started looking at photos and focusing in on this issue, I immediately decided that I prefer the "look" of a breast lift with implants. My husband on the other hand seems to like the look of breasts without implants. (Even though I love my husband dearly, these are my breasts, and I'm going with the implants .) As you can see, there are different ways you can go about this and the decision is pretty much up to you.

I will be having a 360 or LBL. There are many names for this procedure, my Dr. refers it as "circumferential abdominoplasty," I call it a "circumferential tuck." I was really hoping that I wouldn't need to go all the way around because of the scarring, but after consulting with 4 different plastic surgeons, the recommendation for this procedure was unanimous. (I carried 75% of my excess weight in my hips, lower abdomen, and thighs, so I guess it was pretty much inevitable) I will be having my circumferential tuck done in two separate surgeries because I will also be having a robotic myomectomy during the first surgery to remove a large fibroid tumor that I have. The first surgery will be the myomectomy, tummy tuck and breast lift with implants. The second surgery (done at a later time TBD) will be finishing out the circumferential tuck and major liposuction of the thighs. I was hoping to have the entire tuck done at once and have the breasts done later, but my surgeon felt that having this procedure done along with the myomectomy introduced a level of risk that he was not comfortable with. The advantage, as I see it, to doing this in two separate surgeries is that the tummy tuck can be "tweaked," if need be during the second surgery. I also like the idea of the surgeon being able to concentrate on one area of my lower body at a time because goodness knows, my lower body needs a very highly concentrated effort. Good luck with your upcoming surgery Nancy!

Ditto to everything Kareyquilts said -- except that I don't have my implants yet, and I am so glad to hear how happy everyone is with theirs so far. I will be getting my implants sometime soon and once I started looking into this issue, I decided very quickly that (for me) silicone is the only way to go. My friends who have silicone are very happy with them as well. However I agree with you Mindy, that it's is a very personal decision and you have to go with the product that you feel most comfortable having in your body. Misty, thanks for the info on the Mentor implant!

Hi Becky, Oh how I envy you getting test results back so quickly! I am certain that everything is absolutely a-okay with your chest issue, but once the question is raised it's always nice to see the definitive result in black and white. Let us know the minute you find something out. My process is a little bit longer and more drawn out. The Gyn I'm working with is a specialist (gynecologic oncologist). I chose him because A) He is trained to do the procedure I'm interested in -- which is a fairly new procedure. I assumed (correctly) that his skill level was such that he wouldn't just naturally want to take the "easy route," which seems to be what all of these other Dr.'s wanted to do and C) He has the same hospital affiliations as my plastic surgeon. (Having all these things come together by the way involved a fair amount of research and a whole lot of luck!) That said, doing what he does, he is dealing with women who have much more serious health problems than I (presumably) do, so I need to be very patient and let things unfold on his schedule. I'm lucky that he is even seeing me at all because it has been my experience that most of these guys will not even talk to you unless you've been referred by another physician. Therefore in the scheme of things, he and his office have been absolutely terrific in accommodating me and moving things along as quickly as they can. Long story short though, I'm a very impatient person and very used to doing things quickly and on my schedule, so this waiting game is driving me absolutely crazy!!!!

Okay, I did it!!! I got started with the running today. I cannot say it was the most fun I have ever had (or even very enjoyable) and you certainly won't see me running the Boston Marathon anytime soon, but I did at least get started. Hopefully I will continue to get better and faster, and even (maybe) enjoy it a little as time goes on. Good job Miss MollyMolly, and thanks for the motivation ! Jody, I like your idea about having a monthly weight loss goal, and I've set one for myself this month. It's fairly a ambitious goal given that my weight loss has slowed way down lately, but we'll see what happens -- maybe this goal setting will be just what I need to get things going again. Have a great night everyone! :thumbup::smile::smile:

Julie, Thank you so much for the feedback -- you are always so helpful!!!! I've been following your PS thread and I'm so glad to hear that things are progressing so well with your recovery. I'm looking forward to seeing the pics if/when you decide to put them up. Thanks again! :thumbup::smile::thumbup:

Great posts Becky and Salsa -- you both have a lot of wisdom to share!!!! I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one going through this warped sense of reality right now. I think you have definitely helped me to clarify this issue -- it is the sagging and bagging skin that this causing me to feel "not normal." Well, at least we don't have an overblown sense of ourselves, which I have also seen happen with women who lose a lot of weight. I much prefer humility over excessive ego -- don't you?

Hi everyone! Congratulations to all of you who have successfully completed your PS journey. I am an avid reader of all of your threads, and the information and pics you have so generously shared have helped to take a lot of the fear and uncertainty out of this whole process for me -- thanks so much to all of you!!!! I will be starting my PS journey soon, (hopefully in early June) and will post more details in this section once I have them all worked out, but I had a quick question for you in the meantime -- did your Dr. require you to be unfilled prior to surgery? Since I still have some more weight to lose and because (as we all know) it is often tough and time consuming to get just the right fill, I would prefer not to be unfilled, and I was just wondering what most of you ended up doing. Thanks again -- you ladies are awesome!!!

Hi Jody and Becky, Thank you for the kind comments. I was concerned that I was blithering on a bit too much about this whole thing, so it's good to know that others are interested in this. I will probably take your suggestion Becky, and post it in the PS forum. However, I was thinking I should probably wait until I have everything in place and my dates set up, as this gynecological issue could possibly take a few other twists and turns before the whole thing is finalized. Right now it does look like the robotic myomectomy will be the treatment of choice for me, but a few other details still need to fall into place. The one thing I'm learning from this whole thing though is how pro-active you need to be as a patient because it seems as if no one is really going to offer you the full range of treatment options -- especially when there are several, as is the case with fibroids. Thank goodness for the Internet!!!! It helps us so much nowadays, doesn't it?????

Wow Salsa! That's excellent, Congratulations!!!! I can't believe how quickly you're progressing with the running. I did my 2.5 hour hike on Water Island today. The sun is starting to getting very intense here (as if it's not intense enough all year round, living so close to the equator), and with that sun beating down on me it was HOT!!! It started raining during the the last 45 minutes of my trek and it felt wonderful -- thank goodness for that rain!!!!!

Hi Steph, If you live in Atlanta and are considering Mexico, you should also consider Monterrey Mexico, which is much closer to you than Tijuana (Delta airlines has a 2.5 hour, non-stop flight from Atlanta to Monterrey.). Dr. Roberto Rumbaut and Dr. Miguel Zapata are two excellent bariatric surgeons in Monterrey. I used Dr. Zapata and had a great experience. LapBand surgery in Mexico is indeed safe if you do your research and make sure you are using an excellent Dr.. Good luck with your decision! I am thrilled with the Lap Band -- it has exceeded all of my expectations by far.

Good luck with your training Salsa, and I hope your tendinitis clears up soon! Hi Molly, Have you started yet? I have not -- I will probably start tomorrow because I am going out for a long hike today. Good luck!!!! Dave you inspire us too!!! And look at that ticker!!!! 134 pounds????? That is ASTOUNDING!!!!! I got a one hour hike in yesterday. Today I'm taking the ferry over to Water Island for long hike. Have a great Sunday everyone!!!

Kendra, That's wonderful news!!!!! :hurray:

LOL Jody! And thanks for the well wishes :frown:. I wanted to share some additional details regarding the surgery saga in the hopes that it might provide additional info to someone else who might have the same gynecological issue I have (Fibroid tumors). The gynecologic surgeon that I finally chose to work with is actually the fifth gynecologist I have consulted with over the past year. The first three Dr.'s I talked took one look at my fibroid (which is quite large) and immediately recommended a hysterectomy. The fourth Dr. I spoke to was willing to do a myomectomy, but only very reluctantly, and was strongly encouraging me to go with a hysterectomy. The fifth Dr. was the only one out of the five who left the choice completely up to me. Many people I know (including my Mother and Grandmother) had hysterectomies for their fibroid tumors, BUT in the vast majority of these cases a hysterectomy is not necessary. In Europe, for example, hysterectomies are almost never performed for this reason. Long story short ladies, if you want to keep your uterus in the USA, keep talking to Doctors until you find the right one and don't take no for an answer!!!! There are several minimally invasive treatment options out there. Do lots of research and learn as much as you can about the various treatment options and then talk to Doctors, and choose the one that's right for you -- don't let someone else make that choice for you. I was "this close" to scheduling a hysterectomy, thinking that it was what I "needed" to do, but something in the back of my mind kept telling me to explore this whole issue a bit further, and I'm glad I did. Fibroids can grow back of course, and frequently do, however they also often don't grow back. Therefore, my thought about this whole thing is that I will have it removed, and if it comes back in a significant way, then I will consider having a hysterectomy. Another interesting twist to this whole saga was the decision to have the gynecological procedure done "openly" or laparoscopically in conjunction with the plastic surgery. One Dr. unequivocally told me that it makes "no sense" to do a laparoscopic procedure while doing a tummy tuck, because I would already be "open." Well, it turns out that this is not exactly accurate. After running this past wonderful Dr. #5 and my wonderful plastic surgeon, I discovered that it likely does make sense to have the procedure done laparoscopically because the plastic surgeon does not need to cut through the abdominal fascia (as one would need to do to perform an open myomectomy or hysterectomy) and cutting through the abdominal fascia is the thing that creates the most post-operative pain and recovery time. I hope I'm not boring everyone with all these details, but I found these little pieces of information I discovered along the way very interesting -- and certainly not readily available without research, talking to several Doctors, and asking lots of questions.........

Well Becky you and I have been corresponding a lot lately and you know how excited I am for you!!! This additional testing is just a minor blip and I am 100% certain that everything will be just fine. I think you're right about all this testing sometimes being something other than about our health per se. However, being considerably more cynical than you (total sweetheart that you are), I feel that this has less to do with "malpractice insurance fears" (many states, including Texas, already have tort limits on medical malpractice claims) and more to do with the fact that health insurance makes it possible for Dr.'s to sometimes go a bit overboard in their testing, for a whole variety of reasons, including (at times) their own economic interests. Anyhow, enough about that........ I'm trying to get my PS details worked out once I get the "all clear" from the gynecologist, but here's what's going on with me so far. I will be doing something a little different. There will be two surgeries. Surgery number one will be a laparoscopic myomectomy (utilizing a fascinating new technology called the DaVinci robot), tummy tuck (the first half of a circumferential tuck) and breast lift with implants. Surgery number two will be finishing out the circumferential tuck, and large-volume liposuction of the thighs. I have lots of details to share about my plastic surgery/gynecologic surgery saga and I have been working on this and researching like crazy for quite some time now. But since this post is getting very long, I will leave it at that for now and will fill in some other details later. For obvious (and health insurance) reasons, I will be having my surgeries done in the US, and I am simply thrilled with both Dr.'s that I have chosen to work with -- both are absolutely top-notch. I am shooting for surgery number one in early June if I am fortunate enough to get everyone's schedule together. My gynecologic surgeon is always quite busy and very in demand, so his schedule will probably end up dictating the timing of this whole thing. More updates later!

Hi Guys, I am going through something right now and I thought I would check in to see if anyone else is feeling the same way.......... I suddenly realized the other day that I'm simply not capable of judging how I look. I mean (even though I do still have another 24 pounds to lose), I guess I'm not fat anymore. I am a size ten now, which seems like a somewhat "normal" size, but when I look in the mirror I'm still seeing a very heavyset person. I definitely "feel" better, no aches and pains and I can feel that I'm carrying less weight, but to me, I still "look" pretty much like I always did. I don't know, it's just really weird. Maybe plastic surgery will take care of this problem as it is certainly possible that all of this sagging and bagging skin is altering my perception of myself -- or perhaps it will just take time for my brain to catch up with my body. I can't say that this is a self-esteem issue per se, I don't feel badly about myself, I just still "think" I'm fat........ Does this make sense? Is anyone else having this problem?

Lessnless, Congratulations!!!! And what a great attitude you have -- no wonder you've been so successful with this!!!! FABULOUS JOB -- I can't wait to get to where you are. I'm happy with my weight loss, but quite anxious to reach the finish line!

Hi Molly Molly, Welcome! Glad you're joining us :tongue::smile:! It's great that you're an August bandster too!!! I was thinking of starting my running program tomorrow, but if you want to start together, just let me know what day is best for you and we'll do it. On the weekends I usually go hiking, but the first week of the Couch to 5K program looks pretty easy, so I can do both in a day, if need be. I got one hour of cardio in today. Have a great night everyone!!!

Happy May Everyone! Time for a new exercise challenge thread. This thread is open to anyone -- you don't have to be an August 07 bandster to join us. I have two personal goals for May. Number one is to finally join the rest of you "speedy banditos" in the 100 pound club. I am only 5 pounds away, which means that if I don't make it, something is definitely wrong. That said, the pounds are coming off much more slowly nowadays, so I will need to work hard and stay very focused. This brings me to goal number 2, which is to start running this month. I bought myself a comfortable pair of running shoes while I was in Miami, and will begin the Couch to 5K running schedule in the next few days. I don't see myself ever running a marathon (I have too many other interests to distract me from doing that much training), but perhaps at some point I will do a shorter race. Also there is always the 8 Tuff Miles on St. John, which I plan to participate in next year. Good luck with your goals, and have a happy and healthy month!!!!