Little Debbie

And boy is my husband disapointed! :cry_smile:

I am a kept woman. :cry_smile:

Trell I will mark my calendar to lift you up On Monday. Yea Trell! :sad_smile:

Karey....I can't believe how great you look! I wasn't even thinking about having ps; I thought it wouldn't be worth it at my age, but I have a new goal now! Thank you , thank you for posting your pics. What an inspiration you girls are! I hope you won't mind if I show my hubby your pics. I want to plead my case for ps!:smile: 'Course I haven't even been banded yet; better not get the cart before the horse........:cheers2:

Amy you are an inspiration. You look great! Karey, I hope you will post some pics of after your plastics, we are the same age; I'd like to see what is possible for someone my age. You already look great in your current pics. Keep up the good work girls!

Thanks for all the support. Tara you remind me of my daughter, I can just hear her telling someone just what you said! I think we will all be alright. We have already made the brave decision to change our lives, and it IS NOT taking the easy way out, but for some of us it is now the only way out. God bless us all!

I'm glad to see so many others are keeping their surgery secret. It makes me feel better about my decision; only my DH and DD will know. I feel a little guilty not telling my mom or sister, but I know they would only be negative. But my question to all of you is this... What is a firm but tactful way to tell people to 'myob' when they begin to see you loosing weight. I feel that most people asume remarking on someone's weight is as acceptable as fat jokes. I think it's a very private thing and I just want a tactful way to warn people to back off. I mean, I don't mind when people notice and commment on your weight loss, but then they often feel justified in asking how you did it, why you did it, where you did it, why didn't you go to WW, blah, blah, blah. Have you guys thought about what you will say when people ask?:thumbup:

I have 120 lbs. to lose, more or less. I am just anxious to get on with my surgery so I can START losing weight! I have been fat for so long (20 years) and have never been able to lose more than 20-30 lbs. (only to gain it back). I will be happy when I have lost 30 lbs, giddy if I can manage to drop 50 lbs., and you guys won't be able to log on without seeing me blast my face off if I lose more than that! So I am not worried about how long it will take. Do you know I have clothes dating back to the 80's that I have saved just so I can have the pleassure of fitting into them when I lose weight. I AM GOING TO ENJOY THE WHOLE EXPIERIENCE! To finally lose weight and keep on loosing instead of gaining it back! And YES I WILL wear those 'boogie night' 80's threads WHEREVER, EVEN TO CHURCH! AND I WILL BE PROUD!!! Oh yea!

Hey guys Hope you all don’t mind us women folk lurking around your “man cave”. :biggrin: I haven’t been banded yet (still waiting), but I have been dreading the day when I would have to face the ‘no liquids during meals’ challenge. Kefirchick you may have hit on something with the pickles idea. What about other foods that consist mostly of water, like cucumbers, watermelon, and such? Are those foods allowed? If so they could definitely help wet your whistle.

Hazel-Eyes I have marked my calendar to remember to pray for you on Thursday. We, your "secret" brothers and sisters will stand in the gap for your friends and family at home.:drool: God Bless!

Yazmin I have been reading all the posts regarding your delima. Have you seen your doc yet ? And are you still feeling you want the band removed? There are so many people , young, older, guys & gals concerned about you and anxious to support you in whatever you decide to do. One consideration I wanted to present to you is this: I myself have not been banded yet, but I have been doing a lot of my research here on this board, and I HAVE noticed that you young ones respond so quickly to the band. Wham! You lose it, and lucky lucky ducklings, your bodies shrink into such beautiful tight little packages again. I will definatley not try to talk you out of removing your band if are really set on it, but I have a feeling that if you do wait at least until you have gone through these first few months, while you are fretting and fussing, you will turn around one day, look in your mirror and see a new thinner person and remember WHY you did this to yourself! I hope you do what's right for you. Either way you will have support here. God Bless.

I was wondering if anyone has Health Net HMO AND a Sutter Gould PCP? I had to get approval from a review board just to get a referral to the Lap Band Doctor, and that was after my PCP approved it. I am hoping that that means I am a shoe in for getting the surgery approved. Anyone know anything about that? Thanks

Thanks everyone for your support! as for the poignant part Suzanne, you know what it's like when you are "in the moment" and just have to get it out there. It was better than the year of therapy I had! While I was typing this, my PCP called, and my referral to the Lap Band Dr. has been approved by my Ins.! Here we go! Step 1 is now complete & I'm ready to jump ahead! See you all in band land!!!

Jack & John Thank you guys for giving me your support. We do all have so much in common, don't we? That's why I come here for my support; we have all experienced many of the same dissapointments related to our weight problems. I will be keeping my eye out for you guys. God Bless us all on our journeys.

I Know this is a VERY long post. I'm Sorry, but I am required to write a letter to my Insurance Co. detailing my request for Lap Band Surg.. Please some one give me feed back as I will not be sharing this with anyone I know.. I like to keep my stuff personal, and since you all don't really know me...? Please? Here goes.:shades_smile: I didn’t get this fat over night, it took years. A lot of years….And I would like for you to know how I have lived those years. Ashamed, embarrassed, resentful, bitter, angry, sorry. And always, always hopeful that tomorrow I would be able to turn it around. Ashamed that I have no long term control over my food addictions, so I avoid making eye contact with people because I’m afraid of what I’ll see in their eyes and I know there’s a limit to the judgmental looks I can endure. Embarrassed that I will see someone I went to school with or anyone that knew me when I was thin and pretty. Also embarrassed that I seemingly don’t care how I look, so I avoid going anywhere I might be seen by anyone I know. And when I do see one of those people it is always a hellish experience. Resentful that I haven’t EVER been successful at fighting this battle. I have occasionally lost 20 to 30 lbs., but I have NEVER lost more than that. And I have NEVER been able to keep off those handful of pounds for more than a few months at a time. AND I HAVE BEEN ON NEARLY EVERY DIET KNOWN TO WOMAN. Bitter when I think about all the time I wasted waiting until I lost weight to live my life. And what’s left of my life now? Where are all the wonderful memories of me doing all the things I’ve always wanted to do, but “not until I’ve lost my weight”. “Honey, we’ll go on a cruise, go to Hawaii, take up hiking, jet skiing, visit our friends, the people you work with, etc., etc., etc….when I loose my weight.” Angry when I am advised that “I might want to think about losing a few pounds”….. Oh. You think?... Do you think a person with all these emotions and feelings is fat because they are just lazy? Or because they just don’t care? Or because they haven’t tried? When you feel like your life has been wasted and YOU are the only one responsible, and being thin is the main goal you have ever really had in your whole adult life, and you are the only one that can give it to you, wouldn’t you think that if it were within your grasp you would give it to yourself? And lastly, sorry. I’m really only sorry about two things. Number one, I am sorry my family has had to suffer because of my weight issues. And secondly I am so, so sorry that I didn’t have Lap Band Surgery the first year it was approved in the U.S. I have suffered long enough with the above feelings. I was warned for years by my doctor about the health threats and am now seeing them come to pass. High Blood Pressure, High Cholesterol, Fatty Liver Disease, borderline Diabetes, aches and pains too numerous to mention, all weight related. All weight related. My arms can hardly lift me up to turn over in bed at night. I am not just losing the weight loss battle, I am losing the battle for my life. I know I am going to die like this if I don’t have this surgery. Nothing else has worked. I have prayed about it and feel at peace about having the surgery. I agree with my doctor; he said that it could change my life- and he also said I could still have a long life ahead of me. I want that to be a productive, healthy life.

kat817: Thank you for explaining the process in understandable terms; I, like you need to be told WHY i need to do certain things so I can feel in control and not controlled. I'm gonna print out your explanations cause I know my 52 year old brain will forget if I don't. Thanks!

Hi all, I'm new, haven't been banded jet, but I've been wondering when I read about "sliming" if anyone has tried drinking water with a little lemon in it- if that's allowed? You know it's supposed to help cut phlem and singers sometimes drink it to clear their throat of phlem before they sing...just a thought.:confused2:

Hi everyone, I am a Christian also, and just stumbled across this "thread" whatever that is. I am very new to all this, and not very discussion board savvy. I am just beginning to get things going with my banding procedure, and really need the support. I feel more comforable knowing there are brothers and sisters out there to support me. Please somebody, tell me how I can find you all the next time I log on?!:thumbdown: Thanks and Blessings Debbie