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Jenibeni~ THANKS!!!!! I went shopping one day with a girl from marketing and she bought me the outfit. I also got these really great little boots and another shirt. The boots have the highest heels I have ever worn in my life... The make me feel like an amazon woman... It was soooo much fun. It took me seeing this picture to REALLY see that I'm not a big girl anymore... The hard part it meeting people who never knew me before the surgery, so they don't know that I have had it done.

So... a couple of weeks ago I had my modeling day-bu. Well this will be the only time it happens... I get to be the before/after for my surgeon's newest marketing campain... This is the shot they are using for the after... and this is the before...

I had the most amazing experience last week. The hospital that I work in, which happens to be where my surgery was done, is rolling out a marketing campaign for my surgeon and the lap-band. Well I am the before/after. I had a photo shoot last Wednesday!!!! It was sooooo much fun. I have NEVER done anything close to that before in my life. I don't have the finished shots yet, by I took some head shots with my phone. Here's the before they are going to use...and the after shot from my phone...

I had one today... I went Zip-lining. It was so much fun. They had a weight limit of 270lbs. I realized that I wouldn't have been able to do it last year. It was an awesome feeling and soooooo much fun!!!!! Here's a pic from 55 ft up...

I had struggled with PCOS for half of my life, then last year I was banded. My PCOS would cause me to have long and heavy bleeding. Once I was almost put into the hospital for a transfusion... But, since being banded I have had a year of normal cycles. It has been regular since a month after surgery. I have been given the OK to start trying for a baby, so it is fun times :thumbup:

This was my last hope to... I wish you all the best, it has deffinatly been mind over mater as some points. If I can be of any help, please ask...

Melody~ I am right here with you. I am slowly starting to like shoping, I never did in the past. But, I always find myself looking for the bigger sizes... I just can't grasp the consept that I'm not that big anymore. Even looking at before and after pictures of myself, I still can't believe it. And the mirror thing, I do it to. I have to do a double take sometimes, just to make sure it's me. As of right now, I am running our of work clothes to wear so I have to make a shoping trip soon. I'm shooting for next weekend, there should be some major Labor Day sales going on :wub:. Karen~ I feel you with the wrinkles and sagging things. I'm just about to turn 30 so I kind of feel like I'm hitting it early. The worst thing that I have found are my hands. I feel like I have the hands of a 70 yr old. But, I try to look past it...at the bigger picture. I know in the long run everything will work it's way out and all will be ok... I wish you the best of luck and don't be afraid to seek help if you truly have questions about things that you are feeling...

Ladies, take it from me. I will be banded for a year on Sept 2. I am in love with my new life. I know you all will be too. You just have to take things slowly at first. The first month can and may be rough, but that is because it is a surgery. I told everyone about my surgery and I think it helped me through a lot of it. Everyone that I have encountered has been nothing but supportive, especially my co-workers. They have watched the transformation with me and even before me most of the time. I had the old, don't see what's really in the mirror problem. But my co-workers, friends and family have really helped me to see the light. I wish all of you the best and if I can be of any help, please just ask. Don't ever think that a question is not worth asking... That's what this forum is for and the people in my monthly group helped me through a few rough times. It helps a lot to know that you are not the only one going through the same thing.

So was I drew05. That has been the hardest thing, finding old pictures of myself. I have relized that I always stayed behind the camera...

Glad to hear that everyone is doing good. I couldn't be happier with my band. I have lost 102lbs so far. But, I had a setback the last couple of week. On the 2nd I had to have my gall bladder removed. So, a week later I try to go back to work and just push my self to far. (I realy thought I felt fine) by the next day I was having a horrible pain where my gall bladder should be and was out for the rest of that week. Today was my first day back and I'm tired, but no pain. As, far as band life goes, everything is great. I wouldn't change a thing... Now that I have lost so much, we are working on starting our family. Wish us luck!!!

So, I finally feel like I can post here, because I finally feel like a sucess story. Right before I started my journey, I had given up on ever losing weight again. I was starting to learn to live with my weight and the fact that I would never be able to have children because of my weight and the PCOS. I was stuck in a catch 22. I was gaining weight because of my PCOS and couldn't lose the weight because of my PCOS. Well now everything is different. I have lost 100lbs, dropped 12 sizes, and gained so much confidance in my self. If someone said to me the day of surgery that I would actually loose over 100lbs with this procedure, I think I would of laughed in their face. I knew that I was dropping the weight, but I never thought it would make me feel this good about myself. Now, looking to my future, I know there is hope for me. I feel that I have restarted my life...

So... I'm at 100lbs down now and it has only taken 11 months... Here is my before and after.

Thanks for the kind words... I would have never been able to do this with out my band... I love it. I had to go on Friday and have .5cc taken out. I was to tight from my fill last Wednesday. I went 10 days and could hardly eat anything. I lost 8lbs during those 10 days though. That's not safe, I know, but we went camping this weekend and I could have put it right back on, I was eating the whole time... I know it was bad, but it felt so good to eat... I'll go back to my normal eating habits tomorrow :laugh:

I have made it to the land of the hundred pounders... I have never in my life thought I would ever see the other side of 200. I haven't been this small since I was 14 or 15 yrs old. I am smaller now than when I met my husband. And I'm still going down. At 87lbs gone I only have 33lbs to go. I have to say that when I had this surgery done, I never though I would get any where near my goal and now it's just with-in reach... YEA!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks to all that are here and read these threads...I think that it is wonderfull that we all have each other to get through this major life change that we have chosen...

Right there with you!!! Go Heels!!! I've been a fan since I can remember. All of my family lives in Durham. My mother is a die hard Duke fan, my father graduated from NC State... So that only left the best to choose from