general_antiope

Anyone have experience with Dr. Noel Williams @ Penn Medicine?

Amazing isn't it? All the times we tried to lose weight in our lives and failed.

4 months post op today!!!

HW 250
SW 224
CW 157
GW 125


6/6/17, the first day of my new life [emoji173]️

Surgery date was May 2nd! Feeling great! 30 left to go! ?

I'm 9 months post op tomorrow :-)

Highest ever weight - 398
WLS program starting weight - 298.6
Surgery day weight- 265.8
Current weight - 175

From a size 26/28W pant at my highest and a 24W day of surgery to a size 10/12 pant currently and from a 4X top at my highest and a 3X day of surgery to a women's M/L & juniors XL top currently.

I'm off ALL my BP meds, off my anxiety meds and I'm no longer borderline diabetic. At 32 I was told I may not love to see 40 due to all my health issues and families history of heart/bp/cholesterol issues to being in better shape and health at 33 than I have ever been. Not too shabby for this mama of 4 :-) I am so beyond thankful and blessed to have this tool.











follow me on Instagram @sleevedsummer

Pic on the left was December 2016. Pic on the right was today 9/9/17.
Surgery Date: 4/20/17
HW: 311
SW: 276
CW: 218

HW: 250ish
CW: 153
Height 5'2
Rny on 12/30/15

Face to face! 5 months post surgery and 80 lbs down!

Wow amazing! Beautiful before and after! Congrats on your new life!

You don't even look like the same person! Congrats!!!

Down 125 lbs today!

Sent from my SM-G930V using BariatricPal mobile app

Sleeved 12/21/16
SW 386
CW 281


Sent from my SM-G955U using BariatricPal mobile app

Surgery: 12/30/16
HW: 301
Day of Surgery: 271
CW: 200
Size: 22W- 12/14
I have officially lost 101 pounds since starting the program last July and it feels amazing!!

@Half-Tum
@FamilyGuyNJ
@boldnewginger
@tomi71
hey dudes/dudette
you all look great!!
keep up the good job!!
kathy
congrats

Height, Pres-Surgery weight and body type seem to be real close to me.
I would kill to do as good as you in that amount of time.
You are very inspiring.

This is the first time posting any pics. I am a couple days shy of 2 mos post op. Down 46lbs.

Hi all,
I'm looking for support. My lap band has sprung a leak for a third time, three surgeries later, and this time, I'm pregnant.
I've gained 12 lbs in the past month since the band emptied, and all my food issues are coming back, compounded by hormones/hunger.
I'm determined to get through the pregnancy without blowing up. I've maintained an 80 - 100 lb loss for 6+ years despite my band breaking within the first year.
I've already located a local doctor to replace my band once the baby and breastfeeding are done, but in the meantime, I'm white-knuckling being without my training wheels.
Is anyone else going through this or something similar?
Thanks
Kate

Ahh okay. this I can relate to.
I divorced after I got the band. It was not the band that made me get divorced, but my husband had a long history of treating me like a cash cow, as a worker, and not as a wife or partner. When I stopped being a passive victim and took my world into my own hands, and got the band, it was a floodgate of more empowering things.
I demanded he go to marriage counseling, he did. I did lots of work on myself and wanted to make this marriage work - he didn't. So I left him.
The following year, he called me and began a bitchfest about how he helped pay for the band and he...
wait I have to quote this
"Didn't even get a chance to enjoy the benefits."
Then he flat out propositioned me - his ex wife - for sex just because I'd lost weight. (I still think I made a great decision)
No...the band doesn't cause you get divorced. The band shines a spotlight on sickly relationships that will either heal or completely degenerate. It's always the way when one person grows, and the other doesn't.
A couple who can grow together stays together, imho...
As far as attention from the opposite sex, I am still dealing with issues that stem from molestation, sexual attacks, date rape from age 5, age 11 and age 16. Kind of a no-brainer as to why I piled on a fatsuit, eh?
When I first lost 80 lbs, this group of construction guys - tawny, bronzed, rippling, sweaty, god help meeee, were honking at me as we drove on the highway and I got {FURIOUS}. Anger was my first reaction - how DARE they invade my space, how dare they look at me, I didn't invite their advances, why is everything SEX???!
Yeah, I had issues. I went to therapy.
Now, I say thank you and I prance around at the attention. I've dated scumbags, I've dated good guys...but one thing remains the same.
Men chase sex. So they're just usually (on the whole) gonna be these horny teenagers no matter what age. It's up my my willpower/moral/values to decide how I want to behave. I've fooled around after my marriage; I didn't like it. So now I don't. It's a learning experience. I know what I want in a man, and I'm damned picky.
As my friend's sweet ancient mother puts it: If it's not dead or trying to crawl away, men'll try to put it anywhere :rolleyes2: LOL
(my apologies to the genuinely good men out there, I know you're not all like that...)

My friend Lexy (banded yesterday!!! so proud of you girl!!) has heard me say a million times that *there is a mental addiction to food that is largely going unaddressed.* I don't mean compulsive eating, I don't mean emotional eating, I mean a mental obsession.
Tell me if any of this sounds familiar:
- I think about food from the minute I get up until I go to sleep.
- When I eat, I think about what I should have eaten instead.
- When I am not eating, my thoughts often stray to what I will eat later.
This is EXHAUSTING!!!! Abby I felt just like you before I got the band. Once I got my magic fill, the hunger largely disappeared, and it was just a matter of breaking bad habits. Oh my GOD I wish I could show you how much easier it is to retrain yourself when you're not battling your damn hunger, too!! It's how normal people see food. It's AMAZING!
By the time I was filled properly, 6 oreos would make me feel as sick and stuffed as a whole bag. I love oreos :cursing:
oh, I'm a major cookie monster (ask lexy) and my weight loss has stalled because of it. But here's the great thing about the band:
You can start over with the band whenever you're ready.
You just need to be HONEST with yourself.
Tonight I ate a cheese calzone :cryin: I should have had a veggie cake. Know what? I enjoyed every bite. I know I delayed a pound of weight loss by another day or two, but I've also lost 8 lbs since May 1. I'm at the point where I know the cycle. Some weeks I'm motivated and not hungry; some weeks I want the comfort of food.
Personally, *for me*, the balance of always trying and never giving up with forgiveness and NOT guilting myself when I go off diet is the real beauty of the band. I have a much healthier relationship with food than I ever have.
3.5 years later, my biggest problem with eating is unconscious eating. When i'm dining with someone I talk constantly and forget about food. When I'm home, I watch TV and snack til I realize I've eaten the whole calzone. More than I intended to. It's just something I work on. I don't have to be perfect, but I will never stop trying.
Be kind to yourself darling It will come. I promise you, the peace will come. Surrender to it now, and your whole band experience will be that much better. I promise. Just know you're gonna have ups and downs.

Call the doc AND the insurance...I've seen people here who said they were approved and nobody told them!
Or, if you don't get anywhere, you can start getting a little creative to be memorable. Start leaving daily messages. Let them get progressively weirder until they call you back.
Like: Day sixteen, and I still haven't heard if I can get a surgery date. Hope everything's cool over there. Lemme know!
Day eighteen: Ate everything in the house, afraid to go out to the supermarket in case they call. Started chewing on the cabinets I'm so hungry. Only the band would help me control these cravings!!
Day Twenty: Now I have no cabinets, and the cat's missing.