Here we are in December already! I don't know about you but 7 months into this crazy journey has been amazing for me. I have offically lost 53 pounds since I was banded, actually down 63 pounds from my heaviest weight of 290. YIKES! I am fitting comfortably into size 18 pants, from the misses section! I have been shopping in the little tiny fat girls section for so long that I didn't realize how much stores have to offer normal sized people! I was at Kohl's on Monday with a girlfriend and I wandered through the entire Misses section and it just went on and on and on. I was shocked! My MIL has lost quite a bit of weight since I was banded (hubby says I inspired her to get healthier, yay!) and we were discussing last week how scary and overwhelming it is to have so many choices in clothes. When your world is small, like the "womens" section, it gets comfortable, but when you have to venture out of that box it sure is scary! Can't quite get my head around that one yet. I need to get to Old Navy this weekend and get a couple of pairs of new jeans to get me through for awhile. My too big jeans are just ridiculous looking on me now.

I am looking forward to the holidays and spending time with family and friends. I won't be embarassed to have my picture taken this year! I will get some new pics posted next weekend!

Happy December everyone!

Drews/Ousooner - the pics are great. You both look amazing. I keep meaning to get mine on here but every weekend when I think I will take some pics, I have something come up. This past weekend my whole family was sick so I didn't take any pics. Maybe tonight...

As far as the clothes thing, I know what you all are talking about. Last week when Nana passed away, the day of the viewing, I went to my closet and had nothing to wear. We went shopping so I could get some nicer things to wear to her services. When I walked in I saw a shirt that immediately caught my eye. It was in the Misses section. I initially thought, well let me go back to the tiny corner of the back of store in the plus section to see what they have but I was able to buy all of my stuff from the misses section size 14s and Larges. Not only is the misses dept overwhelmingly larger than the plus sizes, but the clothes are cheaper! It was awesome. Another cool thing - as I gained weight over the years, I would always just pack up my skinny clothes and buy a bigger size. The fatter I grew away from a certain size, I would weed out what I was saving in smaller sizes. I had pretty much given up all hope of wearing any of my college clothes again but saved a few things. I have this really cute size large Abercrombie shirt I saved and it fits great. I never thought I'd ever be able to wear Abercrombie again! Never again will this body wear plus sizes again!! That is an amazing feeling. I can't wait to get my butt in size 12 pants!

WAY TO GO!!! Everyone reporting on their losses and posting pics is so encouraging. I have to admit, I'm kinda stupid about how to post a pic and I have never been able to get a tickertape. But help is on the way...I have a friend who said she'd help me. So hopefully by the end of the week everyone will finally get to 'meet' me!

I went to the Goodwill last week and bought 3 pair of khakis(size 20) and a beautiful sweater(size medium). I'm built very awkward and carry my weight at my middle. Hence, the size 20 pants. I am looking forward to getting out of the twentys as much as I'm looking forward to getting out of the 200s. Which I'm hoping will be as soon as this week. I have officially cleaned more clothes out of my closet than I have in it, and that includes all that I had outgrown and finally got back into and then back out of again! What a fun game.

Tomorrow I'm attending a support group meeting in my community and our featured speaker has lost over 700 lbs! He had the bypass surgery. I'm excited to catch up with others in my area who have had the band and see how they are progressing. I don't usually go to the group meetings, bad timing during the week and for the most part, I consider you guys my support group. Thanks everyone!!!

Do any of you wonder how all the others who started out with us are doing? I just can't imagine how they could be getting along without the information and help I've got through this website. Short of pm-ing everyone, is there any way of contacting everyone and inviting them back into the thread? I can see how they could easily lose the link. Anyone have any ideas?

Marz - Congrats on the new sizes! I also wondered about all of the other members. Some of them may only post on the B2G website now but I'm not sure about that. It would be nice to see how everyone else is doing.

I tried to take some pictures of myself last night to post on here. My DH is working nights this week so I had to set up the camera and use the timer, etc. The pictures are not that great. Plus they are in some weird format and I am not sure how to switch them to JPEG so, hopefully the hubby can work on that for me today. I might have some on here tomorrow. We have dial up internet at home so I won't attempt it at home.

I have a NSV that I just realized this morning. I can finally use a regular sized bathtowel to dry off with until of the giant bath sheet. It actually closes together now! And I am almost just overweight. .8 lbs away from never being obese again! Woohoo!

Ok – here’s a topic for discussion - I am wondering how everyone has arrived at your target weight. I think this topic has been posted in other places, but I'd be curious to know how all of us came to this number, especially since many of you are so close! Was it a weight your doctor suggested, a weight that you were comfortable at in the past or is it based on height/BMI etc?

For me, it is a combination of things. I am 5'6. My starting BMI was 41.2 and I am now at 30. For my height, my healthy BMI/weight range is 117-154. I can remember weighing 154 and still feeling chubby. I initially wanted to weigh between 125-130 but realistically, I am almost 30 and have had one child, I figured 140 was more attainable. That may change once I get to 140 but right now that is my goal. I can remember being 140 and looking back, I wouldn’t mind being that size again. Back then I thought I was fat, but I have always had a distorted body image. I will probably never be high school skinny again and that is okay. I’d really like to be in a single digit clothing size as well. So that is why my ticker says 140! J

Great question Alicia. I innitially went by my doctor's goal for me at 226. I guess that is based on average weight loss by lap-band patients. Then i thought to myself that I wanted to see the scales hit the one-hundreds, so I made my personal goal at 190. Then I lost so quickly that I lowered my goal to 170. My ideal weight is like 165 and I figure I have at least 10 pounds of extra saggy skin that I won't be able to lose without surgery. Thats how I came up with my goal.

My goal on my ticker is my tentative stopping point. I think I want to weigh less than that but it has been so long since I have been in the 100's I'm not sure what 170 will even look like! A confession... As it was, using 170 as my goal put me needing to lose 110 pounds.... I couldn't stomach a number bigger than that at the time! Whew! I've never told anyone that before.

You guys rawk!

My goal on my ticker is my tentative stopping point. I think I want to weigh less than that but it has been so long since I have been in the 100's I'm not sure what 170 will even look like! A confession... As it was, using 170 as my goal put me needing to lose 110 pounds.... I couldn't stomach a number bigger than that at the time! Whew! I've never told anyone that before.

You guys rawk!

Confession is good for the soul - or so I have been told :speechles

Since I still don't have a ticker, I've never really set a goal. I just know if I lose 120 lbs (a goal of 146) I'll be at a weight that I will be comfortable with for the rest of my life. Actually, with another 30 lbs (176) I'll be ecstatic. That will put me where I was when I got pregnant with my second child. And that I could live with. But ideally, I need to lose another 60-70 lbs. If it happens, it happens, if not, I'll still feel better about myself and what I've done.

Update on the support group meeting...It was so awesome to hear this man speak. He wasn't an eloquent speaker but he has a great sense of humor and a real encouragement to any weight loss journey. He has come so far...and I thought I had problems! Ha-this man has been through it all. I can't even imagine life in the manner he existed in. It was also good to see and meet others who have had LB surgery. Even a few people I knew but didn't know they had the surgery! How fun.

Ousooner - that is awesome that you already surpassed your doctor's goal. You are going to be at your goal before you know it! My doc never actually gave me a goal but he told me at my last adjustment I was one of the highest losers at 6 months post op. That made me feel good.

Drews - I know exactly what you mean. I was in the 100s briefly in 2001 because I did WW right before I got married, but college was the last of my 100s. I couldn't remember what it was like at all. I totally know what you mean about having to admit you want to lose more than 110. That is partially why I bumped my goal up to 140 instead of 130. But keep on trucking girl, you are doing great and look great and we are all here to help you in any way we can.

Marz - I am like you. If I get down to the 140s I will be doing cartwheels but I stopped in the 170s I could live with it. I think I could wear a 12 again in the 170s and that was my main size during college. I wasn't 100% happy with my weight but I was comfortable and learned to accept it. I'm glad to hear your support group went well. I need to go to one of mine but they just don't work well with my schedule at all.

Alright everyone else, tell us why you chose your goal! It's cool to hear it so far plus we can help support each other even more.

I'll tell you about my goal, but first, I have to tell you all what I did today.........suspense building..........I WENT SKIING!!!!!!!!!! Yes, you read that correctly--SKIING!!!

Wanting to ski was the whole reasaon I started looking into WLS and found out about the band. Wanting to ski again was a major factor in my decision to have surgery.

And today I did it. I knew that at 230 I would probably be the fattest person on the hill. I was terrified that I would be the fattest person and not be able to ski any more. It was clear on my first run down the bunny hill that I can still so it.

I had such a great time with my 10 yo son on the slopes today.

I'm really proud of myself!

Oh... and I came up with my goal of 170 because it was between my original goal of 180 and my dietician's goal of 160.

Linda - that is awsome, Way to go!

YAY LINDA!!! I am so happy for you! I haven't went skiing in years - I have probably forgotten how!

Nov-Dec 05 - around 250

this week

I have finally got some before/after shots. Here ya go!

Alicia - looking great! You are much smaller, but your smile is much bigger! Proud of ya! Another May banding success!

Damn girl! You look great!