Hi All,

I am reletively new to this site and I would like to thank you all for your support, encouragement, and inspiration. This forum has such a wealth of knowledge, and I am very thankful for it!

I have not yet been banded, in fact, I haven't even met my surgeon yet, but I am scheduled to meet him on January 12th - where I hope there will be a quick approval by my insurance and I will be on my way to banded life by March 2010. In the meantime, I plan to read as much as I can about your experiences and successes, as they are a huge inspiration to me.

That being said - I would like to share with you the things that are not going to be a part of my life when I finally get banded. And I'd love to know what you plan to drop (besides some pounds!) once you get banded.

I will no longer:

- Be out of breath walking up a flight of stairs

- Search a room to see if I'm the heaviest girl around

- Stay home because I'm too embarassed to go out with my friends

- Work out in my house because I'm too embarassed to go to the gym

- Give into the newest miracle weight-loss drug hype

- Place the blame for my weight on circumstance

- Need a double-digit ring or pant size

- Binge eat alone in my room

- Fret at the thought of going to an amusement park, movie theater, or ball game (because I will fit into the seats)

- Need a seatbelt extender for an airplane flight

- Settle for an unsatisfactory relationship

- Have "such a pretty face" - without the body to match

- Shop at Lane Bryant or Torrid

- Hide in the back behind plants or walls of relatives during family pictures

- Use food as my escape and comfort

- Be miserable in my own skin

I will:

- Walk tall with my head held high

- Be able to shave my legs with ease

- Be able to cross my legs while seated

- Fit into a classroom desk

- Zipper my jacket

- Control my food, not be controlled by it

- Go for a run - because I can

- Not ever forget where I have come from, I will always be kind to those overweight

- Be thankful for the ability to change

- Become the woman I was meant to be

- Find a meaningful relationship with a man who doesn't have a scary fetish for BBWs

- Shop at regular clothing stores

- Wear heels

- Share clothes with my friends

- Have so much more closet space

- Be an inspiration to others, as much as others have been to me

Edited November 28, 200916 yr by mimi1512

This is a great list. I especially agree with the part about being kind to those who are overweight. I think about this all the time. I don't ever want to be the formerly obese person who now hates overweight people.

So true - I hope I never EVER forget how painful it is to be treated poorly due to my weight.

Great list!

I add that I will not be too scared to sit on my nephew's toddler bed because I might break it!

I add that I will not be too scared to sit on my nephew's toddler bed because I might break it!

Chinchilla,

This literally made me LOL. I KNOW how that feels!

I add that I will not be afraid to buckle a folding chair when I sit in it!

This is a great list. I think I'll retype it and post it on my fridg. I will add that I will buy a bra from Victoria Secret!!! And maybe a sexy nighty too!:Yawn:

Illuminationlady - YES! And along those lines, I will also never walk into a regular size clothing store and hear "Can I help you find a gift for someone?"

You are too funny...lol...You made me chuckle. I copied and pasted your list into a Word Doc. I modified it and made it mine. Hope you don't mind. It is going on my fridg when I go downstairs!!!

No I do not mind at all - I was hoping this would become a popular thread because everyone can relate to what we want to leave behind, and what we have to look forward to! Sometimes the smallest things can mean a world of difference. I hope this silly little list inspires you as much as your responses inspire me! We are all in this together!

There will be more space on my lap for my two kids to sit!

Illuminationlady - YES! And along those lines, I will also never walk into a regular size clothing store and hear "Can I help you find a gift for someone?"

Has someone really said this? I thought being ignored by the sales people was bad.

OH yes! I've gotten it more than once, to be honest. At first I was mortified. You're "lucky" - I'd take being ignored over being chastised any day.

Isn't it sad the stigma against us overweight folk?

There will be more space on my lap for my two kids to sit!

I will have a lap!

So many never agains...

- i work in a school, so never again will i squeeze my fat ass into one of those freaking desk, with my "extra boobs" piling over the top

- never again will i be embarrassed about what's in my grocery cart and paranoid that everyone is judging my choices....

- never again will i have to go to the "left" (or right) of the door at the clothing store to get to the plus size half

- never again will i be "such a pretty face"... knowing they are thinking .... but so fat :confused:

- never again will i wear capris all summer in 100 degree weather because i wouldnt dare put on shorts

- never again will my son suffer at MY weight. just yesterday I called to set up swim lessons and had to make sure it wasn't a "mommy and me" class first, because if it was, i wasn't doing it. how sad for my son

- never again will i be ashamed to do ANYTHING because someone might say something rude in front of a new boyfriend, etc and just make me want to DIE (there are some RUDE freaking people in this world)!

- never again will i have to stalk the tables and booths in a restaurant to 1. make sure ill fit at the booth and 2. make sure i can find a semi-direct path that doesnt require my belly and butt rubbing someone else's chair - or worse, having to ask them to "scoot"

- never again will i stand all day at a BBQ because I am scared of chairs - listen to that SCARED OF CHAIRS! how pathetic! because i wont fit, they might break, the arms will dig in and my fat will squeeze out, etc

- never again will i have to skip the cute shoes because they dont come in "WIDE"

- never again will i be ashamed to go to the food table at a party or cookout or whatever because im too ashamed of what people think when they see me up there eating

- never again will i be the "fat mom" at my son's activities

I will never again hoard my overweight clothes that may fit me when I regain... CUZ I AM NOT GOING BACK!

I will never again buy jeans that will stretch ie Gloria Vanderbilt.