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

Great list and I can feel you guys on some of them. I have a HUGE ego so some of those I can't relate to but some I TOTALLY can.

Never again will I...

-be the ONLY person in the room that thinks *I'm* the hottest chick in the room lol :tt2:

-look at another fat woman and think "OMG do *I* look like that???

-Think "Hmm I'm the biggest person in here.. oh no wait there's that guy *whew*"

-Suddenly get depressed in the middle of a good football game because I realize the linebacker weighs less or the same as me. :w00t:

-eat in my car as if "those" calories don't count. :sneaky:

-buy an extra drink just so it doesn't look like it's all for me.

-care if anyone KNOWS I'm getting or got the lapband. :thumbup:

-talk about people who get WLS as if it's "cheating"

-go to a BBW anything - ok I stopped that a long time ago, but STILL it MUST be on the LIST! :tongue2:

-Mess my room up looking for an outfit that hides my backfat. :huh2:

-buy shoes 2 sizes too big just to be able to have the width I need to be able to wear the super cute heels I love to wear. :thumbup:

-Worry about whether or not I'll fit on a ride or not. I haven't had that problem in a couple of years but it's still hard to not worry about whenever I go somewhere new or on a ride I haven't been on before. :glare:

-Not ride a ride I want to ride because I don't feel like the restraints will "hold" me in. :crying:

-Never again will I not let someone take a picture of me without my explicit approval and use of proper "fat girl angles" to flatter me. :thumbup:

-wonder WHY he's dating/interested in me...fetish or me? :huh2:

-ask the "So do you normally date fat girls" question. lol :tt2:

-have a "if I were thinner"...moment :w00t:

-Never again will I live my life on the sidelines looking "cute", never again will I let my life pass me by. Never again will anything stop me or even cross my mind to try to stop me from living my BEST life. :smile2:

I WILL...

-Be confident in EVERYTHING I do.

-Take a picture straight on and NOT use flattering "Fat Girl Angles".

-Jump in every pic and make memories

-buy shoes in the RIGHT size

-be a motivation and inspiration to any and everyone I can be.

-do the public speaking I'm meant to do.

-fly and have "extra" room in my seat! :sleep:

-take a bath in a regular size tub!

-sit confidently in ANY chair or on ANY table

-Take a nap with someone else on my couch (there will be room for someone else lol)

-wear all the super cute clothes I want to now, but don't because I don't want to show backfat.

-make life solutions not resolutions.

-live my life like it's Golden!

I will never HAVE to bring my own towels on vacation again, but I WILL continue to do so because 1.) they're clean and 2.) I LOVE the BIG towels :w00t:

Never again will I let life pass me by because I'm too busy focusing on food.

I will revel seeing the outside match the girl inside. :thumbup:

ymjackson,

Your will&will-nots were great! I love your confidence! I am envious of it, in fact. I can totally identify with the "eating in the car because those calories don't count" will-not. I have termed my private eating as "sneaky eating" - in my car, in my room, where and when ever I am alone - I will eat eat eat and feel it doesn't matter because no one else can see me. How messed up is that??

ymjackson,

Your will&will-nots were great! I love your confidence! I am envious of it, in fact. I can totally identify with the "eating in the car because those calories don't count" will-not. I have termed my private eating as "sneaky eating" - in my car, in my room, where and when ever I am alone - I will eat eat eat and feel it doesn't matter because no one else can see me. How messed up is that??

LMAO thank you.. but you know the really sad/funny part about those car calories is.. I live alone so really WHO am I hiding the from??? But I will do it every time, I will sit out in my car (parked in the drive way) and eat (usually finish eating) whatever fast food crap I bought and throw the bags away before I go inside.

I realized it one day and had to laugh at myself, but it's so not funny. I caught myself doing it last night infact. I decided a Protein burger was on my pre-op diet and did the same thing, sat in the car, ate it and threw the bags away. BAD BAD BAD.. gotta get my head right. Sigh. - Maybe I should open fast food for WLS patients.. here's ya Protein shake, and your bite o' burger.. you don't have room for fries, that's why they're not on the menu...NEXT!!! :thumbup: lol

LOL - that's hysterical about the WLS Drive-Thru.

And yes, I throw away my car garbage (fast food wrappers) before I leave my car when I am sneaky eating. I will drive next to a dumpster in the back of a mall and throw the garbage in there. Like throwing it away somewhere other than my home makes it invisible. LOL. What a weird thing!

you girls are hilarious! love it! I have lot's of I wills but one of them will be

I will not be afraid to get out on the dance floor and really shake my @ss! (or lack there of) And I won't be afraid someone will say "looks like to pigs fighting under a blanket" lol.

I will go easily through the turnstyle.

I will not wonder if someone is watching me eat at a restraunt.