BRANDYK

Hi everyone. I'm planning on having my surgery in 7 weeks by Dr. Spivak. Right now he's offering a price of $12,900. I'm a self pay and I'm scared to death he's going to raise his price before June 15th, when I'll have all the money saved up. I heard his price used to be about $3000 more but he started a special at the beginning of the year this year. Does anyone out there know if they are planning on holding that special price for at least a few more months or so?

Don't worry, sometimes I'll go two weeks with no movement at all and then all of the sudden I'll drop five pounds in a couple days.

I had a coworker tell me she couldn't beleive I was getting banded since I didn't have any children, I would never be able to. She thought somehow after getting banded you couldn't get preggers. I was like no, it makes it EASIER to get pregnant, duh!!!

I know when I originally decided to get banded, I told myself I'd be happy if I could just get down to about 180-190. After getting banded and changing my lifestyle, I'm not settling for anything higher than 165. I'm six foot one, so that's a perfect weight for me, that will put me in a size 10-12, and looking at old pics of myself at that size tells me I'll be a SMOKIN babe when I get down to that. I've had a few people ask me what my goal weight is and when I tell them 165 they think that's still high and I have to remind them how tall I am.

This may sound mundane, but if I feel myself starting to obsess about wanting something from the kitchen when I'm not actually hungry, I'll start to clean a room in my apt or organize a closet or something to keep my mind off of it. It seems to help and my apt has never been cleaner :eek:

Man I miss french fries!!! The one time I tried eating them a couple months ago, I had about ten and then got really sick to my stomach. I don't know if it was the grease or what. I bought a new baking pan that's supposed to be for "frying" potatoes with air and makes them cripsy like you fried them, I just haven't tried it yet.

My boyfriend swears they look bigger now, and I was like honey they look bigger cuz now I can actually suck in my stomach!! lol

:clap2:This will probably be the only time in my life I'm thrilled to anounce I'm down from a D cup to a C cup!!!! I bought a few new bras this weekend at Lane Bryant and was pleasantly surprised to find I fit in a C cup. The only thing I don't get is before I was in a 46D, but I still wear a 46 in a C? What's the deal?

LOL!!! Wanna hear something really sad? The reason I hate not being able to burp is I used to be able to burp like a trucker!!! I would belch and then my boyfriend would try to beat me and NEVER could, lol!! Now he rubs it in my face.

My appt isn't till two, so I'll probably be there after you are long gone

I was like that at the beginning, it was like a burp kinda snuck up on me and it was a hiccup burp. I don't have that happen nearly as much, but I've never really gone back to what I would call normal burping.

Oops, I meant I hope getting tighter DOESNT mean nothing but liquids all day till dinnertime, I don't need to be fainting at work!!! lol

Mommi, Are you scheduling a fill? I actually have one today with Leslie. I'm fine during the day, but I get so much hungrier at night and I can eat more than I should at night. I'm just hoping getting tighter means nothing but liquids all day till dinnertime.

For the record, I wasn't putting ANYONE down, I would NEVER do that. My father is over 400lbs, how dare you suggest I'm putting down all morbidly obese people. You are just trying to justify your holier than thou responses to me and mommi.

You ARE knocking me and trying to make me feel bad for the way I handle MY body and MY band. For your information, my doctor knows EXACTLY what I eat and has NO problem with it. He even told me it's better to treat yourself every once in a while so you don't feel like you are being denied the things you love. Also, if someone could just magically rethink the way they look at food, there would be no need for the band. I'm also going to venture to guess you have a higher BMI than I do and that is why the weight is coming off faster for you than me. I have a friend who was banded exactly 6 weeks ago and he's lost 36lbs but he weighs 450 lbs. Don't try to make me feel bad for the progress I've made and make it look like you have this ALL figured out and you are such a pro at this, you're barely a couple months out.

Everyone is different, don't knock me for doing what works for me. I'm losing weight at a good pace and I eat VERY healthy except those two meals a week. I don't know how long you have been banded but I've been banded 4 months now, and I know I'm doing good.

Oh, Mommi, I just saw that you are a Spivak patient, isn't he the bomb? :mad: I just love everyone at his office, they are all so nice!!

I think it's perfectly ok to eat nuggets, say once a week. The trick for me is I eat healthy all week, and on Friday and Saturday I allow myself to have one "bad meal". Usually mexican food. As long as I know I have those two cheat days to look forward to, I stick to eating healthy all week. So far it's worked for me.

My sister and I have matching heart tats just above our left tushie cheeks :mad:

I get the worried waiters all the time, it's become almost annoying at times if the waiter keeps badgering me about why I haven't eaten much of my food. I have yet to have a restaurant let me order from the kiddie menu, and I even have a card that Dr. Spivak's office gave me that asks for permission to do so. :mad:

Yeah, so far I've been lucky, they still look pretty good (though not as good as they did when I was 20). I'm hoping I won't need a lift when I'm down to my goal weight. :mad:

I was MISERABLE for the first few days, then everyday it got a little better, just hang on, I promise it's worth it.

I use the vanilla flavored ISOPURE, and I make a shake in the morning with a cup of fat free skim milk, one scoop of powder, and a few frozen fresh strawberries or frozen blueberries. It tastes great and it's like 30 grams of protein per shake. It's the best tasting recipe I've come up with so far, I went thru some NASTY powders before I found the ISOPURE. Don't get it at GNC, they charge an arm and a leg for it!!

Hey Ladies, I couldn't get an appt with my gyno for another six weeks, so I'm posting to see if anyone else has had this issue. Since I've started dropping weight, my periods are VERY heavy and VERY crampy. One of the nurses at Dr. Spivak's office said it's because my body is still creating enough estrogen for a "heavier me" so I've not got too much estrogen in my body and that's why this is happening, and that it should calm down after I stop losing weight. Well, one thing I didn't bring up (because I was too embarassed) was the fact that my sex drive has gone from somewhat normal, to nothing at all. I don't want it, and could go weeks without it (much to my boyfriend's chagrin). I thought that losing weight, and having more energy and feelling sexier would increase my sex drive, but it's just gone. Did anyone else go thru this?

Wheetsin, I'm planning on have my gyno check my hormone levels when I go in. I just hate feeling like this, I haven't had cramps like this since I was sixteen. Mine actually moved back a week too now that I think about it, the first one after surgery was a week late (had me FREAKED out that I might be preggers).