kero

Hi there, I see a lot of discussion about plastic surgery (lifts etc) after surgery and I am just wondering if that is a given? Does everyone need plastic surgery to deal with loose skin, or does it vary from person to person? I assume I will always have stretch marks, but I guess I just thought that since many women have children and their skin goes back to normal, I had hoped losing weight could potentially be the same. What are people's thoughts/experiences on this issue? Thanks!

What I find most amusing are the before and after photos on television, usually for weight loss pills endorsed by a "new doctor" or "trusted team" (of people in white lab coats) where the person is wearing the same bathing suit and has the same hair do as the before photo. Do people really think that the person just happended to have the same blue bikini several sizes smaller available to them in the supposed 3-4 months it took them to lose 80 lbs? Are there really people who are that gullable? Even more humorous is how the person did it with 'no exercise' and yet, the 'after' photos depicts them with perfectly skulpted abs - what, were those skulpted abs just hiding under that beer belly? Anyone who doesn't believe in the 'magic' of photoshop just needs to catch an episode of "top model" to know that the camera, and the computers, are doing most of the work!

August 2nd - same week, so maybe we can compare stories thereafter. Hopefully the nurse can give you a better idea. Although, I emailed the dietician a week ago and still haven't heard back... I am waiting to find out if dill pickles can count as a low glycemic veggies, like cucumbers are. I thought this might curb my cravings for something that isn't white and bland....

Thanks ladies. That's a relief. Perhaps I got the wrong idea in my mind... I've read a few posts and got this horrid image in my mind of being relatively thin, but having folds and folds of skin that I would have to tape up before putting on my clothes! Yuk! I don't need to look like a supermodel, I'll be very happy with 'normal' for a change, rather than 'you have such pretty hair and teeth' - which is pretty much the only compliment I've had in years. lol The more that I think about it though, the people who do have that problem, maybe they should connect those people with burn victims, extra skin off one could be a lifesaver who someone who needs new skin.

Hey there - I am near Kingston, Ontario, about 3 hours from Toronto, where I am being banded in August. Where are you being banded? When you hear that countries like Australia pay for the band, it is sad that Canada, with our universal health care system, doesn't recognize that they would save billions of dollars in related health care costs if they paid for the band. Thankfully, we are far ahead of the American health system, but leaps behind some other Commonwealth countries. My personal work insurance pays thousands of dollars per year to fill my prescriptions, and pay for my physio, etc - they would easily get their money back in 4 years if they paid for the band! It just goes to show that obesity truly is the last form of discrimination.

Hi there - I am on day 5 of what sounds like the same pre-op diet. Are you being banded at the TLBC? For me, I think the headache I had the first 3 days was caffeine withdrawl. I only drank one cup of caffeine per day, but it was a french vanilla cappuchino, and I had to stop because of the 'no sugar' rule. Since I don't drink pop, or anything else with caffeine in it, this cut out the only caffeine my body is use to. I have since added in one cup of caffinated tea per day, and my headache has gone away. Ideally, I'd like to have no caffeine, but I figure that it doesn't help to do away with everything at once, and the diet is hard enough, without having to cope with a constant headache. Just my experience!

I am on day 5 of a 2 weeks pre-op diet. Basically, cottage cheese, non-fat yogurt, one portion of chicken breast or sole fillet per day, Crystal Light, water, sugarfree jello and low glycemic vegtables with balsamic vinegar. It is difficult but I am surviving. It helps that I have lost 5 lbs in 4 days. Saturday night I had a cracker with light peanut butter on it as a treat - I never thought I'd see the day that that would be the Saturday night splurge! lol

kero - surgery is August 2nd at TLBC in Toronto, Canada

Hi Brenners. I hope your surgery went well. I was wondering what your experience has been so far. I am hoping to move to Ireland in the next 1-2 years, a move that was put off because I was having this surgery. I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to get fills done in Ireland, at least not for free, as I do here. I was wondering if you have any info in that regard. Hope all is well in the emerald isle........

That's easy to say, if you can afford plastic surgeons - some us exhausted our finances just to have the surgery itself, so unless I win the lottery, saggy skin will be my cross to bare - forever! At 33, the thought disgusts me, but I figure now, I look bad in summer and winter, once I lose the weight, I'll just look bad in summer - in Canada, that's only 2-3 months of shorts and t-shirts, so that means 7-8 months of the year I can tuck enough in to feel good about myself! If it turns out to be really horrifying, I can always move to Alaska! LOL

Hi all, This may be a bit taboo..... but I read so much about people's positive experiences on this website, I can't help but think that someone has had a different outcome. So, two week's from being banded, I have to ask - does anyone regret it? Is there anyone out there who wouldn't do it, if they could go back in time? Anyone who wishes they would have stuck it out with more traditional dieting routines? For those who don't regret it at all, feel free to comment as well.... I would also like to know where I might find before and after photos.... is there a thread for that? :funscale:

At the Toronto Centre, many of us have to do 14 days of nothing but nonfat yogurt, cottage cheese, and low glycemic veggies. No fat, no carbs and absolutely no sugar. I am on day 2. It's dreadful, but I am thankful that I had about a week of 'last meals' followed by 'last snacks' and topped off by 'last treats'. I literally stuffed myself with garbage to the point that yogurt and veggies are actually a welcomed change. I feel more energy and less bloated after only 2 days. I don't know about weight, but it has to be effective if it shrinks our livers! Good luck!

Thanks for the pics. Everyone looks great. I hope to post there some day - although I have kinda hid from cameras for the past few years!

I am sorry to hear about your experiences. That must be very disappointing! I wish you the best.

I have a suitcase of clothes I haven't worn in 15 years - whether they are in style or not, I plan to take them out and where them again, that is one of my 'weight loss' dreams! Thanks for all the comments!

Hi all, I am having my surgery on August 2nd at TLBC with Dr. Yau. :clap2: I am concerned about a few things I have read on this site, and am wondering if anyone could tell me about their experience with this doctor/clinic. I was not overly impressed with the call from the nurse, but am hoping the rest of the experience will be more positive! I am also scared to death that I will be unable to keep to the pre-op diet, since I don't eat cottage cheese and they only option the nurse gave me was yogurt. I love yogurt, but nothing but yogurt for 14 days...........if I could do that, wouldn't I already be thin?!? :paranoid Looking for hope....hoping I am doing the right thing....please advise!!!! Thanks!

My surgery is August 1st and I move in and out of 'panic' mode. One day I am confident I am doing the right thing, the next, I see an add for Jenny Craig and think 'what if I could just do that'. Then I think, 'I could use the money to finish the basement', or 'travel oversees'. Then, I try to remind myself that I would have to buy two plain seats to get my fat butt overseas, and if I finished my basement, I would just be fat, sitting in my finished basement. In the end, I always decide I am making the right choice, and when I am feeling really weak, and thinking about cancelling my surgery, I hop on this website and read about everyone's positive experiences. It really does seem to re-focus me!

Thanks for all the support. I guess I know that, in the end, it has to be done. It is good to hear that others have struggled as well (you know what I mean), makes me feel that if others with food issues can do it, I can prevail. It is easy for my hubby to say 'you can stick to it', when he can go days without eating and not break a sweat. He skips one beer and loses 10 pounds, etc etc. Thanks!

Hi Deanna, Your fears are very real. I know that I have used the 'I'm too heavy' excuse to virtually isolate myself from everything that I use to enjoy, and all of the risks I use to embrace (from risks in relationships to risks in fashion, etc etc). I know that I want my life back (as I wasn't always overweight), but I do fear that without this excuse, as a 'thin' person, I will truly have to embrace life again, and that is scary. I won't have this 100 pound excuse, and I will have to be the brave, bold, driven, outgoing woman I use to be. As an overweight person, it becomes easy to face failure because there is almost always a way to relate it to one's weight ("I was too fat", "they must have thought I wouldn't run fast enough", "she must have thought I wouldn't fit in the bride's maids gown", etc). As a therapist, I am very aware of what I have done to myself, but knowing and doing are very different things. In that sense, I 'fear' being thin as well, but more than that, I fear dying young from a weight-related illness, never seeing my daughter grow up, never meeting my grandchildren, having to wear a 'moo moo' to my brother's wedding, and living the rest of my 30's as if I am already in my 80's. In the end, the latter of those fears have finally come to terrify me more! I think you are already brave for having put that statement out there! Take care!

Peaches9 - did I read that right? You were banded July 11th 2007 (as in yesterday) and you have lost 50 lbs? Am I reading your 'ticker' right? Either way, congrats! I hope you are resting and your surgery went well!

Thanks. I took everyone's advice and called the TLBC. They have said I can have some chicken, and even some low glycemic salad with balsamic vegtables, which is a big relief. I can also add protein powder to my milk, which should prevent my blood sugar from dropping. They said it tends to depend on one's BMI, so I don't know if mine is 'high enough' or 'low eneough', but I'll take it either way! Thanks again.

Wow! Congratulations Woodys on reaching your goal! I think I'll trade my husband in for a chef - lol. That sounds great!

Thank you Doddie. The more I read, the more optomistic I feel. I am curious though, if you live in BC, why did you have to travel to Toronto? Do they not do the surgery in BC, or any closer? Just curious....

I am paying $16,000. That is the going rate in Ontario, Canada, although the poll isn't going to be that accurate, since $16,000 Canadian and $16,000 American are two very different numbers! In Canada, the $16,000 covers everything, including a lifetime of fills and follow-up care. As for tests, x-rays etc., all of that is free in Canada, so the $16,000 is the only cost.

Thanks! That diet sounds more tolerable than mine, so I am going to see if the nutritionist can give me any other options. How is it working for you? Are you nervous, or excited, or both?