Lillianya

Whenever I heard the "you have such a pretty face" line, I always want to come back with: "and you have such a nice body, its a pity about your face."

For me, it was 6 days total. I was self-pay and didn't need to do any pre-op diet. I went in for my initial on a Tuesday and my doctor has a freak opening the following Monday morning. I did the nutritionalist thing after my surgery. It happened so fast I didn't even have time to get nervous before the surgery.

hopefully its not too late to join: 225.........165..........180.........15

Hey, I just moved to San Francisco. I don't know very many people here and I don't know anyone who knows anything about the LB. I've been feeling kind of isolated, and I'm looking for some new friends or a support group or a workout group or something where I can talk with other people on the LB or weight loss journey. Anyone from my area or know of any group or resource in SF? Thanks guys!

I used to wear skirts all the time before surgery. I was approximately the same weight for year during high school and college and I was very used to it and how I looking in clothes. So I wore whatever I felt like and decided that it was important how I felt in what I worn, and not everyone had to enjoy it as much as I did. But I've recently noticed a strange habit I've never had before. I'll try on clothes and I'll sometimes think, well maybe it'll look better in a few more pounds. It feels weird second guessing myself now that I'm loosing weight, when I really didn't do that before. I guess I'm just not used to my changing body. Anyways, my philosophy on clothes is: if you like it and it's comfortable, you should wear it. :huh2:

This is a tough subject for me. My brain has a few conflicting viewpoints and sometimes I get lost in the internal discourse. When I was growing up I was heavy, healthy and confident. But secretly, or sometimes not so secretly, I was often resentful of the life of the "prettypeople", how people were nicer to them and life seemed easier. I was preoccupied with how unfair it was that thin people were culturally seen as being worth more. Gradually, I just got over it. I decided there were lots of ideas that "most people" or our culture have that I completely disagreed with, and the bizarre standards of beauty and worth I’m surrounded by aren’t standards I needed to be okay with. I made peace with my body a long time ago. Heavy or not, I wasn't going to dislike myself or change the way I acted because of it. I don't think overweight people should ever feel like they shouldn't do something because of how other people might respond. I always smile a bit on the inside when people comment that I'm dressed a certain way, or doing something that some people think should be reserved for skinny people. Yeah, fuck that. Fat people can wear bikinis, miniskirts or biker shorts and do whatever they want. I think people should live their lives independent of their size, if that makes any sense. That all being said, I had surgery for health reasons. Now, I've been heavy for all of my life and while I was aware that in the process of losing weight, I would be getting smaller, I really had no frame of reference to think about it logically. Since my surgery almost 4 months ago, I went from a size 18 to a size 11/12. To my pre-op self, I would never believe I could be that size, but when I look at myself now, I see only a small difference. My brain still sees me as the same overweight person, and it has a hard time conceptualizing losing any more weight. I feel sort of like I've lost my perspective on size in general. I thought that at a size 12 I would be in excellent shape and weight a lot less than I do. I still have so far to go, and I can't really conceptualize myself as "thin". I strongly believe that its not necessary to look any particular way to be seen as attractive, successfully, sexy, or worthy of respect. Thin has nothing to do with those things. I'm uncomfortable with the increasing attention I receive as I shrink, both from people I know and strangers. I don't feel I deserve special treatment or more attention because I'm a smaller size, yet I'm proud of the hard work I've done to get here. <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <o:p></o:p><!--[endif]--> I've gotten over my resentment for people who treat thin people better, and my self-confidence is not dependent on feedback from other people. But I've found that I am increasingly wary of unsolicited compliments and random kindness. But I’m to hold off on worrying about it until I’ve gotten used to the concept that the weight is going to stay off, and keep coming off.

In my opinion, it's your body and your life. It really isn't anyone else's business, unless of course they have a medical need to know. While I'm not specifically advocating lying, how you choose to manage your health and weight is completely up to you, and has nothing to do with anyone else. There is nothing wrong with telling people or not telling people, I just don't think we should feel pressured to do either. I just moved to a large city where I don't know anyone and everyone I do know has no idea about my surgery. I don't feel ashamed about having it done, or worried about what they might think. I just feel that it that it's private and none of their business. It can get a bit lonely though, sometimes I feel like I'm on a different eating planet than everyone around me. That's why LBT is so great!

Hello, this is my first picture post. I didn't really take any pre-op pictures to compare with, now I'm kind of wishing I did. I am a circus-style fire performer, and I am training to be a contortionist, so most of the picture of myself I have are performance or practice photos. You all will get to see my contortion progress along with my weight loss progress. Well, as soon as I'm allowed to go back to stretching my abdomen. The first two pictures are from a few months before surgery, and the last is from this New Years Eve.

Hello Everyone, this is my first post. I was banded on December 17th by Dr. Neal in Northwest Washington. I was really nervous, but my surgery went fine. The first week or so was pretty rough, but I started feeling a lot better last week. I think I may have overdone it a bit, since I started feeling tired all the time and sore in the port area for the last few days. I really didn't think I'd lost any weight since surgery, but when I was weighed at my doctor's office yesterday, I'd lost almost 20 lbs! I was 229 on the day of surgery, and 210 yesterday. I was really shocked because my clothes fit about the same, and I don't think I look any different. I think I must have lost muscle mass, since I've been very active all my life and I've spent the last three weeks not exercising much at all. I look forward to getting to know you all!