OMG, How Crazy Am I????

[Boo Boo Kitty 3]

yeah, wasa how come he is the only one to see them??? lol...I share all!

The compliments you get make you feel awsome!

[Oregondaisy 2,021]

Bubble, Post those pictures. Or at least one. Even though I have seen you in person, I want to see your face in the corner.

I have a good excuse. I don't have a camera or even the knowledge to put one on here. Since my daughter is pregnant, I may be getting a camera. Somebody's going to have to give me lessons.

I think you'll feel thinner if you put before and after pictures right next to each other and compare them. If you're anything like me, you don't have any before pictures. I was good at hiding from the camera.

[chimboree26 24]

Yes, WasA, post the picture, post the picture! Don't be afraid. We love you here.

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

Yes, WasA, post the picture, post the picture! Don't be afraid. We love you here.

HA! I thought I was being brave by saying that I was going to post a photo. I thought I backed myself in a corner by writing that I was going to do it so now I'd have to. Then I uploaded the photos to my computer and I can't find a single one of them that I could ever post.

Maybe at goal I can do it.

It's kind of amusing in a way. I have worked harder on head issues through all this than I did food issues. Working on head issues made food issues fall into place fairly well. I had NO clue there would be more head issues after losing blubber. Not a clue. I was totally unprepared for this one. Issues don't typically tend to catch me off guard and when they do, I deal with it. This one has been huge for me.

Someone wrote a post regarding embarrassment and working out at a gym. I wrote that I understood and was dealing with the same thing. Someone else suggested I look in a mirror. I had no clue how to respond and Julie saved my butt on that one. More than she likely realizes.

[TheGh0st 9]

:behindsofa:I've been lurking here for several days. I've wanted to post but I have so much I'd like to say I'm afraid I might post a novel and wasn't sure I had the time to write it or if you would have the interest to read it.

I LOVE ALL of your posts! I started searching Lapbandtalk this spring for a thread just like this one to no real avail. Thankyou for starting this. :yo:

I am 5'2" and down to 165 with an original goal of 139.

I also have a Tummy Tuck scheduled for October (YEAH!!!) :whoo:

I can relate to everyone of your posts. My secret belief I am still SO FAT goes far enough that I've been afraid to post here for fear one of you will secretly think I still have too much weight to lose to belong on this thread. (Now who is crazy?)

One of my problems these last few months is I just have no idea how much more weight I need to lose. I set a 139 goal based on a combination of the least I needed to lose to get to a "normal" BMI combined with the fact that I always dreamed that I could get down to the British equivalent of 9-Stone X-Pounds. (Where each stone is 14-pounds.) But now I'm down to a size 10 and part of me thinks why can't you just be happy where you are? I'd like to think that once I get the tummy tuck I can be satisfied no matter what the weight is. And I HIGHLY doubt that the surgery is going to remove the 25+ pounds I still need to lose to get to that original goal.

:pout:In so many ways I feel so alone. My band-friends that aren't as far as me yet are starting to treat me like one of those "skinny" women who they hate for complaining about their weight. They try to be nice but I still feel like I can tell it hurts them that I still don't think I've reached my goal. As for my non-banded friends, they are competely sick and tired of hearing about my struggles. I can't even say one sentence remotely related to my weight or the band without my husband asking if I would "drop it already" and yet he still asks from time to time if I need another fill because he thinks it looks like I haven't lost any more for a while.

Then their are the people on the street. I just don't have a clue what they are thinking. I still am convinced the "normal" sized ones are thinking I'm a plus size but then the people who really do need to shop in the plus size department are giving me those same "She doesn't belong with us" looks too.

Lately I've been obsessed with the idea of asking strangers their opinions. I haven't done it yet mind you just obsessing over it. Problem is I don't think I'd believe anyones positive responses. I'd just think they were being polite. That's when I came up with a truly "Cunning Plan" :madgrin:(reference-Black Adder Fans) maybe there are others out there in Lapbandland like me who would be interested in exchanging photos. We could ask all our friends what they thought of this "strangers" photos and share the responses we got. That way we wouldn't have to worry about the responses just being "polite".

If by some chance one of you don't think I'm completely off my rocker, let me know. I'll show yours if you show mine. :spy: :heh:

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

:behindsofa:I've been lurking here for several days. I've wanted to post but I have so much I'd like to say I'm afraid I might post a novel and wasn't sure I had the time to write it or if you would have the interest to read it.

I LOVE ALL of your posts! I started searching Lapbandtalk this spring for a thread just like this one to no real avail. Thankyou for starting this. :yo:

I am 5'2" and down to 165 with an original goal of 139.

I also have a Tummy Tuck scheduled for October (YEAH!!!) :whoo:

I can relate to everyone of your posts. My secret belief I am still SO FAT goes far enough that I've been afraid to post here for fear one of you will secretly think I still have too much weight to lose to belong on this thread. (Now who is crazy?)

One of my problems these last few months is I just have no idea how much more weight I need to lose. I set a 139 goal based on a combination of the least I needed to lose to get to a "normal" BMI combined with the fact that I always dreamed that I could get down to the British equivalent of 9-Stone X-Pounds. (Where each stone is 14-pounds.) But now I'm down to a size 10 and part of me thinks why can't you just be happy where you are? I'd like to think that once I get the tummy tuck I can be satisfied no matter what the weight is. And I HIGHLY doubt that the surgery is going to remove the 25+ pounds I still need to lose to get to that original goal.

:pout:In so many ways I feel so alone. My band-friends that aren't as far as me yet are starting to treat me like one of those "skinny" women who they hate for complaining about their weight. They try to be nice but I still feel like I can tell it hurts them that I still don't think I've reached my goal. As for my non-banded friends, they are competely sick and tired of hearing about my struggles. I can't even say one sentence remotely related to my weight or the band without my husband asking if I would "drop it already" and yet he still asks from time to time if I need another fill because he thinks it looks like I haven't lost any more for a while.

Then their are the people on the street. I just don't have a clue what they are thinking. I still am convinced the "normal" sized ones are thinking I'm a plus size but then the people who really do need to shop in the plus size department are giving me those same "She doesn't belong with us" looks too.

Lately I've been obsessed with the idea of asking strangers their opinions. I haven't done it yet mind you just obsessing over it. Problem is I don't think I'd believe anyones positive responses. I'd just think they were being polite. That's when I came up with a truly "Cunning Plan" :madgrin:(reference-Black Adder Fans) maybe there are others out there in Lapbandland like me who would be interested in exchanging photos. We could ask all our friends what they thought of this "strangers" photos and share the responses we got. That way we wouldn't have to worry about the responses just being "polite".

If by some chance one of you don't think I'm completely off my rocker, let me know. I'll show yours if you show mine. :spy: :heh:

I totally get everything you are trying to convey. I was fretting over even starting this thread because I was seriously afraid of everyone telling me that I am indeed - crazy, and suggest intense therapy. But it was a choice, either calling my psychiatrist husband (something I would have regretted a great deal at a later time) or starting a thread here.

I know what you mean about people hearing about it too much. I found that the one place I am totally comfortable and at ease is in Mexico at the hospital I was banded at. I used to volunteer quite a bit of time in Nogales, Mexico working for a trauma surgeon and I slowly switched that over to Mexicali, Mexico. I can do just as much good in Mexicali as I do in Nogales, I like Mexicali better, and it's just as good for me as it is the patients. So I do some volunteer time there. It started out as a joke between my surgeon and I that it was my own therapy time and it ended up being something I really enjoy. I have had the opportunity to see various procedures in OR, I work with patients before, during, and after surgery, I do all kinds of things. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! I feel at ease there and not self conscious about how I look. It's safe there. Nobody is thinking thoughts such as, "WOW! She's FAT!"

I talk about it a lot to friends here and if they aren't fat or in medicine, they just don't care. It doesn't interest them in the least. I get really excited about how much connective tissue is cut to repair a hernia vs. banding. HA! I know I know... that makes me a nerd at the very least. But I find it sooo interesting. I want the whole world to know about it. I have to stop myself because I bore them and I know it. But to hear me the last few months you'd think the only issues in life that I care about is surgical technique, weight loss, weight loss facts vs. myths, and current science regarding obesity. Name most any food and I can tell you the calories and carb count without reading the label. I know more about types and quality of Protein than any single person SHOULD know. Suffice it to say, it's probably out of hand at this point. I catch myself starting most every post with, "Studies show...." so I tried to stop writing that and now I find I'm just rewording the same thing.

When I look at another large person and happen to know their weight I can't help it but to wonder how similar we are. They could be 100# more than me but I still think we look very similar. My eyes fight the intellectual side of my brain non stop. I've quit asking people in real time about these issues because they don't get it. Only people here get it.

Keep posting, you are doing great!

[chimboree26 24]

...

That's when I came up with a truly "Cunning Plan" :madgrin:(reference-Black Adder Fans) maybe there are others out there in Lapbandland like me who would be interested in exchanging photos. We could ask all our friends what they thought of this "strangers" photos and share the responses we got. That way we wouldn't have to worry about the responses just being "polite".

If by some chance one of you don't think I'm completely off my rocker, let me know. I'll show yours if you show mine. :spy: :heh:

I'm liking the 'Cunning Plan'. I'm not that far along, yet, so I don't have pics to share, but I certainly don't mind helping you out!

[TheGh0st 9]

Thanks Chimboree - Now lets see if I have the courage to actually hit the send button with some photos for you.

[TheGh0st 9]

Below is a link to an article that was in the Kansas City Star on Wednesday discussing the results of two long term studies comparing the 7-10 year mortality rate between groups of people mobidly obese that had and hadn't had weightloss surgery (of any kind). It found that 30-40% fewer people that had surgical intervention died in that period than those who didn't. Below is a quote from the end of the article.

"...Deaths from diabetes in the surgery group were dramatically cut by 92 percent; from cancer by 60 percent and from heart disease by 56 percent. Surprisingly, the surgery group had a higher risk of death from accidents, suicides and other causes not related to disease.

Both studies were done before surgery advances that have led to smaller incisions and faster recovery time."

Anyone else notice that statement about the increase in suicides and other non-illness related deaths amongst those that had weight loss surgery? I wonder if the increase in other non-illness related deaths could be due to the more active lifestyle we are able to have after losing some weight. I also wonder if the suicide increase is due to the fact that after most of us have spent many years blaming many of our problems on our weight secretly or not so secretly believing that if we could only lose the weight everything would be so much better, then finding after we lose the weight that we were oh so wrong, and that losing the weight just gives us new problems.

Just my rambling.

[chimboree26 24]

Ghost, you can do it!!! As I like to say, 'Put your big girl panties on and just do it/deal w/it!'

And I think your ramblings are onto s'thing. I love the head part of this journey. It is sooo interesting to me. I'm working on a dual Master's right now and Counseling is one of them. I may have a little niche here w/dealing w/weight loss surgery patients...

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

Ghost, you can do it!!! As I like to say, 'Put your big girl panties on and just do it/deal w/it!'

And I think your ramblings are onto s'thing. I love the head part of this journey. It is sooo interesting to me. I'm working on a dual Master's right now and Counseling is one of them. I may have a little niche here w/dealing w/weight loss surgery patients...

Oh Chimboree...

You would be SOOOO good at that! I'm serious, you would be great! I can see you doing that, without a doubt I can see that.

What is the other degree?

[chimboree26 24]

Oh Chimboree...

You would be SOOOO good at that! I'm serious, you would be great! I can see you doing that, without a doubt I can see that.

What is the other degree?

The other degree is in Theology. I was originally going to be a Christian counselor. I have a Bachelor's in Healthcare Mgmt/Admin.

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

The other degree is in Theology. I was originally going to be a Christian counselor. I have a Bachelor's in Healthcare Mgmt/Admin.

That's really great! All the above are huge accomplishments! When will you be done?

[chimboree26 24]

Thank you! Well, I would've been done next year if I hadn't taken a break. I just got soooo burned out. I still haven't gone back. So, I will probably be done in 2009. My Theology degree is almost done...only 3 more classes and an internship left.

[dezbus1 0]

Ok can I share? Thanks. lol. I had caught my self talking about my weight loss a lot so much that I know I was boring people, so now I have stopped. But not my friends, they keep calling me skinny, which I am not, (this is an issue that I am still trying to comes to term with, the word skinny, never been that), And then they ask how much more do you want to lose? So am I skinny or am I fat? It is almost every day, when I have made a conscious effort to stop they continue on.

Any one else having issues like this?