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You definitely have age in your corner. My stomach wasn't really saggy, it was just a smaller version of the old stomach and I could have lived with it, but chose not to. I decided if I was going to do this I was going to do it the whole way and not give myself a reason to return to my former size. As for my arms, fat or thin they have always been an issue for me and something that I wanted to have surgery on. My inner thighs are the only things have really gotten saggy. I have a ledge of fat that was always well hidden by shorts and still is even though I have lost 80 pounds. However, when the leg is not covered it is obvious that the skin is saggy, but then again I am 36 and had been overweight all of my life until I had this surgery. Everyone reacts differently, but fear of saggy skin is not a reason to back out on the surgery. You are doing this for health reasons and that is one of the greatest reasons to have the surgery. Saggy skin has never killed anyone, but obesity has. I personally think you will be fine in the skin area because you do have age on your side.

Sounds to me like you have gotten something stuck. I equate it trying to swallow a golf ball that gets stuck and causes pain right between my breasts which is the area where the band is located

It is my understanding that the band size is determined by the size of the fat pad around your stomach. I have the larger band while a male friend of mine who is much larger than I am received the smaller band because his fat pad was pretty small.

You will make it out alive - silly girl! Congrats on the size 8's and do let us know about the reactions at the reunion. I can't wait for my class reunion in 2 years, or my reunion with my Fort Worth friends in a few weeks.

Scale time wasn't too bad this morning. I was up 1.5 pounds, but based on the time of month, 1.5 lbs. will probably be gone by Friday. I did e-mail my fill doc today to see if I can get back .2cc's of the .3 that I had removed a few weeks ago. The irritation is over with and everything (including bread) goes down slick as a whistle.

This is on the wall in my entryway. "What lies behind you and lies in front of you is nothing compared to what lies within you."

Cooking in cast iron skillets also helps I have heard. Whether it does or not, I cook in mine every chance I get because the clean up is so stinkin' easy compared to my other ones that have to be washed and shined.

Exactly! And even though you won't be with her the day she turns 10 months old, you will still be around the day she turns 10 years old and able to join her in roller skating that day - if she still thinks you are still cook enough to be seen with at that point.

This was my experience this weekend. You pack your winter pj's that you last wore in May only too realize that if it were not for your hips they would fall to the floor. Then, when you have to go outside at 7 am to get your nephews car seats before your brother leaves, you make sure your pj top is long enough to cover the 5 inches of underwear that are showing above your pj bottoms so that both you and the neighbors are not embarrassed. Hobby Lobby here I come 'cause I need some elastic to remedy this situation!

Not having my surgery at the OCC, I can't speak to the safety of taking a laptop, but I can speak to the safety of having your "whole life" on it. Make sure you have backed up all of your files on a disk, or whatever the newest word for it is. My whole life has been taken away from me before in regards to a computer and it was absolutely awful. You can also e-mail files to yourself as a way keep a back up copy.

Personally, I would prefer to not have another week like this one. I dread getting on the scales in the morning. I have struggled eating enough protein, enough fruits and vegetables and drinking enough liquid all week. I have only wanted super small portions at meal times but then wanted something in between. I am still too worn out to get back into the workout mode, but I definitely need to. I will be off work next week, so I going to try and pick my most energetic part of the day and work out. Camped with my parents this weekend and cookies and desserts were plentiful. I did pretty good at meal time eating salads w/chicken, but had one cookie each morning and afternoon/evening (5 total from Friday pm to Sunday pm). As a child when I camped with them at this same event it would be nothing for me to have 5 cookies and 2 hot chocolates each am and pm, so I guess I shouldn't get too down on myself because 2 years ago I still would have done this - now I know why I don't have the stuff in my house. Everytime I ate something sweet I felt sick afterwards and remembered that it had also happened the time before. The problem is that I never remembered that I had felt sick the previous time prior to consuming it. This afternoon I finally started getting nausous even thinking about chocolate so that shut me down from enjoying a hot chocolate with my nephews. The only thing that sounds good right now is meat, meat, meat, so I am going to take advantage of that when I go get the laundry in a few minutes and pull some out of the freezer to be cooked tomorrow. My tummy is kind of mad at me right now, so hopefully after getting the junk out of my system, forcing myself to drink and finishing another potential cause of my yucky feeling I will be back to my normal banded style.

5 cc's is about where I was two months after the surgery, so I would say you are about right. I do agree with the barium swallow idea. My doctor now does my fills while I am standing up so that we can watch the barium at the same time and know when I really have restriction. You might mention this to your doctor and see if it would be an option. I also lost about 13 pounds on the liquid stage and then after that I lost 5-6 pounds each month maximum and was not one of the those individuals that lost large amounts each month.

Cool beans on the size 12's!

My doctor's goal is for me to eat about 1/3 of what I used to eat, so it sounds like you are on the right track to me.

My doctor requires 24 hours of clear liquids after a fill, then 24 hours of full liquids and the next 24 hours of mushy foods. After those 72 hours I can go back to a normal diet. If your doctor doesn't have any requirements like this after a fill, it might be a good idea to do it anyway to allow any swelling to subside as well as getting yourself back to the basics as you may have to change your eating habits again after a fill.

Congratulations! Before and after pictures are a wonderful thing. I was hoping to get in some pictures this past weekend at my brother's graduation, but that didn't happen. Maybe it will happen this coming weekend because I need to see the comparison right now.

Dr. Hall was on my final list as well. I e-mailed him and was told that I would have to be at my final weight for at least 6 months before he would do my surgery. A lot of doctor's have this policy, but in the end I am glad I didn't go with a doctor who had this policy because I would be looking rather sickly if I had tried to get to 150 before the PS. I am at 160 after the PS and perfectly content. Dr. Jerome Lamb has his prices posted on his web-site and a friend's OB/GYN told her he was one of the best as well based on the TT and Breast Lift/Reduction scars she had seen.

Glad to hear it is coming off so well. I have always found that the pounds recently gained come back off quicker than if it had been a few months since those pounds were gained. Keep it up, you are on the downhill side of losing your weight.

I know I need to post pictures, just haven't got it done yet. My decision came when I kept looking to see who was walking up behind me when I was on the eliptical. No one was ever walking up behind me, it was my arms flapping against my side that was making that noise. My arms have always been an issue for me and I have always wanted to do something with them. This is why they were the number one thing I wanted to have surgery on with my thighs being second, then my tummy and finally the girls. I am not bothered by the arm scars at all as they are so much better than the yuck that used to waive a people every time I lifted my arms. I have been wearing sleeveless, cap and short sleeves all summer. Last summer you would not have caught me in anything sleeveless. My mom said something about the scars this weekend but she is always kind of critical where I am concerned and she knows I had the surgery so I don't give her opinion much thought. I did spread my arms out wide at church last week and the nine 4 year olds sitting in front of my about popped their eyes out of their head. They wanted to know how I got those owies, but that is to be expected from 4 year olds. Saw my doctor on Thursday and he said the scars will continue to heal, which is true as it takes about a year for scars to heal. My port scar looked worse than arms do now 4 months after the lap band was placed and now it is flat and just slightly red so I am not worried at all. If you want, PM me when you are working and I'll pop in and flash my arms at ya - I might even get it together and use the eliptical while I am there.

I am a KC girl as well and went to Dr. Barnthouse - he is the best. My scars, his time spent in consultation with me and his follow-up care prove it. I had a consult with a surgeon that was cheaper, but he had an assembly line/cattle call going and I didn't like being a part of that. The difference in the $ occurred because Dr. B. required an over night hospital stay and the other doctor would have done the surgery in his surgery center, so in the end the money went to the hospital, not the doctor. I had a TT and Arm Lift at the same time. Phase 2 will be about a year from now and that will be a breast reduction/lift and inner thigh lift. Insurance should cover most of those fees because of the breast reduction, but I will still be responsible for the inner thigh lift portion of the surgery. If you can combine one insurance covered procedure with one non-insurance covered procedure it will help with the costs. Insurance usually covers breast reductions, it is getting them to cover a TT that may or may not happen.

You look great! How tall are you? I am 5' 4.75" and weigh in at 160, wearing a size 10 pant and M top. I could not be 140 and still look healthy. You stop when you get to a place that you feel great and know that if you spent $5000 buying clothes at that size that you would not regret it in a year and wish you were smaller.

The closer you get the slower things seem to go. Not only is your body adjusting to the much smaller/lighter you, but you are also anxious to get to your goal and not as patient as you once were because you can taste your goal - no pun intended. Keep trudging on and know that even at 5 pounds a month, in less than a year you will be at your goal and who knows, you may get to a size you love and decide you are at your goal, that is what happened to me so I stopped about 10 pounds short of what I thought my original goal would be. I will get close to that goal eventually, but it will be from my plastic surgeons efforts and not mine.

My first thought is that you are too tight. Getting hungry in between meals can be normal, especially if you are PB'ing part of your cup of food as you probably are not getting a full cup of food. I still get hungry in between meals, but as long as it is at least 3-4 hours after I have eaten before I get hungry I don't worry about it as there are very few non-banded people out there that could go 3-4 hours on just a cup of food. As long as you have stayed within the cup of food I wouldn't think you would have stretched your pouch, but just be careful during the times when you say that it seems like you can eat more than you think you should be able to. Those are the times to definitely stick to your one cup maximum. I don't really have a sign that I am full or getting full, so if I don't stick to a cup I can and eat forever as long as I am careful.

You are the only one I have ever heard of. Just curious, any single men at the place that offers this wonderful of an insurance plan? Just kidding, I have no plans to move to CA.

As Judi said, I typcially get charged the children's price at a buffet as well. Especially when I have my 6 and 8 year old nephews with me and tell the server that I eat less than they do and my sister-in-law agrees with me. The servers look at me in astonishment, but they have never given me any grief about it. Of course I also waste less than my nephews do because my eyes are not bigger than my stomach, they are almost the same size.