Hello everyone!! My name is Heather and had my surgery 8/8/07 in LaCrosse Wisconsin. I started at 237 on surgery day and am now down to 176. I look at myself in the mirror and can't believe what I look like. I am so happy I went through this surgery. This surgery has been the beginning of a new life for me. I feel so good and have more energy than I sometimes know what to do with. I started my journey in september of 2006. I went to a free seminar on the gastric by-pass surgery and procedure. I started the monthly regular dietician appointments and really thought I was wasting my time. I just knew that I was going to go through the whole six month doc. appointments and physc eval and then still not be approved through my insurance company. I was proven SOOO wrong. After my 6 months of manditory appointments were done, they submitted to my insurance. Three days later, in my mailbox, was my approval letter. I about fell over dead right there in front of my mailbox. I couldn't believe it!!! The day of surgery, I have to say I was just somewhat in a daze. I was still waiting for the ball to drop and someone call and tell me "sorry........but,". I went through surgery like a tropper. I had a minor complication the day after surgery but was still able to come home on schedule. I had surgery on a wednesday, home on friday evening and back to work the following Tuesday for light duty (just phone calls). I was really unable to eat hardly anything after surgery. I ate alot of sugar free pudding, popsickles and things like that. I also ate alot of cottage cheese and am now at the point that I can barely look at it without getting sick. I get the dumping thing not as often as I use to, but still ever once in a while I still find myself bent over the good ole porcelain bowl in misery. I find that that only happens to me if I eat to fast, not chew enough or to much sugar. I have only eated to much sugar only on accident and thought I was litteraly gonna die!! I am just a little over 4 months out and am able to eat a bit more than I use to. I can finally eat a little bit of chicken now without getting sick. Up until just shortly ago, I wasn't able to eat any meats without dumping bad. Now I feel like I am living on beef sticks. My hair, like alot of you others on here, is falling out by the handfulls. I hate to wash my hair anymore than I absolutely have to in fear of "that" being the shower that makes me bald. I believe if I have to lose this amount of hair for another 2 months, I might as well go out and get me some extensions or a beautiful wig;)LOL. I had thick hair to begin with, now.....its very thin!!!! It really worries me. I have lost 61pounds so far and like I said above, I feel absolutely wonderful. I also go through my stalls about every couple weeks. But I know that once the stalls break, I will be losing again for another week straight. I am over halfway to my goal and can't believe it. I hope you all have a very good Christmas/Hanakuh season. Stay healthy!! Heather Start weight: 237 Surgery weight: 237 Today (Dec 14th, 2007): 176 Mini Goal for Jan. 1, 2008: 170 Goal weight: 140

I just read your post... i just had my 3 month too, I lost about 70 from 303 and all my labs were good. My doc was happy with where I am and more over so am I. I eat prety much what I want but I think the concern over snacking is a long term thing. We are going to loose now prety much what ever we eat but later it will get harder... I have slowed down now and I am looking at slowing my snacking and adding mire walking to revamp...

hi all! surgery date rny - 8/22/07 starting weight : 317 today's weight: 247 total loss: 70 lbs glad to see i'm pretty much where everyone else is!

starting weight::232 Current weight::160 DOS:::::::::::::8.15.07 Total loss:::::::72 lbs This week::::::2lbs

Yeah, I'm having trouble finding things to wear too! I started out at a size 16. Now I'm fitting into 10's and 12's. Very exciting! My tops are all small or medium. I've been buying a couple of things at Goodwill and I'm doing some shopping from the clearance racks. I'm starting a new job next month and I will have to dress up a little more, so I'm hoping I'll be able to get some great deals after Christmas when things get marked down!