Hi everyone, new here

Hi! I have been posting on my state and surgery date forums, and just found this one! I am a Creative Memories Consultant and would love to meet others who are CM consultants, too. I am just starting a WLS album, and am having trouble getting started. I am doing a 7 x 7 album, and have a few pictures of me at my highest ( 297) 5 yrs ago. I avoided the camera like the plague! I started my surgery journey at 238 after losing a bunch on Weigh****chers. Should I start my album from my highest, or should I just do the surgery journey? Any thoughts? My husband has been taking a picture of me every month in the same spot by my front door, so have those, and have others from family events during the time since my surgery. What else are people putting in their albums? Heather lap RNY 6/13/05 297 high/ 238 surg/ 188 current/ 125 goal

I have pre-op pages, in hospital pages (including family in holding area, roommate, nurses, pic with surgeon,etc), pages on my two angels, monthly update pages and WOW pages. I saved everything I could think of while in the hospital. I have my IV tube (looks cute snaking around pics), heparin bottle, bandages, lemon swab packages, etc. I have taken pics of my protein shake while it is still in my Magic Bullet. I saved my "statements" from Pacific Bariatric and Scripp's Hospital that were paid by Kaiser, my insurance co. My "bills" would have been over $40,000!!! Thank goodness I have great insurance. I paid nothing! (except for prescriptions which are $10.00.) This month I am putting a pair of my new size 8 jeans on top of my size 20 jeans from 5 1/2 months ago and taking a pic. Another page will have the tags from the new jeans and a pic of me in them."Single digit sizes" I definitely will have a "CENTURY CLUB" page, hopefully by next week. Hmmmmm . . . is this enough to get you started? Just so you know, I thought I would start on the WLS scrapbook while I was recovering. However, I just started it in August. But, I had all the pics and embellishments saved in a box. I even saved my steri-strips as they fell off!! I had open RNY with no staples or drain, or I would have saved them, too!!! Judy Oh, yeah, on the first day of school, I had my picture taken with one of my 7th grade girls who weighed 85 pounds. This was the amount I had lost at that time. Cool picture and hard for me to believe that I was carrying "Maria" around with me before WLS

I started my WLS scrapbook from my baby picture so that when someone looked through my book that they could see how my weight was from childhood. I begged family members for any photos that they might have of me since I avoided the camera too! You'd be surprised at who might have pics that you want to copy. I used a Snow White theme for my book since I always loved her. My niece takes new pictures of me every 3 months or so and the difference was startling to me. You know you never see yourself the way everyone else does! Good luck to you on your scrapbook! Cathy 328/188 goal weight/152 current weight

Hi Heather! I'm a CM Consultant too! I like the idea of scrapping any and all pictures of you since childhood. I recently found a stash of pictures that were given back to me after my grandmother passed away, they were all my school pics, every last one of them! I think I'm going to use those. I haven't started my scrapbook yet, I'm just a month out of surgery and have not had a dramatic loss just yet. I'm working on it! Hope you are reaching your goals! Contact me if you'd like to talk. Alicia lap RNY 10/31/05 287 high/ 276 surgery/ 250 current/ 140 goal

Hi Alicia! Congrats on your surgery! I'm from Rochester, NY, but my husband has family down near you, in Severna Park! How long have you been an CM consultant? I went to Showcase this year for the first time and I loved it! I will try to go every year if I can. I know it's expensive, but I'm worth it! I've been gathering more pictures, but unfortuntately my mom has"misplaced" the box of all my childhood photos. She even thinks it may have been thrown out after a wet basement incident. Oh, no! I was a skinny child, and didn't start to gain until about age 11. The difference was dramatic, and I wish I had some pictures of that time period. I am down to 178, and the last time I was this weight was somewhere in high school when I was too mortified to go near a scale. I need to pick up the exercize to continue losing, I am only about a half a pound a week now. I want to get to 125 on my 5'1" frame. Thanks for responding! Heather

I didn't start in time with CM to register for Showcase, but from all I've heard I'm seriously thinking about next years. Severna Park is only like 10 minutes away from here! Wooohoo! I'm sorry to hear about your old photos, I know I probably have lost tons of them too just from moving a lot. I lost my daughter's entire baby book to a wet basement incident and that made me SO sad! Keep up the great work, I don't think that people who have already lost a lot realize just what an inspiration they are to us newbs who are searching for the "right way" to do this. Who knew that after having the surgery we couldn't just sit around like we always did and we actually have to EXERCISE! I've become a profile junkie as well as before/after pictureaholic. I find that it helps me realize that this is all going to happen for me. One day I might be skinnier then I ever have. I've always been "a big girl" or "big-boned" since I was very young. Always chubby... always struggling. I hated mirrors and scales all my life. Clothes too for that matter. I like new styles but with this body, I'd look laughable trying to wear them. I'm looking forward to the day I can dress on the outside how I feel on the inside. Email me! We can talk. =)