new photos

i recently uploaded some new pics of me 1.5 years out from surgery (check out my profile). two of the pics are from behind that my dad snapped while i was working at a trade show and when we reviewed the pictures, i had to do a double-take to realize it was me in the picture! i can't recognize myself these days, it's crazy! anyway, i also posted a new blog but the essence of it says start lifting weights! i know i sound like a broken record but it has made such a MAJOR difference in the AMOUNT OF FLABBY SKIN hanging off me. i'm watching it SHRINK right before my very eyes, something i never thought i'd see. so i highly suggest everyone who's worried about skin issues, get some weights asap! rock on, kari

Congratulations you look great!   Also, you had your surgery with the same surgeon who will be doing mine, I am going to send you a PM (if I havent already by the time you get this) and hopefully you can share a little about your experience with Dr Lourie with me?   Shells

shells, i didn't get that pm but my junk filter may have eaten it. regardless, dr. lourie rocked! he's got such a reasonable, calming attitude that helped me form very realistic expectations. my good friend also had him as her surgeon and she's liked him too. you won't get the pie-in-the-sky type of consults from him, which might be dissapointing at first. i know that when i was just looking into this surgery i had the idea that it would change my life by correcting all my problems both physically and emotionally and dr. lourie talked me out of the clouds and made sure i was on solid ground before really thinking about doing this. he's also good about pointing out how much work we as patients will have to do. sure, wls will almost always make us loose weight but if we want stellar results, we've got to put in steller work like exercise and really health food choices (things i battle with still today). my wls surgery has changed my life but it didn't solve all my issuses. it wasn't a magic pill that made everything bad in my life go away. but it did help some of the major health problems become non-exsistant (my asthma, polyscystic ovary syndrom, type-II diabetes, high blood pressure) and that's helped me be better equipped to deal with the other crap. one of the most surpising ways in which it changed was my own attitude to my personal health and my commitment to not waste the opportunities and new body i've been allowed. i take everything more seriously now. i don't know if you are aware of the support groups that meet weekly but the thursday nite group was a great asset to me in my first few months before and after surgery. call dr. lourie's office to get the 411 on the location (i believe it's 7 pm in the Brawn auditorium of Huntington Hospital). there's also another group that deals more with the emotional issues that come up with this surgery but i've never attended one of those meetings. i'm thinking i'm ready to tho so you may see me at a meeting sometime soon. if so, come up and introduce yourself! :) take care, kari

Kari, You look stunning. I do not see any flabby skin  Way to go!  I see people and they can tell that I have lost weight but I do not see it at all. I still see myself as I was before surgery. When was it that you can tell on yourself the amount of weight that you have lost? Talk to you later! Diana

diana, i think i started to notice when i'd hit the 40 lb. mark, which was almost half-way for me. i noticed the clothes getting looser after a 28 lb. loss and my family could see a difference but i couldn't. the weight loss didn't really sink in until i was able to do things i couldn't do pre-weight loss like sit with my legs crossed comfortably, or actually have a funtioning lap. i remember driving around for a bit there with my left leg crossed under me because i was so enamored by my increasing flexibility and comfort in previously-uncomfortable poses. i felt like a rubber band, i wanted to keep stretching and contorting myself just because i could. i'm now wearing a size 6/8 petite but when i was moving from size 16 to 14 and then 12, i really was noticing the change because i lost my dramatic curves! i have a more narrow outline and that was really odd to me. i still feel like i operate like a fat person, always wondering if i can fit in the chair or squeeze through an opening. i still expect to brush the sides of desks and chairs when i walk behind them and am pleasently surprised when i can slip by without touching. but it's funny because some days i still expect to see the fat me in the mirror. even though i'm slowly getting used to what my new body looks like, i still just see all the flabby areas i need to still work on. isn't the mind crazy? best of luck on your journey! -kari