Just had to share something funny.The great news is that I’ve lost 60 lbs of the 200 lbs I need to lose. The BAD news is that 30 of it seems to have been lost from my boobs!
What the heck is that? I have a large butt, large belly, and thighs that have their own zip codes, but NOOOOO. I lose half of my boobs. Seriously, I can now put my fist in my bra with plenty of room left over.
Cracks me up! Guess I may have to have implants when I’m all done.
I invite you to share something funny about your weight loss that you never thought was going to happen.
I was just speaking with True Results and wandered into their patient testimony stories – whoa! They have a lot of them. I’ve watched a handful, and this one is my favorite. Melissa tells a story of a physician calling her out on her obesity on the event of her mother’s heart attack.
The information here isn’t that dense, but it certainly gives you a very strong sense of how people who have Lap Bands feel about them. My experience, as the title of this page indicates, is that the feeling is overwhelmingly positive. This site came about because everyone I spoke with about their Lap Band said the same thing – I love my Lap Band!
When you have some time, I’d encourage you to watch the video clips. These are obviously smart, sober people who have had their lives changed by their Lap Band. They talk about how long they’ve been banded and how much weight they have lost. One of the women talks about how it’s a marathon and not a sprint. Settle in, learn to eat real food and exercise – you’ll lose the weight.
I posted this 26 minute interview back in February originally. I’m not sure when it was done, but I like it quite a lot. Dr. Powell is a bariatric surgeon in the Coachella Valley of California, and he really covers the whole experience of having a Lap Band quite well. One of the things he emphasizes is that so many patients see a massive reduction in the amount of medication that they take – some are totally free of it within a few months of surgery. He expects to see weight loss of 8-10-12 pounds per month. Dr. Powell talks about on the really important aspects of having a Lap Band, and that is that many patients experience a tremendous decrease in hunger and lose a lot of their interest in eating. Wouldn’t that be nice? Also, he is confortable working with obese adolescents. I know I get a lot inquires about obese teenagers – this is one of the surgeons to talk to.
I had trouble pulling this interview up and getting it to play. So, I’ll provide you with the direct link here. If that doesn’t work for you, go to Randy Alvarez’ home page, click on #9 Weight Loss Surgery, and then click on Dr. Powell’s photo. Anyway, good interview and solid info. I hope you enjoy it.
Obesity Help is having a big, weekend long event with lots of different surgeons, cosmetic surgery experts and other motivational coaches here in Los Angeles. There is even a raffle drawing for a Lap Band procedure donated by Dr. Alberto Aceves from Mexicali Bariatric Center.
Melting Mama will be there as well lots of motivational speakers. I’m still saving my pennies (which have recently gotten hijacked for another purpose – grrrrrrrrrr), but it looks it might pretty informative – particularly for those of us who are in town and don’t have to pay for hotels.
Coach Cher is on Blog Talk Radio tonight with Iris Stratton. The blurb for today’s show is:
Join me as I discuss Lapband 101 with Iris Stratton co-founder of Fill Centers USA. Iris currently serves as the company’s CEO. She wrote the fitness, supplementation and nutrition portions of the Fill Centers USA Lifestyle Guide. Iris’s dream is to “work hand in hand with the participating surgeons to make this surgery revolutionary to the world by making aftercare more advanced and geographically adequate for each and every patient.
Particularly, if you are going out of country for weight loss surgery, you should check out Fill Centers USA- it’s a good deal. The first order of business is to provide fills in a professional atmosphere for Lap Band patients. But they also provide post-surgical support groups, and this is important, because bariatric patients who attend support groups do better than those who don’t attend support groups.
I will give you one line from a study on the subject:
Gastric bypass patients in the ASGM (Attend Support Group Meetings) group had a statistically significantly higher percent decrease in BMI than the patients in the NASGM (Not Attend Support Group meetings) group (42% vs. 32%; p < 0.03).
Hopefully, that 10% will get your attention and get you out to some support groups. Listen to Coach Cher today. Should be good.
Alright, so I fibbed – one last plus size clothing post. Torrid is a wonderful line for the very young woman. They have a fantastic line of jeans for all plus size women as well. Their line is young, hip and sexy. I love this red corset top with the black lace overlay. This black vinyl skirt with the tulle trim is really cute. I wasn’t good at dressing like a teenager when I was a teenager, so I’m not going to get to far into this. However, I have a beautiful, young goth friend who works for them. She’s a plus-size and she always looks fabulous – fabulous.
So, girls, register, pick your stuff out and send your wish list to your parents for the winter holidays. You deserve to look fabulous just like everyone else.
And a tip of the hat to Anne M for reminding me to include Torrid.
People who are paying for their Lap Band procedure out of their own pocket are left worrying about how they would finance any repairs or complications. I think for most of us, freedom from obesity is just so important that the risk seems worthwhile. But I wanted to bring you attention to a product that provides some additional peace of mind – BLIS.
What BLIS (Bundled Loan Indemnity Solutions) does is provide insurance to physicians who perform weight loss surgery that covers the cost of any repairs that need to be done in the first 90 days after surgery. The insurance comes through the physician’s office and is part of the cost of the surgery. They have a website that spells out what they do, and offers links to the physicians that they cover. If you’re a self-pay having surgery here in the US, this is definitely something you should check out. I know a lot of people fret about what their options would be if something went wrong – this answers that question.
I’m going to add them to the side bar sometime today. I got a few more things coming up today so check back.
Let me tell you, this has been a lot of work for something I don’t get paid to do. I know that writing about great plus size clothing may seem like an odd little diversion for a blog that’s promised to tell you everything you need to know about life with a Lap Band, but all of us find it easier to make personal progress when we feel good about ourselves. And even if you are overweight, if you get your hair done and put on a snazzy outfit that you actually like, it makes it easier to make more affirmative steps. I’m thinking that if even a few of you take my suggestion and fill out the wish lists at these sites, and send them to your family and as a result get really nice clothes for Christmas that allow you to feel better about yourself than you have in a few years, then this has been a worthwhile task. And I know the odds are good that one or two of you will put your life in even better order – maybe you’ll start exercising or get a new job (because you have the clothes to do it now) or maybe, just maybe, you’ll go see a bariatric surgeon about weight loss surgery and consider making a major change in your life. And then, you can sell all your snazzy new clothes on Ebay and save your pennies to go shopping for size 6 frocks and jeans.
Okay, so now, I’m going to tell you why you should go shopping at Lands End – because no matter what shape you are, they have nice, well made everyday clothes for you to wear. They even have some pretty nice business clothes. Regardless of where you carry your weight – even if it’s a lot of weight in one area – the Sport Knit pants will fit. If you carry weight in your hips, thighs or bum, they have plenty of very pretty sweaters that will work very nicely with the endless assortment of stretchy pants they have – cashmere, cotton, wool and silk. Lovely colors. Cables or not. If you carry your weight up front, they have a separate section for tunics, and you can always call and check the length of a piece. They have swing coats which are always nice for plus sizes, field jackets, parkas, rain coats and long down coats all in plus sizes. Hats, gloves, scarves and purses to match. They make it very, very easy to put together a basic wardrobe from which it easy to build. If you’ve let your wardrobe go for a years, this is the place to start. 1x – 3x
Eddie Bauer is excellent for pear shapes and people who carry their weight fairly proportionately. As an apple, I’m frequently out of luck here. They have pretty blouses, and wonderful silky t-shirts and sweaters in amazing colors. And really nice wide calf boots, in case that’s what you need. The only complaint I have with Eddie Bauer is that they always seem to run out of something I want before I have a chance to buy it. So, if you have your heart set on something here, buy it yourself. It won’t be there the week before Christmas when your family finally get around to ordering. 1x – 3x
Then there are the department stores. For Plus Sizes, I like Nordstrom best because they have beautiful clothes in a good range in prices. They carry the ever so adorable Sweet Pea by Stacy Frati – I love this line. They also have the fabulously comfortable, affordable and quite elegant Rachel Pally – seen most recently on Angelena Jolie, Reese Witherspoon and Madonna. For the more conservative dressers in our midst, they always carry the wrinkle-free Foxcroft shirts. They always have a good selection of Not Your Daughter’s Jeans. My only beef with Nordstrom is that they think we plus size women are dying to expose our inner hobbit in sleeveless dresses. I didn’t like sleeveless dresses that much when I was skinny. I really hate them now, and they don’t give us much that isn’t sleeveless. But they do have a lot of dresses, and a lot of them are really pretty.
The other department stores with good online presences, by and large, are pretty pricey so I won’t take the time with them. I will say that Bloomingdales has their Cashmere Shop which is lovely, but which I can’t afford. Their Sutton Studio Collection is frequently chic and quite affordable. Neiman Marcus is Neiman Marcus. It’s just fabulous. They have a great Eileen Fisher shop. And carry a few pieces of the romantic Johnny Was collection and the yummy Anna Scholz. I love this blouse from Gayla Bentley!
I will finish this post tomorrow afternoon. Right now, by eyes are blurring over. I still have Saks and Macy’s to get through and I’ve just realized I didn’t get any of my Lands End links in place. Grrrrrr…..
I’m determined to get all of them up here. So, here we go…
Coldwater Creek does a great job of creating some interesting clothing that is fairly affordable and a good chunk of it is available in plus sizes 1x – 3x. As with Soft Surroundings, go into the category you’re interested in seeing and click on Sort By Size. You can also click on View All over the top clothing article on the far right side of the page. Coldwater Creek has a great selection of pants though I have never, as of yet, even tried a pair on so I cannot vouch for them. But I love the Holly pant – stretch fabric and a side zipper work well for a lot of plus sized women. They have Shape Me jeans with body shapers on the interior. I love this ruffle front denim jacket and I think most figure types could wear this. This flowering paisley jacket is nice as well and you could build a really cut outfit around it. I love this lace trimmed top and the colors it comes in. I think this red, ribbon floral dress and jacket is probably very pretty in person, and would work well for a lot of plus sizes.
I know from my experience on Ebay that Flax is a truly beloved line for a lot of plus sized women. I think it is a particular wonderful line for the pear-shaped amongst us but they have a decent selection for all figure types. I love linen and living in Southern California, I can wear it all year long. The link is to the company’s home page, but you cannot purchase there. I think Tender Treasures has the best online site for purchase of the Generous line, but if anyone else has a favorite, I’m happy to post your experience with them as well. I don’t have a way with either of these sites to point out pieces that I really like so you’re on your own cruising through. Flax has their own sizing and the 2G is roughly a 3x and the 3g roughly a 4x.
Staley Gretzinger has been around forever it seems. They design several different lines of clothing. Bread is one of my favorite lines ever. The Jane Austen Holiday line over at Staley Gretzinger itself is fabulous – black knit with appliqued flowers. I love the D’arcy Top and the Colin Firth Skirt (botttom image, far left) almost as much as I love Colin Firth himself. Well, maybe I can’t go that far! Anyway, it’s a wonderful, inventive line with all sorts of asymetrical hems on everything, pretty buttons, great patchwork and appliques. I mean, where else have you seen a clothing line inspired by coasters? Doilies as inspiration wouldn’t surprise me. Coasters do. I love artists.
Gayla Bentley is a wonderful, occasionally pricey line out of Texas. I love the Watercolor Coat. Though the Poet Dress wouldn’t work on my little butterball body, for you pears and hourglass types, it would look fabulous on you and for an evening out dress, it isn’t outrageously priced. If you are going someplace fabulous this holiday season, and you do need something really, really special, check out this fabulous, organza, ruffled jacket and skirt. One would need to be tall to pull this off (and no round tummies allowed – round hips and bums will likely do just fine) – wouldn’t it be fun? Finally, this is her 10 piece collection designed to give you an entire wardrobe for $1000.
Pay homage to the Queen – Eileen Fisher. I think there are very women over the age of 25 who couldn’t use Eileen Fisher clothing in their life. Whether you’re an artist who does wrought iron sculpture, a corporate attorney, a stay at home mom, or a waitress in a diner, EF creates comfortable elegant clothing that’s keeps everyone’s basic human dignity in tact. Her pants are the best ever – regardless of your figure type, she has pants that fit you well. Speaking as a petite plus size, she is one of the very few designers who understands that not all of us can wear pants or jeans with full legs. This is my favorite pair of jeans ever right here. They have a side zip and no pockets, so those of us with tummies and hips can wear them without gapping at our sides or zippers protruding under tunics in the front. Now , check out these sweaters – beautiful colors and lots of different fits and lengths for lots of different body types. Everything in this line is fabulous. Ridiculously fabulous line.
Now, for something entirely different – Johnny Appleseeds. This is a very nice line of fairly conservative clothing – great for office, church or neighborhood get togethers. Very little for the local goth club. They have a full page of elastic waist, pull-on pants – knits, tencels, wool, crinkle, wide wale corduroy, twills – you name it. Their five pocket jean comes in both women’s sizes and women’s petite and are available in several nice colors – I like the fact that the leg is fairly trim. Lots of nice jackets and sweaters as well. All in all, at the end, of the day, you can get a complete wardrobe here and just look like a very pretty, well put-together woman. Life could be worse. 1x -3x with a handful of larger sizes.
Ulla Popken is a line with something for everyone. They always have a couple inexpensive dresses that are just fine for wearing around the house or to the corner market – I love that. This particular one I linked is just $49 and a lot of us could wear it to an office as well. I like this patchwork one as well. Ulla has every kind of t-shirt known to human kind available – like waffle tops that look wonderful with jeans and are cozy warm for the winter. Or this nice, long, v-neck tee in wonderful colors. I think this metallic, crinkle top is pretty cool. And lace trim leggings to go under everything.
So, back to clothes – my favorite thing in the whole world.
Junonia – a lot of you already know this site. They advertise themselves as making clothes for active plus size women. I love their jeans – which they have a shortage of right now. I got this pair for Christmas last year, and I love them. The Recall denim does, indeed, bounce back. I’ve yet to have a pair of baggy knees from this line. I have a lot of t-shirts from the Seashell line, and they last forever – wonderful colors and very well made. The cotton in the Seashell line isn’t a light, silky jersey knit like one would wear under a sweater or blazer to a luncheon – it’s heavy duty cotton that you wouldn’t use in a casually dressy outfit. But it is obviously well made clothing. They have lots of active wear that I’m not even remotely qualified to talk about but I am assuming that my experience with their other clothes will hold, and it will wear like iron. And swimsuits – she allows us to cover up comfortably in really great looking suit. Be sure to check out Juno’s Closet for sales and she also sells stuff on Ebay.
Harper Greer is a line I know nothing about. I discovered a few weeks ago online, and bookmarked it. I wanted to include it though because it looks like really nice, well made clothing. If you order something from them, or have order something, be sure to let us know what you thought about them.
Now, I have something really fun, romantic, inexpensive and exotic for you – eShakti! eShakti is based in India and makes fun, romantic clothing. They will do custom sizes and make changes in length or the style of the neckline – things like that. I’m going to order a couple caftans from them with my next check and see what I think. I’m leaning towards this and this. They have wonderful peasant tops, traditional, more traditional and otherwise. And the embellished jackets are fabulous. I love the fact that they are almost 19th century looking in their execution. Fantastic line. Great prices. And it affords plus size women to have some non-corporate looking threads in their wardrobe at a bargain price.
Along this line, there is another shop that I’ve only recently discovered called Soft Surroundings. Now, they only go up to a 3x and my impression is that their 3x may be fairly small. But that being said, what they do have is incredibly nice. Exotic, pretty, and, they claim, comfy. When you pick a category to view, at the top of a page will be a drop down window that says Narrow By – pull down and pick Women’s. When that page comes up, you can also go the bottom and pick View All so that you don’t have to scroll through ten pages. It took me forever to figure that out. Anyway, I love their sweaters and they have the only cashmere tunic in plus sizes I can find this year – really cute too. If you like long, flowing skirts - this is the place to be. Their Baroque Skirt is fabulous. If you’ve never tried a pair of stretch denim leggings – oh, are they nice. Slender leg, which some of us really need, and the ability to move. And their shoes are adorable. Check out the Jezebel boot!
This brings us round to the wonderfully elegant J. Jill. If you’ve never been to their website, start by just checking out these tops – they got everything from nice slightly funky business stuff to really casual pretty stuff. Very good mix. I love the Soft Cord Hoodie in Ruby and the Luxe Velvet Shirt in Moonflower. And speaking of velvet, check out this Velvet Anorak. This is another line with great shoes and boots so be sure check that out as well.
I hope you’re enjoying this series of posts. It’s off topic I know but I’m waiting for one of my interviews to have time, and I just don’t have enough to talk about at the moment. The world of medicine has pretty much decided that Lap Bands are wonderful and that is that. I think I have ten more online clothing sites to cover, so we do have a couple most posts on the subject coming. when its all done, I’ll link all these on the side under plus size clothing, so you can always find them. There’s no excuse for you not to come out of Christmas this year looking more fashionable than when you went in!!! Fill those wish lists out, ladies, and send ‘em to your hubbies and sons and I bet you won’t have to feign rapturous delight over another universal television remote this year.
As those of you who read this blog regularly know, I’m a big believer that plus size women need to take care of themselves a lot more than a lot of us do. Let me confess, I’m bad. I don’t have fun looking at myself in the mirror so I tend not to look. I can even put make up on without looking at myself. Don’t ask me how, but I manage to. So these past few years, I’ve done my best to step outside my comfort zone. I used to not ask for presents, and I would get sweet things, but not things I needed AND wanted. Now, I make it easy for my family to buy me clothes for Christmas. I fill out those wish lists they have at most online clothing sites, and when Christmas shopping season roles around, I send the links to my loved ones. I have a husband and two sons – and I’m tellin’ ya, that none of them would ever set foot in a ladies clothing department. But they will whip out their credit card, and buy what I suggest they buy. For plus size people, this is invaluable because most of our loved ones who buy us gifts have no idea what size to buy us and don’t want to accidentally insult us on Christmas morning.
So, with the winter holidays rolling up, I thought I’d do a grand roundup of my favorite plus size clothing stores. I tried to insert images in this post, but couldn’t get it looking good. So, click on the links. They should open in a new window.
Earlier this year, I introduced Love Your Peaches. Janelle Lowe, whose picture you see on the linked page, is a plus size woman who was dissatisfied with the plus size clothing that she found available, so she created her own line. I find her site valuable because she is one of the few plus size designers that offer several different dress styles. She also has great separates. 1x – 6x.
Another long time favorite site is Kiyonna. Kiyonna has, blessedly, the best evening clothes I’ve found online. Finding reasonably priced evening clothes that are both glamorous and simple is almost impossible, but Kiyonna has several great dresses. I have some film festivals to attend this winter, and I have my eye on this Boudoir Lace Dress or the Retro Glam Lace Dress. For we apple shaped ladies, they have the Madison Avenue Dress (on sale too!) and the Chloe Dress. And if you’re tall, have great shoulders and a flat tummy, the Manhattan dress, also on sale, is fabulous. Pick up some Spanx while you are there. Last but not least, they have two different ooo la la elegant, plus size wedding dresses. 0 – 5x.
Igigi is a line I’ve never purchased from but that Donatella Dress on the front page certainly caught my eye. A lot of their styles seem to work better for taller women, though that isn’t an across the board assessment. They have a few mod style dresses that are totally unique to this line and really cute – the Sophie Colorblock, the Taylor Dress (only buy this one if you are a genuine hour glass) and the Colette (which will look great on almost everyone). They also have some really cute cocktail dresses on sale right now, so if you have some holiday parties coming up, this might be a real score for you. 12 – 32.
Speaking of really cute cocktail dresses, there is Persephone Plus for the evening when you absolutely must let your inner Goth out to draw blood. Or if you’re going to the opera, she has you covered as well – check out the Opera Dress and the incredibly fun Diva Coat. Great line. Reasonably priced. Totally unique. Persephone has her own sizing which means a size 14 is an Extra Small here. The Extra Large fits a bust size of 56″ to 62″. You can order in a large, custom size as well.
I’m going to hang it up for the night because I’m so sleepy I can”t see straight. I have several more sites I want to write about so I’ll finish up, hopefully, tomorrow evening.
I just spoke with Chelsea at the Oregon Weight Loss Surgery Center in Portland. They have three different plans to chose from and perform surgery in three separate hospitals – so you have options. They work with Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital, Southwest Washington Medical Center, or The Pearl Women’s Center. Their prices for self-pays range between $19,500 and $26,000. With that fee, you get one year of post-surgical care – meaning, you don’t have to pay for any of your fills for the first year. Also, I know some women are more comfortable with female physicians and they have several female surgeons on staff. They offer BLISS Insurance, so any complications will be handled by insurance in the first 90 days post op.
This link has a short video about the practice and you meet some of the surgeons. I think it’s worth a look. And their number, in case you’re itching to call, is 503-227-5050.
One more in my way too random series of inquiries. Today I spoke with Ann at the Oregon Health And Science University’s Surgical Weight Reduction Program in Portland, Oregon. They have a program for self-pays and they are a little pricier than most, but you do get some nice assurances with it. They charge $21,634 for surgery BUT that comes with the ability for the patient to stay in the hospital up to three nights. For those of you who are concerned that you’re very high risk, this is probably a reasonable way for you to go. It also covers all post-op care for 90 days. Fills are $250 and you should plan on five to six the first year. They have a support group that meets twice a month – once in the morning and once in the evening. If you’ve been reading my blog, or doing your own due diligence, you know that patients who attend support groups do a dramatically better job of losing weight than people who don’t. The first half hour of the group, the patients talk to each other, and in the second half an invited guest speaks on issues of concern. They encourage Lap Band patients, whether they have had their weight loss surgery through their clinic or not, to attend the support groups – that’s a good thing. Anytime you can put yourself in the good care of a research facility, it is to your advantage.
Since this is on the upper end of the price spectrum, I’m going to call a few more local facilities and see how much they charge. I’ll get back to you about that later.
If you’ve done much investigation of Lap Bands, you may know Cher Ewing’s name already. She is frequent participant at the invaluable Lap Band Talk forums. She’s a Life Coach from Texas who has had a Lap Band procedure and uses her coaching skills to help other gastric band patients live their life to the fullest. I was just looking around, and discovered that she has a new Blog Talk radio show called Band Banter - which you can listen to it online. Her previous shows are available as well, so you don’t have to worry if you miss one. Each show is thirty minutes long, so it’s fairly easy to fit one in to your day. I’m going to be listening to her Lap Band basics tomorrow to see what I can learn.
And if you don’t know that Lap Band Talk forum or Coach Cher, I’d encourage you to check both out. The forum is an amazing resource of information with thousands of Lap Band patients posting and answering questions.
I’m a year late on this study. I have no idea how I missed it. It’s a tiny study, still it makes the point that for people for whom Gastric Bypass operations fail to help them leave morbid obesity behind, Gastric Bands can provide further support.
Results 11 patients (seven females, four males) were referred to our program for weight loss failure after RYGBP (six open, five laparoscopic). Mean age and BMI pre-RYGBP were 39.5 years (24–58 years) and 53.2 kg/m2 (41.2–71 kg/m2), respectively. Mean EWL after RYGBP was 38% (19–49%). All patients were referred to us for persistent morbid obesity due to weight loss failure or weight regain.
The average time between RYGBP and LAGB was 5.5 years (1.8–20 years). Mean age and BMI pre-LAGB were 46.1 years (29–61 years) and 43.4 kg/m2 (36–57 kg/m2), respectively. Vanguard (VG) bands were placed laparoscopically in most patients. There was one conversion to open. Mean OR time and LOS were 76 minutes and 29 hours, respectively. The 30-day complication rate was 0% and mortality was 0%. There were no band slips or erosions; however, one patient required reoperation for a flipped port. The average follow-up after LAGB was 13 months (2–32 months) with a mean BMI of 37.1 kg/m2 (22.7–54.5 kg/m2) and an overall mean EWL of 59% (7–96%). Patients undergoing LAGB after failed RYGBP lost an additional 20.8% EWL (6–58%)
What all of that means is that they took 11 people who had only lost, on average, 38% of their excess weight after a Roux-en-Y procedure. After they received a gastric band, they lost an additional 20.8% on average. It looks to me like some of them even got down to what would be considered “goal weight”. Good deal.
Anyway, good news for those of you who have failed to hit your goal with Roux-en-Y surgeries. Don’t get cynical. If this is important to you, talk to your doctor about a Lap Band.
I know that writing about great plus size clothing may seem like an odd little diversion for a blog that’s promised to tell you everything you need to know about life with a Lap Band, but all of us find it easier to make personal progress when we feel good about ourselves. And even if you are overweight, if you get your hair done and put on a snazzy outfit that you actually like, it makes it easier to make more affirmative steps. I’m thinking that if even a few of you take my suggestion and fill out the wish lists at these sites, and send them to your family and as a result get really nice clothes for Christmas that allow you to feel better about yourself than you have in a few years, then this has been a worthwhile task. And I know the odds are good that one or two of you will put your life in even better order – maybe you’ll start exercising or get a new job (because you have the clothes to do it now) or maybe, just maybe, you’ll go see a bariatric surgeon about weight loss surgery and consider making a major change in your life. And then, you can sell all your snazzy new clothes on Ebay and save your pennies to go shopping for size 6 frocks and jeans.
