Archive for May, 2009

13
May
09

Plastic Surgery and Financial Priorities

By lessthanhalf Leave a Comment
Categories: Plastic Surgery

I was having one of those days yesterday where I wanted to rip off every piece of excess skin and throw it against the wall. A tissy fit if you will. I am 25 years old with a saggy body that I feel consumes a piece of who I am.

I’ve lost 175 pounds, and they say -Oh if you lose weight too fast you’ll have lose skin-. People blame the time that I took to lose the weight to my excess skin. And by people, I mean friends, family, people in online communities that don’t want to believe they might need a full body lift someday too. You don’t lose 175 freaking pounds and turn up flawless. Maybe if you’re a 15 or 16 year old, but I was obese since the age of 10. Skin being weighed down for 13 years of my life does not equal skin elasticy snap back.

I want my tummy tuck. GOD do I want it SO SO SO bad. I want my breast lift. I’ll do without the implants if I have to, but just get these boobs up where they belong. My bat wing arms, my sagging inner thighs, my saggy booty, all of that can wait if it has to. But I want it all done, and soon.

I have a boyfriend and we’ve been together for 15 months. We live together in an apartment, and I’m trying to save what I can for this surgery. He want’s a house. He want’s me to get my surgery too, but with the economy in the slumps a house is a much more wise purchase.

So that leaves the question: A downpayment on a house or a boob lift/tummy tuck.

Each will cost around 15K I’m assuming. I told the boyfriend we should do the house thing first, but as I sit here now, I don’t know. I’ll regret not taking advantage of the low interest loans in this market with both the surgery and the house.

I have to weigh my pros and cons.

The Surgery

1. Surgery will be 15K out of pocket, paid. That includes tummy tuck and breast lift. I have 5K in savings that I can put towards that. I don’t think I can make payments on a 10K loan for an extended period of time. I gotta keep saving. However, I can get a Capital One personal loan at around 5% interest with the economy the way it is. Most plastic surgery loans are around 9.99%.

2. My skin is not HURTING me physically. I don’t have any infections, I’m healthy. But theres this dier need for me to get the skin tucked where it needs to go. It disgusts me. Sorry to be so blunt, but when I bend over and my skin sags down and touches the table, I want to just lay down and die. I’ve been living with it for 15 months already.

3. My work situation probably wouldn’t let me take a month leave to get the surgery done. I might be able to arrange a work at home system, but I’d have to figure it out. Maybe I can line up some contracting jobs on the side?

The house:

1. This economy is going to get us an interest rate at around 5% on a 200K loan. The savings in the long run will be HUGE compared to the savings for my surgery.

2. We are fine and dandy saving and living in a nice apartment. I’m not married to him, but I know we will do that someday soon. Weddings are expensive!

So it’s tough. I can focus on the house within the next year (and hope the economy stays crap), and continue to save for my body lift that I can pay in a lump sum out of pocket (ideal), but I want my oompa loompa and I want my oompa loompa NOW!

Anyone else out there having a financial debate about this surgery? I really wish my life ran smoother. I want to jump off the deep end.

I’ll have to get a third consultation soon anyway. I haven’t found the right doc.

13
May
09

Maintaining 175 pounds lost for 15 months!

By lessthanhalf 1 Comment
Categories: Maintaining Weight loss

I’ve been maintaining my weight loss for a year and a half. I should be proud of myself. That 175 pounds stayed OFF of me. It’s been tons of exercise so I can have my goodies on the weekends, but I’ve been doing it. I does take an extreme focus though.

When I first stopped losing weight, I was still obsessed with my scale. I had to make sure my number wasn’t going to go up. Man, I feared seeing anything higher than 120 pounds light up above my toes. I was on the verge of an eating disorder. Okay, I DID develop an eating disorder. Strictly calorie & scale obsession. I can admit that, but I’m doing better with my obsession. I weigh in 4 times a month and that’s that. Just to keep on track.

I have to remind myself that:

1. You cannot gain 175 pounds over night. Heck, you can’t even gain a solid 5 in a week of hard core binging. The scale might read high, but it’s not weight that will stick. It’s sodium, it’s food that needs to digest, it’s your stomach going WHAT THE HECK and holding on to food. No good. But most of it goes away on it’s own once you start eating right again.

2. Failure only happens once you stop trying. Even if you stop trying for a week, a month, YEARS, you have not failed at being a happy healthy person until you give up completely. Success only happens when you become selfish with your own body, mind, and health. This is ours and if anyone trys to tell you what you can and can’t put into it can bite us :)

3. Chips, cookies, cakes, cheese fries, fast food, Mexican food, Chinese food!, will NEVER lose it’s amazing flavor. We all must partake in events that let us eat, and eat until we are stuffed. It’s not necessarily ideal, but it is necessary if we want to live a happy life. We just have to make those “events” few and far apart :) Well planned and thought out.

I’ve taken on this approach and I’m SO happy with myself. The size of my body. I’m a tiny petite little popper! I can skip and hop up stairs. I can go hiking, I can ride an elliptical for hours on end.

Success. Now on to my next thought (read next post…)