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It has been two weeks and I've met my first "mini" goal! Yes, I've missed food but I also want this very bad. I had my follow up and staple removal yesterday and was told no wine for my birthday, in September, but a small glass for my husband's in December would be ok. I have to remember I didn't get in this weight mess in two weeks and it won't go away in two weeks. It is a journey, I know this as I made this trip with the lap band 10 years ago. I also realize when you are as large as I was no one will notice until I lose a lot! The little victories that I have noticed, both feet easily go on the scale, I can go up the front steps without pulling myself up, my knees hurt less. I will take these victories and celebrate. My husband is very supportive and I have to remember that he also has the right to eat what he would normally eat. He has stepped up and is learning to make his meals himself, that is pretty funny as he's never cooked. I am in a good place today. For those that are starting out, there are good days and there are small victories you can do it.

I started this process back in March. My insurance required 3 months of a supervised diet with my primary and she was a total pain in my ass, she rescheduled two of my appointments then took forever to get paperwork to my surgeons office despite me asking her to send it to my surgeon at the conclusion of my final appointment. Then the surgeons office had someone, who is "no longer there", that misplaced more of my paperwork so they had to request that stuff again too. Everywhere I looked the typical turn around time for approval with my insurance is about 3 working days, it's been a week and they're still reviewing it. They say it could take 15-30 days but I can feel free to call every day while waiting but the approval (or denial) letter would come via snail mail. I'm just starting to feel so discouraged. with this whole process.

The pre-approval stuff is brutal and very discouraging. Use the time wisely - learn all you can, collect recipes that are bari-friendly, find out which of your favorite restaurants will allow you to order lunch-sized or senior meals after surgery, etc. Check out local places where you can find inexpensive transition-size clothes (Goodwill, resale shops, thrift stores, etc.) This will keep your process moving forward even if the insurance is dragging. Best of Luck!

DON'T GET DISCOURAGED! my hubby has been going through the motions since Oct 2018 and finally he has a surgery date 11 months later after countless of those needed specialists sign-offs, A1C issues, and an unrelated crappy prostate diagnosis... he's been through a LOT of BS to get to this point so stick with it and stay positive!

Great advice!! To me, this was THE worst part of the entire process! Recovery and losing the weight is the easy part!! Hang in there!!

I love a man in a kilt! Great job, you look fantastic!

Try the nutritional yeast. It's sooooo good and really adds a little cheese-ish flavor and great B-vitamins!

Chapstick! Chapstick! Chapstick! Chapstick! Chapstick! Chapstick! Oh, in case you didn’t get it... CHAPSTICK!!

For gas pains.. get up and walk as soon as you're able.. As for packing for hospital lesson learn for me don't forget chapstick.

Time for a status update: Yesterday marked my one year anniversary on Bariatricpal.com. What a year it has been and I am so grateful for all the people here that have helped me along the way. I'm also so grateful for @Alex Brecher for creating and maintaining this site for all of us. I hope that my ongoing purchases of calcium and multivitamin supplements are enough to express my gratitude. I'm a huge fan of the BariatricPal Multivitamin One 45. I kept a journal starting in July of last year starting the 2nd day after I was serious about considering bariatric surgery. Reading all the entries is very therapeutic to me. Looking back, I probably wouldn't have changed a thing about how I started and went through this process. Almost everything has gone well in this journey for me. Sure I've had my low points, but I seemed to have come out the other side very much in-tact. There's still a long road ahead once my real hunger returns, but I'm going to keep on the straight and narrow path of eating well and exercising every day until that happens and then some. In celebration of my 1 year on this site, I thought I'd share one of my early personal journal entries: