Tif 2.0

That was the first thing that popped into my head too.

Sweet Jeebus! Thank you.

I've read a few people say that this was easier than their c-section. If that's the case, then I am SOOOO gonna rock this sleeve. I'm a huge believer in a positive attitude can affect healing. We CAN do this. Today, I was talking with a couple of my coworkers and they were saying how proud they were of me because I was doing it for my health and not vanity. I said, "OH NO! There is some vanity involved. I CAN NOT wait until I can shop some where other than Lane Bryant or Avenue or Catherine's, etc." I'd say I want to paint my own toe nails, but who am I kidding with that one....pedicures all the way. Those are going to be my rewards as opposed to food. No more food rewards.

Let me preface this by saying, my surgeon does not require a liquid pre op diet. I have lost 30 lbs so far. On Friday, I got my surgery date which is next Friday. I figured that I would do my own liquid diet thanks to some helpful people on here. My problem is this, how do I cook for my son? Last week before I knew I was approved and had my surgery date, I bought all the ingredients for a butternut squash, spinach, gruyere and penne Pasta casserole. It's out of a "Cooking Light" magazine, so it's not completely full of fat, salt and other unhealthy ingredients. My son wolfed it down. I had a small bowl. I did really good all day with Protein shakes. And I did try to pick around the pasta and eat the butternut squash, onions and spinach as much as possible. My son is VERY used to eating stuff like this with lots of veggies and I don't want to change our staple recipes just for me. I also am not big on self sabotaging myself either.

My boy is 5 and he will eat most anything. But he knows I'm having surgery and why and we talk about how we ALL need to eat healthy. I just don't want to deprive him of good meals for my ease. He eats salmon and just about any type of seafood. I just know it's going to be hard at first and I don't want to sabotage myself.

We can encourage each other. My surgery date is the day after yours. Good luck and I'll be keeping you in my prayers.

Congrats! I'm not that far behind you. My surgery date is Friday. I will say prayers for you that all goes well.

Fingers crossed. I just finished those hurdles. I got my insurance approval and surgery date both today. I know EXACTLY what you're feeling. I actually cried at my desk talking to BCBS as soon as she said the approval letter was sent out. LOL!

Same here, I got the approval and surgery date confirmation on the same day. One week left for me too. I'm excited, nervous, anxious. My surgeon doesn't require a pre op liquid diet, but I'm doing one anyways. I guess I'm a masochist. LOL! We're gonna be sleeve buddies. LOL! I think I'm going to go ahead and go to seafood buffet tonight. One last time.

I just called BCBS Tx and got the confirmation of approval. They are faxing it over! It's really happening.

I got my approval today and my surgery is next Friday. Pre op class is on the 25th. I'm doing a self imposed pre op diet starting tomorrow. I'm going to a buffet tonight, already planned. Since I live in Vegas, I wanted to do one last seafood buffet because I won't pay the prices afterwards to eat 3 shrimp. LOL! Now, I have to find a way to break it to my 5 year old.

Surgery date is next Friday, January 27th.

AWESOME Job!

Holy smokes. I've never had the impression that anyone was trying to make their post seem more important. We are all here to learn and share the knowledge that we have regarding any number of topics. Personally, I find the tone of your initial post and then the above reply to Pdxman more offensive than anything else I've seen here. I've never had a conversation with him, but I've read his posts to other people and have not read anything even remotely negative. He's articulated his experience(s) or shared knowlege that he's read. Correcting someone is not bringing someone down.

Well, I called BCBS and it's official, my paperwork is being reviewed. I've called everyday to check to see if they had received it and as soon as they said yes, I had my first full on panic attack sitting at my desk. I broke out into a cold sweat and my heart started pounding. LOL! I'm ok now, but why now all of a sudden?

As strange as this sounds, I don't know who I am. I know the version of me that everyone sees, but I feel like there is another me inside that yearns to get out. I'm 37 and have been with my husband for 16 years, the last 10 of them married. We have 1 son that took us 11 years to conceive, not that we were trying early in our relationship, but we didn't do anything to prevent either. I have PCOS and was first diagnosed at age 15 before anyone really knew ANYTHING about it. I have been overweight my entire life. The last time I wore a bikini I was 10 and I probably shouldn't have been wearing it then. LOL! I feel like I'm becoming self aware for the first time in a really long time. I have focused on everyone else's needs and put my to the side. And when I say everyone, I mean flippin everyone. It is not an exaggeration to say when anyone in my family needs something I have dropped what I was doing to help out in whatever capacity I can. During family tragedies, everyone figures that I'll take care of whatever needs to be done. In alot of ways, my mom and I have reversed roles, I am the mom and she is the daughter. She had me very young and she has a case of arrested development. My son started kindergarten this past September and as he has become more autonomous, I feel like I've been gaining some of myself back with every milestone he has passed. He is a bigger cheerleader than anyone. He tells me that he can give me bigger hugs and I haven't even had surgery yet, but I have lost almost 30 lbs. So, I'm on my journey to Tif 2.0, with my Ipod (with the kindle app lol), backpack and my son and I'm REALLY happy to be on my way.

The first time I had greek yogurt I about gagged. I'm still pre op, but I eat it every morning. Fage is still my favorite though. I do the flavored ones though. I haven't been able to do the plain.

I'm tentatively scheduled for surgery on the 27th as well. I don't know what my goal weight should be but I need to lose about 175 lbs. I just got my blood work back and no diabetes, cholesterol and Vitamin levels are all fine. I did find out I have sleep apnea though. The reason I say tentative is that I don't have insurance approval back yet, but the surgeon's office has penciled me in just in case it does come back in time.

Last Thursday, I had my last appt for my medically supervised Weight loss requirement. 6 months worth. I lost a total of 27 lbs. The Insurance Coordinator sent it all into BCBS Texas. Now, I'm waiting. Logically I can't see how they would deny me, except for the fact that for 2 of 5 years of weight history I didn't have a weight recorded. One of the years I was pregnant and they won't use that year. Then in 2010, I didn't go to the Doctor. I was embarrassed that I weighed over 300 lbs and didn't want to get a lecture and I wasn't sick. They can plainly see what my weight was in 2009 and what it was in 2011. It's not like I lost and gained all of it in that year. So I wait. I so want to start this journey to Tif 2.0. One thing I did find out is that my surgeon does not require a pre-op diet, but I want to do one. I'm thinking of starting next week. Does anyone have their guidelines that they could email me?

GROSS!!! I would totally pitch a fit at this point and I'm not one to at all. I'm so anal about dairy products that I won't drink it if it says it's expiring on that day. I've passed that little fun OCD thing on to my son. I didn't mean to, but I did.

Thank you so much! I have alot to be gung ho for. I probably could've lost a little more on the 6 months, but I was afraid of losing too much and then insurance saying "Well she can do it on her own!" I can do it on my own, up to 60 lbs, then my body stops and says "Nope, no can do!" I've lost 60-65 lbs 4 different times, but my body won't let go. I have PCOS and that makes things ALOT harder than it needs to be.

Nope, he doesn't kgb. I should say, he doesn't require a liquid pre-op diet. It's not that unheard of. I did have to lose weight on my 6 month medically supervised diet or he would not clear me for surgery. Two years ago when my cousin went to get the lapband surgery, her surgeon (different than mine) didn't require it. However, when they opened her up, her liver was too fatty and they couldn't do the surgery at that time. So she had to do a liquid diet prior to the surgeon trying again. Some surgeons want a week, some want two. Nothing is set in stone as far as pre-op liquid diet guidelines.

My BMI alone should qualify me. I'm scared about not getting approved because I didn't see a Doctor in 2010, so I have no recorded weight history. My surgeon's office told me to just write a letter of why I didn't go to the doctor. I basically said I never got sick in 2010 and I weighed over 300 lbs and didn't want to be lectured about my weight so I didn't go. They can obviously see from my weight history in the previous year that it's not like I just ballooned up in one year. Good luck. I'll let you know how it goes.

I have BCBS Texas also and so far while they have stringent guidelines, my experience with them so far has been positive. However, I still have 1 Dr. visit left. One thing I learned was to call them and ask them if you HAVE to use a Blue Distinction Center or if you can go to another center. Some people went through their whole checklist only to be denied because they weren't using a Blue Distinction Center. It is something your employer and BCBS both agree to. For me, if I was having an organ transplant, I would have to use a Blue Distinction Center, but not for bariatric surgery. I have to do a 6 month medically supervised weight loss program, have a 5 year weight history, see a nutritionist and have a psych evaluation, plus the standard medical tests. EKG, Echocardiogram, blood work, sleep test, etc. My last appt is Jan 5th and then it can all go to insurance for approval.

That's awesome! You look great.