MisforMimi

I haven't had WLS yet but I have lost 140# in the past and maintained it for several years..prior to ending up here. I passed the 6 month supervised weight requirement by my insurance. By the skin of my teeth....At one point I had to give up the fantasy that I was gOing to drop all this weight and shift my goal to maintenance. That meant I needed to increase my exercise and gain some control over what I was putting in my mouth. It was HARD. What I hear from you...is somehow you have to gain back your sense of freedom around this requirement if you don't have the cash go to MX. The perception can be shifted to this being something YOU want versus something THEY are making you do. I have a mental block when it comes to anything feeling like authority and I rebel every. single. time. Don't let it be coming from a male or a white person, then I'm one step away from a full-on tantrum!! Needless to say, I've done many stints of therapy and a stint in recovery support groups (alcoholic dad) to work out my issues. I've found Geneen Roth helpful over the years, too. There is a reason people binge and overeat and it's usually a good one and WLS won't fix the reasons for any of us.

Since it was their error, maybe they you can ask for a monthly payment schedule for the 14 hundred. That's a lot of money.

Get it, girl! You rockin that dress!

Congratulations! I would say that is "real" weight. Water or whatever! It's 5 pounds less than before!! :-) Get it, girl!

James, I was so moved by the earnestness of your story and your willingness to be so exacting in your process. I will be following some of your recipes to a "T"! Thank you for sharing your story. I bet those grand-kids are getting a real kick out of their now "spry" grandpa!

With that kind of success, I know you do wish you had before pics! Thanks!

My first consult appointment with the surgeon is Friday!!! And trying to decide how to document my process. What did you do? Blog? Vlog? Written Journal? Facebook? You main page or a private group? Pictures? Instagram? Flipogram? Weilos? Bariatric Pal only?

Thanks. I'll have to check her out! So many to choose from!

Welcome. And congratulations! These forums are an excellent resource. Just read start reading through the forums...tons of info.

So I've seen a lot of vloggers on YouTube about WLS, specific surgeries and weight loss in general. Who if anyone do you follow? Who's worth watching from beginning to end? Thoughts?

Anyone seen this before? My doctor a naturopath gave me this at our last appointment. It's an amino acid based therapy that is FDA approved so could be covered by insurance. This particular one is indicated for obesity and hypertension and chronic pain. The idea is that people who are in chronic pain like fibromyalgia and arthritis are depleted in the amino acids that trigger feelings of satiety because they are being upregulated for pain relief.....I'm trying it, I feel less hungry, but I'm still having the surgery.... curious if anyone had seen/heard of this before...

Weilos is brilliant but for iOS only. I'm a droid girl. I was looking for ideas of ways to document my progress without telling everyone I had WLS...Maybe a separate instagram profile, i have many friends on there...maybe tumblr?

The problem is that the volume of vegetables you would have to consume would be too much....even though there is lots of protein in vegetables. I hate the taste of artificial sugar but at least for the first six months to a year, I'm willing to follow the instructions given....to get the results I'm seeing around here. As our tummies heal, metabolisms reset, I'm sure the artificial sweeteners can subside and real food can be consumed. I read that someone found a protein powder sweetened with s t evia....I spent many years being a fat know it all vegan....I literally cannot tolerate wheat, corn or soy...I think the processed foods are temporary...

Well it finally happened today. I was walking to the car and when I got in my daughter (only 4) said, Mama your stomach looks big in a very matter of fact tone. Just like she was stating the obvious without judgment. And I horrified, mumbled something like. Oh, uh? She is my motivation to get in control of my health and eating. I want to be a good example. She's been blessed with the other sides physique. She is long lean and very muscular and active. Hopefully, I can be smaller by the time she starts elementary school....a sad as that sounds...

Are you African-American? Are these keloid scars? A good experienced dermatologist can help with scar revision.

Radiant!

Yup. I've been up and down. Mostly up now, but I recently maintained (by the skin of my teeth) 140 pound weight loss from 2006 to 2010. I've been slowly and steadily gaining from 2011 till now (with hypertension and arthritis). Went on a crazy juice fast 2 years ago and lost 40. I remember in the height of maintenance every one would comment on how good I looked wherever I walked around the hospital where I still work. And because I maintained it for so long, many felt like it was safe to do so. I've since learned to appreciate the people that don't mention body weight (here excluded). A how you doing and a smile can go a long way....all that to say, people are used to me carrying around liquids, watching what I eat, making green smoothies in the break room and leaving for lunchtime power walks!! When the weight loss occurs, I'll just say "I'm back on the wagon like a recovering alcoholic, I let it go too long this time." When I loss the weight before, I was excused of having WLS by a couple of jealous chicks....I do like the medically-supervised weight loss plan and doing some liquids meals for a while, too.....And at the end of the day, it's nunya d@mn business!!!

Really? I hardly believe you're the same person. Beautiful.

Girl you look good. Your shape has been preserved. Awesome!

I'm curious and I guess this is because I work in healthcare, but why didn't folks call the insurance first. I called Regence first even though my plan is PPO and doesn't require referrals. I've been working with a nurse case manager through Regence and my PCP to ensure that I meet the qualifications outlined on their website. Are people worried about denial because you don't meet qualifications? From what I'm reading on this thread, none of us have anything to worry about! We all meet the national standard greater than 40 bmi or greater than 35 with comorbitities hypertension, sleep apnea, hyper cholesterol or I forget the 4th one....

Following....

Following....

Last night I had the pleasure of hosting an old dear friend who has recently moved from Denver to Seattle. He had the RNY about a year ago lost 100 pounds and is holding steady and changing is life and getting the career he wants. I am SO happy for him and I thought this would be excellent practice for me, since I love to cook. I'm happy to accommodate any allergy etc.etc. So, I decided to make ground turkey meatloaf muffins with sauteed broccoli, no grain, no potatoes. The portion size is pre-controlled and I didn't use sugar and only a pinch of bread crumbs, lots of seasonings and I skipped the ground sausage I would normally use to keep the fat down. This is a normal dinner for us and I would have added some mashed sweet potatoes. I figured he would eat one, maybe nibble on another. I of course would not have mentioned or taken notice of it either way, but since I'm soon to have this surgery it was of interest to me. He was telling me about his experience and we had an awesome time catching up...................here's the kicker!!! He did not even finish one whole muffin...only like three quarters of the smallest one....Seriously, is that how small the stomachs will be at a year out???!!!! I didn't even offer the ramekins of baked pears with whipped cream, because was acting like that was a done deal. I was amazed, blown away, scared and I realized I have a little more grieving (not eating) to do with food and I'm sure opportunities to do that will come as this process continues, but I'm like dang! I'm really gonna have to look into some new hobbies cuz cooking and eating will not be one of them.....Sheesh!

You can do it!!!

That is so cool that you are off your BP meds so quickly, that's the one thing I'm so excited to have under control....Great job!