RainyDay

You will get more food if you eat lower fat but don't go tooooooo low-fat or you won't feel satisfied and your body won't be able to absorb fat-soluble Vitamins like A and D. I don't love canned Soup but I make my own vegetable soup (loosely based off that cabbage soup fad diet of the 90s, which tastes good although it's not enough to sustain an adult for too long.) Anyway, soup gives a good feeling of satiety and helps you to be satisfied eating less overall. At least that's how it's supposed to work...I've lost a piddly 8 pounds and my body is already shrieking "feed me!" LOL.

That was a terrible thing he said to you, and he doesn't deserve your love or company.

My bariatric center is just having me come to monthly appointments with a dietician at the bariatric center. I have Medica and have three months of it to do. I have kinda sucked at it this month - lost 12 pounds the first week and then said, well, damn, that was enough for one month! Not the best attitude, unfortunately.

Wow, Mary, you inspire me! Way to go!

If you don't think you have fibromyalgia, you might not want a diagnosis. My mom has it and it means that when she was in several car accidents (none of which were her fault) her car insurance stopped paying for treatments related to the accident, saying it was all due to fibromyalgia, and she was stuck paying big co-pays through her medical insurance. It's really been an albatross around her neck and she hasn't gotten much relief from it even after 10 years since dx. Kat is right that anyone, big or small can get fibromyalgia. I did see some study abstracts on PubMed that said obese women with FM had a huge relief in symptoms after WLS, though. Hopefully your insurance will approve you even though FM is not a fatal condition.

I think many obese people have a history of mild (or even severe) depression. As long as it's controlled and you are willing to get treatment if you need it now or in the future, I can't imagine them denying you for that reason. I have my first psych eval meeting tomorrow and I'll definitely be candid about my history with mental health. Good luck! I bet you'll be just fine.

I am so sorry to read what happened to you. That just completely sucks. :cheers2:

I guess you didn't pull and you must not have prayed that hard either, huh!? :cursing: That's wonderful that getting pregnant was easy for you like that, I hope that's what happens to me when the time is right. heidabear - I lost a lot of weight a few years back and at that time I wasn't getting my period more than a couple times a year. After I started losing a lot, I had really odd menstrual patterns, like two weeks on and two weeks off...it took a long time to level out! I guess we store a lot of hormones in fatty tissue so when we lose fat we get dosed up with those hormones. Just wanted to throw that out in case you get some weird stuff going on - not sure if it's the PCOS or what. Anyway, I wish you good luck when the time is right for TTC!

Thank you all for your input and suggestions...I'll pass it all along to her!

Jaqui - Definitely, that would really help. But she has so much physical pain that I think she is afraid to even try to be more active. She has a bad knee, a bad back that got further aggravated by a car accident last summer, and fibromyalgia. She is trying but even walking for 6 minutes on a treadmill is excruciating. I am trying to get her to buy herself a treadmill and try walking two minutes on, two minutes off while she watches her shows, or something like that.

Probably not 100% hopeless, you're right...but not that hopeful either IMO. I will keep pressing her to talk to her doc about this. She's been fighting her weight for so many years that I feel like this is just going to make her give up. I am normally not for crash diets like Medifast but her weight is so aggravating to her health conditions - I wish I had a crystal ball and could see if she's able to exercise after losing 75 pounds or something, you know?

Yeah, I think that might be the only way. My mom is not really a binge eater per se. She is retired and doesn't feel like cooking anymore, which I can understand! She has disabilities that keep her pretty sedentary and she has that nice thrifty metabolism she so kindly shared with me. :tt2: I think I am going to start making her some meals to freeze and eat instead of her random eating. Like last night she ate a bunch of peanuts, an orange and a candy bar. It wasn't a massive quantity AFAIK but obviously not that balanced and not a good idea for a diabetic. So maybe I can just throw together a little TV dinner for her when I cook and she can eat that. We eat lunch together almost every day so I try to make decent stuff for her and my toddler, like a tuna sandwich on whole wheat bread with sprouts and tomatoes. But she eats such random, not that great stuff for supper and usually skips Breakfast. Hopefully if she gets a little more healthy home cooking that will help. It is dismal (for me at least) to think of a handful of peanuts and a candy bar and a piece of fruit as a meal! :mad:

I know, it's so hopeless! :mad: I really worry about her. I wonder how awful doing something like Medifast would be for her?

That happened to me when I lost 110 pounds a few years ago! I went from an 11W to a 10 or 10W depending on style. Amazing that even your feet shrink. I feel your pain as a bigger-footed gal. I have a hard enough time finding attractive, comfy 11s! BTW, I've heard of people losing even more than one size after big weight loss.

Hi! I hope I put this in the right spot - it doesn't quite seem to fit anywhere. I'm getting the band myself in a few months. My mom is 65 and also interested in getting the band. However, she has almost every co-morbidity there is as well and the surgeon told her today that he doesn't think the risk of bariatric surgery is worth the benefit for her at this time. She is feeling very down about this, of course. She has a lot of weight to lose, but she also has a lot of pain that keeps her from getting adequate exercise. If you had to manage your weight problem without WLS, what do you think is the best way to do it? My mother lost 30 pounds a couple years ago and has kept it off, but she still needs to lose at least 100 more. I know diets have a rotten failure rate but what do you think is the best way to lose a lot of weight for medical reasons if you can't have surgical assistance? It's possible her health would improve enough to get WLS if she lost a fair amount, but of course there's no way to tell just how much that is. Appreciate anyone's input.