Luvin_Life125

The first pic was nov 14 at my hight weight 234 and the second was 11 weeks out...im currently 13 weeks out and weight about 185

I have been looking forward to posting these for a while now...


It has been 9 months since surgery and I have lost 101lbs (as of this picture, a little over a week ago). I have a lot more to go, another 50 lbs, so I am keeping at it. I am sooo sore from Gardening all weekend!

I still have a LOOOONG way to go but im thrilled with the difference 33lbs and a haircut makes. I'm a happy girl

I just took my before pictures. Start my liquid diet tomorrow. I knew I was big but not that big. Can't wait to do this!!!

So I still got a little more to go but all and all I'm down 125 LBS since 2/12/14

It's a better deal if you call the company directly. You get 15 samples, one of each flavor, for 15 plus like 1.99 for shipping and it comes in just a few days. But Vitamin Shoppe also sells it.

I am 37 and had surgery 3 months ago and I wish I would have done it a few years ago. I don't think I would have done it any younger though. I had to hit bottom and realize how much being obese limited my life. I had to feel how poor I felt and how much I could no longer do before I could commit myself entirely to the necessary lifestyle changes.
If my children need and decide to have WLS once they are adults, I would support them all the way. I hope my boys won't have to fight obesity. The lifestyle changes I am making due to WLS are changes we are making as a family. I am hoping the healthy habits we are establishing will follow them into adulthood. The boys are only 8 & 11 now. I am trying to lay a good foundation for them.
Very interesting questions and responses!

Absolutely! Treat yourself as you accomplish your goals and milestones. These are my rewards so far (and may change if I find something really important or needed)
25#- pedicure
50#- 90 minute massage at the spa
Onederland- new workout gear
75#- wireless headphones for the gym
100#- spa day with the works!
Goal- a pair of nice (and expensive ) jeans like 7 for Mankind, Earnest Sewn, YMI, or Gap
My rewards are things I would never spend money on for me otherwise. It really gives me something to look forward to. Only 6 more pounds and I can schedule my 90 minute massage and I can't wait!

Wow, what a difference it makes working out with somebody guiding you. I'm sore, but so happy I decided to do this. Today was my first of thirteen sessions with a personal trainer at the gym I joined. I'm on my way!

Your surgeon should be used to it. I had 3 previous abdominal surgeries before my sleeve surgery. I warned my surgeon too and he kind of blew it off when I had my pre-op consult. However, my surgery was scheduled to be done in 90 minutes and ended up taking over 3.5 hours. My husband was really worried while he was waiting for me to get out even though I tried warning him before I went in. I got the last laugh when I woke up and found out how long I was really in surgery for. Lol, maybe they will start listening to their patients. The only effect my scar tissue had on my surgery was making it take longer. Please don't worry about more than you need to and it will all end up as it should be in the end. Good luck and we will make some room on the loser's bench for you.

I was very frustrated by the wait to complete all of Cigna's pre surgical requirements. It seemed like it took forever to get through it all. Now that I am post op, I am glad it took some time. It gave me time to mentally prepare, break some bad habits, and start adding positive behaviors. Cigna was pretty efficient with the pre authorization. Their policy is to issue a decision within 5 business days for inpatient surgical procedures and they met that.
You are the only one who can decide which course is best for your needs. I can say Cigna was pretty good about the pre authorization process. Make sure you read and understand Cigna medical coverage policy 0051 dated 05/15/2014. You can use the policy to ensure you complete every required step and proof of every step is collected and submitted. One item in the policy that isn't really clear is the physician monitored weight loss attempt. The policy says you need 3 consecutive months (> or = to 89 days) of physician or dietician monitored weight management program. To meet that requirement, you actually need 4 appointments because an initial appointment to start the process is required. Make sure you also schedule each appointment at least 30 days apart too. The link for the policy is https://cignaforhcp.cigna.com/public/content/pdf/coveragePolicies/medical/mm_0051_coveragepositioncriteria_bariatric_surgery.pdf
Good luck with everything! I can't wait to see your progress and to cheer you on!

I was blessed to have people who supported (and paided) for me to get this tool...gastric sleeve in August 2009. I want to say it here and now, do not step away from this forum when you are feeling good and that all is done. Do not let the embarrassment, shame or even despair keep you away AND if you are new to the forum, please be aware it can happen and always, ALWAYS come back.
So here is my deal, I have gained 57 lb. back...totally walked away thinking I've got this and then life continues to happen. I would occasionally come back to the forum; however, was embarrassed because there were discussions about putting 5 or even 10 lbs. back on which made me feel that I really really messed up and feeling like a major failure. So, this is my way of overcoming my first obstacle...my pride AND we all need to talk about the reality WHEN it happens. Now, I'm not saying it is going to happen to everyone...truly, I am only saying WHEN so for those of us it does happen to we have a place to come back and not be humiliated or called out. Does that make sense???
I use food to deal with stress, anxiety and all that other junk...LOL. I want to put a caution out there...I had the food sort of under control and then have come to the realization that alcohol was now my new friend and over a period of the last 3 years the weight started coming back on and then guess what, I noticed one day my eating habits were right back where I started.
I am grateful for the ability to have an area to come and begin again. It is my hopes to not scare anyone, I'm not a negative nelly either! Most of my friends see me as being a very positive person and yes, that is pressure as well....LOL.
Today, I am behaving like I had my surgery yesterday. I'm scared, cautious and freaked out about what I will put in my body...LOL. The beauty is I know I can do this...one sip at a time. Okay...enough for now, have tears streaming down my face, laughing and glad to be back here....

Hello BariBrothers, BariSisters, BariFamilies, and general lovers of healthy, good food. My name is Smye and I live on a small farm in the Pacific Northwest.
During both pre and post op appointments with my nutritionist, I was horrified by the suggested things I could eat once I was back to 'regular foods.' The suggestions I was given were flavorless, full of preservatives & junk, and/or otherwise reminiscent of the american 'instafoods' that are, in my opinion, a huge part of the original problems. That said, I wanted to share some of the real, whole foods I've been enjoying lately without hurting my sleeve or deviating from the dietary guidelines provided to me by my NUT. I'm down 86 lb since I started this journey on Jan 22, 2015, and loving every meal as much as, or more than, pre-op.

I've spent the last 7 years accommodating good food to meet my partner's corn, dairy, and gluten allergies without losing any of the flavor or texture with 80% of all ingredients sourced from my own small farm, so it wasn't too big of a jump to make these recipes low carb, high Protein and delicious.

Over the next few weeks I'll be posting recipes like:

Bariatric BibimBop
Pho
Pastrami Sandwich
Madras curry with fried tofu
chicken tenders with sauce
Sushi - Philadelphia rolls in particular
Personal Pizzas
Smoked cherry-glazed chicken
Barbeque-smoked chicken
Ham and cheese omlette
Pickled duck eggs
Quiche
Ham, egg & cheese sandwiches
Bari-bread
Guacamole Cheeseburgers
And many more

There's no need for food to be tasteless, uninteresting, or questionable in it's contents. If there's something you'd like to see that's not here, please PM me and I'll do my best - I also make sure to try everything myself and feed it to my executive chef neighbor before I post it to ensure it's excellent!

Smooth Move tea! You can find it at Walgreens near the laxatives. You can probably find it at other stores too. It works great and doesn't give me the crampy, gassy side effects other laxatives do.

I'm in too - I sure need this!
At ten months out my weight loss really plateaued (25 lbs to go) and I let discouragement nudge me towards eating stuff I know I shouldn't eat - mostly chocolate. It was that sense, 'If i'm doing everything I can and not losing, I might as well eat some things I love and enjoy the plateau.' Really BAD logic, I know. I bumped up 3.5 pounds and now am back down 3 of them. In two days I'll be one year out from surgery. SO glad I did this!
My plan for the next ten days:
Get all my Water in today.
Log my food today.
Back to the gym today (I've only been away four days)
Tomorrow I stop any off-plan eating
Tomorrow I'll redo my measurements and NOT overreact if the outcome isn't good.
Continue to pre-make more meals I like (just did a freezer recipe yesterday, so I'm okay for the coming days)
Celebrate behavioral successes, not just the scale ones.
Today I Celebrate that i'm still doing well in not drinking with or just after meals, and that I packed my lunch.

As anyone who has ever been overweight can tell you, heat and skin friction is a constant battle. Luckily last year I found "Gold Bond Friction Defense". It has been the best think since sliced bread. It has worked with no recurrence of that nasty friction rash we all get. Anyway, this weekend I noticed that I no longer needed this. I can now free myself of this burden. My point is this, we need to not only Celebrate the fact that our numbers are decreasing, but we need to also Celebrate the small victories that make our life better. So Gold Bond Friction Defense stuff you have been great to me and helped me in so many ways, but now it is time to say adios.

We are heading to FL in May to visit family and when we are there we live outside by their pool or at the beach. So I knew I needed a new bathing suit. So I started shopping in April. Ordering a bunch off of Lane Bryant, Avenue and Lands End. I also bought one top at Target.
Well I found a top and bottom and that will work for me. The top I got at Target and is a size 20, and the bottoms (my favorite part) is a size 18 and has an extra piece that goes up to right below my bustline to help hold in my tummy area is from Lands End. I feel pretty good in it and I really like the way it feels. Covers what needs to be covered (my belly and upper thighs) but still looks cute. I have a lot of returning to do but I am just glad to have found a suit!!
I don't think I look fantastic but I feel comfortable and for the size I am now I'm pretty happy with how it looks!!

We all have our own reasons for having weight loss surgery. For some of us, it's so that we can stop the progress of diabetes, heart disease and other obesity related illnesses. For others, it's because we are starting to feel pain in our knees, our backs, our feet. And of course, many of us want to look great in skinny jeans, in a bathing suit, a summer dress. (There is NO SHAME in the vanity aspect of WLS, who doesn't love an admiring glance, a great compliment, a quick head turn?)
Personally, I had WLS for all of the reasons above. Not only did I want to extend my life span, but I wanted to improve the quality of my life for myself and my family and I wanted to look and feel great for these prime years of my life. I really had no way of picking out a weight goal as I had been obese for decades and after two children and a few dozen years, I had no idea what 160, 150, 140 would look like any more. I chose to make my goal very Fluid, one of those "I'll know it when I get there" ideas, more focused on pants size than an actual weight.

The day of surgery, I did pick the number 159, which is still "overweight" according to the BMI scale, but that was a number that seemed so lofty and it was a number my doctor was thrilled with. When I hit that goal 9 or so months later, I decided that I'd really like to see 149 (WHAT!?!? UNDER 150!?!?!?!), a number that still alludes me to this day.
I often get messages from people asking me if I am unhappy that I've not reached that number and the answer is HELL NO. What I really imagined for myself was to be in pant sizes that were in the single digits, to be able to do a 5k with my kids, to eliminate all traces of pre-diabetes, to be able to shop in any store I chose. I've done all that and I've maintained it now for over a year. No only that, but I've maintained it without a whole lot of concerted effort -- something that amazes me every day.
I KNOW I could hit 149 -- my stretch goal -- if I worked at it. In fact, I think I could hit 139 and one day I might feel the need to, but I doubt it. I did not have WLS to live the rest of my life fully focused on every morsel that enters my mouth, counting, weighing, measuring obsessively. I still track, I still plan, I still log and measure much of the time, but I choose not to center every meal around my food log like I used to.
Why am I even bringing this up? Because I see some people here and elsewhere who I am scared for. I see a few members who are dipping dangerously close to the underweight end of the BMI scale. I see some people on other boards who are beating themselves up because their size 2s are tight. These people are oozing panic and anxiety over every gram of carb eaten and over every ounce of movement on the scale. Clearly they have traded one eating disorder for another and I fear for them. I also see people on the other end of the spectrum who think that because they've had this surgery, they are free to eat whatever they desire because their restriction will keep them in check and they are shocked when 6 months later they are up 30, 40, 50 pounds.

If you are just starting this journey or are midway through your weight loss, I'd love for you to write down your goals -- what's really important to you about this whole process. Revisit those thoughts as you get close to goal and write down what you feel really good about and where you feel you might be struggling. Use those thoughts to guide you when you feel your thoughts are going haywire and you might need a reality check. And seriously, do NOT listen to your friends, neighbors, family when they tell you that you are too fat, too thin (at 200 pounds, you are NOT too thin), need to lose more, gain some back, etc. Go to your doctor for that.

Keep your perspective in check. This whole process is a real mind fruck ( ) if you allow it to be.

Poor girl. I will keep her in my thoughts and prayers. I really hope her surgeon will be able to quickly figure out why she is having such a rough time and how to fix it.
My experiences with nausea and vomiting are they create a vicious cycle. I had problems with both of my pregnancies and ended up on a Zofran pump for about 4 months with my second pregnancy. I know can empathize with how she must be feeling. Once you start with the nausea ad vomiting it keeps getting worse unless you can get ahead of the cycle and stop it. She may want to ask the surgeon if she can be admitted to the hospital for fluids and IV medications to break the nausea and vomiting cycle. If the cycle can be broken in the hospital and she can catch up on fluids and nutrients through an IV, she may feel so much better in a short amount of time. Unfortunately, being severely dehydrated or malnourished can cause nausea and vomiting in some people. It may continue indefinitely until she is able to catch up on her fluids and nutrients. If her surgeon's office won't admit her for IV fluids, I suggest contacting her primary care. She has been sick for too long.
Is she able to sip pedialyte? I suggest trying it whatever temperature you can until she finds the temperature that is the least offensive. The smallest of sips at a time may be the only way to get it in and keep it in even if it makes the nausea flare. I mix it half & half with apple juice and taking a sip only enough to barely wet her mouth at a time (about 1/4 tsp) and do it every 3-5 minutes. It will help her to get some of the electrolytes she is losing and the amount is small enough there won't be any measurable liquid in her stomach to vomit.
Please keep us updated as to what her doctor says and I sincerely hope she feels better soon. She is a strong woman with a strong mom to support her. Be her advocate and push her medical team for treatment if they need prodding.

I am still pre procedure but I've felt confused about makeup also, at 24 I think I have finally got a hang of it, but who knows, that just my opinion . What I have found helpful is YouTube. There are tons and tons of makeup channels where you can find tutorials and try them out yourself. I would sit with my makeup and my computer and watch, pause and do that step and then move on. It has taken some experimenting and lots of practice but I think its worth it... and I have fun with it now too. I remember the first 10 times I tried to do winged eye liner I ended up wiping it off because I thought it looked stupid, but i stuck with it and now wear it like that almost every day. One of my favorite makeup channels is Julia Graf. She has also recently lost quite a bit of weight and does videos on healthy recipes, fitness, ect.

I work in insurance and so here are the rules most insurances will follow. EMPLOYER sponsored plans -both yours are, may have written differences in the policy- get that in writing!!
The insurance that carries you as subscriber is primary.
The one the carries you as a dependant is secondary.
So you have two dependant coverages. And unless either policy has specific exclusionary language - the one that has covered you the longest is the primary. In other words your dads if you've been on that policy longer than your husbands.
That said. In order for one to cover what the other does not - you need to follow BOTH their guidelines.
The best thing for you to do is call them both and determine a WRITTEN rule of primacy. Otherwise you're going to have issues getting paid at all because they'll point finger at each other.
Anthem is usually a6 month. Cigna is a 3 month
I've Included the Cigna medical policy
https://cignaforhcp.cigna.com/public/content/pdf/coveragePolicies/medical/mm_0051_coveragepositioncriteria_bariatric_surgery.pdf
The upside here is your out of pocket should be non existent between the two

We absolutely inspect every facility we use prior to sending our members there. Dr. Almanza and his staff made promises to make some major but very necessary changes and he didn't keep up to his end of the bargain. If we can't trust a surgeon to keep their word, we most definitely can't trust him with our members lives!

I have Cigna OAP and was just approved last week. Cigna's policy as of 05/14 requires 3 months of visits = or > 89 days. Each visit must document your weight, specific diet program, and your current exercise régime. Cigna's wording says 3 months of visits but remember that actually works out to be 4 visits because you need an initial appointment to start the "weight loss program". Google Cigna policy 0051 effective 05/15/2014 https://cignaforhcp.cigna.com/public/content/pdf/coveragePolicies/medical/mm_0051_coveragepositioncriteria_bariatric_surgery.pdf
Print this policy out and bring it with you to your weight loss documentation visits to make sure the visits are documented to meet Cigna's requirements.
Make sure you also call Cigna to verify your specific policy covers bariatric surgery.
Lastly, if your procedure is scheduled to be done as an inpatient procedure Cigna has a 5 business day decision timeline from the date they receive the necessary documents. I just got my approval on Thursday and they took the full 5 business days.
Cigna can be a pain sometimes, but as long as you read the policy guidelines and check off your boxes you shouldn't have any problems.
Good luck on your journey and make sure you use this time getting ready for surgery to make changes in your lifestyle that will help you after surgery!

I thought I was at goal 25 pounds ago so I bought myself two Miss Me pair of jeans from the buckle. Size 30 which is a 9/10 Well those are now too big. So I went into The Buckle to see what size I am now. I grabbed some 28 waist which is a 5/6. The salesman said what size do you have there? I told him 28 and he said oh I think those are going to be too big. I had held them up and thought there is no way I am fitting into these. I laughed at the salesman and said, do they train you to say things like that to flatter women so they will buy this stuff? He snickered and said no, but the 28's are going to be too big. I said yeah, right! I out them on and THEY WERE TOO BIG! I now wear a 27 XTRA LONG. I didn't buy any that day as I couldn't find any I liked. But believe me I came home and ordered three pair!

My weight was 410. Surgery was Dec 18th. So I'm 4 months post open. Have lost 90lbs. Totally off of my insulin shots. Walking 2 miles daily &-working out at the gym. Want to lose 200lbs total. Hopefully over the next year I'll accomplish my goal