<3 Carolina Girl <3

I've been there. When I publicly posted on facebook about my decision, I only had one person to react negatively. She is someone that claimed to know my husband from high school (he doesn't remember her) and I had never met. She added me as a friend out of the blue just a few weeks before. She told me that I should watch a movie that had changed her life. Really? A movie?? Also told me that she knew what I was going through. No, honey, you don't know me, much less what I have been through. I sent her a lengthy message about her unsolicited advise and how she did not know me or my situation. I (and my husband) have since blocked her from our accounts and don't feel bad about it at all. That's the kind of person I don't need in my life. I'd suggest the same. She doesn't know you or your life/struggles. It's ok to NOT be friends with some people on social media. I would block & don't look back if I were in your shoes. Just my opinion.

Those things you are feeling you might miss will be replaced with kind of opposites. You will be open to more options for Halloween. ..not just the fat character. And while your insulation might go away, you will be so much more equipped to handle the Florida summer heat. It's a trade off that I'm certainly willing to make. Best of luck!

Today's weigh in - 300.8 Surgery was on Monday, so this includes the fluid retention, etc. Looking forward to hopefully a nice little drop for next week's weigh in.

@@BlondeBanshee you're probably not signed in on the app. Happened to me too.

Starting weight:301.2 Surgery on Monday, 11/10/2014 Goal for challenge: 270 Best of luck everyone!

Hey!!! I have barely seen others from SC here. I'm near Charleston. Just wanted to say hi, neighbor!

Adding it to my list. Great idea! I love the fresh cotton/clean breeze kind of scents.

I am on Facebook, LaVerne West - feel free to find and add me. I have shared the news with everyone there. My surgeon doesn't require the liquid pre-op diet, lucky me! I'm just enjoying the countdown! 5 days to go!

We'll be sleeve twins I'm having surgery next week as well. Best of luck!

Congratulations on your success! You're doing great!

I'm having surgery on Nov. 10th, so I should be on mushies by Thanksgiving. We will be dining with my sister's in-laws and there will be tons of great food. I hope not to be tempted, but I know that even if I am, I will resist. Conversations with my doctor have usually included the, "If you don't follow these instructions, you could die!" speech. A piece of turkey is not worth compromising all I've worked for up to this point, much less my life.

I'd like to give it a try. I will be sleeved on Nov. 10th. This will be my first challenge & I'm looking forward to it. Thanks for putting this together. Best of luck to us all!

The countdown is at 19 days now. In my last post, I was kind of numb to what I felt about things. Not long after I wrote that post, things turned upside down for me and I've been tested and tried for the past week. I've been dealing with the loss of a grandparent and burying him on my birthday. I'm not sure about you guys, but when there's a death around here, everyone and their brother brings food for the family. My mother (who lives with us) has had some sort of episode that almost took her life. Amid those happenings, were my birthday on Monday and my daughter's yesterday. I'm so tired at this point, I don't know what to do with myself. With everything going on, I have failed my eating plan. My choices haven't been terrible except a few small slips here and there, but it's not structured and I have not been logging anything. I wouldn't even have my step counts if it weren't for my fit bit logging automatically. I feel like I've lost control of it all. I hope that things will settle down soon. I don't have much time left for this havoc! I have my pre-op appointment this afternoon. I'm nervous and don't know what to expect. I know I've lost a few pounds, but I'm worried that it's not as much as I'd like. I'm worried about talking about my shortcomings in the last couple of weeks. I really am motivated to have this surgery and change my life. I know I have to work extra hard in the coming weeks and months. I know I have to be normal to have these set backs, but I do NOT want to have this jeopardize my surgery. I know the surgeon can change his mind. While I know that the only reason he would is if he truly believed that I was not ready for this, but I am SO SO SO ready! I may not have the passion that I felt when this was all so new, but I still have the need and desire to be healthy. And I want to get started on that as soon as possible. Maybe a visit with Doc will give me the boost I need to get through the next 19 days and give me that drive back. I always go in worried and stressed and come out with a totally different outlook. SO wish me luck guys...my time is drawing near.

It's been a little while since I posted. As of my last update, my case had not yet been submitted. Well it was submitted on September 29th and I received the best call ever on October 1st. It barely took a day to get my approval! How awesome is that?!?! I was given the choice to move up my surgery date, but the only date available was my daughter's birthday. I was afraid that might happen...I just couldn't do this on her day, so I've kept my November 10th date. I was so excited to get my approval call. I'm a little concerned now though, because I'm not really feeling much of anything at the moment. I know time is getting closer, but I'm not getting anxious like I expected. I've been a little lax about logging my meals, I haven't been increasing my steps like I should. Although I know I'm still dropping a little weight, I'm not as passionate about this as I was at first. I think I have become bored with it. It's not easy anymore, the new-ness is gone. I know I'm going to have the surgery and will make sure that I don't gain, but I want to be excited again. Is this fear trying to creep in on me? I don't feel scared or worried. I just don't feel anything. Twenty five days, while I know isn't that long, seems like an eternity right now. I am just ready for it to be here. I feel I'm merely existing until that day. My birthday is in 4 days and my daughter's is in 5. My 5th wedding anniversary is a week from today. None of this excites me right now. I don't even want to deal with them. As a matter of fact, I haven't dealt with them. I haven't done a single thing for my daughter's birthday. Haven't even thought of how to celebrate my wonderful husband for our anniversary. Everyone around me has been so excited for me and ask me about it all the time. I put on a face, and I am excited in that moment, but I miss the life-consuming excitement that I had at the beginning of my journey. Is it because I won? Is it because I know I've beaten all of the hurdles that I had to overcome? Maybe this is my form of fear - avoidance - of thinking of the even bigger hurdles that are yet to come. That may be it...

Just keep moving, you'll get to where you need to be. Remember, every step you take is movement! And any movement beats sitting on the couch!

November 10th here. So very excited! All requirements met, insurance approved & ready to go!

Hang in there. You're doing great. I can imagine the PMS getting the better of you. It never makes you feel good about yourself. I wouldn't be surprised if you dropped several pounds after your cycle as well. I usually fluctuate during that time and I'm still pre-op. Keep following your plan and remember ANY loss is better than a gain! Congrats on your success!

Love this post! I'm hoping to change my opinion on running sometime in the future. For now, I'm just trying to keep a steady increase on my daily steps. It's slow, but I'm getting there. On another note - Only 6 more days til the return of my favorite zombies & zombie killers on The Walking Dead! WooHoooo!

Well I guess I can vouch for their speed now too! I just got my phone call! YAY! 3 days is all it took! Can't wait for Nov. 10th!

I have not heard much on denials, I'm in SC and have BCBS MI (my hubby works for an out of state contractor), so my Dr's office hasn't had much dealings with them specifically. I've been scheduled for Nov. 10th. I've read my specific requirements very thoroughly & we've checked off everything before we submitted - so hoping this will be a quick and easy approval. Fingers crossed for you too!

I also have BCBS of MI. How long since you submitted? My case was just submitted yesterday & I'm ready to start bugging them already. Good luck to you!

A week ago, I went for an appointment to check in and hoping to get my surgery date. My stats looked great - lost another 7 lbs! We talked about some risks and went over what still needed to be done to submit to my insurance company. I have completed everything, they just had not received the letter from my psych evaluation yet. I'd not written out my daily food/exercise logs, so I'd need to print out my logs from MFP. Because I needed those things we scheduled a couple of extra weeks out from his normal 30 days. By Wednesday, I'd turned everything in & sent a copy of the psych evaluation. The office needs a couple of days to compile everything, so I'm guessing my case will be submitted today or tomorrow. I'm hoping for a quick approval & not even thinking of a denial. I don't see how they could deny me. I've done the hard work, I've made progress on changing my lifestyle. I meet all of their criteria and am still over the 50 BMI threshold to waive the 6 months documented dieting. I can't think of a single reason to not be approved on the first go-round. Still, I'm so scared that I won't be. Everything has seemed to go so smoothly, I'm just waiting for a bump in the road to make it all fall miserably. I'm trying to be calm on the exterior when actually, anxiety is reeling on the inside. When I can focus on the positive, I am so excited and happy for what is to come. I actually have a date to look forward to. I'm counting down the days til November 10th. I'm so ready, yet I try to contain my excitement so maybe it won't be such a disappointment if something falls through. I did "come out" to the world via Facebook late last week. I was overwhelmed by the support and love that my friends and family showed. I didn't really expect to have so many stop by my wall to comment and like, but it was blowing up my phone for the entire day. I never wanted to hide the fact that I am having surgery. I was, apprehensive about negative feedback. I should have known better - I have wonderful family and friends. The one not-positive message I got was from someone that I don't even know. She claims to know my husband, but even he says he doesn't remember her from high school. She recently added me (and him) out of the blue. I don't know where people who have no knowledge of your life or your struggles get off pushing their ideals onto someone they've never met. I realize I put my business onto social media and I will get responses - and I was prepared for negative and positive. I was not prepared to be told to rethink my decision because I could lose the weight without surgery by a complete stranger. I have not yet responded to her private message - no, she didn't even have the nerve to post publicly, but once I've responded, she will be "un-friended." I'm so ready for these days to fly by. There are lots of things going on in between and then the holiday season just after, but I can only focus on surgery. October brings my birthday, my daughter's birthday & my husband & my anniversary all within 4 days - it is always a very busy week for us. I'm usually knee deep in thoughts of how we will celebrate. Right now, I am feeling so selfish as I'm only thinking ahead to November and what I need to do to prepare for surgery and recovery. I hope I can come back to the present for a while. My daughter is 14 and although she's happy about my surgery, she's at the age/mindset where the world revolves around her and her birthday is like a national holiday. I don't want her to feel that it doesn't matter to me. Rambling again, I know, but that's the purpose - to put my thoughts out there and get them out of my head. As you can imagine by my rambles, it gets kinda jumbled in my brain sometimes. LOL Best of luck to all of you, no matter where on your journey you currently are. Have a great week!

I'm about an hour and a half away from my next appointment with my surgeon. As far as I know, all of the hoops have been jumped & cleared & we will set a surgery date today. I've met with the dietitian. I've had my chest xray, EKG & swallow test completed. I've been to two sessions with a psychologist. I've been cleared on all of those. My blood work was done last week, so we should be going over those numbers at my appointment today. I don't foresee anything there holding me back. My only worry this far has been my BMI. I know I've lost a few pounds this month, but am hoping I haven't fallen below the 50 threshold. If I have, I may still be waiting for a few months due to my insurance's 6 month supervised requirement. That requirement is waived for patients with a BMI over 50. I'm right on that line, so it's been a little LOT stressful. I've faltered this month because of that stress. As much as I swore that I didn't want to sabotage myself into not losing any weight, I let myself eat some things I shouldn't have. I haven't been keeping my food logs like I should have and I have been lax about getting in my steps/exercise. I've tried to keep these things under control, but it's been quite a struggle. I know I have lost a little weight and am very thankful, but I'm positive that had I not been stressing over this insurance situation, it would have been an even greater loss. I suppose I should just be thankful that I didn't let those demons consume me so much as to make me gain this month. I don't know why I'm stressing so much on this - maybe it's just my nerves creeping in as I get closer to surgery. My head knows that I'll be fine and I'm going to know my date within the next two hours. Am I setting myself up for the worst case scenario so I'm not disappointed so much when it doesn't happen? Rambling again... On another note - I have a feeling I'm going to have a hard time with clothes very soon. I'm already throwing out some of my panties - they feel like an extra yard of fabric is flopping around under my butt! None of my jeans fit anymore. I'm constantly pulling them up. Heaven forbid I have to carry a lot of stuff upstairs. With my arms full & no extra hands, my pants have been known to shimmy down by the time I reach the second floor! I've been over 300lbs for most of my adult life, so I don't have a stash of clothes to go backwards into like some people may. I'm not complaining - it's an awesome problem to have, it's just going to start getting expensive here very soon. But I'm still in such a large size (guessing I'll need 24 or 26) that it's hard to find in the thrift/goodwill stores. I don't want to spend a lot of cash on new clothes that I'm going to be falling out of in a few months either. I'm broke enough as it is. LOL. Well it's about that time that I head out for my appointment. Wish me luck guys...maybe my nerves will be calmed in a little while!

@@kimba6999 My insurance and surgeon require the dietitian & psych eval/approvals, so I've been getting those appointments in. There was a waiting list for my dietitian. So he does not submit until those appointments have been completed. I've only had two appointments with him & he's ready to submit & schedule on my next appointment. I don't feel like that's waiting too long to submit. I'm happy with the time line he's using. If I've read it once, I've read it a million times on these boards, every surgeon is different @@SherB - I will try adjusting MFP - I've had it at only 2lbs per week. My problem is, I often only take in a little over 1/2 of my allowed calories as it is. It's amazing what cutting all the starches out does! I just changed my settings for 1lb per week & will try to increase my intake some with more healthy choices. Thanks for the suggestions ladies! I'm ready for 09/22 to get here!

Wondering if anyone else has been in my situation. I started my journey with a BMI of around 55. I've really bought into the plan my doctor gives us and have so far lowered my BMI to 51.99. My insurance has an exception to their 6 month medically supervised diet/waiting period for those with a BMI of 50 or over. I have one more appointment before we submit to insurance - in about 2.5 weeks. We will schedule my date then. Last month I lost 9lbs. If I were to lose another 11.6lbs, I would be under the 50 BMI. I've been so worried about losing too much and having to wait those extra months! I don't want to go off of plan and negate all of the hard work and effort I've put into getting myself ready for this surgery. Not only would it be emotionally hard to wait, my out of pocket has been met for this year, so if I can do this before the end of the year, I won't have to pay anything. Has anyone else been in this situation? Any suggestions?