peaceout

177.0 this week. Merry Christmas everyone! It's going to feel REALLY weird to not gain 5+ pounds over the next 10 days or so (here's hoping, anyway )

Congrats! Very cute announcement!

I'm 178.0 this week. Hope you had a great vacation!

180 today. Thanks Steph, and happy vacation! Hope Disney is great!

I'm excited for you! Best of luck with everything. I'm 6 months ahead of you (June 26) so feel free to message me if you have any questions or anything.

Congrats! You look great!

@@bluejeanbaby I had my surgery in June with Dr. Kemmeter. I love GHP! I know the last time I checked they had a group that met around lunch time on Thursdays, but I can't make that, and I worked late on the 2 nights they typically had the 5 or 6:00 meetings. I'll have to grab a new schedule at my 6-month appointment and see if there are any I can make now! When's your surgery?

Hi! I had my surgery through Grand Health Partners in Grand Rapids and they have a couple different meeting times for support groups. I'm not sure if they have patients attend from other facilities or not, but it might be worth it to call and ask. I've never been able to go because I work later hours. I've joined an online support group on Facebook, but that's not very active. If you find any other groups, I'd love to know about them!

I forgot to post yesterday! Still at 184.0, time to kick it in to high gear!

184.0 today. Thanks!

Great job! You're looking fantastic. Keep up the excellent work!

Like @@Djmohr said, take pictures! I took a front, side, and back picture the night before surgery, and then I do the same photos every month. I still don't see it when I look in the mirror, but my first photos compared to my month 4 photos? It's very obvious!

Every insurance is a little bit different. Mine was looking for no gain, plus the PA I'd been working with had to submit documentation that it appeared I'd been following the plan well. If your insurance doesn't require a certain amount, and your surgeon/team didn't give you a specific amount to lose, it doesn't seem like they'd have grounds to deny you based on that. Good luck!

185.5 today. Thanks Steph!

Congrats! It's such a relief when that approval comes in! And as you mentioned, you can get so much out of this site. It is such a great place to learn, vent, share successes, etc. Good luck to you on your journey!

I don't know what you've been doing up to this point, so my advice may or may not work. But if you do like a "phase 1" of South Beach, you'll lose some quick Water weight. If you've been low-carb already, that won't be as dramatic. Or, it could be a good time to try out that liquid diet you'll be having to do soon: Protein shakes all day every day

I'm pretty much just echoing everyone else, but I only told a select few people. My husband, parents, and sister were the only ones who knew before surgery. I've told a few other friends and family members since, but otherwise I just keep it to myself. Remember that you can always tell more people down the road if you choose, but you can't ever un-tell So choose wisely!

Weighed in at 187.0 today. I'm changing my goal weight to 175. Thanks!

I'm in! Thanks for another challenge. My goal weight is 177.

Happy Birthday! You look fantastic!

189.0 today. Thanks again Steph for doing this!

Congrats! That's a quick turnaround! You'll be on the losers bench before you know it!

I'll certainly be thinking about you, and wish you the best of luck. Take care of yourself!

@@Mom26 You're welcome. Hopefully they'll be able to work with you! I'm an optometrist, but it's been a few years since I've worked with anyone who had keratoconus (I work in a diabetes clinic in a hospital now, and we don't do anything with contact lenses). How did your cross linking procedure go? I've never known anyone who had it done. Also, from reading about other experiences, it sounds like a lot of hospitals gather your intake information via phone call. So if that's the case, and the nurse questioning you doesn't bring it up, it's definitely something I'd make him/her aware of. Best of luck with the surgery! I wish you a speedy recovery.

It may be difficult to deal with scleral lenses while in the hospital. Is anyone staying at the hospital with you? Otherwise, there are always nurses and aides on duty, so I would ask if one of them could walk the halls with you. You can have them guide you. Especially if you can let them know ahead of time that you have this issue, they should be able to work something out. Do you have keratoconus or something similar? On my hospital intake form there was a section about eye conditions that would render you needing a little extra help, and that was certainly on there.