spdmonkeymama

My "yep that's it I'm done" moment was last August when my parents both landed in the hospital because of complications from obesity within 24 hrs of each other. I am an only child and I needed to take care of both of them.
My dad survived my mom didnt. I remember the last concious conversation I had with my mom. She told me not to come back to the hospital unless I brought her a root beer float. Her food addiction was so out of control when the hospital put her on a limited diet to save her life she decided she would rather die than use a use a tool to help her live.
I remember sitting in the waiting room watching my daughter play, praying my mom would change her mind and ask for us. I realized in that moment I had allowed my mother's food addiction to be an excuse why I was eating the wrong things. I realized in that moment I had a choice. I could continue down the same path or I could do something to guarantee my daughter wouldn't be sitting in a waiting room 25 years from now with her daughter.
That night I signed up and finally got in the program this past Feb and will have surgery in October
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My "yep that's it I'm done" moment was last August when my parents both landed in the hospital because of complications from obesity within 24 hrs of each other. I am an only child and I needed to take care of both of them.
My dad survived my mom didnt. I remember the last concious conversation I had with my mom. She told me not to come back to the hospital unless I brought her a root beer float. Her food addiction was so out of control when the hospital put her on a limited diet to save her life she decided she would rather die than use a use a tool to help her live.
I remember sitting in the waiting room watching my daughter play, praying my mom would change her mind and ask for us. I realized in that moment I had allowed my mother's food addiction to be an excuse why I was eating the wrong things. I realized in that moment I had a choice. I could continue down the same path or I could do something to guarantee my daughter wouldn't be sitting in a waiting room 25 years from now with her daughter.
That night I signed up and finally got in the program this past Feb and will have surgery in October
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We pay for it out of pocket because it was the only thing that works. Especially now that's it's over the counter. We get over a months supply at costco for less than a dollar a pill
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Hello, I just had my 2nd weigh in at my supervised nutrition apt. I have 4 more to go. Was told that they schedule surgery after the 5th mo. for 4-6 wks after the last weigh in of the 6mo. So I'm looking at about the end of Sept. beginning of Oct.
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When they asked me at my first appointment what I thought my goal weight should be I said 199 because I have NO IDEA what less than 200 feels like. I remember being 140 in junior high and being told I was fat at that point. Right now I would be happy with 299 if that meant I never had to see the 300's again.

When they asked me at my first appointment what I thought my goal weight should be I said 199 because I have NO IDEA what less than 200 feels like. I remember being 140 in junior high and being told I was fat at that point. Right now I would be happy with 299 if that meant I never had to see the 300's again.

My doctor said he'd like to see me at 140lbs. This puts me right at the normal/over weight range. I'm shooting for 130 but would be happy at 135. These number sound a little crazy but after reaching 165lbs (today) those numbers seam realistic to me now.
My BMI today is 30.2

I think a lot of weight loss surgery patients have their goal weight higher than the BMI chart’s definition of “normal” or “overweight,” especially at the beginning of their journey. The reason may be because it seems more “doable,” so patients may choose that goal themselves or their surgeons may suggest it as a goal weight.
Like @@her1981 mentioned, it’s possible that your goal weight can drop as you get closer to it. When you’re losing weight and feeling better each day, why stop at an “obese” weight if your body is looking towards a “normal” weight?
But for some patients, they may find they just can’t break into “overweight” or “normal” BMI ranges. It seems that some people just aren’t meant to be a lower weight. That’s fine, as long as you’re happy and healthy where you are. A fit post-op BMI of 30 is way better than an unhealthy pre-op BMI of, say 40!

I am in IL and on Medicare/Medicaid. My surgery and hospital stay is 100% covered and I only have a few copays on the medicare side that Medicaid usually picks up. I might have to pay for my nutritionist out of pocket because Medicare did not have it listed as a covered benefit but in the past Medicaid has picked those up for me.
As far as the original poster about the decision between rny and sleeve, I am having the same exchange of thoughts as I look for which would be the best. Right now I have a BMI of 56 so my surgeon is saying rny would be best. My father in law had the rny and honestly I can't see it helped me. I know it is only a tool but he lost 140 pounds and has regained 100 of it. But my mother in law had the band and hers is still working just fine and she looks amazing. I keep hearing from people that the rny is too dangerous and the sleeve is better. Last night I even met someone who went from 367 to 205 in one year on the sleeve. He said he lost about 50 preop but 11 months post op he is doing amazing.
I will probably keep researching and researching until it is time to lock in a decision.

I am in IL and on Medicare/Medicaid. My surgery and hospital stay is 100% covered and I only have a few copays on the medicare side that Medicaid usually picks up. I might have to pay for my nutritionist out of pocket because Medicare did not have it listed as a covered benefit but in the past Medicaid has picked those up for me.
As far as the original poster about the decision between rny and sleeve, I am having the same exchange of thoughts as I look for which would be the best. Right now I have a BMI of 56 so my surgeon is saying rny would be best. My father in law had the rny and honestly I can't see it helped me. I know it is only a tool but he lost 140 pounds and has regained 100 of it. But my mother in law had the band and hers is still working just fine and she looks amazing. I keep hearing from people that the rny is too dangerous and the sleeve is better. Last night I even met someone who went from 367 to 205 in one year on the sleeve. He said he lost about 50 preop but 11 months post op he is doing amazing.
I will probably keep researching and researching until it is time to lock in a decision.

I was one week into my two week pre-surgery fast and my doctor cancelled my surgery indefinitely. He "claimed" that he had some issue with another bariatric surgeon that he had to work out before he could do any more surgeries. I was devastated. When I got home, I Googled him and saw his mug shot on line. Turns out he was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon and THAT is what he was dealing with. I had to find another surgeon and go through the whole process again. Three months later I finally had the surgery done by a really good doctor. Glad I dodged the bullet of having a crazy man do my surgery.

When they asked me at my first appointment what I thought my goal weight should be I said 199 because I have NO IDEA what less than 200 feels like. I remember being 140 in junior high and being told I was fat at that point. Right now I would be happy with 299 if that meant I never had to see the 300's again.

Today was a very emotional day for me. I had my surgery July 16, 2015 at almost 9 months out down a hundred pounds. I'm on cloud nine flying high. This has been the best thing I could've ever done for myself. Only have 32 pounds to go and will hit goal !!!!!!

3years since surgery...
HW:390
Current:189

I set up a goal weight reluctantly with my surgeon at my consult, and at the time of course he used that BMI chart to show me how horribly unhealthy I was, but when it came time to set a goal weight he tossed the BMI chart out the window.
That made no sense to me. I'm short, 5' 1" and he actually set the goal at 150, (which is overweight) I'm 47 lbs away from that goal, but I want to be smaller. At 150 we can talk plastics, and my insurance should cover belly and thighs, not sure how much I will lose from that.
At my height, I should weigh about 100-130 to be in the "healthy" category. My surgeon said he never wanted to see me below 125, I have no idea why. I will meet his goal, have the plastics, see where I am, and shoot for my own personal goal which is 115. which is right in the middle of "healthy" for my height.
The problem is they can't use their special BMI chart for one purpose and not another. That's where I have issues. I'm using their same chart that told me I was super morbidly obese, to find out what healthy is.

Will be thinking of you as I enter the surgery this Monday for my surgery as well! Wishing all April 11th people good luck! You April 12th peeps too!!!

I have found fresh slices of lemon and lime in my Water really helps and switching to diet to take myself off soda slowly was good. Writing everything down and not telling myself I can't have any treats. I also use snack bags and take any multi serving container and break it down as soon as I open the package.
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I had my yearly checkup last week and everything looked good in the office, but I didn't get my labs back til today and I am please to announce I do not have diabetes, high chloresterol, high triglycerides or any of that bad stuff! I could dance for joy! My only "problems" if you can call them that, is that my Iron is a little low and my B12 is a lot high. LOL so I have a message in to my NUT and waiting to see what she wants to do with that. But I am soooo excited to not have diabetes because my parents, my living siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, and my grandparents when they were all alive had diabetes and I had gestational diabetes in my last pregnancy, so to walk out today with perfect health and perfect numbers was AMAZING! I am the first one in my family to almost reach 40(still got 9 more months) without having diabetes!!! It was the NSV of all NSV's! This surgery really has made my life better!

My NUT has given me the following guidelines to aspire to prior to surgery:
4 - 5 mini meals a day, eaten every 3 - 4 hours (no snacking in between)
At least 3oz lean Protein or Protein snack (yogurt) at each meal
2 servings of fruit
2- 3 servings good FAT (1oz nuts, olive oil, avocado, etc)
2 servings of carbs (multigrain bread, brown rice, etc)
unlimited servings of non-starchy veggies.
64 oz non-caffeinated, non calorie beverages
She says to should eat either a fruit or carb with each protein meal.
If I am hungry between meals, I can add more protein.
So far I have lost 5 pounds in two months of semi-following this plan. I am suppose to lose ~25lbs prior to surgery.
This plan is supposedly preparing me for life after WLS - getting used to eating small amounts many times a day with protein being the primary food group. My NUT is not a proponent of the No-Carb rule.

Trust me when I tell you those 6 months will go by so fast. I started this journey in September, 2015 and my surgery is Monday, April 11th; 4 days from now.
I thought the same thing when I began appointments, but there is really so much information to learn, and so much lifestyle changes to make that you will be happy to have had these last 6 months to take it in small bites rather than just being thrown to the lions. This takes a great amount of preparation, and although it annoyed me in the beginning, I'm so glad that I have the knowledge and the information that I have now. I'm still scared of screwing up after going through all this, but I know my fears are nothing that anyone else hasn't experienced. Sometimes you feel like you are all alone in this journey. Trust me you are not! Everyone here is such an inspiration and motivater that you will know that you've made the right decision.
Ask lots of questions. Write things down as you think of them so you can find out the answer. Being prepared is your best tool.
Good Luck to you.

I'd like to get to the BMI target mostly because my company has different level of health insurance rates based on your health and on part of that is BMI. So, if I can hit BMI, then my rates will be less.

@@spdmonkeymama oh wow that did take a minute! Well looks/seems like we will at least have each other through this journey! What had you set on bypass?
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It looks like I will be an October surgery because it took forever to get an insurance quote. I sent in all my paperwork on August 16th 2015. I was hoping to have surgery within 1 year but a family vacation this year is in September so I asked if I could push it to October. My surgeon told me more than likely it will be at least October.
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I am still pre op but what I heard from everyone in my support group they were back at work in a week. I know the way it worked for my Dad when he was working he could get short term disability if he was off work at least 7 consecutive days.
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My anticipated date is not til October. At first I thought it would be August but then my family planned our first family vacation for September and I didn't want to be doing the liquid diet during that. I asked my surgeon and he was perfectly fine waiting til October. He said I will have my 6th Month in July so that would be when they send everything to insurance and it normally takes 2-3 months after that. I naturally lean towards a low carb diet. I don't like bread and not a huge fan of potatoes. I do use rice but I have limited that to 1 or 2 x a week. I have been tracking and I actually have a hard time getting my carbs or Protein in now.
I had lost 19 lbs according to my doctors scale from October to February. But when I went back in March a different scale said I gained 5lbs. the 2nd weight was closer to what I thought.
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