blizair09

My surgeon's staff had to keep extensive records of the six month diet program. I know my insurance wouldn't have accepted Weight Watchers or anything other than working with a physician. I would just ask the insurance company. They are the ones with the answers. Good luck!

I have to say that this BariatricPal is the bitchiest part of my life. I can't complain about that, I suppose...

This is a post I can get on board with. (And, for the record, I agree with just about everything you usually post, but the tone of your post from earlier even bothered me a little bit.) Yes, I am only almost 10 months post-op, but I did embrace a keto way of eating for my entire six month pre-op diet program, so I have been eating this way for 16 months now. And my habits are in fact habits and the way I plan to continue eating long-term. Is my approach "extreme"? Not to me, but I can see how others think so. I have watched my dad (2005), mom (2013), and brother (2014) have the bypass, sleeve, and band respectively. My dad and brother have gained back every pound they lost. My mom has gained about 30 pounds. And even they will admit it is because they immediately went back to eating just like they did before. I have watched them do it (even as I have been on my own journey). Can I predict the future? No, I can't. But, I can tell you this -- I am not going back there. If that means 20 carbs a day for the rest of my life, it will just have to mean that. I have made peace with this way of eating, embraced food as fuel, and learned to manage stress in other ways. One guy called me too serious on a thread earlier this week. Some may call me idealistic or extreme. And, in some eyes, maybe that is true, but I'll be damned if I go back to where I began ever again.

Mine was that picky. I scheduled the six appointments in the very beginning, put them on my work calendar, and let my entire team know that my schedule was not flexible on those dates. Everyone was completely supportive of my journey (and I was 100% transparent about everything from the beginning), so I didn't have any issues.

Everyone's experience with loose skin is their own, but I'll tell you my experience. I have lost 206 pounds (11 to go until goal). Yes, I have some loose skin on my belly, my upper underarms, and my inner thighs, but all-in-all, it is not bad at all. I might look into plastic surgery on my arms later on (after about a year of maintaining my weight), but I might not. I am amazed that it isn't that bad, but it isn't. You'll just have to see how it goes. Some people really struggle with excess skin, and others don't as much.

You've lost 16 pounds in about a month. That isn't slow at all. To put it in perspective, I weighed 400 pounds when I started my journey, and I believe that I lost 15 pounds that first month. Everything about this journey is a marathon, not a sprint.

I'm curious -- did your doctor tell you that? I weighed 400 pounds when I began my journey, and I didn't lose 30 pounds in the first month. What kind of medical professional tells patients that kind of thing? Seriously.

Stalls are so common in this journey. As far as your what-to-do question, you have to find that grit, drive, and perseverance inside of you to do what you need to do to be successful. That's why the mental battle is the most difficult part of this journey. Good luck!

Google "three week stall." Everyone goes through it. My advice is to stay off of the scale for at least the first month post-op. Your body is desperately trying to heal, and weight loss isn't the top priority. And get used to stalls. I have found that I am in a stall more often than a period of loss post-op. It's just part of the process. Good luck!

I took 37.5mg of Phentermine once a day for the entirety of my six month insurance-required pre-op diet program. I stopped taking it 2 weeks before surgery and haven't taken it since.

Amen. I did the same thing.

I told everyone about my surgery, and utilized my short-term disability benefits for 6 weeks off at 100% pay.

Oh my. Who in the hell are these people? I have never considered my personal little world a perfect bubble of acceptance and understanding, but damn, no one would ever say such things (at least to my face or with a risk of it getting back to me). And, for the record, if something like that did get said, I'd tell them to blow me because I've lost 205 pounds and probably look better than they do now. Even snarky gay guys have better manners...

@Torriluv87, I would definitely go that route. 5 hours is a long time between meals. And a protein shake is easy enough to drink in 15 minutes at your stage of the game.

That's why you have to plan ahead. Meal prep and pack yourself a little cooler to take to work with you. If nothing else, rely on protein shakes on those days that eating real food isn't possible.

@Thucydides, thanks, and the same to you!!

I think that there is a difference between grazing and eating toward target macros throughout the day. In my case, I eat 8 small meals per day, approximately 2 hours apart (1.5 hours apart in the evenings) between 10am and about 11pm. This strategy has worked well for me since my surgery last November. I have gradually inched my calories up to about 1600, and I have always done this by adding additional meals, not by adding volume to existing meals. I never eat until I am full. I eat specified amounts at a time, and I know that I am going to be eating again in a couple of hours.

I have 4 oz of cottage cheese with 1 tablespoon of sugar-free strawberry preserves for my second meal every day. It would work well for a breakfast meal.

I was simply offering a perspective, not suggesting that you had to do anything the way I do it. I won't comment any further on one of your threads. Good luck!

This is why I eat the exact same thing every single day. Now don't get me wrong, the things I eat, I like. So, it isn't misery or anything, But, I spent a lot of time getting myself in this mindset and finding appropriate foods (e.g., cottage cheese, chicken, salmon, 93% hamburger, green beans, etc.) that would work for me. Part of my obesity was eating whatever I wanted whenever I wanted it for 40 years. That had to end, and this was the only way for me to do that.

I'll throw this out there -- for me, working toward looking at food as fuel and nothing more was a necessity for my success. I no longer worry about what I would like to eat, and instead focus on what I need to eat. I spent the entire six months prior to my surgery working on that so I wouldn't have to deal with it at the same time I was trying to heal and adjust to post-op life. And after 40 years of food being the center of my life, it wasn't an easy journey, but one well worth taking...

@adriannaruth, thank you for sharing your story. You are taking control of your health, and that is something to be so proud of. Enjoy the journey. It will be amazing watching everything transform before your eyes. I wish you all the best. Enjoy the rest of your summer!

Bread is a never for me. Too many carbs.

@Dabearo, it has been for me. But I follow a strict keto diet so I have no fiber, my protein is over 120 grams per day, and I only have 20 carbs. It just goes with the territory.