Original Poster

My date is Nov 14th
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November 14th here too!
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I am so excited. I just got my date November 14th. I would love to join the Facebook group.

Maybe you could just hide the members from the general public....and change the picture to .. oh, I don't know, this? Incognito, baby!! LOL

November 14th here!! I'm in Atlanta. Going to look for the FB group now! [emoji1]

November 14th here!! I'm in Atlanta. Going to look for the FB group now! [emoji1]

Ok, can we talk about Starvation Mode for a minute? It seems to come up on these boards on almost a daily basis, and I have hovered over the “reply” button so many times, but know that more is needed than a simple reply, but I have never taken the time to put that together. Now is that time.
SUMMARY (tldr): Starvation Mode exists, but not at all how most people think it does. YOU WILL NOT STOP LOSING WEIGHT THROUGH A SEVERE REDUCTION IN CALORIES.
This should be intuitively obvious. If people stopped losing weight by only eating 600-800 calories a day, then when you saw photos of starving people (malnourished 3rd world countries, or Holocaust photos) those people would not be thin, but they are. In fact, they are insanely thin. How could this be possible?
Starvation Mode is actually something called Adaptive Thermogenisis (AT). AT is a drop in your resting metabolic rate that is independent of the reduction caused by the reduction of body weight and body composition. In other words, you burn less calories as you lose weight, but you also burn less calories simply because you have severely restricted your calories over a period of time.
AT exists, but probably not at NEARLY the level you think it does. It’s worth noting that almost all of the information on AT is derived from a 60+ year old study referred to as the “Minnesota Study”. Ironically, although this is the basis for most peoples’ understanding of Starvation Mode, if you see photos of the participants of this study they are grotesquely thin.
There is an article that does a great job summarizing the findings of this study (and provides loads of other information) : http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/oby.20027/full
Here are a couple of key relevant points:
The reduction in calories burned due to AT is really quite small: “In the Minnesota study, about 35% of the fall in basal metabolic rate (0.8 MJ or about 180 kcal) was independent of changes in Fat Free Mass (FFM) and therefore ascribed to AT.”

180 calories a day people. If you “normally” would be burning 1600 calories a day, this would mean you are still burning 1420. THEREFORE, if you are eating 800 calories a day you will NOT stop losing due to Starvation Mode. It just means rather than running at an 800 a day calorie deficit, you are running at a 620 a day deficit. So, instead of averaging 1 pound lost every 4.38 days, you will lose 1 pound every 5.64 days.
It takes a few weeks to develop, and you “max out”. You do not keep lowering your metabolism forever. “A maximum adaptation was reached after a 10% weight loss or after 12-20 wk. After 24 wk of semistarvation, there was no further adaptation of basal metabolic rate.”
Disclaimer: I am not advocating starving yourself. I am not advocating any specific daily caloric intake. As always, you should work with your doctor/surgeon/NUT.

I've been doing the standard insurance required hoop jumping since June...
I have Humana National POS, which required 1 nutrition visit with an RD, and 3 additional weight loss visits. My plan stated the 3 WL visits could be done with an MD, NP, PA, CNM/OB, or RD. My surgeon's office employees an RD, so for convenience I stayed there. Luckily, I could do the nutrition visit and first WL visit on the same day. The ironic thing about these WL visits was that I couldn't lose weight bc the RD was afraid I would not be approved. My starting BMI was 41.
I also had to have 9 labs (cbc, hgb a1c, H pylori, tsh, cmp, Vitamin D, iron/tibc, and lipids), an EKG, upper GI and psych eval.
I finished my last RD visit on 9/16, was submitted to insurance on 9/20. They told me it would take ~ 2-4 weeks to receive approval, but I received word I was approved in less than 20 hours on the 21st!!! Couldn't believe it. The coordinator said my chart would then go to the finance manager and I'd hear from the surgery scheduler by the beginning of next week. Imagine my surprise when she called me less than 24 hours later!
I just knew that I'd get a date someone in October since everything was going so quickly... I was pretty disappointed when she told me the earliest date I could have surgery was 11/14. Apparently, my surgeon usually does surgery at Emory most days, and only comes to my hospital once a month...October is already booked.
Nonetheless, it's okay!! I'll just have a bit longer to lose as much as I can before surgery =)
I've been quite the lurker and this is my first post. I'm usually pretty quiet =)
Height 5'11"
HW 301
CW 288
GW 165
Sent from my SM-G930V using the BariatricPal App

With a different surgery, something similar. Make sure you wash your sheets (I change mine every other day) and wear clean t-shirts and/or pjs. I have a clean set for the day and a clean set for each night until my incisions are healed. Normally I'm a wear your jeans twice kind of girl, but with open wounds be extra extra careful. I also keep a clean, new Dial soap.
Good luck with it!

I don't care how close a friend they are -- you say - forcefully --" I'm sorry, I don't want to talk about it. It's not a major procedure, but I will need some time to recover. How are your hemorrhoids?" My sister and mother don't know that I had surgery because I couldn't be sure they would be supportive. I have told a few friends, whom I trust. My husband and teen daughters know. Own your privacy.

I just found out I'll be sleeved on the 14th, too!! 52 days
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I've been doing the standard insurance required hoop jumping since June...
I have Humana National POS, which required 1 nutrition visit with an RD, and 3 additional weight loss visits. My plan stated the 3 WL visits could be done with an MD, NP, PA, CNM/OB, or RD. My surgeon's office employees an RD, so for convenience I stayed there. Luckily, I could do the nutrition visit and first WL visit on the same day. The ironic thing about these WL visits was that I couldn't lose weight bc the RD was afraid I would not be approved. My starting BMI was 41.
I also had to have 9 labs (cbc, hgb a1c, H pylori, tsh, cmp, Vitamin D, iron/tibc, and lipids), an EKG, upper GI and psych eval.
I finished my last RD visit on 9/16, was submitted to insurance on 9/20. They told me it would take ~ 2-4 weeks to receive approval, but I received word I was approved in less than 20 hours on the 21st!!! Couldn't believe it. The coordinator said my chart would then go to the finance manager and I'd hear from the surgery scheduler by the beginning of next week. Imagine my surprise when she called me less than 24 hours later!
I just knew that I'd get a date someone in October since everything was going so quickly... I was pretty disappointed when she told me the earliest date I could have surgery was 11/14. Apparently, my surgeon usually does surgery at Emory most days, and only comes to my hospital once a month...October is already booked.
Nonetheless, it's okay!! I'll just have a bit longer to lose as much as I can before surgery =)
I've been quite the lurker and this is my first post. I'm usually pretty quiet =)
Height 5'11"
HW 301
CW 288
GW 165
Sent from my SM-G930V using the BariatricPal App

I'm lik'n the "trashy, nasty, sucky" Quest bars.
Each to their own, right?
The formula that Quest is using is the same one they started---after consumer request. That's being responsive , don't you think?
I like their numbers and I like the fact that they do NOT taste like candy bars. I got to be obese by eating (in part) candy bars. NEVER AGAIN!

GREAT NEWS! The doctors office submitted my paper work to Humana and I got approved in less than 24 hours! I am soooooo hyped! God is Great! Now I just wait on a surgery date!

I was approved!

I told my boss today. Good conversation. I've said before - I have been there 20 years and it will be obvious that I had WLS once I start losing weight all of a sudden since dieting never worked in the past. I really don't want to hide it anyway. I don't care what people say about it. I hate most of the backstabbing, petty bitches I work with anyway! Lol ????????

I started a new position right after my WLS. When you work with people everyday they notice- but they see the gradual loss. My boss (who I couldn't stand- feelings were mutual) went to work at another location. She is an athlete, and weighs 100#'s soaking wet. I saw her recently and she paused, staring at me confused and said "are you losing weight." I responded "yeah, I'm working at it" but I was totally thinking "that's right wench- you aren't the only skinny b!tch"

I thought I'd pop in here and give a little NSV update. So I'm 2 1/2 months out and I've been struggling with really seeing/feeling my progress. While my pants are hanging off of me, I still feel huge.
Well I went to my parent's house for dinner last night. I got down to my bra and panties to show my mom my deflated body and my squishy legs. Of course I was critiquing but she was so impressed with my progress. When I had my clothes back on I was walking to another room and I heard her tell my husband, "Look at her from behind. She looks like a different person!" That made me so happy.
Today I went shopping for a new bathing suit and some shorts and pants. I dread shopping. I've left so many times crying and depressed. Most times in the dressing room things wouldn't even go past my thighs or butt and I'd get them halfway up and give up. I'd try on 10-30 items and leave with none or one.
It was bizarre shopping in the non-plus size section. I kept gravitating towards the 2X and 18/20 clothes. I grabbed three pairs of pants, a pair of shorts, two shirts and six bathing suits. For the first time in my life every single item fit. And the pants and shorts were all size 14!! I got tears in my eyes because every bathing suit fit and I simply picked the one I liked the most, not just because it fit. Normally I settled for whatever fit and would feel fortunate I found one item. Now I can actually find clothes I think are cute! My bathing suit doesn't have a skirt or shorts. It's a NORMAL bathing suit. I haven't worn one of those since I was....I don't remember. A child?
Of course I'm not close to done with losing weight. I still have 50 pounds to go but these pants should last a month or two before they become huge.
Here's a pic of me in my shorts! Size 14. ????