Jonah

I have a 32 oz Nalgene wide mouth bottle with a splash guard insert. I love how durable it is, the marking of ml and oz on the side, and it is easy to clean (like the poster above mentioned). What I don’t like is how it doesn’t fit in any kind of cup holder.

I’m in the pre-surgery stage too. I’m a binge eater in remission and emotional eater. It’s been several years since I binged. Emotional eating, well, I keep working on it. A book that really helped me with my disordered eating was The Beck Diet Solution By Judith S. Beck. The title is horrible at describing the book. It isn’t a diet. It is a cognitive behavioral therapy (cbt) program to identify why and when you have emotional eating or binge eating and give you tools to change those behaviors.
I wish you the best of luck!

I have a 32 oz Nalgene wide mouth bottle with a splash guard insert. I love how durable it is, the marking of ml and oz on the side, and it is easy to clean (like the poster above mentioned). What I don’t like is how it doesn’t fit in any kind of cup holder.

@deemar007
Thank you for the info about the Sunnyside program! I’m looking forward to getting to know the team.

Hi PNW people. I’m in Portland, Oregon. I’ve only just had my primary care physician put in the referral. I’m a complete newbie. I’m with Kaiser. If anyone has some tips for me as I start this journey I’d welcome them.

Yay! I just got approval from the bariatric department! Apparently they immediately reissued the request after it was denied. Apparently, they just needed more from my doctor. So I’m back on track.

I have a 32 oz Nalgene wide mouth bottle with a splash guard insert. I love how durable it is, the marking of ml and oz on the side, and it is easy to clean (like the poster above mentioned). What I don’t like is how it doesn’t fit in any kind of cup holder.

I have a 32 oz Nalgene wide mouth bottle with a splash guard insert. I love how durable it is, the marking of ml and oz on the side, and it is easy to clean (like the poster above mentioned). What I don’t like is how it doesn’t fit in any kind of cup holder.

Great job, Tracy. I know how hard you've worked to get that 100lbs off! The discrimination is real...
People who haven't lived it don't get it. One of the things that's helped so far is just being the person the discrimination stops with. When i encounter folks who say hurtful things or invalidate somone who's overweight I try to advocate for them.
Weve been there and we know how hard the road can be! With your knowledge and experience I know you'll continue to shine bright like the star you are!

@mousecat88
I’m dying to know what a Bari-Bear is. Is it a giant stuffed pillow bear? That is what I’m imagining.

That's great news! Good luck on your WLS journey.

Yay! I just got approval from the bariatric department! Apparently they immediately reissued the request after it was denied. Apparently, they just needed more from my doctor. So I’m back on track.

I have a BMI over 60, pre diabetes, sleep apnea, borderline high blood pressure and a bad back. I thought it would be no problem to get approved. I’m hoping my doctor putting in more information will do the trick. ::crossing fingers::

Hi All,
I just got my “welcome to the bariatric dept” letter and a denial letter on the same day. The denial said I don’t have a history of failed diets. My GP noted my failures specifically in my chart though. I’ve done so many diets, and Weight Watchers more times than I can count. I remember being on WW in my teens. My first prescription diet was early elementary school for G-d sake!
Now I have to jump through appeal hoops. I have Kaiser (Oregon) via Medicare (I’m disabled).
Any tips and encouragement is welcome!

I'm in Washington and got approved no problem. I wonder why they came to that conclusion? Hopefully your Dr will help you appeal and be able to document more information they need.
Best of luck!

Thanks to everyone who posted! I really appreciate hearing the perspectives.
I’m putting in my request with my primary physician. Then I’ll be able to take the class they have on wls.
I’m scared but I want a better quality of life in the future, for me and my loved ones.

Thanks to everyone who posted! I really appreciate hearing the perspectives.
I’m putting in my request with my primary physician. Then I’ll be able to take the class they have on wls.
I’m scared but I want a better quality of life in the future, for me and my loved ones.

Thanks to everyone who posted! I really appreciate hearing the perspectives.
I’m putting in my request with my primary physician. Then I’ll be able to take the class they have on wls.
I’m scared but I want a better quality of life in the future, for me and my loved ones.

I'm tired of being fat and tired. I'm tired of not being able to do all the things I want to do like ride roller coasters. I work at an amusement park and can only ride a handful of coasters in my park due to my size and I love roller coasters! I stand at most parties because I'm afraid those folding cloth camp chairs will break. I'm tired of not being able to find cute clothes that look good on me. I just want my life back. When I was in high school I was athletic, I played tennis, marched in the marching band, played pick up soccer, and was very active, now mustering the energy to go to the store is challenging some days.

I've tried to lose weight on my own and have lost and gained the same 40lbs more times than I can count. I have never tried programs or fad diets, always eating healthy and calorie counting but I always get to a point where the amount of calories I eat in a day cannot be increased unless I workout HARD for 2-3 hours a day and that's unrealistic. I need that tool to help me get past the 40lb barrier and beyond to be successful long term. It's always been something I've had in the back of my mind but I never let myself explore it in the past because I've always lost the weight. I was so nervous about it and calling to make an appointment for a consult but the staff at my surgeons office is so nice and my surgeon is a really down to earth guy whom I feel totally comfortable with.

I’m happy with my looks and I have no health issues, so I had to think long and hard whether it’s worth it or not. I came to the conclusion that my quality of life with obesity is so low that the risks of surgery don’t seem that bad in comparison. So my bypass is 10 days away now.

So basically, think of what your life is like. Is your current weight something you can live with? Or do you think you can lose it without surgery? If the answer is no then this could be the right path:) good luck 💕

About 6 years ago I lost 100 lbs w/out surgery after being diagnosed with fatty liver (my insurance at the time wouldn’t cover wls). Of course most of that weight gradually came back. A new career meant new insurance, and this time WLS was covered. I started consults the week my insurance became effective.

I decided to get the surgery because at just 28 I was almost 400 pounds and walking was becoming a problem. I didn’t want to lose my mobility. I didn’t really have any major health problems but I didn’t want to wait until I developed them.

Ask if your local bariatric surgeon has an information seminar. Your surgeon may recommend a procedure.
Here is a link that may help in your research phase.
https://www.obesitycoverage.com/the-complete-patients-guide-to-bariatric-surgery/
Age 45 and 254 pounds, My wake-up call was being admitted to ICU. My internal organs shutting down from diabetic ketoacidosis. My heart stopped, and they brought me back. I wish it didn’t take that moment to understand my weight was slowly killing me.
I looked at how many times I’ve lost weight then had regain with extra. I needed a long-term solution to get my health back. I was sleeved in 2014. Five years out, no complications, no regret, and maintaining in the 130’s.

For me, it was anxiety about leaving my husband with two small kids if I were to have a heart attack. Rather dramatic, I know, but it was ultimately what pushed me over the edge to ask for the referral.

Well Jonah there were multiple considerations, but my main bottom line " I found I feared the prospect of major surgery much less than existing as I was, obese, unloved by most everyone, hurting so much with arthritis,i could scarcely exercise. So short,of breath I couldn't climb a flight of stairs without stopping half-way. And my PCP had started making " you're gonna die within a year or too" and my insurance was paying good money for him to be my friend. Oh I had heard in passing about Bariatric Surgery, I figured it was Elective Mutilation, Structerlized starvation and for much younger people than me. I was 4 months short of 70 when I started my search, 72 years,8 months and 13 days when I received it, a RNY bypass, because it would alleviate most of not all of my comorbities. Now I do not deprecate VSG, it works well for many people, it just wasn't in my future ever.
What was it going to harm me to try for this surgery? My Primary Doctor had also mentioned as I gained weight and inches that,I was going to die. So if I was going to die anyway, what harm in trying? Maybe I would be,laughed out of the surgeon's office but I am redheaded, stubborn and I was not going out of life without a fight!
I have lost 130-some pounds since my highest weight, 95 since my surgery 8 months ago. And that , darlin', is with an aging post- menopausal body with Basal Metabolim Rate comparing to a Sick Sea Slug. You as being younger and also being male, can duplicate or exceed what I have done. I tell my friends and others my Fat Shell is cracking and as it disappears they are starting to see the real ME underneath. I used to have a round moon-shaper face, now as I lose, my face is rectangular, I have a neck, I joke like a 🐢 turtle, but I no longer recognize the Old Frustr8 in the mirror. I am seeing reflections of Dead Relatives, first my own mother, than her older sister Aunt Grace, now this week I look like their mother Grandma Cora. That one was a shock because she was 5ft3 or so, I am 5ft8in down from a youthful 5ft 11 or 6 feet height. Your spine kind of mushes down with menopause, and I am on the verge of isteoporosis, what I have is osteopenia, translates as calcium-poor bones, but not the deformities of o-porosis as yet.
By now I should be type 2 diabetic- both parents were, cardiac complications much worse than I have, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and wheelchair- bound because of the arthritis who has a steady relationship with me since 25 years old. It is only with the Grace of God I escaped them, with intact mind and emotions, body,well I never will look as good there as I would if I had been normal weight range. But life is what life is, I will rock what I can until death, and now I have every chance of making it to 90-100 years, I come from strong farm- rootstock people, they wore out instead of rusting out, the vast majority. And I plan to be on Bariatric Pal as long as I have the wits to do it.
So do consider joining us , it is the best thing I have ever,had, and I say that barring all the unforseen complications I have had, somebody gonna,get it well it would be ME.But still I would never,go back to my existance prior to surgery, wish I had done it earlier in my life, but I hadn't been ready then, but God and my surgeon have helped me become a thinner, more healthy person and I will be eternally grateful to both.So if you have questions, just ask, I pride myself on being pretty smart but if I can't give you an answer, there will be surely someone else who could. So stick with us, we will help Your rest of life to be the best of Your life.