Hi all - I'm new to the group and wanted to introduce myself. My name is Michelle, I'm 47, live outside Philly, married, no kids. I'm only 5'1" and I started at 241 lbs so my BMI is a little over 46. According to the charts I need to lose about 130 lbs but I'll be happy with 90. Although reading the boards I may be able to achieve the 130! I'm in the middle of my pre-op liquid diet, my Dr only has me doing 1 week. I'm thankful as I noticed some people have to do a lot longer than that! I'm already down 9 lbs in 4 days I didn't grow up heavy but started gaining weight during my first marriage as a young adult and have yo-yo'd my entire adult life. I never really considered WLS as an option, not seriously, until I went to a new pcp in Feb of this year. She suggested that I look into it at my first visit. I gave WW one last shot and was as successful as I had been on my last 30 attempts (obviously not at all!) so I went to the information session for the bariatric practice that I've chosen and liked what I had to hear. That was at the end of March. I had all of my pre-op testing done in April - bloodwork, ekg, chest xray, abdominal ultrasound (which showed a gallstone - so I'm also having my gallbladder removed during surgery), blood gas test, psych eval (15 mins, really?), 1 nutrition session. Had my consultation with the surgeon on May 2nd. Endoscopy/Colonsocopy mid May. Then I was approved for surgery and scheduled for 6/18! It all seemed to happen so fast! After reading what many people have to go through for approval I realize that I'm lucky. My insurance doesn't require me to go through a lot of hoops or red tape - they just require my BMI to be over 40 and for the surgeon to say that it's medically necessary. All of the testing was for the surgeon.

Anyway - here I am - in the middle of my pre-op liquid diet, just counting the days till surgery and the start of my new life. I pour through the before and after stories on here. They are so inspirational and encouraging to me! I hope to be that for someone else someday

My husband is very supportive of my having the surgery. I met him when I was heavy but not as heavy as I am now. He loves me no matter what size I am. He's actually doing the liquid diet with me to show solidarity He needs to lose about 30 - 40 lbs himself so he figures it'll help jump start him anyway.

I'm happy to be here and to get to know everyone!

Welcome! My surgery is June 20th. The whole procedure went fast for me to and I am glad. I cant wait to get started with my new life! I have been soaking up all of the information on here like a sponge!