I want to lay out my intro and also not say what I know some of you have already read 100 times. I first understood my weight was more than it should be at 8 yrs old. I spent my teens dieting and mostly starving to keep off the lbs. I got married at 22 and had my first c section at 24 in 2010. Eating for 2 was a dream come true. I ate for the sake of eating and loved every second. I thought I would shed the weight easily after the birth. Nope. I've had three more kinds since then (2012, 2014, and 2016). I have continued to inch up the scale landing me at my current all time highest weight of 320 lbs.

After years of trying every diet on the planet with little success, I got serious about not just watching people have surgery on My 600 lb Life, but looking into surgery for myself last summer. I made an appointment with who my co-worker used and went to that initial consultation in October. They threw me a bit off because it was very fast paced if I had the cash. I could have had my surgery in 3 months from the day of my initial appointment. Just needed to pay out of pocket. I can afford bills, but not $300/week with 4 kids and Christmas looming so I tearfully decided to seek out another clinic since they just weren't flexible about how to get me surgery and it not cost me an arm and leg up front. I do have good insurance as a state employee, but apparently it couldn't cover some of their requirements so those are all out of pocket costs.

I have now set up an appointment with UMMC (Jackson, MS). My first consultation appointment isn't until March 20 with the potential to be called for canceled appointments to fill in sooner. They faxed me a to do list for my PCP and I went in for most of those tests on Monday. Still waiting to hear results.

Anyways, hi! I will be here soaking up information from all of you while I anxiously await my consultation. I know most any of what I know about WLS due to 600 lb life. I've tracked that show since it began.

❤️

1 hour ago, Nerdette said:

I want to lay out my intro and also not say what I know some of you have already read 100 times. I first understood my weight was more than it should be at 8 yrs old. I spent my teens dieting and mostly starving to keep off the lbs. I got married at 22 and had my first c section at 24 in 2010. Eating for 2 was a dream come true. I ate for the sake of eating and loved every second. I thought I would shed the weight easily after the birth. Nope. I've had three more kinds since then (2012, 2014, and 2016). I have continued to inch up the scale landing me at my current all time highest weight of 320 lbs.

After years of trying every diet on the planet with little success, I got serious about not just watching people have surgery on My 600 lb Life, but looking into surgery for myself last summer. I made an appointment with who my co-worker used and went to that initial consultation in October. They threw me a bit off because it was very fast paced if I had the cash. I could have had my surgery in 3 months from the day of my initial appointment. Just needed to pay out of pocket. I can afford bills, but not $300/week with 4 kids and Christmas looming so I tearfully decided to seek out another clinic since they just weren't flexible about how to get me surgery and it not cost me an arm and leg up front. I do have good insurance as a state employee, but apparently it couldn't cover some of their requirements so those are all out of pocket costs.

I have now set up an appointment with UMMC (Jackson, MS). My first consultation appointment isn't until March 20 with the potential to be called for canceled appointments to fill in sooner. They faxed me a to do list for my PCP and I went in for most of those tests on Monday. Still waiting to hear results.

Anyways, hi! I will be here soaking up information from all of you while I anxiously await my consultation. I know most any of what I know about WLS due to 600 lb life. I've tracked that show since it began.

❤️

Hi! I'm fairly new here as well. I had my first consult 12/31 and have to wait until 3/3 for my psych eval, which is okay! I love my 600lb life too! Anyway, this forum is really helpful especially for us anxious folk. Good luck!

Hi & Congratulations ?

2 hours ago, Nerdette said:

I want to lay out my intro and also not say what I know some of you have already read 100 times. I first understood my weight was more than it should be at 8 yrs old. I spent my teens dieting and mostly starving to keep off the lbs. I got married at 22 and had my first c section at 24 in 2010. Eating for 2 was a dream come true. I ate for the sake of eating and loved every second. I thought I would shed the weight easily after the birth. Nope. I've had three more kinds since then (2012, 2014, and 2016). I have continued to inch up the scale landing me at my current all time highest weight of 320 lbs.

After years of trying every diet on the planet with little success, I got serious about not just watching people have surgery on My 600 lb Life, but looking into surgery for myself last summer. I made an appointment with who my co-worker used and went to that initial consultation in October. They threw me a bit off because it was very fast paced if I had the cash. I could have had my surgery in 3 months from the day of my initial appointment. Just needed to pay out of pocket. I can afford bills, but not $300/week with 4 kids and Christmas looming so I tearfully decided to seek out another clinic since they just weren't flexible about how to get me surgery and it not cost me an arm and leg up front. I do have good insurance as a state employee, but apparently it couldn't cover some of their requirements so those are all out of pocket costs.

I have now set up an appointment with UMMC (Jackson, MS). My first consultation appointment isn't until March 20 with the potential to be called for canceled appointments to fill in sooner. They faxed me a to do list for my PCP and I went in for most of those tests on Monday. Still waiting to hear results.

Anyways, hi! I will be here soaking up information from all of you while I anxiously await my consultation. I know most any of what I know about WLS due to 600 lb life. I've tracked that show since it began.

❤️

"My 600 lb Life" is both good and bad - good in that it's exposed the general public to weight loss surgery, bad in that it gives actual bariatric patients unrealistic expectations about how much weight they're going to lose in the early months. One of the biggest factors in your rate of weight loss is your starting BMI. At 320, you're still an average weight loss patient. The people on that show start off at over 600 lbs. With that high of a BMI, they're going to drop 30-35-40 lbs that first month. Although that occasionally happens with some of us "normal" bariatric patients, that is the exception, not the rule. If you only lose 20 lbs the first month, or even 15 lbs, you are NOT a failure. You're experiencing a pretty average first-month loss. I've been hanging out on this and other forums for about five years, and I've been working with pre-op groups in my clinic for the last three years. So many people seem to get down on themselves because they don't lose 40 lbs the first month - and I'm sure that's due to the fact most of their info comes from "My 600 lb Life". Although I've never seen actual research stats on this, I've been involved with the community enough to wager that most of us "normal" bariatric patients lose in the 15-25 lb range that first month. Just something to keep in mind...

Welcome! And congrats on starting the program! Sorry about that first experience! ^^^What this wise woman said!^^^

4 hours ago, Nerdette said:

I know most any of what I know about WLS due to 600 lb life. I've tracked that show since it began

I have only seen the show briefly but Reality TV does not seem like a good source of information to me! There are wizards on here who have amazing amounts look at the total amount of weight lost by the members clock on the right side. I just added it up and it is off by 3 pounds!

Nobody here is going to tell you this is easy decision, Nobody here is going to tell you its all fairy dust and unicorns in this journey, However nobody here who had the surgery and is following the plan is not healthier.

For me it was the best decision i made and may keep me out of the urn sooner/

Good luck

Hi! I'm new here too. Scheduled for a bypass on February 19th. You will find so much good info on here. Good luck on your journey!