I've been lurking here for a few weeks and figured it's time to introduce myself and say hi. I'm ONE DAY into my 6-months-of-weight-loss-program-before-surgery-gets approved plan. We're currently thinking sleeve unless the endoscopy next month says we shouldn't. I'm really grateful for all of the great info here!

Welcome! This forum is a great resource and has been tons of help to me as I've gone through the process. Feel free to ask questions that come up along the way.

When I started the process, it seemed like surgery was an eternity away, but by the time I got to surgery day, it felt like the time had flown by and I wasn't ready!

Thanks for the kind welcome, @BigSue. Yeah, right now 6 months feels like a long time away! My husband and I are doing this together, and he just had his first visit with the surgeon today, who told him not to lose too much weight beforehand. Gee, no one told ME that! ? I can already tell that this is going to be a very different process for each of us.

3 hours ago, GirlNextor said:

I've been lurking here for a few weeks and figured it's time to introduce myself and say hi. I'm ONE DAY into my 6-months-of-weight-loss-program-before-surgery-gets approved plan. We're currently thinking sleeve unless the endoscopy next month says we shouldn't. I'm really grateful for all of the great info here!

Hi!

22 hours ago, GirlNextor said:

Thanks for the kind welcome, @BigSue. Yeah, right now 6 months feels like a long time away! My husband and I are doing this together, and he just had his first visit with the surgeon today, who told him not to lose too much weight beforehand. Gee, no one told ME that! ? I can already tell that this is going to be a very different process for each of us.

Yea the men tend to lose weight faster too so don’t get discouraged.

I have like four more months and I'm getting so antsy. I just want to get to the "pounds melting off" stage! Welcome!

I'm already feeling like I wish I had done this ten years ago but I know I wasn't ready. At the same time I'm still super nervous.

Here's hoping these next few months are successful and quick for all of us!

Hi! ? Best of luck on your journey!

Congratulations on your new beginning! I'm sure time will go by quickly.

I have been lurking around for awhile, too, and have my first televisit with the surgeon tomorrow. I have no idea how long my path to surgery will be yet and it's driving me crazy. Lol.

4/16 was the one year anniversary of my first appointment with my surgeon! It ended up being a zoom appointment since Covid had just started. I ended up with surgery on 11/10 and I’m 122 lbs lighter today than I was a year ago.

Honestly the six month process seems so long but it flies by! Then suddenly they are scheduling your surgery and it’s like wait...this is actually happening!? I’m still losing at 5 months out, with another 52 lbs to go to goal. My best advice is
1. Start losing in the six month preop time unless it would impact insurance eligibility. Every pound lost now is a pound you don’t have to lose after surgery.
2. Start dealing with any food issues you can early on- surgery will force you to cold-turkey some of them like binging or eating nonstop sugar, but dealing with the mental side of that at the same time as surgery recovery would be tough.
3. Prepare yourself to rebuy an entire wardrobe. I was excited about the thought of it until I realized things like I had to buy all new underwear and bras and everything else, not just cute and fun stuff. And it’s expensive!
4. Your mileage may vary, but this is the best present I’ve ever given myself. It’s amazing to be able to free yourself from a lifelong problem that affects every part of your life. Where you are a year from now is going to be incredible.

Very encouraging! Thanks!

Welcome to the forum. My wife and I both had surgery together. We kind of "skipped" the six month wait as we both had done a 6 month medically supervised program within the time frame that insurance wanted.

The next 6 months will go faster than you think. The surgery has helped my family drastically and my daughter is also eating healthier. Good luck on your journey!

My wife had a higher BMI than I did but I was still quite heavy. My wife is now down 90 lbs and I have lost 95 since preop and 115 over all since last year.