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My highest weight was 255 in August 2016. That put me at a BMI of 38.8, and I qualified for WLS with co-morbities of type 2 diabetes and high cholesterol. I decided to put myself on a low carb diet and see if I could lose the weight and get my diabetes under control myself. I lost 47 pounds between Aug 2016 and May 15th the day of my surgery. I ended up deciding to go ahead and have surgery because I wanted to cure my diabetes and help ensure I could reach my goal weight. I had to go to Mexico because my BMI was under the 35 cut off and self pay in the US was just too expensive. It was worth it for me. My advice is if you are hoping to use your insurance double check with them on their policies. I would not lose below 35 BMI if it is the requirement, unless you want to pay for the surgery.

I'm on my way today! I am at the very beginning of my journey and just lost my 1st pound!! I'm going to celebrate EVERY SINGLE ONE....and you guys are stuck with me! LOL

I was told to try to stay under 1000 calories. Im usually between 700-1000. I feel like I'm losing slow though. Surgery was May 31. I've lost like 37# and went down 1 size. Im not complaining, I'm grateful for what I've lost but of course seeing others success can make me feel like I should be doing better.

Gay male 46, with an extremely supportive husband. We have been together 18 years married 2. SW 282 CW 270 goal 180. The Sleeve for me today went really well. Able to eat jello, drink broth and isopure. All staying down. I do have discomfort but not crazy pain. Been on several walks today. Also an amazing nurse recommended ice packs on tummy area. Feels really good.

That is great, so happy for you to finally have a surgery date. Congratulations and God bless. You are right, he is with you and will carry you through this [emoji177]

@priscillak Breathe. This (for most of us) isn't a short process...it's a marathon--a 3-6-12 month marathon. What you're feeling is so very normal. We've all been through something almost exactly like you describe. Doesn't make it any less excruciating for you, though. ((hugs)) Remember to glom on to perspective. You say you're eating 1-300 cals over and above your 1200 cal diet. What were you eating prior to this diet--maybe 3-4000 cals/day? How much do you weigh? So what if it takes you 16 weeks, rather than the estimated 15? Also, weight loss is rarely linear. You will have stairsteps up and down with an ongoing downward trend line (hopefully). You also will have stalls that last days or weeks--sometimes more than a month! You just have to remember to breathe and ride the wave where it breaks and takes you. Otherwise, you will exhaust yourself. I love the ideas of working out the numbers once and eating repetitively. I made that deal with myself and accepted it--that during weight loss the object is NOT to eat yummy, tasty, emotionally satisfying foods. I reconciled that for the period of intense weight loss both before and after surgery, my food was to be deeply nourishing, super low calorie, simple, and repetitive. That way I'm able to interact with food as LITTLE as humanly possible while still feeding myself super healthy foods that get me to goal the ABSOLUTE quickest. I eat the same 3 things for breakfast every day. I eat the same 3-4 things for lunch every day. I eat "about" the same 3-5 dinners every day. On days when I'm jonesing for comfort, I remind myself of my agreement with myself for success. If that STILL doesn't do it for me, I then use one of my "gooey" choices for dinner that is still very nourishing and low cal, but includes a bit of luxury like an ounce of cheese and low carb sauce like a lite alfredo, or lite marinara, or lite enchilada sauce, etc. Also, I plan my most important meal of the day first--for me that's dinner. Then let all the other meals fall according to the numbers...since breakfast and lunch are just meals that are mostly quick, convenient, thoughtless and designed to fill me up and keep me full until dinner. You can do this!!! Congrats on qualifying for surgery!!! Now just breathe and take it one day, or even one meal at a time. Make that agreement with yourself to get to the other side. OK?

Thank you for the support. I have actually had 2 successful pregnancies in between my 2 loss' so I am blessed with a beautiful son and daughter. I've decided not to have anymore children though because the loss' were just to much and having to have surgery (D&Cs) after the miscarriages was hard on my body. That is me in the profile picture, that was actually back in June. Thank you for your kind words. I still see the old me (300+ pounds) so it's nice to get compliments for sure.

6 mths is kinda fast but you must be doing great for your dr to suggest that! Thanks for your comments and letting me know abt the troll! [emoji28] We shall see when I will get pregnant [emoji5] Thanks for the encouragement!

Fluffy, at my seminar, they said if you go below BMI 35/40, you wont get approved. You've lost so much!! But you still are over 35. Slow down? Do it completely on your own? Only you know...

Hi, banded 11/30/2016. I don't know if this is the same thing, but a few months ago I had a similar problem after eating shrimp. I didn't chew well enough and was probably eating too fast (one of my main issues!). A restless night followed by the next day a feeling of an uncomfortable "lump" in my throat even when drinking sips of water. I got in to see my surgeon that day, he sent me for an upper gi. No blockage was seen by that time. He had me do liquid protein and soft foods for 2 days just to calm things down. I have been fine since then. He truly believes that it was a bit of shrimp temporarily stuck. I don't know what you ate before this happened. He told me shrimp is a problem for a lot of patients, but I can eat it if I chew thoroughly like we are supposed to. I hope this helped, best wishes for your journey!