Failure

@dorrie Oh I agree with that, for sure! I have been trying something to help me "prepare" and sort of get my mind frame in line with eating more and paying attention to portion and paying attention to when my body tells me I am full and not when my mind says "oh you can eat a little more, it tastes so goooood". I have been working on walking a bit since I do have a nice area out front of my apartment complex that there is little traffic and a lot of walkers go and people walking their doggies, too. @MinaT You know, I actually already have a myfitnesspal account and use it. Sometimes I go a period where I forget but I try to keep it updated. If you'd like to add me? I am Discordya on there, same spelling as my forum name My fiance uses it as well if you want to add him it is earussell, but adding him is up to you and I understand not wanting to. That is so cool that you lost 70 pounds pre-op. May I please ask you a question? If I may, did you ever consider since you were able to lose that much before surgery to just keep going without it? I know that even if I lost that much I would still want the help of the sleeve because I want something that will assist me permanently for life. Being able to lose weight on your own only shows that you will be able to really achieve so much more with assistance and I'm so happy for you for proving that! In regards to soda, you know I keep reading a lot of things about having to cut soda out of a diet and caffeinated drinks. I honestly do not drink soda not even diet soda, and I have not for about 2 or 3 years now. I read that a lot of people keep weight on because of these drinks and was surprised when I decided to cut those drinks (no sugary drinks either, I did not trade soda for sweet tea for example) out of my diet that I still did not really notice losing any pounds at all, not even 1 or 2. I drink Water or tea with no sweatener, just plain iced tea on occasion but it is mostly water. On occasion I might have crystal light or one of those types but not really often. I definitely do not think you sound like a know-it-all. I appreciate your input! One thing about me is I'm good with point-blank comments and constructive criticism. I am always brutally honest and I have the ability to take it right back at me, also. Sometimes people do not end up liking me because I do not always sugar coat things and they do not like having the truth in their face. Don't get me wrong I try not to be rude or insulting, but even still people hate the truth! Me though? I love it. It helps me to not become delusional about things or not take things for face value. I have binge ate when I thought I was upset about this or that or angry, but the truth is I eat large portion because I feel hungry and not full but also because I just love food and gobble it up. Gourmet food has run in my family for a long time. My father is a chef and his father was a chef, so on and so forth. So having delicious food made so incredible that you never tasted anything soooo delicious has just been a part of my life. I am trying now to turn that around and to be able to savor food and appreciate it in moderate portions instead of having a huge plate that I get 2nds of etc etc. I just need to not fall off the wagon so much and to keep at it, stay positive. I came here for that type of support. But even through the diet and exercise and trying to re-train my brain, how did you keep from wanting everything to rush to happen and get your new life started? Was that all you did or was there other things?

Thanks Enerfina! I actually am not going with insurance but rather the financing program that the group in TN has. They offer BLIS complication protection insurance within the set price for the sleeve cost that lasts for 90 days after surgery that covers cardiopulmonary, thromboembolic (like clots), bleeding, infections, leaks, perforation and stenosis. The only thing I am responsible for that I may not be able to finance is the pre-admission testing such as x-rays and and whatever else they require since it would be through a different doctor but that's okay. I am going this route because having to have an individual plan since I work as an independent contractor, the insurance premiums are like $250 for anything that covers anything decent in an unlimited manner anyway and this is roughly what a doctor visit would cost at a sliding-scale type of PCP.

Hello everyone! I am new here, I guess I should have posted this first before anything else but I had been lurking for a few days and just got so excited to start meeting everyone, haha. Anyway! My name is Sara and I am 27 and I currently live in SW Florida for the time being. I have a fiance living in Tennessee, Chattanooga area and I will be joining up with him hopefully soon! I currently weigh about 350 at this time and I think my highest recorded is 365. I am not doing good with that! I am so overwhelmed when I get to thinking about how big I have gotten. I started getting chunky when I was about 8 years old or so and have remained big ever since, gradually getting bigger and bigger until, well, now. I've never really lost anything at any given time that was more then 20-30 lbs. It's not that I give up, I just sort of stop losing. I am always trying different diets and things like that. I unfortunately have not tried too many things that I probably should have, like weight watchers because I've never really been able to afford it. This past year I finally got my career rolling, YEAH!!! So I had a little bit of extra money to roll out so I decided to try this thing called Roca Labs because my fiance told me about it and explained that their websites advertises it as "mini gastric bypass with NO surgery" so I was all excited about that. I have a sister who is 30 now and she had RNY and has been successful with it but on the other token does not take care of herself. I am not the same way, I would never abuse some privelege as that because I absolutely have been fighting with weight my whole life whereas she only has in the past 5-6 years. Not that it invalidates her in any way, do not get me wrong. I'm just saying that I know better than to take advantage. It's only ever been a DREAM for me to have some kind of HELP. So this Roca Labs things was pretty cool. I have a youtube channel that I documented my progress on and actually lost like 20 lbs somewhere in there but after having had a vacation where I could not take the stuff for the diet, I sort of fell off the bandwagon for about a week. Once I got back home and started to go back on it, it was almost as if I grew an allergy to it. There is nothing wrong with the product, I actually have all high up things to say about the product, it's just for me personally I could not get the stuff down anymore. The taste and texture just get to me too bad for whatever reason. I don't know why exactly either, because I didn't have much of an issue before my vacation. So then I just sort of was down in the dumps about it all because my fiance is still actively on that diet program thing and he totally lost about 30+ lbs and he is doing so well but I didn't. 20 lbs is awesome and I'm happy about that, but it took so long compared to him that we think that maybe with my weight and how my body is that maybe it is just going to take a bit more assistance than what that program offers. So we started looking into insurance for me because I work as an independent contractor and do not have insurance, and along the way I just sort of got to thinking about insurance companies and which ones would offer benefits for a surgery like that (like I know that a lot of United HC plans help with it and BCBS, etc) but when I started researching more about that my options got more and more disappointing for the fact that I have not had insurance in a while and usually you have to purchase some sort of "rider" and it is just a mess. But not to fear, right? Because then I went onto my LOCAL bariatric surgeon's website and 'lo and behold they had some sort of out of pocket "Deal" going on. So I just had a whole new glimmer of hope shine before my eyes and I was wondering what that entails. Do you pay it all up front? Is it a payment plan? So then I talked to a friend of mine who is somewhat big in the RNY WLS community on YouTube and she told me about financing and how sometimes surgeons will have financer affiliates so I was like what? Really? So I could basically apply for a medical credit card to help with something like this to help me? And she said basically in a nutshell yes that is what could happen! So I started looking up Tennessee bariatric surgeons in Chattanooga area and that is when I came across the Gastric Band Institute with Dr. Ponce, Dr. Paynter and Dr. Fromm that they offer both of the band surgeries as well as the sleeve! I will admit originally I had considered the band because yeah, it's removable if something happens and customizable and blah blah. But upon my research here on the forums it seems to come with a lot more complications and things, especially with finding followup doctors who will fill it and all that and I just don't like the idea of having a PORT attached inside my muscle for years. So here I am, fully decided on the sleeve and already having had contacted the facility with a few basic questions and stuff. I am just here for support and hopefully to find answers to questions that may come up. I have yet to even move to Tennessee so it will be a couple of months but this is 100% going to happen when I get there. If it wasn't for my fiance, this wouldn't be happening. I love him so much, he is like.. my miracle, the man who is helping to make my dreams come true. I can't even begin to express how amazing he has been to me and that I have met him like "this". So I hope to meet a lot of you and maybe buddy up, find a nice mentor, although I think I may have found a really good one, her name is Sassy and lives near me. I happened upon her on this forum by accident because I was researching people having gone to the local surgeon since that was and may still be an option but I think it will be happening in TN. I look forward to chatting with all of you

Thanks Krysty Ssilian I have 3 cats, 2 are like 12 the other is like 10. They are all crazy in their own little ways, haha.

Thanks Ssilian, yes it is soo exciting. BTW I love your little avatar. Cats are so cute, aren't they? Haha

Aww thank you so much everyone It is great to have a place to go for questions and support as I start my journey. I love reading about others' journies!

Is it possible to get financed like with CareCredit for example if the surgeon you are using accepts that or another financing company for an out of pocket expense you are responsible for if you have insurance that would pay only a percentage?