The Candidate

@@DivaSoBlessed I will be crossing my fingers that your insurance will reconsider. No one should be denied a fighting chance to obtain a healthy life. Sometimes they just need to be reminded that we are so much more than a case file number. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Bravo! You look spectacular! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

You look incredible! Great job! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Congrats! You are about to embark on an amazing journey! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Congrats on all your accomplishments! You look great! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

You look incredible! Congrats!

Congrats on your success!

Congrats on your surgery tomorrow! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I had one with my RNY. They put it in while I was sedated. It was taken out the next day without any pain. Good luck! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Congrats on your amazing success! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

You gotta love the honesty of a child. Breast surgery is number #1 on my list. I've had larger than normal breasts since puberty so I'm looking for a combo of reduction and lift. I'm shooting for January. Just like WLS, plastic surgery isn't for everyone. So ultimately you need to do what is right for you. Best of luck whichever path you choose! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

And you look great in it too! Congrats! Sent from my iPhone using BariatricPal

Congrats on your weight loss success! Sent from my iPhone using BariatricPal

Hope you're feeling better now! That pain is indescribable, I know. I've had two kidney stone episodes in my past. Try drinking some cranberry juice. That always helped me. Sent from my iPhone using BariatricPal

Congrats. You are an inspiration! Sent from my iPhone using BariatricPal

Work can be a minefield. I do my best to keep my personal life as separate as possible. I made the decision not to tell the majority of my coworkers and I haven't regretted that decision once. I'm a little over seven months out and over a 100 lbs down. And despite the many probing questions and flattering comments I've never once spilled the Beans. It's apparent that I'm living and eating healthier and exercising daily. They aren't entitled to anything more than that. I make the decisions in my life based on my personal experience and criteria, which are uniquely mine. I researched WLS extensively beforehand and spent a year completing the insurance requirements. I'm an adult fully capable of making the decision to have this surgery. Nobody else but you will be signing your name on that informed consent form. Hence yours is the only voice that needs to be listened to. Don't listen to the naysayers. Good luck!

My surgery was scheduled for 12 noon, and the day before I had my last pre op appt. at the hospital at 8 am, which took all of 5 minutes. I only had a one day liquid diet requirement after that. I'd already lost more than 10% of my weight. As I was leaving the pre op at the hospital it suddenly occurred to me that I still had about 3 hours left before that 24 hr liquid diet was supposed to kick in. I went straight to pizza Hut and ordered enough to feed a family of four. I didn't eat it all, mind you, but I did my best. The really odd thing was even after that final food funeral orgy, I still managed to lose 3 pounds by the next day. Now at seven months post op and only 7 pounds from goal, I have no regrets about that final meal. I haven't gone off diet since, and have even managed to go cold turkey on any fast foods, bread, sodas, sweets, etc. I couldn't have managed that without the surgery. So don't be too hard on yourself. A lot of us have answered that siren song so you're definitely not alone. Best wishes!

Whichever procedure I'm sure you'll be equally successful! Congrats and best wishes!

Of course not! Surgery isn't for everyone. You have to be true to yourself first and foremost. We all have to travel our individual journey. Best of luck and congrats on your weight loss!

Good for you! And it also reinforces the validity of your original decision. It's always a plus when you go into this s fully informed and 100% ready. It even gets better after surgery. This excitement will only grow as you get closer to your surgery. You're going to love the "new" you! Sent from my iPhone using BariatricPal

Way to go! Another step closer! Sent from my iPhone using BariatricPal

I totally avoided knowing my weight for probably the last decade, which also meant avoiding doctors as well. I guess irrationally rationalizing along the mental vein of what I don't know can't hurt me. What finally forced my hand to make a doctor's appointment wasn't the number on the scale, but it's unavoidable repercussions: joint pain, limited mobility, and other weight related maladies. To find myself at an all time high of 248 at that appt., was like being slapped in the face. I never really understood before when people would say that they had no idea they weighed so much. That day I knew it was actually possible; I had become so good at avoiding the truth for so many years, I had even managed to fool myself. But I am eternally grateful for the aches and pains that forced me to make that appt., because that was the start of my journey towards weight loss surgery. It was also the date I started my personal video journey. It really helps to know how far you've come along the way, and I not only have my videos, I also have my words and emotions to go along with it. Even when my own eyes deceive me as to my progress along the way, I can't deny the actual evidence. It's so important to take before and after pictures, as well as measurements. It'll keep your spirits high on the days when you start to doubt yourself. Sent from my iPhone using BariatricPal

I had only been menopausal for about a year at the time of my surgery. Now at nearly seven months out I do still occasionally have hot flashes, but they feel shorter in duration, not as intense. I get cold much more often than hot now, and even keep a space heater under my desk at work. Sent from my iPhone using BariatricPal

I have to say that I'm actually more obsessive with food now as a post op than I ever was as a pre op. Before surgery I ate what, when, and in very large quantities, everything I wanted. I never even considered not having food, so there was no obsessive internal struggle going on. After being fat nearly all my life, I had given up, almost resigned to the fact that I would never break away from the yo-yo dieting cycle, so why even try anymore? You know how they say that when you're actively looking for something, like love, or happiness, or losing weight, but can't find it, then maybe it's time to stop the search and let it find you. That's how I feel about WLS. When I finally stopped the pretense of thinking I could do this by myself, despite my long resume of past failures, that was when when I first seriously considered having WLS. That's when I felt the near forgotten feelings of hope and determination awaken again. I never had any real awareness of food before surgery. What's there to obsess over when I had 24/7 access to anything I wanted. It was only after surgery that I began approaching food in a healthier manner. I give it careful thought now and I have a long list of forbidden foods, like bread, rice, Pasta, and sweets. I only drink Water too. Before I gave no thought whatsoever to what I ate. Now there's a cover charge: does it adhere to my surgeon's recommendations, is it processed or natural, does it have too many sugars or carbs, etc. If it doesn't meet that criteria than I don't eat it. Plain and simple. I refuse to go back, even a single step, to the way I was before. My surgery took the blinders off, and so my obsession only came into play after surgery. And it's an obsession that I am truly grateful for, each and every day, Sent from my iPhone using BariatricPal

Wonderful progress! Congrats!