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I was in the same boat. As my BMI was 50, my supervised diet was waived. Also, BCBS of MI does not require formal approval. As long as you meet the pre-reqs you are automatically approved. Given all that, I had my surgery 6 weeks from my first appointment. I felt the same way. It moved SO fast that in a way I felt totally unprepared. On the other hand, I was thankful I didn't have to prepare for 6 months. Go for it! Don't look back! I'm so happy that I was able to take the path I did. I took advantage of those 6 weeks and lost 47 lbs pre-op. I'm now just shy of 6 month post-op and down about 155lbs total and below my personal goal weight. If I had waited those 6 months, I would be just over a month post-op and in a totally different place. No better time than the present!!!

I've had a few good ones - a couple I may have posted previously, so forgive me for any repeats: My contractor - I have been using this guy for home updates for years, but haven't seen him for quite some time. He did not recognize me when I first came into the room, then when it hit him he yelled out my name, his eyes became very misty, and a gave me a huge bear hug. Keep in mind this is a strappin' manly man type of dude. He was clearly overwhelmed. My mom - I hadn't seen her in a few months, and met her at a function. I was parking the car, so she was standing with my wife. She asks where I am, my wife points and says "right there" she asks again, my wife points again. She finally recognizes me, and also wells up with emotion (my mother is very unemotional) Cleaning lady at work - speaks only Spanish. I see her when I travel about every six weeks. She flips out when she sees me, starts rattling of spanish, moves her hands up and down her sides and exclaims "MUCHO MUCHO MUCHO" Former co-worker - I met her for lunch and she hadn't seen me in a long time. Is in utter shock when she sees me and says "I heard I needed to be prepared, that you lost a lot of weight, but hold cow, you look like a different person". Then I start talking to her, but can tell she isn't hearing a word I was saying - she interrupts me and says "I'm sorry, but I just need to stare at you for a few minutes, it's CRAZY" These are some of the most fun ones, but it happens on an almost daily basis. Seeing the lack of recognition, then the utter shock on peoples faces is pretty entertaining and validating. I keep thinking I must have run into everyone I know by know, but it seems at least weekly I run into new people. Even the people I see everyday comment often. Almost daily I hear "You are getting SO skinny", "You are shrinking before our eyes", "You look so amazing". Pretty cool change from being obese my whole life. I'll take it. Or as my daughter says "UGH, you are so bony and uncomfortable to cuddle with now!". But I'll take my bones poking my daughter while I hug her for the next 40 years over being soft and dead in less than 10!

Well, I was feeling pretty good about myself! I started out on Feb 9 of this year at 333lbs. As of this morning, I am down to 182 lbs. My surgeon doesn't set goal weights, but told me he thought I could get down around 200 lbs. That didn't feel aggressive enough, so I set 185 as my personal goal (I'm 5'8"), which seemed crazy at the time. Well, now that I hit "goal", I was in a quandary as to what I should do. Should I try and lose more weight? Should I begin moving into maintenance? I decided I would go get a DEXA scan to find out what my true body fat percentage was (My scale says I am generally between 17%-22%) as this would be a better guide than BMI (I am still overweight per BMI) Well.........DEXA says I have 26.5% body fat!!!! Holy crap, that's a lot higher than I thought (hoped?). Anyway, it's good to know. And I now know I need to keep on the weight loss bandwagon. Now my plan is to lose 15-20 more pounds, keep working out, and have it re-checked. Plus with a baseline, it will give me an indication of how much of the weight I'm losing is actual fat. I do have to admit, that after losing over 150lbs, it is a tad disappointing to find out you are still carrying around about 50lbs of fat!

Well, they claim 98%-100% accuracy for what it's worth. That being said, they also are able to separate fat and bones from other tissue and organs. Also, we talk a lot about how much excess skin weighs, but my opinion is that the actual excess skin weighs very little. I think the idea that we are carrying 10-20 lbs of excess skin is based on the fact that when a plastic surgeon removes and weighs the "skin" they are actually removing not just the skin, but some of the fat beneath the skin as well. Your actual skin is very thin and light. From the quick googling I did estimates for the weight of ALL your skin ranges from 6-20 lbs (the upper range noted it included hair and nails as well, not sure of the lower estimates). So if all your skin in aggregate weighs only 6-20 lbs, then I would hard pressed to believe "excess skin" could weigh more than a few pounds by itself.

Here is the chart that came with my scan: Age: 16-19 Female: 17-32% Male: 10-20% Age: 20-39 Female: 21-33% Male: 8-20% Age: 40-59 Female: 23-34% Male: 11-22% Age: 60-79 Female: 24-36% Male: 13-25% So, for me, it would be 11-22%. Of course, if I just sit tight for about 17 more years, I'll be much closer It doesn't specifically tell you how to go about getting the % in line - either gaining muscle mass, or losing fat would lower the percentage. I will just attack it from both angles. Although, I have never been very good at actually building muscle, and I certainly could use some in my upper arms to help tighten up some of this skin!!! Now that I'm think enough to actually see the muscles, I realize my muscles are very thin/sinewy, not at all bulky.

It is strange - maybe because accurate testing is not all that common. The margin of error with calipers or bioelectrical impedance can be pretty large (as evidenced by my scale!!!). I will say, the results from the DEXA scan were pretty cool. And I now know that my right leg weighs 2lbs more than my left leg (and 1.5lbs of that 2 lbs is muscle), for whatever that's worth!! I also learned that I am pear shaped as opposed to apple shaped, which I had always assumed given my large gut. But the scan shows my weight distribution is actually very healthy. I also have very dense bones (the one health benefit of obesity???). I'm sure others are in the same boat, but I am thankful for the data as I have such a had time judging myself. Between still thinking of myself as "the fat guy", plus everyone around me saying "you aren't going to lose any more weight are you?", and the fact that i wear mostly M or L size clothes now. All these things just drive confusion. So for that, I am happy. I would be happier if it came back and said I was 17% BF instead of 26.5%, but hey, it's better than 65% I suppose!

No, but I love my LGBT friends MUCHO! MUCHO? What does that acronym stand for? My useless cat hates oreos. What about bananas? Same carbs. Well played. Very well played.

Completely depends on your surgical team. Many do limit carbs, some limit all refined carbs, some allow things like crackers, toast, etc. On my plan, carbs themselves are not restricted at all, but refined carbs are completely off limits. I eat a fairly high amount of carbs as I eat things like Beans, lentils and fruits everyday, probably averaging 75g-100g of carbs a day. But I eat absolutely no rice, Pasta, bread, etc.

I make a smoothie out of half a banana every day. Add in unsweetened chocolate almond milk and peanut powder (no sugar peanut powder). Then I drink it through a straw. And my doctor thinks this is a wonderful Breakfast choice. 12 grams of Protein and 195 calories.

I am in a similar boat. I also started at a similar weight to you (333). My surgeon doesn't set goal weights, but he thought I should be able to get down around 200. That didn't seem low enough for me (I'm 5'8"), so I set a personal goal of 185. Well, I hit sub-200 about 4.5 months post-op. I hit 185 at about 5.5 months. Now I'm trying to figure out where to go from here. Per BMI, I'm not "normal" weight until around 165. Do I shoot for that? I'm actually going to get a DEXA body scan next week to help guide me. With the excess skin and the difficulty in seeing me the size I actually am I'd like some more statistical feedback. Depending what my body fat % is will help me chose rather I try to shed a few more pounds or if I try and shift into maintenance.

I'm in week 7 and can now do 2 miles at a 12:30 pace (on a treadmill). It's kinda surreal. Long term goal is the full 5k at a 10min mile pace. Almost seems attainable at this point.

It's interesting to hear that a couple of you have certain aspects that change when you take it. I have taken it many times, and every time I end up with ENTJ. Why I think that is interesting is that one of the more in depth versions I took actually gave you your results on a sliding scale, so you could see if you were an E that is right on the border of being an I, or if you are an extreme E, etc. I am almost dead center on EN and J, and almost off the deep end on T. But even though I'm right on the border for EN and J, it has never come up differently for me.

Depends on which six months you'd like to know about: In the first 6 months from pre-op diet starting on 2/9/16 until 8/9/16 I lost 137lbs. In the 5.5 months since my RNY (3/21) I'm down 105lbs. Edited to share the total: I'm almost exactly 7 months out from my starting weight of 333 and I've lost a total of 152lbs.

Skinny. I get called this all the time, although I am most definitely not skinny (5'8" and 181 lbs), but I'll take it. I recently got called a "spinner", by a female co-worker, lol. And a make co-worker called me a "hot piece of a**" - I think he was joking :-)

I was also surprised how fast I became cold all the time! I thought it might happen after I lost a lot of fat, but it started after just a couple of weeks into my pre-op diet and has continued for the last 7 months. My theory is that it's not lost fat (although that's probably a contributing factor over time), but that it is lower quantities of food. Less fuel for the fire so to speak. Whatever the issue is, I am freezing ALL THE TIME. It's totally worth it, but it's not an insignificant side effect. I'm always worried about having enough layers. Always planning out what clothes I need to bring if I'll be out after sundown, etc. Winter is going to be tough!! And like many others, I used to be hot all the time.

Yes, these are averages. I've lost nearly 90% of my excess weight since starting this process almost 7 months ago.

That thing about floating better in the pool is absolutely true. It's really hard to float now, my legs completely sink, and I have to keep air in my lungs to stay above Water. I think this is a really under discussed part of massive weight loss

You guys are going to love this! My doctor is fine with coffee. And at my last appt, he suggested I consider adding oats and POPCORN to my diet. And this from a doctor who is normally against these types of carbs. I think he wants my weight loss to slow a tad. And meats are weird, so much variability. I can eat shrimp and scallops, but not crab. I can eat chicken, pork and steak, but cant tolerate any ground meats! The ground meats are the most confusing. My theory is because no mater how much I chew ground meat I can never get it to a near Water like consistency before swallowing like I can with other cuts. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

You know this is all by design, right? I did some work with a grocery store some years ago and was shocked at the length they go to entice you to buy junk. Milk is almost always in the back, so you can't run in and grab it quickly, you have to pass by half the store. Cereal, chips & soda are generally right in the middle of the store, so you almost have to walk by it regardless of where you are going (this is this highest margin food, so they need to sell a lot of it to stay in business) And of course, the sugary, junk cereal is often placed at kid eye-level so that they can harasses the parents to purchase. It goes on and on - it's psychological warfare. Congrats on your win in this particular battle!

Here's what I've learned on these forums today: You people go to Vegas and on Cruises a lot!!!

Isn't Excedrin Tension basically just Tylenol? 500mg of Acetaminophen. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I struggle with the same issue. I have always had headaches and Advil and Excedrin were my go-to's. My doc says I can use Advil occasionally (up to 1-2 time per week) if needed, and I am a bypass patient. Given the risk, I haven't. I just tough them out. Take Tylenol, which really doesn't help. I actually took myself of NSAIDs about 6 weeks before surgery to make sure I could do this (also have serious osteoarthritis - need 2 new knees and a new hip (getting new hip this January)). I've been NSAID free for almost 7 months now. It can be difficult at times, but I'd trade those NSAIDs for the 147 lbs I've lost anytime! In some weird way, my doctor giving me permission to use them sparingly has actually helped in not using them. Knowing the safety net is there is if I "really need it" helps me get through the headaches and joint pain.

I don't think I will EVER get used to this....

Recently went to replace my 40 inch waist jeans with a size 38. Got to the store and all the 38s were TOO BIG. Ended up with a couple of pairs of 36s. This was 2-3 weeks ago. Asked my wife to pick me up a couple more pairs of 36s. One of them was TOO BIG. I started at a very snug size 48. I also now weigh what I did during football season my sophomore year in high school. I'm 42.

Yes, yes, yes. As a parent, it is so important to be a role model. Kids are watching, and when you say one thing and do another it's very difficult. Although I have been morbidly obese most of my adult life, we did try and model reasonably good eating habits - always had veggies, fruit and reasonably healthy Proteins for dinner. Granted we also had plenty of refined carbs. And plenty of unhealthy dinners out, pizza, etc. As of now, my children are very healthy weights (at 12 and 19). That being said, I STILL suffer a lot of guilt for not setting them up with better life long habits. Not eating even better, not controlling my weight better, not teaching them more about good nutrition, etc. I do not want them to EVER have to go through what I have. Such is the burden of being a parent I guess. You do your best, and still second guess much of what you do!