jessgnc

I have and I asked my doctor! Since I'll be doing a modified, my body will have more time to absorb nutrients. I'm also a picture of good health (+100 or so pounds) so I'd only need drugs to keep me healthy, not to fix old issues. I was told I could expect $60-$80 per month on pills, which is less than I had budgeted for this.

Hi folks! So I'm officially on board the surgery train! I meet with my doctor for the first time at the end of the month, but I've begun nutritional courses already. I went into my first nutrition class thinking I was perfect and knew it all. Well, while it was mostly true (HAH!), I did learn some nasty truths about myself. I went in knowing how to eat healthy, read a label, drink tons of Water and not drink coffee. I already exercise regularly. So when it came time to set some goals between class 1 and class 2 (coming up in a few weeks), I opted to learn HOW to eat. That's the one that requires you to slow down. Eat over the course of 30 minutes, chew heavily, don't drink while eating, etc. It turns out I'm a mess and need work! I bought an adorable mini fork and spoon. Last night I was eating chicken and rice and able to balance about 4 grains of rice on the spoon. I was getting frustrated and realized I wanted to shovel giant mouthfuls in at once. In the past week, I've also noticed that (unsurprisingly) eating slower really does help me fill up faster. Unfortunately, I learned that my big problem is stopping when I'm satisfied. I'm definitely a card carrying member of the 'Clean Plate Club" and it is kind of terrifying how ingrained that is. I'll be full (but not uncomfortably full) and my mind keeps saying "just one more bite. It's a tiny fork." When I listen, I feel good. For example, I only ate half a container of my leftovers yesterday and saved the other half for today's lunch. Normally I'd wolf the entire thing down in 10 minutes without a second thought. Stopping when I will end up throwing the leftovers away is the problem for me. So there's what I'm going through in the first steps of this journey. What did you learn about yourself in the first few weeks? Did any of you have similar issues? Any suggestions how to fight the urge to finish even when I am sated?

I'll be a 2017er! My waiting period is 89 days and my first appointment was November 23rd. I'll be eligible in February and will likely do it around March.

Yeah, he'll send him to the dog POUND! <GROAN>

You'd fit in well in my home. If my husband and I aren't quoting Monty Python, Mystery Science Theater or Futurama, we're probably asleep.

That's another great slowdown tip! But what do you do when even after you have slowed down and are full, you're stupidly determined to finish your whole plate? This is such an ingrained problem for me. A few years ago, my husband and I had a big fight about my feeling guilty over throwing away things like a cup of leftover rice instead of saving it for another night's meal. I just REALLY struggle at throwing away anything edible. I wonder if this is something I can work on during my required therapy sessions.

@@LittleBill Major props to the Meaning of Life reference, but all that scene does is make me giggle. Sadly it isn't very effective at stopping me. @@Raymia The little spoon/little fork thing is such a game changer. If you're not eating finger food, it slows you down significantly. I'll always try to set up appropriate serving sizes when I serve dinner, but I want to try the smaller plate thing too. I know that the amount I'll be able to eat is going to change dramatically soon, I really need to try to cut down!

The subject line says it pretty succinctly. I have a "pick your brain" meeting with my endocrinologist coming up next week. Barring some miracle cure for my issues with metformin and PCOS, I am on board the sleeve train! (That's the first time I've said that aloud, besides to my husband. I just got a little rush of excitement.) So what's the timeframe look like? I'm going to an introductory event at my local bariatric office to meet the physicians. Assuming my insurance approves this and I can get an appointment in, how long does it take from first walking in to meet the doctor until first incision?

I think the subject line says it pretty well. Obviously if you're living with folks, they know what you did. But outside of your immediate family, who have you told? I'm in the supermega preliminary stages of a sleeve. I'm not sure how long the recovery period is yet. My husband will know but I'd rather never tell my parents (especially my mother) or my coworkers. Where do you all stand on disclosure? Are you walking ads for the wonders of the surgery, or do you keep what you did to yourself? If you've spoken about it, who did you tell?

This was super informative, thank you! I see you had full bariatric instead of the sleeve. Any idea if the steps are more or less the same? I'm actually really happy that there are this many steps. While I know I want this, it'll give me ample time to fully adjust to the idea.

@@mbuczkowski Thanks for the reply! I actually spoke with my insurance company on Wednesday. I'm really grateful for my company, we have fantastic coverage. I'll need to hit my deductible and max out of pocket and it'll be covered in full for the rest. So in other words, I'll be covered in full after $1800 out of pocket. Which isn't great but I can definitely swing that. That's a long waiting period though! I've waited for the right tool for well over a decade. I'm ready to go!

Everyone knew I had surgery and was wondering if I would gain all the weight back. It keeps me on my food plan, even nine years later. Ah yes, the spite approach. That'll totally be me, lol!

@@Mountaingal Man, it sounds like you need better friends! Well, I know we're all supporting you here and rooting for success instead of standing on the sidelines hoping you'll fail.

You just had it done! Congratulations. How long did your recovery take?

@@RaptorWitch I'm in Raleigh by the Farmer's Market! That's awesome that you and your husband both did it. The family that loses together...? I'm meeting with my endo next week to get the ball rolling. I'll definitely look up Dr. Villanueva once I'm sure I'm going to go through with it.

You're right down the road from me! Where did you have yours done? Would you recommend your doctor?

YES! I love my fitbit! I began with a Fitbit One which was a hand me down. I loved it but wanted more of the features. I bought an Alta and absolutely loved it. I really liked the silent alarm and the hourly "get up and walk" reminder. Plus, the band was super comfortable. I was never been a watch person but it just felt like nothing was there. I won a Charge 2 in a contest a few weeks ago and switched to that. I'm really digging the heart rate monitor on that. I missed the stair counter from the One (the Alta does not have that) and love that the Charge 2 has all of the Alta features PLUS the ones I missed. I'd definitely recommend a fitbit. Their customer support stands by their products, the product is great quality and tracking is fun. It's really interesting to see how active/sedentary I am and keep track of this stuff! Edit: If anyone is interested, I still have my One and all of the accessories. It works beautifully and I'm happy to part with it for $20 and shipping. (Mods, if this isn't Kosher, I'll remove it!)

I am so grateful for my current job. We're on the top 20 list of best places in the US to work for and my policy is amazing. For $300/month, I have embarrassingly good insurance for myself and my husband which covers medical, mental, vision and dental. It is only about $250 for myself, so adding him was a no-brainer. At my last job, I was paying $500/month (WHAT) for a terrible plan. Nothing was covered. My copay for regular doctors visits was $60 and only covered saying hi, everything else went towards my deductible. My deductible was $2800/year. I'm a healthy person so I never even came CLOSE to that. I looked into adding my husband to the plan when we got married and it was an additional $400 for him. HAHA NO. I'm so grateful for the policy I have, but it is disgusting how the system works. Someone with money or a good job doesn't have any more of a right to live than someone in a bad situation. If I got horribly ill and a friend got horribly ill, why do I get the right to live and get good medical treatment when they will either die or have to eventually declare bankruptcy? The system is broken.

@@HuneComz - I get not supporting someone, but why on earth would she think she needs to give her blessing? What a weird choice of words. It's not like the world revolves around her!

I feel dirty bumping a thread this old, but I don't want to make a new one... Anyone from the area still around on here? I'm looking into a sleeve and could definitely use some good recommendations for a doctor, support group, local person to pick their brain, etc!

I'm so glad I found this post! I started another one before I found this (sorry mods!) hoping to see where people stood. I'm super on the fence. I have always been an open book. I had the essure procedure done (sterilization) and I'm pretty sure I shouted that I was sterile to random strangers. There's such a stigma behind weight loss surgery and it kills me. Now that I'm looking into it as a serious option, I realize it is just a tool. There's no stigma behind using a crutch or a wheelchair if you need it. Why should there be if you're getting the equivalent of a stomach-crutch to help you heal? With that said, I plan to keep it to myself. I'm not sure how I am going to deal with work, but aside from them, I have the benefit of living far enough away from my parents and in-laws that we don't see each other too much. I can lose the weight and attribute it to finally having a diet that works for me. I might tell my friends down the road.

Most of me is starting to agree and saying "PREACH ON! WOO!" The rest of me is sitting on a bench, looking annoyed at my irrational brain for causing a scene. Well, the first appointment (with my endo) is next Tuesday! I hope to be a part of this community but right now, I've got little to add (and will just lurk around). Thanks for the warm welcome and fantastic advice. This is a scary and enormous step, but I think I'm ready to move forward.

Hi everyone! First time poster here. I have started the journey and I'm in the super preliminary "dipping my toes in the water" stages now. I just wanted to pick the brains of the people here. Here's a tl;dr since I ended up rambling. Diet and self-control aren't an issue for me, but I can’t lose weight. Is the sleeve right for me? Am I mentally prepared for this? Hi, how are you doing? A quick history: My whole life I have been overweight. When I graduated college, I promised myself I would get in shape. I really made a concerted effort. I changed my diet and started working out. I have been out of college for almost a decade now and while internally I'm healthy, externally I am still fat. I see a wonderful endocrinologist and we have been working for almost 2 years to get to the root of this problem. I learned that I have PCOS and a serious metformin allergy which is what is making this such a struggle. I have blood tests that show everything is within range and I am technically healthy. She has reviewed nearly 900 days’ worth of MyFitnessPal logs and confirms I am eating correctly. We have tried a range of different weight loss drugs, none of which have had any effect. I did keto for over a year. I lost 30lbs in the first 3 months and then never lost anything else (and yes, I updated my macros as needed). At our last meeting, my doctor admitted that she was running out of ideas to try and it might be time to consider looking into weight loss surgery. I have nothing against surgery (or I wouldn’t be here), but I’ve got to admit that I have some preconceived notions which turn me off of it. I have an aunt who had a lap band put in and is frequently sick from complications. My mother had a gastric bypass and almost died when her body stopped absorbing Iron. Since heading down this path, I realize that my family doesn't take very good care of themselves and as long as I listened to the doctor and went in for routine visits, I should be safe from these things. I also always was under the impression that WLS was for people who had poor portion control and that doing something like this would force them to eat less which was why it worked. Portion control isn’t my issue. When I spoke to my doctor about this, she explained that WLS almost reforms your gastric system. People who were pre-diabetic suddenly get better. People who couldn’t lose weight start losing. This is my big concern. I think I'd like to do the sleeve. I need a tool to make things work. Therefore, I'm okay with a slower loss to hopefully avoid excessive extra skin. Still, as this is an optional surgery, I want to be 110% sure this I can be a success story. My husband helped convince me to stop doing keto. I was making myself absolutely miserable with the incredibly strict diet and no results (now I just keep low carb instead of 20g or less). He helped me see that I was banging my head against a wall and while he was proud of me for doing everything I could, I’d exhausted all of my non-surgical options. He is supportive and tried to convince me to love the body I'm in. Bless him for that, but that's not enough in my head. He is very tall, so while he's a bit overweight, you can't tell. I'm 5'1 and almost 260. We live in a world that's pretty prejudiced against fat people. I don't think he gets understands fat people go through as a daily struggle since he hasn't experienced it first hand. I’m sick and tired of people making split second decisions about me. I’ve had a doctor deny me basic medicine because I’m too fat. I’ve been harassed on the streets and told I don’t belong outside since I’m a gross fat cow**. I am sick of trying on clothing I like and discovering it doesn’t come in my size. I want to look at pictures of myself and see more than my chins. I try not to let these things get to me, but it still sucks to have these experiences. I am healthy, I’d really like that to be reflected on the outside as well. On top of that, I posted something similar to this elsewhere and someone pointed out "you're healthy until you aren't. Being overweight makes you a walking risk factor." They're right. If I break my leg, the recovery would be significantly harder with the extra weight. If I needed life saving surgery, going under anesthesia would be more dangers as a fat person. I'm healthy now, but there's a reason you don't see many old fat people. So there's my long and boring background. When I discussed this with my husband, he had two large fears. 1) The big one was that I would have this surgery and nothing would change. Are there any studies which show not the effectiveness of success stories, but the percentage of people who follow instructions and don't lose? Committing to the diet is not an issue for me, but I'm terrified of the idea of going under the knife for an optional surgery and not having anything to show for it. 2) Mental health issues. I don't think this one is valid, but for my husband's sake, I'll ask! I had a pretty traumatic childhood in multiple ways. He is worried that even if I lose the weight, I won't be happy. I'll hate myself for the extra skin, for a large toenail, for something. He thinks I'll never be happy. I don't agree at all. My childhood was pretty messed up, but I have spent well over a decade outside of that environment and have healed and become a healthy and well adjusted person. He was there the entire time to see the transition. I want to lose weight for the discussed reasons above. I don't want to have to carry around lab results to my primary doctor to prove I'm not diabetic and that my cholesterol looks good. I want to wear cute clothing and not have breakdowns in the dressing room when the largest size doesn't fit right. Still, I'm bringing this up for him. When you lost the weight, did you feel better afterwards? Did you have any lingering mental issues? I have an appointment with my endocrinologist coming up where I plan to discuss options and get a good bariatric recommendation. I will be bringing all of this up with her. However, I'm the type of person can't sit still and wants to research everything available! Plus, if I'm going to be doing this, it would be nice to join the community and get to know you guys. Sorry for the wall of text. I swear, I'm not nearly this long winded! I hope someday to be able to go "Hi, I'm Jess. I used to be fat and now I'm not." and that'll count as my entire weight loss history. *He had terrible bedside manner. I spoke to another doctor in the practice who was horrified and immediately gave me the medicine I needed **Which, while it doesn't bother me directly (I've got thick skin) frustrates me. I'm healthy. My lab work keeps coming back showing I am healthy. I don't care what strangers think, but I also hate knowing that only those close to me realize how hard I work to be healthy without anything to show for it.

@@theantichick Please, correct away. I'm able to find the personal stories and before/after pictures. What I'm not able to find (and read in a comprehending manner) is the science. I appreciate all of the input! I'm all about the metabolic changes. As I said above, I struggle most days to eat 1200 calories. I just don't really get hungry. That's why I feared this surgery for so long - portion control and eating in general isn't my issue. I need something to rekajigger my body chemistry!

Really? Fascinating! Thanks for sharing your story. I definitely plan to talk to my doctor until I'm blue in the face! jess9395 - Thanks for the link! I'll check it out when I get home later! Babbs - That post was amazing. Why do I feel so inspired suddenly? Thank you so much for the reply. Also for the laugh at the koala comment. My metabolism went out for a pack of smokes when I hit puberty and I haven't seen it since. Hiraeth - Lol. Technically I'm 5'1 and three quarters. Those 3/4ths make me taller than my mother. Also, my husband is 6'4, so it makes me sound less ridiculous next to him! If that is what is essentially going on, that's a brilliant way to think about it. The idea of cutting out part of my stomach actually was making me feel uneasy. The idea of cutting out the inflamed bits definitely helps see things in a different perspective. I'm not as worried about the surgery. I've had back surgery and a few other minor things done. I have a pretty high tolerance for pain. I'm not looking forward to that bit, but that's the price to pay. Thank you everyone for your feedback! I'm excited to be here, you're all so helpful and welcoming!