blackcatsandbaddecisions

Alright, I’m joining you all on the losers bench on Tuesday morning! I am completely freaked out, but just plugging on ahead. Looks like I’ll have lost 9 or so lbs on the liquid diet, so about 58 lbs so far down. Luckily I am staying in an air bnb and won’t have access to a scale because I know people usually gain a bit after surgery and I just don’t want to see it. I decided the next time I will weigh myself is at the post op on Friday. Now on to surgery, and on to lose the other 120 lbs I have left to go.

@love_thatgirl no problem! I’ll be honest I have a slight hope i would see “typical” weight loss on the liquid diet, but I was pretty sure I wouldn’t. I’ve lost and gained weight enough over the past decades to know darn well that the initial big weight loss when you start a diet is a one time deal. Good luck to everyone going into surgery tomorrow! Everyone here is thinking about you, and please come back as soon as you are able to let us know how you are doing!

Not sure if this is what you’re looking for love_thatgirl, but I had a pretty strict preop diet (very low carb, low calorie, no sugars/grain/starchy food) for a few months prior to the liquid diet. I dropped almost 50 lbs on it, and started the full liquid diet on Tuesday. I’ve lost 4 lbs on the liquid diet. So not super fast, but still losing. My stats: 5’10, HW 339, CW 286. I’m pretty sure this means I’ll be in the slow losers club post op but I am fine with that. My big goal was to be under 300 before surgery, and then to lose as absolute much weight as I can prior so I can take advantage of my post op time. I have a loooot to lose and I’m worried about stalling out at like 225 or something. I want 2021 to be the year I see 165 on the scale again.

The cookies and cream shake is just gross, IMO. The best flavors are just plain chocolate, vanilla, caramel if you add espresso, and the pumpkin spice is actually ok. Yesterday I was informed I could have v8 on my diet and it was about the most exciting news ever. My surgeon requires a 4 week post op liquid diet as well so I was amusing myself counting out weeks and realizing it might be Christmas before I actually get to chew something again.

The caramel ones I find kind of cloyingly sweet, but if you put them in ice and add two shots of espresso they are very good. Kind of caramel macchiatoesque. Or at least that’s what I tell myself. Preop is Monday, so that is the last hurdle for me. I am worried something might come up on the bloodwork, or I have some crazy asymptomatic case of Covid, etc etc.

Won a free 4 pack of the new Premier Protein cinnamon roll shake and it came in the mail today. It was...interesting. I’ll finish the other three but I wouldn’t buy it. I got the premier Protein clear fruit punch protein Water and it is so much better than Protein20. Sucralose>Stevia. And the last trial item today was BariMelts Vitamins. Those were a total win. They tasted fine, actually dissolved in my mouth, and didn’t hurt my stomach. I ordered a 30 day supply.

Well I am officially done with day two of the liquid diet. It’s actually going pretty well overall. My surgeons diet is 100% liquid, with a strict restriction on any added sugar for the liquids. So far I’ve had premier proteins, protein water, and crystal lite. I really feel like staying on the low carb diet prior to this helped because I swear the second I get ahold of carbs my appetite just goes crazy. I’m fully committed to doing this pre-op diet to the letter of the (surgeons) law because first off it’s just for another 12 days, and secondly I worked so hard to get to qualify for surgery that I will do anything possible to make sure it goes well. Good luck to everyone!

So for prescriptions my doctor orders as standard: Scopolamine patch for behind the ear Zofran Metoclopramide Liquid hydrocodone Pepcid ac I take for a few months Two celebrex tablets to take the morning of surgery. Anyone else have prescriptions already? I’m curious how different mds order different items.

Billho and Newyork lady, you guys are 100% in line with everything I’ve thought. It’s hard when you know that you are going to undertake surgery for something that is technically “fixable” without it...and yet evidence shows that it generally won’t be fixed without surgery. I’ve had a lot of stress over the fact that I did this to myself. One thing I’ve tried to tell myself is that a lot of medical conditions are self inflicted, but those people deserve to have their conditions treated and receive medical care regardless. Some cancers, accidents, etc are very self inflicted, but I certainly don’t judge those people for seeking and getting care, so we need to be a bit kinder to ourselves. Newyorklady, I was 100% sure that insurance was going to find some stupid loophole or change coverage or whatever and I would get denied. I had a gut instinct that would happen. Well, it actually went through with a next day approval first try, so maybe the part of my gut that knew it was going to be denied is the portion of my gut I’m removing. :)

I’ve been on a very low carb/calorie diet for the last few months to lose weight pre-surgery (yay, 50 lbs down), but I start my full liquid diet on Tuesday. I’m not doing a bunch of food funerals but I did break my low carb for tonight only and had sushi. I’ll go back to the diet tomorrow then transition to the liquid diet Tuesday. I’m going to keep low carb on that because it’s the only thing that keeps hunger at bay. My doctor already called in my prescriptions for surgery so I have those picked up. It makes it feel real!

So weird question, but is there any reason why I couldn’t open up a capsule (like the procare) and mix it in with a protein shake or something? Or should I really focus on trying to find a chewable one I can tolerate for the first few months? I tried a few and they were so bad I couldn’t handle them right now, so I don’t give very much hope I would do better after surgery

My surgery date: Tuesday November 10

Well I can officially knock insurance denial off the list- approved today! Surgery set for 11/10. I’m so excited, but yikes!

My biggest fears are: 1. Dying- I am the breadwinner for my family, have two young children, and two elderly parents with dementia I take care of. I need to be here because there are a lot of people counting on me for pretty much everything. 2. It not working- I feel like I hear so many horror stories of it not working, or people losing only a small amount of weight before nothing happening. I know it generally works, but you can’t help but be concerned that you might go through all this for nothing. 3. Regain. This is not my first rodeo with weight loss. Over 10 years ago I lost 150 lbs (without surgery) and had an amazing experience being “thin” for the first time in my life with all the accolades, pride, etc that comes with it. Only to gain it all back plus a lot more. I am doing everything I can to try to make this time different but I’ve done it to myself before and I’m terrified I’ll do it again. 4. My freaking insurance finding some dumb loophole to deny my surgery that they submitted for last week! Or Covid causing elective surgeries to be cancelled again and my husband losing his job that has the Bariatric coverage medical insurance before they resume surgery. Or basically some new reason that I get denied after so many years trying to make this work. 5. Complications: a leak, chronic issues, being nauseous forever, a clot, having to have the surgery revised later due to gerd, or any other issues that I can think of. So basically what are my greatest fears? Everything, it looks like. Ha!

I am hoping for November! I had my final appointment on October 14, so everything has been submitted to insurance. I’m kind of jealous of people who get scheduled while they are waiting on insurance- my coordinator said it could take up to 2 weeks for approval, so I guess that’s why. Navigating the holidays is going to be interesting. I haven’t told any family about the surgery so no clue on Thanksgiving and how that will go.

6 months through PacificSource.

Hi All, I am coming up next month on 6/6 appointments for my required six month waiting for insurance. I didn’t have much success with weight loss during the first few months, but since early July I’ve been pretty successful with dieting and have lost 40 lbs. I am still above 40 BMI, and would have to lose another 20+ lbs to get under 40 BMI, which I know is the cutoff without other comorbidities. My last appointment is 2.5 weeks away so I think I’m pretty safe for not falling below that cutoff before I’m done with the waiting period, but is it possible to lose too much weight in the qualification period if you are still above the BMI cutoff? and side note, depending on how long it is between the submission to insurance/surgery day I think it’s pretty likely I’d fall below at that point. Can they rescind your approval after the fact if you show up for survey or a pre op appointment below the cutoff BMI? sorry for all the paranoid questions, and thank you in advance!

I really appreciate all your responses, thank you! I want to take advantage of this time to set some new habits and lose as much weight as possible before surgery. I’ll keep up my dieting and try to get as low as I can so I have less to lose after surgery.

I hear you, I’m almost done with my six appointments and the closer it gets the more concerned I’ve become. I am naturally quite risk adverse as well, so the idea of a surgery like this is scary. My reality is that the risk of complications from surgery is less than the risk of serious complications from staying this overweight. I think sometimes we try to trick ourselves into assuming that the only risk is with an action, but the reality is that complacency and staying the course we are already on is very risky as well. I’d rather take my chances of long term health and greater happiness than stay where I am. Good luck to both of us!

So I have my long awaited first appointment tomorrow. Kind of makes me laugh thinking when I set it up over a month and a half ago I was like “wow how will I stand the wait” I guess the global pandemic kind of helped pass the time. Another minor good thing that happened is instead of having my appointment cancelled which I had reconciled myself to, it got switched to a telemedicine visit. That is great for me because not only do I still get to have the appointment but it was going to be a two hour drive each way for the appointment so that really helps. Not sure how it will work being virtual but this is just so they can submit me to insurance to find out my requirements so hopefully this all works. I know my insurance covers surgery, and I know I am for sure heavy enough to qualify under any BMI (yay, good job on that, haha) but I’m still nervous. I know it will likely be a 6 month monitored process but the only way I can afford this is to qualify under insurance. I haven’t told anyone in my life except my husband but randomly tonight my parents told me while I was filling their pill containers they were concerned about my weight. They have dementia/Alzheimer’s so it kind of made me sad that they will get lost and forget how to use the bathroom but remember that I am way too heavy. I don’t want to talk to them about the surgery because they wouldn’t really understand and it would worry them but I am hopeful that I can get this surgery and lose weight in enough time for them to see it and know that I am doing ok. It would mean so much to me for them to be able to see that. I’ll report how the appointment went, but has anyone had a telemedicine appointment for their first visit? I’m a long time lurker and everyone here has been so helpful. Really appreciate the support.

My 18 month old sat on my lap eating crackers for my whole visit. He has gotten used to being a part of my work meetings so once he sees that laptop camera on its time for him to start practicing his animal noises.

Well, I’m glad I didn’t drive for the initial appointment because I would have been pretty annoyed to have driven all that way for like 10 minutes. We went over my medical history very briefly and she described the surgery. Nothing I haven’t read here a hundred times. I did mention my concern about the sleeve is that I have pretty bad daily heartburn right now so looks like I’m going to get an endoscopy prior to take a look at that. So I’m submitted to surgery to find out the process from there. Overall the telemedicine visit felt kinda strange-doesn’t really feel like I had an appointment to be honest. But with how convenient it was i would love to do the nutritionist/psych evaluation like this if at all possible. Now I can find out what my prior authorization looks like at least!