vikingbeast

Hi Leslie, welcome to BP. I have been on the emotional rollercoaster (my surgery is in... uh... 36 hours) and it is totally normal. But honestly, finding this site has been a lifeline for me, I would almost certainly have chickened out otherwise.

It really depends how much you like what your current therapist is doing outside of the weight topic. If you feel like you want her to be in your life, then just don't talk to her about weight loss and use bariatric support groups for that.

If she's turning into one of these preachy, teetering-on-the-edge-of-anti-science types, maybe now's a good time to thank her for what she's done for you and find someone who aligns better with your goals. It is YOUR life and not open to anyone's—not even your therapist's—judgment.

Same, same. I have "Tarantella Nova" on full blast so I can dance around to it and shake off the doubt. (Yes, my musical taste is eclectic, but I love Mimmo Cavallaro.)

I hear you! Keeping busy is a need when the adrenaline kicks in. Good luck and godspeed! 💪

Hi Leslie, welcome to BP. I have been on the emotional rollercoaster (my surgery is in... uh... 36 hours) and it is totally normal. But honestly, finding this site has been a lifeline for me, I would almost certainly have chickened out otherwise.

Best of luck!! I'm on Tuesday and the anxiety is real!

I'm pre-op but have lost 17 lbs. since I started seriously considering this process (and 34 from my high)... today I had to park in a somewhat tight spot, and only had to open my truck door one "bump" to get out. Surgery is in exactly week... I can't wait.

My Surgery date is for 9/13/2021 8am I am very excited and nervous! I had a week of liquid diet which was very hard for me! Im praying my liver did shrink some. I'm just preparing my mind, body, and soul for tomm morning! Im ready to get rid of this excess weight, sleep apnea, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and high cholesterol! Wish me luck! I pray for you and you pray for me🙏🏿🙏🏿!

It really depends how much you like what your current therapist is doing outside of the weight topic. If you feel like you want her to be in your life, then just don't talk to her about weight loss and use bariatric support groups for that.

If she's turning into one of these preachy, teetering-on-the-edge-of-anti-science types, maybe now's a good time to thank her for what she's done for you and find someone who aligns better with your goals. It is YOUR life and not open to anyone's—not even your therapist's—judgment.

Last night my husband and I ran into a guy that we used to bowl against when we did league (before COVID made that too much of a risk). He didn’t say anything to me but he went and told my husband right away he barely recognized me. I guess he felt it was inappropriate to say to a female? I was glad that someone noticed and sorta glad that it wasn’t made a big deal of too. So it worked out. I got my reassurance that it is visible without too much attention to make me uncomfortable.

I bought a couple of sweaters from Ann Taylor Loft on sale because I have nothing for the colder weather. The size small was not the NSV - but the freedom to not feel like I “shouldn’t” wear a sweater with horizontal stripes was a big one! I didn’t realize how much my mom had instilled that in my head until I was looking at the website and purposefully skipping the ones with horizontal stripes because it would make me look bigger. Well, I got it in the mail yesterday and I think I can now say wearing horizontal stripes will be part of my life! PS - I think anyone at any size should wear what they want and what they feel good in - but my mom hammered into me all of these things about being heavy from like middle school on (suck in your stomach, be in the back behind people so your full body isn’t on display, no horizontal stripes, etc.) so this is just 30 years of baggage I’m trying to unload. Wearing horizontal stripes is major for me.

I have an entire list.
- Go off all my meds (BP meds, hormone meds, etc.)
- Maybe lose my CPAP.
- Fit in a kayak.
- Run a sub-10 mile.
- Do a pull-up.
- Go back to being able to ride horses.
- No more seatbelt extenders on airplanes.
- No more sitting down gingerly to see if the chair will hold me.
- Increased mobility (palms on floor)
- No more "we'd like a table, not a booth, please"
There's more but that's the big stuff.

And that is one reason why I did get vaccinated—because I can, and the sooner we reach "herd immunity", the sooner it's safer for the immunocompromised like you and a very, very close friend to go back out into society. Did I have misgivings? Oh, yeah... but as an obese person, that thing has got its sights set on me and I decided the benefits far outweighed the risks.

(Not here to preach! If you have questions or concerns, talk to a doctor you trust.)

Did you buy new, closer-fitting clothes?

My surgeon told me to stock up on Gas-X (simethicone) and to make sure I chew it to basically liquid.

Not a ton. I had bulked up for a strongman contest in April which put me at 376, and today I was 356. I’d love to be under 350 for surgery (yay liquid diet) but if it doesn’t happen before surgery it sure as shootin’ will after surgery.

Good luck lizonaplane!! I’m Tuesday so will be following any updates you feel ready to make!

Civility on the Internet? Oh my gosh, I need to go buy a lottery ticket. (Seriously, kudos to you both.)

Not a ton. I had bulked up for a strongman contest in April which put me at 376, and today I was 356. I’d love to be under 350 for surgery (yay liquid diet) but if it doesn’t happen before surgery it sure as shootin’ will after surgery.

Good luck lizonaplane!! I’m Tuesday so will be following any updates you feel ready to make!

Not a ton. I had bulked up for a strongman contest in April which put me at 376, and today I was 356. I’d love to be under 350 for surgery (yay liquid diet) but if it doesn’t happen before surgery it sure as shootin’ will after surgery.

Good luck lizonaplane!! I’m Tuesday so will be following any updates you feel ready to make!

I have a whole coterie of doctors at this point, as I'm sure many of us do, to fix the various systems.

One of them makes me take my shoes and socks off at every appointment so he can poke my feet to see if I can feel the poke. It drives me insane. He insists I must be at least pre-diabetic because I'm so fat, and assumes that I've just gone off and "put a bandaid on my poor diet" for a while to pass his blood glucose screenings. He also insists I tell my primary care physician that I need to be on statins (presumably also because I'm fat). When I point out my cholesterol is just fine, he comes up with some "new fact" or other; the latest was there is something wrong with the SHAPE of my fat cells or some such b0ll0cks.

Well... as part of my pre-op testing, the surgeon pulled my lipids and blood glucose. Lipids were in the bottom half of the normal range (142 total, HDL 53, LDL 67, triglycerides 94, so right exactly where they needed to be), and my A1c is 5.2.

I printed a copy of the results from MyChart and mailed them to the offending MD with a polite but passive-aggressive note. Childish? Perhaps. But cathartic. I cannot wait until they can't use my weight as an excuse for being trash people.

How does the team determine what your goal weight is? I get confused silence when I ask.
I ask because my surgeon, who had the most supportive conversation about BMI I've ever had with me, says I should be aiming for 250-275 lbs. I am six feet tall and currently weigh 370. But it was a Zoom call and he never even saw me other than from the chest up.
I know everyone says they're big-framed, but in my case it does seem to be true. I have had DXA scans done and, depending where I am in a training cycle (I was a strongman and now am trying to do more functional stuff), I may have anywhere from 205 to 218 lbs. of lean body mass. So 275 lbs. would be somewhere between 20-25% body fat, which seems a little bit high for a goal weight. 250 lbs. would be 13-18%, which seems about right. I know I will lose some muscle while I can't train, and hopefully will be able to get it back.
Or do they just use the bl00dy BMI chart? Just wondering, because to be "successful", you're supposed to lose 60-70% of your "excess weight".

Don't beat yourself up. And don't look at the past. That's not the direction you're headed.

2021's been terrible for me, lost my mom early in the year and spent a huge chunk of time across the country eating whatever the heck I wanted and doing no exercise because it was the COVID spike and everything was closed or snowy. I gained 25 lbs. in three months. And I didn't do anything about it until I started seriously looking at this in July, and guess what? I'm down 22 of those 25 lbs.

Get yourself the help you know you need with stress management and stress eating, and give yourself some grace. Sure, you gained some. But now you're on it. And it will come off!

Mine is being covered by my insurance. I owe my 20% co-insurance up to my out-of-pocket max, so this should cost me somewhere around $2,000.

My surgeon told me to stock up on Gas-X (simethicone) and to make sure I chew it to basically liquid.

I'm pre-op but have lost 17 lbs. since I started seriously considering this process (and 34 from my high)... today I had to park in a somewhat tight spot, and only had to open my truck door one "bump" to get out. Surgery is in exactly week... I can't wait.