SleeveToBypass2023

Grrrrr!!!! I don't like the people at your doctor's office!!!!! As a medical assistant (and former front desk person) that just grinds my gears!!! But at least you're in now. You can bypass all of them and talk directly to your doctor now. I'm so glad you got your answers and feel better. Are you starting to get excited??? I'm excited for you!!!

I literally had that happen the other day!!! I was walking and I saw my reflection in the window as I was walking towards it. I saw this thin person walking and her thighs weren't rubbing together. There was like a gap or space between them as she walked. And I got SO JEALOUS!!! I've always wanted to have that. I kept thinking "Man, how much more weight do I have to lose to have THAT" and then I looked up at the face in the reflection and literally stopped walking. It was ME!!! I was the thin person walking without their thighs rubbing. I stopped walking and my husband was concerned. He kept asking me what was wrong and I could could say was "there's a gap!!!" He thought I lost it lol Body dysmorphia is REAL. That's definitely something NOBODY told me about when I started this journey, that's for sure.

Honestly, I like both. They both taste great. BUT...while Fairlife has more protein, it's harder to find and quite expensive. However, it tastes absolutely delicious. Premier has more flavor choices, is easy to find, is cheaper, and tastes really, REALLY good. Still gives a good amount of protein. So I like both, and I mad sure to have both.

So did you have your appt yet? If so, how did it go? Did you get in the dang portal? I'm so annoyed about that....

Both times I wore leggings (soft with a soft waist) and a loose top. I wore it there and just wore the same thing home. I just wanted to make sure it was soft and loose.

That sounds so wonderful!!! Have a fantastic time, you deserve it. And you're right, we all deserve to have time with the one we love and not worry about anything else. I call it "the bubble". For this amount of time, nothing but hubby and I are allowed in our bubble. All the stress and BS will still be there later, but right now, in this time and in this bubble, it's just me and my love. Nobody and nothing is allowed to bother us in our bubble. YAY on your NSV!!!! The first time I was able to paint my toe nails without straining or getting out of breath, I literally almost cried. I couldn't believe it!!! So being able to do that is definitely a victory worth celebrating. As for leggings, I still wear them all the time (when I'm not in scrubs for work lol) I love them. They're super comfy, and the smaller sizes have the cutest colors, styles, and designs. And like @summerseeker said, they hold my wobbly loose skin just enough lol Something @catwoman7 said really struck me. She said "not because I'm fat, because I'm not any more" and I stopped right there because HOLY CRAP, I'm not fat anymore!!! Sometimes I forget that. I don't know why that resonated with me so much, but it really hit me that I'M NOT FAT ANYMORE. I know you're going to hit your goals. We all have our ups and downs, and this journey is not easy and not for the faint of heart. But if you do it, and you really make the changes and do the work, it's BEAUTIFUL on the other side. And I know you'll get there. But for right now, put everything else out of your mind, get pampered, get in your bubble with your hunny, and have an awesome time in London ❤️

I'm working on figuring out how to maintain lol I'm below goal, which is fine is I stay where I'm at. Don't really want to go any lower. I'm slowly increasing calories and carbs, but I can't go too high or I get sick. So I'm just trying to figure it out. My first year post surgery, I was half way to my goal (I needed to lose roughly 200 pounds to get to my goal). I had complications that slowed my weight loss (I lost 113 pounds in 8 months) after the 8-9 month mark. I had my revision 13 months after my initial surgery and lost another 94 pounds in a year. I also had 2 major surgeries during that time, too. Now my weight loss is (hopefully) stopping - 2 years after my initial surgery and 1 year after my revision. I've lost a total of 240 pounds from my highest weight and 207 pounds from my surgery-day weight. And it took me a total of 2 years. I hit many stalls along the way, but it's all been 100% worth it.

How are things going now? Have you gotten yourself back on track?

I always liked making smoothies. I used 1 bottle of Propel electrolyte water (different flavors), 1 scoop of collagen, 1 scoop of greens, 1 cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk, 4 packets of monk fruit sweetener, 1-2 cups of whatever fruit I wanted (strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, etc), and avocado. I would also add ground flax seeds, ground chia seeds, and shredded coconut. I loved them. I did them from about 6 weeks through the first year. Then I just kind of got out of making them. Maybe I'll start doing them again.....

Oh my Lord...lol Do you know what system the portal is through? Athena, Epic, eClinicalWorks...I've worked with all 3 and can walk through how to get on the portal. If they have to send you an invitation to set up the portal, it sounds like Athena. The front desk should be able to do that. Medical Assistants can also do it. What kind of people did they hire for the front desk??? Patients being on the portal is HUGE. You request refills, see your appointments, make/cancel/reschedule appts, see lab results, and talk directly to your doctors through it. Now I'M annoyed with that office.....

At 2 weeks, I was on things like avocado spread, cottage cheese, hummus, refried beans, softly scrambled eggs. I was also drinking ready made protein shakes because they count as fluids and protein. I also was drinking protein gatorade zero. I would just be careful with what you're eating and how much, because at 2 weeks out you're still healing.

If you go into your profile and update all of your info (starting weight, current weight, goal weight, bmi, surgery, height) that helps. Also, what is your diet like? Do you work out? Do you track your food? So you have any other health issues that could be stopping the weight loss? Have you talked to your nutritionist and surgeon?

Here's a kind of progression of my hair. So the first one is when I was at my heaviest and let my natural curl come out. I actually loved my hair in this pic. Then in pic 2 is when I didn't straighten it but as you can see, there's barely any wave to it. The 3rd one is with it completely straightened. The rest are after I cut my hair after my hysterectomy. It shows how the curl slowly started to come back tighter until it's finally like it is now. It's so weird why it's like this again. But I like it enough, for now, to leave it.

It's 5am. I'm up. That's all ya get. There's no rising and shining going on here.

YASSS girl!!!! Looking SO good!!!!!!

Thank you

thank you

Wait, so it's not your insurance saying what you had wasn't good enough, it was your doctor? I'm really surprised. My doctor looked at what I had and said "that works for me" and signed off that I had done 6+ months of failed weight loss attempts.

That's exactly the stuff you want to tell your pcp. That might be enough to cut that 6 months way down or even out completely.

Everyone seems to agree with them lol I remember why I started straightening it, tho. It's a pain to maintain. But I'll do it until I want to chop it all off lol Then I'll see how it goes. I'm not one to mess with my hair much, and I don't do much in the way of make up. Haven't since high school. So having to put the leave in conditioner in my hair and the curl cream is super annoying. If I don't, it's all kinds of floofy and frizzy. So it keeps my hair nice and tame. So we'll see how long it lasts. For now, I really like it. And thank you for the compliment Very sweet of you.

Have you ever mentioned to your doctor, in the past, the things you did to try and lose weight? I have BCBS and they had the same requirement. But I had mentioned to my pcp that I did keto, weight watchers, calorie restriction, and the mediterranean diet. When I mentioned this, she put it in the notes that went to the insurance company and they accepted it and that took 6 months off the process. My pcp was very supportive and was happy for me to do the surgery. I gave her all the requirements from my insurance company (I needed to pass a ekg, her form stating what I've tried to lose weight, my comorbidities, etc...) he jumped right on that and got it done asap. By the time I went to my 1st appt w/ my surgeon, she had already sent all of this to their office. So I was 3/4 of the way finished on day 1 of seeing my surgeon. All I had left to do was the psych eval, blood work the surgeon needed, and then waiting for it all to be submitted and approved by insurance. My first appt with the surgeon was Feb 28th, 2022. My psych eval was March 7th. Everything was submitted to my insurance on March 10th and I got my approval on March 14th 2022. The longest part of this was honestly actually getting to the surgery date because I couldn't have it until May 3rd due to the surgeon's schedule. So honestly, the better prepared you are, the more you do behind the scenes, the faster the whole process will go.

It says you had the lapband. Did you already have a revision from lapband to bypass? If so, I'm not sure you can do another one. The only revision I know you can get after you've had a bypass is the SADI, but it's still really new, so not a lot of insurance companies will cover it yet.

I eat strawberries, blueberries, avocado, sometimes a pear, and every once in a while, an apple. I stay away from grapes (little sugar bombs), bananas, oranges (mostly because of the acid), pineapple (hard to digest still), and peaches (just don't like them). Absolutely LOVE watermelon. I don't eat cantaloupe or honeydew melon because I just don't like them. Blackberries and raspberries are excellent for bypass patients, but I don't like them so I don't eat them.

Our stash is actually running quite low lol Normally those shelves are full. You should see our pantry and the 3 freezers we have. Mama don't play when it comes to being prepared. That's how we made it through every time I missed work because of a surgery.

It's the only one to have lol