I have been sadly mistaken...

I had to go to the doc yesterday.  I weighed myself that morning with a T-shirt and shorts on.  I went to the doc in the afternoon and  weighed with blue jeans and a top on.  I weighed 3 lbs. less than what I weighed that mornng.  I was kind of surprised since I was thinking it would be more due to time of day and more clothes on.  Are those doctors scale always accurate?  If it is I'm glad about that, but I can't take it as a loss since my starting weight was done on my home scale.   Brenda

 

Oh Kris... what a crappy day you had yesterday :(  Nothing like a kick in the face :( I'm glad you told us of your WLS plans... I see nothing wrong with that... you know your body and you know yourself better than anyone else... if this will help you find good health and happiness... you have 100% of my support!   Try not to be so hard on yourself. Isn't it odd how we are so hard on ourselves? MUCH harder on ourselves than others are on us- or we are on others. That's cause we can often see the clearer picture as it's not as fogged by the deeper emotions we have within. Hang in there!  (((((hugs)))))

Kris, Just be good to yourself, do yur research, and good luck on whatever you decide!

Hey Chris, I noticed your post on Thursday, but didn't quite feel up to posting.  Now that I'm on the road to recovery, I gotta say...I completely understand where you are coming from. When I had my psych consult the dr. asked me, if you've lost 45 lbs so far, why not continue?  If you can lose 45 lbs a year you'll be doing so well.  This is from a man who didn't look to have ever been overweight, so I doubt he dealt with his own demons regarding food.  With that said, I explained to him I needed this "tool" to help me realise a healthy weight faster than I could get there naturally.  My body was giving me signs it was tired of the excess weight and not going to hold out if I kept "playing around."  Plus, like you, I had gotten off track.  I don't know the exact day, but it happened.  Before my liquid diet I had gained back 10 lbs, so my 49 lbs loss became 39 lbs.  Yup, still felt a lot better than I had before I lost that weight, but I also knew I needed that extra help to get where I needed to go. Do you know how long the WLS process is for your insurance?  All insurances are different, but I've got to say the time you put into it will be well worth it.  What surgery are you looking at?  Does your insurance allow you to pick from most out there or are you limited?  When I started looking my insurance company (Priority Health) didn't approve the VSG.  That didn't stop me from pursuing the VSG...what I felt was the best surgery for me.  Luckily I took my time and didn't rush.  When I met with my surgeon, after having a physical with their resident dr. and she told me my insurance wouldn't ok the VSG, I still asked.  The amazing thing is PH had just changed their policy somewhat and they had added some obscure wording regarding the VSG.  It still said you had to have good reasons why you couldn't go for the other surgeries.  After talking to the surgeon he said he felt I could be approved and I was!!!  Whatever surgery you decide on, it's for life so I was very happy I didn't have to fight with my insurance company. Those darn scales.  It's so hard when you think you weigh one weight and then get on a dr's scale and it's totally off.  I hope you have been able to shrug off that shock and move towards the positive...You don't weight in the 330's anymore and soon you'll be out of the 300's again. All the best, Melinda

No clue on how long the process is. I do know that I need 6 months of medically supervised pre-op diet.  I've decided to go with the DS.  It gives me the VSG plus malabsorption.   I am very limited on the surgery centers I can choose from. I haven't actually figured out which surgeons are covered. I'm sure they're going to balk at the DS but I'm prepared to fight. I haven't completely bounced back from the shock of the weight. I'm struggling to eat properly and not feel like all is lost.  The surgery gives me hope but the thought of having to diet another 6 months makes me sick.  Some just do not understand the mental struggles that we undergo just to not have one extra bite of something yummy.  If someone were going to pay me $30,000 to go on a 6 month diet then I am pretty sure I would have one helluva  time doing so.  Afterall, that's what the insurance company is really doing right? Giving you money to diet. :)  I'll pull through this. It'll take some time but I'll do it.  The wife and I went walking yesterday.  For the first time in a few days, I felt refreshed and ready to attack it again.

Can you start your medically supervised pre-op diet now?  Mine had that requirement, but I got to bypass it as my BMI was so high.  I still had to jump through some hoops, including two psych visits.  My insurance requires it...lovely.  Congrats on picking the surgery that you think will work for you.  That's the biggest decision in this whole process.  I know with your struggles, the DS is definitely a good choice for you.  For me, I knew in my heart with my health and my families health issues, VSG would work best. Those numbers can get you can't they?  When I saw that huge number of 376 last May I was in total shock.  Good grief...WTH did I do to myself?  Even once I lost the weight and then started gaining it back it was hard to see those numbers.  Getting back on track is so hard. You will definitely pull through it one step at a time.  I found it helped me to not look at the big picture.  The fact I need to lose over 200 lbs total is mind-blowing.  You will be successful on this 6 month diet.  The reason I know this is you know once it's over you will get the "tool" you need to be successful.  It sounds like you just took those first steps by taking that walk with your wife yesterday.

I go to see my doctor on the 31st. At my last visit I spoke to him about the surgery and such. I'm that will serve as my first visit for the pre-op diet.  So I guess I have started.  I don't expect to lose a ton of weight over the next 6 months but I'm gonna do the best I can.  I do have the fear in the back of my mind that if I lose to much they'll deny me.  Not sure how that works.

Something that helped reassure me, was getting the actual Bariatric Surgery policy for my insurance company.  I actually found it by searching their website.  It will give you the list of criteria.  I would definitely encourage you to find that out.  For my insurance company, they went by the weigh in at my surgeon's office for the "official" weight and not the months I went to my PCP.  Once you have your weight "set" and as long as you meet the criteria at that time, then you shouldn't have any problems if your BMI goes below it during your required 6 month diet.

Unfortunately mine doesn't give me any detailed information. It's up to the United Resource Network. (urnweb.com) I've gotten so much misinformation from them today I'm ready to pull my hair out.