APPROVED!! EXCITED... SCARED... EXCITED... SCARED

Thanks to all of you for posting your stories, questions, fears... makes me feel so normal!  I got my call today that I was APPROVED and now am 2 weeks pre-surgery.  So excited to be taking this step, but the mood swings have started.   I have had such fantastic support from friends and family, but I am so afraid of not losing weight.  Even during the 6mo pre-approval visits, I haven't lost ... Still don't quite understand how I can limit my calories and not lose weight but that surgery will change that, but I'm tired of defining myself by my weight... and of having others define me by my weight.  I'm tired of feeling guilty about eating -- eating right things or wrong things, just guilty about eating or being seen eating or being seen exercising.  Tired of believing that if I just ate less that I'd lose weight - to the point that I stopped eating and became anemic.  I'm ready to feel good about myself and to look on the outside the way I feel about myself on the inside.  The 6 months of pre-op went by fast...  I know the next 2 weeks will fly by too...  I'm scared but I can do this...  thank you to everyone who has shared a story, a laugh, a fear, a hope, a success... You've helped me get to this place where I feel like a caterpillar getting ready to be a butterfly.

Congratulations on the approval and your new sleeve in two weeks. The sleeve is not a magical cure but, it sounds like you have the right determination to succeed. I wish you an uneventful surgery and a speedy recovery.

i know how you feel....soon you will be celebrating that sleeve

congratulations!

You sound like I was before surgery: SO. READY!

I'm just under 3 months out and down 40 lbs (I'm a lightweight so I don't lose as much or as fast as some others) and if I never lose another pound the surgery was already worth it!!! BEST thing I've ever done for myself by far!

I really don't think you'll regret it. Focus on all of those things you are sick of and not the fear or pre op jitters. You are going to do great! We'll make room on the losers bench for ya!!! Congrats on making this change and taking this step! You'll be steppin' lighter from now on!

 Can I ask how much you were above ideal weight?  I'm 5'9" and i think i'm right at 100lbs over ideal (BMI=37),  so I'm not sure where that puts me in comparison.  Your 40 lb weight loss in 3 months would have me dancing through the streets!

Thanks for the encouragement and save that spot on the losers bench!

Depending on whose goal we look at (mine or my Dr's) I needed to lose between 70-90 lbs! I will be in a healthy BMI for my dr at a loss of 70 lbs so I am over halfway there and not even a full 3 months post op.  I do feel that's pretty good.  Personally I'd like to lose more so I can be truly "THIN" for the first time in my life though I will still look darn good at my Dr's goal so we'll see where my body takes me!  It's truly been the easiest weight loss I've ever had!  That's not to say it doesn't still take effort and some self control but it's SO much more manageable with the sleeve so I feel it's been easy in comparison to weight loss presleeve.  Best wishes to ya! :)

 Congrats! Excited for you! What insurance do you have?

 Thanks!!  I have Blue Cross Blue Shield.  I was worried the whole time that they'd deny me, but my surgeon's office wasn't worried at all so they apparently know what to say and what hoops to jump through!

Congratulations!! I have BC/BS of IL and even though I've met all requirements they've still denied me. I'm in the appeal process now and will NOT give up!