Reny S.
A little more about me: I have just turned 33 y.o., I am married, have 2 kids, boy and girl ages 2 and 6, I live in Palmdale, CA and I am insured by Kaiser. I had to jump some oversized hoops to be approved for surgery and also the preparation program. I am what is classified "lightweight" without substancial medical conditions. I am heavy but healthy. No comorbities. BMI < 40. Kaiser doctors have classified me as not heavy enough for surgery_ perfect biggest looser candidate! So... I was left with absolutely no help. I had to be very persistant and a fighter. At some point, my options were either increase BMI to like 55?! or try to lose all this weight on my own _ needless to say that did not happen. I can tell you I lost count of how many PPS I had to keep on constantly changing to finally meet the right one. I can't begin to describe how stressful this has been. Long story short; overall is has been 5 years. After changing providers quite a few times after being denied enough, at my last (very last) attempt, that's when the first door has been opened and I have came accross my angel doc who did not hesitate to put my referral in for me on Dec 9th, 2008. My initial weight was 278 lbs. The program lasted 24 weeks of extensive food logs and because while in the program everything was not for sure, they really made me feel so uncertain ... I allowed myself to stress enough and doubt if I was indeed going to be approved at the end, I mean, I am heavy but I am healthy enough not to have any medical related obesity associated conditions. I am not diabetic. Sleep Apnea resulted in MILD. Basically I was arguing with very little thrown at their table and stressing so very much about all that and some more...so my weight did go up a bit in the first 3 weeks into the program, I was at one point at 284 lbs. By the time we initiated our phase 3 and protein shakes on a 1200 cal per day I decided to stop stressing and just not worry about it any longer! That's right! Then my weight started to drop and immediately I was feeling positive about the whole thing. I thank the Lord, my savior and Jesus Christ for putting that strenght inside of my heart and mind and keep on going. I have lost 20 lbs! Woooo hooo to me, right?! Big difference on my ankles, let me tell ya! Looking forward to reach my goal of 150 lbs and dramatically changing my lifestyle habits for the rest of my life.
