Discouraged while waiting?

Did anyone else find themselves feeling pretty discouraged during the wait between initiating the process and actually getting a date?  I am supposed to be on a 3 month medicaly supervised diet per my insurance, and I'm doing ok (not great, but all that is in my blog here if you're interested), but I just feel pretty discouraged.  I don't know if it's the waiting or the fact that I have to struggle to diet even though I'm about to get a tool that could help or the not knowing since I don't have a date yet. 

Maybe it's just pms, lol!

Anyhow, just wondering if this is usual. :)

Sarah

I was very emotional during the pre-op process - frustrating, waiting, classes, uncertainty....been there done that. I think its a secret design to teach us patience because god knows we need it post op as we undertake a VERY frustrating and emotional process. As hard as it seems now, it doesnt get much easier (there are new and different challenges ahead). 

Relax - use this time to start changing your habits. For me, I made a lot of big life style changes ahead of time and it gave me peace of mind and confidence going into such a major surger that i was committed to this. I didnt want to give up my stomach if I was just going to keep eating the same crap that got me fat in the first place. 

Just do your best. Your time will be here before you know it :)

I'm sorry you feel discouraged. I felt similar because it seemed like forever until I could get the surgery (took me 10 months from start to finish). I Just couldn't wait to get it and wished I was rich so I could just pay out of pocket and not have to go through the entire approval process for insurance.

I was lucky with the diet however because I am a lightweight (I guess that is what they call it on these forums) and didn't have to lose much weight. I was also to eating a higher protein, lower fat diet normally so it wasn't much of a change for me. I got to have my food funerals (Pizza, Chinese, Mexican, Rallys/Checkers, all the bad places) so that was good. And you know what? By the time I had my last food funeral I didn't even want that crap anymore! I was tired physically and emotionally of putting bad crap into my body. You are what you eat!

After that, I couldn't wait to get on the liquid diet and get my surgery. I got very excited the last two weeks before surgery (even though the liquid diet sucks!) So hang in there! Everything will be ok! it does feel like forever but that is ok. It is very VERY much worth it. I love my sleeve. It is a very good tool to control your eating and weight for the rest of your life. GL!

Oh, yes.  I'd felt like I'd made my decision and commitment before I'd asked my GP for the referral.  But I get it: my surgeon didn't want to perform surgery on someone who wasn't mentally prepared to follow through.  He said that it wasn't about how much weight I lost, but about proving that I could follow through- these things showed not only on the scale, but on my blood pressure and resting heart rate.

It took about 5 months, total, from initial consult to surgery for me.  I was anxious and cranky.  But I got a 30 pound head-start on the surgery, got my head in the right place, and am so glad I went through with it.

Thanks, everyone.  I think a big part of it is just not knowing.  I'm a mega control-freak planner, and I have 2 small kids, and we don't have family nearby who can just drop everything and help, so I feel like until I have a date (even if it's a ways off), I'm just treading water or something, and if I just had the date I could start making plans.

I also think this is a particularly bad time of year to make major changes to your diet, because with all the temptations you're almost doomed to fail.

I need to focus on good things I've done:

1.  Gotten rid of carbonated beverages.

2.  Started tracking intake.

3.  Become significantly more aware of what I eat and how much of it is total crap.

4.  Completely recognized my need to track my intake forever.  Even if I'm not trying to lose weight, tracking forces me to be honest with myself about what I'm eating.

Changes for next week:

1.  Get my a$$ to Costco so I can get some of the shakes my nutritionist suggested.

2.  Purchase vitamins and start taking them (I read a post on another board and now suspect I need more B12 right now).

3.  Stop just not eating when I don't know what I "can" eat.  Instead, just focus on making the best choices available to me.

It looks like you are on the right track, starting to change things now. This might not be the best time of year to start, but just focus on your goal, the healthier new you.
For me, I started changing my habits the weekend after my seminar. I didn't even know if I was gonna have surgery but it motivated me. I was at the seminar for support for my wife, who knew she was having it. I set up a consult, not even sure I was gonna do it. That was in May and here I am having surgery on Dec 13th. I had the 3 month supervised diet also. It took 46 days until I was approved after the initial turn in of paperwork. I had to do a few extra things because I have had sleep apnea for 5 years. Hang in there, everything will work out fine in the end.

I wasn't too discouraged because really, the three months goes by much faster than you think!  You have a bunch of consults and testing that have to be done, so getting all of those things scheduled takes some time!  My supervised diet was low carb, which I'd done before, so it wasn't a difficult change -- and we had a big two-week Mediterranean cruise, which frankly, was the mother of all food funerals (I didn't eat everything in sight or anything, but everything I had was amazing, and not food I usually eat here!).

The important thing is to use the time to figure out what triggers you to eat and how you'll combat that in the future.  I mean, if we all only ate when we were really hungry, I doubt we'd end up needing surgery!  Starting to figure that out now, will be a huge help post op!

Best of luck on your journey, and we're saving you a seat on the loser's bench!

I know exactly how you feel!! I had done months of research and soul searching before I called the surgeon to schedule my consult. Then I had a 6 week wait to see him. Then somehow my insurance companies 3 months supervised diet becomes a 4 months wait from day of consult before I can have surgery?? Right I'm looking at the first week of April for surgery but I won't have a for sure date till one month before. I finish my nutrition classes the middle of Jan Nd have already done my psych consult (was trying to be an over achiever and move things along). I'm sooo frustrated at the wait and if I had the money to self pay would do it tomorrow. I know that these months give me time to practice good habits and and weight I lose now is weight I don't have to lose post-op. But, it still sucks waiting.