Why oh why are they making me do this stuff??

It took me a long time to decide to actually have the surgery done.  I went to several bariatric surgery overview sessions.  The first time I went thinking I wanted to do the lap band, but after hearing the doctor talk, I didn't think it was for me.  Since I was going to have actual surgery, I put the whole thing on the back burner again for almost a year.

Then the 'pants too small' incident happened, (see previous blog entry for this incident) and I made up my mind to go ahead with it.

I called my insurance company to see if I even qualified.  They told me about a ton of 'hoops' I had to jump thru before I was eligible for surgery.  I was not happy, but I started jumping.

One thing they wanted was 6 months of doctor supervised weight loss visits.  They didn't cover an actual medical diet plan, which I thought was really silly.  I had just changed doctors and my  new doctor was about 12 years old (or so it seemed to me).  I wondered what she could bring to the table since this wasn't her specialty.

I got the paperwork that my insurance required and gave it to my doctor.  She willingly helped me along this journey and even though it was not her specialty, I have to say, she helped a lot.  She suggested things to me that I never even considered.  When I was done with the 6 months, I was so pleased I wrote her a thank you note for her guidance and support.

I also met with a nutritionist and exercise physiologist to get started on new good habits.  The nutritionist told me to clean up my diet.  I never met a slice of bread or a potato I didn't like and white stuff such as these were not allowed.  I swallowed hard, cried just a bit, and got them out of my diet.  Surprisingly, I didn't miss either of them very much. 

Along this six month effort, I learned quite a few things.  By cutting out bad carbs and junk, I could lose some weight and it was not really difficult.  Most of the time, when I get on a diet, I can't stay on it for any length of time.  But this time, it was not a diet, it was a lifestyle change.  This change is one I am able to keep up so that was definitely worth the effort.

I'll write more on this as I get a chance.  Right now, I have quite a few appointments that I need to keep so I stay on track with this journey.

How did I get to this place?

This is me doing what I do best....
cooking and baking.  I've been on
the diet 'clean-up' for 4  months
 already so I'm a few pounds down.

I have had an issue with my weight my whole life.  I'd diet, work out, then fall off the wagon.  I had every size in my closet from 8 to 22 thinking I'd get back into the little sizes 'someday'.  I would look in the mirror and say 'who is that fat lady?' because the person I was looking at was not me.

About 12 years ago I was diagnosed with severe food allergies.  Everything I knew I should eat (seafood, fish, eggs, tofu, dairy, etc.) made me sick, so eating low fat, low calorie foods was difficult for me.  

Last summer, I went to put on some shorts and they wouldn't zip or button.  I definitely was not going to buy another size up.  NEVER!

Since I never had much luck with Weight Watchers and the prepackaged products always contain products I can't eat, I decided to look into bariatric surgery.  Initially I wanted to have the lap-band but after attending a few seminars about bariatric surgery, I decided that procedure was not for me. After weighing many options, I decided to have a sleeve gastrectomy. 

This blog will include you in my journey through the bariatric process.

As I am currently 2 1/2 weeks away from my surgery, the initial posts will be things I have already done, but you will be included first hand in what I am experiencing as I go through it.