Denied by insurance for gastric sleeve today :(

I noticed you're in the same city as me. Hello fellow Texan :flowerforyou:
It's great you've lost that much. And you definitely don't need surgery. You've proved to yourself that you don't need it. I was told by a doctor that I needed the lap band.. I was 283 pounds, 275 when I found MFP. I am now 208 and steadily losing. I'm almost to 70 pounds lost thanks to MFP! I'm a bit younger, 18. Which isn't a big difference at all. If I can do it without surgery, you surely can!

All you mentione about the surgery are things one must do to lose weight anyway! so why even go through the surgery when one needs to change ones ways even with surgery? I am so glad insurance tells one to lose weight before this type of surgery, had I not been told to this, I would have probably gone through with this surgery, never realizing that i could do it on my own!

You obviously didn't get very far in the process, did you? Whether or not you're told to lose weight before the surgery depends on your starting weight. Some people are too heavy to operate on. Usually the surgeon asks you to lose about 10 lbs. right before the surgery to shrink the size of your liver, so that it is easier to image the rest of the organs.

As for why you would undergo this process, well, empirically, as I said, it is the only method of weight loss that seems to stick for the morbidly obese. Statistically speaking, you're going to gain back all of the weight that you've lost through other methods. (Sorry.) Gastric bypass patients on average lose 80-90 percent of their excess weight and gain about 10-20 percent back over the course of their lifetimes. Obese patients who lose 80-90 percent of their body weight generally gain all of it back plus another 5-10 percent. My UCSF surgeon said that the reasons for this are not well-understood, but are empirically demonstrable nonetheless. Weight loss surgery also generally and immediately corrects such conditions as diabetes and high cholesterol, which normal weight loss generally does not correct immediately.

But all of you impugning weight loss surgery and the willpower of those who have it know all of this, right? Because you wouldn't have said all of these things without knowing the facts. Of course not.

Congrats on your amazing loss!! You deserve to feel strong and proud!!!

That's all fine and good. The fact is that if you can do it without surgery you are better off. If you can't, then by all means get the surgery.

All you mentione about the surgery are things one must do to lose weight anyway! so why even go through the surgery when one needs to change ones ways even with surgery? I am so glad insurance tells one to lose weight before this type of surgery, had I not been told to this, I would have probably gone through with this surgery, never realizing that i could do it on my own!

You obviously didn't get very far in the process, did you? Whether or not you're told to lose weight before the surgery depends on your starting weight. Some people are too heavy to operate on. Usually the surgeon asks you to lose about 10 lbs. right before the surgery to shrink the size of your liver, so that it is easier to image the rest of the organs.

As for why you would undergo this process, well, empirically, as I said, it is the only method of weight loss that seems to stick for the morbidly obese. Statistically speaking, you're going to gain back all of the weight that you've lost through other methods. (Sorry.) Gastric bypass patients on average lose 80-90 percent of their excess weight and gain about 10-20 percent back over the course of their lifetimes. Obese patients who lose 80-90 percent of their body weight generally gain all of it back plus another 5-10 percent. My UCSF surgeon said that the reasons for this are not well-understood, but are empirically demonstrable nonetheless. Weight loss surgery also generally and immediately corrects such conditions as diabetes and high cholesterol, which normal weight loss generally does not correct immediately.

But all of you impugning weight loss surgery and the willpower of those who have it know all of this, right? Because you wouldn't have said all of these things without knowing the facts. Of course not.

Im sorry. That sucks.. it really does. I have had the sleeve and am greatful everyday for it. I am only 22 as well. But Ive lost 45lbs since April with the help of my sleeve. You have done it ALL ON YOUR OWN! That is amazing!!! You can do this. With or without the sleeve!