Elizabeth Johnson shares what it's really like to have gastric sleeve surgery—including getting her insurance to cover it, months of prep work, and recovery.
Elizabeth Johnson, as told to Ashley Edwards WalkerThere's a stigma around weight loss surgery, I know that. But more than a year after I did it, I’ve gone from nearly 300 pounds to 160 pounds and I’ve never never felt better. Sure, the procedure isn’t right for everyone , but my only regret is that I didn’t have the surgery sooner.
I decided to go for it when, at 25, I stepped on a scale and 297 flashed across the screen. I thought,. It scared me. My parents were in their mid-50s and having a lot of issues because of their weight; my mom needed a knee replacement and my dad had diabetes. I wanted to get ahead of any chronic illnessesFirst, a Bikini Dance Competition
Different insurance companies require different things before they will approve you for weight loss surgery. Baseline, you have to have a BMI of at least 40. I also had to have a psychological evaluation, do a sleep apnea test, and participate in a six-month supervised diet that required monthly check-ups with my doctor. It’s basically a last-ditch effort to see if you can lose the weight on your own, which is insulting.
Still, I didn’t have any trouble getting around after the surgery. My doctors encouraged me to walk every day, so I did. At four weeks you’re supposed to start doing more cardio and adding in weights, which is tough because you’re consuming like 600 calories a day at that point and you don’t have much energy. But I pushed through because I wanted the surgery to be successful.Everyone who has weight loss surgery feels like they lose the weight really slowly. Early on, I thought,.
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