Hey, girlie! How are you doing? I think of you quite often.

Well done on the new jeans young lady you're only one away from goal too. Whoop whoop xxx

Hi Amanda!

Have no fears, you've made the first step in improving your health and changing your life. In the end, you'll see that it's one of the best decisions you will have made in your life! Going the 6 months was hard. It was at my 2nd class, that we all learned that we were no longer able to gain any weight due to the fact that many insurances were now denying candidates because of the weight gain. You can do it though. I lost 26 pounds in that 6 month period. As for pre-op testing, that's based on your insurance. I have Highmark, so my required testing was a chest x-ray, EKG, and upper GI. Along with the mandatory, psych and nutritional eval. But again it's really based on who your insurance carrier is.

Your goal of losing 130 pounds is definitely doable. My starting weight was 411. My goal was to lose 236 pounds and I'm almost half way there! So again, if I can do, you can certainly do it!

Keep in touch and let me know how things are going!

Heidi

Hi Colleywobbles! I'm Heidi and I live in Pittsburgh, too. I just had surgery on September 3rd, 2008 with Dr. Courcoulas at Magee. It's the best decision I ever made. Good luck on your journey, I look forward to getting to know you!