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Today is my one month anniversary! Wow time has flown by and I can't believe it has been 30 days. I am feeling great and my clothes are getting too big! Now that is exciting news (jumping up and down)! LOL Looking forward to the next 30 days! One step at a time...

oh sweetie.... im so sorry. Really wish i could help. You know i would. But you made a good point.... why will it take a week when they should have all that together already? That looks like a RED flag to me on your doctors office part.

I cannot believe how fast a month has flown by! Ok well at first it seemed as if it was crawling but hey tomorrow begins my second month! YAAAAAAY! My original and only goal was to be under 300lbs by this time. A month has flown by and I now know that it was a really really, really tall order in such a short time. I came off the liquid diet on valentines day cause my husband decided he was taking me out to a formal dinner and there was no way I was going to pass up on making such wonderful memories. :wub: I just had the soup and dessert and brought home my entree for the babysitter. Next day I continued to eat normal foods in half cup portions. I did not meet the original goal but I'm in no way disappointed. I'm wiser now! Ususally in the past I would have just given up and rolled right back into the old swing of things. "What's the use... I'm not seeing the results I expected!" That was B4! But thanks to good ole perseverance and loads of invaluable advice from you guys right here on LBT I consider my first month in an overwhelming success! What did I accomplish? 1. I now recognise that the last fill I got since over a year ago had put me in the green zone(aka sweet spot.! I was there all along! 2. I now understand what it means to have your head in the game and how necessary it is for this banded life to be successful. 3. Every morning I smile 'cause my normal clothes are getting loose and the tight fitting ones are now fitting right. Also I have clothes that I can put away now cause I know I'll never wear them again. I have a few outfits that I ordered just b4 christmas and were small in some body areas due to their cuts. Those are starting to fit and will come in handy when my current clothes get too big. Shoes that I was able to wear for only half of the day stay on my feet all day now cause my toes don't rub on the inside of them anymore. (Go figure! My feet lost weight!) 4. I understand what it means to just eat two spoonfuls and be satisfied and I no longer have the mentality that any food is forbidden cause I'm on a diet. 5. I have recognised and have come to accept that slow and steady is the way to go when it comes to weightloss. 6. I have managed to keep my caloric intake between 800-1200 for the past month. ( I have never, ever, ever been able to do that before) MY STATS: Ok so by now you're like... "Tell us how much you've lost already! " So without further delay... here are my figures for the month.... B4 Feb. 3rd 335 Feb. 10th 325 Feb. 17th 321 Feb. 24th 318 March 2nd 319( TOM in full swing) So for the month I lost a grand total of 16lbs for the month and 33lbs since I've been banded!!!!!! My goal for next month is to exercise cause that was definitely lacking in this month. Thanks for readng and check out my before and after pics for the first month. I would greatly appreciate your comments. Thanks for posting about your journeys cause when I get stuck or lost I run unto the site search for posts related to my problem and I'm on my weigh again! Til next month......

I have been heavy up and down all my life. I had thought about the RNY but it seemed to drastic and way out of reach dolllar wize in the states. I recently just 2 years ago saw a dr. in Bend Oregon who before he would see me had to have cash up front of $2500 just for some simple tests and exam. well that was a waste of cash! well tax return came and went...other things are always more important than yourself. I finally had a visit with a local girl in Burns who had Dr. Aceves perform her lap band...she was excited, happy with the care and services. The hospital was clean and quiet....she could not boast loud enough about the care she recieved, So I did some research and this is when I made the decision...this year was gonna be my time to shine. My knees are going to feel better when they are not packing 354 lbs of person on them. This grama of 4 is gonna be a cool grama, one that can kneel down and kiss the babies and get down and play on the floor with them. My babies will never again say "Grama why you so tired all the time"....I am excited to start my new way of living. I have lost my love life relationship with my husband, I want this back more than anything. He is not so supportive and over the years has become more of a roommate than a husband. I want this to change aas well, I want to rock his world again like I did the first time we met. I love him more than he knows. I have very supportive friends and family during this time, so I am praying for a fast recovery and quick weight loss. I will post more when I get home.

How is everyone! I love my new life and body!

If you suffer from acid reflux and you are willing to go with the gastric sleeve plication, you may be able to have your surgery covered by insurance. The sleeve plication is a procedure based on the Nissen fundoplication which is used to treat acid reflux. My sister was unsure of having the band but was interested in plication as a stand alone WLS procedure. While plication on it's own isn't usually covered by insurance, the Nissen fundoplication is covered so her doctor will give her both at the same time and it will be covered by her insurance. While plication as a WLS is relatively new it does show some promise, especially since one of the side effects of the fundoplication was weight loss. Plication is also being preformed with lap bands so far the majority of us that have had the band with plication done are happy with the results. If you do decide to consider the plication be aware that not all doctors will bill it as a treatment for acid reflux, the doctor that my sister is using is in Miami so you may need to travel. One important benefit is if you do go this way, you won't have to jump through the usual insurance hoops and can pretty much have the surgery right away. Another option you may have is to see if you have a hernia, if you do you could have the surgery to repair the hernia and then self pay to have the band put in which could save you thousands over paying for the band surgery on its own

I'm sorry this has happened to you. I have BCBS, too, and struggled trying to understand my benefits. I my started this process in July 2009 and was denied the first time in December 2009 because my "documentation of physician supervised weight loss efforts did not demonstrate that attempt was made over a sufficient period of time." My policy required documentation for two years. My medical records showed far more than a two year history of weight loss efforts, so I called my insurance company to get clarification concerning exactly what I needed to do to be approved; it was difficult to get a clear answer. The woman I spoke to on the phone was very nice, but I could tell she became annoyed by all of my questions. I finally asked to speak with her supervisor because the answers I had received were vague at best. I almost gave up. However, in February 2010, I started regular visits at my doctor's office. During each visit, we specifically discussed in detail my weight loss efforts. The two year time period actually passed by more quickly than I thought it would. My final visit was on February 13, 2012. The insurance company received my paperwork on February 15; I was approved on February 17 and received my approval letter on February 21. Interestingly, when I first started the process in 2009, a 35 BMI with a co-morbidity was required, but the medical policy was revised in September 2011 and required a 30 BMI with a co-morbidity. Be persistent and hopefully, you will receive your approval soon.

I was banded on the 15th of February and am down 10lbs since surgery. I have my first follow up and fill on march 22nd so have a ways to go still. Starting to feel better each day

Well...this is definitely NOT the first time I have heard that! Let's see, since I have scheduled my lap band surgery I have had folks exclaim, "but you are NOT THAT big?!"...or "jeeze, just go on a diet"...or "but YOU don't need it!" (this last one typically comes from folks that are bigger than me). *sigh*...deep breath...OK, it took me a minute to think about whether or NOT I should even reply. I mean, come on! I am ashamed that I am unable to diet and KEEP the weight off. I feel like a total failure. Sure, I can diet and I will lose some weight, but then my willpower cracks, I get hungry...and the rest is a history of up and down. If my weight is down, I feel great about myself...but if my weight is up...forget it, I am miserable - God forbid I run into someone I haven't seen in awhile, I just feel like a pile of failure. Trust me I have tried EVERYTHING! (here is a quick sampling) * I am a lifetime member of Jenny Craig (bought my membership when I was 21, I just turned 38 yesterday) * Starvation * Sensa (that stuff is disgusting, makes me extremely jittery) * 7-day miracle diet (not what it sounds like, it is a diet where you eat every 2 hours, very low calorie, and quite balanced, however, like I said, VERY low calorie) * Atkins diet * Stopped eating dinner (for years...because doctor recommended this in order to lose weight) * Diet pills (worked great, until you stop taking them...but I was basically high all the time) * Lots of exercise (I was teaching aerobics twice a day...lost weight, but I wasn't able to spend the time I needed to spend with my daughter, she was 3 at the time) * Cabbage Soup diet * Diabetic Diet * Weight Watchers * Ali (gross) * Relicore So I have made the decision to get the lap band. I am only about 40 lbs away from my goal weight. But I am tired of never reaching my goal. I am tired of never having enough willpower to succeed. I decided on the lap band because of the way it acts like a tool to help you achieve your weight loss goal and most of all maintain it! Yes, I can make the decision to eat only 800 or so calories a day without a lap band...but I already know the outcome if I were to take this on without the lap band. I am choosing to be proactive. I am choosing prevention over reaction. Why would I want to put this off until I am diabetic, or have high cholesterol? Why would I wait until I destroy my knees? I don't think I SHOULD have to wait. I don't think that SOME people are more "deserving" of the lap band than others. It is a personal decision. I think it is quite thoughtless and flippant to say to someone in my position that since I only want to lose 40 or so LBS that I should just go on a diet. Trust me when I say, I WISH, I really, really WISH it were that easy!

Ah yes...he IS a crackhead. That OTHER crackhead in the practice...Dr C also gave me a ration of sh*t for a 6 lb loss in a month. This was back in January when I had to get an unfill. He harassed me about the unfill AND he harassed me about not losing enough. I lost really fast right after being banded and after losing the first 70 lbs the loss slowed considerably. I still thought that 6 lbs in a month was great but Dr C thought it wasn't right. And yeah...I had *quite* an altercation with their so called "nutritionist" over the 800 calories a day thing. They can BITE ME!!! I said to that tiny chick "don't you think it's a lot to expect a 300 pound woman to eat 800 calories?" And she just looked at me like *I* was the idiot......