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It all depends on your plan. For mine I have copays at the surgeon's office and have to meet my deductible. Between all the blood work, cardio tests, upper GI, endoscopy, by the time I get to the surgery I will long since have met that deductible. I also have 20% co-insurance which means they only cover 80% of the hospital procedures and surgical fees. I'm responsible for the remaining 20% up to $16,500 for everything You really need to look at your plan carefully because all those things going towards the deductible will not transfer over to the new plan so it's going to cost more that way.

I've been doing yoga daily for 7 years. It's the best exercise ever created. I also mountain bike, lift weight, run, play football and yoga makes it all a lot easier. I got both my kids and parents into it and I've seen how it's helped them as well. If you have ever had any pain or were sore or felt tight then yoga is for you.

You're one of the most kick-butt posters here. You're going to do great! By the way I'm straight and I'm into everyone who is into getting healthy

I'm surprised that 7 is the cut off. Mine tends to be 6 to 6.5 but that's with a lot of medication. My doctor tells me that under 7 is very good and well under control. I could understand 8 being too high to do the surgery but 7 surprises me.

My fitness pal, measuring cups and a food scale are how I've been doing it. My Fitness Pal offers different measurements for the same item with is very useful. If you have something that doesn't lend itself to being scooped in a measuring cup you can switch the app to grams and put the weight in instead.

Why not see what your husband thinks since he knows his family? That's going to be a more expert opinion than any you'll get here.

If you haven't done it in a while you really need to stretch out first. That goes for all cardio. The body can't just go from 0 to 60. It needs to be stretched and warmed up.

The surgery on it's own is not going to take the weight off. It's just a piece of the puzzle. My 6 month medically supervised diet means I'm looking at November for the surgery. By the time I get there I don't want to have to think about eating right. It's going to be second nature.

I think you are going to have to see how you feel. It's really different for everyone. I had mine in the AM and think I could have driven in the afternoon but they told me no driving for 24 hours so I didn't drive until the next day.

My surgeon requires both the upper GI and the endoscopy. Endoscopy is done and the upper GI is at the end of the month. I still don't understand why he wants both but he says that for sleeve patients he needs to be extra careful and be aware of all issues. I'm not thrilled about it but if it's not worth changing surgeons just because I think he wants an extra test.

From my research it looks like the plication is often coupled with a lap band. if you go to a band board you will see a lot of topics about this procedure and get some feedback from those who have done it. I did ask my surgeon about it and he told me that it is not something that he does. In his opinion there are just too many possible complications associated with that procedure. He said that someone considering the band plus plication is better off with the sleeve or bypass.

I do know that these surgeons go to conferences all the time. Mine has been to 2 multi-days ones in the past 2 months. He came back with all sorts news about recent studies and trends and which groups are now promoting WLS. You would think that things would be more standardized given that but they sure aren't.

A little Yoga goes a long way. Ever since I started I rarely get any aches or pains in my joints or back no matter how much I exercise. As we get older we need to stretch out and Yoga is perfect for that.

That looks awesome! Please come to Connecticut or the NYC area

If you don't feel comfortable then you shouldn't do it. I just haven't seen any research that makes me think this is a common issue but since they only have a limited number of years of data anything is possible. Any procedure has a leap of faith element to it, this one included.

Make sure you always get a receipt. Whenever I pay in cash they pull out the book and hand write one. Keep yelling because they should still have a record of you being there at that time and why. Medical professionals have to account for every patient they see and detail what was done. They must have something there. You just need to keep pushing them to find it.

Patrick, once again you come up with the most helpful and informative posts on this whole forum. I still have 4 months to go on my medically supervised diet before we can even get a date. That's a long time to think about things. By the time I go to the hospital you will be done with all the major medical and close to being on your new normal routine. I'm thrilled that you are letting me follow along with your progress so I can get a good picture of what I have to look forward to. Thanks and keep posting

Can't they just go back to their appointments and look it up? These things don't exist in a vacuum. There were codes that had to entered so they could bill it and insurance information that they needed to submit. You could go back to your calendar and give them the date and time of the appointment and they should be able to look it up from that.

She might be confusing this surgery with something else. It hasn't been around for 10 years or at least as an independent procedure. There is no way she could be seeing patients 10 years out. There aren't even that many who are 5 years out. That's why some insurance companies won't cover it. They want more long term data first.

Life does has a way of throwing you curveballs. All you can do is recognize them and learn how to hit them. You will get through this and figure out the right thing to do.

Stevia is definitely not as sweet as Splenda. The body gets used to sweet and salty which means the most you use the more it takes to get that same taste. It took me a couple of days to get used to the less sweet taste of Stevia but once I did I vastly preferred it. Since it's natural like sugar it doesn't have that chemical taste you get in the artificial sweeteners. The price has been coming down too as long as you stay away from the Truvia brand. The Walmart version of Stevia is around the same price as Splenda and Equal.

Stevia is the way to go. It's just a leaf so it's a lot more like sugar than Splenda or Equal. Truvia is the most well known brand name of Stevia, it's put out by Cargill, but you can't go wrong buying a different version of Stevia for a lot less.

I asked my nutritionist this exact thing the last time we met. She told me that insurance company just wants to be able to check the box that you met the requirement. They don't care about the results. She told me that some people really need it because they had no idea what a proper diet should look like. For others, like me, she doesn't have much to tell me past the 1st session. She'd be happy with me losing 1 pound a month for a total of 6 pounds but the insurance company doesn't care.

Stunning pictures. I love the way you use the same pose to really show your progress. You have the right attitude and are obviously working very hard. You're going to get to your goal. Count on it.

For the past 6 years I've been practicing Yoga 6 days a week. Despite all that time there are way too many poses that I just can't do properly. I'm sick of modifying them because my stomach is in the way. I'm going to do the whole program exactly as it's taught. No more modifications or getting my elbow just half way over my knee. My Yoga will be perfect for the first time in my life.