audreycat123

All good ideas! It would be interesting to see how my food choices hage once I star paying attention to labels. I have only ever really watched fat before. I have no idea how much protein my diet has. And I'm afraid an actual calorie count would blow my mind! I have already been Internet shopping for smaller clothes, maybe I will go ahead and get something. Love the water reminder. What's a good goal for water intake?

Yeah, I asked that already. I won't be submitted for insurance approval until after my final consult, at which they will take my final weight. I'm going to ask again at my next class, but I don't anticipate a different answer.

My final consult is not until oct 15. Ugh!!! I can't lose more than ten pounds before then or my bmi will fall below 40. I have spent the last two weeks saying goodbye to binge eating by stuffing myself and now I just want to get started feeling better. I am planing on restarting my workout video to build up some calorie burning muscle. I colored my hair today. I did my nails. I began taking my daily Multivitamin. I am practicing chewing my food more. You guys have any other ideas as to what I could start doing now that would not cause me to dip below required bmi, but would also get me started on my new self?

There is a silicone strip product called scar away. You wear it over the scar like a bandage. I had thirteen stitches on my forehead from a ladder fall and the results from these stripes were amazing. They are kinda pricey but totally worth it. You could prolly start wearing them about two weeks post op.

arrgh, I can't find any sort of weight management or obesity section anywhere! Man I sure hope I don't have to go back to thinking i have to lose all this weight all by myself. That has soooo NOT worked!

this is what I found online under "exclusions" for my specific policy. What do you guys think? Plastic, reconstructive, gastric bypass or cosmetic surgery except: as connected with mastectomy (see the section entitled Medical Benefits) > to the extent needed to improve the function of a part of the body (with the exception of teeth or the structure that supports the teeth) that is malformed as a result of a birth defect, disease, or surgery performed to treat a disease or injury • Procedures, services, drugs and other supplies that are determined to be experimental or still under clinical investigation by health professionals

ok here's another one, you guys are awesome, I have asked my surgon's office coordinator three separate times if I am covered and i was assured that they would not have set up the appointments if i were not. However, when I call Anthem directly they state that i have an exclusion on my policy, twice they have said this. Is the doctor's office just trying to rope me in, get me all excited for change, and they tell me i would have to self pay?That seems dirty. plus there is no way on Earth that I can self pay for this surgery. Surely the coordinator knows what she is doing and was able to get around the exclusion with some jargony tech med speak? When I call i just ask if weight loss surgery is covered.

So I've had my initial consult and have a half dozen appointments set up between now and October. Hoping for surgery in November. My BMI is currently 41. I have been reading here about a lot of weight lost during pre-op diets and such. I feel that if i don't start on some sort of diet my brain will tell me to eat my frekin head off before surgery as some sort of farewell to food. I don't want to do that. I have always been able to bust my butt and lose twenty or so pounds if i had to, but i gain it back within a few weeks. If i start a diet and go into surgery with a lower BMI will my insurance deny me? My surgeon did not discuss any co-morbidities since my BMI was over 40. Thoughts?

thanks fran, you make an excellent point. no one would suggest that heart surgery is a "tool" for staying healthy. You are right. I appreciate all of your responses and will continue to research this surgery while waiting for November (if i turn up preggers then so be it), but so far when i weigh all of the bad things that i discover with all of the good things that i discover, i become even more confident that lapband could be one of the most important tools i could get to make me a healthier, happier person. and a better mother to boot. (i doubt the band will ever make me a more patient person though!) happy to have found these boards - sara

what an awesome question! I have also had 2 c-sections and was trying to anticipate how banding would compare. I am glad to hear it's not as complicated a recovery as that can be. I would imagine it would be on par with gallbladder surgery, which was also done outpatient and with a scope. it was super duper easy compared to even my planned c-sections. I am also a teacher hoping to be banded asap though. wishing you a great start to the new school year! Maybe by next winter we will be the teachers with the cool boots and cute outfits!

I want to take my kids to a water park. They would so love that. I want to wear anything but the damn floor length purple tent of a dress that has been my only decent going out outfit for the last three freakin years! I want to walk to the park with my sister without feeling like the gross fat sister. Going up or down any stairs without wincing!

Thanks to all of you for your responses and concern. One of my main questions to the doc during consult was how long should I wait before trying to conceive after surgery and he said that around six months should be enough. That's how I came up with that time frame. I was an overweight overeater for my last pregnancy and I really don't want to feel that way again. My knees are in terrible shape, they hurt all the time, and I know that I will feel better and be healthier after this surgery. I will try to wait patiently I guess, but I don't understand why I must wait so long for a procedure that is to improve my health. No one would advocate a patient waiting for heart surgery just to prove that they are serious about changing their lifestyle. I want to get my new life started now. It seems frivolous to make me wait for no medical reason.

I met for my first consultation last Friday and was told I was a perfect candidate for Lapland. I had already researched and thought about the surgery extensively. I was then told that my insurance covered the surgery. Great! Let's do this! Then they gave me a schedule of about six different appointments with different people and told I could be scheduled for surgey after the very last appointment...in late November! If my insurance does not require a waiting period, then why would the surgeon? I am wanting to get pregnant six months after being banded, but i am already almost 36. I feel like I am racing against my biological clock and now I have to push pause for five months. Any ideas or suggestions?