smilin_apple

It is alot but I do have to say there is only ONE good thing about it all and that is I do not have to pay for anything other than my $10 co-pay for the Doctor visits... It is all covered under my insurance, I don't even have a co-pay or deductible for the surgery itself. But other than that if I had the money I would have just paid for it on my own somewhere else and could of had it done 7 months ago!

Is there anyone else on here that has to go through alot of hoops when it comes to the surgery? I am just curius because of all that I have had to go through. It was a whole program designed by my hospital insurance. I had to talk to my PCP first so he could send a referral to the Bariatric Dept. Then I had to meet "one on one" with a Psycologist, Nutritionist, The Head of the Bariatric Dept., and also my surgeon, all of which were seperate appointments. Then I had to take 4 "Lifestyle Classes" as well as one Maintenance Class each month until I have the surgery. Not to mention I have to lose 56 lbs before surgery (that is total from my starting weight in November 2006), then before I have the surgery I will have to take a pre-op class as well. Some of these classes and all of the appointments I have had to drive almost 2 hours away. Whew!!! I guess this will all be worth it in the end, but for now I feel like I am running around in circles.

Thanks Kebsa - I think you are right. To be honest in the beginning I was not 100% in tune with myself and ready for the surgery mentally. I have noticed that about 2 weeks ago I made the decision that it was time to really start concentrating on my daily diet. I am going to take a look at my WLS binder that they gave me when I started this program and start doing the nutrition again this week and see if it is better now... I do know that is very low in starchy carbs, pretty much you get one serv of fruit at two of your meals each day, 2 serv of veggies at all of the meals each day, 2-3 serv of protein at each of the 3 meals, 1 fat at 2-3 of the meals and 1 bread at, I think, 2 of the meals. It is all laid at as to the quantities and they also gave me papers on what consists of a serv in each category....such as how many oz of meat for a serv, how many cups of what veggies at each meal and so on. It's not too too bad but I did miss all the bread, rice and pasta. I really appreciate the advice from you and all the support I am getting on this site, it wasn't until I found this site 2 weeks ago that I realized I wasn't alone. You see the hospital where I am having my Lap Band surgery has been doing the Roux-n-Y Gastric Bypass surgery for years now and all the material was based on that surgery when I joined the program. 2 months after I joined they started doing Lap Bands too. I was feeling like it wasn't geared towards the very few of us that decided to do the band and I felt lost in it all. Now I have gained so much more insight, it has been wonderful to chat with all the different people on here.

They do have a nutritionist...they have a whole team of people that I have been working with that we all (everyone that does the program through my hospital insurance) have to work with prior to surgery. They do have a plan that they would like us to do of foods we can and cannot eat and when/when not to eat but I have a hugh problem with this particular plan. It seems healthy and harmless but I didn't have too much success with being able to stay on it more than 2 days?!? I wish it was a little easier.

This is a sample meal for one day for me.... Morning - Kirkland Weight Loss Shake (Same as slimfast) 230 cal Early afternoon - 8 oz V8 Juice (sometimes 12 oz) 50 -75 cal American Clear Strawberry Flavored water - Zero cal Bottle of Water Diet Arizona Green Tea (made w/ Splenda) Zero cal Campbell's Soup at Hand (Cream of Chicken or Broccoli) 130 - 150 cal Bottle of Water More Arizona 6 oz of lean Ground Meat (or Chicken Breast or Steak) 150 - 270 cal with 2 - 3 cups of either: fresh Salad w/2 tbsp of Low cal Dressing - 75 - 95 cal or Cooked Zuccinni w/ Diced canned Tomatoes 70 - 100 cal Then more water at the end of the day... For a total of 705 - 920 Calories per day...... There are some days where I have cheated a little and added MAYBE an additional 250 calories at the most that day but this is still drastically less then what I was taking in before. I have done calorie counting for the last 2 months on a website that I keep track of everything, and in the prior months my average day was 2200 - 2400 call a day and I still lost 8 lbs last month. Now I am doing an average of 1450 over the last week and a half and according to the scale have gained 5 lbs in the last week????? I don't know what to do?

Hello all I am new to this site. I haven't been banded yet but am only a month or two away..I hope! I haeve another 29lbs to lose before my doctor will band me. I am looking for some suggestions on how to lose this pre-op weight. I have been doing partial liquid diet for the last 1 week and 1 day where i drink liquids all day but have a normal dinner...mostly meat and veggies and very little carbs. I have lost about 5 lbs but thats all. Don't know what else I can do...any help is appreciated..thanks!!!

I don't think I can do this right now (The dating thing that is). Even though I am so anxious to finally meet someone I know I am going to have to wait. I just can't wait until I get banded and start the next phase of my new life. I finally broke down and started really concentrating and accepting these new steps that I have decided to take. I am so grateful to have found such great support like this site/thread. I have really felt alone for a while but now I am starting to feel like I am not. Hope you all are having a great day and I look forward to getting to know you all a aquiring some good suggestions and advice.

I have one daughter now but have been seperated, and almost done with my divorce, with her father since 2001. I have thought about checking out the bbw sites, I did it in the past but I had an experience once where I met someone a few years ago from that type of site and he wasn't too happy to hear that I am having the wl surgery, he likes me this way, but that doesn't matter I am not happy.

I have a question for anyone who would like to answer it. When did you think of dating again? Was it before or after, and if after how long after your surgeries. I am not banded yet (probably not for another 2 months, and even though I left my personal ad active on yahoo and match.com I feel funny about going on with my life as far as meeting someone, in this current stage. Even though I feel like my biological clock is ticking away. I feel like I need to get a move on to find someone to enjoy spending time with. I would really like to have more children someday and I am definitely not getting any younger...I don't know what to do!!! Did anyone else experience any feelings like this too?

Hi all! Well I just got word today that I can't even get in to see my surgeon until around September 21st next month for a follow up for him to schedule my surgery. Which would then be another month or so after that this sucks!!! I wish I would have known that all his appointments were scheduled almost 2 months out I would have scheduled it a long time ago and just forced myself to lose the weight before I saw him. They did say I could call in and see for any cancellations though but I won;t be ready for that until about 2 more weeks when I lose the rest of this pre-op weight. By the way I started liquid dieting on Monday this week in hopes to lose the pre-op weight so I can see my doctor to schedule the sugery and I think (not quite sure because my scale is kinda weird sometimes) I lost 5 lbs already! I did adjust it al little to fit me better but it seems to be working so far?!?

Yes, but unfortuantley I am extremely stubborn and didn't want to do their pre-op diet since it will only be effective pre-op. It was only 1200 calorie a day diet but you couldn't eat ANY bread, rice, Pasta, potatoes...only a few crackers then all Protein especially fish and veggies. It would be ok but it seems way too strict for me. After surgery I won't have to eat that exact way and I will have to modify to liquids after a fill each time anyways.

Thanks for the suggesstions I will try that, I am going to get a protein shake instead of the Slim fast which has only 10g of protein in it, my mom said she has some protein powder that has 44g in it. I am going to try that and see if I like it and if it works. I have lost another 5 lbs though...yeah!!! And that was after a little cheating yesterday...My pre-teen daughter and I had a girls day out and went to 2 movies and dinner together something I don't get to do with her very often with my finances and work schedule. But I did my liquids all day like normal before going out and resumed it this morning....which a big step for me, usually when I cheat it's over I just give up all together.

Hello everyone, I am curious if anyone here has done any of the liquid type diets? I have a while until sugery but I need to lose another 15 lbs before I can get in to see my surgeon to even schedule the surgery. Then the surgery won't be for about month at which point I would have to lose another 15 lbs. So I started doing only liquids todayto try and lose the initial 15 and it has been CRAZY!!! I am so hungry, a couple of times my stomach wouldn't stop growling out loud that my roomate made me get a creamed soup at least. I was trying to hold out for another hour or so but couldn't. I have been drinking Diet Iced Green Tea, Water, No Calorie Flavored Waters, I also had one cup of OJ this morning, one cup of V8 early afternoon and have had two servings (not at the same time, about 4 hours apart) of creamed soups, I also had one Slimfast type shake today. But I am still so very hungry. ..I totaled it up ad it came to 720 calories so far today. Well there goes my stomach growling again...I don't know if I am going to make it through my first day of this! Does anyone have any suggestions?

I almost forgot I had a Slimfast type shake as well, I think one of the hardest parts is becuase I take very strong pain medicines for my back and hey have to be taken wih food and it has made me very very nauseous a couple of time today! Any suggesstions???? From anyone???

Thanks I think I figured it out why it was showing that way...I put in my goal weight to surgery, not my ending weight. I adjusted it let see how it looks...By the way I started doing only liquids today and it has been CRAZY!!! I am so hungry, a couple of times my stomach wouldn't stop growling out loud that my roomate made me get a creamed soup at least. I was trying to hold out for another hour or so but couldn't. I have been drinking Diet Iced Green Tea, Water, No Calorie Flavored Waters, I also had one cup of OJ this morning, one cup of V8 early afternoon and have had two servings (not at the same time, about 4 hours apart) of creamed soups. But I am still so very hungry. .. I added it up and I have had a total of 720 calories in liquids so far today I will be up for about 5 more hours, hope I can survive these hunger pains....there goes my stomach again growling at me!

Hi all...I am new to this site, just learning all the ins and outs and I saw this thread about single people, banders. Well I haven't had my band yet but I am single...ha! SO how is everyone doing, well I hope?

Thanks Shelli16415...you were such a big help!!!

Ok I am testing my tickers...

Let me make sure I have this right...Do I copy and paste it into the Reply message every time I type one? If so which one do I use..bbCode, HTML, or ezCode?

How do you all put your weight Tickers on your reply's, I am new to all of this. Do add it to each message or is it automatically placed there?

<p>Well I decided I am going to start it on Monday July 30th so I can lose enough weight to be able to call my surgeon for a foloow up appointment. I have not seen him since March. Because he wanted me to get down to 375 before I call him back for a follow up. Then he will start the scheduling process which takes about another month and a half at which point I will have to have lost an additional 15 lbs bringing me down to 360. Then I can have the sugery...WHAT A MESS!!! Oh well I am really going to try it this time and I will definitely need support!</p>

How often do you drink these fluids all day? Do you drink as much as you want of each except the OJ and V8?

Thanks for the suggesstions... I am seeing that most people just do 2 week liquid diets right before sugery, but my surgeon wants me to lose the 40 more lbs before he will even schedule the surgery. Then it is scheduled for one month or so after that date, at that point I had to have maintained my goal or they will cancel surgery until I lose it again..sucks!

Does anyone have any suggestions on things to help lose weight now before my surgery? I met my surgeon back in March 2007 and since Nov 2006 when I started this process through my hospital I have only lost 20 lbs. My surgeon wants me to lose more before he will schedule me for surgery. He wants me to get down to 360 lbs which is about 40 more lbs. I have had so many stuggles trying to lose this initial weight I feel like I will never get this surgery!!! :cry