Alora VSG Begonia

I try to stick with good quality dark chocolate with high cacao (coco) percentage & eat just a couple/ few squares.
Best to stay away from all those fruity things in them. Sometimes, it's not real fruit, it's "lab-created" fruit look alike with a little fruit juice in it. Blech! (Keep telling yourself THAT when you feel like the "fruity" chocolates.
Dark chocolate has some health benefits and is usually lower in sugars.
If you eat 1oz of the good dark chocolate before a meal, it reduces your hunger. If you eat the kind with hot chili peppers in it, it increases your metabolism too
when I do eat it, I keep in mind "It's for my health" while eating it (mindful eating). It's a once in awhile thing for me. Not a daily regimen.
The tricky part is not eating the whole thing or going on a choco-binge. That's just self control.
I found it's helpful to allow myself the dark choco once in awhile- without any guilt. Yes, I CAN have that! Re-framing my mind has reduced my cravings

It's the smell your body makes when you are in ketosis. Drink more Water (I know easier said than done) and try taking some magnesium too.

I have to admit, when I wrote this I was still going through my insurance but I've since decided to do it out of pocket in Mexico. Now I can just start my weight loss program now instead of waiting till July or August and I have a lot more wiggle room with my weight. I was sort of sitting at my holiday season weight when I got weighed in the first time and I just cannot maintain that for 6 months without going insane. My natural weight the rest of the year is like 15 pounds lighter. I can't get much lower than that but that puts me at a 38-39 bmi which is too low for insurance. I just no longer want to fool with it. I'm impatient. Best of luck!

Wow, this is almost making me rethink my sleeve. At least this might be a good option for my husband. He wants to get the surgery but his BMI isn't high enough for our insurance.

Wow, this is almost making me rethink my sleeve. At least this might be a good option for my husband. He wants to get the surgery but his BMI isn't high enough for our insurance.

Hi all, there's a chance I might not be living in NY in a few months so instead of chancing it I'm just having the VSG done in mexico on April 16th. I'm sort of relieved because I was just on the border at 40bmi and now I can start my healthy lifestyle right now instead of waiting and worrying about staying at that weight until this summer. I'm still going to do my sleep study and my nutritionist/psychologist meetings because I think it'll be good mental preparation and my insurance covers it anyway, but I don't want to risk having to move and start the process over again with another insurance company in another state with another doctor. Not to mention, I'd rather do the recovery in early spring and actually enjoy my summer. lol!

Would requesting a female sleep technician help your anxiety? Maybe your insurance would cover a sleep study at home. Some of the pulmonologist (sp?) have a machine that tests you at home. There are a lot of orthodox and Muslim women where I live so I know they make it possible for women to feel safe when alone. Hope you're able to figure out a way to make it work. That sounds like it's really stressful for you.

Would requesting a female sleep technician help your anxiety? Maybe your insurance would cover a sleep study at home. Some of the pulmonologist (sp?) have a machine that tests you at home. There are a lot of orthodox and Muslim women where I live so I know they make it possible for women to feel safe when alone. Hope you're able to figure out a way to make it work. That sounds like it's really stressful for you.

@@SAD HATTER - call them back and make them be specific. Explain that the program does monthly weight checks and ask if that would be sufficient or will they be requiring more detailed documentation. Make sure you get the full name of the person you speak to.

Exactly.
I scan or measure and log EVERYTHING on My Fitness Pal.

@@Stephanie Salsera Perrott
Life after the sleeve isn't a life of denial. I love food and go out to eat all the time. You just change the way you eat, what you eat and how much.
I've followed this surgeon's eating advice. I got the book on Kindle a few days after surgery. It made a huge difference in my outlook on post-surgery life and I pimp it every chance I get. He really knows how to lay it out for people and teach you how to eat after surgery. Everyone thinks they know how, but they don't. He made things a lot easier for me and I still refer to the book constantly.
http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Gastric-Sleeve-Success-Practical/dp/0615830447/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1424296331&sr=8-2&keywords=duc+vuong

You probably need to call your surgeons assistant/ surgical coordinator and ask them. I didn't see anything in the UHC requirements about needing to lose weight but I didn't see anything about gaining either. Have you been tracking your food on fitness pal? There might be a blind spot you're having with measurement/cal intake. I know when I was still gaining earlier this year I realized I was getting WAY too many calories from my Creamer and sugar in my coffee. Like I was literally doubling my Breakfast cals with my coffee intake alone. Sometimes getting your weight to at least stabilize just takes having an honest look at what your intake is and seeing if there's any tweaks you can make to at least get it to flatline. My trick was just switching to milk from half and half and not using sugar anymore (I prefer no sugar to fake sweeteners.) I do think that the Insurance could look at consistent gaining across the 6 months as a negative so better to be safe than sorry! But again, you should ask your doc office.

Well, you can't lose weight by tonight ... so it is what it is.
I'm not trying to shame you or anything because I have been where you are, but after surgery there are no more excuses. It doesn't matter if you are sick or whatever. You have to stick to the plan.

I was told the same thing by my weight loss facility which is NYU Langone (ie 6 weigh-ins, 5 months of actual attempt time.) Did you gain weight higher than your starting weight or just a little weight back from your loss over the past 6 months? I can't imagine you'd be cancelled by a 3 or 4 pounds but I would email your surgical coordinator about it.

The sleeve has actually helped me with sleep apnea, I'm not snoring either. My pulmonary dr was glad to hear me agetting this done, I'm hoping to soon be taken off oxygen at night. Idk if it will happen because I have COPD pretty bad but I can hope.

They didn't wake me during my sleep test either but the pulminologist diagnosed me with severe sleep apnea. I had to do a second sleep study with CPAP, a titration study to find out what settings I needed.
There are so many masks on the market now. I finally found one that works for me. I feel so much better! Google sleep apnea. It is a very dangerous disease with the potential for severe complications to the heart lungs etc.
I fought doing a sleep study for a few years because I didn't think I could get through the sleep study much less using a mask to sleep. But my surgeon required it so I had no choice. In hindsight I realize it was actually a blessing. Diagnosed and properly treated will add years to my life ☺️

They did not wake me during my study either, and they diagnosed me with severe obstructive sleep apnea.
Apparently I wasn't necessarily stopping breathing, but I kept coming almost awake because it was difficult to breathe. I was getting barely any deep sleep.< /p>
Now, a year later, I have almost no problems sleeping with the mask. I don't wake up with headaches the way I used to, my throat isn't always sore, and my doctor says my lungs sound a whole lot better (I'm moving more air and using more of my lungs to breathe). Also, my heart is getting healthier (sleep apnea affects heart function).
If you get a vpap (variable pap) or bipap, you will find they are very different than a cpap. A cpap is continuous pressure. The variable only provides air when you need it so you don't have a constant flow of air in your face.
In any case, good luck!

I try my best not to recommend specific practices or surgeons. There are some really great surgeons within the tri-state area, If you require a doc in BK, I'd suggest Danny Sherwinter or Abraham Krikhely at Maimonides. I believe Ren-Fielding and Dr. Schwack also have offices in Flatbush and they're there once a week or so.

They knew what my requirements were, but not everyone in the office does. For example, when scheduling my 4 months of appointments, I was scheduled to see the doctor only when my insurance required monthly nutritionist appointments. We didn't catch this until after all of the appointments were set in stone, which required some work to rearrange. At my last appointment I wasn't given the pre-op booklet, so I had no clue about the PCP clearance and pre-op testing. My emails went unanswered until I called to get the information.
When all was said and done, everyone worked with me to rectify all of the issues above, and I was approved on time. I also managed to proceed with surgery on the date scheduled. So everything worked out just fine, but only because I also knew my requirements. Once the issues were discovered they were solved quickly, so I give credit for that.
Call your insurance and know your requirements and make sure you're covering it all!

My surgery is Feb 23 at South Nassau Hospital....I cant wait...make sure you keep copies of all your clearances, sleep apnea, psychological and nutritionist....

@, I also have Oxford United. I am getting sleeved with a different doc on Feb. 26 but the ones you mentioned are the requirement for Oxford. You don't need anything else

Also... I've seen dr. Schwack @ NYU (same practice as fielding/kurian) he's very good too! He's doing my bf's uncles gastric sleeve next Friday. Can't say enough good things about that practice

I also was sleeved by Dr. Schwack at NYU a week ago. I have not had any problems with him at all. For anyone intending to use him though, stay on top of your pre-op requirements for insurance and the office itself. I found that on a few occasions I had to be the one asking what to do next because I wasn't fully informed. Overall, still a very good experience.

Thank you so much for this! I didn't know stock was so easy to make!

Homemade stock only takes about an hour (even less if you have a pressure cooker) and can be frozen for a long long time. I recommend measuring out portions in quart size or smaller freezer bags and then a gallon of stock will go a long way for you! Lightly caramelizing your veggies, using mushrooms, and using tomatoes or miso will make it taste a lot better. Here's a little list of tips though. http://thestonesoup.com/blog/2010/05/7-tips-for-full-flavoured-vegetable-stock/