starladustangel

Might be, might not be.
I personally think you can't be prepared for "after surgery". There is no realistic simulation of post-op life. And there will always be people who won't feel "prepared". However, I fear a lot of them won't even feel "prepared" after going through supervised diet for 6 years instead of 6 months.
This feeling of "lack of being prepared" reminds me of residents who're diving head first into their first on-duty-night alone. They almost never feel "prepared". I didn't feel prepared for many things on the job as well - and I mastered things anyway. Just like (most of) the residents that are now in fear of their first on-duty-night will master them.
Not that unrealistic I fear. However, enough people are already gaining back their weight and some more on top of it, despite the waiting and preparation period.
Of course one can draw two entirely different conclusions out of the fact that many people are gaining back weight:
1) patients need longer preparation time so results will be better
2) preparation time is wasted time, there will always be people who're going to gain back the weight, no therapy works for 100% of the patients
For me it was length of time. We have wasted so much time already on stuff that didn't work long term, why waste more? Look at the studies on morbid obesity and conservative treatment. Not one seems to come to the conclusion that non-surgical treatment is successful.

I have completed the seminar and turned in my paperwork to the surgeon's office.
I have BCBS IL and spoke to them on the phone last week. While they no longer are requiring the supervised diet to approve, they did say that surgeons may require their own supervised diet plans so it seems they are leaving it up to the surgeon but they don't require it.

not me - but it wouldn't have worked for me. I had lost 50-60 lbs countless times, and the weight always eventually came back. I had over 200 lbs to lose, and I finally came to the realization that it wasn't gonna happen without intervention. I'm almost 60 years old and have been overweight/obese my whole life. WLS is the only thing that "worked".

It was my mom. She is having vsg next week and one of the things she said was she wanted to play with her grandkids. 2 of those grandkids are my kids and I can't play with them the way I would like. It hit me that if I didn't do something now at 38 I would still be yo yo dieting when I am her age. I knew my insurance would cover it because my coworkers had done it. I called my insurance and found out what I needed to do and signed up for a seminar

Sent from my SM-G960U using BariatricPal mobile app

It was my mom. She is having vsg next week and one of the things she said was she wanted to play with her grandkids. 2 of those grandkids are my kids and I can't play with them the way I would like. It hit me that if I didn't do something now at 38 I would still be yo yo dieting when I am her age. I knew my insurance would cover it because my coworkers had done it. I called my insurance and found out what I needed to do and signed up for a seminar

Sent from my SM-G960U using BariatricPal mobile app

It was my mom. She is having vsg next week and one of the things she said was she wanted to play with her grandkids. 2 of those grandkids are my kids and I can't play with them the way I would like. It hit me that if I didn't do something now at 38 I would still be yo yo dieting when I am her age. I knew my insurance would cover it because my coworkers had done it. I called my insurance and found out what I needed to do and signed up for a seminar

Sent from my SM-G960U using BariatricPal mobile app

It was my mom. She is having vsg next week and one of the things she said was she wanted to play with her grandkids. 2 of those grandkids are my kids and I can't play with them the way I would like. It hit me that if I didn't do something now at 38 I would still be yo yo dieting when I am her age. I knew my insurance would cover it because my coworkers had done it. I called my insurance and found out what I needed to do and signed up for a seminar

Sent from my SM-G960U using BariatricPal mobile app

Exactly! It's a medical decision which should be reserved for physicians. However, I hope bariatric programs don't make mandatory diets a requirement of their programs as a knee-jerk reaction to insurer demands - even when insurers don't "demand"! Why? Because there is no evidence-based medicine to support mandatory diets! Here is more information to help:
ASMBS Position Statement On Insurer-Mandated Pre-Surgery Weight Loss Requirements