CurvyCat

@ tinksmom : I thought my husband was the only one who did that sort of thing! hehehe Not on that scale, but pretty much any time I'm in need of some TLC because I've been sick (or post-partum), he gets sick or sleep-deprives himself into getting sick so it ends up that I'm taking care of him instead. This morning, for example -- I was banded yesterday, btw -- he says he thinks he's coming down with something, went on about how miserable he feels and how he didn't get any sleep last night. So while he's getting himself ready for work, I ended up having to get our daughter fed and ready for day camp. She's not a morning person at all, so she has to have someone riding her to keep her moving in the morning, and he was TOO tired and run down to do it. So, my newly-banded self got to run the mommy gauntlet at 6am. LOL Frustrating to say the least. Guess I'd better make sure to train my kiddos to take care of me in my old age, because I don't think he's going to do it. Hrmmm..... I wonder when the next full moon is, anyways. :devil_smile: That all said, I think we'll weather the banding and weight loss OK. He met me at 170 and has been with me through the many ups and downs of yo-yo dieting over the last almost 14 years. Heck, maybe he'll decide to do it himself at some point, though that might be stretching it. I don't think he's over 40 BMI anyways, but he does have at least 1 comorbidity. I think he'd be more upset if I decided to go for breast implants than if I got skinny.

I've noticed the same thing too looking at the boards. I know I can get a little bit grumpy when I'm hungry, but the victim/who-can-I-blame mentality I keep seeing is flabbergasting to me. I only got my band yesterday, but I've been putting in the work to be ready for it all year. I know it's not a magic bullet and I expect to have to keep on working to make it work for me and with me to achieve the results I want. If I'm going to get mad anywhere along the way, it's likely that I'll be mad at myself if I don't do the work, not at my surgeon, or the Band, or that the magical weight loss fairy didn't come and visit me as soon as I got my Band. I'm looking forward to someday reaching my goal and having all the benefits that come with that. But what I'm REALLY looking forward to is STAYING there, and I'm hoping that the Band is the tool I need to help me keep this yo-yo from ever going back up again. A little optimism goes a long way, I think, and the folks that I see on here who have been in this for the long haul all have something in common.... a positive attitude and a willingness to work for their results. I'm going to be one someday too!

Had my procedure today. Like Julie, these gas pains are rough. Hoping they'll ease up some tomorrow. Things went very smoothly during my procedure, but I almost had to get cath'd before I could check out. I managed to void there at the very end (last one in the outpatient recovery for the day!) and saved myself from that. LOL! Today was just more Clear liquids, will start on my Protein tomorrow. I have a clear liquids+protein diet for a week, then I can add milk/soymilk to it the following week. pureed on week 3-4, Mushies week 5-6. I can likely start introducing some solids in those last two weeks. Here we go!!

Mine was 90 days for Aetna. I thought it was 3 months at first, but one of my months was February (short!) so when I went in to my last appt, I was told they couldn't submit until after a whole 90 days had passed. I took advantage of the time to really kickstart my weightloss. Trying to make the changes in my portions and eat during the program like I was already banded. It was not easy, but knowing it had an end-point in the near future (instead of some nebulous time down the line like "regular" dieting) made it much easier. Keeping myself under control for a few months is one thing. Keeping my portions under control for a few YEARS (what it takes for me to take it all off on my own) is another. 3 months -- I could do that. Turns out I followed it for a month extra and dropped a full 1/3 of the total weight I need to lose over those 4 months. Now I'm in the final few days before my surgery, and I'm starting to lose my willpower. But I am SO glad I didn't waste the first part of this year just waiting around to get my band. If there is any way you think you can stick with something on your own for the short term before your approval and surgery, do it! You'll be glad you did!

What the heck???? So, I've been a powerhouse since I started my 90-day diet back in January. I even kept myself mostly under control in May through a week-long family vacation and then during a 6-day camping event over Memorial Day weekend. Low-carb, high-Protein, tracking my food, getting in all my Water, etc. So I have no idea what the heck is going on with me this week, during my pre-op diet period!! It's not much different from what I'd been following all these months, but I can't seem to stick with it. :sad: I've totally indulged in fruit, haven't been tracking at all, and splurged on tortilla chips and guacamole last night and chinese food tonight. ACK My surgery is on Tuesday morning, and I'm terrified. I know that things are likely to go just fine, and I didn't think I had too many worries about afterwards (though I expected to be stressed about the surgery itself), but I guess maybe I'm more anxious about it all than I thought. I'm going to be putting myself on shakes for the weekend and then of course the Clear liquids on Monday, but I hope my indiscretions over the last few days don't mess anything up during surgery, or make it any harder for my Dr. to do a SILS banding. I wish I knew if a few days of fruit-eating-frenzy would undo 5 months of low-carb work as far as my liver goes. I'm probably totally overrreacting, but my nerves are getting to be a mess with this whole thing. grrr. :frown:

It defnitely varies from policy to policy. I have Aetna Choice POS II and mine covers 80% of the surgery, anesthesia, and pre-op testing. It would have covered the 6 month diet with me only paying co-pays, but because I chose to do the 3 month multidisciplinary plan, it only covered the Dr. visits, not the nutritionist visits, I paid those out of pocket. It covered most of my psych eval, but I went to a psychiatrist, not a psychologist, for it. Now, my plan is one of several POS II plans offered by my husband's employer. I would expect that they have even MORE variations on their base plans with other employers, and even more for their plans for individuals. So what you read Aetna covers for one person here on a particular plan may not apply at all in your case/plan, even if the plan has the same basic name. I've been self-employed for about 14 years, and until just the past year when my husband became employed with a large company, we often ran through the headache of finding individual coverage for me, for him, and then for our kids. I can't remember running across WLS coverage on any individual plan, but I definitely could have missed it somewhere. Pick your coverage carefully.... there are SO many places where you can easily miss essential coverage or end up with totally unnecessary coverage. It's so expensive, it's worth the time to be very thorough before buying a policy. Good luck!!

Yeah, the gas pain is what I'm worried about most, I think, after reading over most of the surgery stories. Although it's been compared to labor pains as far as intensity of pain goes... and I've had two natural births, so I guess I can wrangle some gas pains. (insert my clueless optimism here, heh) Heh, well, I hope. At least with labor you know it's going to be over fairly soon, and the pains don't come unexpectedly. LOL!

hehehe!! I definitely won't be driving, and hopefully I won't be TOO loopy. I don't want to have to ask the guy to repeat himself over and over again just because my brain is a sieve. *laugh* I'm just hoping that any discomfort is managable enough at that point to get done what I have to get done. My older daughter is going to day camp all day every day next week, and my younger is going to my mom's for the week, so other than this attorney business, I should be able to get several days of good rest after surgery.

Hey there! My surgery is scheduled for 10am Tuesday (6/15), and I'm nervous, but definitely ready now. However, I just found out that my husband and I have to meet with our attorney (about something totally unrelated, but urgent) the NEXT afternoon. It'll be about a 20-30 minute drive and then probably 30-45 minutes of paperwork signing and talking, then the drive home. I am trying to get it changed to Monday, before I go in, but it's not looking promising. How did you feel 24-36 hours after surgery? I'm having single-incision surgery, if that makes any difference. :thumbup:

Has anyone tried to order the "Senior" option at restaurants like IHOP? The portions are smaller, but still adult fare rather than kid-style food. I'd love to be able to order from those choices instead of the regular Entrees or kids' choices. :tongue2:

Good to know! My surgeon hasn't said anything about my belly button being in good/bad location. I think he's only looked at my belly once, though, so I think I'll double check with him at my pre-op appointment on the 10th. My navel definitely sits right at my waistline, where I bend. But, I don't mind wearing pants with the yoga-pant waist and skirts low on my hips this summer. Heck, that's how I spent the summer of 2007 when I was way pregnant. I hated wearing anything over my belly then -- I can totally do that again, though it would be a bit different with my belly shrinking instead of growing! heheh

I don't have PCOS, but my thyroid levels are borderline. My caloric intake has to be between 900-1100 calories/day for me to lose weight, which is way less than what Weight Watchers and other programs say it should be. I lost 100+ pounds between 2004 and 2007 doing Weight Watchers (mostly) and it took me all three years to do it. I was hungry every single day, and the weight came off SO slowly. I got pregnant again in 2007 and put it all back on during pregnancy and afterwards --- and I was still eating all my healthy foods, just WAY too much of them (about 2000-2500 cal/day) for me. Lap-band for me is a last-ditch effort to control my portion sizes and to reduce/eliminate that all-consuming appetite/hunger that comes with a permanent small-portion diet. I don't think my surgeon's office believed me when I told them my story and my what my typical diet and exercise is. All I did was reduce my portions, I didn't change anything else during my 90-day supervised plan. They believe me now. The cool thing is that everyone from my surgeon to his staff to most of the hospital staff (for my pre-op testing) to my contact with my insurance company says that I am an ideal candidate for lap-band because all I need is help with portion control. I've already conquered so many of the other food demons that others are still battling. It took me a LONG time to do all that, but it's habit now, reinforced by wanting my kids to grow up making healthy food choices too. :cursing: It sounds like you may be in a similar boat as far as diet/portions. Talk to a good surgeon and see what they say! I know several folks who have had other WLS up in your direction, but no one who's had lap-band surgery. You do have a lot of choices up in the DFW area, though! :ciappa:

Have you tried tracking all of your food/drink intake, measuring and logging every bite? Your diet sounds much like mine, but I was taking in much more than I thought I was. I knew my portions were sometimes out of whack, but apparently they were out of bounds more often than I thought. When I log my food and keep the portions under control, I lose weight. Unfortunately, when I do that, I'm REALLY hungry, ALL the time. So I finally decided that the lap-band was for me. I didn't think I was actually going to get approved (and if I did, I wasn't sure I would go through with it), so I started eating like I was already banded for my 90-day required supervised diet. For me, that just meant paring down my portions, because like you, my food *quality* was already good. I hope the band can help me continue to keep the *quantity* under control for the long haul. If you haven't already, give food logging a shot and get a totally accurate snapshot of what your intake is over a span of time. You might also want to have your thyroid checked. Even borderline hypothyroidism can slow down your metabolism considerably.

Hey Nean, did you end up having the trans-umbilical SILS? That's what I'm scheduled for next week, and I would love to hear how it went for you. Doesn't seem like there are too many folks having that kind done, so I'm very curious!

Helen, my Dr has a diet similar to yours. I won't be banded until next week, but I'll be on clear liquids for a week post-op, then on full liquids for a week. Then I get to progress to pureed food for 2 weeks, then mushies for 2 weeks. So it'll be 6 weeks before I get real food. I might have to ask if I can start testing real food in small doses at week 5, though, as I'm supposed to be in Chicago that week and I'm not sure how easy it will be for me to find ALL mushy food outside of my own kitchen. heh Though maybe it's better if I'm very limited there instead -- it will be easier to fend off the in-laws who all love to eat and love to feed people if I have a blanket "No" to real food. I agree that it's weird to see all the different requirements that doctors have. My surgeon seems to definitely work on the more conservative/cautious side of things, which I don't mind too much... I'd rather he be TOO careful than not careful enough.

I just realized I hadn't answered this. My reservations stem from a general fear of surgery, and a sort of insecurity about going through with a lifetime of enforced limitations on what I can eat. Since my original comment, I'm more sure of my surgery decision, but still not 100%. My pre-surgery success so far both helps and hinders this, actually. I feel like I've really gotten a great head start, but part of me now is wondering if I should just barrel through on my own without the band. I should note that I have gotten within 20# of goal before on my own, so I know that I CAN do it without the band. Obviously, I didn't manage to maintain, so that's definitely a point in the band's favor. However, I gained it all back during pregnancy #2, so I don't know if I would have been able to do it without that circumstance. Yeah, so it's a whole lot of waffling over here. Oddly enough, I had really gotten close to 100% sure until I went in for my pre-op testing. The bariatric liaison at the hospital was awesome getting me through my testing very efficiently, but did ask me if I was *sure* I wanted to do this.... which of course revived some of my doubts. I guess I won't know until I actually go through with it. Or not. :confused:

I think it's pretty reasonable to think that I could get to goal (150#) in a year. I've made a lot of headway before my surgery date, so hopefully things won't slow down too much after banding!

Actually, I was approved without it, but I have to get it before my surgery date. I'm just going to call up our family doc and ask for it. *laugh* I didn't even have doctor records for my pregnancies, actually. I had both my kids with midwives, so I hadn't seen an MD at all until 2008, and we didn't even submit that year, just late 2009 and early 2010 (Nov/Dec/Jan). Like you, I'm generally very healthy, so I hadn't had any reason to go to the doctor in years. We did not expect me to be approved on the first try... not me, not my surgeon, and not my insurance contact. It was totally a surprise! Sticking with this restricted diet (I am basically already eating like I'm banded) has been HARD -- the hardest stretch I think I've ever done, but it's paid off in both an unexpected approval and a great head-start on my weight loss. And I'm not going to be facing the shock of having to develop totally new habits post-op. Just have to get myself off carbonation and stop drinking during meals, and I'll have the diet aspect of post-banding totally in line. :smile2:

Aetna approved me with my post-partum weights (in 2004 and 2007) plus my weight in November 2009, my weight at my intial consult in December 2009 and my weight when I started the 3-month plan in January 2010. My surgeon chose to leave out my record showing my weight in 2008, as it was less than what it needed to be. I was afraid they wouldn't take my post-partum and pregnancy weights, especially as the records show that I lost a lot of weight between pregnancies, but they approved me. I did include an essay detailing my long-term history battling my weight, and was VERY motivated during my 3-month multidisciplinary diet. My insurance contact says that both of those likely made a big difference when the director reviewed my application.

I worried about the same thing. But it seems most insurance companies go by the weight you are at your initial consult (not the seminar). I was told by my insurance liaison that my weight loss during my 3-month diet probably worked in my favor in getting approved. I did not have all the medical history the way they would have wanted, but she said that my compliance during the diet showed that I am serious about this and that I am a good investment in the company's eyes for the procedure. So, if your insurance goes by the same guidelines and uses your starting BMI, go for it! Getting a head start on things is fantastic. I love knowing that I could by almost halfway there BEFORE I get my band. :smile2:

I've got a June 15 date.... I finally think I've decided to actually go through with it, even though I'm scared silly. I didn't really believe I'd get approved on the first try, so it seem sort of unreal to me still I think. :scared2:

Fish is a staple around here, both because it's good for us and because it's FAST. The cedar planks for grilling really do add something to the flavor, but we only grill every couple of weeks or so. Let's see. Trout and salmon are both frequently for sale at costco at a good price, so I'll pick up some and split it into two meals. I usually just sprinkle some smoked salt like Salish on it and throw it in the oven for 10-12 minutes at 435 degrees. We like ours on the rare side, so if you prefer this kind of fish more well-done, increase time. I'm a huge fan of bulk purchasing salts (and other seasonings), especially for experimenting with new flavors. If you have a place you can buy spices by the ounce, where you scoop it into baggies yourself instead of having to buy whole jars, give it a shot! Another favorite recipe for salmon or trout is to saute' some almond slivers or chopped macadamias in olive oil, and bake the fish. When the fish is done, put the nuts over the top of the fish. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro and a dash of lime juice. Yum! We pan-sear tuna with blackened spices, bake orange roughy with tomato/fresh basil/sea salt mix, grill or bake halibut in foil with peppers and onions. Poaching like AllegrasGramma says above is another simple way to get lots of flavor. I always go for what's on sale, so I pretty much never end up with King salmon (but oh MY it's tasty!). I like the Sockeye salmon least of the salmons. Trout can come in huge fillets or they come in smaller whole (headless/tailless) fish that are great seasoned and then secured with a strip of turkey bacon, like a belt, and grilled. My local store usually calls these "ruby red" trout. Ok, now I'm hungry, and lunch time is WAY too far away. heheheh :confused:

The Soy Slender also is pretty darn good as a replacement, has more Protein than almond or rice milk, and is VERY low in carbs. I've heard good things about hemp milk too, but I haven't tried it. I'd been on skim cow's milk for years, but finally eliminated entirely as a beverage within the last year or so. My kids still drink skim milk every once in a while, and I cook with skim milk when milk is called for in a recipe (or use dry milk in baking). I mix the Soy Slender with Protein Powder to make a creamer, higher-Protein shake, especially if I'm in a rush and have to squeeze in a meal. It's quite tasty, as such things go. It comes in chocolate, vanilla, and Cappucino flavors. I like the Vanilla, but my kids think the Chocolate is pretty good, and I imagine if you like coffee (I don't), the Cappucino would make a great creamer.

Needabreak, I hope your appeal goes through, that BMI is SO close!! My approval was a surprise to me and to my surgeon both. We fully expected to have to appeal. I sent in what amounts to a one-page essay detailing my ups and downs over my life with my initial submission, so that might have helped. What my insurance liaison at Aetna told me, though, was that I was probably approved because I had shown in my 3-month diet that I was VERY motivated and ready to be compliant, and that that makes me a good candidate for success with the Band.... thus a good investment in Aetna's eyes. I am not over 40 BMI now, so I'm glad they looked at it that way.

Susi, even though it wasn't specifically required by my surgeon and his staff for my 3-month plan, I've been doing pretty much what I'll have to be doing post-banding (after I'm back on regular food, that is). I haven't changed the drinking during/after meals thing yet, but otherwise my diet since the start of February has been as you describe. And so far, so good! I can't wait to see what my weight is next week --- I haven't weighed since my last appointment on 04/07, but I think I'm down another 10# or so. :thumbup: It's great because by the time I get banded, I'll already have made a decent dent in my weight, and hopefully I'll have developed some of the habits I'll need to make the band work for me. If you're able to stick with it, then I think it's an awesome idea! I'm really good at sticking with diets for a few months at a time, but not for the long haul. So now, just about the time that my willpower usually gives out on me ---- I'll be getting a tool to help me make it ALL the way!