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Tailoring can be reasonable. I found one who , for $10 each , tailored 5 pair of my favorite pants. Kinda like I went shopping in my own closet. I got rid of the huge clothes. Ok I kept one pair of stretchy 22's. Just to look at once a year and always remind me! Hard to believe I wore that size now that I am many years banded, Yet there they are .... I feel very grateful I was able to have a healthier smaller sized life for years...

It is up to your insurance company how they determine the first visit. My insurance counts the first visit with the surgeon since we discuss weight, diets, and exercise. The only way to know for sure is to check with your insurance company. Sometimes also the insurance coordinator at your doctor's office is familiar enough with your policy coverage to provide an answer. The form my insurance company sent me for completion only has six areas on it to be completed. The visits per my insurance coverage have to be in six separate months but not at 30 day intervals. My first visit was 7/31, and my next appointment is on the week of 8/19. I checked with my insurance company and was told me that this was spread out enough to qualify for two visits. I plan to have my last visit in early December so I can possibly have the surgery before the end of the year. I have a prolapsed lap band and am undergoing some tests right now. Once they are complete I will meet with my doctor to discuss the results. Then it will be decided if my claim will be submitted for a waiver of the 6 month requirement. I am scheduling my visits in case the request is denied. Good luck in your journey.

Since my surgery on 10/17/11 I get sick (diarhhea, nausea, sweats - feels like dumping syndrome) whenever I ingest protein drinks that are pre-made or powder. Thinking cow's milk was causing it, I tried using almond milk, soy milk and rice milk and still get sick so I have to think it's the whey protein causing the problem, just like you. So I have stopped using it/them and am relying more on Isopure Zero Carb and Isopure Plus for extra protein when needed. I hope the problem resolves itself eventually (I invested a lot of $ into huge protein containers - Unjury, Max Protein, Isopure Whey - as well as sugar free flavored syrups (as suggested by the world according to eggface's blog) and I hate to see them go to waste. I am eating mostly ALL protein at this point to keep my numbers up. The scale is going down so I guess it's working.

I have friends and co-workers who have had the gastric by-pass or sleeve. Been saving for 9 months for a self-pay procedure. Lost about 100 pounds 10 years ago but have gained it back. Ready to lose it and keep it off!!! I am definitely on a budget and could use tips on surgeons and locations. I have been researching Mexico Medical Tourism, but State Department warnings are scaring me. I have no one who can go with me at this time, and I do not speak enough Spanish to communicate easily. Thanks for reading, Birdie11

I was banded on 6/10/10 and am having port pain, after i eat when i take a breath it hurts, is this normal? i find i am eating once a day just because i don't want the discomfort. it almost feels like it's caught, i can feel a knot there still too.

How long were y ou in surgery?I was in surgery for 35-45 minutes my family tells me. Did you have a private room post op? Yes, it had a lounge chair, and my own bathroom. Very modern and up to date and nice! How many days did you stay? I checked in on a Monday at like 5am and checked out the next day at 5pm. At the worst point, how would you rate your pain? (o-10 with 0 being the least amt of pain) Worst point 10, but that was RIGHT when I came to and then they started the morphine! What kind of pain killers did they use? Did they work? Morphine and YES it worked, and I took home Lortab and it was wonderful as well. What did you do to pass the time? (I don't like to sit for long and I will walk the hospital all day long if they let me) I brought magazines and books and my laptop. Didn't need any of it I was sooooo out of it and tired. I took lots of naps and watched some tv. What did you take for entertainment? Anything? See above. How did you pack and what would you leave at home if you were to do it over again? Robe and slippers (to walk post surgery since you need to and they make you!), change of clothes, heating pad, toiletries etc. Good luck!

Im in AZ. Getting sleeved 10/26 at Banner Gateway. Sent from my SM-G920V using the BariatricPal App

How on earth are you getting that much Water in. I'm lucky if I get 16 oz in, and 10 grams of Protein.. Sorry I wish I could help, I have never experienced pain at all, but definately have a distended stomach and can't understand why it won't go down (larger than it was prior to surgery) I was sleeved on Sept 14th.

66lbs is a decent amount but when I have 171.5 total to lose, it's a drop in the bucket. I started out at 311.5 lbs. I'm 5'11" and my dr has set an unrealistic goal of 140lbs for me. At 200lbs, I'm a size 11. My 19 year old daughter is 145lbs in a size 5. I don't need to be that thin. I think his goal has put me in a bad place. Thanks for the words of advice. I am fighting hormones this week and everything is so dramatic. I've been on my period more than I've been off since surgery. Blah! Good luck everyone.

Yes! I am 10 days post op and around day 6 -7 was craving food. I think it was just that i though i was hungry. I had a couple of days where i had extra serves of soup but, then i had no weight loss. Yesterday i kept myself busy all day and stuck to my shakes and soup and it was a much better day. I also keep diet jelly (jello) in the fridge to eat when i need something. Returning to work next week will help so i wont be sitting around thinking about food. It is also hard when you have to cook for the rest of the family.

I know that it takes longer than that to get the passport, I sent in my son's application on Feb. 17th and we still haven't gotten it. The website for Passports says it takes 10 weeks, and we are on week 12!! I already have a passport as I went to Belgium a few years ago. My son and I are going to Croc, Mexico outside of Monterrey for a missions trip in June, so I hope his passport comes soon! ----- Anyone have any comments about Dr. Zapata and the Mexico banding?

@gmanbat how have things been going these past 10 days?? keep your spirits UP while your weight goes DOWN! good luck kathy

I had bypass on 10/4/17 and after about day 4 the gas pain was gone. Things are going to move quick. Sent from my Pixel using BariatricPal mobile app

I seen a lot of people on this forum not receiving family Support and getting called weak well i have a confession to make i didnt get any support i was laughed at and made fun of called weak called will less was told its all in my mind and was told several time I will fail most of the people were so called friends and family who themselves are not in perfect shape but have a lot to say . I feel it is your strength that you are taking this step also all you are getting is a tool to help you win this battle. I went to hospital with one of of my friends cause family wouldn't support me and thought i am wasting time.Guess what Surgery weight height 6 ft wt 287.5 in 5 days ( my surgery was on 8th of this month) today weight 264.... With ought this tool it's a very hard battle something I read at New York Times..... Shows Why It’s Hard to Keep Weight Off For years, studies of obesity have found that soon after fat people lost weight, their metabolism slowed and they experienced hormonal changes that increased their appetites. Scientists hypothesized that these biological changes could explain why most obese dieters quickly gained back much of what they had so painfully lost. GETTY IMAGES But now a group of Australian researchers have taken those investigations a step further to see if the changes persist over a longer time frame. They recruited healthy people who were either overweight or obese and put them on a highly restricted diet that led them to lose at least 10 percent of their body weight. They then kept them on a diet to maintain that weight loss. A year later, the researchers found that the participants’ metabolism and hormone levels had not returned to the levels before the study started. The study, being published Thursday in The New England Journal of Medicine, is small and far from perfect, but confirms their convictions about why it is so hard to lose weight and keep it off, say obesity researchers who were not involved the study. They cautioned that the study had only 50 subjects, and 16 of them quit or did not lose the required 10 percent of body weight. And while the hormones studied have a logical connection with weight gain, the researchers did not show that the hormones were causing the subjects to gain back their weight. Nonetheless, said Dr. Rudolph Leibel, an obesity researcher at Columbia, while it is no surprise that hormone levels changed shortly after the participants lost weight, “what is impressive is that these changes don’t go away.” Dr. Stephen Bloom, an obesity researcher at Hammersmith Hospital in London, said the study needed to be repeated under more rigorous conditions, but added, “It is showing something I believe in deeply — it is very hard to lose weight.” And the reason, he said, is that “your hormones work against you.” In the study, Joseph Proietto and his colleagues at the University of Melbourne recruited people who weighed an average of 209 pounds. At the start of the study, his team measured the participants’ hormone levels and assessed their hunger and appetites after they ate a boiled egg, toast, margarine, orange juice and crackers for Breakfast. The dieters then spent 10 weeks on a very low calorie regimen of 500 to 550 calories a day intended to makes them lose 10 percent of their body weight. In fact, their weight loss averaged 14 percent, or 29 pounds. As expected, their hormone levels changed in a way that increased their appetites, and indeed they were hungrier than when they started the study. They were then given diets intended to maintain their weight loss. A year after the subjects had lost the weight, the researchers repeated their measurements. The subjects were gaining the weight back despite the maintenance diet — on average, gaining back half of what they had lost — and the hormone levels offered a possible explanation. One hormone, leptin, which tells the brain how much body fat is present, fell by two-thirds immediately after the subjects lost weight. When leptin falls, appetite increases and metabolism slows. A year after the weight loss diet, leptin levels were still one-third lower than they were at the start of the study, and leptin levels increased as subjects regained their weight. Other hormones that stimulate hunger, in particular ghrelin, whose levels increased, and peptide YY, whose levels decreased, were also changed a year later in a way that made the subjects’ appetites stronger than at the start of the study. The results show, once again, Dr. Leibel said, that losing weight “is not a neutral event,” and that it is no accident that more than 90 percent of people who lose a lot of weight gain it back. “You are putting your body into a circumstance it will resist,” he said. “You are, in a sense, more metabolically normal when you are at a higher body weight.” A solution might be to restore hormones to normal levels by giving drugs after dieters lose weight. But it is also possible, said Dr. Jules Hirsch of Rockefeller University, that researchers just do not know enough about obesity to prescribe solutions. One thing is clear, he said: “A vast effort to persuade the public to change its habits just hasn’t prevented or cured obesity.” “We need more knowledge,” Dr. Hirsch said. “Condemning the public for their uncontrollable hedonism and the food industry for its inequities just doesn’t seem to be turning the tide.”

I saw my surgeon, Dr Schneider, in Boston, MA yesterday and was cleared for surgery. Surgery date is 2/24. I need to lose 10 lbs before then, and pre op diet starts two weeks prior. I am excited and nervous! 2 months and counting!

Hi there, I am only three days out, but I am not hungry at all. I get pains in my belly that i am associating more with gas than anything else. I wasn't released until 3pm yesterday so my first attempt at Protein was last night, I got about 10 grams in. Today I have already gotten 48 grams with my unjury chicken soup and a Chilke strawberry Protein powder shake. I pour each ounce in one of the ounce size plastic cups I got in the hospital and sip, slooowwly LOL. I start getting a bit of a burpy feeling and know that I need to slow down or take a break. My body told me pretty quickly what it would be ok with. Hope taht this helps!

I am having surgery on April 2nd at the Florence/Oasis of Hope, with Dr. Fernando Garcia. I am 44 and have battled with my weight all my adult life, I swear I can hear my moms voice saying you better not eat chocolate cake and chocolate milk for Breakfast it will catch up with you... all the while being a size 6.... fast forward 10 years and it caught up with me and then started multiplying. I now am battling degenerative arthritis and a torn meniscus, 7 years I have been told nothing is wrong with me all the while it getting worse and my ability to keep active dimensioning. I am now so out of shape and in so much pain that I have been taking anti depressants just because the pain finally got to my normal up beat attitude. After 8 months with this orthopedic doctor he was able to do an MRI and he was able to diagnose me!! I thought yeah now they will fix it and I can get moving and lose some weight, the next thing he said is if you want replacement surgery you will need to lose weight.... I lost MY MIND!! WHY would you not have discussed this during all the shots the draining and the pain I am enduring to now tell me that I will have to continue to fight a fight that I already struggle with when healthy and who knows how long it will take me to lose enough weight... That was last month... I have now made the decision to go forward with the weight loss surgery, I had been pre approved before but switched jobs and states before I was able to jump through all the hoops to get it done, I have had psych test and nutrition classes so I do believe that I am prepared that way. Mentally I can't WAIT!! I am getting married Sept 16, 2016 and I WILL dance at my wedding!! I have a wonderful supportive man that loves me how I am and only wants me healthy and happy. Please let me know your experience and if you have any regrets. I will be returning to work ASAP but it is an office job so from what I have read I think I will be ok...

Congrats! I have my date 10/20. I got approved immediately with bcbs but they sure made me go through hoops after approval. Please keep us posted on new updates. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Wow good for you,I just recd a call saying my Dr had to reschedule my date to the 17th bc he will be going out town on the 19 so we will be sleeve on the same date my time is 12:00 so lets keep n touch

Jessica! I'm also 25 and I got banded 10/16. I was wondering the same thing. Let's keep in touch and see what works and what doesnt. I'm working out often and started doing light weights. It seems to be helping. I've lost lbs since then. I had a starting weight (initial consult...July 30) of 279 (yes insane)...and now I'm 235. I have 100lbs to go but I'm excited! Let me know what kind of exercises you're doing!

Hey lessofme and Sharon P--hope you are both doing well with your surgery and your decisions. I'm having Dr. Hansen do my surgery on March 19. Right now I'm feeling a little apprehensive about it all--will it work? can I eat following the rules for the rest of my life? (I'm sure those two questions are related!). What if I have complications? Spending money out of pocket for the surgery is one thing, but thinking of doubling or tripling that amount because of complications is very scary. Lessofme, have you survived the long period of liquids and pureed/strained foods without too much problem? Have you lost weight yet? You'll have your fill the day I have my surgery! I'm so full of emotions: excited, nervous, anxious, hopeful... But, what else is new??? Good luck to you both! Karen (in Provo)

GM...... Its getting close can you go on fb and send me a friend req? @ Debi ChaseValdez . I tried to look you up but had no luck. I am in Milwaukee Wisconsin. I am sure the pounds will be rolling off once we have the surgery! I have dropped 13 in 10 days. Today is a rough day having some hunger pains

My doctor has me on clear liquids for two weeks so I haven't even started protein and lost 10 pounds total. Anyway I don't think you're doing too bad considering you're already drinking protein but I'm a newbie so hopefully some other people weigh in.

I feel like I just won the Texas Lottery, after reading so many post on how hard it is to get approved. I found out today that I am approved and I have a surgery date of July 24th. Which can't come soon enough since I have had some complication from my Lap band. As hard as these past 3 years has been with my band I believe the lessons I've learnt will benefit my new life with the sleeve. Winning the Lottery changes people lives and being sleeved will differently change my life. I have BCBS of TX and hen I called today I was told that my doc office sent the paperwork in on the 5th and it could talk 7-10 business days to get and answer that was at 11:01am and by 3:59pm my doc office was calling me to say I was approved. I was in shock and happy and nervous all at the same time, like a lottery winner. I would have jumped up and down too but I was in the car parked in front of Wal-Mart and have too much port pain. Good Luck to those waiting on approval.