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Did anyone lose weight during their 6 month waiting period?



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I am starting the process and my insurance requires the 6 month waiting period. My problem is that I can lose weight, just not keep it off. I am wondering if anyone has lost a significant amount of weight during their 6 month waiting period and if it affected their coverage? I have read that they go by your starting weight and not your ending weight. I am ready to lose weight. I've done diets, gave up, tried to be fat and happy, and now am at my fattest and tired of it. I just know if I start a liquid or low carb diet plus exercise, I will lose weight. I just won't be able to keep it off long term and that is why I want the band. It will help keep me from getting overly hungry and remind me that overeating won't "work".

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Hello,

I did weight watchers and excercised and lost 45 pounds before my surgery and everything was fine, a friend of mine was not aloud to lose more than 10 pounds but not aloud to gain. I think it depends on your insurance/doctor. Good luck!

I am starting the process and my insurance requires the 6 month waiting period. My problem is that I can lose weight, just not keep it off. I am wondering if anyone has lost a significant amount of weight during their 6 month waiting period and if it affected their coverage? I have read that they go by your starting weight and not your ending weight. I am ready to lose weight. I've done diets, gave up, tried to be fat and happy, and now am at my fattest and tired of it. I just know if I start a liquid or low carb diet plus exercise, I will lose weight. I just won't be able to keep it off long term and that is why I want the band. It will help keep me from getting overly hungry and remind me that overeating won't "work".

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I did the aetna 3 month "fast track" - which actually took almost 6 months to complete. I was right at the 40 BMI and was told not to lose or gain during that waiting period.

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Mine was six months with monthly nutritionist visits. I was fortunate to have a great nutritionist who really prepared me well for life after banding and helped a lot with getting myself in the habit of making good dietary choices even before banding. I lost 18 pounds during the pre-op phase.

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You need to ask you doctor how they handle weight loss esp if you are near 40 and your insurance says you have to be over 40 BMI to have surgery. I was so far above 40 that I still qualified even though I lost 50 pounds between first consult and surgery. These 6 months are the time to start learning new food and eating habits.

Start eating like a naturally thin person. To me this means eating healthy foods most of the time. Have a grilled chicken sandwich instead of fried. Stop eating french fries and have a baked potato. Stop having "a few bites" here and there. They add up! And you always eat more than you think.

Getting the Lap Band is only half of the battle. You need to rewire you brain. I thought I was making good food choices but I was'nt. I would buy baked lays and crackers thinking they were low fat. My problem was I would eat half a bag at a time.

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i had Eatna and did the 6 months, i weighed 314 lbs, i could go down to 275 and no lighter, i also had high blood pressure, high cholesterol, sleep apnea, but i only lost around 10 lbs. and on the last weigh in i gained 4 back. and was approved in 10 days max...!

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I went from 390 pounds down to 372 and stayed there :( I'm scheduled for surgery 2/10/2011 and starting the pre op shakes on Wednesday. I am sure that another 5-10 pounds will come off with that. I guess if I could drop with just diet and exercise alone then I wouldn't have needed to consider the surgery at all. I Think that if you are younger (i'm almost 63) more significant pre op weight drops could be expected but i'm not sure of that.

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Well, that is kind of where I am. I feel like if I have to wait 6 months, I am going to be trying to get as much weight off before the surgery as I possibly can. This will help me heal from the surgery plus if I spend the 6 months trying to keep my diet and exercise what it needs to be once I have the surgery, it won't be that bad of a psychological shock. I feel motivated by the fact I can have this awesome tool that will hopefully keep me from weight regain and keep me on track. Right now, I have no such motivation. I feel like I have lost and regained the same 20, 30, 40lbs with even more weight regain over and over again. I don't want to bother. But now that I can potentially take it off and keep it off, I am motivated.

I know I kind of think differently.

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

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      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
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    • KimBaxleyWilson

      Three months and four days ago... I was in Costa Rica having a life changing surgery! Yesterday we had a followup visit with Dr. Esmeral via video chat and this morning my middle number changed.  I'm down 47lbs and two pants sizes. I can wear a Large tshirt for the first time in like... 14 years! Woot!! Everything is going great. I have zero regrets. I went down to the riverwalk with a friend and walked 2 miles on Monday without even getting fatigued. And no more snoring or chugging pickle juice for crazy leg cramps! I need to go to the gym more... I'm making new shirts next week so that will motivate me. LOL But I'm also just not as TIRED all the time! I have a LONG way to go...but seeing the progress on the scales and in the mirror is a huge motivator!! Thank you all for cheering me on and supporting me!!
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