Hi,

I am just starting this journey and my insurance (highmark) requires that you are on a supervised diet program before they will approve the surgery. They want you to lose or at least maintain your weight throughout that time period and you have to keep a written food diary that lists every single thing you eat. They want you to stick to 1400 calories a day. I was just wondering if everyone had to do that on every insurance? I don't want to wait 6 months to have the surgery but I have no choice. That means no surgery for me until Oct.

Randi

Also high mark, also had to have 6 months. I said the exact same thing, if I could follow this low carb diet and I had that much control I wouldn't need the surgery! I even had six months worth of weights and a Dr. Saying I was following a low glycemic diet the whole time, and they wouldn't approve that. They wanted six months with the bariatric unit, going and getting weighed once a month. Half the time I just made up half the entries to the journal, but I did try my best. I lost 20 pounds, and I could not lose much more or I may become ineligable.

The six months will fly by, good luck, just do whatever you can do. Do your best!

where are you from? Do you think that people make stuff up in the entry? I did for some of the days I have to admit. When did you have your band? How much have you lost?

Thanks for your boost because it seems so far away!!

Randi

Randy,

I just got approved and I am finally set with a surgery date of May 10th. I certainly made up quite a few entries. Let me tell you, at first I was so honest. I was like this is for my own good and I'm best off being honest. When I brought in the journals to the nutritionist she made comments like, your doing okay but try to watch the dairy, if you have milk with breakfast, don't eat that low fat yogurt for lunch. It was hard to take criticism when I thought I was doing so well. The next set I tried to watch that I didn't write down all the faiths, but if I like had a cookie or something, she would say that that wasn't really following the diet and I had to be more careful or I wouldn't be compliant. So I started lying and cutting out any sweets, and then it was just easier to lie, because it felt to me that they really didn't want the truth. The last time I said I forgot my journals, and they said, oh that is fine, we have enough. And.. "are you still watching the dairy? I just said... Uh, yeah? And that was that. I'm from Buffalo, btw

My insurance did not have a supervised diet but my doctor required that I loose 30-34 pounds presurgery. I had a blood clot tht was not fully resolved so I ended up having to wait 7.5 months. Does your doctor have you attend mindful eating group sessions? If not see if your insurance covers psychiatry visits and see someone who specializes in eating disorders.

This is at least a 50% mental battle. Esp. until you hit restriction from fills which took me 6 months. The band will never prevent you from eating ice cream or candy. EVER. Anything that melts in your mouth slips through the band.

While the insurance company is using this to weed people out; this is the time for you to learn and live new food habits. I ended up loosing 50 pounds from my first consult to surgery. How happy would you be to 50 lighter when you have surgery?

Randy,

I just got approved and I am finally set with a surgery date of May 10th. I certainly made up quite a few entries. Let me tell you, at first I was so honest. I was like this is for my own good and I'm best off being honest. When I brought in the journals to the nutritionist she made comments like, your doing okay but try to watch the dairy, if you have milk with breakfast, don't eat that low fat yogurt for lunch. It was hard to take criticism when I thought I was doing so well. The next set I tried to watch that I didn't write down all the faiths, but if I like had a cookie or something, she would say that that wasn't really following the diet and I had to be more careful or I wouldn't be compliant. So I started lying and cutting out any sweets, and then it was just easier to lie, because it felt to me that they really didn't want the truth. The last time I said I forgot my journals, and they said, oh that is fine, we have enough. And.. "are you still watching the dairy? I just said... Uh, yeah? And that was that. I'm from Buffalo, btw

If you don't mind to much,,,,, let me give you a good piece of advise. Your Doc. put you on a certain amount of calories a day right. Even though Protein is the best for you, you can have some carbs ! It's actually a kicker for the protein. Also with the Band.. If you want,,,, you can eat almost anything (SOME PEOPLE DO). As long as you stay by your calorie intake.

If you see weight not falling off, you might decide :maybe I'll give up the cookies" and you might lose weight. The whole thing is up to you. But NO POP at all !!!! The carbination in your pouch is enough to kill you.

It's true, this is insurance's way of saying "I bet you can't do it, not for 6 months, so we won't have to pay for you to have surgery." Prove them wrong! And yes you can fudge a lot of what you write but you'll still need to lose SOME weight. If you fudge the whole 6 months the only person you'll be hurting is you, because the early time after your band is on but before you get a good fill-- that's all you, baby.

So what happends if you go into the 6 months supervised and lose a ton of weight?? Do they then cancel your surgery since they know you can do it on your own?

Asking because, I have to do 6 months too... And I was going to use this time to get a hang of the eating practices I will have to have Pre/post op. I was going to do a week/month on a liquid diet... and then keep my calories around 1200/1400 the rest of the time... I just dont want to lose 60 lbs doing that and them be like "you can lose weight on your own, you dont need the surgery??"