I've been working on this since October and I FINALLY got my surgery date today! It's August 25th, which is still a ways away but at least there's light at the end of the tunnel now. I started my Kaiser classes at almost 260 and now I'm down to 240 which puts me right at the cutoff BMI of 40. What should I do over the next three months? Should I try to lose more weight, and if so, how much? I want to get a head start on the weight loss but I don't want my BMI to go so low that they won't do the surgery. Maybe I should just work on strengthening my muscles? Any advice would be great.

My doc told me they go by what your BMI was when you were first referred to the program. See if your insurance does the same. Good luck!

I remember being with Kaiser and trying to get this done, but they of course didn't cover it. Once you are fat those fat cells never go away and I think my Doctor said only 5% of people lose it and keep it off, so even if you lose the likelyhod that you will be able to sustain the weightloss on your own is not that promising. I am taking a new career path an want to make documentary films about weight loss game shows. I have a funny feeling that most of the contestants are held to some sort of agreement where they can't speak out about the show or go on camera if they gained all the weight back. In any event. I think it would be a good idea to weight lift as you can lose muscle in this process. I really wouldn't worry about it. This surgery is for the long term, but call your insurance company. I would just google...insurance company denied me because I lost too much weight in pre op diet. something might come up.

I'm a Kaiser patient also (Northern CA, I don't know about other programs) I was told you don't need to worry about losing too much weight. If you're in to the orientation, you're in the program. I even had my first surgeon say if I lost 140 lbs pre-op, he'd still do surgery.

YEAH on your date! Talk to sleeve 4 me, she was Kaiser too and I believe Kaiser uses your start weight, not your surgery weight.

My advice, start to learn new eating habits now. Stop drinking with your meals. Eat more slowly, count to 20 while you chew and then swallow, eat your Protein first, watch your liquid intake, get used to taking Vitamins and other needed suppliments.

Keep us in the loop. Thrilled for you!