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Finally met with the surgeon!



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I first tried to start the process for WLS a year ago, but my insurance didn't cover it. This year, we got new insurance, and it is covered! So yesterday I finally met with the surgeon for the first time. My BMI is 44.5, and I have no other physical health issues, so they seemed to breeze through everything with me. However, they informed me that my insurance requires a 6 month supervised diet before they will approve surgery. My question, though, is what if I lose too much? Will they then say sorry, your BMI isn't high enough? I was getting so much information at the appointment yesterday that I didn't think to ask. I don't want to lose so much that I'm no longer considered for surgery, but I need to show them that I am serious about losing weight. Did anyone else have to do this?

Since I have no other health issues, I think my BMI may need to be at 40 to qualify for surgery, which means I can't lose much weight.

The good news is that I don't have to do anything else besides this diet, the psych eval and attending some meetings/support groups. No sleep study, so that is good!

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You sound just like me at your stage. :D The time will fly by!

They use your starting BMI so you should be fine. Good luck to you!

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I am a worrier to begin with... I will be over-analyzing everything, which is my reason for joining RNY Talk. I have a million things that run through my mind, so I like to see what others have to say. :) Thanks!

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I first tried to start the process for WLS a year ago' date=' but my insurance didn't cover it. This year, we got new insurance, and it is covered! So yesterday I finally met with the surgeon for the first time. My BMI is 44.5, and I have no other physical health issues, so they seemed to breeze through everything with me. However, they informed me that my insurance requires a 6 month supervised diet before they will approve surgery. My question, though, is what if I lose too much? Will they then say sorry, your BMI isn't high enough? I was getting so much information at the appointment yesterday that I didn't think to ask. I don't want to lose so much that I'm no longer considered for surgery, but I need to show them that I am serious about losing weight. Did anyone else have to do this?

Since I have no other health issues, I think my BMI may need to be at 40 to qualify for surgery, which means I can't lose much weight.

The good news is that I don't have to do anything else besides this diet, the psych eval and attending some meetings/support groups. No sleep study, so that is good![/quote']

Think of it like this. If you lose alot of weight you may not need to do or you may not want to do the surgery. Surgery should be the last resort. I wish I could of done on my own. This is not easy. It is a lot harder then I thought. Part of me think it is harder then dieting. But with that said if you honestly have tried dieting before and it hasnt worked then you probably wont lose enough weight to change your insurance companys mind now. Good luck..

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That's true. I've lost weight many times and gain it back. So I'm looking at this surgery to help me long term rather than this up and down I've done for the last ten years. I met with my doctor to start this diet and am feeling much better. I thought she'd want me to do a calorie restrictive diet but she's having me focus on limiting different things, changing habits, and starting some moderate exercise. So she's not really looking for a big loss. That's a relief.

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That's true. I've lost weight many times and gain it back. So I'm looking at this surgery to help me long term rather than this up and down I've done for the last ten years. I met with my doctor to start this diet and am feeling much better. I thought she'd want me to do a calorie restrictive diet but she's having me focus on limiting different things' date=' changing habits, and starting some moderate exercise. So she's not really looking for a big loss. That's a relief.[/quote']

That's good cutting out things now will make it easier after surgery. 6 months will fly by.

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I had to do the 6 mo diet also..... honestly I didn't try hard to lose a lot of weight in fear that they may deny my surgery....I lost a total of like 7 lbs and still had a bmi of over 40. Good luck to you!

xo Hilary

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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.
      · 1 reply
      1. LeighaTR

        I hope your surgery on Wednesday goes well. You will be able to do all sorts of new things as you find your new normal after surgery. I don't know this from experience yet, but I am seeing a lot of positive things from people who have had it done. Best of luck!

    • 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.

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
      · 0 replies
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