Did anyone ever gain weight on purpose so insurance would cover the procedure.

I didn't have to do that but it wouldn't surprise me if others decided to. I don't recommend it, however.

I was heavy enough that I would never gain on purpose... I decided to self pay. I would not gain, it is not good for your body.

Just my opinion.

Put rocks in your pocket and drink alot of water..LOL

It depends on how much weight you are talking about. I would have gained a few pounds if I had to. But not like 20 pounds, no.

I am about 10 lbs from a bmi of 40. I just don't want insurance to denie me.

I was below my required BMI. We ended up checking my height. I thought I was 5'4. Turns out I'm 5'2. Made all the difference in the world. Who thought I'd be grateful for old age shrinking lol.

Yep......my insurance company has one requirement only: BMI 40+ and no co-morbidities taken into consideration on appeal (some insurance companies will accept 35 with high BP, diabetes or sleep apnea but not mine). At my height I needed to weigh in at 250. Had been hovering in the 240s for a long time -- got up to 248 and got myself over the top by carrying hand weights in my pockets and wearing heavy clothes. Bought ankle weights for the purpose but gained enough not to need them. It was very stressful trying to be heavy enough but it all worked out. I did tell each person along the line (program coordinator, nutritionist, therapist who did the psych eval) that I was very concerned about not qualifying based on a few pounds but no one offered any suggestions. Then when I finally got through the hoops, weighed more than 250 for the insurance, the surgeon told me they would have let me have my purse on my shoulder, wearing a coat, whatever I needed to do. Easy for him to say -- I don't think the people under him had that kind of authority. Good luck to you! I may have gained 5-7 pounds for my surgery but I could not have paid out-of-pocket. And I am now down 20 pounds 12 days post-surgery (lost some on pre-op diet, losing steadily since band day).

A friend did... Gained 15 lbs only to be denied

I just don't understand that logic. I mean I get wanting to qualify for insurance but I think had I not been able to self pay I would have looked for an alternative. I would have used the rocks in my pocket idea!! But I was denied..... And I had a 55 BMI. They said because the only health issue I had was high BP. Not enough medical problems to meet their standards..... Ugh!

I had to get from a mid-39 to a 40. So yes, I gained a few pounds for that, but at the last minute, in the last week by eating a LOT and weighing in with my purse. (Also at the behest of the surgeon.) I had lost the "extra" weight within a week.

I wouldn't have bothered except that I was so close…I didn't want to be denied over two tenths of a BMI point.

I didn't intentionally gain weight, but my story works like this.

I started down the path and had a three month wait period. I started at 295 in March 2013, putting my BMI around 41 or so. When I went back for my second visit with my nutritionist, I had already tried to adopt all of the post op eating patterns I would need and started exercising as much as I could. I had lost enough weight at this point to drop my BMI to 37 or so.

I did have sleep apnea, so I had a co-morbidity, but my nutritionist and surgery coordinator basically said, "while it's great you're losing weight, if you loose too much more, insurance won't cover you."

At that point, I stopped following the post op diet. I stopped exercising. I started eating worse. Basically, I undid everything I tried to do.

For my third and final visit, I had actually put on about five more pounds since my second visit.

So, while I didn't try to gain weight, I made sure I didn't loose any more, because I did want insurance to foot the bill.

After that visit, I tried to get more on task again and (even with an insurance setback) before surgery, I lost about 30 lbs in total.

Not exactly what you were asking, but that's about as close as I can get.

A bag of nice salty chips and a gallon of water will get you up there.

I realize this is crossing into the realm of food porn, but my weigh-in appointment was at 1:00. I stopped at Five Guys on the way and had a bacon cheeseburger, some fries and about 2 huge waters.

As my penance, I felt sick for the rest of that day and into the next. But I made weight. Another side effect: my heart was racing because I was so uncomfortable. It was also the highest BP reading they'd ever done on me...

The irony of having to be fat enough for weight loss! Glad you made weight, though. Do you know that this is the weight which will be submitted to the insurance company and you can now stop worrying? Nice to slim down a little prior to surgery. Weight that won't be coming back!