I was just wondering what people's time-lines were from attending the first seminar to surgery. I was planning to take everything slowly, but the more I read here, the more excited I get. I'm still going to take my time and make sure I'm ready, but I think I'll do it sooner rather than later!

I have heard of people who got thru the process very quickly. In my own case, I was not 100 percent sure I wanted to do it, plus I had a ton of things going on in my personal life (got a new job, got yet a new and different job offer, wanted the surgery to be done before I made yet another job change, etc.). So in my case, my first appt. was June 2006 and I was banded March 2007. In between, I had the MMPI test, an upper GI, an EKG and a lung Xray, then surgery. But I've heard of people getting it all done within 2-3 mos.

Good luck!

I was self-pay, so my timeline is really short. I was banded within a month of going to a seminar and making up my mind. One of the benefits to going in debt I guess.

I made the decision on December 8th to pursue lap band surgery.

I attended my initial seminar on January 9th, jumped through all the insurance hoops and am now scheduled for surgery on May 7th.

6 months from decision to surgery, 5 months from initial action to surgery!

I was fortunate enough to have my insurance cover the entire procedure. I went to the first info seminar in late June 2006 and had surgery Nov. 21, 2006. The wait was for each appointment that the insurance required. Best decision I ever made. Good luck with your journey

Mine took roughly 6-8 weeks. I had to go through the nutrionist, psych eval, blood work. The insurance approval is what took so much time. Julie

I am still in the beginning process too. It really depends on if you plan to self pay or use insurance. Also, what I am learning already....be pushy. For example, I want to be banded in late July/August. My insurance requires a psych eval. I have been told that the doctor they will recommend I go to takes 2-3 months to get you in.....I don't think so I may have to self pay to go somewhere else to get in sooner, but it will move things along if I do. Also, if you are using insurance, keep in contact with them. Try to get one point person to talk to. This will keep things straight and always try to get everything in writing. One more thing, when you go to your consult, I have been told to take as much insurance required documentation as possible. This will help them determine a time line for you as well.

I went to the seminar on Jan. 27 and will be banded tomorrow morning. My insurance covers the procedure. I could have had it done earlier, but I direct a church choir and I wanted to get through Easter first. I had one psych eval and had all the other things...ekg., blood work done two weeks ago..

My husband and I took quite a bit longer - BUT there were several reasons. We had the psych eval and nutrion eval right away. We saw our PCP and got as much proof of long term weight issues as we could - BUT insurance still required a monitored weight loss program for 6 months. We then changed insurance Jan 1st 07, so we had to wait for all of that paperwork and for our physician to get approved on the new insurance. Once all that was done it only took a week for insurance to approve both us, because we had everything done from the previous insurance. Now we are scheduled in May and June - we had to wait so long for that because of physician schedule at the hospital we have to go to. Nov 05 for seminar, May 07 and June 07 surgery schedule.