Well, after waiting and for my consultation, I found out today that I would have to lose 45 pounds before my insurance would pay for the lap band surgery. So the dr won't even see me for another three months. And that is if I can lose the weight by then. Well, if I can do it without the darned lap band, why would I do it at all? They steered me towards the gastric bypass, and I guess I will look into it, but it scares me to pieces and my husband is very upset. He agreed with the lap band because of the safety issue, anyone have a good thing to say about gastric bypass? I am about to call and cancel all my appointments because all I can do is cry over this stupid situation. This morning I was pumped and ready to go......Anyone else in the same boat? Thanks.

Kathy:think :cry

I thought about a liquid diet. What does that involve for the pre-op? What did you guys eat that have done that already?

I drank a lot of Atkins drinks and low carb slim fast. There are many different protein powders that you can buy to do the liquid diet. My doctor also sold soups that are high protein. You can also buy unflavored protein powder to add to soups. It's hard.....but you lose a lot of weight doing the liquid diet. If you're on a high protein diet and no carbs, you won't be hungry after the first couple of days.

I am sorry your insurance is giving you a hard time. My insurance says right in the book that no type of weight loss surgery is covered under any circumstances. I paid $10,000 and I took a second mortgage on my house to get the band. There are many many people who pay for it themselves. But if your insurance will pay if you lose 45 lbs, you can do it . It won't be easy, but knowing the band will be your reward, might motivate you. It's very motivating when you're on the liquid diet to see the scale move down every day.

Weight Watchers is the best way. They will help keep you motivated and on track.

Honey, I am sooo sorry. We need this surgery to lose weight because it's sooo hard. And for insurance companies to put up these obstacles is just mean.

Kathy,

I am so sorry about what you are going through. 45 lbs is alot to lose. If it helps at all, I was told to drink a Protein shake(Muscle Milk-choc.) for Breakfast and dinner, and a lean cuisine for lunch. Also, you can eat lots of fruits and veggies for snacking. I lost 15 lbs the first week and slowed way down after that, but I stuck to it, and after a few weeks was down about 24lbs. I have lymphedema swelling in my legs and feet that affect my weight especially when it gets warmer outside. Of course, my weight is fluctuating now because we are having warmer weather.

I am self pay and having my surgery with Dr. Ortiz in Tijuana, MX on Monday. I was told to lose as close to 36 lbs as possible before surgery because my BMI was over 50. Well, I am under 50 now and that should be good.

Good luck and I hope and pray something will work for you.

Judy

Another thought if you really want to drop it fast to just get it over with and on the way to bandland is to do the pre-op liquid diet NOW... I'm on day 5 of 15 before my surgery on 5/29 and so far have lost 8 lbs! Now I know that most of that is water weight, but it is still very motivating! I know I would never be able to do this (liquid dt) if there wasn't an "end date" + a major payoff (the band) @ the end of it... but maybe the same mentality would work for you... do the liquids + vits, etc. really hard for x amount of time (a month or two??) to get to the goal of the band. Just a thought.