I've heard some conflicting info and would like to hear from some people who have maybe gone through this. I know that some (most?) insurances require a medically supervised diet before surgery, usually about 6 months. I know mine does. The conflicting info I've heard though is regarding losing or gaining weight during that time. Some people I've heard from said they were told they couldn't get the surgery unless they lost weight on the diet, but I've also heard that if you gained weight on the diet it would make it more likely to get the surgery approved since it shows that regular diets don't work. I can see it both ways... one way they want to see proof that you can make changes and losing weight shows that, but the other way proves that regular diets don't work and the surgery is your best option. Maybe it depends on the insurance? I'm just concerned because I don't know what kind of diet the nutritionist is going to want to put me on. My primary is a strong advocate for going vegetarian but that makes me gain weight. The only way I've ever had luck losing weight is when I followed very strict low carb but I don't know if the nutritionist will agree to a low carb diet for me. Last time I saw a nutritionist was, oh god, almost 20 years ago and of course low fat low calorie was the suggestion. I've tried so many diets over the years, I gain weight on nearly all of them, even when following perfectly. Needless to say, I'm nervous about this.

I talk to my primary tomorrow to start the ball rolling so I haven't seen a surgeon or nutritionist yet. Just was thinking about that tonight and figured I'd ask.

Would your surgery have been denied if you weren't able to lose that much weight? At my weight a 10% loss is significant. I'm worried what will happen if I don't lose. I'm on Medicaid and the requirements just say a supervised weight loss program is required for 6 months, it doesn't say what will happen if you don't lose.

My surgery would have been denied yes, but it was 10% of *excess* body weight. So someone needing to lose 200lbs, would only have to drop 20 on their own. It's not so bad and beats the hell out of the liquid pre op diet!

My insurance just required weight loss, didn't matter how much. Any gain and the hospital wouldn't even put the paperwork through for approval. That being said I only lost about 10lbs in the 3 month. But now I'm down 20lbs and my surgery is next week

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