does kaiser in so cal do the band as well. if not can we be referred to the northern california locations

Someone told me that the Kaiser in Longbeach did them. I'm not sure though. I know that is Northern Cal we don't get to pick where we go. You would have to contact your patient services to find out.

Kaiser in San Francisco started doing the lapband in Feb. I just went to my oreination on Tuesday and now have a 16 week wait till I get my next appt. It's going to be a long process, but I can wait. Starting the pre-op diet on Monday to lose 20lbs......have 16 wks to do tho.

No way...16 weeks until your next appointment!? :omg: I'm sure glad that I pressed the point with my psych evaluation. If I had waited until Oct. 1st for it, I probably would have been into the spring before surgery. Of course, it could be that anyway. I go to see the surgeon on Oct. 23rd. From what I am being told it's 2 1/2 to 3 months after that before surgery. That means January possibly even February before surgery. Hmm...I'm having my appointment with the surgeon on my oldest daughter's birthday...maybe surgery on my son's (2/7). This could get interesting.

Well, if you follow their plan you'll loose that 20 lbs and more. I had my orientation on June 5th and have lost 43 lbs so far. It's not really hard just a pain to measure and weigh everything. But so was WW. I haven't been doing any real hard exercises, just walking 3-4 times a week for about 1/2 mile.

They are going to be doing surgery on a whole bunch of us skinny people so we can keep it off. LOL

Keep me posted on how you're doing and email me personally if you want to. I have a couple of other people who are going through the Kaiser process that I keep in touch with. Kim is due to have her surgery on Oct. 2nd or 3rd. She went to orientation on 5/22. That just shows you how bad things are getting in the bariatric department.

One week into doing this pre-op diet hasn't been all that bad. I've been walking alot. Did 3 miles yesterday and want to try and make a habit to walk after each meal if I can.

If my next appt isn't till another,... what 14 weeks, I think I'll be able to be down the 20 lbs that they told all of us to drop. BOY! ....do I have a long wait till that next appt comes up.

I just want to lose the 20 lbs ASAP and then maintain that till I go to my appts in 14 weeks......I really don't know why they sent me the letter to have all my lab work done before I'd even gone to the orientation, then tell us then it would be 16 weeks before our next appt.

CRAZY HUH?.......Oh well...if I have to do all the lab work,EKG and Xrays again....I have to do it again! Whatever it takes right?

3 miles! You are doing so much better than I am. I'm happy if I can get a half mile in a day. Where do you ever find the time? If you keep that up and follow the plan, you'll be a size 2 by the time you get your appointments. LOL

You definitely won't have any problem loosing 20 pounds. I had my orientation June 5th and as of right now I'm down 43 give or take a pound. My scale likes to do that... I've been plateaued for about 2 weeks now and that gets really discouraging. But do yourself a favor and don't just maintain. I mean we have to loose it anyway so keep going. You'll reach goal that much quicker and be so much happier. I asked the director of bariatrics if you could loose too much weight and then not be considered for the band. She told me that I met the requirements to be in the program when I joined and that I joined in good faith so there would be no amount of weight I could loose that would stop me from getting the band.

Think of this as a time for getting your head around not eating as much and being in control of what you eat. It will be one less thing we'll have to adjust to after the band.

Oh yeah, and make sure you make all of your appointments. You'll be back in the same place if you miss any.

I arrive to work about 50 min early and work at a school, so I walk the track before school starts and then do it on my 15 min break and then again on my lunch break. I eat my lunch with the kids, so that leaves my 1/2 hour lunch break for walking. I use to sit on the computer during that time, but not any more.....it's walk, walk, walk.

I've also been walking around my neighborhood and the tread mill at home....well, I've used the tread mill twice!

Well, gotta go and walk before school starts! :heh:

With that kind of dedication you're going to breeze through this weight loss thing. I keep telling myself that I'll start "tomorrow" and get this exercise thing really buttoned down. Well, I'm doing the same thing that I did with the old diet routine and tomorrow never comes. So, I've made a commitment to myself to go in and set up my room with the bowflex and treadmill tonight. No TV until it's done. Maybe if I treat myself like a kid I'll do it. LOL

Hey Vicky, Did you set up the bowflex and get started on the routine you were wanting to start? You gotta set your mind to doing it! I've been walking 3 miles every day so far and plan to keep it up.

I have to attend a retirement party on Sat. and I'm nervous about that, as I don't want to be to tempted to eat some of the munchies that I'm sure that will be there. Their serving dinner there, so I'll just have to make good choices when making my plate and keep the amounts small.:hungry: I hope they have a lot of salad dishes and a veggie tray.

No, unfortunately, I haven't. I've been so busy this week but I have no other plans this weekend but to get everything organized and started. I really need to do this because the only thing that makes me really happy with the weight I have lost is the look of what is left behind. I know that I have to do this while I'm loosing or I will be severely disappointed when I reach goal.

I'm only 12 pounds away for Onederland!!!:whoo:I'm totally jazzed about that. I finally fell off of my plateau and I've lost 5 pounds this week. After all of the frustration is sure is great to have a big loss. I haven't changed much either. I did, however, quit eating my dinner after 6:30. Maybe that's all I needed.

I have found that eating out is easier than we build it up to be. You just have to take a minute to get the brain under control and then pick the best you can. Veggies are pretty safe so that veggie platter may be your saving grace. You'll do ok, I'm sure.

Keep me posted on how you're doing. I'm trying to get a line of communication going with a woman who had her surgery with Kaiser SSF in July. She said she really liked Dr. Alami. That's who I am set to see next month. Take care!!!

I'm pretty proud of myself this week, I have walked 3 miles every day this week so far and plan to do it again tomorrow. I also weighed myself and I'm hopeing my scale is correct and if it is, then I have lost 11 lbs in 2 weeks. :whoo:

I've been really working hard at this, so when you see that it's working, it feels really good.....no it feels great! I wore a pair of pants that I out grew over the summer this week and they are no longer skin tight and unbreathable.:nervous

My co-worker is also seeing Dr Alami, she is seeing him on Oct 2nd. She's keeping her fingers crossed that he gives her the thumbs up for surgery. They wanted her to lose 30 lbs and she's lost 27. She was leaning towards the Gastric Bypass, but decided this last weekend that she wants the band. I told her about this website and it helped her make up her mind.

This website is wonderful, I love it!

Happy to hear that your past your plateau and I think it did help to change your eating time. I try to eat around 5 and then I go for a walk.

I've been walking after every meal :hungry:....I want to burn off those calories that I just took in, if you know what mean.

Congratulations!!!! How could you not loose weight when you have worked so hard? What a great start for your journey.

I decided yesterday that I needed to start taking my breaks again and walking. I was doing really good at doing at least that and then slipped back into the work rut and stopped. I don't get much in but it's better than nothing. You're an inspiration! This is something I really need to work on. I can't believe that I can do so well on the diet but I'm having so much trouble with the exercise. I guess we all have our sticky spots.

Personally I wouldn't consider RNY unless it was the only thing available to me. Loosing the weight is the number one priority but doing it in a healthy manner is also right up there. I have seen people that have had the RNY and quite frankly they all look like they've been through the ringer. I also want the adjustability of the band. With the RNY, if you stretch out your pouch you can't fix it unless you have major surgery again. Anything that goes wrong is major surgery. The band can be fixed most of the time so easily IF it has a problem. Nope, I don't want anybody rearranging me on the inside. But it is a personal decission. That instant gratification is a pull to a lot of people. But if you really dedicate yourself to loosing weight, you can do what you and I are doing and we will do just GREAT with the band.

Keep on walking and inspiring us.

Vicky,

I been keeping up the walking!! but cheated a little bit on the diet this last weekend. I figure I'll be okay since I still have 13 weeks till they schedule my next appt.

I can already feel the difference in my pants, I'm able to wear a couple pair of jeans that I couldn't wear before because they were to tight and uncomfortable.

Hope your doing well,

Yeah, I'm doing ok. I got back into exercising a little this week. I need to do better at it but at least I'm headed in the right direction. Since you only have to loose 10% of your weight you'll have plenty of time. I think that if we tried to do the diet to the letter we'd all be crazy.

It's surprising how little weight loss it takes to make us feel better. Mark my words, the surprises keep coming. I'm wearing pants that I couldn't get up past my knees when I started this and they are getting baggy. I must have zoomed through the size 16 phase because I don't seem to have many clothes in that size. Since I'm starting to wear that size (either tight 16 or loose/falling off 18) I will need to go and get some things so that I can have them to wear. It's hard because I can either go to work looking like a little kid in Mom's clothes or like I'm trying to be a teenager in tight clothes. Just a little more weight or shaping up and those 16's will be just right. Some of them fit really nice now. I guess it's the difference in the cut. Oh, well.

I took a picture of myself today because my friend who got the band on Wednesday wanted to see what I looked like. So I sent her a before and now picture. It was nice to see them together because I can see the difference. I didn't take my measurements when I started and I wish I had. I hear that you can be loosing inches even if the scale has stalled out. BUT I'm not going back so I can get the measurements. LOL

Take care and keep me posted on how you're doing. By the way, Kim had her surgery through Kaiser and Dr. Alami on Wednesday. She said her port site is sore but everything is good. She's tired because of surgery but she is feeling good otherwise. She was happy with the staff and Dr. Alami. She's going to keep me posted on her journey so I will pass it on.

Hi, I have been reading your thread and I want to know how hard was it to get approved by Kaiser and how long did it take? I just got Kaiser insurance in So Cal and I am not sure what the first step is. What type of Dr do I see first and what mistakes do I have to be careful not to make? I am 260 and 5'6" and my BMI is 42.

Please give me the wisdom of your experience.

Thanks,

Shelia