Hi! I'm 32, my name is Andrea. I started my process in July and got a referral to a surgeon approved today. The process really depends on the type of insurance you have (I assume you're not self-financing, since that process is pretty much PAY MONEY - HAVE SURGERY). If you have H. M. O., then you need a referral to a surgeon. If you have PPO, you can choose the surgeon and then they will start the process for you. Either way, the process would be: supervised weight loss (diet), nutritionist consult (to give you guidelines for said diet), and a psych consult to see if you have any mental illness that would preclude you from being able to comply with your post-op care and that don't have any undiagnosed mental issues (I wanted to frame my psych consult - PROOF I'M NOT CRAZY? I should hold on to this! - is what I thought, lol).

The biggest requirement is patience. and commitment!

Good luck!

oh, and the period for supervised diet is different for each insurance plan. the standard is around 6 months, but a lot of plans do 3 months and there are many that don't require the supervised diet at all - just a nutritionist consult to advise you how your pre and post-op diets go.

make sure your doc noted you discussed surgery in your med recs, too. It will help if you do have a time frame requirement, so that the time starts NOW, not your next follow up visit.

Thanks for the advice. I am going to the seminar tomorrow and hoping that all will go smoothly. I have been waiting for this for a long time just kinda scared because its a big deal. I know alot more about it now so I am confident that it is going to be okay. So i take it you had the surgery already? How has it been for you?