Dibley Dawn

every surgeon is different, and depending on if you have to jump through insurance hoops or not, it might make a difference. I was scheduled about 3 weeks out from the day I met with my surgeon, so for me it happened pretty fast. i'm getting my band on wednesday. it's sooo close.

unless you are a self pay, you should contact your insurance company to start the ball rolling. figure out what they require, then contact your primary care physician and see if she will write a letter for you to say you need the surgery. then you should contact the surgeon's office and see what they require. my surgeon required a psych eval (using one of his psychiatrists) a nutrition eval (using his nutritionist), a nurse consult (yes with his nurse). my insurance required only that i had a bmi over 40 and nothing else. you should really start with your insurance company and then go from there. at my seminar, they gave me a checklist of everything the surgeon would require. i just went down the checklist and got it all done.

it's not too late. my BMI was above 60 too. thanks to this 2 week liquid pre-op diet, i am in the upper 50's now, so you'll have that to look forward to. my surgery is next week....OMG NEXT WEEK>>>>STARTING TO FREAK OUT...ok, calm down, my surgery is next week and after reading a lot of pages on this forum i feel more confident now and not as scared and I know there are others who were as large as i am who have been successful. I can do it! thanks for your replies, all of you.

so, i am one of those people who hasn't told anyone about having the surgery yet. My surgery date is May 4th, and I am currently on day 7 of my pre-op diet. i knew the hardest part of the pre-op diet for me (well besides starving) would be getting it past my co-workers. AMAZINGLY, no one has yet noticed that i am only having veggies for lunch and Protein drinks throughout the day. I usually have a burger or burritto or fajita or something. Every once in a while we ALL order something, usually cuban food or pizza or atomic wings. (YOWZA, those things are awesome!!!!) for some reason, we haven't ordered out in the past few days, everyone is kinda keeping to themselves or eating out with friends and no one has even noticed that i'm not actually really eating anything. I feel so sneaky. Hopefully, i can keep this up for just a few more days!

I think the mantra that I am going to repeat to myself is ....it's in the past, don't beat yourself up, just move forward from here. the liquid diet ain't easy. i am on it right along with you and my surgery is May 4th, so believe me, I know how hard it is. But even with the band, you are going to inevitably eat something that you shouldn't, or eat too much of something, or eat the slider foods that go down easy. don't throw the baby out with the bathwater though, it's in the past, don't beat yourself up, just move forward from here. say it with me....it's in the past...you get the idea. if you linger on the "but i messed up so what's the point?" you will miss the point. obviously i am getting the band because i have been messing up my whole life. it's hard to change a lifetime of habits and go from 60 to zero. but for the most part, you did the right thing. focus on what good things you did. don't beat yourself up, just move forward from here. you can do this!

Well, you are female, and it is surgery, so....you're not exactly lyin'

Just as an update, for anyone who is interested, I SAILED through the meeting with the awesome garlic bread and didn't take any. i had a salad with delicious tomatoes and cucumbers and no body seemed to notice that i didn't have the Pasta or 10 pieces of bread like i usually have. of course, it helps that i currently have a sinus infection and can't breathe through my nose, and therefore can't SMELL the delicious garlic bread, but i know that it's there and that's usually all it takes. i'm patting myself on the back. 4 more days of this pre-op diet....yay

I haven't been banded yet, but here is what everyone else has been saying: you are only 17 days post op, this time isn't really for losing weight, it's a time for your body to heal. you might even gain weight if you have gone from a liquids diet to a mushy and then solid stage. just use this time to really chew things and heal up. you won't get that "full" feeling until after your 1st fill. most people say they don't get it until their 3rd fill. so just keep doing what you are doing, keep a food journal, walk as much as you can until cleared for exercise and keep trucking. you are doing what you should be doing.

...oops, double post....please ignore

My surgery is next week and I am using Dr. Fielding at NYU. he's (according the the press) one of the best in the country. i can report back and let you know how it went. So far, everyone in their office has been very nice and easy to work with.

I had SEVERAL last meals. I had them for about a week solid! what can i say, i was in panic mode. my surgery is May 4th and I don't know how much weight i gained during my last week of meals, but i'm 15 pounds below what i weighed at the last visit to the doctor's office, so that is what counts (for me). i'm glad i had that quality time to spend with burgers, pizzas, steaks, fajitas, etc...i will cherish those memories of the last time i was able to eat without chewing first.

Hi Lee, Just stopping by to say hi. I also live in NYC and my surgery is on May 4th. i'm trying to lose about 1,000 pounds...at least that's what it feels like i have to lose. I'd be happy with 100, but over the moon if i could lose 150-200. I have lots of pounds to spare and I'd willingly give them to anyone who wants them

I am not allowed to have fruit or a meal on mine, i'm liquids only....plus, I have zero energy to do any kind of exercising. i basically go to work, sit at my desk for 8 hours, then come home and sit on the couch. it takes all the energy i have to make it to the subway and back. I have lost 15 pounds as of this morning. i think the poster above has it right, you are in starvation mode and probably building muscle from all the exercising. i am only losing Water weight, and not 'real' fat. i have had so many liquids, i'm floating. although i have lost 15 pounds, i will probably gain most of that back when they pump me full of fluids during surgery. i really don't consider this 15 pounds a real weight loss. it's just the excess Fluid i have on my body (plus, i have a lot of weight to lose) just go easy on yourself for the next 4 days. there will be plenty of time for real weight loss. the goal here is to shrink the liver and not to lose weight. you are going to be fine. May 4th, here we come!

I'm taking a week off from work, but I guess people just assume I'm taking vacation. Nobody has asked me about what my plans are or where I might be going. I guess if they ask, I'll just tell them I'm gonna take a "staycation" and lay around my house for a week. that is the absolute truth, sorta kinda. Only 5 more days of liquid diet....i think i can, i think i can, i think i can......

seriously, if it weren't for those sugar free popsicles, this diet would be in the garbage can. i sooooo look forward to mine.

Yikes, it's less than a week away. I'm scared right along with you!

Everyone that I personally know who has had the bypass (with the exception of 1 person) has gained all of their original weight back, plus some. you will lose a lot of weight in the first year because you just don't have a choice, but once you can eat again, you can easily stretch your "new" stomach out. in fact, at my support group for people about to be banded, i met a woman who had the bypass 10 years ago. she gained almost all of her weight back and decided that she now was getting the band over her bypass. YIKES!!!! what i like about the band is the fact that it is adjustable. that's a big selling point to me personally, if it doesn't work, then, well......i'll figure out what is next for me. I personally wouldn't have the RNY, but that's just because i have seen so many things negative about it. I am from a very fat community and i know several people who have had it done. 1 has kept off the weight (she is a meth addict though, so that could be because of the drugs) 4 died during the operation, and the rest have gained most if not all of their weight back.those odds ain't great. remember, it's not a magic thing, you would still have to figure out how to not eat the wrong things and you would still have to have portion control. none of these surgeries are easy decisions to make. i just know that if something goes wrong, the lap band is perhaps the easiest to correct and fix, the others, well..not so much. good luck with whatever you choose.

I'm still amazed that I did it. if it would have been day 1 or 2, forgeddabouditt, i would have totally eaten that sucker, but now at just a week away from surgery, i really had to think about what i was doing.

This is day 8 and SO FAR i have not cheated. I almost lost it today because our office had a pizza party. we usually order a salad with the pizza and of course, the day that i would actually eat the salad, they didn't order it. Once i smelled that delicious aroma wafting by me I thought for sure I was toast. i walked into the room (looking for the salad) and saw a veggie slice of pizza. i put it on my plate and walked out the door. i walked into the kitchen area (which was empty) took a piece of broccoli and a tomato off of the pizza, ate it and tossed the rest of the slice in the garbage. my next hurdle is a friday night meeting where they will order from a place that has the absolute best garlic bread on the planet. fingers crossed that they at least have a salad. today was very difficult.....but i can see the light at the end of the liquid tunnel, so i am going to do my very best to take it one day, one meal at a time and not cheat.

I am not like you in any way, but just wanted to say that my surgery is May 4th, with Dr. Fielding, sooooooo our doctors are in the same office. that's something

Hi healthierme, i can certainly say that after 7 days (so far) on this liquid diet alone, i am certainly not taking the easy way out. I suppose there are 2 camps here, 1 that shouts from the rooftops that they have had the band, and 1 that tends to keep it secret. i don't see anything wrong with either camp. for me personally, i'm like you, it's nobody's business. this is for me. i had to make my own decision to do this and if someone else figures out that i'm losing weight and wants to know how i'm doing it i'm not going to lie to them, but i'm not going to publicize it either. if i can get through all of the liquid and mushy stages without spilling the Beans or having someone figure it out, i'll be home free i think. after that point, and probably 30 pounds when people start to notice, i will reconsider. but for now, this is my decision. i wish you the very best of luck in your surgery. please keep us posted on your progress.

I don't have any recipes, but I am drinking Glucerna which is designed for people with diabetes (even though i don't have it) it's on my list that the doctor gave me and I can have 5 per day (i am on strictly liquids though). i think they are delicious.

I KNOW! yep, still getting away with it. just had a delicious 100 calorie chocolate muscle milk light, made those straw sucking noises and everything and..no. one. noticed. i am soo sneaky, sneaky

I have talked a little bit about this in another thread that I started in the 200+ sub folder, but i'm not sure how many of you frequent that particular sub folder, so I thought I might get more input by asking a few questions here. Please, if you can answer any of these of give me some advice, I would really appreciate it. First of all, my surgery date has been scheduled for May 4th, so just under 3 weeks away. This has unexpectedly sent me into a panic mode where i feel like a death row inmate who has to eat everything in sight before i'm not able to eat it again. I do realize that at some point, I will be able to eat things, but just not as much, or not as fast, and I'll have to chew, and hopefully the band will take cravings away and stop the hunger monster from getting to me. Here are a few of my concerns: 1.Drinking: in the summer, it gets hot here in NYC. I get parched. One of my best loved and favorite activities is just getting a big cold bottle of Water and absolutely downing that sucker in one gulp. I am realizing that this isn't going to be possible to do after the band and it is literally scaring the crap out of me. How do you learn not to gulp big huge glasses of water? 2. do you ever get over that feeling of just wanting to take a huge bite of something? because i'm a super fat foodie type person, one of my greatest joys is just taking a huge bite of something and feeling the grease just ooze and run. (sorry if that's gross, but it's true. a huge greasy cheese burger is just the best thing ever to take a huge bite of) How do you reconcile yourself to the fact that you can never do that again? 3. What will happen to me in 20 or so years? i guess the band will stay in forever, but are there people out there who have had the band for 10 years and still have it? or have you had to have it replaced? am i going to be looking at re-banding surgeries for the rest of my life? I am excited about the possibilities of being ...not so fat (i'll never be skinny), but i am trying to really figure out if this is something that is going to do me more harm than good. Sorry if these questions seem stupid, I am just really scared of what the future holds, and the prospect of really having to change my habits for the rest of my life when I haven't been able to do it on diets in the past, is so daunting. Am i being irrational?