Jim1967

I guess I am questioning my restriction because I don't know what else it could be. My Nutritionist has been happy with the food journals so far so my eating habits are OK and I am making good choices. As for the one cup of food it would not sustain me for 4 hours. I am tighter in the morning so perhaps yes a cup would sustain me for the first 4 hours in the morning. At dinner time I can eat 4oz of Protein, 1/2 cup of a veggie and maybe a 1/4 cup of a carb (potato or rice). I always eat the carb last and most times I cannot finish that. That will easily carry me 4 to 5 hours. To me that is a bit much food to take don't you think? I'm not eating until I am stuffed so I'm not eating around the band.

Another weird thing I noticed as well is I always seem to lose weight right after a fill and then the next two weeks I fluctuate back in forth. I am really wondering if my restriction is not where it needs to be. I am a little concerned though because my band is only 11cc and I have 8 in there already.

Glad I could help. I found it to be a bit of a bumpy road in the beginning mentally. Even though I did months of research and such I still somehow had that expectation I would wake up from surgery and the weight would start falling off. It didn't happen and I got frustrated. I still have issues with the scale. I weigh myself way to often and that leads to frustration and annoyance.

I love the Unjury chocolate but I found the vanilla left a bit of an after taste. I only tried it straight up with milk blended with a little ice. Maybe with a banana it would be better.

I recommend calling and ask for the policy in writing just to be sure. Last thing you want to do is waste time doing prep work just to find out you need to do the supervised diet. Just my opinion of course.

Congratulations!! Welcome to the band club. Sounds like you are off and running. Remember you might run into some time when the weight is not coming off. Try not to get frustrated. This first month is all about healing and giving your body time to adjust to the new foreign object inside of you. I lost a bit of weight the first week then I was stuck for like three weeks with no loss. I got frustrated. Hopefully, this will not happen to you. We are all different and react different. I just thought it was worth sharing in case you run into something similar. :-) Best of luck on your journey!!

It is really a personal choice. Everyone's taste buds are different. Experiment with them and find one you like. I use the body fortress chocolate from walmart. It runs just under $15 for a big 2lb bottle. 1 scoop with 8oz of Simply Smart milk blended with a little bit of ice will give you 36g of Protein. I also like the body fortress vanilla powder as well. I make is the same way I make the chocolate but I also add a small banana. Nice banana smoothy. A lot of people rave about unjury. I have tried it but I find it no better than the Body Fortress and its more expensive and you have to wait for it to ship as you can only get the Unjury from their website. They do have sample packs as well if that is something your interested in.

Price is the difference....that I can see. For example: Walmart - Spring Valley Vitamin B12 sublingual 500 mcg, $3.94 for a 200 count Bariatric Advantage - Sublingual B-12 1000mcg $18.25 for a 90 count You can almost buy 5 bottles to 1 Walmart vs. Bariatric Advantage. Even with the difference is dosage 500mcg vs. 1000mcg Walmart is still a better deal. Bariatric Advantage is just a name. Don't let "bariatric" in the name fool you into thinking is it something special. Just my opinion anyway.

Watching the episode with Jarvez 548 pounds working with Chris Powell. This guys attitude is amazing and so inspiring.

I had my seminar Sept 5, 2011. I had my first consult Oct 12, 2011 and that was the start date. My Center requires all patients to lose 5% of their weight. They also wanted to see commitment plus they need you to shrink your liver to ensure a safe and successful surgery. Liver is quite large and the Surgeon has to work around it and move it out of the way to properly place the band. On that same day (Oct 12) I saw the on staff Nutritionist and together we developed a diet plan to help me reach that 5% goal. So from Oct 2011 to March 30, 2012 I dropped 38lbs. I exceeded the 5% which was 24lbs in the first 6 or 7 weeks. My Surgeon was extremely happy with my weight loss but was worried I would pack it all on before the surgery date was even made. He was opposed to Cigna's requirements because he felt 6 months was too long to make someone wait for Surgery. He felt in his experience most patients typically do well on a 3 month diet but begin to falter before hitting month 6. I promised him I would do my part to make this surgery a success. I will admit I could have lost more during those 6 months but who can complain about 38lbs. As for the insurance company they don't care if you lose or gain. They want to see that you've made attempts to lose the weight. Insurance company is not going to punish you for losing weight by denying you surgery approval. They want to make sure you are serious and truly invested in making a change. I was told by my surgeon that they submit the highest weight to the insurance company so even if you lose that is the number the insurance company will use.

I have Cigna and they've been great. I had to do 6 month monitored diet but it has changed since then to a 3 month. I had to go to the weight loss center every month and weigh in and I had to provide food journals and exercise logs. My Surgeons staff took care of compiling the data and faxed it over to Cigna. I was denied on day 3 after submittable because they had my birthday wrong and they were not provided food journals. Very important to journal. Cigna will want a sample of the journal. I am not sure exactly how much was sent to them but I provided the center 3 months of logs. After my birthdate was corrected and food journals were sent in I was approved on day 4 after the original submittable. Cigna also covers my fill adjustments 100%. I don't even make a co-pay. Like others have said the insurance company is not trying to punish you. They want to make sure you are committed to a life change.

Season finale was last week. I am just now watching on demand.

From educational seminar to last bit of testing was 3 months total time but actual approval took 6 months due to insurance requirements. I took all the time to educate on everything possible so I would be prepared. I can remember the wait in the beginning seemed so long but as time went on and I was fully involved with support classes and all the preop appointments the time seemed like it flew by when I got the call in March to schedule the surgery. It can be frustrating waiting but learn all you can, prepare all you can. Start working on a preop diet now and you'll be ahead of the curve. It is well worth the "weight". Just to add to what Jean said, You don't want anyone rushing you through this process. You want to make sure you are getting everyone's full attention and that they have your best interest at hand. Good Luck!!

That's exactly where my mindset is at. I made some changes and adjustments but I cannot cut everything out. I am doing the lower carb, lower fat.

I continue to use splenda in my decaf coffee and I put one in my protein shake to give it a little bit of sweetness.

Mine is smack dead center of my stomach between the belly button and the largest incision. I didn't ask about this before surgery and didn't have a preference.

I had a waiting period because of Insurance. If wasn't for that I think month 3 would have been the surgery. I had my consult Oct 12 along with Nutritionist and then all the other tests and clearance by PCP in November day after Thanksgiving. So I suspect given my Surgeon's schedule the surgery would have been early to mid December. A lot of it depends on how booked your Surgeon might be.

HAM Operators use phonetic alphabet as well. Maybe he's a ham. Cheers, Juliet India Mike 1967

we all tend to be hard on ourselves..it's just a fact of life. For me nothing will ever be good enough until I hit my goal. I dropped a 170 pounds in 19 months just to turn around and pack it all back on in 5 years time plus an additional 90 pounds. I went from 393 to 220 and 5 years or so later I was in the 480s. Am I punishing myself? You bet I am.

agreed...

I apologize as well for my participation in taking this thread to a bad place. I won't go into explanations now cause I don't want to cause a flare up. I hope you find all the answers you are looking for. Do know that any WLS regardless of which one takes some nerves and patience.

Where did I say you couldn't be here and post? You can do whatever the hell you want. It's up to the Site Admins to moderate not I. I just said I didn't understand why a person who waste time and energy on a forum for a product they absolutely hate. Answer is simple. You obviously have nothing better to do with your time and you are in fact a troll who likes to cause trouble and attempt to scare people. You have never been banded so you say so your basing your opinions on something you have no experience with. You said in another posting that maybe someday you will share more information. So your hiding something... Anyway, I am done I got better things to do.

See now this is a response I find reasonable....