Jamie83

Hello, My name is Jamie and I live in Spokane, WA. I am just starting out in this process to get the lab band. My husband may also do this too. Either way, I am researching and watching you tube videos. I called my insurance and they said that it is covered but will need to go through a pre-authorization process. I called the surgeon's office and they said to start out by going to the info seminar. That seminar is coming up this tuesday the 8th. I am hoping to leave with a better idea of what things need to be done first and then hopefully will be able to get a consulation with the surgeon soon after the seminar. I have no clue how many people usually attend those seminars or how far out the surgeons are booked. Of course I would like it to be sooner than later, but I know it can often take 6 months or so to get everything in place. My insurance company didn't say that there was a required waiting period but she did say that by the time people usually get everything done for the authorization process and pre-op testing that it is usually 3-6 months. Anyways, I am looking forward to getting to know some people who have been through it already and hopefully meet some buddies that are going through the same stage I am. Jamie

I understand a lack of motivation to exercise. Maybe swimming would be a good option for you since it's easier on the joints. Just make sure it's more like lap swimming and not leisure swimming. For resistance training, maybe get a set of resistance bands to start with and do them at home while watching your favorite show or something. I bet as you exercise more and lose more weight that it will get easier to do more activity.

I love your blog name (myotherbutt). That's cute. Wow, congrats on 95lbs lost. That is amazing! I am just starting this journey and am so excited (and a little impatient). It encourages me to see others be sucessful.

Ugh, my body is ready for a change. I am feeling so tired and my body is starting to get sore, like knees/back/etc. I went to the seminar on the 8th and now I am waiting for them to call me for my consult. I hope it's soon. I don't want to start losing weight until after my consult as my insurance will use my consult weight for approval purposes. Then I can start my 6 month medically supervised diet and lose as much as I can. During that 6 months I also plan on starting the couch to 5k program, get off diet soda (specifically coke zero), and get my water intake up. I am hoping that making these changes ahead of time will help me not feel too overwhelmed trying to make all these changes at once. On the topic of diet soda addiction...on man do I drink a lot of Coke Zero. It's so good and I am addicted to it. I know carbonation and caffeine are no-no's after the lap band, so I am going to wean myself off of it. I really think that all the caffeine and chemicals are making me feel sluggish and tired all the time. I work night shift, so I have used caffeine to stay awake and then a sleeping pill to go to sleep. I have been taking ambien for sleep for about 3 and 1/2 years. I started taking it after my daughter was born and I had anxiety and postpartum depression. I have continued taking it because I am on 12 hour nights at work and I have to flip my schedule around a couple of times a week. I will be awake for 24 hours and then sleep in the day, work again for 12 hours and sleep the next day. Then I will have the next night off and will have to take ambien to sleep at night again so I can switch to a normal schedule. I am sure that this cycle is not good for my health. Working nights has also contributed to bad food choices. When I am awake for 24 hours, I crave bad foods and eat to stay awake. Any suggestions on kicking the soda habit would be appreciated. Thanks! P.S. Is anyone reading this blog? I have no idea...but I guess if not, that's ok as it is good for myself to be documenting things on my journey.

Mine will be over 6 months due to a required medically supervised diet for 6 months. I haven't started yet as I am waiting for my consultation to get my starting weight documented and then get that 6 month diet started. If I didn't have that requirement then they said they usually get people from seminar to surgery within 3 months or less.

Wow, how did you manage to get around the 6 month period? I guess mine requires that. The insurance didn't tell me that, but the bariatric nurse coordinator told me that. I guess she's pretty familiar with alll the insurance companies.

We did ask the surgeon at our seminar about SCUBA diving with the lap band. He said it's safe. Since the band is filled with fluid and not air, the pressure change doesn't affect the band. If it was filled with air, then that would be a different story. He also said that he could look at some dive tables to be sure.

Just wondering if you are allowed to scuba dive with the lap band. Obviously after healing up. Just wasn't sure if the increased pressure of being at depth would have any affect on the band at all.

So my hubby and I attended the required seminar today. We learned about the band, sleeve, and bypass. Both of us still want the band. Unfortunately they told us that my health insurance requires the 6 month medically supervised diet (ugh). I was hoping that this wasn't the case because it seems like it's so far away. When you know what you want the rest of your life to look like, you want it to start as soon as possible. I know the 6 months will fly by though. The coordinator will call us within 2 weeks to schedule our consults. A psych eval is required since they are a center of excellence. They do not require that a specific amount of weight be lost, and the insurance coverage goes off of my CONSULT weight and not my weight at the end of the 6 months. This is good news because I am right at 40 BMI and was nervous to lose any weight and then be excluded from coverage for the surgery. They do a 2 week liquid pre-op diet and the surgery is outpatient, so no overnight stay. So when talking about our weight loss journey, I told my husband about the Couch to 5k running program. I have always hated running, but since watching some you tubers go through the training, it seems more doable. The fact that there are specific goals and that you are gradually increasing your running time makes it seem way less unpleasant than going from sedintary to running. Because we did not want to drop below that 40 BMI mark for fear of not getting insurance coverage, we were talking about starting this after recovering from our surgeries. However, now that I know that the insurance coverage will be based on our consult weights, we can start the program any time after that. Then maybe it wont seem as overwhelming after surgery to try to change my diet and my exercise habits all at once. And the more weight we can lose now, the less we need to worry about later I guess. So now I am excited and I want to go buy a jogging stroller for the kids and some new running shoes. I found the downloadable podcasts that have the couch to 5k intervals on them so you can just listen to it and know when to start and stop running. This would be nice so that I don't have to watch a clock. Since it is getting cold outside, We will probably start at the gym until spring time. Oh, I had a question, does anyone find that they have a problem with their port sticking out too far once you have lost weight? The surgeon talked about the fact that it's usually not a problem but that they do have some "low profile" ports that don't stick out as much. I don't know if this is a common problem for those who are now smaller.

I am trying to get together any documents that I need for the approval process. The website for the surgeon's office said to collect documentation of other weight loss techniques you have tried. I printed my recent payments for weight watchers to prove I was a member this year. I think I have all the weights in my little weight watchers booklets that go back up to 5 years ago. I have quit and re-joined a few times, but this will prove that I tried it and also that I have been obses for at least that 5 years. I also am a member of the YMCA now and I printed all my p[ayments to them over the years to prove that I have tried the gym too. Do you have any other suggestions of documents or things I should get together that would help me in the approval process? I want to try to get together as much as I can upfront to speed things along. Thanks.

My name is Jamie and I am 28. I currently weigh 255lbs. I have been overweight my whole life. I have been able to lose some weight with weight watchers, but never keep it off. Then I quit going and gain it all back. I have a 3 1/2 year old daughter and an almost 6 month old son. With each child has also come more pounds. My husband is also overweight and we both want to get the band. It was my idea originally. I am a nurse (I guess there are a lot of nurses who have the band) and I work in the mother-baby unit and work 12 hour nights (which doesn't help for weight gain either). I don't have any issues (yet) with blood pressure or blood sugars, but my body is starting to get a little sore. I recently had to go to a chiropractor for the first time and he took xrays. He said my discs are getting a little thin and allowing the bone to pinch the nerves. He adjusted me and it's been a lot better but I know that this would improve with weight loss too. I have suffered depression for a long time (treated by medication). I also know that I would feel better about myself and feel better in general if I lost weight. I have been researching the lap band and watching some vlogs on you tube of people going through the process, especially lapbandchick2010 (Whitney). I really relate to her and she has inspired me. The amount of information I have gained from watching her vlog is enourmous. I do understand that it will not be a fix all solution and that I am still going to have to work at it, but this might just be the tool I need to get the weight off and keep it off. I would love to weight 160, but still that is "overweight" for my height, which is 5-6. I am supposedly supposed to weigh less than 143 or something like that...I can't even imagine. I mean, I was 224 in high school. I never remember weighing anything close to 140. Ok, for those out there that also have to wear scrubs to work. They do not stretch. Ugh. As I gain weight, my scrubs get so tight and it just does not look or feel good. I get chaffing on my thighs because my legs are held so tightly together by my scrub pants (TMI?). I can't wait to wear all my "small" scrubs again. I have so many! Ok, so here is where I am in the process. I called my insurance company and they do cover it, but I have to go through the authorization process. I asked if there was a 6 month waiting period or anything like that since I have heard of others that had to diet for 6 months prior to getting authorized. They said that there isn't a set waiting period, but usually it's 3-6 months by the time people get all the required testing done. I hope to find out soon exactally what is required. I called the surgeon's office and they said I need to attend the seminar. That is TOMORROW! I know it's just an info meeting, but I am excited because that's one step closer for me. I hope to get my appointments and tests going soon. My husband called his insurance and they do not cover anything obesity related. So we have decided to add him to my insurance. It is open enrollment right now for next year, so that's perfect timing to get him on my insurance. We are hoping to get ours done in the same year so we only have to pay our out of pocket max and get both surgeries done. So far I have only told my husband and my best friend. I also plan on telling my mom, eventually. I will probably wait until the surgery is a for sure thing. I don't plan on telling other people, but we will see what I decide later on. I do not want to be people's science experiment and I don't want them to judge me or think I took the easy way out. I also don't want them monitoring what I eat or how much weight I am losing. I think that when people start asking me how I am losing weight, I will tell them that I am exercising and eating right (which will be true). I don't think that this is lying and it's really none of their business. Ok, I think I have rambled on long enough. I will update after the seminar and let you all know how it goes.

Did you pay for your seminar? Ours is free.

Good luck with the check out dives. Are you vacationing in Saudi Arabia? The whole squeezing into the wetsuit was the worst part. Once the wet suit was on it wasn't too bad. At least underwater you feel weight-less!!

Ugh, I typed a response and it got erased. I am going to the seminar on Tuesday the 8th. I don't have a list of questions, but I think they will do a pretty good job of giving an overveiw and answering FAQ's. I would want to know things like: 1. Incidence of complications 2. How many lap bands the surgeon has done 3. Pre and post op diets 4. If I would stay in the hospital or have a same day surgery and then go home. 5. How much time to plan to be off work. 6. How long the process takes. 7. Pre op testing required. 8. If they require a 10% weight loss prior to surgery (or other amount). Hope that helps. Good luck. I am excited to go and get things started.

Thanks. I actually searched and found another thread on the subject. I am not yet banded, but just got certified in SCUBA last weekend. It sure was cold diving in 49 degree water in the river for our check-out dives. Can I just say that one of my weight loss goals will be to be able to buy a wetsuit that actually fits! I had to wear a 3x suit that I think was mens. It fit in the heavy areas, but the arms and legs were too long so there was some bulging of the suit which let in more cold water. I would ove to be able to buy a great woman's suit and then to top that off, I would love to look good in it!

I am new here and I am glad that I stumbled across this topic. I am just about to take the seminar and get started in the process. I have been thinking about it for a while, but I feared the stigma of weight loss surgery. I didn't want to even mention the idea to my hubby until recently. He was totally supportive and he even has expressed interest in getting one himself and going through the process together. However, I do not want to tell anyone else, at least for now. I may tell my mom and my best friend...but coworkers and other people are not going to be in that circle. I was wondering if it was normal to not want to tell people...I am glad to hear that there are other people who have decided to keep it a secret too. For those who have been losing weight and have not told people why...what is the story you give if they asked how you lost the weight? Or for those who haven't lost enough for people to ask yet, what do you plan on saying down the road? There is another lady I work with that just got gastric bypass. She was telling everyone at work about it before hand. I was talking with another coworker about it and this coworker was saying how it was basically a stupid idea that that she would never consider weight loss surgery. This just made it more clear to me that I don't want to tell people at work. I don't want them to look at me and only think "oh, she's the one that got a lap band"...or like mentioned above, judge you for what you are eating. I also worry about people thinking that I "took the easy way out". I know that the lab band is not the easy way out and that you still have to change your lifestyle and eating habits. Ok, enough ranting. Thanks for bringing up this topic.

Congrats on 55lbs gone!! I am excited to see someone in my city and who used the same surgeon that I am looking into. Keep up the good work, can't wait to hear more about your journey. Jamie

Hello, I am also just starting out. I attend the seminar next week. I hope that I can then quickly get things going. I don't know exactally what my insurance will require to get it approved, but am looking forward to finding out. Welcome and good luck on your journey! Jamie