Bufflehead

No, I've never heard of anyone getting coverage when their insurance specifically excludes bariatric surgery. Your insurance coordinator for your surgeon is probably the best source of information though. Who submits for pre-auth will depend on your policy, but should be either PCP or the surgeon, not you. Again, your surgeon's insurance coordinator should know the answer for sure. Good luck!

Wow, I think it's kind of unrealistic that your bariatric team provided no guidance initially on what or how to eat, then got disappointed in you for not eating the way they want you to. So I wouldn't even call it getting back on track, it's just finding a way to eat that will maximize your health and your weight loss. I'll provide my team's plan in case it might be of interest to you if you are looking for a healthier way to eat. This is for the first six months: Eat 3 meals per day, no more than 3 ounces per meal Maximum 800 calories and 60 carbs per day. Minimum 75 grams protein per day. Acceptable food to use to fit within those goals: meat, fish, eggs, dairy, beans, legumes, nuts, nut butters, protein powder, fruit, green/low carb veggies Unacceptable foods: sweets, any grains (including all forms of corn), high carb veggies such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, and peas; soup, alcohol No snacks other than protein shakes and non-caloric liquids At 6 months out, if not at goal, increase calories to 1000. Meals may be up to 5 ounces. Carbs may be bumped up to 75 grams. Okay to have one serving of grains or sweets weekly if it fits in your daily nutrient goals. No drinking with meals or for 30 minutes after All food must be weighed (preferable) or measured and tracked via MyFitnessPal or similar food diary. Aim for 30 minutes of exercise daily but do not log or "eat back" exercise calories unless you do more than 30 minutes exercise. Log/eat back no more than 50% of calories burned for those minutes over 30. Good luck!

My bariatric team is very against "just eat or drink when you're hungry" because that kind of careless, unregulated eating is what led most of us to morbid obesity in the first place. Our marching orders are very strict: 3 small meals per day (puree meal size was 1.5 oz maximum, every meal must be weighed) and only protein shakes and non caloric liquids as snacks. Check with your team for their instructions for you -- they should have provided that info.

Why do you need to replace a Protein shake with pureed food? Just eat your pureed foods and sip on Protein shakes between your meals. Here is a sample menu of what I ate on pureed foods. My guidelines were: 3 meals per day, no more than 1.5 oz per meal. No Snacks other than protein shakes (these are the guidelines from my bariatric team). Breakfast: poached egg + .5 ounce sweet & spicy tuna salad Lunch: 1.5 oz sweet & spicy tuna salad Dinner: 3 tablespoons cottage cheese Snacks: 1) protein drink made with 8 oz Isopure & 8 oz G2 and 2) protein shake made with 1 Premier Protein chocolate shake + 4 oz Carb Master vanilla milk. Totals for the day: 636 calories, 31 carbs, 77 grams protein I could never have done it without protein shakes, and my team was clear that I should not try. You may want to check in with yours for additional guidance if they are suggesting you stop them while on purees. Good luck!

@@darima77 the doctor might be willing to order one, but the bigger question is would your insurance pay for it. If it's just because you are worried, not experiencing physical symptoms, probably not. If you have a few thousand dollars lying around to burn because you are worried/curious, more power to you -- I don't!

@@theantichick not if you are very careful not to overeat.

No, your stomach doesn't feel any smaller. You really don't have the kind of nerves that can relay that kind of information to your brain. You won't feel any different until you try to eat more than you should. What you should buy pre-op depends on what your bariatric team permits for post-op eating and how long each stage of eating lasts. Make sure you have a digital food scale and a heating pad. Don't overshop for food, you'll be taking in a lot less than you are used to! Most people end up throwing stuff away because they bought too much, imagining they needed 12 different varieties of everything and not really being able to imagine how little they would eat/drink.

You will have a great time eating out once you get past the immediate post-op weeks. You'll be more able to focus on enjoying the company of your husband and friends instead of being so focused on food (you'll eventually get to the point of enjoying food again, but it can be more of a background thing). If you are like me, you may also have been someone who worried about whether the restaurant chairs or booths would fit you comfortably, whether other people were judging you for your food choices, etc. Soon you'll lose enough weight that all those types of concerns will disappear, and make going out even more enjoyable. Good luck!

If the dizziness happens immediately after you stand up (or after you sit up when you are lying down), it could be orthostatic hypotension, which is something a lot of wls patients experience for several weeks after surgery. Try pumping your legs like you are riding a bike for about 30 seconds before standing up, to get the blood flowing. General low blood pressure and dehydration are the other big issues that tend to crop up with post-op dizziness, from what I have seen. If you are on blood pressure meds, they may need to be stopped or adjusted. Are you monitoring your blood pressure at home? Are you making sure you get at least 64 oz of fluids daily? Assess and discuss with your bariatric team -- they will want to know about this and should be able to help you figure things out. Good luck!

You'll be weak and tired from the surgery itself, but your body will draw all the energy it needs from your fat stores. You shouldn't feel weak or woozy due to limited calories. Your body gets the calories to burn for energy, it's just getting them from your fat cells instead of your mouth

Trust that your surgeon knows what is best for his or her patients and commit to following instructions, regardless of what other surgeons require. It really isn't worth the psychic energy needed to worry about it IMO. If you get in the habit of comparing your bariatric team's instructions (for all sorts of things, not just pre-op diet) to lots of other team's plans you see on the web, you'll drive yourself crazy! I would say don't worry about what other patients from other doctors are doing, unless your doctor seems completely insane ("I order you to do an ice cream and french fries diet for 60 days prior to surgery, and I expect you to compete in an Iron Man competition within 10 days after surgery").

You shouldn't even be on the scale right now, let alone worrying about it. With all the fluids they pumped into during surgery, you are lucky you aren't up in weight at this point. Your body is still working on flushing out IV fluids and recovering from the trauma of surgery. Don't add to your poor body's stress level by freaking out about your rate of weight loss. Seriously, keep working on following your program and stay off the scale for a while (like, weeks). Good luck!

To me, if I can feel the food right under my sternum, that means I overate. Remember, you are not looking for "full" any more, you are looking for satisfied. You don't want to feel stuffed, just no longer hungry (physically hungry, not head-hunger hungry). I doubt you have stretched your sleeve. To be completely honest, I think that if anything is hindering your weight loss, it is the type of food you are eating, not the amount. Trail mix, chips, rice, toast -- these are high calorie foods that don't offer much in terms of either nutrition or satiety. High carb foods like chips, rice, and toast will just make you hungrier and you will find yourself wanting to eat again a couple of hours after eating them. Things like chicken salad have more nutrition, but if packed with a lot of mayo or salad dressing, can be extremely caloric, even in relatively small amounts. It doesn't look to me like you are eating a lot of lean protein or green veggies. Those are lower calorie, lower carb, and will keep you full longer. Instead of chicken salad, just have chicken breast. Instead of a sausage patty, have some pork loin. Snack on deli meat or asparagus spears, not chips or trail mix. Good luck!

You need to find out exactly what your insurance and your surgeon require, then you can plan for that and make sure you hit your goals. Insurance policies and surgeons are all different. Some require you to lose a certain amount, others require you to not gain, and still others require you to "fail" at weight loss in your supervised diet. Speak to your insurance coordinator at your surgeon's office and make sure you know exactly what is expected of you. That way you can plan for it and do it -- and trust me, you can! But you need to know exactly what you are aiming for, and that's something that no one on this forum can tell you. Good luck!

This is an excellent question to run by your bariatric team . . . they are the ones who can give you the answer here. Good luck to you!

Mine was in less than 24 hours once everything was submitted.

http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/373511-whats-in-your-hospital-bag-vsg-edition/ You can also use the search function to search for the phrase "hospital bag" or "pack for the hospital" in the forums. You'll get lots of ideas. Good luck!

My notifications are working fine, but I've had the problem you are describing before. What works for me is to right-click on the red number, then select Open in New Tab. Kind of a pain but at least that way you get to see the notifications. It's always eventually cleared itself up for me.

I use unsweetened vanilla cashew milk. Tastes better than almond milk IMO and has lower calories and carbs. If you need extra protein, look for high protein/low carb dairy milk such as Fair Life or CarbMaster. Soy milk is another option for protein, but it is relatively high calorie and high carb (plus I don't like the taste at all but that's a very individual thing). PS for cashew milk I use Silk brand. There is another brand (Soy Delicious?) but I tried it and thought it tasted awful! It's funny how what should be the same product can taste so different depending on the manufacturer.

If it were me, I would get the gastric bypass. I have two relatives who have had it and they have done great -- no problems, tons of healthy weight loss, and are maintaining at a normal BMI. They are very healthy. I am sorry about your complications, I can imagine that would be a big shock and letdown. ETA I would also consider getting a second opinion before committing to it. I have no reason to doubt your surgeon's competence or motivation, but that's a big change of plans and I might want to just be sure that was the best option.

Give yourself three days to eat as much as you want . . . but only lean, unprocessed meat (no bacon, sausage, jerky, deli meat, etc.), green veggies, and healthy fats (olive oil, grass fed butter). Seriously, don't worry about counting calories or anything like that, just be very strict about the type of food you can eat. You can't complain about being hungry or needing something to keep you from being bored if you allow yourself unlimited food. And you can't do much damage, calorie-wise, with lean meats and green veggies. Eating like this for three days will help decrease your cravings for high carb and high sugar foods. The more you eat of those, the more you want them. Good luck! I am sorry you are suffering with such a nasty injury.

It is very normal for people to feel exhausted and weak for several weeks after major surgery. Keep working on your fluids -- you may want to double check the rules with your bariatric practice, as most don't limit water/fluid intake so soon after surgery, especially if the only real nutrition you are getting is liquid protein shakes. Getting all your fluids in will definitely help you feel better, but time and rest are also essential for post-op recovery.

Are you on a PPI? That sounds like classic excess stomach acid, not hunger.

@@TheNewME71 5/2 is eating 5 days a week at maintenance level and 2 days a week at an extreme deficit. So my 10 days typically looks like: Saturday maintenance Sunday maintenance Monday 500 calories max Tuesday maintenance Thursday 500 calories max Friday maintenance Saturday maintenance Sunday 500 calories max Monday maintenance Tuesday 500 calories max This plan won't work if you don't know your maintenance level of calories and aren't tracking your calorie intake very carefully. HIIT is High Intensity Interval Training. It is primarily intended to have cardiovascular benefits, but I have found it great for weight loss. The general idea is that you do a short period of super hard, high intensity working out -- something that really gets your heart racing -- followed by a brief rest period to lower your heart rate, then back to high intensity, and so on. I do low impact versions because my knees and hips are not great. These are the DVD's I use: https://www.amazon.com/Cathe-Friedrich-Ripped-HiiT-Impact/dp/B00QQRBKTQ/ https://www.amazon.com/Cathe-Friedrichs-XTrain-All-Out-Impact/dp/B00AWRNKOE/

IMO, three months without weight loss isn't a plateau, it means you have found your maintenance level of calorie intake and exercise. So, if you want to reach your goal, that means lowering your calorie intake and/or upping your exercise (and not eating back exercise calories burned). It does sound like your loose skin may be impacting what is a realistic or healthy goal. I would suggest getting a body fat percentage test to see where you are at. Your best bet for accurate body fat percentage testing will typically be at a university with a sports medicine department. Just Google your city + body fat measurement (or something similar). Don't use measurements from a scale or skin caliper testing, both are notoriously inaccurate. If you don't know how many calories you are taking in, you need to get that information. Start weighing your food and logging it religiously. That will show you where you can cut back. If you do already know precisely how many calories you are taking in, then check your figures and see where you can cut things out. A standard maintenance level of calories is your current weight x 10. So for many people at your weight, 1500 calories per day would be maintenance level, and to lose a pound a week, you would want a 500 calorie per day deficit (so eating at 1000 calories per day). These are just estimates and may not be true for you, but they tend to work as a starting point to determine what you might need to eat to lose weight. My more general tips: --Exercise every day and do not eat back your exercise calories --HIIT workouts tend to have me losing weight quickly -- I do low impact HIIT from DVD's at home and it really helps me --Eating on a 5/2 plan for 10 days has helped me break stalls before. Good luck!