ribearty

I have to work for every pound and that's okay. It has been my experience that anything worth having you have to work to get it. If it was easy, everyone would be thin. When I work hard for something, I appreciate it a lot more and will work extremely hard to keep it. The people who are the most successful are the ones who follow the plan and combine healthy eating with activity. One without the other does not work as well as the two together.

Blue Cross Blue Shield. You can have the same insurance as someone else but different coverage. Coverage is established by the contract the employer agreed to with the insurance company. I have a friend who also has United Health Care but she had different requirements for her surgery than I did because we have different employers with different coverage and criteria.

I agree tighter is not better. I believe my band being overfilled is a major reason it prolapsed. When I first had my surgery, my doctor did not do fills under fluoroscope. For me at least there was a fine line between the green zone or sweet spot and being too tight. Please don't think you're doing yourself a favor and you'll lose more weight by having your band too tight. If it's too tight, you will more than likely wind up gaining weight. If it's too tight you can experience difficulty eating and keeping down food which could result in you eating slider foods because they stay down but are much higher in calories.

I don't think it's too early to start thinking about 2014 New Year's Resolutions. It has been shown that people who write down their goals have a better chance of accomplishing them Instead of saying I plan to do xxxx. I plan to use the SMART method to achieve my resolution S = Specific M = Measurable A = Attainable R = Realistic T = Timely I plan on making 2014 the last time I list losing weight as my resolution. I will accomplish this by riding my bicycle for 1,000 miles between March and the end of October. I am not quite two months out from surgery and have 45 pounds to goal. What's your resolution for the new year?

I got in almost 3 miles of walking today with no pain. A good day. Plus my ab crunches.

Jean, another great article. The above is true for any restrictive weight loss surgery. If you don't change your eating habits and physical activity, you may lose for awhile but not get great results. Weight loss surgery is not a magic pill or wand. It is a tool to assist and still takes work to be successful.

Walking and walking on a treadmill are two different things. I walked after surgery also but not on any type of equipment until released by my doctor.

What did your doctor tell you about exercise, or what was on your discharge instructions? When I saw my doctor at my 1 week post-op visit, I was released to do more than walk. If you feel light headed at times, you might not want to walk on a treadmill or other exercise equipment at this time, or do it slower and not on an incline. It would suck if you hurt yourself on the treadmill from being light headed and resulted in a further delay before you can begin working out normally. I know it's hard because you want to get out there and do everything you can right now. In another week or so, you should be able to do a lot more in the way of exercise. Good luck.

It depends on your insurance. I have UHC and they used my weight from my first visit with the doctor and nutritionist. The coordinator at the insurance company told me they won't penalize you for losing weight before the surgery during the six month medically supervised diet. I was a revision also and still had to meet my ins. co. criteria. I had some tests that showed my band was causing problems so my insurance company approved me early and did not require me to complete the full six month medically supervised diet. Good luck to you, and hope you get a date soon for your surgery.

I got fish on soft foods which for me was the start of the third week. The link below takes you to a blog about pureed foods. http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/2007/08/pureed-foods.html Here is another recipe when you get to soft foods. Shelly's Baked Ricotta 8 oz of Ricotta cheese 1/2 cup grated Parmesan 1 large Egg, beaten 1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning salt & pepper to taste 1/2 cup Marinara Sauce 1/2 cup shredded Mozzarella Cheese Mix ricotta cheese, parmesan, beaten egg, seasonings together and place in a oven proof dish. Pour marinara on top and top with mozzarella cheese. Bake it in the oven @ 450 for about 20-25 minutes (best) or nuke it till hot and bubbly. I usually made it first in the oven and heated the leftovers in the microwave. It is also from theorldaccordingtoeggface.

Butter, I can sum that picture up in one word. OUCH. Hope you feel better soon.

Globetrotter, I read some on insanity, but seems strange you're not seeing results. They do say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Do you think you may be overdoing it and not getting in enough nutrients or liquids?

My insurance was through United Health Care, but my employer has Optum review and approve all bariatric surgery requests. If you go online to your insurance company website and look at coverage and benefits you may be able to see what they require.

If you can't get support from your PCP, you might ask your bariatric surgeon for a referral to a more weight loss surgery friendly doctor. Since it's early January this will give you time to establish a doctor patient relationship. Sounds to me like you have several comorbidities and this is not good Healthwise but helps with insurance approval. My insurance required a minimum BMI of 35 with at least 1 comorbidity or a BMI or 40 or greater with no comorbidities. I will keep my fingers crossed for you and good luck.

Congrats. From the name on your thread, I thought something was wrong until I read the post. Isn't it fun to lose clothing sizes?

Mirabb2002, Congrats on completion of your 6 month diet and your weight loss so far. That is phenomenal. I saw my doctor throughout my medically supervised diet.. During that time I also had to get an approval letter from my primary care physician for surgery, insurance company also required a psychiatric evaluation. My doctor performed an endoscopy. It was discovered my lapband had prolapsed during the endoscopy so I had to also have a motility study performed. During this time I also had lab work about two weeks before surgery, chest x-ray and an EKG. My doctor's office also has a class where you are given instructions specific to your surgery for your pre and post-op diet. I didn't have to have a sleep study performed since I had one in August of 2012.

My gut feeling is no you won't lose as much as you did in the first month since most people see the biggest loss then. I think as gmanbat said exercise is a key along with good eating. They go hand in hand, if you have one and not the other they don't work nearly as well as together. Glad you are back on track. I also had got a little off track between Christmas and New Years.

If you buy them from the manufacturer, make sure to search for online coupons. I found one that gave me three free bottles. The bottles are 25.4 oz or 750 ml so they last a long time.

Yes, yes, yes. It's crazy. I can be in two fleece blanket in my house and still be cold. Here is another thread about being cold, so you know you are not alone. http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/290470-anyone-else-cold-all-the-time/page-2#entry3298144

50notFat, Congratulations on your loss. I am glad I had my surgery also.

I find some of the basic Torani sugar syrups at my local grocery store in the coffee area. You can find both of them on Amazon. Here is the url for Torani's website. http://shop.torani.com/Sugar-Free-Syrups/c/Torani@SugarFreeSyrups Here is Davinci's site.http://www.davincigourmet.com/products/sugar_free_flavored_syrups/ Both site have store locators and offer recipes for the products. I am not endorsing the recipes because many of them I do not consider the healthiest choice but it gives you some ideas.

Please post recipes you find to the forum under recipes and pre op diets so others can also try them. Everyone loves new recipe ideas especially pre-op and in the liquid and puree stages since it is rather limited.

Get some sugar-free syrups like Torani or Davinci. They can be a life saver. I added them to Protein drinks, plain greek yogurt and vanilla yogurt. It helped give me variety. I added caramel and PB2 to chocolate shakes. Think snickers bar with Peanut Butter. I added sugar free pumpkin, raspberry to vanilla shakes. Made a great pumpkin pie flavor for me around Thanksgiving time. Add applesauce to your oatmeal along with a sprinkle of cinnamon. If you like chocolate milk add chocolate syrup to your milk or heat up the milk for hot cocoa. You might also get some no sugar added or sugar free hot cocoa. I hope these suggestions help. Good luck to you on your pre-op and upcoming surgery. You can do it. Think of the long-term benefits. This will be one of your first challenges in your journey of making healthy food choices. I got some of my Torani at the grocery store in the aisle where they have coffee. For some of the other flavors I got them on Amazon or from the manufacturer. You can also search the internet for discount coupon codes.

Torani sugar free syrups are a life saver. DaVinci also makes some great flavors. They saved me during the pre and post op liquid phase. I still use them today in recipes. chocolate shake or pudding with some caramel flavor and some PB2 can't be beat. They also have a sf Peanut Butter flavor. pumpkin was great with vanilla pudding. Adding these flavors to plain or vanilla greek yogurt increases your variety of food choices.