rosestara

I just use the video editor on youtube, still not an expert and can't do much yet. You don't need to be fancy to start. Just start posting videos and add stuff as you go and as you learn. That is what I see most people do.

It all depends on your insurance requirements and the surgeon that you go to. My insurance company only said 6 month diet but didn't say how much I had to lose but my surgeon's office requires me to lose weight every month and not gain. They look at my food log every month so it has to be the most current food log. Everyone's requirements are different.

I am vlogging my journey on youtube, I just subscribed to you. You can subscribe to me, I am hellovsg2016

I haven't had a similar experience but I have been reading these boards for months and insurance companies are very strict. Even people who meet all the requirements and have 100 or 200 pounds to lose sometimes get denied by their insurance. So, I don't think you would be able to convince your insurance company to qualify you since you don't even meet their minimal requirements. They tend to be very strict about that and look for reasons to deny people. I meet all the qualifications with a bmi of 50 and I still might get denied. Also although weight loss surgery does help PCOS, I don't think most insurance companies count that as a co-morbid condition that they cover. I might be wrong about that but it isn't listed under my insurance

Hi guys. I live in Gilbert but I'm not sleeved yet. I'm just starting the process and won't be approved until December. I'm getting my surgery at banner gateway Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I haven't had surgery yet but I had some mini food funerals before my 6 month supervised weight loss started. I mindfully ate steak, bread and red wine one night, Pasta, bread and red wine another night and the next week had mexican food with lots of nachos and margaritas. I actually didn't eat much more than normal but I just knew that it was the last time I would be able to eat so much food at once. I said good-bye to eating like that forever (well almost forever) I will probably have one more "bad" meal between the end of my 6 month supervised weight loss and the start of my 2 week liquid diet. It helped me now that I am on my 6 month diet because I feel like I said goodbye to that stuff and now I am focused on eating healthy and low carb. So far it has helped me feel less tempted to cheat.

I'm going to say something I've never heard anyone say so I guess I am weird. The only thing I'm not worried about after surgery is the eating and drinking thing. Normally, I actually don't eat and drink at the same time unless it is alcohol or coffee. I drink coffee while eating Breakfast or a dessert. I've been known to go to the movies and eat a whole large tub of popcorn and drink nothing until I am finished and then I only take a few sips. I have always had a problem with feeling full after drinking so I developed a habit at a young age of not drinking so I could eat more. I guess that is one reason why I am fat. I do drink a lot of Water in a day but I drink that outside of my meals.

Well every office is different. They might take people in order. I already knew I was covered but my office required people to attend the informational seminar first. I didn't learn anything there that I didn't know but it was a necessary step. Next you had to fill out a form during the seminar and then they would send you a link to fill out your info. I didn't want to wait for the link so I got it in advance and and filled everything out before they sent my link. But I still had to wait for them to call me to schedule my first appointment. They only took a couple of days because I did follow their process. I suppose it depends on how busy your bariatric doctor is but mine is a large well known clinic and so they take people in order and stick to a strict process in order to get everyone taken care of in a timely fashion.

I hope all goes well!

I don't have any advice. I just wanted to say that we are on the same schedule. I just had my first of 6 appointments on May 23rd. Well actually it is the first of seven because it has to be 6 full months so the first visit doesn't actually count. I am also hoping for a December surgery.

looks like you are doing a great job. Keep it up!

I'll take a look. I'm trying to decide whether to do a blog or do youtube or do both.

good luck

We don't have classes at Banner. Today I had my visit with my surgeon and I like him a lot. I also met with the nutritionist. So since my insurance requires 6 months of visits, they let me schedule appointments for the next three months. I also was able to schedule a appointment for my psych evaluation since they are in the same building. My appointment is in two weeks. i will also need an egd and cardiology appointment but I don't need to do those until later. We are also required to attend just one of the support sessions that are offered every week.

I decided to post this in a couple of different forums here to help me get a good response. I have been researching weight loss surgery for a while. I am almost ready to start the process. I have decided on gastric sleeve and I will soon be going to my first information session at either Banner Gilbert or Bridges. I am leaning more towards using Banner based on what I've read here and their website and they are closer to my house. However first I am looking for a pcp who approves of weight loss surgery. I am never sick and so I haven't been to a doctor in years except for a chiropractor and ob- gyn. Instead of picking a doctor at random, I would prefer to start with a doctor who approves of weight loss surgery. Does anyone have any suggestions near Gilbert, Arizona?

thanks, I found it and I just sent an invite to the group

I'm here in gilbert, arizona. I would be interested in the facebook group

Well I use MFP anyway so I like that it syncs to fitbit and shows my calories there. I used to track my food on fitbit but I like MFP better. I can't remember why I like it better because I stopped using it years ago to track my food. I have recipes stored on MFP. I cook a lot and MFP allows me to build recipes and store then there and I can see all my nutritional info. Also in the past before I was thinking of doing this surgery, I used to fitbit and MFP to help me decide how many calories to eat a day. It is more useful when each app can see your activity level and calories to come up with a daily calorie goal. For example, if my calorie goal was 1200 calories then MFP could see that I burned an extra 500 calories with exercise on the fitbit and it would tell me that I was allowed to have extra calories that day based on my activity. Or on fitbit, it would see how much I ate and it would tell me how many more calories I needed to burn to reach my goal of losing 1 to 2 pounds per week.

I have a fitbit and I love it. I have worn one daily since 2011. Since I have had my fitbit for so long, I never had the chance to use the other fitness trackers because most of them appeared later. I wear the fitbit ultra on my bra daily. I like how small it is. I like how it easily syncs to myfitnesspal and i like the information that you can see on your fitbit and the free app that shows and stores all your data. I can see steps and calories burned and my sleep and since it syncs to myfitnesspal it shows the calories I have eaten vs burned for the day. I know that some trackers require you to pay a fee to see your information on the computer. I have weights and activity stored on the fitbit website since 2011. I just think it is easy. They do have ones you can wear on your wrist. I wore the first one they had years ago but I preferred the one I wear on my bra. Now they have several different ones available that also track your heart rate. I haven't tried those.

I don't have my official first visit until this tuesday but my nut sent me an email that said that everyone in their program is required to lose something every single month and you can't gain weight. Everyone must at least do 3 months even if their insurance doesn't require it or even if they are self pay. During my seminar they said that the BMI you have during your first weight in is what they submit to insurance to meet the bmi requirements unless you have medicad and/or medicare (i don't remember which one) which requires you to be weighed the day of surgery and your bmi must meet the requirements

Good luck on your journey guys! Have you checked out your insurance yourself to see what it requires? It seems odd that if would have 90 days w/PCP and Nut vs 6 month pcp. Seems like one or the other. At Banner, I know they require 3 months for everyone even self pay people then if your insurance requires more time then you do that. My insurance requires 6 months. I have my first visit with my surgeon and nutritionist on Tuesday! I already got an email from the nutritionist with some general diet stuff. They said that their office requires all patients to lose some weight at every visit or else they may make you start over again. They expect 1 to 2 pounds a week. I'm really excited to get started!

I'm curious, so, you really can't have fruit ever? Or just in the beginning stages?

This is great information about the set point smoothie. I've looked at several of those videos. I visit my surgeon and nutritionist for the first time next week and I will ask them about it.

You have the right attitude Heather I, I picked my hospital and surgeon based on reviews and also distance from my house. The surgeon has great reviews but the office staff doesn't have very good reviews and has a history of delaying the process, I almost wanted to go with a program that was farther away so i wouldn't have to deal with possible delays and frustrations. i decided to take a chance. I hope the office staff doesn't make me regret it! I am only just starting my 6 month journey. I hope you get your surgery date soon!

That's great! I hope everything goes smoothly at home.