chiefsangel

I am in stateside south region of tricare. I did not have to do any of that. I had to see my PCM have her send in a referral. Then I had to go through about a 3 month period of classes... literally. Had to go to seminars about the Y or the lap band and to support groups and stuff. Had to go to so many different classes, educational things, etc before you could proceed. I also had to get some labs. I did not have to have a chest xray or UGI (but they do require one... I had one for other medical reasons close to my surgery so I did not need another). I was approved very quickly and could have had my sugery within a few months of starting but I had to wait for my husband to get home from deployment. I was told many many many times that if / when I leave the current area that I am in that if I go to another installation that does not do the lap band (as many posts are not doing it yet) that I COULD pay for my fills on my own. I did call tricare healthnet and they could NOT give me a straight answer. They said that the care of the band is not excluded but that it does also not say it is covered. SOOO who knows. I do know from my experiences of being in several different posts, that YES tricare is different region by region. When we were in WA my meds were forumlarly and had no problem with them, then when we come to TN its not and had to go through a bunch of stuff to get my meds. Its the govt and its always a pain in the @%# but just have to keep going through the system and getting it approved.

I am not a gym person... never have been never will be. I am an Army wife with a 18 mo old and a husband who is gone ALOT.... going to the gym is unrealistic. I wanted something that I could do every day 30 to 45 min a day in my own privacy and at my own time and that I could really get results from. After alot of research I tried the Leslie Sansone Walk At Home tapes. I am telling you from someone who HATES cardio that I really enjoy her. She has so many things to offer for all fitness levels and is spiritual and encouraging and her tapes are good prices at walmart.com or overstock.com. I would really give her Ultimate Collection DVD a try. It comes with 1, 2, 3, and 4 mile works outs all on ONE dvd and you can mix them up. I added hand weights and ankle weights. I do her every day or at least every other day. The tape is $10 if you dont like it no big deal.

I LOVE Leslie!!! I have the ultimate collection, the walk for your week and am going to get 2 more. She is very clever about disguising a good cardio work out. And I LOVE the people she has in her DVD... no playmate types. She is encouraging and spiritual. Love it. I tell everyone about it because she really does have something for ALL fitness levels. About the weights... I just bought a set of 3 lb hand weights and 5 lb handweights. I interchange them depending on how I feel. I also do the work outs with 5lb ankle weights. When you buy her DVD I suggest walmart.com or overstock.com. They have alot of types and good prices. What I do is when i am looking for one of her types is I go to youtube to see some of the clip of the DVD then decide which one to buy.

No I would not feel down on yourself. I completely agree with you. The lap band is definetly NOT weight loss surgery. Although they say that lap bands and bypass will be at the same place after 3 years after surgery its the path we take that is different. I am 6 month out now and I feel that my weight loss is all contributed to me... not the band (with the expection of the first 4 to 6 weeks). You can still pretty much eat whatever and how much ever. I HAVE to work out, I HAVE to control the food. Bypass just lose the weight literally by doing nothing.... BUT they have to work at keeping it off. Because bypass people do not have to be FORCED to learn the good tools and habits that lap bands do, they tend to gain the weight back and stay on the same distructive path with their eating..... so eventually they gain it back. BUT with lapband if you can be success to change your habits then you loose the weight and keep it off. I am in the military system and for every 1 lap band they do they literally do at least 50 bypasses.... SO yes I have seen this happen to bypass patient case by case. I am happy with my choice... but I do tell people straight up... if you want to lose the weight and it come off with no exceptions this or that and just have to work about a yr out to keep it off then have bypass... if you dont want to deal with teh struggles of still trying to lose weight then dont get the lap band.