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do you have co-morbidities? If so, I would reeapeal. If not, kaiser has other really great weight loss programs you could look into. they have a medical weight management class (where to do meal supplements and so on) that is supposed to be really great. Just because they say you can't have surgery doesn't mean you can't lose weight.... it just may be in a different kind of program. Plus, if you try their other programs and your body does not respond, that gives them more reason to approve you for weight loss surgery as well.

I don't know if you read my post last week. After my go around with Kaiser.I not sure what do. For days I have been myself to just forget the whole thing just try again on own. Now I am starting to get my fight back on.. I am not sure which way to go, fight the under 40 BMI with my HP,HC fatty liver, or gain some weight plus put weights in clothes. What do you think is the best route? NIH Requirements for Weight Loss Surgery The National Institutes of Health (NIH), a division of the US Department of Health and Human Services, is considered one of the world's foremost medical research centers. The NIH has set patient criteria for weight loss surgery which states that eligible patients should have a BMI of 40 or higher (morbidly obese) or a BMI of at least 35 with co-morbidities (obesity related health conditions) such as diabetes, sleep apnea, heart disease, high cholesterol, or hypertension (high blood pressure) and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Eligible patients must also have attempted and failed at previous weight loss efforts and need to pass a psychiatric evaluation to be recommended for weight loss surgery.

OMGosh! YOU ARE HILARIOUS! HAHAHAHA! And sound totally like me!! They tell EVERYONE they may not be approved...I didn't really actually believe I got through until a year later (this past June) when I finally went to the seminar where we met with the surgeons, since they always repeated "you may not get approved" over and over and over. I'm not saying it's 100% for sure for everyone, but I think they just really want you to be serious about the classes, surgery etc. And by the way I took my weight watcher logs as well, and they didn't even look at them :-( ...but you should still take yours just in case lol. But seriously I think once you get this far, your good.

Thanks so much for all the support and kind words. Yesterday was a bit better as I let the anger go. Also I know in my mind and heart that I am moving forward with this no matter what other people think of it. That includes my hubby, I know he loves me no matter what and that fear is likely playing a big role in this attitude change. Sometimes I just find any advice from him hard to take as he is 5'6" and weighs a whole 130. To give you a visual on what that looks like, I buy him size small shirts and they fit a little big, pants are size 32 waist which are actually a bit big on him but he likes them a little bit loose. When we married he was a size 29 waist and I found it incredibly difficult to find him adult clothing that fit without looking way too big. To top it off his entire family consists of mostly average size and thin people. So he has never dealt with the weight stuff until he met me and my side of the family. Did I Thanks again for all the words of encouragement as I have boarded this train and refuse to get off until I reach my GOAL STATION

My hubby still thinks that I am insane for doing this. He doesn't say anything negative, but doesn't think that I will follow through with this like everything else I've tried. He asked me if I was going to miss eating whatever I want. I will miss it I'm sure, but I will not miss being 250 lbs. He also has insecurities about me losing the weight and not wanting to be with him anymore. I think it is natural for them to go through all of this. My hubby has been much better over the last few days. It has finally sunk in that I am doing this with or without him. He has decided to go along this wild ride with me. Give your hubby some time. This is starting to become real for him and he has emotions to deal with too. You are his wife for better or worse. They love us now as we are and don't completely understand why we feel the need to change. Of course we all say for our health, but it is so much more than that. I would be lying if I said that was the reason I am doing this completely. Be honest with him about all the reasons. Some how it seems to help with the insecurites. This is 100% about you and not him and not your relationship. Good luck and be patient. I was ready to give up but give him time to work through this.

One other thing I'll point out: I lost a lot of weight "the natural way" about 8 years ago (approx. 100 lbs), and many of the issues people mention above are pretty much the same between a major weight loss and WLS. You still get loose skin, you're going to pick at your food because HELLO, you have to starve yourself to stay on most diets, and your arms will still be saggy. I think the only difference is that the volume of food is going to be less, and that may be more obvious. This part, I don't have any experience with since I am pre-op. :-)

I work as a nurse and my typical patient is usually elderly, a new post op patient, a recent moderate to severe stroke victim, a bariatric patient who had a bad outcome, an accident victim, and/or a person who has been debilitated for a long period of time. The typical patient is a one person hard tranfer or a two person mild transfer. They weight anywhere from 100lbs to 500lbs, with the average being around 200lbs. They need to be tranferred into and out of the bed/wheelchair/bathroom and lifted and repositioned often while in bed, I work three-12 hour night shifts in a row so lots of this. I am hoping to have my sleeve done during a two week planned vacation, and return back to work about 10 days post op. I will be able to avoid a lot of the lifting by saying that I have had stomach surgery, but there is always times when it is hard to do. For anyone out there that is in a job like mine with this type of lifting, what is the amount of time you took off. I want to let my body heal properly, but at the same time I hate to make my co-workers work a lot of extra days to cover my days if I am off, so I would like to be back as soon as possible. Worse case I can tell my boss that I had the surgery and will only work if there are always two other people there with me, sometime there is only me and another worker. I hate to take this road because there are to many things that can go wrong and it is a major hassle to always make sure everyone hasn't forgotten that I need these needs met. Plus I hate feeling like I am whining or not pulling my weigh, I went through a year and a half of many complications with my lap band so everyone knows I have had these type needs in the past, so I really hate to go down that road once again. Any advice would be welcomed.

Yeah, I think it was about 2 weeks or so...you should be fine! I had not heard the thing about being more fertile while losing weight. That is SCARY!!! I want to finish losing before I get pregnant.

Ah...a topic near and dear to my heart...or other places. They can be interchageable, ya know! Honestly, the only problem I was careful about was, well, position. I was very careful not to put a strain or undue pressure on the operation area. Felt like a Baptist. Or the Catholic I am. But it was worth it...weight loss has created a larger sexual appetitie in me. And I guess that means I am not the only one happy!

Hi my name is Sheryl and I am from Montana. I am 5'5, 42 years old with a bmi of around 45. My surgery date is a week from today!!! I can hardly believe it is almost here :thumbup: I am on my 3rd offical day of my 10 day liquid diet. It has been the easiest one so far. I have 3 children ages 23, 18 and 16 with my wonderful husband Chad.(none of them have weight issues) Thank God our children got my husbands skinny genes. I would love to meet people on here to share this life changing journey with :laugh: I am new to this site as of today...so I am still trying to figure out how to navigate it

So I am scheduled for surgery on November 29th. I started this in August. It didn't take too long as my insurance covers Lap-Band, and I didn't need a 6 month diet. I started my journey at 265 lbs. I am now at 250 lbs. I started journaling my food and exercising more than usual. Not too bad. I am now on the pre-op phase as prescribed by my Nut. I am not hungry but not really satisfied. I guess this will be the new normal. I think some of the problem is the pre-op liquid diet is mainly milk based and sweet, ie Muscle Milk Light, yogurt, fat free sugar free pudding, etc. I really don't have much of a sweet tooth. I look so forward to my two daily meals of Soup to get some savory. Thank God I can cook. I cooked a big pot of soup. Canned soup is not all that tasty, but I have some to mix things up. I found out the hard way yesterday about getting enough to eat. I was about an hour late for my evening mini-meal, and had a real soupy soup with little in the way of calories for lunch. It was canned soup...big mistake. I was sick with a headache and dizziness by evening, and I ate stuff not on my plan. I started my pre-op diet 2 days early (on Sat) and was doing okay before yesterday evening. I am back on track today and am being a lot more mindful about getting enough calories in as not to get low blood sugar and compensating by eating the wrong things. I also went for walk on my lunch break, like I usually do, which may have contributed to the incident later in the evening in conjunction with not enough calories. I am excited about my surgery! My husband is "cautiously optimistic" as I have lost and regained weight most of my life. One of my sisters knows and is very supportive. My mom and best friend know but have bombarded me with failure stories as they are both jealous. I have decided not to tell most of my friends and co-workers as I am also "cautiously optimistic" about them. My co-workers have no need to know. I have told everyone I am getting my gallbladder out which my dr. does do so it won't seem odd with my dr excuse. Most of my friends are obese and I really don't need any more failure stories or other forms of acting out of jealousy. I'll be in North Shore LIJ Syosset, on Long Island, with Dr. Geiss. I qualify for single incision, and if all goes well, I'll go home the same day instead of staying over night as I am healthy other than being obese. I have bought most of the things I need post-op. I need to get a Fiber supplement and Vitamins. Any one else being banded on the 29th? Good luck to all out there in Bandland.

Yaaaaa, congratulations on setting your sleeve date!! I think you will be fine to go at it by the time your husband's birthday rolls around! I had surgery on 1/5 and my doctor told me that as soon as I felt up to it I could, and I felt up to it a week and a half after surgery. I took it a little easy, so you might not want to get too wild in the beginning...lol!! Another thing my doctor told me is that we are alot more fertile while losing weight so quickly. I thought that was an interesting tid bit since I had never heard that before, so for now I am using two kinds of birth control. I hope this helps, good luck!!

Hello all and thanks for the well wishes! The surgery went well and I was released from the hospital last night. The hardest part for me was no liquids the day of the surgery. Yesterday they ran a GI test and watched the liquids move through my new stomach and confimed there were no leaks. Today I'm finding I still need pain medication to make me feel comfortable. I'm just walking and sipping liquids and I don't feel hungry one bit! Tip: A few drops of peppermint oil on a paper towel helped me with nausea. My doctor had recommended it and I'm glad I had it. Dr. Garth Davis was my surgeon and he has a very helpful book called, The Expert's Guide to Weight Loss Surgery. @TNT- my consultation was June 10th, insurance approval on June 28th and the surgery schedule was pretty full so my surgery date was August 17th. It seemed like a long time to wait for a surgery date but I will say it helped me mentally prepare!

Hi there! I would suggest speaking to someone in your HR department at work. When they set up your benefits they pick and choose what they want covered. They should be able to tell you right away if weight loss surgery is covered. Hope this helps! ~Amanda

ask them to send you a copy of the policy on weight loss surgery, so you can read it yourself. also find out the greivance process for challenging this.

Hi, I was banded on the 6th. My incisions have healed and my staples were removed last Tuesday. I still have lots of discomfort in my abdomen. But during this time, my pain has started to diminish slightly in different areas at different times. I got out of my SUV yesterday and felt like I pulled a muscle on the right side of my abdomen. I will be turning 48 next week and I am not recuperating like some of you younger folks. My surgeon said that some people can go back to work in 4 days other in 4 weeks. Also, that my pain was normal. I had a hugh hernia repair at the same time, which I am sure caused alot of swelling making recuperation time longer. I was told that I could expand my foods and felt good up until today. I over did it yesterday with food, small bites, but not pureeing. I won't do that again. I had such pain around my port site today. So, I will just wait and continue eating mashed potatoes, scrambled eggs and the like. After all, I am on a weight loss journey and know I have to do this for my health and for myself.

at the age of 19, (which was 22 years ago), I was 328 lbs, and I got the gastric bypass surgey. I was successful at loosing 80 lbs, but then started putting back on weight and I've been stuck at 275 for years and years. I continue to have issues with reflux and it's not consistent. I'm wondering if this new surgery is a different venue for me that might work better. I'm really considering my options as I've never been at an ideal weight. diets after diets just haven't worked. anyone have advice as I ponder this decision?

Gusso, I told my wife, daughters, son, brother, and a few of my friends. Please check the forum "weight loss surgery and friends", there are some interesting reply's. As you will see, not everyone understands what you will go through. Be very careful about posting it on facebook, personally I WOULD NOT. Hey good luck and be well, Lash

The first few months, my arms and thighs looked really weird. You know that odd looking wrinkly skin on a chicken? That was my thighs. I did some toning with a "thigh-master" type of machine, but in the past month, I have neglected it. But, to my surprise, the thighs are shaping up nicely. That being said, you hagve a lot of weight to lose and the stomach may not "bounce back". If it doesn't, you can wear compression garmets to help under your clothes. If you develop what's called a "flap" of skin and can document bacterial or other similiar medical issues, insurance will cover the removal as a medical procedure and not consider it cosmetic. By no means amd I saying to fake or cause an infection, but I would imagine that it would be the perfect place for bacteria to want to hide and grow. For now, focus on the weightloss ... if you need to repair the skin, you can think about that a year from now. Best of luck!

I am scheduled for March 10th and I am excited! Strangely, I'm not anxious or scared - just excited that I am fortunate to get this great new tool that will help me to lose weight and keep it off. I think feelings of fear or anxiety are pretty common for anyone undergoing any type of surgery -- there is always a risk when it comes to surgery. But if you have confidence in your surgeon, try to focus on how great you will feel once you get through the rough part. Surgery is never a walk in the park, but the end result will be so worth it. I wish you luck and hope you have a safe surgery!

Finally after all these months of doctor visits and weigh in, the day is almost here. It's seems like forever since I began this journey, but everyday I remembered what the end result would be and this my friends kept me on the right path. I'm not nervous, I am so exicited and can't wait to get this weight off, touch my toes, wear a bra that has one letter and not double, be able to go to a normal department store and beable to buy clothing like everyone else (not go to the plus size part of the store that has nothing cute - it fits on the top and fits on the bottom and hell it's the same the size - imagine that!! I just finally might be able to go to Victoria Secrets and finally buy something sexy I realize that this isn't the end of the journey and that forever I will need to always focus on my weight and work hard to keep it maintained. I will never ever look back nor regret my decision. DR. FISHER here I come!!! Wish me luck!

They'll schedule you for a consult after the seminar and go over dates of surgery and finances. They scheduled my surgery on the date of my consult. It was 1.5 weeks later and likely depends on the doctor and hospital schedule like making any appointment. If you are using insurance, a supervised diet might be required for 3-6 months in which case, the surgery most likely won't be scheduled until that is completed. As far as skin goes, everyone is different. Depends on your age, elasticity of your skin, if and how much exercise you do, and how much weight you lose will determine how saggy you look afterwards. Good Luck

Hi Neanie, I'm so sorry your BP wants to act up right now!! Gah!! I didn't necessarily have an issue with it, but my BP was right around what yours is now when I had surgery. Sometimes when you are going through stressful times, (like surgery) our BP can go up. I'm surprised they haven't taken that into account. Regardless I'm sure they are just looking out for you. I really hope for your sake that you can get your BP controlled in time for them to give you the surgery. It's a catch 22 for you if not... you can't lose weight so it raises your blood pressure and you cant exercise properly due to the joint pain... and because you can't exercise you can't lose weight. It's awful! I can tell you this, my surgery saved my life. I used to be on 4 max doses of HBP medications for years. I got off 2 of them with my band and just recently I have been released from ALL!! Also, my joint pain has been non existent. I've been able to RUN on my treadmill... what a blessing!!

Hi, My name is Judith and I lived in NJ, I started the process for revision from Lapband to VSG, I am very nervous and scare about the whole thing, this time I do not want to tell anyone because I know I will get all kinds of comments as I barely lose any weight with the Lapband my band slipped and it needs to come out and if I decide to have another surgery it need to be one procedure. I am afraid it will not work like the band, but at the same time I see so many successful stories here that it gives me courage to go thru with it. I just hope I am making the right decision.

The nice thing about the band is they can "unfill it" for pregnancy. I'm almost 36, married, and have 3 kids (and am having no more)...but I also got cold feet right up until they put me uner. Like Liz, I was banded just March 15th and am SO GLAD I had it done. I haven't seen huge weight loss yet, but I have so much more energy! And I know in time the weight loss will happen. Just know the anxiety/cold feet is totally normal. We're all here to help you in this journey...whatever your final decision is.