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I buy my Ostrim sticks here too they taste like slim Jim's meat sticks have only sixty calories and good Protein http://www.bariatricchoice.com/protidiet-high-protein-bariatric-hot-cocoa.html

I had the sleeve done 6/29/15... I also work at a bariatric sugary center and know the majority of the hold up is the insurance. Not many want to cover and the ones that do ask for a lot of information and clearances.

You’re committing to a tough journey when you decide to get weight loss surgery. Your surgeon and the other health professionals who work with you have a big influence. They can make the journey go smoothly, or they can throw all sorts of obstacles in your path. They can make you feel comfortable and tell you everything you need to know, or they can make you feel like an idiot and withhold information. I’ve even heard stories as bad as bariatric nurses telling patients that it’ll never work! One of my best findings was finding how great my surgeon was. She always was there for me and I am still in touch with her. I am fortunate not to have had any negative experiences around the time I got my lap-band. I guess I could have used a little more nutritional help, but that wasn’t really anyone’s fault. So, what is the best thing you have experienced on the medical or insurance side of weight loss surgery? What is the worst thing? Share your stories here!

Where is everybody????????????? Speed Racer here. Saw my bariatric surgeon last Tuesday she was very upset felt like she has let me down. I told her to stop that or she's was going to make me cry. She said she would be more then happy to switch me over to the bypass but the insurance companies have stopped paying.??????????? She said they are cracking down on patients that want to switch. She said I would have to gain weight to be considered go figure. I don't want to gain weight for any reason at all. Anyways, she wanted to try something with me and see what would happen. What she did was took all of my fluid out. If I was pain free after then it would mean it's the band and she would go back in and put another one in a better one with softer edges (I need to get more information about it). If still in pain then she would just go in and take it out. Well, guess what people??????????????? Speed Racer is pain free!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So I see her tomorrow and will go from there I will keep you all posted.:thumbup::confused::thumbup::wink2:

So, I'm 2+ years out and had what I suspect was a gallbladder episode a few nights ago. Woke up projectile vomiting 5 hours after a rich meal. (Rich in good fat, salmon, olive oil, etc) I palpated around and nothing hurt to the touch. Problem was over as quick as it started. Went back to bed felt okay the next day, (minor soreness probably to be expected). Went and got checked the next day at the PCP's office, (my surgeon moved and the bariatric program kind of fell apart so no support there) and the nurse practitioner was like, yeah, could be, but since it was the first episode probably don't need an ultrasound. Try cutting some fat out of your diet. Okay... So I've done that, and do feel better, however, I've lost a little weight already. I don't really NEED to lose at this point, but 10 pounds would be okay. No more though. So I've been maintaining my weight on a certain calorie level (1300-1500) mostly supported by full fat dairy and "good" fats in nuts, avocado, salmon, olive oil, etc. I've gone back to logging so I can keep track of the fat, (I WAS eating a lot, I think), but now, keeping it below 30% (around 40g per day which doesn't seem that low to me), I struggle to get 1000 calories per day, (even when I eat 5-6 small meals per day). I have an exercise habit, stationary bike at home, nothing extreme, that burns 400-500 per day. What am I going to look like in 2 months? Should I be concerned?

I did not choose my surgery type.. my doctor did it for me... i think doctor know better than us!!!! I had sleeve I wish that my surgeon would choose for me but he left the decision up to me. He went over the pro's and con's of both of the surgeries and then gave me two authorization forms to sign (one for the sleeve and one for bypass) and said once I make my decision to send that back to the office. He suggested that I go to the local bariatric surgery support group and talk with friends and family who may have had the surgery to help make my decision.

I bet you didn’t think you’d see these two words - Valentine's Cheesecake - together in a bariatric nutrition tip, right? Regular cheesecake is laden with fat and sugar. This version can be a treat for Valentine’s Day that provides a good source of protein and some calcium. As a bariatric patient, you don’t have much volume in your stomach pouch. That means that you need to pack in as many nutrients as possible when choosing your foods. This recipe can be used before the pre-surgery liquid diet begins or after surgery when you can have soft and pureed proteins. For RNY gastric bypass patients, that means one week after surgery. For sleeve gastrectomy patients, that means two weeks after surgery. This treat is not only good for your heart, but it’s also good for your muscles and bones. Equipment: Medium mixing bowl Hand or tabletop mixer Serving dish or container that will hold ½ cup (4 oz.) Yield: 6 (½- cup) servings Ingredients 4 oz. fat free cream cheese 16 oz. plain, non-fat Greek yogurt ½ package (1 oz) Sugar Free, Fat Free Jello Instant Pudding Use a flavor of instant pudding you’d like (chocolate, vanilla, cheesecake). 2-3 packets Splenda or other sweetener 4 oz. Cool Whip Free Directions Place cream cheese in a medium mixing bowl. Mix cream cheese and yogurt until smooth. Blend instant pudding with cream cheese and yogurt until smooth. Blend Splenda and Cool Whip with other ingredients until smooth. Spoon into ½ cup containers. Adapted from Spark People Recipes Nutrition Information per serving: Calories: 106 Fat: 0 gr Protein: 10 gr Carbohydrate: 12 gr Calcium: 85 mg Enjoy before you go on the pre-surgery liquid diet and after surgery when you can have soft/pureed protein.

I tried to be a good girl and use the doctor office products (Bariatric Advantage), but some of that stuff makes me miserable! Really it's the Calcium Chewables that make me want to cry, but the Multivitamin is not far behind; the rest of the products are fine! I do remember my nutritionist saying Flinstone Complete would be just fine For the Flintstone Complete, do you follow the recommended dose on the bottle? Or do you dose differently?

Celebrate and bariatric advantage make excellent products. I have been using them since before surgery. They are not to expensive. I feel better knowing that I use something made bariatric patients. Piece of advice unless you really love red hots candy don't get the bariatric advantage cinnamon calcium chewable. They will burn your mouth the cinnamon is so strong.

In the future pills will be an option but you have plenty of options now. A lot of Vitamins come in liquid form, a new thing is out from both Bariatric Advantage and Celebrate Vitamins, it's a powder that you put in your drink like crystal light and has your Multivitamin and your Calcium, some even have Protein in them and you can get samples from both places. At Celebrate, samples cost $3 with free shipping and you can send them an email requesting specific items and at Bariatric Advantage they are free, you just have to ask for them. I personally like the vitamins from Celebrate and that's what I take..they are a little chalky but don't bother me. In your samples they should have the chewable kind as well so you can see if you are able to tolerate a different brand. The new drink mix is cool though because from two drinks you get everything you need except Iron and B complex if your doc requires it which only comes in a pill. Good luck!

My surgery is scheduled for March 2015 and I'm going alone to Tijuana Mexico with Dr Gustavo Yanez. I chose him because he specializes in both Bariatric surgery and Cosmetic surgery. My fee is $4999.00 and I don't pay on anything until the day I arrive for the surgery. I'll stay one night in the hospital and two nights in a hotel. I need a surgery partner

Becca i spoke to directly to the bariatric coordinator and she is the one that gave me the info about all money being paid up front because it is considered "elective surgury" i will not give up someone on the site said they are going through a program right in NY which is no where from me the function within the Aetna network so i may look into that. i also signed up to be notified about grants for 2011 so i will keep all my options open and see what happens. thank for your support.

Each UHC plan is different. I have them and my requirements were 1 psych eval, an EGD, and 1 meeting with a nutritionist. My dr required a letter from my PCP. I had no supervised diet plan or anything. I didnt even have to do a preop diet! The only thing is that with UHC, I had to use the "Bariatric Resource Center", so I was given a list of about 7 doctors that I could use for the procedure. If I used anyone else, it wouldn't have been covered. They also provided me with a nurse that could answer any questions I had. She has called already 3 times to check on me. They were really wonderful. I was approved within 3 days of the paperwork being submitted. Hope you have luck with them!!!

@@SleevyWonder Yes I am going to Toledo Hospital. They just added a new wing, and the Bariatric recovery is there. Everyone is usually very nice. The hospital is the one thing I am not worried about lol

On the weight loss slowing, everyone here has already said that's totally normal. But since I'm a total nerd and tracked my weight loss, I can tell you exactly how mine slowed down. I've lost a total of 70 lbs over 23 months. Month 1: 3.5 lbs a week, reached -22 lbs Months 2-4: ~1.5-2 lbs a week, reached -41 lbs Months 5-12: 0.5-1 lbs a week, reached -63 lbs and passed my original goal weight at 11 months out Months 13-20: 0.2 lbs a week, currently at -70 lbs, 12 under my original goal Does this mean that you pretty much never dieted before you got surgery? Or are you comparing now to the first 6 months after surgery, where you didn't care about food much simply because you weren't hungry? After reading these boards for a few years, it seems that the people who have long term success do have to pay some attention to their diet to maintain their weight loss. But that takes a lot of different forms according to the specific issues and goals of different people. You won't necessarily have to pay as much attention to it in the long term as you do right now. Right now you're learning what works for you; later it will become habit. Especially if what you said above means that you never dieted much before - in this case you would be learning about what works for you for the first time. But for everyone, after bariatric surgery, you have to learn what your "new normal" is. Personally, my long term goal has been to maintain without having to calorie count. Before surgery, I was pre-diabetic and low carb was the only thing that ever helped me lose weight. After surgery, carbs are still an issue for me, though much, much less of an issue than before. Rather than limiting/counting carbs every day, I've found that having a 4-5 day period of low-carb every 3-4 weeks keeps my carb cravings in check. I still start my day with a protein powder latte and make sure that I have protein with every meal. Veggies help keep me full. If I feel hungry, I eat a snack, but I usually start with a piece of cheese or a few frozen meatballs (I love these things) before I have anything more junky. I eat sweets some days, but not all. I use things like sugar free ice cream or low sugar yogurt for a bit of a treat on other days.

My surgeon was Jacqueline Osuna, the wife of Dr. alejandro lopez. Both only practice bariatric surgery. I would recommend Dr. Osuna to anyone and everyone!!!

Hello All, Any insights on Mini gastric bypass VS gastric bypass? I am scheduled for mini gastric bypass in Mexico via Mexico Bariatric Centre on March 12 2016.

Because our hair grows in cycles, my dietician instructed us to start taking our Bariatric vitamins and biotin now. And to make sure we get in our daily required protein!!! Hopefully, this will help prevent hair loss post op.

I'm in Northern Ca and 5 months of Sleeve 44 lbs off. I'm looking for Bariatric doctor in my area Eureka Ca to do follow up since I moved from where I did my surgery Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

It's definitely head hunger!!! I can honestly say...I dont think I even know what hunger is. I have been seeing a therapist most of my life for this eating disorder. I have been battling bulemia/anorexia since im small. I can proudly say I am bulemic free for 12 yrs now, but it has cause major damage physically. I know I will be totally neurotic over not being able to eat, but at this point in my life, I am so sick I go to sleep every night in hopes to wake up the next morning . I have a 12 yr old that I have to worry about, and he is the only reason I am strong at times, but as days pass, I am getting weaker and weaker. I have seen many bariatric surgeons over the yrs, but I was told I was never a good candidate for the surgery. Why all of a sudden am I a candidate for the sleeve, I dont know, but I feel it's worth a shot. Im scared out of my mind. Not of the actual surgery itself, but all the co-mobilities and then some, I am dealing with. I, to a degree dont understand how having the hernia repairs/reconstruction of the wall of my stomach, and the sleeve all at the same time, is going to do any justice????? I know this will be the hardest thing I have ever tried to tackle in my life, and realize there is no turning back. At times I feel I need the restriction, and that is going to be the only way to get somewhere, then again, I have my doubts too which I think we all experience, especially undergoing such drastic measures. I think ultimately I will just say ...what the hek, and just get it over with once and for all, and pray/hope for the best! Anyway, thanks for the advice, thoughts, suggestions, and for reading my novel . Keep up the good work

Robin, It may also depend on the doctor/facility you are using -- I was able to get approved by Aetna on the three month track, but only because I used the program at Emory. Elsewhere I would have had to do six months. The Emory Bariatric Center had the whole thing down like clockwork, so I just trusted their instructions on what it would take to get approved. If there is a place near you that is comparable to The Emory Bariatric Center, they may have the option of putting you through the three month program. Teri

Just wanted to check in and wish all my fellow December sleevers a very Happy New Year. Had my 3 week post op visits with my nutritionist and nurse today. They went well, and I have clearance to eat anything I want as long as it's healthy, eat a small portion, and chew chew chew. Protein first, veggies next, fruit, then whole grains. They said I was right on target. I start their 8 week post op program next Wednesday, and I start my 3 month exercise program on Monday. (They encourage us to do it longer than 3 months, but 3 months is included in the bariatric surgery package.) Saw my endocrinologist yesterday, and my A1C is lower than it's been since 2009. I am so thrilled I had the sleeve. I hope you all are doing well, and are meeting the New Year with better health and happiness! No caffeine, alcohol, carbonated beverages. No decaf for 6 months. That makes me sad, but the weight loss progress is worth it.

And other things you need to know about WLS but are afraid to ask... I wonder sometimes if bariatric professionals forget to emphasize the importance of good band eating skills because they they've never had to live with a gastric band. Of course, a few bariatric professionals are also bariatric patients, and thank goodness for that. I also wonder if bandsters are unaware of the importance of good band eating skills because their brains slipped into neutral during that part of their pre-op education. You'll have a hard time convincing me that's never happened to you, because I am the Queen of Lists and Note Taking. In high school and college, classmates would pay me for copies of my class notes. (Not only were they thorough, they were neatly penned in my prize-winning handwriting and decorated with cunning cartoons depicting my teachers and professors in embarrassing situations.) I take a notebook and a list of questions to every medical appointment, I ask questions, I re-read my notes, but despite all of that, my brain tends to shift gears when I see or hear something that strikes me as unimportant or irrelevant. And aside from being The World's Greatest Living Expert on Everything, what exactly qualifies me to make the unimportant or irrelevant judgment? Nothing. Nada. Nichts. Niente. During my pre- and post-op patient education, which was tailored exclusively to bandsters and administered by well-prepared bariatric dietitians, nurses, physician's assistants, and so on, I must have heard the eating skills lecture a dozen times. I was told that if I didn't eat carefully, I would end up in pain or with my meal in my lap. I nodded my understanding each time I heard that and could repeat the lecture verbatim, but it wasn't until I took a huge bite of a grilled cheese sandwich 24 hours after my first fill that I truly understood what all those folks had been telling me. And that’s not an experience I’m likely to forget. Take Tiny Bites I talk about good eating skills a lot. Why do I go on and on about that? Is it because I like the sound of my own (editorial) voice? Well, sure - that's no secret. But for what reason besides that? Important information bears repeating, and repetition is one of the ways that we acquire new information and learn new habits. If you doubt that, pay attention to how many times the Geico lizard appears on your television screen each day. Good band eating skills must become a habit if you're going to succeed with your band and avoid side effects and complications. Those eating skills must be your habit every hour of every day, not just as a new post-op or after each fill, but every day for the rest of your life. That sounds like a pretty tall order, doesn't it? Don't panic, though. A well-ingrained habit doesn't take as much conscious thought as a brand-new one. Your own behavior has already proven that if you've ever found yourself with a half-finished Twinkie or a cigarette or a beer in your hand and couldn't remember how it got there. It works the other way too. Your healthy new habits will eventually dig themselves into your life and using them will get easier as you go along. When you forget your band eating skills, your band will give you a loud reminder in the form of side effects like PB's, sliming, or stuck episodes, but I beg you not to rely on your band's built-in warning system on a regular basis, because doing so will send your bandwagon skittering down the road to complications like esophageal dilation, stomach dilation, band slips and even band erosion. One of the problems with the band's alarm system is that the truly destructive behaviors it reacts to may trigger relatively mild warnings so long before the damage is done that it's easy to shrug them off. For example, let's say that you often take big bites, don't chew very well, eat quickly, and/or eat beyond your soft stops (soft stops are gentle stop-eating signals, like hiccups). Each time you do those things, you experience mild discomfort. Nothing horrific. It happens, you think, "Oops," and you go back to whatever you were doing before the discomfort happened. Eventually this mild discomfort becomes just a part of your post-op life - the same as the way you sneeze when you pet a cat, pass gas when you eat beans, or get a headache when you don't wear your eyeglasses. Hey, that's just the way it is, right? But one bad day after dozens of ordinary days you can't even swallow your own saliva. You rush to the doctor, who does an upper GI x-ray and tells you your band has slipped. "How can that be?" you cry, "Everything's been fine until now!" In fact, everything has not been fine, because your careless eating has been pushing, pushing, pushing at your band's limits, until finally it pushed your band up your esophagus or down your stomach. I don't like finger-pointing any better than you do, but whose responsibility is that band slip? Is it your surgeon's, for not stitching it on there well enough? Is it the band manufacturer's, for not making your band slip-proof? Or is it yours? There can be a happy ending to your story, though. Even if the band slip is clearly your fault, you won't get sent to prison to sip brackish water and gnaw on stale bread for the rest of your days. Your surgeon can unfill your band (or, less likely, re-operate to reposition your band), and you can revamp your eating skills, lose weight, and live happily ever after. Or better yet, you can avoid the pain, inconvenience, financial and emotional costs, and pay attention to your eating from now on. I ain't gonna lie to you...acquiring and practicing this new habit won't be easy, but I can think of a lot of things that could be worse. A lot worse. The official Bandwagon® Eating Skills are: 1. Don't drink while you eat or for 30 to 60 minutes afterwards. 2. Take tiny bites. 3. Chew, chew chew. 4. Eat slowly. 5. Eat the protein first. 6. Learn your stop signals. 7. Pay attention to problem foods. 8. Eat only when you're hungry. 9. Avoid liquid calories and slider foods. 10. Use a small plate. 11. Plan your food in advance. 12. Don't watch TV or read while you eat. 13. Don't put serving dishes on the dining table. 14. Eat sitting down at the dining table. 15. Follow the HALT rule (don't eat when you're too hungry, angry, lonely or tired). You’ll find full explanations of each skill in Chapter 12 of Bandwagon, Strategies for Success with the Adjustable Gastric Band, by yours truly.

Dr. Bovard from Bariatric Specialties of NC did my SIPS procedure on 12/22/14 and I was down 97 pounds as of September 21, 2015. I originally had a lap band procedure done in April 2008 and lost about 115lbs but gained about 35 back. Last year in October I decided to do a revision and I love it a lot more than the Lap Band.

Your bariatric center should require classes and support groups pre op. Find one that does!!!!