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I have an appointment and sonogram scheduled. Thankfully, the flow has slowed. I have been on Nuva ring for years- so I wouldn't think it would all of a sudden cause crazy things to happen, but who knows. I wish my surgeon's office would call me back with some info- I left a message on Wednesday or Thursday asking if this is something that happens after surgery or if it could be related (hormones going crazy with weight loss??) so I could have something to tell my gyno. Hopefully it's just a one-time deal! How uncomfortable! Haha.

Just think of all the things you are going to be able to do after the weight loss .

I have Cigna as well. My surgery is scheduled for May 22. I didn't have to provide my weight for the last 5 years, only all the diets I have tried in that time frame. I think they look more at your weight during the doctor supervised diet. They want you to have lost some during that 6 months time frame. I think they want to see a 10% loss. If you have any comorbidities, it is easier to get approved with a BMI of less than 40. By the way, I was denied twice before they finally approved it, so don't give up! Good luck!

Congrats on the Loss!!

Since you are working out at the gym, it helps make sure that more of what you lose is fat, and less is muscle. Someone who is working out can lose a lot more fat and a lot less muscle than someone who is not working out. That's one of the reasons why it's so important to not compare your weight loss to the weight loss of other people. Other people may be losing faster because they are losing muscle faster, but that's not healthy for you.

Hi Wendy: I have Cigna and have been approved. My surgery date is June 6. :thumbup: As to your question about the 5 year history, it is my understanding that if your BMI is 40 you only need history for 12 months. However, I did send records of my weight over the past 5 years, it showed a BMI of 36-38 with weight loss and gain. My BMI has only been over 40 for the past 6 months ( I let myself go to be sure to qualify) I do have sleep apnea, and arthritis, but that was never really documented. I did have one Doctor's notes from the sleep center. I think the main thing they really look at if you have the BMI of 40, is the 6 months of doctor supervised diet and it HAS to be 6 consecutive months. Hope this helps. I was approved quickly. The papers were submitted on a Tuesday and denied on Wednesday, the information about the 6 months diet was arranged in order and re-faxed and I was immediately approved! Yea Cigna! Call then and ask questions. I did and they were always very, very helpful!:thumbup: Good luck:thumbup:

I would have to agree about the droopy diaper feeling tulipstar...lol....I think this weight loss experiance so far has been exciting and to have us all being able to share has made everything so much easier.

My BMI was 35.1 when I went for my consult appointment. BCBS turned me down and said unless I had sleep apnea, heart disease, or lunch disease, I didn't qualify. I assembled an appeal package including letters from every one of my doctors, gyn, gp, gastro, pediatris, and surgeon, all stating that weight loss would correct/benefit my condition that they treat me for. I also wrote 2 letters myself, 1 medical, 1 emotional. Meanwhile, I ate like there was no tomorrow and by the time I submitted my package my BMI was 36.7. Based on my letters and my larger BMI, they approved me. I'm happy with my decision.

I have no answer for this but WHOO HOO on your weight loss so far! You're doing awesome!!!!

Hello everyone! I was sleeved Oct 2015 and I am now almost 6 months post op and I have lost 58lbs. My goal is 80lbs as of now so I am almost there. I started off as an size 18 refusing to even look at a size 20 and a few days ago I bought a size 12 in old navy jeans when I realized the size 14 jeans that I had gotten a few weeks ago were starting to look baggy! I say all of that to say that even though I almost 60lbs down and have lost 3 pants sizes, when I look in the mirror, my brain doesn't quite register the weight loss. I mean I see some definite changes and I know into a smaller size but it does not look like 60 lbs to me. To me, I guess it looks like maybe 30lbs. I guess I zone in on what parts of my body I need to work on. When did your brain finally catch up with your body? Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Every diet I have ever been on...and there were many over the last 30 years or so.....I started out good, was determined to make it work...then eventually leveled out, then ultimately failed....gaining all the weight back, and then some....even my 6 month pre surgery diet was the same...started put good, then started to gain it back.....which only showed the insurance co., for the record, my experiences with dieting.... Let's face it, I just do not have the will power needed to see any of these weight loss programs though, and stay there... And the longer I stayed with a diet...the bigger the struggle became....first with little cheating here and there, until finally throwing the towel in altogether.... It was for that reason, and that reason alone that my PCP suggested Lap Band Surgery.....to do what I was unable to do on my own.... If I could have done it, no way would I go for surgery....but history had proved I could not...and my health was suffering because of it.... But I am not regretting my decision one bit.....and love every new day....

That is frustrating! My bariatric coordinator gave me a sample letter to give to the doctor. I actually filled in my diet history for my PCP as well as all the other info I knew. They filled in the rest. I was trying to find a way to attach the sample letter but there does not seem to be a way to attach it, so I have copied and pasted it below. Maybe it will help. Good luck getting all together. It took me a few tries and a lot of frustration with the process due to various reasons. My physician's letter did not say "I was medically cleared for surgery"...well duh...if they are saying I should have it, doesn't it make sense that they think I am medically cleared to have it. UGHH. Here is the sample letter: Sample Letter of Medical Necessity: Give to your primary care physician and to mail completed letter to our office. [insert date] RE: [insert patient’s name] To Whom It May Concern: Ms. /Mr. [insert patient’s name] has been a patient of mine for [insert number] years. This patient is [insert height] and weighs [insert weight] lbs. with a BMI of [insert BMI]. This patient has been excessively overweight for [insert number] years now and will benefit from bariatric surgery. In addition to morbid obesity, this patient suffers from the following co-morbid conditions: [insert co morbidities, e.g. diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnea, degenerative joint disease, osteoarthritis, hypercholesterolemia, hyperlipidemia, shortness of breath, exertional dyspnea, urinary incontinence, etc]. Current medical treatment for these co-morbid conditions is . This patient has tried many methods of weight loss including [insert name of program(s), date(s) started and length of time participated] with [insert number of pounds lost and whether they were regained or not]. This patient is limited due to his/her co-morbidities in his/her ability to exercise but has tried [listing all attempts and any successes or regaining of weight]. This patient's family medical history is indicative for [insert medical condition, e.g. obesity, hypertension, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, etc]. I respectfully request pre-authorization for insurance coverage for this patient to undergo bariatric surgery. Thank you for your kind consideration in this matter. Sincerely, [insert physician's name]

I am trying to prepare myself for the backlash before the holidays arrive. I've tried to keep my surgery a secret, but I think word has gotten around. I have a few relatives that I know are against weight loss surgery. They think it is a cop out or just an easy way out of doing the hard work it takes to lose a lot of weight. I want to know beforehand what would be a good thing to say when they start asking questions. I need something short and witty to say because I don't feel like talking in length about it. It would be nice if I could educate them or eventually convince them that I made the right choice for me.

I had plastic surgery after my weight loss and insurance didn't pay for any of it. It cost me $19,600 for a lower body lift and breast lift with augmentation...good luck.

Do you mean like a blog? Or a chart of your weight loss?

I'd been really bothered about my weight for the past few years when I struggled to find things that looked nice and felt nice that also fit.. shopping had become the most miserable thing and I was also huffing and puffing to do the things I used to love doing. I would have considered surgery as an option if I had known about the sleeve earlier.. I'd heard of gastric bypass - but the things I'd heard about it I knew weren't for me - a lifetime of tons of supplements, high incidence of dumping syndrome, lots of post op complications that can develop and so on.. And I knew I couldn't follow those rules. Finally one night when I was thoroughly frustrated because I didn't get a job I interviewed for.. I decided to randomly google about weight loss surgery.. I took the leap because for now - I don't have a job and I'm on medicaid.. and it occurred to me that when I find a job.. I might not be able to afford the co-pay they would demand and that this might be my only chance if surgery was something I wanted to consider.. so I went ahead and looked at the different types and lo and behold I found the sleeve.. It was basically everything I wanted.. less invasive and less scary than bypass.. no equipment left inside like the band.. and the rules are a little more adaptable to each person (e.g. I've been drinking with a straw since day 1 post surgery and I don't know how I'd survive without it because it helps me control better the size of the sip coming into my mouth - which is very helpful when I'm feeling super restricted) based on their needs, and the risks of complications were less.. I watched a seminar about the surgery and googled for the rest of the evening for articles - everything from blogs to medical journals. It took me about 4 hours total to decide I was going to seek a consult for sleeve surgery and I called my doctor the next day. I've never looked back Compared to others.. my decision was a lot quicker but... that's also just how I am.. I don't take a lot of time to decide things.. I weigh the facts and make a decision in a short amount of time.

How is your recovery going? What has the experience done for your weight loss?

We will all tend to see the most rapid weight loss at the beginning, no matter what our diet may be (assuming that it does have the requisite caloric deficit to trigger weight loss!) When we first go into a caloric deficit, as when we start a weight loss program, or get into a famine, that deficit is made up with our quick energy reserves of glycogen (basically carbs) which burn fairly rapidly at a rate of about 2000 calories per pound. When our body gets the idea that you are into something serious and the caloric deficit is not going away anytime soon, then it starts tapping into its long term energy stores of fat, which burns more slowly at about 3500 calories per pound. It typically takes 2-3 weeks to get to this point, which often coincides with a change in diet phase in post op WLS programs. This is also when many people experience their first stall - the dreaded third week stall - when the body has to take a rest and rebuild its glycogen reserves to more normal levels, which involves some hoarding of Water to keep it in solution. I was on mushies and soft Proteins from the outset, and also experienced my most rapid loss those first three weeks after which is slowed down as my body moved into fat burning mode. So, it really doesn't matter if one is on clear liquids, thick liquids, mushes or steak and potatoes those first couple of weeks, you will lose quickly assuming that the caloric deficit is there. On the original question, I typically ran in the 90-110 g Protein range (appropriate for the metabolism of a guy with relatively high lean body mass,) carbs were in the 80-120g range (workable and at times essential for a relatively high activity level,) simple carbs & sugars were minimized, though some fruits, berries mostly, worked their way in over time, and calories averaged around 1100 during my loss phase. The 50g protein level quoted by the OP is on the low side of typical recommendations (normally in the 60-80g range) but is in the ballpark if the OP is a relatively short and small framed woman (say, 120lb or less of "should be" or ideal weight.) Many find that 600-800 calories to be something of a sweetspot for weightloss with the sleeve, and at that level, if one is meeting the protein goals, there isn't a lot of room to go wrong on fat and carbs with the remaining calories.

This has been discussed into the ground, but I want final clarification as to when we should stop drinking liquid before eating. My doc said stop drinking liquids 1/2 hour before eating, which I've always done (and if memory serves me well, that's how we do it on this board??) However, after reading on the other board that people drink right up until they take their first bite, I'd like some feedback. Their theory is that liquid passes right through to the bottom stomach, so it helps make the bottom stomach feel full. They don't feel it's necessary to wait 1/2 hour to eat. Then again, they're only eating 1.5 cups of food per day, and in my opinion anyone would shed weight no matter when liquid is consumed with that restricted intake. Does anyone here (that doesn't follow strict caloric intake) have significant weight loss and success by drinking water right up until you start eating? It would sure make life easier.

I know I shouldn't be saying this and giving bad advice; I don't even know if you consider 65 lbs a "big" weight loss, but I drink with my meals and have since day one. I feel the knives being thrown at me. I can't help it; I have to drink when I eat.

Terry, When was your last fill? Could that be why you are not losing right now? I know once I had my fill I started losing again (2 pounds a weeks since my fill) Drinking alot of water is key for me too, the more I drink the more I lose it seems. What about exercise? Sometimes even though were are eating right if we don't exercise we wont lose . I'm fortunate to have only been banded 3 months so the weight is coming off with minimal exercise but I know as I get futher out the weight loss will slow down and I will have to kick in with the exercise more frequently. Just my thoughts.. Good Luck

Thanks Delarla, I appreciate you and everyone on this board and I am soooo glad I found it.... I am struggling with bad choices right now... Breakfast is a good example... I can usually only eat about 1/2 an egg , sometimes the whole one and a piece of bacon... Sunday.....I ate 2 eggs and 2 bacon strips and might have eaten more but got up... Then I went to town to do some stuff and at lunch I ate a pint of "real" ice cream.. then I came home and ate about 1/2 of a pork chop.... I didn't eat anymore till night time and I ate a huge bowl of homemade chicken and noodles. I weighed 213 this morning... My lowest weight is 204, which means I have gained 9 lbs... But I am having to do some stressful stuff right now so I am going to try to not be so hard on my diet. But I am going to start my old thinking again and stop the real ice cream, etc...(beer, and pina colada's I didn't mention) The other stuff shouldn't hurt me.. I have been drinking way to many pina colada's with alcohol and virgin ones too. they are Real high in calories... But darn I love them... They go down so well with a burning belly. My daughter had a wreck Friday you guys... She had a 2004 Mazda Tribute and an older Calillac hit her in the side. She was turning (her fault) going about 4 miles an hour and he was speeding and he hit her so hard it flipped her car into the air and it landed upside down. On the good side of this, the seat belt held her in tight and it has a roll bar, and it didn't hurt her much at all. Thank God!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She had 8 stitches in her elbow and that is it. The reason I am even telling this, is because I get so wrapped up in this weight loss, lap band , stuff that it consumes my life literally. I get pissy if I gain, I worry if my belly burns, I over react lately to everything.I drive everyone around me crazy saying, "Do I look like I have gained, wonder why I haven't lost any, do you think I will lose anymore, etc........ God helped me put things back into perspective, and I realize that it wouldn't matter if I weigh 700 lbs (you know what I mean) as long as my family is ok, and etc. It brought me to my knees, I am humbled and appreciative of my wonderful life I have been blessed with. I won the life lottery...lol..... I am so lucky... I am sorry for getting so carried away about what I look like and how much I weigh. Don't get me wrong, I care about it, but I needed to calm down. I don't know. Maybe the new attention made me want to strive harder to lose more, and then I got impatient. Wanted to lose more and lose if faster.... Anyway, girls, (and guys) when you get to this point, be careful and don't run the people that love you away , don't get carried away... This is an important journey, but don't let it consume you.... Like I said, I am lucky.... I got brought back to earth....without damage..lol....too much anyway.. Terry Evans

My weight loss goal was only 140, but I can still tell you I didn't want to reroute everything, I didn't want to be as limited in what I could eat (dumping syndrome) and my PCP told me that if I had the bypass I would have diarrhea for the rest of my life and that it would be the unpredictable kind. I really didn't want that. As it turned out, when I went to the seminar, the surgeon said that bypass patients can't take time release medications and I was taking a few of those and on those grounds my PCP pushed for me to have the sleeve.

@@KaiserKid .... So I think what you're really asking is when did we decide it was right to go ahead with SURGERY, not necessarily the sleeve? I am pre-op, hoping for a late summer surgery. For me it came very very slowly but then very very suddenly. Slowly BC I have been seriously considering it for years, but I was embarrassed to admit it to my husband; he's a triathlete, runs marathons, and thinks the answer to any weight problem is to eat salad until the weight melts away. And I am talking about a girly salad: lettuce, tomato, cucumber, raw mushrooms, and a little bit of light dressing. No Protein, just....grass. So I hid this desire for years, BC I feared he would think I was copping out. But in Nov I moved out of our home BC of marital issues, and I started deeply focusing on me. In the spring I read an article in the New York Times on a study where The Biggest Loser contestants from one season were followed for six years, and how the overwhelming majority gained all their weight back, how they had wrecked their metabolism, and how the one person who had maintained her loss attributed it to 2-3 hour workouts every day AND coming to terms with the fact that she felt truly hungry all day and would for the rest of her life. That sounded like hell. And then I read another NYT article on an NIH study that showed how people who have fought lifetime serious obesity and who managed to lose 100 pounds or more, had a 5% chance of not regaining their weight and returning to morbid obesity. 5% chance. It was like a lightning bolt ripped through my heart. I have beaten so many odds in my life. I am a first generation American, my grandparents were prisoners in Hitler's labor camps, my mother was born in a displaced persons camp in Germany after the liberation. The scars of the trauma of WW2 lived on in my family; my mother was abused as a child, and she married a man who had been abused. Both of my parents went on to be extremely abusive to my siblings and me. One of my siblings committed suicide as a direct result of the abuse. BUT.... I got out, I got away, I was the first person in my family to go to college (and to an Ivy League one, though my parents didn't quite understand the significance), and I paid my way through 90% myself. I married a decent kind man who did not abuse me, I broke the cycle of childhood abuse and never hit or emotionally abused my children (who are decent, law abiding, sensitive human beings who contribute to society). But this obesity thing.....I never, ever could beat it. I have tried to beat it since my mother put me on my first diet at age 8. So I finally decided that it was completely ok that I seek help for the one damn thing I could not beat, and that was endangering my health. And what about my husband thinking that I was copping out with WLS?......all of a sudden, my answer was "I don't give a damn what he thinks. I know who I am, and I know I am not copping out by asking for help with this." And that was it. I was in. I wasn't weak, and I was asking for medical help for the one condition my formidable work ethic had not been able to conquer. I am not afraid of hard work. But I am afraid of worrying about what other people think and foolishly turning away the help available to me. So it was slow, and sudden. Literally a switch flipped when I saw the odds, and that was it. Still don't know if it will be sleeve or RNY yet, though....will let the surgeon tell me at my next appt on July 14. Which also turns out to be my 25th wedding anniversary. Oh, someone up there guiding fate has a sense of humor..... Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Djmohr I'm sorry you are having pain. A three level cervical fusion is tough. I hope you don't need any more surgery either. Kinda - you are right I've got no excuse! I am HEALTHY!!! (No cervical fusions, I can walk with pretty much no pain.....my once in a while foot pain isn't going to get me down). I've got "first world weight loss problems"!!! I will get out of my rut. I am going to fire up the treadmill tomorrow night. Had to pick up my car from the shop tonight and then out for my mom's birthday. I will post my mileage tomorrow night ???? that way I'll be accountable. Thank you both!