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Am glad to hear this for you. I'm walking away from the dr I was going to go with as I became very uncomfortable with several things (there is a post on this). The other dr practice is now not getting any response to the request that was made to get my records days ago. Unfortunately, this is the type of behavior his office staff, one specific person pulls. Even when it was stuff THEY were to submit for me, they'd forget...they (one person) argued with me and CIGNA for TWO months - finally CIGNA and I were BOTH fed up, they called while I was at an appt with original surgeon and I took the policy in and had him look at the KEY PHRASE "has patient WITHIN the last 6 months...done xyz". Nowhere in it did Cigna's bariatric surgery policy say "patient must meet with a nutritionist every month for SIX consecutive months and if they miss one, they must start over". LITERALLY, this is what the med tech/insurance checker told me. She and I went around and around. The initial 3 to 5 times I tried talking to her, I was alway polite and professional. Guess what, she bulldozed over me in every conversation. Finally told me with great exasperation that I needed to quit calling Cigna as I was getting things confused!!! I finally played hard ball and was ready to walk away if the DOCTOR did not force them to push the paperwork through. Like "magic", they put the paperwork through..a few days later of course. It got immediate approval. When I went to my next appt, the med tech was so rude and hateful to me, I couldn't wait to get out of there. I stupidly didn't say anything to surgeon as she has worked for him for yrs and with my luck, she was a relative, niece, daughter in law. I had PLANNED to have a frank discussion with him AFTER surgery on 7/1. Well, since then they dropped the ball on a few more things, I found out the name of the anesthesia partner's name that my dr. uses and looked at their reviews...they were NOT GOOD! Frustr8 will tell you, my gut had been telling me I need to walk away...so with what..7 days left until surgery, I met with another dr. I liked him very much but most importantly, he made more sense, he has more surgeries (by the 1000's under his belt) his anesthesia partner checks out with good reviews, his office staff was NICE! VERY NICE! My original dr's staff has left me in tears over the phone (didn't let her know) at least 2 times. My dr. wrote my coumadin to lovenox bridging instructions on a sticky note and gave it to me. I took it up front and gave to his staff expecting them to type something up..nope, they handed it back. It was my husband who actually pointed out how crazy that was. I have thrown clots (PE's) after surgery just LAST year from inaccurate amounts of Lovenox for the bridging (bridging means getting off a major blood thinner like Coumadin and on to something like Lovenox which presents less chance for huge bleeding risks during surgery. So it is critical for my life and health to have those instructions documented on a dr's office papers...by him. All I had was this sticky. Now though, things are feeling even worse. My original dr's office is not responding at all to the request to transfer my records. I fear, like they have before, that they are going to fight me all the way. I've already looked up that I will have to send a certified letter..and they have FIFTEEN days to comply. OMG, I cannot believe it has come to this. I warned the new dr that I was so afraid about what they would do and he was like "no, we'll get the paperwork". Well, his main surgery coordinator just emailed me asking me to try to intervene!! It's FRIDAY NIGHT! This is so wrong...but after trying for 15-18 months to do everything right....I feel like I should have just let the original dr. operate. I'm so completely freaked out now..

Hello people! I'm 4 years out from RNY, lost 35 pounds total (non compliance) and am very, very eager to start over. My hubby is going to go on the South Beach Diet (prescribed by Surgeon) WITH me, so support, support, support. ❤️ We've started to eat better already, but for financial bs that will be resolved on July 3, we will be starting full on that day. So, I'm refreshing up on what I'm to do as a WLS patient. I haven't seen my surgeon in years due to, 1. Financial inability, 2. Shame, and 3. He had said some awful things about my various severe mental health issues that exacerbated the issues. I'm in very active psychotherapy. But, I will go back when I can come up with the money. I can't make up money that I don't/won't have. But anyway. I have a question, let me set it up. For years, I've been eating, drinking and consuming an average persons amount of food with no problems. On many occasions I filled my stomach with larger amounts of food that an RNY should not have held. I seriously want to eat bariatric portions now. If my stomach accepted volumes of food above the amount they/and you say should not fit, will a bariatric portion be enough? Or have I stretched my stomach. I've heard both sides on stretching pouches, don't know what to believe as to if that actually happens long term. And, I'm not convinced about the so called Pouch Reset. Can or should I revert to bariatric portions given this history? Is it still possible for me, at 308 to shoot for losing over 150 pounds if I do all the right things, or have I ruined that possibility? I am, for many reasons, chair bound most of the time except for my one day a week security officer job. We are joining the YMCA (pool) for "self physical therapy". Several docs working on my physical issues to get me mobile. I MUST lose a lot of weight in adjunct to surgeries, orthopedic devices and medication to get less painfully mobile. Any comments? Please, no hostility.

Are you planning on doing 90 day fiancé? Bc in my experience you don’t really get to see someone and their true colors until weeks or months into dating sometimes. To exclude SO many “imperfect” people before you even know them seems pretty high maintenance. Just being honest. I think maybe looking for love at a support group isn’t a terrible idea.

This is another of those "it's anybody's guess" things. There is a different Blue Cross organization for each state, and they will all vary on their coverage details depending upon local market conditions and state laws. Then there is a difference between individual plans, ObamaCare plans and employer provided plans - all of which can vary depending upon what options the employer chooses to buy. Some plans don't cover WLS at all (even if they did in the past) while others limit the benefit to only one WLS per lifetime. Muddying the waters further, if the revision you seek is due to complications of a previously covered surgery, then it is not a WLS procedure but is treating that complication (it sounds like it to me, but it isn't my decision.) There should be policy bulletin for your BC policy online that spells out what applies to your policy - what they cover or exclude as relates to WLS. You can call their number, but don't take their answer as the last word, as the customer service reps have been known to be wrong. When you find a surgeon to handle your case, their insurance coordinator should be able to tell you exactly what your policy covers, as it is their job to know the lingo and understand all of that fine print. I understand that some surgeons are averse to working on other surgeon's patients (fixing others' mistakes...) but that is not an exclusive thing. One of the docs that I associate with (he runs out support group now) does a fair number of RNY to DS conversions, which as he doesn't ordinarily do RNYs, means that he is fixing other's mistakes (as well as fixing wonky sleeves that others have left behind) so they are out there - you just have to look. Thinking about that a bit more, if a surgeon doesn't want to revise other's patients, then he is either making a lot of mistakes himself that need revising, or he isn't very experienced in doing revisions, so you are better off searching for someone else. Good luck,,,,

I am really getting fed up with my lack of weight loss. I get it's normal at 3 weeks out but I lost 13 pounds in 10 days then 2 pounds in the next week and 1 pound over the last week. I haven't lost any inches for over a week now. I feel the same guilt and shame I've always felt dieting when people would tell me that spinach and bell pepper was causing me to stall because they have a sweet taste or I must be eating more than I think or sleep eating. People always insist that's it's just a simple matter of calories and that heavy people could just be thin if we eat less. Except the last few weeks have shown me that is such a bunch of bs. I really hope I start having some steady weight loss soon.

Do you have diabetes? That can make you thirsty. After surgery they told me not to take any insulin or medication, my bs was just too high still and I had to start taking my one pill and insulin at night, although much less. Now I just take 20 units at night. Anyway, I would check with your surgeons office. Good luck!

Omg I am schedule to have surgery this Friday June 28th and I am still asking myself if I should get this surgery done bc I don't have my medical conditions but just fighting with my weight my whole life losing gaining like yoyo did you have your surgery already how do you feel? Sent from my SM-N960U using BariatricPal mobile app

Hiya it's Frustr8, Pride of September 5th 2018, yeah still a SUMMER SWEET SUCCESS! Many trials, tribulations, bumps and bruises later, reporting in! He 365+ SurgiWeight 319 currently 198.9, yep just broke into Onderland. Highest dress size 28-30W, currently sliding from 20 into 18-teens, Yep leaving Plus sizes behind ----FOREVER AND EVER! Still have my stoma stricture, my jejuneal ulcerations, was on PICC line for 3 months, being fed TPN 12 hours a day, but last EGJ pretty favorable, I have only had 13 lifetime, I am 90% healed , maybe I will be off of pureed and soups soon. But life is still pretty good for me, never going to regret RNY and for 73 I'm not doing all that Bad. Still finding little body defects but nothing unhandled-able. MY TESTS HAVE A " By The Way" to almost every one, but what the Hey, I'm still red-headed , alive and kicking. Don't rule me out, I'm still successful and will have my Final Victory!

Get another opinion for sure. That sounds like bs.

Getting really nervous about my surgery june 28 any advice gas pain scares me a lot and the clots, deshydratatii. After surgery bc of not being able to drink how many ounces of water and how many ounces of protein Sent from my SM-N960U using BariatricPal mobile app

Very possible. It’s gone now but I know it will return and I know I won’t go through my life eating nothing but grilled chicken and yogurt.  Also, I get it with the crazy posts and admittedly I should have said I wasn’t planning on making it now, but I also feel I shouldn’t have to. An appropriate and kind response, IMO, might be “There are some options but nothing appropriate at 3 weeks out” or “probably nothing that will taste authentic and it’s not a great idea to eat something like that, anyway. Aside from Protein and Calcium it offers little nutrition”. Many things would be better than to make someone look foolish or uninformed because they posted about a craving. That’s a form of bullying in my book. I believe in lifting each other up. We all have struggled with our weight but there’s a social ranking here just like high school, which is crap, bc all of us are or were fat. I’ve been lurking here for a very long time before joining. I started my journey in 4/2018. This was one of the first times I started a thread. Maybe the second ever. Never in a million years did I know I would get jumped on for asking for suggestions. It’s ok but I felt I should explain myself. There are always 2 sides.

I just got approved from BC for a revision from sleeve to Rny

It was the flavor/texture of biting into a gooey cheesy sandwich. I can certainly wait 3-6 or however many weeks to make something, probably much longer. I wasn’t asking about now. I should have been more clear and shouldn’t have said how far out I was because I think the assumption was I would make one now. I have had several cravings since surgery. Mostly broccoli and carrots. Because I’m dying to eat something crunchy right now. Not on the plan so I am waiting until allowed. I just thought of the grilled cheese today and wanted suggestions. I was wondering what people further along have done to get rid of that craving. I’ve had the cheese crisps and they’re good(presurgery) but I think I’m looking for a suggestion of best bread replacement for toasting. My fear is bread bc I just don’t think I can even have whole grains when they’re allowed. I’m with you and don’t want to start down that slope.

And I have been. Posting. Like. This. Has. A tone. To. It. So you can say it isn’t bashing but when you say I repeat myself and finish a comment with The end. Your tone is condescending and implied. It’s ok. I am not one of “your crew” here so carry on. I just won’t post anymore but you might consider that bc some people won’t call you out. They will just delete their account.

Wow. I didn’t ask for a verbal lashing. I posted in recipes with a question. I am on soft foods. I have followed all my doctors orders and don’t need to be reminded of why I had surgery thank you very much. Aa0 I didn’t say I was making it tonight but I was asking for suggestions because it was a strong craving that hit me today in between my egg salad and shredded chicken chili I had for dinner. I noticed a tendency of new members to be ridiculed for not being part of the “wls elite” on this site. I have seen you and several others make nasty posts to new members asking questions. Some may be trolls. Some may not. I didn’t ask for a coach to yell at me. I have a dr and a nutritionist. I asked for suggestions. The assumption by some people here that we all are the same and need the same tough love and scolding is obnoxious. I don’t need scolded. I’m working my plan and asked an innocent question. You jumped on me for it so I probably won’t post in here again. Thanks for that. Now I’m sure 10 people will like your comment so you don’t get your feathers ruffled bc you all are the BP elite and sit higher than everyone else here to judge. Incidentally, I lost nearly 100 pounds on my own several years ago with diet and exercise. I know how to eat. I also lost a child and both my parents and used food as a coping mechanism instead of more dangerous choices. I quit smoking and had three children and and was under tremendous stress and gained. I could not get all the weight off this time and was concerned for my health. That’s why I had MY surgery. Not because I eat Fritos all day.

You're doing fabulously, Recidivist! And like you say, men do tend to lose weight a lot quicker than us ladies do... (all you have to do is look at The Biggest Loser to see that!) And to be honest, I think you 'earned' your quick loss with the complications you suffered early on! You had a real rough run of it for a while there, so it's so nice to hear you're doing so fabulously now! ❤️ My dietitian doesn't like the idea of Keto. *sigh* I'm not sure what to do about it. Since cutting out carbs I've dropped quite quickly -- about 5 kilos in the past two weeks -- and I just feel more satiated going for higher-fat options (and a lot less hungry now I've cut out carbs almost entirely). We're quite spoiled here in NZ with our meat choices. The last two Sundays I've roasted a full leg of lamb, spiked with rosemary and garlic. I eat hardly any of it, but my husband and I munch on it throughout the week. It's delicious! Especially cutting off and eating the salty, fatty bits straight from the oven... nom! Hehe. All of our meat here is also grass fed, which is a big bonus. It still boggles me that you'd feed a cow anything other than grass... you don't even have to leave our biggest city, Auckland, to see moomoos snacking on grass! Yesterday hubster and I grabbed a couple of coffees and watched the planes come in to Auckland airport next to a small herd.

So today I had my first strong craving for a food. I’m 3 weeks out and don’t plan on going back to bread at all bc I know it’s a very big weakness for me. Any suggestions for a grilled cheese alternative? I made pretzels with protein powder, egg whites and psyllium powder the other day but I don’t know if I can use this same recipe to make a fake bread. Anyone find an alternative to this that was good?

Yum!! Love watermelon and haven’t ever seen it cut this way!! I haven’t had much luck on watermelon lately. Not very red or sweet inside. How do y’all all pick yours out? I was told to knock on it and get one w the biggest white/yellow spot on it-bc supposedly that means it sat ripening more

I started drinking passion tea with Splenda from Starbucks years ago and it’s something still allowed bc no caf or sugar. It tastes great if you make it at home. If you go there you have to specifically tell them no sugar only Splenda. They normally put simple syrup in it. They actually have a decaf espresso as well so you can add sf syrup for a treat. I quit soda ages ago but had one on occasion. I think it’s really important to find a doable way to make choices but not have to change everything about who you are or what you like.

Hi everyone! So I had my surgery as scheduled yesterday. Spent 3 hours in recovery bc of my sleep apnea, woke up to the cpap machine on my face and had a mini panic attack. Pain is okay, it’s bearable but a little uncomfortable. I’m trying to walk as much as I can. Hoping to go home today and begin the rest of my life

Love this thread! I'll play. I love those noodles. The tofu shirataki are absolutely the best for texture, but I avoid most soy now cuz of the hormone positive BC. I was given the go-ahead for regular non-GMO and fermented non-GMO soy, but no isolates or ultra processed. So I say that to remind anyone recovering from hormone positive cancers of any kind to do your heads-up about soy products. Here is a brand that BP carries that is really good! It has oat fiber in it--love the idea of beta glucans and like the texture a little better than just plain shirataki noodles. I love that it's a bigger bag (about 2x as big) and a good price for the size. Here's the LINK! There are several different styles. I heart the rice and the spaghetti sizes. I've gotten to where I combine them with zucchini noodles and have with any pasta-ish style dish. I also of course, do them in any Asian dish--especially lo mein, pho, and any time I want "rice". Works great with Southern stuff. I rinse them well under cold water. And put in a dry frying pan where I dry fry them for about 5 minutes until they get rid of all water and are very dry. Then I season them and add the sauces. That way they accept the flavor better.

My brother came over tonight and said “it’s not too late to back out”, and like a switch flipped I started to get scared again. I was so excited about my surgery approval. But now I am second guessing myself all over again. I know a lower weight would make getting around easier and less painful, flying on airplanes will be easier, my knees and feet won’t hurt as much, I will feel more comfortable in my own skin. But the fears I have are real too... a lot of what ifs. What if I get vitamin deficiencies or horrible complications. What if I get another disease later in life and they can’t treat it bc I have malabsorption and an altered anatomy. Etc etc etc. Was anyone else as scared before surgery as I am?? 😂😂

I have been through a Rex program (I was even in their commercials back in 2010) for lapband but that surgeon is no longer here - and just had a revision through Nc bariatrics performed at wake med Cary to ds. Revision was 6/6- my lapband stopped helping me- I could either eat anything or nothing. So I started a year ago trying to get ducks in a row to do this- my insurance required 6 months of dr supervised weight loss visits (I lost nothing) and when I missed the November appt it set me back and then insurance initially denied it bc they said the psych visit didn’t say it exactly how they wanted so he rewrote his report resubmitted and approved. So anyways I was approved in March and I delayed surgery to 6/7 bc life - It’s surgery and that is kind of scary- but so is driving a car, anything can happen anywhere. You just have to have faith. In the hospital I managed pain with something via IV that worked great- coming home they sent me hydrocodone - I only took it at night to sleep comfortably and managed anything else with Tylenol and I stopped taking the hydrocodone after a week. I had more pain with this than my c sections but I also had my lapband removed a hernia repair and the ds. But it has been manageable. The preop liquid diet was hard, less hard post op but I’m sick of sweet and ready for purées! I am 41, no co-issues. With my lapband I went from 330 to 250 and maintained there for 7 years and then started having issues. I got back to 301.9 when I started this pre op diet. I’m down 20lb total in 3 weeks. It’s not the easy way out but it’s a step many of us need to get control over food. I was open with what I was doing - if anyone had anything negative to say they never said it to me

Campbell’s tomato soup made with fairlife instead of water is keeping me sane right now. I tried mixing protein into chicken broth I couldn’t eat it- I haven’t messed with adding it to the tomato bc I can get in 3 premier 30g shakes throughout the day- so just eating my soup and lunch and dinner to feel “normal” Friday I start purées and I’m so excited - what to try first?!?! (I don’t like eggs or bananas)

@JanJan19 Lmao I read your cottage cheese post and decided not to ask if advancing a day or two early would kill me. I didn’t want to get scolded either. I mean if we were all great dieters most of us wouldn’t be here in the first place. JS. I made it to foods today without cheating except I added a little shredded cheese to my grits the last couple days, but yea, I hear you. And at some point those cream Soups and yogurt and shakes just make you want to hurl. I crushed my Protein goal today bc I added a Protein Shake snack. Do you know the next step? If you do you could cautiously try it or call your doc and let them know you feel you need to bc you’re so weak. It’s not a hard requirement for all vsgs to go so long on liquid but they may have their reasons.I would never have survived liquids without yogurt. I was eating 3 a day to avoid extra shakes. I can do a shake a day. Any more than that is too much thick sweet drink.