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That was definitely one of my motives for the surgery. But my primary was living for the children I already had I finally had a 28 day cycle after losing a good chunk of weight. I'm 95 lbs down. And losing more due to morning sickness lol Sent from my EVO using VST

I can't answer for everyone, but for me it was 1.5 years from first appointment until surgery, it does depend on how much weight your surgeon wants you to loose before surgery :-)

April I began researching WLS about a year ago and finally made up my mind and went to a seminar on March 23rd and had my consult with Dr. Greene on March 27th. I finished my pre-op tests, psych consult, nutrition counceling, and exercise classses this week and now I'm waiting for them to put it through to the insurance. Keep your fingers crossed for me. I don't have any major health problems just back pain which I've had since I was a teen, way before the weight issues started, so I 'm not sure if that will go away or not. Do you have to do the six month diet? I do not with BCBS Federal.

Can anyone help? All my info was submitted to my insurance on Nov.4,2010, then the following week we received a letter stating that they wanted results of my sleep study, the results and a letter from my GP stating that I have high blood pressure, sleep apnea, 3 month doctor followed weight loss and medical necessity was resubmitted on Nov. 18,2010. Now, I called the insurance company to make sure they received the fax and that it was sent to the correct dept. cause I truly believe they "lose or misplace" your paperwork on purpose, and the person I spoke to indicated that she personally sent it to the review dept.. The following morning I called just to check the status and some twit tells me I MET all the medical requirements and have been APPROVED, so I immediately contacted my doctor's office to tell them the GOOD news, they contacted the insurance company and was told to call back this week before thanksgiving to get the approval code. Well imagine my surprise when I was contacted by my doctor's office stating the insurance company informed them this morning that I was DENIED!!!! When I called to find out they told me it looks like I have 2 different folders and maybe they didn't have all my info on the first look, so I asked a few more questions, then she tells me it looks like they don't have proof of 2 co-morbities, when she just told me she has the letter my doctor sent her and the medical transcript from my sleep study. I AM SO CONFUSED,and to top it off, I have been on my pre-op diet since Friday and my surgery is scheduled for Dec.6th. If any one has any advise or help please respond. Thanks in advance.

True. I saw the same trend, too. I found it ironic.....go into the hospital for weight loss surgery....come home the next day heavier than before I went in. I had a post-op appointment with my surgeon six days after surgery. The weight "gained" in the hospital had gone by then and I was two pounds lighter than the day of surgery. My surgeon dismissed the rise and fall with a wave of the hand and said he wasn't even concerned with scale readings the first couple weeks. Danmitman !!!! I coulda used this little decree from him prior to this encounter. Inflammation is heavy stuff !!!!!

Hi, I dont think stretched yet,but it might if you keep up with the fizzy drinks. Sometimes I think it is because we feel so much better that we start becoming complacent and indifferent to what we eat.On the other hand life is back to normal and we get use to the sleeve. You know what the problem is.Those nature valley bars taste great but lots of sugar.one has 190 calories in them (ok,the 2 in the wrapper)I know,I have looked at them plenty of times already..lol Just sit down,decide what is important.Just because we can eat more doesnt mean we have to. Get carrot sticks,cucumber sticks...you will not be able to eat to much of those,it fills up very quickly.Cut some of the snacking, have an extra cup of tea. Just make a few good choices again and your weight will start moving again. NO FIZZY DRINKS! Good luck and look at how far you have come.You can finish this!

It's a weight loss thing... make it a great day

Welcome, and congratulations on your weight loss so far. It won't always be easy but when you're struggling just focus your thoughts on all the benefits you're looking forward to. Good luck!

I lost 43 during the whole process not within 14 days post opt! I starting working on my weight the day I left the consultation and from Sept 11 til Jan 31, 2013 I lost 43 lbs! To be honest I don't do pics because I have shared my decision to have the surgery with anyone but 1 close friend and my mother and sister! But I will email you my pics of the my weight loss prior to surgery and of course ill keep you updated with the weight loss pic after surgery but I don't believe I lost to much because its only been 4 days!

Now I don’t want to make anyone else jealous, but I just finished my psychiatric evaluation over the phone and it took all of 15 minutes. That’s it. No paperwork. No questionnaires. Done over the phone. No sweat. Granted, this did cost me $400 and it is not covered by my PPO. There was also the option of doing it via skype but since I'd have to do it during work hours and i can't use my company laptop for personal use, so I opted for phone. We arranged for a time for me to call her last week so I called her right on time as planned. She first asked why I was pursuing the surgery. I explained that while my eating has not gotten out of control, my various ailments including a bad back that may require surgery, arthritis in my shoulders and bone spurs in both big toes have made it difficult if not impossible to exercise without pain. I have not been increasing my portion sizes over the last few years as my weight climbed, but without the ability to burn off the excess calories I just kept getting bigger. Next, she asked some medical history questions (I never drink to excess because I’m allergic to alcohol and I’ve never smoked or taken illegal drugs) then asked if I was an emotional eater, a binge eater, a habitual eater or a miscellaneous eater, i.e. problems like portion control, which we’d already covered and I’d already identified myself as being. We went into a little detail about my current eating habits and previous weight loss attempts, which had mostly been successful when I could exercise freely. She asked about the kind of support I’ll have for the surgery and during my recovery at home. I explained that my daughter (who graduates from college this Friday with a BS in psych and a 3.7 GPA, thank you very much) will be taking me to and from the surgery. That’s because when I have it in late May/early June, my wife will still be recovering from knee replacement surgery. So, my kids (my freshman son was nominated by a professor for membership in an honors society that only admits 15 kids from each graduating class at his school, again, thank you very much) will be taking care of both of us. We consider it only a tiny portion of the payback they owe us for putting them through a private college. Finally, she went into a little detail about the required post-surgical changes in habits, such as measuring and logging food and sticking to the prescribed post-surgical plans, and asked if I thought I’d be able to handle. Having read through this board, some FB groups and all the literature I got from the surgeon’s office at my initial consult, I repeated everything back to her chapter and verse to confirm I know exactly what’s expected of me. I also told her that I’m far too cheap to spend all the money on the surgery only to throw it all away with bad habits. She asked if I knew about the types of complications that could arise, so again I referenced this board and the FB groups, explaining I’ve learned a lot about the types of problems that come up most frequently. She asked if I had any fear of the surgery and I said I’ve had many surgeries in my life, so I’m not afraid of it, plus I know that for each person who complains about a post-surgical ailment, there are probably fifty who do not have that problem so the odds are clearly in favor of not having complications. That was pretty much it. She said the approval will be on its way to my surgeon by the end of the day. I gave her my email address so she could send me some literature she likes to send all of her patients and her contact information in case I had any further questions. I am not kidding when I say it took me twice as long to write this as the phone call itself. With this and my endoscopy both out of the way, all I’ve got left before submitting for approval is my final visit with the nutritionist and the pre-op visit with my PCP who’ll also take care of my chest x-ray and EKG. The only real problem between now and the surgery is avoiding the temptation of pigging out at my daughter's graduation party...

Yeah not eating is really tough. I am way to scared to even try anything but broth or Popsicles but I am ready for the weight loss. It just hurts right now and I am ready to be feeling better. But thank you this helps ease much mind so much.

At my 4th appointment I had gained 3lbs from the 3rd appointment. You would have thought I kicked her kitten. I got a lecture and the "so disappointed" talk and she is making me come in again in 2 weeks for an additional visit to make sure I am mentally ready to start a new life style diet. [emoji42]. Or maybe she has a crush on me who knows. I did go ahead and schedule both my 5th and 6th appointments so hopefully early July will be submitting to insurance and fingers crossed, surgery a short time after. Looking like no food funerals for me. [emoji26] Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using BariatricPal mobile app

Well, I had fun yesterday. A friend of mine went with me to St. Louis to see Regina Spektor. Who is Regina Spektor? Well, that was my question too. She is kinda like a female Ben Folds, but not as good, and wierder lyrics. It was like a poetry reading put to not-so-great music. It was nice to get away from the troubles and woes. The concert place was pretty raunchy, and the opening act was a guy who played guitar, with a drum machine, and a fake band playing on the machine. Let me tell you, he really sucked. I am usually polite to someone who is trying. But there were several instances that I laughed out loud. I mean, he really truly sucked big time. I don't know how to get the point across, but he was really bad, very very bad. Anyway, it was a small room, I was afraid to touch anything, there were no chairs, and I mean not 1 in the entire place. And with my wondrous extra weight when you stand for 3 hours, my legs start tingling, then it starts to go numb. Well, I finally found a place to sit: on top of the pool table. Appearantly I started a trend, because within 5 minutes, there were 9 of us on the pool table. Okay, there was one good thing about the place, and that would be that since the music was this off type of thing, so was the audience. Now don't get me wrong, I have nothing against anyone, but the crowd was made up of a bunch of what some people would call 'freaks.' Well, I have always mixed well with them, and lots are my friends. Well, anyway, I felt at home with them. We were all the same, and nobody looked at me like I was different. I may be fat, but some were covered with piercings, some tatoos, some with 12 colors of hair, and even some really smelled. So I just fit in, but jeez, 250 people in a small room like that, it was crazy, but the pool table was fun. Anyway, the good thing is, is that I didn't catch any diseases!!!!! Yay!!! Well, on Friday, I'm going back up there to see Monty Python's Spamalot. Now that should be awesome! Well, I'm outta here for now. I'll be back when I have more drama. *evil grin*

DavidB, Yea, I figure I'll have to battle my weight for the rest of life despite the help of the lap band. Plus I guess I'll have to exercise. So far, the Liquid Protein diet is dropping the pounds for me and I haven't been too terribly hungry. Good luck to you.

How long did you guys wait to exercise? I'm almost 5 weeks out and my Doc cleared me to exercise at 2 weeks out but my incision is an open hole and leaking constantly so I'm nervous to workout and make it worse. I'm trying to let it heal but I want to work out to help weight loss. I've only lost 11lbs since surgery on August 19.

So inspiring! I always have the underlying fear of gaining weight down the line, so this makes me feel great about the future! How awesome for you! Good job!!

I just got the orbera balloon on Wednesday. 3 days ago. I didn't experience the side effects of nausea or vomiting. A little stomach cramping. I've already been able to incorporate some semi solid foods back. Haven't lost any weight yet. I'm wondering if this is really going to work? I started at 183 and want to lose like 30lbs. Anyone else have this happen? Thanks!

I had my both my ovaries removed last year and didnt have to drink that horrible stuff so I hope not!! Do you know if they weight you the day of the operation, mine is on 16th October, I am a bit scared I wont of lost enough weight?

I got tired of continuously cinching my (thankfully elastic) belt to keep my shorts from falling off. Went to Eddie Bauer (first time in ages) and bought a couple 42W shorts. They're only slightly snug -- enough that I expect within a month they'll be more comfortable. I was tempted to buy a fourth pair, but I figured that'd be wasteful given the ongoing weight loss. I checked the shorts I had been wearing: 48W. I remember them being a bit painful around the waist earlier this year. 6 inches and 70# since April.. I'm happy about it

Sounds like it's because your drinking with meals- a real no no. Also- additional drinking will only make a stuck episode get worse. I hope your not offended, but I just have to comment that chicken nuggets are not the best weight loss food. Fast food resturaunts are tough- I stay away from them. Best wishes!

From what I've seen on Youtube and in threads, wait at least a year post-op because your skin is still shrinking. I'm 2 years out this month and just now feel like my skin has stopped shrinking and that I'm a my maintenance weight.

My dietitian requirement was in order to learn band friendly eating and start practicing new habits before surgery. I personally did not have a weight loss requirement pre op but some people do.

OMG, me too! I had mine done about 6 years ago. I am hoping that as I lose weight, my cycles will stop all together. Otherwise, my doc is recommending I have another one. She said that since I was younger than 35 when I had mine done, I may need another one within 5 years. Good luck to you!

Alex, as far as ingredients, for example: Make a can of tuna salad. Count the calories in the tuna, count the calories in the mayo, count the calories in the bread. If you make 2 sandwitches, divide the calories in half. Then you'll always know what a tuna sandwhich is. We can never be 100%, but his lesson was to get to know tuna on many levels. In your best Forest Gump, "plain tuna, tuna boat, spicy tuna roll, tuna casserollllll, etc." And Donali, did you actually doubt me? I interupted him plenty of times to discuss the sheer obession and compulsion. That's the "WORK" part that we gotta do. Breaking bad habits, working it. For example, I told him my recent binges were nervous eating over all my recent band problems, but he shot me down. Ouch, but he was right, cause what kind of excuse is that considering I've been obese my whole life? On another post, Bright talks about the food calling her like nails screeching down a chaulkboard. Billy said we gotta get rid of the chaulkboard. So I told him I would try to break my nightime eating by having cucumbers and carrots marinated in vingar instead of goodies. Easier than it sounds, but what it all boiled down to is that I won't lose any more weight unless I account for what I eat. Can I do this? I don't know. He seems to think I can. Like I said, I hate what he said, but I have to try. Deep sigh. And he said I should be having 1200 calories a day until I lose weight, and from there we'll reassess what my body needs. He also said nobody will actually eat 1200 calories (we'll eat more.) And one thing I was glad about is that we don't have to count veggies, they're a freebie.

I had my surgery Feb 2 2015 and lost 25 lb in the first 2 weeks but gained everything back. I don't think the band works at all it doesn't stop me from eating and I don't throw up if I over eat I may get a stomach ache that's about it. I live in new Chicago Sent from my SM-N920T using the BariatricPal App