BCBS and 3 months with dietitian, what do they expect?

[m1aman 944]

Hi all. BCBS says I have to see a dietitian for three months and have my doctor supervise my diet for the same three months. What do you think they expect from me? If I lose weight will they tell me I don't need the surgery? I have dieted enough to know I can lose about 30 pounds before I fail and start gaining it back. I am 6'1" and exactly 400 pounds yesterday.

[patyann 14]

My understanding (I too have BC/BS) is they want to see your committment more than your progress. I lost about 30 pounds and was still approved. Best of luck to you.

[m1aman 944]

Okay that is good to hear. I have a message to my insurance lady at the doctors office asking the same thing. I don't have a lot of trust for insurance companies.

[NoMoBand 278]

Hi all. BCBS says I have to see a dietitian for three months and have my doctor supervise my diet for the same three months. What do you think they expect from me? If I lose weight will they tell me I don't need the surgery? I have dieted enough to know I can lose about 30 pounds before I fail and start gaining it back. I am 6'1" and exactly 400 pounds yesterday.

I also have BCBS and had to see a dietitian for 3 months before surgery. I also saw my primary two times to monitor my progress. It wasn't so much the diet progress with the primary as it was to follow my co-morbitities. I had blood work done for my borderline diabetes, gout, high cholesterol etc. etc. Your primary will be one of the most important players in whether you get approved or not. My primary doc wrote a letter of recommendation for the surgery which was submitted to BCBS.

The dietitian visits were not sessions to monitor a diet, but, were sessions to prepare me for the lapband. Examples of the sessions taught me how my meals were going to be, how I had to eat slow and chew my food really well, no carbonated drinks, eat slow, etc. etc. In addition, I had to select some goals each month to prepare for the lapband eg. 3 days of the week I would not have any of the C foods (candy, cake, cookies), one soda per day, 30 minute meals to get used to chewing really well, etc. I was able to select my own realistic goals. Each month I added to the goals and had to keep a food journal. The last month before surgery I had to continue the food journal and this time all the calories associated with each meal. It was a pain in the butt, but, now I'm so glad I did. I now look at my food journal and realize how much calories I was taking in. If this is what BCBS is requiring of you, you will be thankful later on.

One thing after surgery that really blows me away is that we now have meal left overs in our house. I wouldn't have accepted that it was me that was making leftover disappear had it not been for the journal. Prior to surgery I was in denial that I ate as much as I did and blamed my teenage sons for no leftovers. Hang in there, it does go quickly and it is worth the effort. You will understand later on.