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i am so upset. i was supposed to get a surgery date today & now they tell me the insurnce company might not approve it because i haven't lost 5% of my weight. this is the first time i have heard this. if i could lose the weight, i wouldn't need surgery. any suggestions, i could use help

I am sorry to hear that you are supset. About two years ago- when I started looking into wls I was told that i had to lose so much weight- but i then started thryoid medice and lost weight so i decided that i would not get surgery- as I agree with you- but then i was taken off my throid and gained iyt all back plus- SO I Agree with you if we could lose it we would- that is why most of us want the surgery- also I heard that dr.posner and forbes require a weight loss first-  They never told you that before?mmm sorry

they did tell me a weight loss was required, but no amount was never mentioned. so i have a month to lose 12 lbs. so i will just have to bring it up a notch. i already exercise 4 days/week- so i will ust have to do it more. i am determined not to be defeated

in reality, 5% isn't THAT much... if you weigh 300, then you need to lose 15 lbs.  Remember all the times we've tried dieting in the past?  the first 20 or so comes off real easy, then we stall forever, get frustrated, go back to old habits, and regain that 20 and then some. Some insurance companies require a small pre-op weight loss to show the patient can be compliant with post-op rules.... and some surgeons require a pre-op weight loss in hopes of shrinking the liver a bit to minimize surgical complications. Good luck

I had to lose 5% also...12 lbs.  I lost 17!!  I jumped into Weigh****chers, cutting the points in half the last week.  It really is a good program, I just couldn't stick to it long term, so did the surgery thing.  I have the book, which I got from a friend at work.  If you'd like to try it, add me and give me a mailing address, I'll send it right out to help ya get started!

xo

Val28: Hello, wlecome and thank you for posting the topic! I appreciate your upset/frustration and am glad you are feeling those emotions vs eating them! Sounds as if that is helpful so you can move forward. As for losing wt I agree the tool of WLS can help us but in reality we still have to diet/exercise with it or without it. (I know you are aware). This is what I have posted in past as it is a recurring thing we see here! Be well. You will succeed and are already!

WT LOSS BEFORE SURGERY/MOTIVATION/AVOIDING THE LAST SUPPER SYNDROME In our program we are required to loose 10% of our body wt before surgery....Loosing weight pre-op is required by many surgeons & for many reasons... and I am so happy I did!   1.. to show motivation,   2.. ability to adhere to a plan (as we will need to for life!), if you can't be mindful and able to follow restrictions pre-op how will you do it post-op?   3.. to increase your health even a modest 5-10% wt. loss is very helpful, the National Institute of health has even researched this...(hence why weigh****chers is so focused on the 10% wt loss)   4.. decreases surgical complications (by exercise and decrease wt your heart and lungs are in better shape for surgery, anesthesia and healing!)...   5.. Also psychologically it is tough going from a super-sized big Mac meal to clear liquids for 2 weeks post-op!   6.. ***MAIN ONE FOR PROTEIN SPARING or MEDIFAST DIETING***It helps shrink the liver and this eases their surgical procedure and decreases chance of nicking it....   7.. exercising before helps you continue after!

 

  8..The more you lose pre-op the less you will have to lose post-op and the closer to an ideal body-wt you will attain!

 

  I lost the weight by doing the food pyramid. That’s it, I was eating so bad (fast food daily, large portions, consuming every high-fat/sugar thing imaginable and NOT exercising that just cutting down and walking 2 miles a day helped! For ME, it was "no one" was going to stop me from having this operation, it was my decision and all that was asked of me was to loose 30 lbs, I figured this is a small price for such a wonderful gift I would be given and the opportunity to have a healthier happier longer life....! I was so motivated/psyched; I dropped 30 pounds in 30 days and went on to drop 15 more before surgery! (Although this took me 2 months, as it got harder and I had a few last meals, we all do but you can't let this ruin your opportunity!) Exercise was another key; I faithfully walked 2 miles everyday..it helped that my mom went with me a lot! (a buddy is so helpful!) I followed the food pyramid given to me by clinical nutritionist Dr. Boham...I also wrote everything down (Many find www.fitday.com helpful for this) that went in my MOUTH!!! Or you can get food pyramid/bullseye version at: http://www.xenical.com/hcp/1400_Am_Beye.pdf I also had to remind myself how BAD I wanted this! Everyday it was/had to be more important to me to change my bad habits and lose weight to have this surgery than to continue to slowly kill myself with food/keep myself from the only hope I had!. I also told everyone about my plans and they helped support me, my friends/family and coworkers! I really can't give you any more guidance than this, it really had to come from within, it was a mindset with me, and I wanted this BAD real bad and I knew it was my last resort/chance! I felt invigorated and motivated by the end results...the long-term had to outweigh the short-term gratification of eating bad choices or overeating! It was a learning opportunity for me to change my habits and practice chewing well, not drinking with meals and eating smaller portions, giving up sugar/caffeine/carbonation/alcohol (if any of those are your issues, carbonation/caffeine/alcohol weren’t issues for me)!

 

 

 

So a few weeks/months of healthy habits to lose pre-op wt is not a lot if you frame it right! IT IS NOT FOREVER and it is about starting this journey! See it as a dress rehersal for the rest of your life, embrace vs resist it! Yes local surgeons here cancel surgeries if people gain wt....Sometimes those who gain preop are really sending a message they are not ready, there is much fear and working through that to a place one is most ready can be so beneficial.... I hope you are able to make the reframe on the preop wt loss, and see it not as a diet/number goal solely but rather just a few steps in your million mile journey to health and long-term success; which WLS is one of the million as well *it is not the destination*! I sent this to another OH member a while back;

 

The single BEST piece of advice I can offer being 5 yrs out is this to anyone:

 

***Disclaimer some may consider this a no-brainer, others a downer, some a new view, psychobabble, whatever thought it is just my opinion, so take it for what it is worth, and it is meant to be helpful/insightful and thought provoking at a time so many of us are caught up with the right vitamin to take, amount of water to drink, etc.. it is meant to challenge beyond those tasks to see the small stuff matters but that there is a larger and more global view as well to consider!!!***

 

 

 

 

 

Establish your mindset to accept that weight loss surgery is not a cure/quick fix for morbid obesity, it's a very effective/powerful/wonderful tool that can be used lifelong to combat the chronic/lifelong disease of morbid obesity that has NO *current* CURE (*So at 1 yr out when many say 100# gone forever I sometimes shudder, it is never gone forever it is gone for now but the work has just started at 1 yr out IMHO). The tool is flawed and can be defeated as well (emotional eating, grazing, drinking calories, eating/drinking together, alcohol use, high calorie dense foods, too many simple carbs, overfilling pouch, carbonation, no consistent exercise routine). Considered WLS as part of a life-long process & commitment to challenge your personal awareness/responsibility/consistency/accountability and that a life-long requirement to follow up with physicians, a regular exercise program, and healthy eating. Accept it will come w/ potential challenges & imperfections (risks, side-effects, complications, challenges such as plateaus, not meeting goal, regain, possible depression, grief over the loss/safety of food/obesity may of offered/invisibility it offered although may of been unwanted at the time/the new attention you get, possible anger or anxiety w/o comfort of food as it used to be/limits it may impose, effort it requires to be healthy etc.) that these frustrations are part of the process to make you healthier see them as challenges not difficulties, positive self talk helps!. Your mindset will be the most important tool for success, as all the challenges of traditional diets/exercise plans for health will be present after WLS as well *Yup so many say I will never diet again, well let me say diets don't work *because people go off them* correct but you will have to be mindful of food and pay attention to intake and exercise for life, so in a sense your dieting for life! Even after WLS.... The surgery won't make a person change, but the beauty is YOU HAVE COMPLETE control over those changes/choices needed after surgery for success, the choices are there and the best use of the mind/psychology will harness those. Surgery is such a drastic choice that so many are successful due to a recommitment to healthy living and choices that is one reason it works and we say it is a 'rebirth'.

 

 

 

 

 

Changing habits pre -wls is the mindset that will keep you going, the surgery is a piece, the easiest/smallest IMHO. *It is however the milestone/landmark we set to focuses on. But truly the afterlife is the most challenging, the ever evolving challenges from things like getting in enough liquids to food introduction to vitamin taking, new ways of eating/drinking, introduction of exercise consistently to battling with the scale obsessions & disappointments as well as all the wonderful WOW moments. Have the support system needed to create the healthiest environment as well, willpower fades, the tools robust effects fades as well as the honeymoon closes...Harness your enthusiasm and mind for 6 months doing all you can to influence (not only wt loss) but the healthy lifestyle you want to adopt for maintenance, that elusive animal no one has mastered pre-wls. Exercise can become more routine after 6 months as well. Again the mind is just as/more useful than the pouch...it is the operator of the tool! Stress inevitable, so see each issue/stressful time as an opportunity to use your new tool/mindset! (Like I say use things as excuses or opportunities because holidays come and go each year as do parties, office food/celebrations, hurt feelings, sadness, losses, etc)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I know this isn't one message it is a million crammed into one right! Anyone who knows me knows I am never brief, this is my PASSION (giving back), WLS saved me from myself. It isn't easy or fair, but accepting life is imperfect just as the world we live in, embracing that imperfection and controlling what I can has helped me get thru many issues. There is no perfection, I work on that daily. So what to do about all of this babble?

 

 

 

Get a good journal, start writing today all the reasons you are COMMITTED to this change, what your expectations are (hopefully realistic for wt loss 50-80% of excess not an ideal body wt) and that the goals are not wt related alone, the functional ones how you can integrate into life easier, (clothes fitting, less medical co morbidities or risk of, less meds, less pain (physical/emotional) the benchmarks you are setting, take measurements and photos each month along w/ weights to document the journey. the mind is powerful but may be challenging to change so the photos/measurements help when the HUNKAMETAL doesn't register a loss. We are much more than a number on a scale, free from the numbers and see how much you are more than that as a person, your abilities etc....The journey is full of hills and valleys, some bumps and many more pleasures to see, it can be an awesome ADVENTURE!

 

 

 

 

The letter you may write/journal entry today may save you from backsliding at your first plateau or at 1 yr out, a recommitment to those thoughts, and how you have grown over time. These are the things I recommend. I think everyone else has you covered w/ the 'physical items you need'. These are the ever-elusive psychological things you need LOL!

 

OK if you have read this far thanks for hearing me out! I wish you well. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here is a good article just on this topic to consider...

 

Preparing for Weight Loss Surgery

 

http://my.webmd.com/content/Article/101/106101.htm?printing= true

 

Or read this one as well...

 

When The Surgeon Quits

 

http://www.beyondchange-obesity.com/editorsNotes/whenTheSurg eonQuits.html

 

thanks for the support. i know i can do it. i just will turn it up a notch. due to other medical issues, sometimes i feel like it is an uphill battle

Val 28 YOU ARE DOING IT! One moment at a time. Can we help you any othe way? Perhaps post to the accountability/goal post each day? Find an email buddy to post to daily, journal/blog? Hugs keep us posted ok! Uphill battles can be seen also as a great challenge/adventure. You are a warrior and are off to battle, enjoy the benefits of waging war on obesity! Hugs