Can't get the surgery if over 50+ BMI

What a wonderful post.  Thanks for sharing your story.

I used Tricare Prime for the surgery. I used dr Tribble at the Weight mangement center Baptist hospital. They were great He does alot of tricare patient. I know Ft. Jackson has started doing the surgeries also. But Dr Tribble is the best. I would trust him. I never heard of a limit. you might have to try to lose a little before surgery. I am 1 yr out. I met my goal weight in 11 months... I Wish you the best in your surgery

 Thank you both for the responses .  I actually have been seeing a therapist for eating disorders for the past 6 months, She recommended I look into surgery.  I'm only 5'4 so my bmi is at 60% .  If I could lose the weight on my own I wouldn't need the surgery.  I'll look into medifast. I lost 160 in 06' on a medically supervised protein shake diet.  Lost fast, gained it all back plus more.  That's a lot of the reason I'm seeking info in WLS . Much higher rate keep the weight off vs. diet alone.  Thanks again for your words of advise . 

Elizabeth who has a blue cat avatar knows a lot about Tricare. I think she is on the board ms batt told you about. Please check it out.  Good luck to you.  Obviously if we could keep the weight off without surgery we wouldn't rearrange our guts.  I totally hear you on that one

Wow, that is wonderful!!!  And of course you can't do it on your own; we couldn't either.  Medifast or whatever would just be a short term tool to get you into surgery.  So proud of you for seeing a therapist and for sharing with us. 

We're here for you!

Good for your therapist. If you get a chance, you know you can add her to our database here (or find her already) and post a review.

Our data base here tells the story over and over again...
  Medifast -- lost 100, regained 120
  Weigh****chers -- lost 50, regained 60
  PhenFen - lost 100, regained 150,
  etc, etc, etc.

Really nice to see more health professionals these days helping spring patients from the cycle (by recommending WLS).

Does the plan say anything about surgery type (which do they cover?). May I ask what type you are most interested in? I wonder, does it say anything about having to lose any number of pounds?
Regardless of requirements, losing weight pre op is generally a great idea -- every pound lost reduces surgical risks somewhat, so probably the only time that a "diet" would actually be worth while (a good opportunity, actually). Lose, but then have surgery before you have a chance to regain. 

Well said!

Hey ... I just saw your weight loss graph. Congrats re goal. Re preop weight loss... hmmm, I wonder, all these weight loss graphs on OH... they tend to start at the date of surgery. Yours something like 7/13, I think?  I bet it would be interesting to take a look at pre op losses.  Some way to get a vertical bar to line up on the surgery date, where people could see (if users entered) any loss prior to the date of surgery.   Nice profile photos. I made a horse friend once... or, well, the other way around mostly. I saw Wittgrove in Hamburg last summer -- during, I believe, a minibypass panel (of some other name).  Reminds me... I have some video clips I have yet to get to from that.

Really line the idea of graphing pre-WLS.  Wittgrove does love to travel!  :)  He and Scripps make a great team.