Surgery process

Thanks for the info. Good luck with the surgery.

Welcome!

So I was kinda in the same boat as you, in that I am able to lose weight, but not able to keep it off.

I began losing weight vigorously even before orientation. When I went for my first appointment with the Dietician she looked at my plan and basically told me that I needed to slow down because with my history of losing and gaining, I was setting myself up for failure yet again. She adjusted my plan, slowed down my losing, but in the process, made my plan easy and achievable and guilt free. I was allowed to have a life.

We did get to a point where my health began to improve, my BMI started dropping and my co-morbidities started disappearing. We slowed down even more because we knew I needed the surgery, but...we didn't want me to get to the point where I no longer was eligible for the surgery. The catch 22!

In any event, I lost 45lbs prior to surgery which I had in January. After surgery, my transition to eating was relatively easy because I was already on the program prior to surgery, and had been practising all the new habits I needed to be successful. I really credit my Dietician with my success. She "got" me instantly and she is absolutely wonderful. The rest of the Team too. Sometimes it takes a village.

Here's the other catch. If you have surgery out of country, and come back and have any complications that are a result of that surgery, your provincial health coverage will not cover you. I don't know about Alberta, but in Ontario it's all out of pocket. The other thing is...you are going to go it alone. You won't have the follow up and the expertise of the "program". The follow up with our Team is SOOOO important.

My suggestion to you is to slow down, get into the program as quickly as you can, practise healthy eating and see what the situation really is like, prior to making any decisions.

I wish you much luck.

Wow very good points. The more i think about it the more i want to give it a go at losing the weight over the next year and while doing that i can visit a dietitian and learn as much as i can. At the end of the year i can decide to have the surgery if i feel myself regaining weight or slipping.

I understand if i get it done abroad in a place like Mexico i won't be able to follow up but it might be a risk i have to take. If done by a reputable surgeon i think everything should be ok. (Would probably get the sleeve done). I'm sure if i needed advice and support i could get that locally. To me it would be worth saving $10,000.

Thank you for the information.

If you're planning on taking a year to lose weight anyway on your own, why not get yourself a referral and into the program While you do it? That way, if it doesn't work out on your own, you'll be at the start of the line for surgery here. I have had two friends get the sleeve in 2016. One went through the program, follows the learnings from it and has lost 145 lbs. The other paid for hers out of pocket ($19,000 here in Ontario) and has lost about 40-50 lbs. She eats very differently than my first friend (basically anything she wants) and has had no follow up. I know each individual has their own body type and their own way of doing things, but I found it to be an interesting comparison. Good luck to you with whatever you decide!

Thanks Dee you make some good points. You're friend that paid out out of pocket what do you mean by she eats anything she wants ? Like any amount of food or do you mean any kind of food like even junk food ?

The way i am is if i can't eat lot's of something i don't even care what i'm eating so once dieting i can eat healthy stuff because eating normal portions is what is hard for me not necessarily not eating junk. Hope that makes sense but i do understand where you're coming from.

She eats what she wants as far as type of food. She can't physical eat the quantity that she did before. Mind you, if you eat slowly enough and graze all day long, you can easily gain weight. Maybe it would be benificial for you to talk to a therapist and do some emotional work to talk about the volume eating? Surgery will definitely help give you signals that you are fuller faster, but it seems like maybe it could be more than that in your situation? Might be worth exploring. Keep us posted on your journey with whatever you decide.

Thanks Dee will do !