Question:
Can't weigh?

My husband and I are both trying to have the wls. We've been denied twice, working on our 3rd appeal. Our denial letters both came back with "no diet history". My husband, who has many co-morbidities incl. diabetes, can't weigh in at the dr's office. What is he supposed to do? He's been on numerous diets, but was never weighed in!    — [Anonymous] (posted on November 4, 2001)

November 4, 2001
Did you turn in a diet history ? Just because you don't have receipts doesn't mean you don't have a diet history or are they asking specifically for physician/medically supervised diets ? I gave my insurance company a diet history for the past 5 yrs with the diets attempts, approximate weight lost and gained, any exercise attempts, gym, treadmill, aqua fitness, etc. My insurance company (Great West PPO) required medical necessity, psych eval and diet history. I only had one 'supervised' diet on there and that was Weight Watchers and I was approved within 24 hours. You need to speak to someone in medical management and see if they just want your diet history or if they only use medically supervised diets. If you've tried Meridia, Redux, Phen-Phen, etc, I believe those count as medically supervised since they have to be prescribed by a doctor. I never tried any of those because there wasn't enough info on the long term affects of them. Good thing. If it's just diet history and you want a sample, send me an email, but I'm leaving for Delano tomorrow morning (YAY) for my DS, so I'll be out of town and out of touch for a while after tomorrow. Good luck! Anita Surgery Date 11/08/01 Dr Keshishian
   — Anita N.

November 5, 2001
Include EVERYTHING in your diet history, not just medically supervised attemps. My "diet history" started in forth grade with diet pills. From there, I listed: high protein diet, Weight Watchers, hypnosis, phen/fen, Orlistat, numerous "lo cal" diets that I did on my own. Next to each one, I listed the results. I did this in a three "column" format with the approximate date/year, type of diet and results. When you list all this, you'll find it's a long list. I was not required to send any "proof". The listing was enough.
   — Gina E.

November 5, 2001
You have more of a diet history than you think. List everything that you can think of that you have tried. Surely your Dr. should be aware of at least some of the attempts you have made on your own. Especially if you can't weight at the office. I too was denied because of not enough medically supervised weight loss attempts. However, on appeal I had everything they needed. My Dr. kept records of things that she was not necessarily (spelling?) following with me but she was aware of it. (ie, Weight Watchers, Richard Simmons, Atkins, etc..) Take the advice of some of the other posts and use some of their examples to get started. You may have tried things that you have forgotten about and it may jar your memory. Good luck to you and your husband!
   — Betty M.

November 5, 2001
We listed all of our diets in our paper work before our initial consultation with the surgeon. Cigna Hmo *sigh* wants proof. I had my medifast records, but could not get any information on my weight watchers diet. Hubby went to camp once as a child, but is diabetic and has been put on several diabetic diets but all have failed. I am told Cigna wants 3-12wk supervised diets with monthly weigh ins. Hubby can't use the scales at the dr's office...how will he ever weigh in? When will Cigna understand that?!?!?
   — [Anonymous]

November 5, 2001
You had mentioned that neither you nor your husband are able to be weighed at the doctor's office. Just thought I'd mention that Siltec makes two models of scales for in-home use that weigh up to 500 lbs. and one that weighs up to 1000 lbs...just in case the problem might have been that the scale in your physician's office doesn't go high enough for you both. Meanwhile, others offered great suggestions here regarding a "diet history."
   — CaseyinLA

November 5, 2001
Hey, I have the same problem. When I started out, I weighed 608 pounds. No doctors scale would hold me. We have a pecan place that buys and sells pecans. They have a scale that weighs up to 6000 pounds and told me I could weigh whenever I needed to. It has been great. I go once a week. Sometimes the owner comes and checks on me and wishes me well and makes comments like wow, you are really doing great. It feels real nice for people to be so sweet. Good luck on your journey.
   — Tammy V.