6 months supervised diet?
 

O.K. I have a question...:dizzy:

What all is involved in the six month supervised diet....I mean I understand it's supervised BUT....

are you required to keepa journal of your eating and exercising habits?

and this is a question that I can't help but ask.......I don't have a hard time losing the weight...it's keeping my interest and keeping the portions small. WHAT IF..I'm really successful at the 6-month sup. diet...will they deny me my surgery??? I have Capital Blue Cross...

I thought I would put this out there for everyone that had to do this.....let me know what you had to do!

TIA,

Chrissy

Chrissy,

I have BC/BS of NJ and they wanted 6 months of doctor supervised dieting. When I got my records from the doctor to give to my surgeon, I didn't realize I had YEARS of going to the doctor and getting supervised help, meaning trying different meds, going to WW, etc. I also had to write down every diet I was ever on since I was little (going back to the 1970's OY).

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I have not had the surgery, but I have done a lot of reading and even talked to my doctor about it. Anyone with more direct experience can feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but from my understanding, you are STILL going to HAVE TO LEARN how to "keep your interest" and keep your portions small after the surgery. You CAN regain all the weight you lose after the surgery once your stomach has a chance to stretch out a bit and you start overeating again. The surgery does NOT work forever.I have no doubt that it will help you to lose weight at first, but in the long run, you still have to learn and apply the proper eating habits (consistency and portion control). If you can do this successfully for the 6 months of supervised diet, but fear that you will not be able to maintain those habits beyond those 6 months, then I'm not sure the surgery will help you to maintain your weight loss once you reach your goal.

I'm not trying to dissuade you from getting surgery--I just hope you realize that even after the surgery, you will have to learn to control your portions for the rest of your life :^:

You got that right Jill..... weather you have GBP or Lapband you still need to stay on a "diet." Surgery is a tool and certainly not the cure. I know of people who have had both surgeries and who have gained alot if not all their weight back...even with the smaller pouches..... imagine that.

I'll tell you what I did to change my eating habits and lose some weight prior to my surgery- because the doctor wanted me to lose 25-30lbs, and would not schedule me until I was at least half-way there. I thought it was going to be impossible, but it worked.

I started making some big changes at the grocery store- fresh fruit and vegetables, no more chips and crackers or juice. I drank a bottle of apple juice everyday thinking that it was good for me because it was natural and at least it wasn't soda- but that was a mistake! Too much sugar! I cut that right out and started drinking alternative juices like Diet V-8 Splash, water and crystal light. The V-8 juice only has 5 calories per serving and it still tastes good like real juice. Then it was my salty crunchy habits. I would buy cashews or dry roasted almonds instead of chips and crackers. Yes they are high in calories and fat- but I ate alot of those and still lost the weight- they are low in carbs and have good fat and nutrients. Next was my sweet tooth. Cookies and cakes were definately a no no, so I would buy fat-free sugar free pudding and have that as a dessert or a snack. Yum! I didn't miss chocolate at all! I had to stop skipping breakfast so my metabolism got started up again. One cup of Dannon Light and Fit yogurt with a piece of fruit every morning. My nutritionist told me not to worry about the sugar in fruit, that it is good for my body. Then it was going out to lunch with the girls at work. I would just get a salad with grilled chicken breast no matter what restaurant we went to, and eliminated anything fried or breaded. I found that high carb foods were keeping me big so I had to just stop them. No more white flour or starchy bread, no more dishes that are mainly pasta, no more rice, no more sugar. I had to stop those Dunkin Donut runs in the morning with the iced-coffees and breakfast sandwiches. I drink hot tea everyday now, usually plain but sometimes I use splenda. No more fast food. I would still eat alot- I mean portions never got smaller. I would eat until I was stuffed, and I managed to lose 16 lbs in 2 months pre-surgery. No exercise either besides walking. Dinners I would make a small chicken breast or pork chop sauteed in Pam olive oil, and then I would cook some sliced mushrooms and add a little chicken broth for flavor- let it cook down, and a small side of veggies. I love brussel sprouts with that 'i can't believe it's not butter' spray. Focus on protein and vegetables, and cut out the side of potatoes or rice or pasta.

There are hundreds of things you can do. I was never hungry, and occassionally I would eat chips and salsa at a Mexican restraunt, or pasta at an Italian restaurant with chicken- but that was once every 2 or 3 weeks. No more rolls and butter though, I surely miss that. Late night snacks- we all do this- so I had to stop with the late night Cheez-it addiction I had. I chose low carb pita bread with vegetable hummus. Yum! And the pitas are super moist and soft! Or light microwave popcorn- that is another good snack I endulged on.

Hopefully these suggestions help you with your journey! It worked for me, and I love food. I really like the new foods I eat, and I'm sticking to this post-operative as well.

:hug:

melissa - i think we're twins!!!!! that was some post. it made me stop and think how truly how many over-processed carbs there are out there. my goodness! and i gotta confess that nowadays, with gas as high as it is, i'm more careful with the grocery budget, so some of those 'treats' that have been sneaking in more and more often are going away AGAIN!! and i gotta consider it to be GOOD RIDDANCE!!!

and now, Chrissy - back to you. yes, they're not kidding, and a big part of it is to see if you can stay committed to something. as Leenie mentioned, having a LONG history of this stuff is good - but insurance companies also need to know that you can focus NOW on this issue. Do they also need a psych evaluation? that can go a LONG way for you -

this IS a complete lifestyle change. a FORCED one. and each and every one of us has to figure out how to make it work over the long haul, or we will end up right back where we started.

I had to go through the forced change of lifestyle and at first, I had a hard time with it, so I had a long period where I was still eating the same. It wasn't until I sat back and asked myself why I was going through the hassle of having to deal with my insurance company to have surgery if I wasn't going to put forth the effort.

In January of this year, I buckled down and changed what needed to be changed. I had to lose 20+lbs. before my surgery and I was on a protein shake for breakfast, one for lunch and lean protein and green leafy veggie for dinner. Let me say this now, I got to the point where the protein drinks were making me feel like vomiting, so I switched to cottage cheese. A half cup serving gave me the same protein and carbs that a protein drink did. I too went from sugary snacks to sugar free pudding cups. I became a sugar free pudding cup addict and believe me, I still am, to a certain extent. :D I gave up some of my favourite fast foods, however I still ate hamburgers, just, no buns and no extras except lettuce, tomato & cheese from time to time. Pizza was and still is a big thing in our house...my solution, grilled chicken and tomatoes with onions, "scalp" the piece I wanted. All the veggies and the protein of the cheese & chicken, no crust.

:^:

WOW! Thanks for all of the posts.

Some of you know me from me posting years ago on the boards and yes, I've been dieting since I was in 3rd grade:^: I've always had a weight problem.

Right now for me this is my "homework" stage. I'm just trying to get some clarity of a few questions. I know that this is a "tool" and I can sabotage myself! :hug:

My problem right now with "keeping my interest" is the fact that I'm working my butt off exercising and only dropping .4 a week. It's been that way for a LONG time and I'm sick of it. But....it takes little to nothing for me to add a few pounds! That's what I mean by "keeping my interest"....am I quitting and throwing in the towel on my .4....NOPE....I still do it. I just feel very discouraged! :(


Thanks for the help and keep it coming...I need all of the help and encouragement that you guys can give me!:D

It sounds like most of you were doing low carb for your 6 months??? Is that correct????

No offence but I try not to use the BAD word of Diet. I agree with you there on the tool issue. Diet to me means nothing more than sure Failure. This is a tool need by some for Lifestyle change. This really help mentally as well. It is about trying to implement complete healthy change and this tool will assist but not prevent weight gain if you really try too beat it. These boards and support groups are AWSOME for helping yourself and others when you have had a bad day or a bad week. If the lifestyle is followed correctly it WORKS that is a Quote from my surgeon. It is a commitment that is needed and a chance for most at a new life. That does not mean you cant have a bite of cake for your Birthday either... :)

True Mike, thats why I put the " " around the word diet.. If I could stick to a diet I wouldn't be in the situation I'm in :lol3:

Anyone thinking about surgery needs to know that they still need to watch what they eat. My doctor told me that he had to remove the lapband from a few patients because they thought that the band would allow them to eat what ever the heck they wanted.... yes even after they went through the whole ordeal :faint:

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As someone already mentioned, often times when they say 6 months supervised diet, they do mean medically supervised. This is the issue I'm having right now actually. My insurance will cover lapband, but not the supervised diet. How counterproductive is that? Absolutely nothing weight loss related is covered aside from WLS (both GBP and banding).

It's good to have an extensive history. Your insurance company will find it harder to deny your request if you have everything well documented. Even if you lose a significant amount of weight before surgery, that does not necessarily mean your insurance will no longer cover you. Most places look more at whether or not you are compliant with your physician's orders, rather than how much/how fast you lose. My surgeon's favorite saying is that "just because you can lose the weight without WLS doesn't mean you can keep it off."

Good luck!

It's not misleading because he's not promising that you'll keep the weight off. In fact, it serves as a reminder that there's absolutely no guarantee you'll ever be able to keep the weight off if you don't truly work at it. Whether WLS is involved or not, there's never a guarantee.

He started saying this because insurance companies were denying people because they had successfully lost weight without having WLS (during the 6-month supervised period). Their view was that if you were able to take the weight off, you shouldn't have any issues losing the rest of the weight and staying at a healthy weight from that point on. His view has always been that just because you're able to lose weight in the 6 months does NOT mean you will be able to continue to lose and/or keep the weight off.

My Insurance compnay requires the 6 month "stupervised" weight loss as well. Despite the fact that I have loads of paperwork from Jenny Craig, WW and the like. None of it was 6 months. :(

There is a doctor in my area who will do this. Bless her heart but the appointments have truely been a waste of time. I have been to 3 already. I know WAY more than her and her advice of "replace the sweets with fruit" just isn't working. But I will continue to show up, and put in my time so I can can the lap-band surgery.

I too need to lose about 40 lbs (goal: 300) prior to surgery.

Do they tell you how much weight they would like you to lose during those six months? :smug: