No matter what province you live in you can go out of province and pay for Weight loss surgery. There are clinics in Ontario and Quebec that you can pay for lap band but again you receive no after care and no pre-op care. It's a visit the day before surgery, then surgery then go home and fen for yourself kinda deal. It's not like the Weight Wise program where you not only have the option for surgery  but the options to find out why you are obese to start with. The clinic offers you so much more through their program and the clinic does not allow self pay from any province. If you live in B.C or S.K you can be referred to the clinic but you will pay out of pocket for all travel expenses such as bus, airfare, hotel and meals but you will not pay for the surgery. I have met lots of people through the clinic that did live out of province and took that route. Now I'm not say there ain't doctors in Alberta that allow self pay but I know first hand the Weight Wise Clinic doesn't.

  Hi there

I'm one of those people on the Weight Wise waiting list for surgery.  The first step I took was to have my family doctor refer me to the Weight Wise program.  This enabled me to begin to participate in the Weight Wise modules.  After taking three modules, I was able to make an appointment at the Weight Wise clinic and see their dietician.  My appointment was six weeks later (September, 2012) due to a cancelation.   By the time I saw a Weight Wise clinic nurse and dietician, I had completed all of the modules and begun my own weight loss journey (using many of the strategies learned.)    I have continued to visit the clinic every four to six weeks until I was approved for surgery which occurred in late April, 2013.  I was told to expect a wait of approximately nine months but have had no update.  Since AHS has cut back on surgical times, I'm hoping to get a clearer answer at my next week's appointment.  I now go in to see the dietician and clinic nurse every six to eight weeks.  None of this happens quickly but it has given me the opportunity to revise my eating habits and begin an exercise program.  I am in a much better space now than I was a year back to take the next step in my journey.  I hope this will be of some help to you!   

I'm almost 3 years out from surgery so things might have changed but I waiting 1 year after my referral before I got into the clinic. I did at that time the required 9 month program and was approved for surgery then waited a short 5 months for surgery, the reason I say short is because I was told it could be up to a year wait for surgery but I got in with 5 days notice on a cancelation and lucky for me I didn't have to do a liquid diet so it all worked out.

When I went through the 9 month program I met lots of people some who had surgery and some who were denied surgery for various reasons. Being referred and accepted into the program doesn't guarantee you surgery. There were various reason from not being mentally prepared, health risk, eating disorders that surgery wouldn't help. The nurse, doctor, psychologist, and nutritionist will all work with you but you have got to follow what they tell you and show you're willing to change, they require you to lose weight while in the program and some people didn't which was another reason for not getting surgery. I don't know if it has changed but once I was approved for surgery I wasn't allow even .2 of a pound gain at my final weight in before surgery. I was told if I gained my surgery would be canceled.

On the upside it is life changing and I wouldn't change a thing about my journey.

Good Luck.

Kee.

Hi Kelly,

Thanks for the post back. I checked out GNC's site and located the product you recommend !!

Thank you

Greatly appreciated

Lori