Was your six month "diet" beneficial?

 I'd love to hear others' successes and failures during your six month diet.  What were your NUT's expectations and did you meet them?  Did you feel like you weren't as successful as you wanted to be?  I'm having a hard time quitting diet mt. dew, smoking, and evening eating in bed and my last NUT visit is in Oct.  Any honest feedback would be great!

Am only into week 4 of my 3 mo diet.  Mixed reviews - did okay at the very beginning, dropped 5 lbs, fell off the wagon, gained it all back, finally got back on track and am now down 8-9 lbs, So I don't have a lot of success tips for anyone and don't feel I've been as successful as I could have been,  I don't exercise much.   What does work for me is to keep it really simple - same few items for breakfast, for lunch, and for dinner,  Too many choices tempt me too much.  Wasn't much of a soda drinker, though would kill for a Coke once in a while (hate diet!), But I do drink scads of water - have it with me all the time.  If I have a snack at night, I make it fruit - a banana, or a nectarine - once in a while sugar free pudding or reduced fat cheese stick.  I only have myself to cook for, so stick pretty much to Healthy Choice, Lean Cuisine, etc.  This gives me portion control w/o having to think much about it.

The one thing I have successfully done is quit smoking 4.5 months ago.  I am using Chantix, which has been an absolute life saver for me.  I tried a gazilion times to quit w/o success.  This time has been different.  There are a lot of different opinions on Chantix out there, but it worked for me with minimal side effects (some really bizarre dreams - not scary, just really weird).,  You might want to research it and talk to your PCP.  My surgeon won't operate if I'm still smoking,  There's a very helpful website, QuitNet,.com - support group for smokers trying to quit, much like OH.  I use that a lot.

Best of luck to you, I know it's hard!
Kathy

I didn't have to do any sort of dieting beforehand. Also, the ASMBS states that mandated pre-op weight loss is not required, you might try fighting your insurance on it.

http://asmbs.org/2012/01/preoperative-supervised-weight-loss-requirements/

There are no two surgeons alike and same goes for pre-op guidelines.  I was not on any 6 month diet  and most doctors will test you for nicotine before surgery and if it's in your system, it will be a no go.  I don't know when your surgery is but that is going to be a main factor in whether you will have surgery or not.  Quitting smoking is difficult so do whatever you can now to insure you will be smoke-free before your surgery. 
We all had so many bad habits to break and if you want this surgery bad enough, you need to start breaking some of these habits.  We didn't get here overnight, and it's not going to happen overnight, trust me.  This surgery is a mind altering procedure.  Notice I said mind.  I was a night feeder, as I like to call myself, enjoyed eating late at night.  No more. Those days are gone.  I am over 4 months out and thank goodness I had the surgery.  I wish you luck on this journey!    Jane

Are you talking about a six month supervised diet before surgery?  I didn't have to do one.  The ASMBS said a year or two back that they had found no evidence that the six month diet increased the successful outcomes for patients.

I do think things like quitting smoking is beneficial - in fact, most surgeons will not operate unless you've quit smoking for at least several weeks before surgery since smoking increases the risk of serious complications by so much.

The 3 month supervised diet I have to do is mandated by my insurance company, not by my surgeon.  When I questioned the need for it, was told that (1) it didn't matter if I had no weight loss, or if the loss was neglible; and (2) this time period is for us to develop good eating and exercise habits.  Seems to me the two statements are mutually exclusive.  If I develop good eating and exercise habits surely I would lose some weight.  Makes me crazy.  But I will jump through the required hoops.  I''m just grateful mine is only 3 months, because I truly believe it's an unnecessary requirement.

I lost 38 lbs on the pre-surgery diet then another 24 on the 2 week liquid diet.  I'm glad I did it.  It gave me time to lose some bad habits and also detox from caffeine and sugar before surgery.  It might not be for everyone, but for me it was a good thing.

As stated, the 6 month diet isn't required by the ASMBS.

With that said, many INSURANCE companies have the requirement to see if you are REALLY gonna go thru the surgery. It honestly just keeps you fat for 6 more months.

Surgeons also are not standard on this...some are like the insurance companies...they just want to be sure you will go thru with it.

IF diets worked, wouldn't you have been successful on one? I know I was excellent at dieting, LOUSY at keeping it off....my body had to be "reset" by surgery and give me a level playing field that normal people have that haven't spent their life obese.

Liz