What should I be doing?

I'm going for my consultation on May 8th. So right now I'm just researching,  looking for good protein drink ideas and worrying about what my insurance company is going to require of me in order to get approved for surgery. Is there anything else I should be doing as I wait? I feel like I should be trying to diet but if they are going to require me to lose a certain percentage of weight before surgery then I want to wait because as you all know the weight comes off faster when you first start. Any advice? 

By the way I've already been to a seminar,  saw my pcp to get blood drawn, and called my insurance company. My insurance company didn't tell me either way if I'm covered they just told me that my surgeon's office will submit a request after my consultation. 

There probably isn't anything I can do right now but may 8th is always on my mind. 

Your insurance company should be able to give you more information. Call and request a copy of your plan. Everything should be in there. Don't let them start with the "jumping through hoops" runaround. You can get all the info without waiting for things to be submitted by your surgeon. 

This is just me, but I wouldn't start dieting until you know precisely what is going to be required of you. Some insurance policies require a certain percentage of weight loss, some just require a time limit, and it goes on from there. Get your policy in your hands first. If your policy isn't completely clear, call and keep asking questions until you get answers. Don't be afraid to ask to speak to a supervisor. 

I wouldn't go wild buying a bunch of protein powders as it is common for tastes to change post op. Some people (myself included) become lactose intolerant for a long while after surgery. If you want to start trying them out, go the SAMPLE PACKET route. Don't buy huge tubs until you know what your sleeve will tolerate post op. There are a lot of sources for samples online, you should be able to google it fairly easily. I got quite a few from The Vitamin Shoppe. 

Read here often and you'll learn a TON. There's a handy search feature in the upper right hand corner if you are having what you think is a "common" problem. Take advantage of the pages and pages of archives :)

Best of luc****ep us posted as you go through the process!!

Agree with Chrissy- your insurance folks can give you more information.  Find out the code for the surgery you want, call back your insurace with the code... then ask question like is it covered, and if so are there prerquisites.  I hate it when insurance companies give folks the runaround, grrrr!!!!

WHEN YOU CALL THE INSURANCE COMPANY ALWAYS ASK TO TALK TO THE SUPERVISOR

the people that answer the phones know nothing and if you call 3 times you will get 3 different answers

always get the persons name , so if you are told something different in the future you can refer back to them

 start trying not to drink with meal , stop drinking alcohol and caffeine,and stop smoking if you do  you do not want to go thru withdrawal during the pre op diet or post surgery 

At this point there isn't much to prep for until your consultation. They will tell you more about their specific process and what you need to do. The only thing I would recommend is find a good app for logging your food and start getting into the routine. MyFitnessPal is a good app that a lot of people use also Lose it. The only thing I did before my consult was stop drinking soda because I thought that would be something very difficult for me so I wanted to get a head start on that.

Thank you all for the advice. I'm someone that likes to be totally prepared so the unknown is scary to me lol. Giving up caffeine and pop is going to be very difficult. Is there anything I can do to fight through it?  I gave up smoking cold turkey last year and that seems much easier than giving up my morning coffee. 

TYLENOL. You're surely going to have a headache from the caffeine withdrawal. Other than that, distraction! Sip water all day to get it out of your system to make the detox go faster!

You need to get the insurance information now - because your surgeon's office won't submit their request until they're ready to schedule surgery.  Your insurance company may require a six-month supervised diet.  Also, if you're employed, make sure your company hasn't excluded WLS from their policy.  You can probably view your coverage on-line.

Best wishes on your journey.

What's your goal? Once you answer that you should be able to figure out what you should be doing. 

Is it to get insurance to pay for WLS? Then wait, find out and proceed. 

From the very day I started even *thinking* about WLS, my entire goal was to lose weight and get healthy so I lost 85 lbs pre-op that went above and beyond what my insurance required. I had some wrinkles in the process of getting approval so there was a period where I wasnt sure it was going to happen, but I kept losing weight bc WLS was not my ultimate goal. 

I am in the camp of do everything you can to change your life and lose weight before the surgery. It really just puts you ahead of the game (the game for one though really) and closer to your goal. You can have time to identify weakness (binging, night eating, emotional eating, sugar, etc) and work on them before you cut your stomach out. 

PJust my opinion though.