For many weight loss surgery is highly desired but they believe it to be financially out of their reach.  In the United States, bariatric weight loss surgeries can costs anywhere from $15,000 to $30,000 or more.  Most of us do not have that kind of cash and if we do it is probably in our retirement fund or in a fund for the education of our children. Yes we want and need that lap band or surgery but need options to cover the expense. The good news is that there are options available to us.

Insurance:  Today many of our health insurance plans will cover the cost of weight loss surgery.  Having your insurance paying for it is not as easy as just asking for the surgery. There are rules and restrictions that will determine if the insurance company will cover the costs.  For example, if your doctor is only suggesting surgery, you may be denied coverage.  On the other hand, if your doctor is stating that it is a lifesaving procedure due to morbid obesity and you have conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol your insurance is more likely to cover the costs.

Today many insurance companies are looking not only at the cost of healing they are looking at the savings of prevention. As an example, if you are 25 years old, the cost of diabetes supplies and checkups can easily exceed the onetime cost of weight loss surgery, making it a wise choice for your insurance provider.

Medicare: Medicare covers the cost of bariatric weight loss surgery on a limited basis. The three types of surgeries that Medicare will cover are:

• The Roux-en-Y bypass. This surgery uses surgical staples to create a small pouch in the stomach that is connected to the bowel by a piece of the small intestine, bypassing most of the stomach.
• Open and laparoscopic biliopancreatic diversions. These surgeries involve surgically bypassing a significant amount of small intestine thereby diverting digestive juices from the liver and pancreas to the lower part of the intestine.
• Laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding. Lap band surgery involves the use of an adjustable band to pinch off a small piece of the stomach.

Weight loss surgery is an option for Medicare beneficiaries with a body mass index (BMI) of 35. The procedure must be medically appropriate and the surgery is to correct an illness that has caused or aggravated by the obesity such as heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure or sleep apnea among others. Many bariatric practices set the limits of qualification for weight loss surgery between the ages of 18 and 60 (65) as bariatric weight loss surgery is controversial outside of this age group. I was one week short of age 67 when Medicare and my Medicare Advantage plan covered my own gastric bypass surgery.

Medicaid: Medicaid is a federal government’s health care plan for certain low-income individuals and families. The Medicaid coverage of weight loss surgery varies on a state-by-state basis. Some state Medicaid programs are extremely progressive and proactive while others are not. A local weight loss clinic or surgeon can tell you if Medicaid coverage is a possibility in your state.

Loans for Weight Loss Surgery: Bariatric surgery financing is available through many lenders. You will need to make monthly payments on the weight loss surgery loan. As a homeowner you may also want to consider refinancing your home to pay for the surgery if your insurance will not cover the cost of the surgery.

When a patient opt to pay for weight loss surgery using cash, check, or debit card, they are considered a cash patient.  This is opposed to a patient with medical insurance. Ask your surgery center or surgeon for a cash discount.  While the discount may not be as large as you would hope it will help to cover the cost of the financing or lost interest on the savings you are using for the surgery.

Saving For Surgery: If all other options are out you may need to save for the surgery.  Even if you are on a budget, it is still possible to save money for surgery.  Start by eliminating unnecessary purchases, such as your morning stop at Starbucks. Carry your lunch instead of dining out. Start carrying bottled water that you bottle at home instead of buying sodas.  These steps will not only help you to save they will help you to start losing weight and preparing for the surgery. You may be so successful that you find that you no longer need weight loss surgery.

Remember to discuss all options not just with your family practitioner but with a qualified weight loss surgeon or bariatric surgery center. There are many options available for covering weight loss surgery and my bet is that they will help you find one.

Researchers at Indiana University have reported that they are working on a new drug that much like weight loss surgery will control both obesity and diabetes. On Monday July 14, 2009 the university released their study in the online journal Nature Chemical Biology. According to ABC News, the study reported that two natural hormones combined into a single drug suppressed appetite and increased metabolism in rodents. Within one week of the injection fat mass was reduced by 42 percent and body weight by 25 percent. Let me remind you that this study was on mice and not humans.

While the Super Shot may offer some real hope that obesity and diabetes can be controlled this easy do not expect any thing soon! A lot more testing needs to be done before the drug will be ready for humans. Do not expect this to be available next week or even next year in fact don’t expect to see the Super Shot on the market for about another ten years.

While some day we may have a magic weight loss Super Shot I certainly would encourage you to not wait for it. Control your weight now by diet and exercise and if that is not working it may be time to discuss weight loss surgery with your physician.

What will it be this year? What are your goals? Are you going to lose that extra weight, quit smoking, be more active, pay off your credit cards, go back to school, or finally land that promotion? Maybe your resolutions are simple. Maybe you want to just spend more time with your family or get that garage cleaned out. Whatever resolution ideas you have, you will have a hard time accomplishing them if you don’t learn how to set realistic goals and initiate a game plan.

The problem with New Year’s resolutions is that they are often based on fantasy or are too complicated to achieve in a year’s time. The number of New Year’s resolutions that you make can also make it difficult to stay focused. While setting goals is vital for one’s improvement, having unrealistic goals or too many goals will only set you up for failure. So forget about losing weight, remodeling the house, going to school, and traveling to Spain this year. Choose instead one goal and work single-mindedly toward it. After all, a year is shorter than you may think.

When making your New Year’s resolution, remember to keep your goal realistic and specific. For example: Instead of saying, “I want to lose some weight this year,” say “I want to lose 20 pounds this year.” You also need to keep goals realistic or you will never be able to reach them and will only become discouraged. If doubling your business’ profit margin is unrealistic, why not set a goal of increasing profits by 20 percent?

Okay, so now that you’ve got your goal firmly in mind you need to learn how to work toward it. Since large goals can be overwhelming and hard to focus on divide your goal into smaller goals. For example: If your goal is to lose X amount of pounds, divide that amount by 12 to create smaller, monthly goals. Work hard each month toward each short-term goal. Monitor your progress weekly to ensure that you stay on the right track. Find motivation through a support group, a friend, or weight-loss publications. Set up a reward system for each milestone that you complete successfully and don’t look back. Before you know it, the year will be over and you will have realized your goal.

Yes, it is very possible that this phrase is also an accurate representation of how our perceptions and expectations affect our body and overall health.

We are just beginning to understand how the mind and our beliefs affect out body and how it responds to illness. However there is currently enough documented evidence to prove that the mind does in fact affect our body.

The key behind all of these studies seems to be perception or expectation. Those individuals with positive perceptions of an event and positive expectations seem to create that reality while the same seems to be true of those with negative perceptions and expectations.

If we allow for this possibility then we must consider what it is we believe about ourselves and how we feel about the life we are leading. If we have a perception of ourselves and our life that is negative then it will tend to manifest itself eventually in one way or another.

This often takes place with people who are unhappy with their life but yet afraid to make changes. When they do not take action the body itself seems to create an illness to bring about the change they seemed unable to do for themselves.

Deepak Chopra has spent numerous years studying this aspect of wellness and I highly recommend that anyone wanting to explore this field of research read his books. The book I have found most helpful is “Unconditional Life”. He gives many case studies of individuals who were affected either positively or negatively by their state of mind and the perceptions they had of their illness.

We owe to ourselves to be happy and to be hopeful and to expect the best out of life.

We owe it to ourselves to make the most of the time we are given.

We owe it to ourselves to do the things that we fear and take the steps we are afraid to take.

Life is about expansion and when we cease to expand we become stagnant and stagnation eventually brings about death. This usually happens in the inner life first and then it manifests in the physical life. For example, someone begins to feel bored, apathetic and depressed about life and this will lead to a withdrawal from contact with other people and then soon thereafter the body itself will begin to manifest symptoms.

You must choose to be happy and to expect the best and to believe in miracles. A favorite quote is the following:

“Happiness is a way of travel – not a destination”

–Roy M. Goodman

This is something you should definitely keep in mind not only for the sake of your health but also for your entire experience of life. If you do not like your experience of life then perhaps it is time to change your point of view.

What Are Your Options

Often people perceive a regular workout routine as spending many hours in the gym and doing weight training every week, but a workout routine can be simple and does not have to be that intense. Many fit people create a workout routine that only has them working in the gym perhaps one or two days a week for only a half hour to an hour time in duration. That kind of light workout routine will not get you prepared for a marathon, but it is a much better approach than going for months of inactivity followed by three weeks of extreme workouts everyday to try to burn some extra weight and get back in shape. Establishing and sticking to a light, but consistent, workout routine, either aerobic or weight training, will help you develop the basic habit of working out and then you can increase that amount of activity on a regular basis, or for a short time period depending on what your fitness goals are.

However, it is not necessary to go to the gym to stay in shape. Many people utilize home exercise equipment to as part of their regular workout routine or for the weight training part of their activities, while others use aerobic videos, walking, yoga, or simply doing crunches or push ups. Whatever the case for you, you will need to find a system that will work for you for the long term.

Many people enjoy working out on a regular schedule, but don’t always feel like doing the same old exercises all the time, or they get burned out. If you can relate to that, then one strategy you can employ is alternating your workouts so that you are using different muscle groups from day to day. This is a good approach because it gives your muscles a chance to rest and recover, but you still get the benefits of sticking to your workout routine. You might also enjoy incorporating a sport or favorite activity that challenge you physically, like racquetball or rock climbing. For most people, engaging in sports seems more fun than lifting a weight over and over or doing some type of aerobic exercise for an hour.

The type of workout routine you decide on is not nearly as important as making sure to incorporate some kind of regular activity into your daily life. Staying active will help you stay healthy and can improve your mood and your energy levels throughout the day.

No woman can reduce weight, improve a clumsy and ungainly figure, through exercise alone. Diet comes first. Comparatively few women need fattening. What most need is reduction.

FIRST AID FOR THE THIN

Yet for those whose figure needs building up and filling out, the following facts should be borne in mind.

First, relax mentally. Worry and nervous tension use up calories—the calorie is the unit by which we measure heat and food—very rapidly, and tend to reduce weight below normal.

Secondly, sleep enough and breathe fresh air in plenty.

Third, exercise, to stimulate the appetite and aid all the organs of the body to do their work.

Fourth, eat more of the foods that are high in food value. Butter, sugar, cream and cream sauce on vegetables, cod-liver oil and olive oil, are all fattening.

FIRST AID FOR THE FAT

Do not, if you are fat and wish to reduce your figure in accord with the normal and ideal body measurements already given, cultivate fallacies. Shun anti fat patent medicines and quack “cures.” Often they are based on mercury, arsenic or thyroid extract. Shun Epsom salts baths and too many Turkish baths. They do harm and no good. The reduction of calories is the real secret of successful fat reduction, and a key to that unit of measurement will enable you to bring your figure within the proper limits, to keep your figure beautiful. The whole point is to know how many calories of food you need per day. Now, normally, a woman who does not “work” in any actual sense of the word, can do with 1,600 to 1,800 calories per day. If she follows some sedentary occupation, 2,000 to 2,200 calories will suffice her. If her business requires walking, standing or any lighter manual labor, she can run her calorie allowance up to 2,500. If she performs hard physical labor, she is entitled to 2,500 to 3,000 calories. All this is normally speaking. But if you are too fat, if you wish to bring back your figure to its rightful lines, you must know what your ideal net weight should be in order to cut off the number of calories of food you do not need.

To find the adult net weight, multiply the number of inches you stand in height over 5 ft. without shoes, by 51/2, then add no.

If you are 5 ft. 7 in. tall:

7×5 1/2= 38 1/2 inches
add 110
Resulting net weight 148 1/2 lbs.

PHYSICAL BEAUTY

If you are under five feet, then multiply the number of inches below five feet by 51/2, and subtract from no.

The next thing to do is to multiply your normal weight by the number of calories you need daily per pound. If you weight 230 or 123 pounds, and the rule for your height shows your weight should be 150 pounds, then 150 ought to be the number you should use. This makes the problem simple. If your right weight ought to be 150 pounds, calling for 2,250 calories a day, cut off from 500 calories (about two ounces of fat, a reduction of 4 pounds a month, or 48 pounds a year) to 1,000 calories (about 8 pounds per month, or 96 pounds a year). To gain, reverse the procedure.

Among the kinds of food, note that Proteins, which build tissue and yield energy, may store fat. Proteins are contained in meat, fish, fowl, nuts, milk, cheese, vegetables. Fats (animal fats, oils, chocolate, nuts) are stored by the body as fat. So are Carbohydrates (sugars, starches, including bread, cereals, potatoes, corn, etc.). Vitamines, food substances needed for growth, occur in animal fats, but not in vegetable ones, as also in eggs, milk, butter and meat, vegetable outer skins, grain germs and fruits.

BALANCE IN DIET

These kinds of food must be balanced. If you balance them properly, you can reduce your figure to normal without injuring health or keeping to a monotonous food diet. Proteins you must eat, but neither to excess nor the reverse. And you must eat Vitamines, which abound in non fattening vegetables and fruits. Do not be afraid of drinking plenty of water. But do not exceed your calorie allowance. Without further theory we advise the woman who wishes to eat and grow thin to avoid the following liquids and foods.

THE “KEEP OFF” SIGN FOR THE STOUT

Shun water during meals—it makes you eat more. Drink all you want between meals. Rich sodas must be avoided. But coffee in moderation and skim milk are not harmful. Beer, in pre-Amendment days, was sometimes termed “liquid bread.” But every fat woman should know that all alcoholic drinks make her fatter if she be fat and thinner if she be thin, thus serving no good purpose. Each bit of food you eat beyond what your system and your normal weight, figure and calorie requirements demand, is fattening. Candy, pie, cakes, ice cream, whipped cream, candied sweet potatoes, cheese, rice, butter, fresh and white bread, rich meats, thick gravies and nuts are fattening.
“Keep off” fried foods, bacon, ham, pork, and all things made of flour, macaroni, dried beans, puddings, pastries and custards. But there are excellent beefsteak or lean meat, fruit and milk diets, the fruit diet especially being excellent for reduction. An occasional fast day, or certain days of low caloric eating a week are also good. A rapid method to reduce the over plus of calories is a diet of baked potatoes and a glass of skim milk, three times daily, for a week at a time. Or, instead of fasting altogether for a day, drink a glass of butter-milk every three hours. Again, small helpings of favorite fattening foods, or the dropping of one thing for another, will help attain the end—which is the reduction of your calorie over plus. This is the whole secret of reducing fat and bringing the figure to its normal physical best, its legitimate beauty of outline, where diet is concerned.

WHAT THE OBESE CAN EAT

A number of excellent books which deal in great detail with the different ways of controlling the calories, of reducing weight and fat, are easily available. We have gone into some details our-selves, although diet and fat reduction is here only considered in its relation to physical beauty. In the books already mentioned, numerous “sample menus,” etc., will be found. Foods you can eat, and still feel you are not betraying your figure, include:

(1) Any meat or game, save pig.
(2) All seafood, including lobster.
(3) Fruit, with the exception of grapes and bananas.
(4) Salads and meat jellies.
(5) Tomatoes, peppers, olives, celery, cucumber, chili sauce and Worcestershire.
(6) All fruit desserts.

It’s on these days that we need that extra motivation.

I’ve been exercising regularly for most of my life so I’ve had plenty of those days. To get me through, I’ve compiled a list of tactics to help motivate me.

Read something inspiring!

It could be a biography, quote, poem, or song. Use other people’s experiences to give you that lift.

Start a walking group!

It’s more social and you all get to feed off the motivation of each other.

Think of exercise as a menu rather than a diet!

Make a list of activities and choose 1 each day.

Use a training journal!

By keeping track of your activities you can see the improvements in your fitness week to week.

Start an interest or hobby that requires physical fitness!

It could be bush walking, rock-climbing, tennis, golf, or scuba-diving. If you require physical fitness to enjoy the activity you will be more inclined to train for it.

Increase your incidental activity!

This is the amount of activity you do in your normal course of your day, the activity not generally classed as exercise. You could: walk to work, take the stairs instead of the elevator, get up to change the channels instead of using the remote, or play with the kids for 15 minutes per day.

Try cross-training!

If your exercise program is always the same then break it up with one session per week of swimming, bike riding, jogging, sprints, or circuits. You could even play a different sport and use it as a training session.

Use a Personal Trainer!

Personal trainers can provide motivation as well as training variety.

Use an exercise video!

If exercising in public places is not for you, then try training at home. There are many forms of training available on video including: boxing, aerobics, pilates, and yoga.

Just start!

You will always be able to find excuses not to train so don’t think about it, just walk out the door.

Listen to music!

Put on the stereo or use a walk-man. Music certainly helps the time go faster.

Watch TV!

Most fitness centers currently have a cardio theater where you watch your favorite shows whilst you work out.

Read about the benefits of exercise!

We all know that exercise is good for us but do you know why it is? Reading a reputable publication on exercise can inform you of the great ways exercise can improve your life. It’s more than just being able to walk up those stairs!

Don’t complicate things, make it simple!

You don’t have to find a fitness centre or join a Tai Chi group. Just find a nice park and go for a walk or run.

Create a list of reasons you want to be healthy and read it regularly!

It may be to improve health, play with the kids, or trek through India. Whatever the reasons write them down.

As a dieter, at some point we are bound to hit a weight loss plateau. During the first month following my gastric bypass surgery I was losing weight at the rapid rate of about one pound per day. Suddenly I hit one of those dreaded plateaus and over the next two week did not lose a single pound. My emotional response was to remind myself that I was eating less than my grandsons pet rabbit and was no longer losing weight. As I shed the emotions and started using logic I reminded myself that plateaus during dieting are normal. I have previously noticed that plateaus are usually followed by a sudden weight loss.

Some plateaus seem to last for an extended period of time and we need to take an honest look at our caloric intake. Sometimes these plateaus are occurring for our body is in starvation mode due to the failure to take in enough calories. While I am neither a medical professional nor dietician I will try to explain plateaus and starvation mode in layman’s terms.

Our body is a magnificent machine and as amazing as it is this body must still be given some direction to work the way we want it to. All bodies including those of us that are morbidly obese are actually very compact machines. One evening I was watching “Evolve” on the History Channel and they showed a group of machines that had been designed to replicate the functions of the human intestinal tract. These linked machines filled a good-sized room. Just imagine – to even attempt to duplicate the operation of a single human body it would probably take a warehouse full of specialized gadgets and machinery.

A machine needs maintenance and direction just like our body does. With a machine we are often able to push a button to get it started, or grab an oilcan and wrench for maintenance or to make a few adjustments. Unlike machinery the maintenance and direction for our body comes in many ways. The way we think, what we eat and drink, the legal and illegal drugs we use, exercise and sleep to name a few. This magnificent compact human system both leads us and follows our direction. Our body works hard and one of the things that it does is keep our energy intake and output in balance.

When dieting, as our weight reaches one of these plateaus our body may actually be trying to tell us that our caloric intake is out of balance. Instead of listening to what it is telling us we often respond emotionally instead of logically. The emotional response of a serious dieter usually results in an additional cut in calories or an increase in exercise or both. The result is continued disappointment as we climb on the scales and see that the pounds are still not dropping.

When we get our logic in check we remind ourselves that this amazing body of ours is trying to tell us something. If we listen to it we may realize that the excessive reduction in calories has resulted in our body responding by lowering the metabolic rate. Just as a furnace requires fuel our body requires calories for they are the fuel needed to burn the fat. By cutting back too far on our fuel the lowered metabolic rate is preventing us from burning that fat.

In the starvation mode the body is responding to this low caloric intake. Our very efficient body becomes even more efficient at using energy. As we reduce the calories the body starts to burn lean tissue and muscle so that it may maintain its fat reserve. So by reducing our calories too much below its normal maintenance mode our efforts have actually become counterproductive.

Regardless of the diet we are on, by balancing our caloric intake the body will cleanse itself of toxins and burn fat reserves first. Once our sugars are deleted from our digestive tract along with our glycogen reserves stored in muscle and liver cells the body starts to burn the actual muscle tissue. With those of us that have had weight loss surgery or fasts on a regular basis, our body will become accustomed to the reduced food intake. And over time it will continue to burn fat instead of lean muscle tissue. That being said it is up to us not to restrict those calories too severely. As smart as this magnificent body is it can become confused. It is our job to keep the calories and exercise in balance so that our body continues to burn the unwanted fat effectively. Failure to do so will only result in the slowing of our weight loss and a potential weight gain.