Foxbins

My NUT was pretty useless except for vitamin and supplement advice. I low-carbed to goal and my carbs were rarely above 50, usually 20-30. I'd get to 50more than one serving of milk, yogurt, or cheese. Now that I'm at goal I don't count carbs anymore and eat what I want in moderation, protein first.

In your shoes, I would find out what insurance requires--for some, a BMI of 40 with no co-morbidities will do it. At your present weight, how much is a BMI increase of 1.1 going to be? About 10 lbs, I'd guess, maybe less. So you could gain a little more to qualify, or you can self-pay for anywhere from 5-20K. I went to Mexico, myself, with a BMI of 35 and no co-morbidities.

That is odd, because there's nothing in your abdomen. The staples are quite high, more under your ribcage. I went through the fancy 360 scanner that shows everything and was asked to pull up my right pants leg. Nothing there but leg! I have no idea what they saw, just something more dense than somewhere else, I suppose.

Yes, and the last 10 lbs seemed to come out of my face! I figured I could cover up the saggy body bits with clothing, but everyone could see my jowls, turkey neck, and deeper wrinkles so I went with the face first

I think he was partly joking and partly truthful. My VSG incisions hardly hurt at all--I was sore, but not like I was stabbed five times. However, I was doped up really good so by the time I would have felt incision pain, I was 4 days post-op and it was gone. But when I had my gallbladder removed (also laparascopic) I felt great and was discharged the same day. I told my surgeon I had no pain and his response was, "I put a lot of local (anesthesia) in those incisions. It doesn't hurt now but they will when the local wears off." He was right--the following day it did feel like I'd been stabbed, but it went away after a couple of days and I had pain meds to manage the discomfort. If that's what being stabbed feels like, I've felt loads worse. I dislocated my knee once and threw up from the pain.

I am 17 months post-op, lost 100% of excess weight plus 23 lbs more. I'm 5'8" and a size 6! I still can't believe it-- It gets harder in the later months as you start to crave more variety in your foods, but stick to Protein first and limit the junk food and you'll get there!

I had a facelift and necklift 10 months after surgery. I was at goal and had lost 83 lbs. I am still considering a tummy tuck and butt augmentation, haven't decided yet. I had my surgery in Costa Rica and the surgeon and hospital cost was $8700.

I eat the low-fat. The non-fat tastes like plastic and the full fat is too greasy for me. Low fat is juuussst right!

On a plastics forum I frequent, people who get lower body lifts often get a mons lift as well--it just gets that saggy skin out of the way so it doesn't bunch up under a bikini,,,and allows easier access for other activities.

Favoredone, you are not taking enough if you are only taking two. A 'serving' is two but only has 50% of the RDA allowance of Vit A, C, E, and Niacin, so by taking four a day you get 100% of those.

Hi, Kristina-- I am 17 months post-op. I don't know my maximum capacity. I decided about month 9 that my portion size then would stay my portion size. I have chosen to "undereat" my sleeve. I don't ever want to have that "stuffed: feeling I used to when I was fat. That said, I can eat about 3.5 oz of steak or chicken, about 1/4 cup veggies, and call it a meal. I can eat a whole small Wendy's chili if I take an hour. I don't know if this is helpful to you since your question was about maximum capacity but it is working for me.

You must take a B-12 supplement. The stomach makes something called "intrinsic factor" that allows B-12 to be absorbed in the stomach, but with no stomach we need a supplement absorbed elsewhere. sublingual B-12 is available everywhere and is cheap. I take 2500 mcg twice a week and my labs are great. We have to take calcium citrate, not carbonate, because citrate is better absorbed. With a big stomach there is enough acid that calcium carbonate is okay but with a tiny one we need citrate. Between dairy and supplements I get 1500 mg of calcium a day. I take Centrum Silver Chewable Multivitamin because they don't have any Iron to mess up my calcium absorption. (Calcium and iron can't be taken together.) I take my multi and calcium during the day and then iron (I use Bifera) just before bed. Centrum also makes a chewable with iron, it's orange-flavored. My doc recommended 60-80 gms of Protein. I used the Premier Protein shakes from Costco--each one has 30 gms of protein and tastes good to me.

I was a self-pay in Mexico and my surgeon looked for, and fixed, what the surgical report called "a wide hiatus with a Hiatal gastric hernia." It means I had a wide opening where my stomach had partially come up through the hole in the diaphragm where the esophagus connects to the stomach. He fixed it at no charge though it added about an hour to the surgical time.

I felt so crummy after surgery I lost another 5 lbs while I recuperated. Mostly I tried to sleep so I didn't eat much for about a week. Then I kept it off after I felt better!

WW points won't work for you in the beginning simply because you won't be able to eat enough food. I was below 500 calories a day for almost 3 months. Also, I agree that WW won't be very happy with you as a post-op as you will probably be dropping way more than others who are there. However, I think WW might be helpful once you have lost your weight and are in maintenance. I haven't used them myself, but I know they are there if I need them! I used Sparkpeople.com after I was eating real food. For the first 2 months or so I just counted what was on the label of whatever I ate. Since a 6 oz yogurt lasted for 3 meals, I just divided the calories, Protein, and carbs by 3 and wrote it all down in a little notebook.

I went to a surgeon in Costa Rica--Dr. Alejandro Lev. His coordinator's website is www.eternallyvain.com. If you decide to go, have your surgery in the clinic. It's loads cheaper and I'd rather pay for the surgeon than the hospital. I am a terrible photographer but there is a woman on www.makemeheal.com who had surgery with Dr. Lev a couple months after me and she has posted pics there. I think her screen name is JustLooking or JustLookingToo, can't remember which.

For low potassium, V-8 juice has loads. Get the low sodium kind in the 12 oz can. It helps a lot--I was getting leg cramps from low potassium and 1 V-8 a day stopped them.

1'm 17 months post-op. Things are great! I eat what I want--mostly protein, but it's cherry season here so I have a handful each day. I wear a size 6 and couldn't be happier. I am concentrating on body sculpting now, I'd like to be stronger. Life is great!

I'm covered by an *** and this is what is ordered for their bariatric patients--I was self-pay because I didn't meet their BMI: Albumin Alkaline Phosphatase BUN Bilirubin Blood Calcium Chloride Lipid panel GFR Creatinine Ferritin Fasting Glucose Iron/TIBC Potassium AST ALT Sodium Vit D Vit B-12 CBC w/differential Diabetes A1c Vit A Vit B-1 Folate Parathyroid hormone Hope this helps.

Pre-op I was in a size 22-24 at Avenue (hated that store, everything seemed to be covered in sequins or glitter--so not my style!). Post-op size 10 tops (kept my boobs) and size 6 pants! It's still so unreal to me to say I wear a six in pants!

Mine came out 10 months post-op after acute pancreatitis, wow did that hurt. The surgery was done in the am and I was discharged home in the afternoon. It hurt more for me than the VSG did but other people have said VSG was worse for them. I had no complications afterward and I'm relieved to have it gone. I do notice that if I eat more fat than usual the following day I'm in the bathroom a littlle more frequently.

I had a neck lift along with a face lift. My double chins turned into saggy wrinkles after my weight loss. The incisions for the neck lift are right under my chin, hidden in shadow, and in my hair around the back of my neck. I used to have a mole right under my chin and now it is about 2 inches further back toward my throat, so my surgeon removed a lot of saggy skin. I have a 90 degree angle now and a beautifully defined jawline. It was not painful for me and recovery was pretty short, about a week and I could cover the bruising with scarves or a turtleneck. I am very pleased.

I had a drain but no cath for my VSG. It came out on day 3. I had a cath but no drain for my gallbladder removal. Neither one of them hurt to remove; I didn't even know I had a cath until I was being discharged and they removed it. The drain just felt like something uncoiling from my insides--wierd but not painful.

I have not experienced that with my sleeve. I had my gallbladder removed at 10 months out and took Vicodin with no problems. For your plastic surgery, I'm sure they will initially give you IV meds. There are other analgesics that you can take that aren't narcotics for severe pain-Tramodol, for instance.

Another happy Aceves patient here for $8750. No nausea, no vomiting, no pain, all post-op days were spent in the hospital. At goal in 8 months and below goal now. I have heard Alvarez is good, too.