kemo46

Education is the key. Most people just repeat what they hear the media say and we all know how reliable that is. The fact is there are about 17 violent crimes per 100,000 people in Tijuana. This is less, a lot less than many of our major cities here in the states. Remember, there are several million people in Tijuana. There are good and bad areas to go in, just like here in the states. I get so tired hearing about drug cartels. Guess what we call our drug cartels here in the states? We call them gangs, guess how they get their money, DRUGS! They shoot each other just like they do here. I have tried to attach the 2010 crime stats for our major U.S. cities but having issues. PM me with your email and I can send them to you. You will be just fine going to Tijuana as long as you are not doing something you should not be doing.

A copy of your birth certificate and driver's license will work just fine when coming back into the states. They checked nothing going into Mexico.

Goodwill and thrift stores will be your friend. I buy high end clothes such as Polo and Tommy Bahama clothes there. I buy them, go down another size, re-donante them back and buy a smaller size. I have gone from 4x shirts to large and 52 pants to 36. I would have gone broke even shopping at wal-mart having to buy so many clothes during my losing period. I only buy "like new" items and this process has served me well. Good luck, it is actually fun shopping this way. I do not know if I will ever be able to buy retail again after saving so much money.

Hello Dooter, the thing that might help is remember this, you are on a liquid diet but you can have as much as you want. I had days during my pre-op diet that I had to eat a little extra broth or an extra protein shake, this really helped me get through it. It is better to have a few extra calories of allowed items on your liquid diet than to struggle with being hungry and possibly failing and eating something you should not. Keep your eye on the big prize, this will get you through the tough stretch. Good luck, you are almost there.He

I know how you feel, this was also my best NSV. I am going for my 3rd A1C test at the end of this month, I will be 9 months out. I am less than 10 lbs from my goal weight. My A1C number has been 5.5 or below at my last test and my blood sugar normal since after surgery. My Doctor tells me that once a diabetic, always a diabetic, I do not agree with him. Even though I take no medication and have substained my numbers for over 8 months, he still considers me diabetic but " controlled by diet". I feel I was a diabetic because of my lifestyle choices. I ate very unhealthy, I WAS obese, I did not exercise so that is what put me in that position. I take full responsibility for that condition. Once I made my decision to have the surgery and change my lifestyle, I am a new person and in no way do I consider myself a diabetic. I know you are on cloud nine, I remember my first follow up appointment when I had normal blood sugar. The surgery has already proved a huge success for you. Congratulations to you.

I have talked to several surgeons about this topic. A very large percentage of their surgeries are band TO sleeve revisions. The surgeons I talked with do not like to leave the band in if they will be performing a sleeve. The main reason that they gave was even after a successful VSG, the remaining band could errode,slip or just plain fail. They preferred to remove the band if performing the VSG to guard against any future complications. A few of the surgeons I spoke would only do the sleeve plication in liew of the VSG if the band was to remain inside the patient but they also agreed, it was best and safer for the patient to have the old band removed. I understand the above studies is a type of procedure with both used, I am speaking of band to sleeve revisions. When doing my research, I found the sleeve to be superior to the band as long as it was a viable medical option.

Yes, I am 8 months out from surgery and started the P90X program about 3 weeks ago. It is a great program but very time consuming. I have completed two weeks of the program but it has taken me 3 weeks to do it. My schedule will not allow me to do it every day. There is no one that can argue the results, it works as advertised, it is just very time consuming. I too go to the gym at least 5 times a week and do not want to stop that, it is very hard to do both on a regular schedule do to time constraints. I found that when doing the P90X, I really needed to up my carb intake for the extra energy. You will also need to follow the directions about the recovery drink ( any 100% whey protein) after the workout, this really helps build the muscle and tone up. I have really noticed a difference even after only 14 days of the workout. The yoga is actually the hardest thing for me in the entire program, I really have to modify for that. The yoga is 1.5 hours alone. I love the P90X and you will too, I was just hoping to complete it in 90 straight days, that is not going to happen. It might even take me a extra month to complete it but I will complete it because the results are there. Good luck.

That is awesome and I know the work that had to be put in. Congrats on such a great accomplishment.

I talked to my Doctor in length about the B-12 because it is very important. I take 1 2500 mcg sub-lingual ( under the tongue) every day. They are very inexpensive and can be bought at Wal-Mart, Sams or any pharmacy. I started these 1 month post op and have taken them every day since. I have my blood work every 3 months due to my Diabetes. Even though I am not on any medication any longer, including diabetic medication, I really watch my vitamins and minerals. You cannot overdose on B-12 and it has so many uses in the body. I was told that sub-lingual was the way to go ( if you do not want injections) because our new stomachs do not produce enough acid to absorb pills or chewables. Normally injections are only given to people at first if they are severely deficient in B-12 and then they are switched to sublingual.

Everyone is different but I find myself doing more physical things outdoors that I have not been able to do in years. I have become a gym rat to try and get into the best shape of my life. I am trying to get away from a lot of the things that contributed to me becoming obese in the first place such as sitting in the house watching TV or at the computer all day. I am trying to spend much more time doing anything that is physical that my weight prevented me from doing before. Now that I have all of this new found energy, it is a blast to work in the yard, the garage and any other projects I can come up with. Now as far as an addiction, I would have to say shopping. I love bargin shopping and now that I wear a size large instead of a 4x, it opens up a whole new world to me. I hated shopping before so this is kind of a surprise that I enjoy this so much. I was not there and do not know the context of what was said about replacing the eating addiction with another addiction but I will tell you this, there are many healthy addictions you can have, they do not all have to be bad. I am a little obsessed with being healthy now, I figure if I went through WLS, I got a second lease on life. I eat healthy now and do not drink alcohol or put anything in my body that does not have nutritional value. I will be the first to admit that I am a little overboard on this but I feel so much better and there is absolutely no way I ever will slip back to my old bad habits.

I used and still do use the EAS AdvantEDGE Carb control. They are only 110 calories, 17 grams of protein and little to no sugar. I used these because I was Diabetic. Wal-Mart sells a pack of 4 for 4.97. They taste great and they helped me through the pre and post op diets. I use them now for meal supplements.

They helped me a lot right after I had my surgery. I have read where it does not help some people but they were great for me. It is worth trying anything to get rid of the gas after surgery. Good luck.

Everyone is different. Just like Dogzz and PDX man said, the Protein is used differently. I use protein differently now ( 8 months out) than I did right after surgery. I get the majority of my nutritional protein through my food roughly about 80 grams. I get another 50 grams of 100% whey protein for muscle building after my workouts through a Protein shake. This is just my opinion on the way my body processed protein after surgery but I would take approximately 30grams of protein at least twice but mostly 3 times a day. This seemed to keep my energy level up. I tried front loading my protein in the morning but that did not work as well for me, I ran out of energy later in the day so I felt better when I spread it out. This is something you will need to experiment with but one thing that we all agree on, it is better to get more than not enough.

You make adjustments with your calorie intake and exercise when you reach your goal. It becomes math in the maintainence phase. You do increase your calories but not with junk food, you still eat nutritional fuel. I have talked in depth with my NUT about this and my question was since my restriction is still about 4 oz of food, how do I get more calories. It is very easy to increase calories, too easy sometimes that is why you need to have a food journal such as myfitnesspal.com . I have noticed that if you add a Protein shake, a piece of fruit and some beef jerkey, that can easily add a few hundred calories. Even though they are healthy calories, they are calories. Adding those extra items daily might help you maintain your weight, gain weight or lose weight. If you keep losing and you want to stop, add more healthy calories. It is constant adjustments you will be making once you reach goal. I am about 10 lbs from goal right now, I probably could have reached my goal last month but I need the added calories and carbs for exercise so I could have the energy for my workouts. It had slowed my weight loss some but in exchange, it gave me the added energy to build muscle and tone up. Once I reach goal, I will always continue to exercise so I will have to find that magic number of calories where I do not gain or lose weight.

Dooter, you will do great. Just like Doggz said, it really is up to the person. I have said this many times but it is human nature to be driven by results. When you start losing weight and going down in inches, you will keep pushing forward. The key is understanding that your sleeve will only be a tool, a great tool but only a tool. If you exercise and change your lifestyle by eating right, you can lose as much as you want. I do not let stalls or slow weight loss bother me anymore because at this point it is math. When my weight loss slows, my muscle is building and I have been really toning up. This last week after a stall, I lost another 4 lbs. You have the right attitude going into this journey so I know you will do great.

I had my surgery on 5-25-2011, I am down about 105 lbs. I started walking prior to my surgery, after surgery and then started serious exercise once cleared ( 6 weeks out). I hired a personal trainer so I could learn the proper way to exercise and build muscle. I first had to understand how the body worked as far as building muscle. You mention two things in your post, bulking up and buillding lean muscle, those are two very different things and you do different things to achieve both. First, I do not know how far out you are from surgery so you need to make sure you are cleared for vigerous exercise. If you are, here is what you need to know. You have to tear muscle to build muscle, I am not talking a tear like you would think, it is microscopic. I started slow with light weights and increased the reps as I went. This helps build lean muscle. If you want bulk, you do the opposite, you increase the weight and decrease the reps. When I was building up to my current position, I was doing 15 to 20 reps. That is when I was told to increase my weight to where I can only do 8-10 reps, it made a huge difference in bulking up. You always want to drink some kind of 100% whey Protein after your weight lifting workouts, this serves as a recovery drink and promotes muscle development, This should be done within 1 hour of completing your workout, the sooner the better. Some people drink protein during their workout, this does not work for me because I mix some cardio with my lifting, not a good feeling after drinking something. It took me over 6 months of serious workouts but I really got in shape. I just started the P90X program and it will bulk you up for sure. It is very tough to do but worth the results. It took me 6 months of working out before I could pass the fitness test needed to start the program. I hope this helps answer your question and good luck on your workouts.

I agree with the above posts, it depends on a lot of factors and everyone is different. I have lost about 105 lbs. and I am about 12 lbs from goal. I started walking prior to surgery, walked after surgery and started serious exercise as soon I was allowed and that was 6 weeks out. I have built a lot of muscle and that has taken the place of a lot of fat. I still have some loose skin but My bat wings are getting a lot tighter due to muscle. I was expecting to have a lot more loose skin than I have so I think the exercise has helped. I am 47 years old, I think it will be easier for the skin to bounce back if you are younger, a little harder if you are older.

Here are my before surgery and my 6 month after surgery pics. I will be 8 months out on the 25th of this month. I need to update my picture since I am about 13 lbs. from goal.

Way to go Noel, great job. It is amazing the difference of how we feel after dropping so much weight.

Thank you Shelia for the kind words. All of our Doctors including Dr. Lopez and Dr. Gonzalez always have the patients best interest in mind. Anyone can email or call me from our website with any questions, I will promptly get with them to answer any questions. It is very important for people to check out their surgeons and I am not talking about on the forums, I am talking about with the Board of Medicine. I have a link on the website that you can not only check Dr. Lopez and Dr. Gonzalez, you can check any surgeon that you are considering. The majority of our patients come from seminars but we are considering advertising on the forums. I just will not get into the game of smearing ANY surgeons on hearsay. This happens too much on the forums. Thanks again Shelia and I hope everyone does as much research as you did when selecting their surgeon.

I only buy high end clothes and yes, you can get these at Goodwill. Most of what I buy are "like new". I used to pay 80.00 for a Polo Brand Oxford shirt, never again. I now pay 5.00 and you cannot tell the difference after it has been washed once. I love paying under 10.00 for Tommy Bahama shirts, those are my greatest buys. I just bought 2 Izod, 3 Hilfiger and 2 Cutter and Buck golf shirts yesterday and paid a total of 28.00 ( red tag sale). You could not buy 1 of any of those shirts for that price. Being in size large has really opened up a lot more variety in clothes. I love my sickness.

Please double check with your surgeon about exercise at this point of your recovery. I was only allowed to walk until at least 6 weeks out. Remember, during the the 6 months of your weight loss, you will lose the most. You are taking in less calories, less carbs and that means you will not have normal energy for vigorous exercise. When I stepped up my exercise plan, I had to increase my calorie and carb intake ( fuel) so I would have the energy. I built a lot of muscle and have toned up nicely but it did slow my weight loss. You can talk to your NUT but I would concentrate on weight loss the first 6 months and mix in the exercise.

That is great, awesome job. I am having a tough time with my last 14 lbs, I cannot wait to reach goal. I can tell you are very happy, enjoy your new life.

Kathy, you are correct. You can go broke buying clothes, especially as fast as we change sizes. I go to thrift stores and Goodwill. I like really like nice clothes and name brands. I get like new clothes for 4.00 a shirt and pants for 6.00. I wear them until I change sizes and then I donate them back. My latest find was 2 like new Tommy Bahama shirts for 5.00 each. These shirts cost over 100.00 each when new. I buy like new Polo oxford shirts for 5.00 as well. You had better watch out, it becomes a sick addiction. My wife says I need an intervention. I love getting these great deals, it is like a game.