WASaBubbleButt

Your BMI is 31.7, I think your chance for success is excellent! Good luck to you!

I am self pay and I called the office and scheduled for six days later. I did not have to do a pre op diet due to my BMI.

What is your BMI? Some people weigh 250lbs but they are happy at 200 even though a normal BMI is 150. So they are 100lbs overweight but are happy being 50lbs overweight. Some people are 125 and they want to be anorexic looking at 75lbs. It doesn't always depend on how much you WANT to lose, it depends on how much you NEED to lose. What is your BMI?

I have to keep my carbs very low. I don't lose weight if I eat carbs, I don't feel well if I eat them, I feel bloated and uncomfortable. Most of all if I eat ANY carbs in the morning my diet is shot for the day. Even drinking a glass of OJ, it's so full of sugar that I am hungry for the rest of the day. I don't count carbs, I just watch what I eat. I rarely go over 20 a day unless I'm having a carb fest. Sometimes I'm just in the mood for calories and I go for it. But that's probably once a month or so. Now fat... I'm trying to incorporate good fats in my diet. I didn't realize that I eat virtually no fat and my hair, skin, and nails are soooo dry. So I'm working on that. The only time I really push "low" carbs on people is during the liquid phase of their diet because it does cause blood sugar spikes and it does make people hungry. During the liquid phase of the post op diet people are already battling head hunger. If they eat carbs they battle stomach hunger as well and then they fail at their liquid diet. After the post op diet people need to do what works for them. Most people know what carbs do to blood sugar/pancreas issues and if they choose to fight it, that is their choice. I choose not to fight the extreme hunger. So for me I need to keep them very low.

What is your BMI? Barix Clinics - Is Surgery Right For You - BMI Calculator First things first... you may or may not have a hard time finding a surgeon who will do this. If your BMI is under 35 insurance won't begin to cover it.

Mine was in Mexico and each doc is different. I had a UA, CBC, Chem Panel, Hep, HIV, EKG, and Chest xray.

Congrats! That's fantastic! Keep up the great work, I swear... it's all worth it.

If you don't want to end your life early, then by all means. Don't. But you do not have the moral right to tell someone else that because of YOUR beliefs THEY must live a life of pain that cannot be managed. Many people are under the assumption that 100% of the people out there dying horrific deaths can be made comfortable until their gawd takes them and that simply is not true. People die in severe pain for a variety of reasons every single day. You have as much moral right to tell someone they have to suffer when they die as you do to tell someone they don't have a right to pain management after a painful procedure. It simply is not yours to decide. If your relative was already brain dead that is not the same issue as what we refer to. Not even close.

Whoa... wait a minute. Why not? If you went to Wally World and did not get what you paid for, would you worry that you were causing too much of a problem? I think we fatties forget sometimes that WE are the consumer, the doc is the provider. We pay them to provide a service and if they are taking advantage there isn't a thing in the world wrong with calling them on their greed. I think most docs try really hard to do a good job. But every now and again we get the greedy b@stard that takes advantage of our desire for weight loss. I know of one nurse practioner that will NOT do more than a 0.25cc fill at each appt. That's $200 per appt and for someone with a 10cc band, it would easily take 14 fills for an initial restriction, NOT the sweet spot but just a bit of restriction. What crap! WE are the consumers, it's okay to demand to get what we pay for. Let's not be walked on anymore, those days are OVER!

What Dr. K did is the same as many other medical professionals. He just had the guts to stand up and make it public. But make no mistake, he did what MANY others do. He's a hero in my book.

Your bible didn't tell you how you feel about this?

Wow... that seems fair. The docs really do have to verify it is an Inamed band (as that is the only FDA approved band in the US as of this date) and an eval before a fill is also fair. $100 for a fill is fair. Cool doc.

I have to admit, the same thought crossed my mind. Dr. Ortiz is a great and skilled surgeon but he sure has had a slew of erosions lately.

If you already know you aren't taking proper sized bites or eating slowly enough then you know what you have to do first. For a while try pea size bites, chew thirty times and see if that works. If it does, you have your answer.

Just saw it on the news.

Yikes, the edit feature is STILL broken! Plz ignore the many typos above.

Gahhhh... Isopure! That stuff is nasty, how do you get it down? You said yours is a mix, as in not bottles of nasty flavored liquids? My doc insists on Isopure for everyone so last time I was in Mexicali I brought two flavors with me, Papaya/Banana and Green Apple. After trying them and complaining that his throat felt slimy two hours after drinking them, he change the protein to nectar by Syntrax (makes of Matrix). Heh... all docs should have to follow their own pre-op and post-op diets for a while.

I never had the guts to sit down and count calories before banding. I was afraid I'd embarrass myself TO myself! But I count every single calorie today and it is paying off. I stick to 500-600 daily and for 'me' that works.

I agree with this if someone is losing weight. But when someone is not losing weight and they are exercising, they are often times shocked at how many calories they are consuming when they do start counting. I think it is wise not to hyperfocus on calories. But if things aren't working, a food journal for a few weeks is very beneficial.

The fact remains that your way protects people from learning about reality. The other way faces a "dangerous" issue head on and at least attempts to deal with it. I don't understand why you support censorship and especially here and now. As for support, I get TONS of support, just as I give it. I have to clean out my own PMs quite often. But thanks! I may just take you up on it someday.

Lor... LOL! Good catch.

(Emphasis my own) Green... This is more true than most realize. I collect antiquarian medical books as well as antiquarian books on slavory. I am "blessed" to have a book on slavery from the mid 1800s and it was a very well known and used book of its day. I have one of two (known) 1st editions of this book in existence today (and mine is in much better condition! LOL) Anyway, the book is totally based on how the bible supports slavery. There just isn't anything wrong with it. The entire (fairly large) book justifies slavery by using the bible. THIS is what the anti-abolitionists used to fight those who wanted to get rid of slavery. This is the book they depended on. They just couldn't figure out how anyone could go against god and feel slavery is a bad thing. They really sat and scratched their collective heads over that one. You know what? The bible does indeed support slavery. And people wonder why we atheists don't see the bible as a book of true morality. When the xtians took over leadership of Europe they put a dead stop to all art, history, technology, medicine, science, etc. This makes sense... how? Many xtians today justify this by saying they didn't do it. They weren't a part of it. But the reality is they are using the same text as the people way back when used. They just change it to suit their needs today. At least the pro-slavery, anti-science people were honest. They followed their good book. Today most just change or omit what they don't like in their bible. Which is really more honest?

Wait... you mean censorship is okay if it is something you personally find distasteful? If that isn't the epitome of serious censorship I don't know what is. You might want to change your censorship comment to: I am all for censorship and I think it's a great thing!!!! Because you are all for censorship. This section has a very clear warning that you may not like what you see here. It says to enter at your own risk. You read the warning, you came here anyway, and now you want censorship. Interesting. You know, there are many people that don't know the concept of man/boy love exists. Oh, we can bury our collective heads and pretend it doesn't exist because that will soothe our blistered eyes and minds. But that isn't really doing much to be proactive in educating the world about the concept or that we should all stand up and fight the actions and behaviors of these people, is it? So what is it? Pretend it doesn't exist so we don't have to deal with reality or face it head on and fight it tooth and nail? We can't fight it if we don't tell others about the concept. Your way the practice continues. My way we actually do something about it and protect children. Honestly, I don't understand your point of view. I'd rather people be educated and fight the problem vs. pretending we are too good to even read about these behaviors. You see, some of us don't see it as "gross" but more of it being "dangerous". I can deal with gross, but I act on dangerous and protect children when I can.

Your surgery should have been yesterday. Soooooo???? How are you? What's going on? Any tummy writing?

The first six weeks after banding isn't about losing weight, it's about healing. food choices are limited. Most docs allow people what works during the healing phase. Better to have them eat calorie unfriendly foods vs. band unfriendly foods during this phase as it is soooo critical. Any weight loss during the healing stage is typically considered a bonus.