Bufflehead

My advice would also be to stay home. No one can predict exactly how you are going to recover from surgery -- some people would be able to do your trip just fine. But from what I have seen, both being on these boards for a long time, going to my surgeon's support groups, etc., it's much more likely that you are going to be in pain, exhausted, and struggling to get all your fluids in. As for your own kids -- have the fourteen year old help out and consider hiring a caregiver for the first week or so as well if that isn't possible or enough. You are going to be recovering from major surgery -- you don't need to be bedridden but getting some help for family care is a good idea IMO. Good luck to you!

Ask your friends if they are aware of: --the rate of complications and death from weight loss surgery (not sure if you are having bypass or sleeve - your profile says bypass but you are posting in the sleeve forums. Either way, the risk is very small). vs. --the rate of complications and death from remaining supermorbidly obese (hint - a lot higher than the risks of surgery) vs. --statistically, the number of super morbidly obese people who are able to lose a significant amount of weight "on their own" without surgery and maintain that weight loss (about 5% or less) vs. --statistically, the number of super morbidly obese people who are able to lose a significant amount and maintain that weight loss WITH surgery (depends on the surgery but it's more like 70%) Unless they are coming at this problem from a thoroughly researched point of view they really shouldn't be trying to give you medical advice. Tell them you appreciate their concern but this is a decision you've made for your health in consultation with your doctors and you aren't discussing it with them further. Weight loss surgery is an extremely effective tool - the best known for fighting a deadly disease. If you had been diagnosed with cancer, would you decline surgery to remove the tumor in favor of hoping it would go away, because surgery has risks?

My dietician's guidelines are a minimum of 30 carbs per day and a maximum of 60 carbs. Ketosis is not a goal of my surgeon's practice generally. You can check out my ticker in my signature and tell me if you think their carb target range hindered me. I had a lot to lose and haven't hit my goal quite yet . . . but I'm still losing steadily and will get there! That said . . . potatoes, sweet potatoes, grains, and sweets are off the menu for me. They are not allowed on my plan. My carbs come from dairy, Beans, green veggies, and occasional small servings of fruit. You can get in the carbs needed for healthy energy levels and Protein uptake without eating unnecessary crap like potatoes IMO.

Just chiming in -- I live alone and didn't have any "help" after the surgery. I didn't have any problems. I could pick stuff up off the floor (not heavy stuff of course) and do everything that needed getting done. My surgeon said it would help my healing to have to take care of getting my own drinks, light housework, etc. I have a large dog and she enjoyed the three walks a day she got during the two weeks I was home from work! Disclaimer: she doesn't jump up and leash pulling was not an issue since she walks off leash.* The only pet trouble I had was taking a nap and getting awakened by one of my cats taking a kamikaze dive from the top of my headboard onto my tummy. Painful but no damage done. I had my housekeeper come by for an extra visit to take care of some of the heavy duty stuff and changing kitty litter, since I had an 8 lb lifting restriction. But even that was a nice luxury, not a necessity. Good luck! *dog lovers - don't worry, where I live it's safe to do that and no one walks their dog on a leash. Also, she's got a very solid recall.

Just a quick tip, you may want to post your question in the Mexico & Self-Pay forum for more responses: http://www.bariatricpal.com/forum/486-self-pay-mexico-gastric-sleeve-surgery/ I also found a couple of old threads that might be of interest (my apologies if you already found these): http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/240015-where-and-how-much-did-you-pay/ http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/254474-gastric-sleeve-surgery-cost-mexico-and-united-states-self-pay/ Good luck!

Feeling full comes with more solid food. Liquids tend to go right through your sleeve unless it is very swollen. So relax and just follow your plan's instructions regarding amounts to drink.

huh, I've never heard of not being allowed to use a blender. I do find that using a standard blender puts a lot of air bubbles and foam into a shake, which can be uncomfortable and gross to drink. But you can put your shake in the fridge for an hour after blending to get rid of the bubbles if a standard blender is what you have on hand. I use an immersion blender, which doesn't add any foam or air bubbles to the shake. Plus it is easier to clean!

1. professional photoshoot (probably with my dog, lol -- I want some pictures of us together, I have none). 2. a trip somewhere -- haven't decided where, probably depends on what I can afford.

@@woo woo very close! I'm an academic librarian and in fact teaching is part of my job

Awesome, congratulations!

I admit that I miss champagne. I didn't drink it all that often, but it's a big part of family celebrations. I'm allowed to have an occasional glass, but when I tried a couple of sips over Christmas, it felt weird and just didn't taste like it used to, so I haven't tried it again. I may try it next month when I visit my parents and see if anything has changed. I also miss being able to sip a glass of wine with dinner -- again, I rarely did it, just when out at nice restaurants or visiting my parents (who are great cooks with an extensive wine cellar). I'm allowed to have wine on my program, just no drinking with meals. There was something lovely about a really good wine correctly paired with a delicious dinner. I'm not really that interested in wine on its own so I just don't drink it anymore. I realize these two "I miss" statements make me sound like someone with a drinking problem! The thing is, I am sure I averaged less than one alcoholic drink per month before my sleeve. I never bought alcohol on my own, just had it when I visited my parents a few times each year. But I guess I really do miss it for those few visits! That said, I would not trade my sleeve and my weight loss for all the champagne and great pinot noir in the world! It's a tiny little thing to give up to have a whole new life.

I also use the Wellesse liquid. I buy mine from Amazon. I think it is more palatable refrigerated. You can also blend it in with a fruit-flavor type protein shake or dilute it with some light juice. I used the Citracal Petites for a while but I was struggling to swallow even those, and I'm almost a year out. Nothing else really gives me trouble but big pills like that (yes even "petites" calcium are bigger than most other pills) just don't work for me anymore.

nurse

I would say first of all, switch from "not a lot of junk in the house" to "no junk in the house." Second, if you are feeding them snacks, just give them one mid-afternoon snack. In most European cultures, adults don't regularly eat snacks and children just have one mid or late afternoon snack. They are not starving to death but they are a lot slimmer than we Americans are! This will help your children come to the meal table hungry for the healthy food you have prepared for them, Also, they will grow up understanding that you don't have to go through the day constantly noshing on something. My sister went through this with her daughter, and in addition to restricting snacking to one afternoon snack, she worked with a dietician who specializes in children's nutrition. She learned to do these things with her daughter: --get her involved in shopping for and preparing food, and letting her pick out her favorite veggie or her favorite main dish to be prepared once a week; --make a variety of healthy foods and encourage her to to taste all of them, but if she doesn't want to taste it or eat it, it isn't a big deal. Just try the same food again a few weeks later. Keep trying it every few weeks! --don't be a short order cook. If your child doesn't want their chicken, fine, they can have extra broccoli or extra brown rice or whatever else has already been prepared for the meal -- but don't make them a PB&J sandwich. --no eating in front of screens. And for at least one meal a day, the whole family should sit down together and eat together with no electronic interruptions allowed. Disclaimer: I'm not a parent! This is just from my sister's experience. It worked really well for her family though.

I also had no pre-op antibiotics. I healed perfectly with no problems with infection or anything else.

Are you on a PPI? Stomach acid can mimic hunger.

Meat that is braised or cooked in a crock pot tends to be very tender and juicy, so I would look for those kinds of recipes. For poultry, stick to thigh meat instead of breast meat -- it is much softer and moister. You can bake fish in a little casserole or foil packet with liquids added in to make sure it is moist and not dry. Some sample recipes: http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/braised-turkey-legs http://www.food.com/recipe/crock-pot-chicken-thighs-385169 http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/jamie-deen/tilapia-foil-packets-recipe.html This is my favorite shrimp recipe, it comes out very tender -- just be careful not to overcook! http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ellie-krieger/garlic-basil-shrimp-recipe.html One way to ensure your shrimp stays tender and juicy is to brine it before cooking: http://www.salvationsisters.com/2010/04/brining-for-succulent-shrimp-every-time.html If you have a Trader Joe's near you, check out their prepared meat section. They usually have a lot of chicken that is precooked in sauce that I have found to be very tender (even the breast) and you just need to heat it up. They also have a lot of pre-marinated chicken and fish that is ready to be cooked and will stay soft and tender when you cook it, as long as you are gentle with it. Good luck!

The dieticians in my surgeon's practice have us eat a minimum of 30 and maximum of 60 carbs per day. Seems like every practice varies somewhat!

Practice not drinking with a meal or for 30 minutes after. Get a myfitnesspal account and get in the habit of logging EVERYTHING you eat. After you weigh or measure it! No guessing on portion sizes. Getting used to MFP and weighing or measuring all my food was probably the most important thing I did pre-op. Tasting protein shakes before surgery is fine, but my advice is to make sure that you get multiple sample sizes so that if you like a sample before surgery, you can sample it again after surgery to make sure you still like it before committing to buying a big tub of protein. Good luck!

That depends on what your surgeon's rules are and how far out from surgery you are. I can share my surgeon's guidelines, but they may not be the same as yours. I wasn't allowed any fruit whatsoever until I reached the soft food stage, which was 8 weeks after surgery for me (4 weeks full liquid + 4 weeks purees). The primary reason for not being allowed fruit for these 8 weeks was to focus on high protein foods. Once I reached soft foods, I could have any fruit I wanted, as long as it was soft enough to cut with a fork AND I could fit it into my daily carb allotment, which is max 60 carbs per day. So for me at that stage, my fruit intake was mostly things like a quarter cup of ripe raspberries, a couple of prunes, or a little bit of apple sauce. Now that I have reached the standard bariatric diet phase (six months post surgery) I can have any fruit I want, but again, it has to fit into my carb allotment for the day. So I don't eat a lot of fruit -- usually just one small serving per day.

1) Gastric banding is a reversible procedure however a sleeve is permanent. How does it affect the life in future Why would you want a non-permanent solution to a permanent problem in your life? The fact that the sleeve is a tool that can never be taken away from me was a huge selling point for me! How does it affect life in the future? It makes my life much more likely to be awesome! I am so happy with my life now. I'd have the sleeve operation done over again every year if I had to . . . but fortunately for me, it's permanent so I don't have to! Am I going to be able to pig out again and eat huge portions? Nope, and I don't miss it. I can eat whatever I want to eat in small portions though. 2) I don't have any children yet, but would a sleeve be a hindrance if and when I do get pregnant in terms of the diet I need to follow, the nutrition required for the fetus and the quantities???? You will need to be careful to make sure you are getting in the right nutrients, but every pregnant woman should do that. Pregnant women need about 300 extra calories per day. Add in a snack of one container of full fat Greek yogurt with a half a banana sliced up and stirred in and you are good to go. (just one example) 3) Is the sleeve same as having a band in terms of eating habits. the reflux?? or is there a difference??? I have not had a band, but the revisioners I have seen here say that eating is less likely to cause food getting "stuck," "productive burping," reflux, and other problems. 4) I have read that even with the sleeve there are chances of putting on the weight again?? is that true??? This is absolutely true for any weight loss surgery. You have to be committed to watching what you eat and making healthy choices for the rest of your life. Good luck to you!

go hiking (better as a date afternoon than a date night!), go to a play or concert but eat dinner at home first, go to a local museum, art gallery, or festival; if you live in a big city -- go do a touristy thing that you have never gotten around to, like a city tour, local historical landmark, etc.

I use Trader Joe's chewable high potency multi's. Even taking a double dose (one at breakfast, one at dinner) they are significantly cheaper than other vitamins, especially the bariatric vitamins! I get my labs drawn regularly and they have always been perfect. For the first four weeks after surgery I was on liquids, so took a liquid multi-vitamin - Wellesse brand.

@@hrhlaurie Forgot to ask, does anyone know how soon I should be able to have fruit smoothies? It really depends on your surgeon's/dietician's guidelines. I wasn't allowed fruit until the soft foods stage, which was 8 weeks post op for me. Even since I've been allowed fruit, I rarely put it in my Protein shakes. Very rarely I'll do a quarter cup of raspberries or blueberries or something like that. I keep under 60 carbs per day so eating a lot of fruit (let alone drinking it in a smoothie) just isn't in the cards for me. I try to focus on protein first, green veggies second, and only then consider fruit.

Your weight loss sounds great! But try not to compare yourself to other people. There's no winning in that game.