SerendipityHappens

Personally I do best with very low carb and high fat and 70-90 grams of protein a day.. 800-1050 calories... and even doing it this way I'm not breaking any weight loss records.. but I'm happy with my results. There are many however who do just eat the same food they always have, just LESS of it and they do wonderfully... It's really just up to your body.. I have some hormonal/metabolic issues and MY body seems to respond best to the very low carb (under 20 net carbs a day)

YES it is overwhelming... That's why it's a good thing you have a while to practice before surgery. I liked to practice mentally what it would feel like to have small portions.. what the small portions would look like on a plate. I practiced chewing and eating slower.. I practiced not eating and drinking... I started my vitamins, I logged all my food, I tried out protein shakes etc. I didn't just roll out of bed one day and do all these things natrually, I just started slow and worked on a little at a time. by the time I got my sleeve I had already adjusted my habits quite a bit so the transition wasn't such a shock.

Hippa only applies to medical professionals who are treating you.. it does not apply to office gossip. If you tell someone a secret, it's not covered under HIPPA.

Yes, the citrical petites are great... I also take the Puritan's Pride Miniatures.. exact same thing but mail order and less expensive.

A mature adult would be over the moon happy that you were approved for surgery. Your approval has absolutely nothing to do with her denial and any reasonable person would realize that. My response to her would be a very simple: "Your reaction and behavior in this matter has been very disappointing." I'm sorry she betrayed your trust. You had the right to keep this private, but cat is out of the bag now, so do all you can to put your positive spin on the surgery and build excitement from your coworkers for it. I know when we had people from my office go for bariatric surgery, the entire office was excited for the person as we all saw it as such a positive step.

I just take the pill form they're cheaper than the chewable and I'd much rather swallow a pill than have to taste the chewables. yuck.

They look like a nice treat food.. I make my own kale chips.. I'm looking to invest in a food dehydrator to see if I can get them a bit more crispy. when I cook them in a slow oven, the thin bits over cook before the thicker bits get crispy.

forgetting for a minute the level of physical satiety the chocolate gives you.. which is basically NONE, I've ALWAYS found that the really REALLY dark chocolates.. are so flavorful that your mouth feels satisfied with very small portions. IMHO, sliders are only a problem if you are unable to exercise moderation with them.Although I don't currently eat any chocolate, in the pre-sleeve world I could eat a single square of high quality VERY dark chocolate and be very content.

I saved like crazy! No cable, no new clothes, no going out to eat, no gifts for people, no car... Now I'm saving like crazy for PLASTICS! Also, I used the time I was saving to begin my journey... I lost 45 pounds between the day I decided to do the surgery and my surgery date and I addressed a lot of emotional issues that I had with food.

During my first full month after being sleeved I lost 14 pounds.. ALL of it being in the first two weeks. Even prior to being sleeved I was a slow loser, losing at a much MUCH slower rate than predicted by my dietician (I worked with a dietician for nearly a year prior to deciding to do the sleeve) I was on Clear liquids the first week, full liquids the second week, purees the third week and soft foods including deli meats the fourth week. I ate around 600-800 calories a day and got 70+ grams of Protein in daily. I definitely ate a lot more than most people this early out. Also, during the first six weeks I was careful to follow the diet progression and incorporate the food items into my diet even if they weren't something that I planned on making a habit.. so when it was time to add Beans, I added beans.. when it was time to add grains, I added them. I just wanted to make sure that I COULD eat everything .... after I progressed all the way through all the phases (7 phases for me in all) I went back to strictly low carb eating.

I think it's great to be warned about sliders and to understand them but I believe they will act differently depending on how far out you are from surgery but it wouldn't surprise me if some of us are more prone to experiencing sliding of food than others.... Cottage cheese is a slider for me.. I still eat it.. It's not like I'm going to OD on cottage cheese. I'm just aware that if I want satiety, I have to pair it with something else. When I was on purees.. it pretty much all just slid through.. I was soooo worried that my sleeve was going to fail because I was eating so much more than everyone else at my stage and never really feeling full. People say chips are a slider... that doesn't mean that I'll NEVER eat chips again, but if I do, I'll just have to make sure that I'm relying on my willpower and portion control to eat an appropriate amount. There's no reason to fill my stomach up to the point of being full with chips.. It's not appropriate with a full size stomach and it's not appropriate with the sleeve! I haven't had ice cream yet, but I'm pretty sure if I did, I could eat a gallon of it no problem.. I've never had a soft mushy food hurt me or make me feel full. I do have a longer than normal sleeve so maybe by the time I'm able to fill it up with semi-liquidish foods, it's already starting to empty out of the bottom?

Same thing happened to me.. I had surgery on March 13th.. I lost 14 pounds after surger and then I stalled pretty much the ENTIRE MONTH OF APRIL.. I lost only 3 pounds the whole month and those were toward the end. I even GAINED a few pounds at one point. My body is over its little freakout and I've lost 14 pounds so far in May. Just hang in there. It's not easy but you just have to trust that your body will settle down and realize that you aren't giving up and it will start to comply!

I enjoy juicing and I was told not until 6 weeks.. and to ESPECIALLY avoid citrus until 6 weeks because it can interfere with stomach healing. Right now I'm doing low carb... which is kind of hard to juice while low carb, but I will juice up some kale and pour the juice in my sugar free lemonade. Getting in veggies can be difficult with the sleeve so juicing is a great way to get the micronutrients from the veggies without having to eat a huge plate of greens. Also, juicing only takes out the insoluble fiber (the cellulose) you still get all the soluble fiber in the juice.

I initially fell in love with Alvarez. but upon more research realized that there were MANY competent surgeons in Mexico. I ultimately decided on the Cabrera/Valenzuela team and had my surgery at MiDoctor Hospital in TJ. I booked through mexico bariatric and paid $4,500. It was an excellent experience. I believe the cost now might be $4700 though.

My feet are a tiny bit narrower but still the same length...

It's not only to shrink the liver.. he wants a combination of smaller liver and less visceral fat.. if you're an apple you likely have a lot of visceral fat that can make it hard for him to have enough room to get the instruments in for a laproscopic procedure. If you lose some of your visceral fat, then after he blows up your stomach with the gas, he'll have more "air space" in there to move around without so much fat in the way.

I think it comes from fear that a slow loss will turn into NO LOSS EVER AGAIN and they'll be stuck being 250 pounds and eating 600 calories for the rest of their lives. Stalls mess with your head.. even when you KNOW that the stall will break, it still messes with you.. I was sleeved on March 13th 2013... For the ENTIRE MONTH OF APRIL, I lost three pounds THREE POUNDS???? So soon after surgery... All the folks who had surgery the same time as me it seems are losing 5 pounds a week... and MAYBE stalling for a week or two and then back at losing at a break neck pace...... and I can only lose THREE pounds in a WHOLE MONTH???? of course the stall eventually broke like I knew it would, but it was a very trying time. I'm never going to be a "fast loser" and I'm OK with it as long as the scale keeps going in the right direction.

The skin is the most difficult aspect for me.. I have bingowings, a pannus, wrinkly thighs and my CALVES are already wrinkly and breastcicles... and I'm only midway through my journey.. My weight loss has not been that fast.. about 2-3 pounds a week.. I'm just not blessed with resilient skin,,, and I've been fat my whole life. I'm saving fervently for plastics!

Starvation mode is real.... kinda sorta.. We don't need to really concern ourselves with that until we are close to goal weight.. As you lose all your fat, and then you don't increase your calories, that's where starvation mode, or more accurately "efficiency mode" can kick in.. but right now... you're not going to be in efficiency mode because you body will get the energy it needs by burning up your fuel stores. Most people who give diet advice and try to scare people about "starvation mode" are talking to people 10-20 pounds overweight, not those of us who are 100-200 pounds overweight!

Well said. AMEN!!!!!! Enjoy the preop diet.. A lot of people dread it at first, but I found mine to be very empowering and confidence building! You got this!

I've always been the sort to just pay the price on the sticker... It wasn't until I met my exhusband that I learned that price can often be negotiated... He even once negotiated the cost of a root canal and crown for me.

LOVE IT! This whole AF thing has me perturbed... I totally understand clothing stores having range of sizes they cater to 5-7-9, petite sophisticate, Lane Bryant, etc.. I also understand that unless you are a niche store, you will only carry up to a certain size...(usually a 16 or XL) NO PROBLEM. My only problem with AF is that they are making the statement that the fat girls (and let's face it, TEENAGE GIRLS shop there, not WOMEN) are not "cool enough" to wear their clothes. HMMMM..... how out of touch can they be? Uh... my baby sister was a two sport varsity athlete and team captain, student body officer.. AND the freaking HOMECOMING QUEEN... but that's not "cool enough" for AF because she was also a size XL during highschool??? Disgusting.

If she is an organized and committed sort who will make sure she gets her protein in and takes her vitamins, then it could work well for her.. If she has a meal plan, that's great, there will be plenty of food appropriate food for her to choose from. Honestly if she's ready psychologically for the surgery then I see no reason to wait another year. She'll be changing her routine as she enters college anyway, so why not just get a new fresh start and not start any new bad food habits like so many do when they start college.... she's already heavy.. does she REALLY need the freshman 15 added to it? (or in my case the freshmen 50!)

I'm still a foodie.. The BEST part of having the surgery is I can buy really expensive ingredients because I don't need much. Scallops, shrimp, gourmet cheeses.... It's AWESOME! It took me a while to become mentally satisfied with my small plate of food, but I'm used to it now and yes, a bite or two of each thing DOES satisfy me now. It didn't at first.. I'd want to cry because I WANTED more.. I was USED to more. but I'm only two months out and I'm already content with my portion sizes so it really didn't take me long to adjust. It's AMAZING how much of my eating was driven by hunger. I still get hungry.. but it's not constant and it's easily tamed by an ounce of really decadent cheese.... before surgery it would have taken a freaking BLOCK of cheese.

Basically there are companies in the US who will help you on your journey. A Lighter Me, Mexico Bariatric Center, Ready4Achange, Medical Tourisim co among others, are all different companies that will arrange for your treatment and for you and make sure you are taken care of. You pay the booking agency and they pay the doctor/hospital/hotel, arrange ground transportation. Also, there are some doctors who don't use any booking agency and do all of the arrangements in house for you. For better information, Visit the "mexico self pay" sub-forum on this site.. just go to the main page here and scroll down. Tons of information there