SerendipityHappens

I think this about sums it up.. For SOME people they find it necessary to have the "best of the best" and when you have additional health concerns I can understand that thinking. For someone like me, who has no comorbidities and very little visceral fat (according to my surgeon who removed my gallbladder) I don't feel driven to get the best of the best.. I simply want a competent surgeon who will take adequate care of me. one thing to add... just because a surgeon is not at a center of excellence or is not "one of the top 25 doctors in the world" does not make it a surgery mill. I know there ARE a few surgeons who do crazy amounts of surgeries a day and yeah, I wouldn't go to one of them either... but there are many other competent doctors in tijuana to choose from.

I'm pre-op on 800 calories a day and getting 40-55 carbs daily. just low enough to keep me in mild ketosis.

I'm in Harrisburg... midtown.

I'm scheduled for Cabrera/Valenzuela March 13th. I haven't been able to find any negatives about them at all. I am going through MBC. Good luck.. and be sure to report back with your experience!

Overall I feel MUCH BETTER than I did prior to starting. I have a lot of very high energy days. I feel almost euphoric sometimes.. which I think is a side effect of ketosis... I HAVE had a few days where I lost all energy though. One day in particular was VERY bad..I had to call my boyfriend up and have him come to the store and put away the milk order for me because I couldn't pick up the gallons without feeling woozy.

My Gallbladder flared up for maybe 10 years before I finally had it taken out. At the end I was throwing up every night for a month. It was my own fault though. I was petrified of going to the Dr and getting surgery. By the time I finally went to the emergency room, I had a high fever, my gallbladder was gangrene and had perforated and had gone septic. I was admitted and had it removed as an emergency surgery. I was hospitalized for several days for what should have been a one day affair. The Surgeon said it was "one of the grossest things he's ever seen" ... Now since he's a doctor I imagine he's seen a lot of gross things but I didn't ask him to elaborate. I understand that many doctors are conservative and do not operate until they are certain that recurrences of the attacks are inevitable. Sometimes dissolution of the stones works and sometimes patients never have a recurrence... but where you've already had two attacks so close together, hopefully they'll just take care of it expediently. Good luck!

I work at a convenience store 50 hours a week which is definitely not a sedentary job but I've begun to sneak some extra walking around. Today I logged over 7 thousand steps from briskly walking up and down the aisles in between helping customers. I also do 10 body squats at the top of each hour while at work which adds up too. and I'm walking a half mile to and from work. Beyond that I'm not doing any vigorous exercise. Today I went 200 calories OVER my 800 limit I got stuck at work for three extra hours and wound up eating some nuts...yikes.. but that's only the second time in the whole month I've been over so for me that's pretty good... and thank GOD, I've managed to stay out of the junk food.

What are you telling your co-workers? I'd stick to the same story with clients.

Asking for the container first is GREAT. I've done this for years even with my full size stomach as a deterrent from eating too much and also to keep my left overs "pristine" It's soooo much nicer to have perfectly sliced and portioned left overs to bring to work than stuff that's been picked over and had bites taken out of it! Also don't be shy about just asking for a plate. When used to go out to eat with my sisters, we would frequently get one meal and one appetizer and split it three or four ways and NONE of us has had WLS- we were just CHEAP!... but cheap as we are, we ALWAYS tipped as though we had each ordered a meal... no reason to gyp the waitress!

Amanda.. I'm on 800 calories a day. I'm doing 2 shakes (100-200 CALS EACH WITH 26-30 GRAMS OF PROTEIN) per day and and one lean meal that includes a big salad and lean meat/fish.. Also I can have half a fruit, an egg, an ounce of nuts.. i just have to work it so it all fits into my calories. I really try to eat lots and lots of greens because they are very cleansing to the body and of course at least 75 grams of Protein a day. I don't eat any cheese, and absolutely no grains or legumes. Sometimes instead of two shakes, I'll just do one shake and an extra flounder filet.. any source of protein that is lean is good. After the first three or four days it became a lot easier to stick with it. I started I think the first 6 days on four shakes a day and nothing else. Then after that started cutting back the shakes and adding some of the real food. I just found it easier not to have to think about it at first when I was trying to get off the bad foods. I started my Vitamins now, so I'm on the Calcium vit-d multi vit, and b-12... I'm not taking Iron yet, I'll start that after my surgery. My weight dropped super fast 20 pounds in two weeks, but I've been plateaued for two weeks now so I guess it all evens out! Hopefully soon I'll see the scales going down again!

I have no plans to keep my wls a secret but I'm definitely playing my cards close to the vest until AFTER the surgery. I have only told two of my sisters and my boyfriend. All are VERY excited for me and supportive of my decision both to have the WLS AND to do it in Mexico. At first the BF was wanting me to wait another year and just save the money and have it locally but then when he read the research with me about Mexico, He agreed that Mexico was the better decision. I know there will be PLENTY of naysayers and frankly I just don't want to deal with them so I haven't told them.... There will always be those who will feel that WLS is not the "right" way to lose weight and let's not even get started on all the crazy opinions people have on Medical Tourism.

Thank you everyone for responding. Haragl, this is what I'm afraid of. I'm currently on an 800 calorie a day VLCD and have been stalled for over two weeks. I know I'm a slow loser but I'm soooo worried that I'll slowly lose down to 250 and then be stuck at 250 eating only 700 calories for the rest of my life. Oh well, time will tell!

My Home tab Goals Change goals Select custom option

YEP, I'm on MFP too. I changed my settings to higher protein and lower carb. Also my calories to 800. The only thing is that when you exercise it adds calories for you. Also it's annoying when every time you finish you journal MFP warns you about "starvationmode" Add me. I'm missjulesdid there.

I'm going alone in March. There will be lots of other sleevers there at Mi and also in the Marriott many will be alone. When you get your surgery date, post on here and there's sure to be others going at the same time as you.

Please let everyone know your experience after you go. I'm especially interested since these are the doctors I chose! Enjoy the preop diet!

Post to the Mexico/self pay subforum too, it might help getting you an answer.

That's a great idea. I didn't even think of staying in SanDiego! I had a really hard time finding a flight for the right times (and at the right price) too. I'm flying in and out of Boston. I finally checked with Jet blue and discovered that they had EXACTLY the flights I needed and at good prices... and non-stop, so I don't have to worry about layovers.

For all of you who are able to eat salads....I just made italian dressing tonight and I substituted out a portion of the oil for a cornstarch and Water mixture. Here's what I did: Mix 2T cornstarch with 1/2 cup water. Heat until boiling and thickened. After heating add more cold water as necessary to make a consistency slightly thicker than oil. refrigerate to cool. While your cornstarch mixture is cooling, mix together 1T garlic powder, 1T onion powder, 1/4t pepper, 1t sea salt, 1 heaping T oregano, 1T basil, green pepper or "veggie" flakes if you have them. 1/2 t of sugar (optional) put 1/4 cup of olive oil, 2T apple cider vinegar, the juice of 1/2 a lemon or lime into a bottle or container that has a lid. Add your seasonings. When your cornstarch mixture has cooled off, add it to your other ingredients. shake Shake Shake. Taste the yumminess.. flavor will improve after a few hours as the dried herbs get undried. Serving size is 2 tablespoons. Here is nutrition information per serving: 76 calories 4 carb grams 7 fat grams If you want fewer calories, use less oil and more of the cornstarch mixture. You don't even have to use any oil at all, but I LOVE the taste of the really strong EVOO.. Next time I'll try less to reduce my cals even more. Also, if you don't want to mix the spices, use a good season's packet and their measuring cruet and just sub the cornstarch/water mixture for as much of the oil as you desire.

What does the website say? Who are you going through?

I quit soda completely more than a month ago. I'm still pre-sleeve but I'm trying to get rid of things that might be a "problem" for me in the post-sleeve world. Yesterday I drank a two ounce sip of Fanta Orange Zero. OMG, even on my non-sleeved stomach I thought it was just going to explode! NOT what I remembered. I closed up the bottle and shook it up and let the gas escape several times and then left the cover off for an hour or so and drank it flat... I liked it. I even put a little bit into my chocolate protein shake and it added a nice flavor.

Sounds really yummy!

Excess skin is based on genetics more than any other factor.. hopefully your mom blessed you with her elasticity in the skin gene.... mine did NOT. My boobs were saggy from the day they grew in and I've had a little pannus since age 11! Even my 25 year old 119 pound sister who has NEVER been fat has BAT WINGS! Thank GOD for the nip and tuck!

Amanda, I thought you were going on the 11th?

Kudos to you for making this realization. MFP is an awesome tool.