JamieLogical

If you think people have opinions about WLS... just try telling them you are having WLS in Mexico! That really gets their heads spinning!

@@tspinks06 I looked up BariatricPal's pastics coordinator for you. Her name is @@Stacy Eckel and her email is stacy@bariatricpal.com so you may want to shoot her an email or PM for details on any special package pricing BP is offering. I had already booked my surgery in September before the affiliation was announced, so I don't know how much it could potentially save you.

How far post-op are you? Guacamole and avocados are a good source of healthy fats, but because they are high in fat, they are high in calories. If you are in the weight loss phase, then you should try to steer clear of such "calorie dense" foods. Save those for when you are in maintenance. Fritos on the other hand... not really "good" at any stage. If you are early post-op they are very bad. You shouldn't be having any crunchy foods until 3 months out. If you are beyond 3 months out, you should still steer clear of Fritos because they are pure carbs....

What does he have you doing to try to lose weight right now? 10 pounds in 9 days pre-op seems pretty extreme.

I wish I had some advice to offer you, but it can just be tough. You have to consciously work at it all day long. Try to get in one ounce every 15 minutes. Have you experimented with different temperatures and flavorings to see if anything goes down a little easier?

I agree wholeheartedly. The stigma against WLS is not only frustrating, it's dangerous! There are so many people who could benefit from WLS (as it could literally save their lives!) that are deterred by the negative stigma it has. I think it all comes back to society's belief that fat=lazy or weak-willed. They are ignorant and uneducated about the process and what all surgery entails and consider it the "easy way out". Which is ridiculous in that it is in NO WAY easy. And also ridiculous in the implication that "easy" equals "bad".

Your surgeon is ridiculous. Most surgeons don't set time-based weight loss goals and that is for good reason. There are a lot of things you CAN control, but the pace at which the scale moves isn't one of them. If you stick to your plan and stay active, you WILL lose the weight but how fast it decides to come off isn't really up to you or your surgeon.

I read a LOT about all of the doctors I was considering. I looked for as many personal accounts as I could. I PM'd people on these forums who had used the surgeons I was considering to ask them what their experiences had been. I read all fo the information the coordinators sent me. I read all of the info available on their web sites. And I did good old-fashioned Google searches.

If there is one virtue that will see you through this process successfully, it is patience! It seems like every step along the way (getting approval, jumping through pre-surgery hoops, getting a date, surviving the pre-op diet, healing post-op, and then the weight loss) we just want things to move more quickly, but we really have so little control over so many of those steps. We can't control how quickly the scale moves, but we CAN control how well we stick to the plan and how hard we work to get our Water, protein, and exercise in. So focus on what you can control and have patience that the rest will happen in its own time.

My recommendation would be to go back to the basics. Start with protein shakes for a day or two, then get back to putting protein first. Track your food for a few weeks if you aren't tracking already. And get up and move as much as possible.

To gain three pounds of actual fat, you would have to ingest 10,500 EXTRA calories. There is no way this is actual fat. It is water. As for the stall, it is *incredibly* common for people's weight loss to stall for a couple of weeks right around the 3rd week post-op. Look up "Week 3 Stall" on these forums and you will see literally thousands of posts about it.

There's no reason you couldn't have gotten out of the house a day or two post-op... you are supposed to be up and walking as much as possible. The only thing to have been cautious of is driving while on pain meds. You would have needed someone else to drive you. But I assume you are off of pain meds by now, so no reason not to be out doing things at this point. Just go slow and don't schedule anything that would keep you out TOO long.

@@SarahSleeve My recommendation for losing weight pre-op is to go high protein/low carb, since that is what you will be doing for the rest of your life post-op. You could replace one meal a day with a protein shake or bar (be careful about which ones, some are high in sugar) and then focus on putting protein first at your other meals and eating high protein snacks. That will maybe give you a chance to start finding high protein recipes and foods that you enjoy and to experiment with different brands and flavors of protein shakes and bars.

Congrats! It's getting real now! That is definitely a scary price tag. Glad you are going g to be able to manage it.

My PCP did mine along with all my other labs prior to my plastics and it was covered by insurance.

@@tspinks06 Have you looked at Dra. Carmina Cardenas yet? She was my surgeon almost 5 years ago for TT and breast lift with augmentation and I'm going back to her in September for a spiral thigh lift. She is now affiliated with BariatricPal, so you may be able to get a special package through the BP coordinators.

Oh yeah. If you haven't done so already, take your measurements and keep them in a spreadsheet. Try to take them on the same day of each month. It will definitely make you feel better when the scale is being mean.

I had my sleeve in Mexico. There is a whole sub-forum dedicated to self-pay in Mexico: http://www.bariatricpal.com/forum/486-mexico-self-pay-weight-loss-surgery/ Lots of great info in that forum. Plus BariatricPal is affiliated with a few surgeons in Mexico if you want to go through them.

It is definitely normal to not be able to tell if you are full, hungry, or thirsty. As you can imagine, removing 80% of your stomach does a lot of damage to your nerves, so you won't necessarily receive proper signals from your stomach for a while. You should definitely work to get as much fluid in as possible. It is essential to avoid dehydration. Just try sip, sip, sipping all day long. It can be hard, but you have to constantly, consciously work at it. Rather than set a whole day goal for yourself (which would be 64 oz. or 2 litres) focus on just getting a little bit every 15 minutes. Aim for 1 oz. or 30 mL every 15 minutes or so while you are awake.

I just quickly looked over some of the nutritional info. Their shakes seem to be a little low on the protein side as far as shakes go. In general, I would say most of their products seem lower in protein and higher in sugar than some of the other options out there.

The Week 3 Stall can last as little as a few days or as much as a few weeks. There is nothing for it but to stick to your plan, get your protein and water in, walk as much as you can, and wait it out. Oh, and definitely stay off the scale!

@@nikki99 I don't think it's clear who your posts are directed at. @@VSGAnn2014 isn't struggling with weight regain. She has been maintaining her weight just fine eating what she is currently eating. Are you addressing your post at the original poster?

Multi-vitamin: Vitaleph (which I have been using since pre-op as recommended by my surgeon) B12: MyKind spray (started off using a sublingual, but my nutritionist wanted me to switch to a liquid) Calcium: Citrical Maximum +D3 (initially used the Vitaleph brand that's the same as my multi-Vitamin, but switched after that first bottle ran out) Probiotic: InSync Those are the Vitamins my surgeon/nutritionist required. In addition I take my grocery store's brand of Vitamin C, coq10, and extra D3. I also take NOW Foods brand Omega 3.

I look at old pictures of myself a lot. I have a bunch up on my old SparkPeople page from when I was trying to lose weight on there years ago. So whenever I need some motivation, I go back there and look at them.