kemo46

Hey Glenn, our numbers were about the same. Read my blog www.kemo46.blogspot.com of the last 4 months of my journey ( my surgery was 5-25-2011). This will give you an idea of the upcoming events you will be facing. It is a great tool and life changer. Congrats on your decision.

I just went through this myself. I think it is more of what you should tell them about yourself. Most personal trainers are dealing with people that HAVE NOT had weight loss surgery. They are results oriented and pushing their clients to get the results, which is a good thing unless you just had surgery. I could not tell from your post if you have had the surgery already or getting ready to have it. I think the main thing is following your surgeons instructions and not pushing too hard. If you have not had your surgery yet, you should ask them their structure to help you meet your goals, knowing you are about to have surgery. Make sure they listen to you. I was not allowed to do any exercise other than walking for 6 weeks. The 1st trainer I talked to did not listen to me about what I was telling them about starting slowly and increasing my workload per my surgeons instructions. I dropped them because my health did not seem to matter to them. After talking to different trainers, I decided to go to the gym and workout on my own for the first few months without a trainer. I am going about 5 times a week right now and increase my workload each week. Do not get me wrong, I think a personal trainer is very valuable, I just think post surgery, you are better off starting slow and building up your stamina the first few months and you do not need a trainer for that. With that said, I will be hiring a trainer in the next month, I am to the point where I need their services now.

I think you will find the results will give you the willpower to succeed. My progress has kept me from falling off the wagon. I know you have heard this before but there is no better feeling than being in shape. Follow your surgeons instructions and develope a good exercise program. You will do great.

Amen, We do sometimes lose focus. You are right, we are very blessed. My life has changed so much in the last 4 months, it is a great journey. I think we get caught up sometimes in some negatives such as the scale not moving as fast as we would like. We have to remember, this is not a sprint, it is a lifelong marathon.

It comes down to two things, restriction and will power. We have all been there, we lost the weight and gained it back on numerous diets. We like to think of ourselves as discipline people, we are not when it comes to food or we would not be in this position. The people that make the comments about just lose the weight on your own, they usually do not or have never had a weight issue. To me, the main key to the surgery is the restriction, even if I wanted to eat large portions, I could not. If you overeat once, you get that horrible feeling that you never want to do it again. That is what will keep me from ever gaining the extra weight again. I think what most people forget is the sleeve is a tool, it will do it's job but we still have to eat better and exercise to get the full effect and enjoy all of the benefits. I hate it when people say we took the easy way out, those people do not see me at the gym every day at 5:00am when they are sleeping.

I love the soups there but the sodium levels are very high. I have really tried to watch my sodium intake but it is hard when you eat out. So far, so good. The tough part is smelling the breadsticks.

It sounds like you will not have any problems with approval. As regard to your Diabetes, read my blog(www.kemo46.blogspot.com), see how the surgery changed my life. You are on the right track.

I was going to do a poll but I am not that tech savy. Since you are in the process of looking into WLS, how many of you attended a weight loss seminar to get your information? If you did, where was it and how many attended? The reason I am asking is when I had my surgery in May, I just did research, replied to some ads and did a pro and con sheet. I did not attend a seminar. My sister had Gastric Bypass over 5 years ago, she said there were over 1500 hundred people at her seminar in Tulsa Oklahoma, that was a lot of people. I notice on the ads, there are a lot of surgeons that offer these informational seminars. I have a friend in Las Vegas that is now interested in the surgery since she saw my success. She emailed me about a seminar that is in Las Vegas on 10-1-2011 and asked if it is worth the time to go to get her questions answered, she said it is at a Library auditorium and the Surgeons are going to be there. Please let me know your experience if you did attend a seminar, I would like to let her know. Thank you.

You can cross the border with just your driver's license and certified copy of your birth certificate, you do not even need your application for the passport.

I hate to hear that, I hope you recover well. I had the opposite experience, I had good care there. You need to bring this to their attention or they will not know to correct it. Thank you for posting your experience there, I like hearing from actual patients and their experience rather than people that bash Doctors from hearsay. I hope they get it corrected.

It sounds like your husband is very supportive. You need to get him on the forums, have him read mine and other blogs as well ( mine is in my signature). This will give him actual accounts of the process. Feel free to have him PM me with any direct questions he would like answered as well, I went through this with my wife so I know what he is going through. I had my surgery in May. Good luck.

I agree, the sleeve is just a tool, you need to eat right and exercise. I too had my surgery in Mexico and it is a life changer. I am so happy I had my surgery and would not change a thing. Have your dad go to my blog and it will outline my Mexico Journey. As far as a nutritionalist, there are great ones online. You will do great, my only regret is that I did not have it sooner.

The best way to deal with your husband is have him research the crime statistics in Mexico and the U.S.. I am in Tijuana right now on business, it is just like any large city in the U.S., there are places you go and places you do not. I feel perfectly safe and I enjoy all the modern things as in the states like Starbucks and shopping malls. Is there crime here, sure there is, just like Dallas, Detroit or anywhere in the states. The media just blows things up as normal. By the way, I had my surgery in Tijuana in May of this year and I had no issues. Good luck and I hope you get your support.

I paid 4,500.00 with Dr. Almanza on 5-25-2011.

Hello twice Shy, I am not Suz but I did have my surgery at the clinic. You can go to my blog and read it from start to finish. You can also PM me if you have any questions. Good Luck.

Who is your coordinator? Did you tell her this? She needs to know this, they cannot have this behavior. I had a great experience there and Dr. Bettancourt was very nice to me. Even if someone has a bad day, there is no excuse for that kind of behavior. Thanks for posting.

Good for you Raine, I am the same way. Life is too short to have unnecessary negativity in our lives. Our true friends will know we did this to improve our health and embrace our success.

Wow Meggie, you look great, what a fantastic job. I love our new tool, it is such a life changer. Keep up the good work.

I try not to eat cereal too often because it just lacks nutritional value. I try to get as much protein as possible in the morning. Bacon and eggs and no bread. When I do have cereal, I eat the Kashi brand, it seems as good as any. The one thing that has stuck with me more than anything is what my NUT told me, do not eat it if it does not have nutritional value. When we are restricted to about 4oz, I want to make it count with protein. Remember what we were told at the beginning, protein first.

There were two in our group that had their driver's license and a certified copy of theri birth certificate, they had no issues. They did not even apply for their passport.

Make a playlist on your mp3 player with music you like. Listen to that when you workout, It really helps the time go by. Start very slow on a stationary bike or elliptical machine. Increase your time on them each day. Once you do this, you will see results and that will be the ultimate motivation.

You cannot feel guilty, you did what was best for your health. Why did your friend back out of her surgery? Does your weight loss inspire her to rethink her decision? Good job with you decision and dedication to getting healthy.

Hey Noel, I know what you mean. I have mixed it up a little bit at the gym as well. I was doing the same routine every day at the gym and a trainer told me to change it up a bit and it has really helped me.I have tried to shock my system with different food as well. I have the scale moving again. I knew the first 3 months were going to be the easiest, I guess we have to work harder the next few months. I think you have the right attitude, the stalls are a part of the process, it is how we handle them is what will dictate the success we have. I did notice when I had my extended stall, I went back and looked at my food journal, my carb numbers were up a little bit. I have them back around 30 a day and the scale is moving again. I got a little lazy with my carb counting because I was still losing but when I went back and reviewed my numbers, they had increased to about 65 a day. Go shock your system with a cheeseburger and fries.

I researched all the different WLS's before deciding on the sleeve. I was very familiar with the RNY, my sister had it over 5 years ago. Her surgery was very sucessful as far as the weight loss, it was the malabsorbption, the dumping and the rearrangement of her plumbing that kept me away from that surgery. There are so many foods that she cannot eat and alot of food still makes her sick. The lapband did not interest me at all due to the failure rate with the errosion on the bands, the slipping issues and all the fills. It was just too much maintainence. So to answer your question, I feel my decision to have the sleeve was the correct one.

This is a great site. I had my surgery almost 4 months ago and I still learn things every day. There is a lot of experience on these boards and it is nice because it helps in motivation and education. I love reading everyone's blogs and seeing how their journey is similar or different than mine.