Inline6E46

I've posted on several other threads, but I'm generally not an active poster. My name is TJ. I'm 26 years young. I was sleeved on July 20th. I weighed in at 337 pounds when I decided to have this surgery. As of this morning, I'm down to 272 pounds. Managing to get my 60 oz of fluids a day and I'm a few days into my Protein shake stage. Can't wait to go back to the gym in a few weeks.

I think there are good parts and shady parts to Tijuana just like any other City. However, I spent my time in the good areas. The hospital and hotel are in nice areas so you should feel comfortable. The roads in TJ are rough though so do expect to bounce a lot if you go anywhere after surgery. It can get a bit uncomfortable, but never really painful. The shopping areas are great for souvenirs and cheap RX medication. The people seem nice overall. The hotel was amazing - comfortable beds, nice pool area, amazing view from the balcony. And complimentary broth and popsicles. Make sure you also order tea, their hot tea is pretty good. The hospital was just like a hospital. Maybe not quite state of the art, but everything functioned well and the staff are competent. The nurses and doctors were there anytime I needed something and even came to check on me to see if I was comfortable. Make sure to keep your compression socks, I forgot to take mine. I'm sure I've left out quite a bit - if you have specific questions, don't hesitate to ask. I can answer them here in case it helps other people as well.

I just don't want to end up like my dad - he takes 12 or so types of medication for everything from high blood pressure, hypertension, diabetes etc. I just want to be healthy.

I was sleeved by Dr. Kelly on the 20th. Dr. Kelly, his wife, and Omar were amazing. They took time to keep interacting with me and checking up on me. Cessy (sp?) gave me a tour of Tijuana prior to my surgery. A few days after, Omar spent several hours with me getting souvenirs, lunch (broth), and roaming around TJ. Dr. Kelly is a great surgeon. No leaks, minimal discomfort, and I almost feel normal (minus the fact that 5-6 spoons of brothy Soup fill me up). Just make sure you keep pestering the nurses for pain medication the first day or two. I "tough guy'd" the pain a few times and didn't ask for additional medicine, but I probably should have. Good luck.

26, Grad student, getting sleeved tomorrow by Dr. Kelly. Can't wait

Im having surgery with Dr. Kelly on July 20th. Booked my ticket via Priceline last week and it ran me about 461 from BWI to SAN. In terms of exercise, I started out at 337 and hit the gym. Ive been fluctuating between 290 and 296 for the last week or two. I do about 3-4 miles and mix my cardio with weight training.

Hey Lissa, thanks for the tip! I'm limited by the amount of reps I can do.in one minute. Keeping proper form and enough speed, I can usually do 25-30 reps in a minute. Circuit training revolves around rotating exercises every minute with no pause and break. For example, I do a minute of bicep curls, minute of cardio, minute of lateral presses, minute of cardio etc. The entire "circuit" takes me 23 minutes and I do 2 of those. So I can't really increase reps, but I can increase weight which is what I've been doing. And considering I do 2 circuits, I do about 50-60 reps total. 25-30 of them are continuous. As far as diet is concerned, I know I should cut out the bread completely, but if I do, I feel starved until lunch. The bread kinda helps to curb the hunger. Maybe I can eliminate one slice and see how that goes.

Quick update. Currently still carrying on with circuit training, but I've eliminated leg exercises completely. If I do leg exercises, I find that I can't do elliptical after. I've also upped the weight several times on most of the machines. Eventually, when I build up some more strength, I will move over to free weights. On the elliptical, I can generally pound out 3 miles in 40 mins on resistance 3. I try to stay at about 70% of max heart rate. In fact, its getting harder to get my heart rate up which is why I upped the resistance in the first place. I was hopping on and had trouble breaking HR of 135 25 minutes in. As far as the weight loss goes, I was 311 on the day that I started and I'm currently at 293. I thought I would lose weight quicker, but I must be building muscle too (I must be insane, but I swear I can feel muscle). Diet is as follows: Breakfast: 2 eggs over medium, 2 wheat toast, 1 tbsp salsa Snack: fresh fruit Lunch: a la carte salad from cafeteria at work - romaine lettuce, chicken, carrots, kidney Beans, onion, parmesean cheese, and fat free Italian dressing Snack: 1/3 cup raw almonds Pre workout - Powerbar Post workout (M,W,F) - muscle milk Dinner: Chicken, Broccoli, Salsa Myfitnesspal usually puts my caloric intake at 1750-1900 calories a day and I usually burn between 750-800 a day at the gym. Workout schedule: Mon, Wed, Fri- 2x Circuit (23 mins per circuit), 15-20 mins elliptical Tues, Thur - 45 minutes elliptical For weight machines, I'm up to about 75 pounds for most machines and I can do those continuously for the entire minute. I started off at 30 pounds. I try going up one weight every week especially if I don't hit the point of failure. Looking for criticism (constructive or otherwise), comments, concerns etc.

What a huge change in less than half a year! Congrats!

When I had surgery for my deviated septum, they knocked me out. It was funny because they told me to count back from 10 and I actually made it to 0. That's what they say anyways. It shouldn't be a huge deal, don't fret!

You made this decision for the betterment of yourself which directly benefits your family. I think thats motivation enough. You'll make it through just fine, I'm sure of it. Chin up!

8 year smoker. I quit this past February with the aid of Chantix. Smoked for the first 2 weeks on the drug, then stopped. I only get a mild urge to smoke when I drink, but I've cut back on the drinking too so win/win. Some people hate the crazy dreams but I loved them.

I've confirmed that I can use short term disability, but they're making me burn 3 personal days. Not a huge deal since I've used no vacation time and I've worked every holiday this year.

Like Lissa said, Just Do It. My surgery is scheduled for July 20th and I'm hitting the gym 5 times a week. When I first went to the gym, my body hated it for about a week. After that first week though, working out got easier. I was building strength and stamina. Also, it helps to make a friend or two while you're there. Ask the staff for guidance and help if you need it. I've got a couple work out buddies now and its kinda fun. Just take that first step - its worth it.

I've been using myfitnesspal to keep track of calorie intake, Protein, carbs, fat, and exercise. I'm intaking about 1400 calories (~15g fat, 160g+ protein, and ~35g carb). Also doing about 80 oz of Water a day. It seems I'm burning 5-800 calories at the gym. In terms of weight loss, I'm doing phenomenal - about a pound a day. Though I have no idea how much muscle I'm gaining (if any). Of course, time will tell if what I'm doing is paying off or not, but I feel like I'm on the right track. I've been reading your comments too (quoting/multiquoting on a phone is stupid though) and it seems like I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing. I doubt I'm gonna walk 5 miles through Vegas after surgery though. I do love me some blackjack in AC though...

So after several consultant with my Nutritionist and personal trainer roomie, I have decided to start off with medium intensity circuit training and cardio. Keep in mind, I'm not sleeved and I haven't exercised seriously in 10 years. Our plan is to spend a month getting me to a point where I can do high intensity circuit training and 30+ minutes of cardio. So 3 days (mon, wed, fri) of circuit training and cardio and 2 days (tue, thur) of pure cardio. From there, we replace 2 of the circuit training days with weight training days to build muscle. The other day will still be for circuit training to build strength. I've already been doing this since Monday. At 300+ lbs, its definitely not easy to keep up the pace, but giving up is not an option. Thoughts?

It depends on how elastic your skin around the stomach area is, and that depends on so many other factors. The short answer; probably not without a tummy tuck. I know for a fact that I won't have abs until I have surgery to remove and tighten loose skin. And that's fine with me. Oh, and as for your bikini fears (coming from a guy who exclusivley dates petite (as in 5ft ish) Latina women) you will look amazing even with the stretch marks. Besides, you're Latina, guys aren't staring above your hips anyhow!!! Just take it one step at a time

Decided not to go the insurance route because their surgery date would interfere with my heavy college curriculum next semester (my last semester yay!). I've been speaking with Omar and he's done an awesome job so far. I haven't had many questions because most of them have already been answered either on this board or through my own research. Anyone else going around then?

One of my coworkers is an amateur body builder. He's one of 2 people at work who know that I will be taking the surgical route. He and I got into an interesting discussion on how body builders bulk and cut before a competition. He mentioned that since I would be getting surgery, it would be interesting to see if getting some muscle before surgery would counter the muscle loss usually sustained after surgery. I'm doing this for my own health, but I had to.admit, this was a pretty interesting concept. Work out as hard as my body will allow and then the surgery do the cutting? It would help fill out a lot of loose skin, that's for sure. Thoughts?

I definitely understand where you're coming from. I'm a big guy and not so manly in the chest area. Everyone I have told about my intention to get WLS has been a downer (except one coworker who has already had WLS). I've been told its the easy way out, that all I need is diet and exercise, etc etc. While I understand where they are coming from, none of them have been morbidly obese (losing those extra 10 pounds isn't anything compared to losing ten times that much). So, all I do is nod and continue doing what my nutritionist tells me to do. I follow my diet and exercise routine (about 99%) and ignore what anyone else thinks. This is a personal decision for me, just as it is for you. We are making the decision to be healthy. Some people may not see eye to eye with us on how we get it done, but they have not lived in our bodies or lived our life. So stay strong. This forum is great for support and there are a thousand and one posts that keep me motivated to stay on track. So just try to stay positive. If you need support, this forum is there. Don't let anyone else tell you how to live your life, that right belongs to you and you alone. Don't get discouraged, just brush it off.

Present. Not officially sleeved yet, and I dont even have a date - just a bunch of insurance stuff with Kaiser right now. But it looks promising.

Title says it all - im getting insured with Aetna on 12/27 and I need to finish my enrollment in the next week or two. Im still getting packets and paperwork and im a little lost. For those of you who do have Aetna, would you share some plan details? I dont need your insurance ID, numbers etc - just some basic information such as whether you have PPO or H MO and what selections you have. I know it varies from employer to employer, but having this kind of information on hand would be amazing. Edit: *** censored? =(