andersonlj

My Protein shakes call for 8 oz of Water and an envelope of Protein shake mix. This not only gives me 8 oz of fluids but also only 100 calories and 14g of protein per shake. If I have 5 a day that is 70 g protein, 500 calories and 40 oz of Fluid. This leaves me short on fluid so I drink some water and also some diet cranberry juice that has 0 calories. I guess my questions is why are you cutting back on the water when you need to get all of your fluids in each day. I think the more fluids that you can take in the better off you are as this will also reduce light headedness as it will keep more fluids in your system and keep you from becoming dehydrated.

With mine I have just covered them with some triple antibiotic ointment and a bandaid. When I change the bandaid I clean them off with a little peroxide. I did not have any staples in my outer incisions. If you continue to have problems I would go back and see your surgeon.

If it is h pylori then take the meds. I was positive when they tested me and I had to take 2 rounds of the meds to get rid of it. If you have any other questions please email me.

Altoona here

I live in Altoona and would be more than happy to be your buddy. I am 4 week post op tomorrow. I have a revision from the lapband to the sleeve. I am going well. If you are interested please let me know and I would be glad to answer any questions and give you support in any way.

They certainly will not help your weight loss as they contain many more calories. It will not hurt your band just slow you weight loss.

Im 4 weeks on Monday and I still feel a little swollen at times. Especiall around the incision areas.

s

Just remember that you are a special person and nobody's opinion matter but yours at this time in your life.

So sorry to hear that you are not getting any support from your family. One reason I think that men get less support from their families is that it is more acceptable in our society for a man to be overweight than a woman. I know this to be true as I am also a man and people could not really understand why I decided to have the sleeve. They thought that I looked just fine. Well their looking fine and mine were very different. I was not so much how I looked but it was how I felt and the medical problems that I was beginning to have. I had hypertension and was taking 2 medications, I had some mild depression which I blame some on my weight and being unhappy and I was also becoming prediabetic with my blood sugars starting to rise. I wanted to get healthy and to enjoy my life and live longer that I anticipate that I would have if I had not had the surgery. I am 56 and just had my sleeve on Dec 11 in Tijuana by Dr F Garcia as my insurance would not pay for it here in the US. I did a lot of research on doctors and decided on Dr Garcia. I work in the healthcare field and I was very impressed with all of the medical professionals that I encountered and I was extremely happy at how clean and new the hospital was. I know lots of people that go in here and come out with MRSA. I would not be afraid to go back to Tijuana for any other surgery.

I am just curious as to how often those of us who have had WLS weight ourselves. I see so many people post that they are not losing any weight and it sounds like they are weighing themselves daily. I have been on so many diets before I had my surgery that one of the things that I learned was never to weight yourself daily. I still follow that rule and I only weight once a week on Monday mornings since I had my surgery on a Monday. I found that weighing myself daily when on other diets only made me depressed if I did not lose or possibly gained some weight. I am sure that it is the same for those who have had WLS. I would suggest that those who have had surgery only weight "ONCE A WEEK". You will be doing yourself a favor and not be so tempted to give up and have a bad 2-3 days before you get back on track. Just a thought and was curious as to how many out there weight daily or more than once a week.

I am almost 4 weeks out and I have stayed away from the eliptical as I think is puts too much stress on your body. i have stayed with the treadmill and just walking. I get tired from just that and can not imagine how I would feel using my arms and legs. I can have banana as long as it is mashed up soft. I think there is a great difference in the diets from surgeons to surgeons. Do not think that there is much standardized in that area.

What kind of pain are you having and when do you have it.....when you move around or just sitting still? Did not have any real pain with my sleeve.....more of a discomfort. Never took any pains meds when I was realeased

have you tried babyfood. the Lagasna and the Chicken and Noodles are not bad if you add some salt and pepper. I have still been drinking a lot of protein shakes and I am about 4 weeks post op. I would also try the cottage cheese to see if that helps you. I know that if I eat to fast I get that feeling also so I usually try to take just a taste and then put the food down and check an email and then I go back for a little more. There is no need to rush when you eat as long as you are not drinking when you eat. Have you tried cream of potato or cream of chicken soups. I have a powder that I got and it has 14 g of protein in each serving. They are not bad. They also make a cream of tomato,

<ul> <li>Head up and live your life. who gives a crap what others think.....you are your own person.</li> </ul>

I was tired of eating babyfood and things that have little or no taste. Today I was looking at the list of foods high in protein and I decided to try and make something that was tasty. I started with a can of Bush's Great Northern Beans, a package of frozen mixed peas and carrots and some sliced ham. I cooked the peas and carrots until tender(about 1 1/2 cup), then I took about 8 oz of the ham and cut it into small pieces, and added it into the 16 oz can of the beans. I covered it all and microwaved it for about 5 minutes stirring occassionally. It makes about 3 cups of finished beans, ham and veggies. It is not bad if I say so myself. You could make this into a soup if you like by adding some broth. I left it thick and had 1/3 cup for supper. Better than the babyfood and something different. If anyone else has made anything new to eat that has some good protein please let me know.

I too had the conversion from lapband to the sleeve. I had to have a scope to see what damage if any the band had done before they took me into surgery. Thanks goodness that I did not have any damage from the sleeve but I only had it for about 2 years. I was also very nauseated after surgery and they finally decided that it was from the acid and the antibiotic that I was getting. They started to give me a different antibiotic and zofran for the acid. I had to follow the normal diet after discharge and I am doing well. I know that you will make a full recovery and get on your feet very soon. Best wishes.

Congratulations on getting your date

When my insurance turned me down I was very disappointed as you. My brother who lives in California just happened to have a friend that had just returned from having her surgery in Mexico. He gave me her number and I called and spoke to her several times. She told me everything that I asked and told me that she would not hesitate to recommend going to Tijuana for the surgery. I work as a health care professional here in Iowa so I know a little more than the average person and I was still a little nervous about going to Mexico but after talking to Lori all of my fears disappeared. I contacted Alighterme.com and spoke on the phone to Linda who is the coordinator. She was very pleasant and helpful in answering any questions that I had. I told her that I needed to have my lapband removed and was looking to have the sleeve gastrectomy. She told me which doctors were available and told me the cost. Mine was about $1000 more than just the sleeve as they had to do a scope to make sure that everything from the lapband was ok so that they could go ahead and remove it and do the sleeve at the same time. I knew that I had to do something as I have had hypertension and on 2 medications and was borderline diabetic and they were about to start me on medications and also suffered from sleep apnea. At 56 I knew that I would not be around long if I did not change my life. I scheduled my surgery for a Monday and flew to Tijuana on Sunday. The driver picked me up at the airport and took me to the hotel in Tijuana. I spent the night there and the next morning they picked me up and took me to Hospital Mi which was about 6-7 blocks from the hotel. I checked in and they started to do the preop testing. The cardiologist actually came in and did my EKG which impressed me. Then I had blood work drawn. Then it was time for me to go for my scope. When I woke up they told me that it was a go and everything look good. About 5:30 on Monday afternoon I headed off to surgery. I do not remember anything until I woke up in recovery. I was taken back to my room and was started on IV antibiotics, something for nausea and a pain med. I can not say that I really had any pain but more discomfort and some slight nausea. On Tuesday morning they told me that I needed to get up and start walking. I thought no way but I did and walked the hall a quite a bit that day. I felt good but tired. On Wednesday they did 3 leak tests to make sure that I had no leaks and when all came back ok I was released Wednesday afternoon and taken back to the hotel. I rested the rest of the day and watched some tv. On Thursday I felt pretty good so I decided to go to the local mall and do a little shopping. They took me to the mall and I walked around for about 2 hours and then began to feel tired so they took me back to the hotel. On Friday morning around 8am they came to the hotel and picked me up and took me to the airport to catch my plane back home to Iowa. I have been doing great and so far have lost 27 pounds. Next week on Friday I am going to Chicago and will get to see Dr Garcia as he is doing a seminar there on Saturday. I am looking forward to seeing him again and to thank him for all of his care and expertise. I will have a few pictures to share when I get back. If you have any other questions please ask. There are several doctors that do surgery there and I am sure they are all good but I did really like Dr Garcia. Any questions please ask as I am sure that I left some things out. best of luck to you and hope that you can possible get your insurance to cover it. I think that the sleeve through Alighterme.com is around $5000. This includes everything except your place ticket.

Sorry to hear about your insurance. I ran into the same problem with my insurance as they would not pay for my surgery either. I saved and put money away until I could afford the surgery. I checked and the price here in the US was around $30,000. I was depressed and knew that I could never afford that. However my brother who lives in California had a friend that went to Tijuana, Mexico and had a gastric sleeve for about $5,000. Now this was a goal that I could possibly attain. I knew that I had to do something and finally I did go and have my surgery. I had surgery on Dec 11, 2011 and I have so far lost 27 pounds and have had no problems. I was very impressed with Dr F Garcia and Hospital Mi. They were all wonderful and I could not have had a better experience. You can look at his info at Alighterme.com I hope that this gives you some hope. Never give up on your dream as it will be worth it in the end. Any other questions please let me know.

One thing that you can try before you exercise is eating a half banana that is smashed up before you exercise. It will give you a boost of Potassium which may help with that tired feeling. It has help me many times on several different diets. Also have you had your blood checked lately to see what you potassium is running.

This may help you a little. The reason that you have not been losing much weight may not have so much to do with your increase in calories to 1200 but what foods you are eating to reach the 1200 calories. Ice Cream is one thing that you should not be eating to get extra calories. Anything that is made mainly of sugar is not good for you as they are empty calories. If you want to increase your calories eat something that is good for you and not made of sugar. You can increase you protein which should give you more energy and is not empty calories. I am not saying that you can never had ice cream or anything with sugar but I do not feel that it is the best choice for you when you are still trying to reach your goal. You could instead maybe just have an occassional single cookie and I am not talk a MONSTER COOKIE. Stick with your protein first, then veggies and then fruits. Hope this helps.

I had surgery on Dec 11 so you are just a little ahead of me. Tonight I went to the store and bought some beans and sliced ham. I also bought a bag of frozen peas anddorn. I am going to make some ham and bean soup and then add the peas and carrots. I think that I can make a better soup than what I get from a can and have more protein. Both the beans and ham are high in protein and the vegs have none but they are good for you. The most important thing is to get all of your protein every day and then if you can have your veggies and finally some fruit. I am just finishing up with the babyfood this week and looking forward to something a little more tasty.

Before my surgery when I had reached my highest weight I stopped going to the gym not so much because I hated to exercise but because I thought that everyone was looking at me and thinking..."God he is so fat". I have started back since my surgery but I am only walking on the treadmill as I do not want to take any chances on opening up any of the staples and ending up back in the hospital. I will be able to do some situps, weights etc as I get farther out from my surgery. It helps if you have a friend that you can go to the gym with at the same time even if you do not workout together. It gets you there and that will help you lose weight faster, prevent you from losing muscle, improve your attitude and help you become more outgoing if you have been staying at home more and more because of your weight. I feel much better after I have gone to the gym and walked on the treadmill, done some stretching and listened to some music while working out. You can lose weight without exercise but the excerise will do so much for you in the long run.

I have used some baby food and the only ones with any protein that I like are the Lasagna with meat sauce and the Chicken with noodles. They do not have much protein so what I did was take some ground hamburger and some finely chopped chicken and add them to each of the baby foods to increase the proteins. You will have to add some salt and pepper as baby food had no seasonings. Stay away from the Chicken and vegetables.