andersonlj

Are you able to eat peanut butter. It has protein but is also has some fat and your hair also need fat to thrive. Just a thought. I do not have that much hair left but I do not want to lose what I do have......although it would reduce the cost of haircuts.........hmmmmmmmm

I know that I can not do the tortilla, or chips but I think that I could just do some chicken, beans, salsa and some cheese and I will be able to chew it up enough to make is almost pureed. I am so hungry for Mexican I could kill......I will let you know how dinner tomorrow night goes.

Oh week 5 here and I am eating chicken, ham, cheese, beans cottage cheese, mashed potatoes. I still grind the meat in the food processor a little and then just chew everthing else really good before I swallow. Still can not eat that much before I am full.

I will see Dr Garcia tomorrow as I am in Chicago and he is doing a weight loss seminar here tomorrow. I really wanted to see him again after my surgery to thank him in person and I never thought that I would. Since Chicago is a short distance from where I am in Iowa I came for the weekend and first time in Chicago. I am excited to hear what he has to say tomorrow and I want to get a picture of me and him together. I will keep you informed.

I have been eating meats,,,,ham, chicken, no ground beef yet as was trying to stay away from the fat. I have also been having some cheese and I did make some beans with some ham and a little cream of mushroom soup mix. It was quite good as the baby food was getting old. All those things are on my plan and are high in protein. I think that as long as things are moist and I chew very, very, very good that I should not have a problem. I will stay away from the lettuce as that is not on my plan diet yet. Also not tortilla or chips.

My surgery in Tijuana was $6000 and that included the scope for my lapband, removal of the lapband, the sleeve surgery, hospital, medications, hotel and transportation to and from the airport. the plane ticket round trip to San Diego was around $400. So for me $6400 compared to $40,000 out of pocket in Iowa was a no brainer. There is no surgeon in Iowa that comes even close to what you paid. I would have had to had 2 surgeries here in the US....the first to removed the band and then wait a month or 2 and then go back into the hospital and have the sleeve......now way....it was Mexico all the way for me.

When I attended my first informative session with a weight loss surgeon they were really only pushing 2 alternatives. The lapband and the bypass. I knew that there were too many things that I had read about the bypass that I knew that was not for me. So they told me that the sleeve would be my answer. Well after 2 years and 90 pounds down with 90 pounds still to go and at a stall for over 8 months my doctor said to me. "Well with the amount of weight you had to lose you should have had the sleeve in the first place." I wanted to reach out and knock him off of his chair. Like what the He**. I decided to persue the sleeve only to be told by my insurance that they would not cover it as I had such good success with the lapband. Well I still had 90 pounds to shed and they wanted almost $40,000 to removed the band and then a month later to go in and do the sleeve. Well I do not have that kind of money so that was out of the questions. A friend of my brothers who lives in California had been deined by her insurance as well and had just returned from Tijuana. I got her number and spoke to her several times about her experiences in Tijuana and her surgery. She was doing great and was not having any problems. I checked into it and decided to have surgery in tijuana with Dr F Garcia. It has been the best decision of my life as I am doing great, feeling great, have had not problems and I am down 30 pounds in a month. I would say that it depends on how much weight you have to lose if the band will work for you. in my personal opinion if you have 90 or more pounds to lose then you should be looking at the sleeve and not the band. Oh and another thing about the band is the constant adjustment of the Water in the band and the regular vomiting that I had with the band. Since having the sleeve I have not had a single episode of vomiting..........HOORAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You first problem is that you are weighing everyday. STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Any doctor that has been in weight loss tells his patients never to weight daily as your body can do things that you have no control over especially if you are a woman. Even men have problems with this weight loss and do not lose everyday and may gain. I know that I was very happy the first 2 weeks and then I hit the stall and even gained. I was so down that I just wanted to eat everything in site but thank goodness for the sleeve and it would not allow me to eat. I now weight once a week and feel more excited as I look forward to Monday mornings. I can also tell in other ways between weigh ins as I can tell that my clothes are loser and I can tell the difference in the mirror. I wish that everyone on her would stop weighing daily but I know that I will never convince them. It you weight once a week it will be the best thing that every happened to your week.

Congratulations on your insurance approval. You must have some great insurance as mine denied me immediately.....thus the trip to Mexico. I think that you will never regret your decision and the new life that awaits. I know that my confidence and self esteem have increased in just the month since I had surgery and lost 30 pounds. I know how high you feel right now but this will be nothing compared to how you feel a few months after your surgery. Again congratulations and keep us posted.

So sorry to hear that you have had so many problems. I did have a week that i did not have a bowel movement either and I became very concerned. I started to take some gummy Fiber chews and a stool softner everyday and I finally was able to go but not after some intense straining. I have worked in the medical field for many years and I have participated in the manual removal of stool from people that have become severly impacted, I can imagine your discomfort but I can also imagine how much better your felt once that was removed. I certainly hope that you tests are all good and that it was caused from your diet and change in eating. I am in Chicago this weekend and I am trying to decide what I can have to eat Saturday night as I would like to go out instead of staying in my room and eating a Protein shake or packaged Soup with hot Water. I have a craving for Mexican and thought that maybe just some chicken, cheese, chopped tomato and some Beans would work but I am going to think about this until tomorrow night. Keep us posted as to your test results and again I hope that all is well.

Congratulations......my surgeaniversary was on Jan 11 and i have lost 30 pounds. I too have had the stall this past week and I am hoping that the scale gets back on track when I weight next Monday. Congratulations on your success.

I had my surgery on Dec 11, 2012 and thus far I have lost 30 pounds. I just arrived in Chicago and it is my very first time here. I came to enjoy the city a little and also to attend a conference at which Dr F Garcia who is doing my surgery in Tijuana is speaking tomorrow. I never thought I would see him again and just wanted to come and see him to thank him in person for giving me "My New Life". I am just wondering what might be the best place for me to eat while I am here and what I should eat. I can not believe that I am in Chicago with all of the fantastic venues and I can not eat much. On the way here I stopped at a Subway and just got the meat, cheese and some light veggies with no bread and ate that for my lunch. It completely satifsified me. I did bring shake mix and soup mix with me so I do have things to eat but I was thinking about some Mexican.....I could just have the meat, cheese, some black beans and leave the rest. Anyone have any thoughts on this as I do want to go out at least Saturday evening to enjoy a little meal. I can always bring the left overs back to the hotel and have them Sunday as I had a fridge and microwave. On Sunday I am going to get plenty of exercise as I want to go out and explore the city. I am staying just off Michigan Ave and really hope it is nice so that I can walk and so some window shopping.....not that I can buy any clothes ;( Anyone else gone out of town for a weekend and made any decisions on what to eat. I know what I can not have and that is good but want something tasty besides a chocolate shake.

I only told those in my immediate circle of friends and my immediate family. I figured that I might get enough push back from them and did not need the extra hassle with the upcoming surgery. Most of my friends and family supported my decision that I told and now that others know that I have had the surgery and have seen the change in me in just a month they are happy and very supportive of me.

I have never vomited since I had the sleeve a month ago. I have felt uncomfortable because I either ate too fast or too much. I also do not drink immediately before or after I eat as I was also told not to. Plus I think that if you drink after that it puts more pressure on the food that you have eaten and may increase the risk of vomiting. I am happy to say that I have not vomited since I had my band removed and the sleeve performed. Hooray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm game.....but let's make this the 3 month challenge.

Well I had my first bout with what I will call "head hunger". Of course this occured when the forum was down and I needed some help. I was sitting watching tv and could not get the forum to come up so I guess I was a little bored. I was watching tv and it seemed that every commercial that came on was for food. I think this triggered something in me that said "EAT". It got to the point that I just knew that I had to get up and get something to eat. Well I did get up and eat but then my stomach told me that I was full but my head said that I should eat more. I guess I did eat a little more than I usually eat but then it was not a total bust as what I ate was Protein. At least it was not Cookies or something sinful. Does anyone else have attacks like this and if so what do you do to combat them. I try to keep myself busy at night but that is when it seems that I watch more tv and see more of the food commercials.

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for posting all of those receipes. Some of them sound great. I do not have any trouble with the chocolate or strawberry shakes as I was on a liquid diet of nothing but shakes for 8 months as a diet in years past. But I might just have to buy some vanilla and give some of those a try. Thanks for sharing your information.

Congrats......from your location I assume that you must have had Kaiser Insurance. You are lucky as a lot of insurances are not paying which has left the rest of us out in the cold with selfpay. I am glad that you are doing well and hope you are doing better each and every day.

I had my surgery with Dr Garcia and stayed at Hospital Mi. The best thing that you can do is contact your coordinator and see what the policy is of the hospital that you will be staying at.....if they allow overnight guests. Also my package came with hotel for me. If I would have had someone with me they could have stayed in my room as I had 2 queen beds. I would assume that is the hospital will not let him stay that he would have to make a reservation at the hotel for 2 night for himself and pay for those nights. He could then stay with you once you are released from the hospital. I would call your coordinator asap to find out what you need to do.

walgreens make a scar cream that I found to work pretty good. They also carry other scar creams that are much more expensive but have never tried them as I am cheap. It is never too late and you may be able to get some softening or fading of the scars. I figure that it is all worth a try......Good luck and congrats on your surgery

I also had trouble sleeping after my surgery. I would go to bed around 10:30 or 11pm and I would be awake at 5-6 am and could not fall back to sleep. I just stayed in bed and rested and sometimes I would fall back to sleep for short periods. I am not sure what the cause is but it does get better. I am now 4 weeks out and I am definetly sleep longer and better.

Glad that your surgery went well and that you are on your way to your new life. I had the nausea also and continured for about 2 weeks but they gave me meds for stomach acid and after that I was fine. I could not eat or drink everything that they brought me after surgery either. Do not worry about it as it will all come in good time. Drink what you can and that is all you can ask of yourself. Glad that you are up doing a little walking also.

Alina.....thanks for your nice letter. I really like Dr Garcia and all of the staff at Hospital Mi and the Hotel Amigo Pueblo. I felt very safe and I did go out to the shopping center and did so a little shopping. I did not buy any clothes for obvious reasons. I have not had a lot of problems with skin so far and that all depends on your skin type, how fast you lose, if you exercise and other factors. The hotel is nice and there is a casion on the main floor. the room that I had had 2 queen beds a desk sofa and a very nice bath with tub and shower. The hotel furnishes bottled water for you to drink. They also work very had to get you anything you need....ice etc. I did not go out much except the day after I was released from the hospital to do the shopping. I had been to Mexico several times before and bought some things on my other trips. As for the lapband I had too much weight to lose for it to take me to my goal. I am much happier with the sleeve as with the band I had a problem with vomiting if I ate something that would not go through the opening. I do not miss that at all and have not vomited once since I have had the sleeve. I am actually leaving Friday for Chicago and I will be meeting Dr Garcia again as he is doing a seminar there and I want to thank him for giving me my life back and to meet his family who will be there with him. Judy one of the coordinators will also be there. My coordinator was Linda and she is also very nice and helpful. Oh one thing that I would suggest is that you take some chicken broth cubes of crystals with you as the broth they have for you at the hotel is BAD!!!!!!! I also took some crystal light and I also bought some gatorade while there so if you have some room in your bag I could pack a bottle or 2. You do not drink much very fast after the surgery but you need to stay hydrated or you will get lightheaded. I always added a little extra to my chicken broth as the salt holds the fluid in your system longer. If you would like to talk on the phone please let me know. I can call you or your can call me as I have free long distance. I am glad to answer any questions. Larry

Welcome Tiffany.......I had the lapband 2 years ago and I had about 170 pouds to lose. i lost around 90 with the band and then I hit a wall that would not move and my band was at full fill. I wanted to have the sleeve but my insurance said no so I went to Mexico and on Dec 11 I have the band removed and a sleeve done. I would do it again in a heartbeat. I have lost 29 pounds in 4 weeks and I am on cloud 9. My first question for you is how much weight do you need to lose? The band is fine and reversable but you still have problems as you do with the sleeve. I wish that I had done the sleeve in the first place 2 years ago and I would have been where I want to be a long time ago. I would be glad to chat anytime and answer any more questions that you have.

You can make it just keep yourself busy. If you feel like you are about to slip get up and go into the bathroom and take a nice bath or shower. You will feel better when you are finished. just remember the reward is worth the sacrifice.