O.T.R. sleever

I did exact what you are doing. And I'm glad I did. As far as seeing food as the enemy, no, I see it as more of a burden for now. My body needs its nourishment, but I could easily go without eating otherwise. I see ppl eating things I loved a few weeks ago and think " you are killing yourself". I still get cravings but they are so much easier to overcome. All I do is look at th price and think, "no way I'm paying $8 for a dish that's 1/2 rice or potato" not to mention portion sizes seem so huge to me now, I'd be eating 1 restaurant meal for 1.5 days & that's if I ate nothing else. YUCK!!! Can you imagine eating the same thing over & over.

Ha ha. I'm from El Paso, unforetnately I'm stuck in Missouri for now, but I know what you mean. I can't wait to go back home & get some Chico's tacos & elotes.

You actually sound like you've spent some time in a border town.

What is it with women & pickles?

Isn't the will of the entrepreneur astounding? Seems we will do almost anything to get back to work faster.

Ok, well I changed the way I eat today, I'm eating a few bites (about 1oz) every 30-45 min and that's doing great. I can even have a couple drinks of water with it and no discomfort. Also I don't even feel full. Only problem I have now is forgetting to eat. <-----never thought I'd say that

Rejoice in the fact that he is cooking for himself. Can you imagine how tempting it would be if you were doing his cooking? Be strong. This too will pass

Yup, those clear liquids pass right through your stomach, so they don't occupy any space.

A desk job, I personally felt good enough 3days post-op that I could easily have done an in home desk job. I took 2 weeks because I'm a truck driver and didn't want my new tummy bounced around that much any earlier. But I think I could have done it at 1week.

If money was not a factor in the decision at all & I could choose any doctor in any country, I would choose Dr. Aceves. He is the only doctor that I have not been able to find any dirt on, granted most of the "dirt" I was able to find on most other surgeons was stuff that really didn't matter to the surgery. But his record is impeccable & believe it or not the care you receive in Mexico is more personal & attentive that what you receive here. Plus the 3 or so days post op that you are in close proximity to the surgeon is comforting also. And BTW, I was not an Aceves patient. I ended up going to dr. Ponce de leon because I felt that the 3250 difference between them couldn't be justified. Dr. Aceves works out of a hospital, Whereas Dr. Ponce does most of his surguries at the INT Hospital, which is more of a big surgury center than a hospital (there is a real hospital about 2 blocks away though).

I am finding that when eating soft foods I so far am only able to handle about 2-3oz before I'm full. The thing that is bothering me is that I seem to be producing so much saliva that it's making me feel "overfull". This really seems odd to me. I can force the saliva back up & relieve the discomfort. I know this is pretty gross. But has anybody else experienced this?

I lived on tortilla soup(minus the tortillas) & avocado soup.

Everybody is different. I was adding hot long green chilies to my blended refried beans 10 days post-op. I'm now 3weeks post-op & have no problems with roasted & peeled jalapeños.

I'm currently trying hemp protien. It's the only plant protien that I have found that has all the amino acids your body needs. Most health food stores carry it. You do have to check the label and make sure you are getting 50%+ protien. It honestly doesn't taste as good as the shakes(it doesn't taste bad either), but it is the most complete non dairy protien I've found.

Can't say I've had a major problem with that. There have been a few BM that were pretty soupy but with all the liquids I kinda figured that it's to be expected. What is your diet like? Are you doing much dairy? Btw. My date was 5/23.

Spasms? I must have missed something. I haven't had anything I'd consider a spasm.

Buddy Fruits. They are little pouches of blended fruits that are easily transportable & don't need refrigeration.

That's actually normal if you are using a shaker bottle or something of that nature. Just let it sit a couple min & that will go away.

Down 4lbs from 265 to 261. Not as much as I'd like to see, but definitely acceptable in a 0 exercise week. I've been stuck on the couch since last Sunday due to minor strains in both Achilles tendons. Just about healed now. I'm thinking instead of walking for a while I'm gonna find an elliptical machine.

I can definitely understand the hesitancy from ex-banders. Kinda makes me think, it might be even better if the banding material was designed to break down and be absorbed by the body. Kinda like internal stitches except instead of a 2-3week break down have it dissolve over 6-9 months. That would give ample time for good habits to develop before the restriction was lifted....... Just something that made me go hmmmmm.