Travelbug1955

I used Dr. Garcia in Tijuana and it was a great experience. Pre-surgery weight was 352. I lost 22lbs during my pre-op diet. I'm down to 310lbs eleven days post-op. So far it has been a great experience. I had no gas pain, very little surgical pain and my mind isn't messing with me yet. This seems to be a great community of sharing ideas and seeking support.

Buy yourself a Leslie Sansone Walking Video. She uses weights, bands and lots of kicking. I found that her exercise videos keep me wanting to exercise.

I am 5' 6" and weighed 235 lbs. the day of surgery, 12/18/12. I am 9 weeks out and weigh 202 lbs. and so far have lost 33 lbs.
The first 3 weeks after surgery I lost 21 lbs - one pound a day. Then I hit the typical stall that frequently occurs 3 weeks after surgery. I think my body was in shock from losing so quickly. I lost 7 pounds the second month. This past week I've started losing again at a higher rate and have lost 5 lbs.
I keep my daily calorie total under 900, Protein 80-100 grams, carbs under 90, and drink at least 80 oz of Water. I've worked out at gym 10 times since surgery, doing 45 minutes on treadmill and a few resistance machines. I know if I get consistent with going to the gym I will lose more quickly.
My typical day includes a Pure Protein Drink for Breakfast as it has 35 grams of Protein. I love the Thai-style chicken spring rolls lean cuisines for lunch (10 grams of protein) with salsa. snack I try and have fruit and 2 0z of protein, usually chicken breast. dinner will be another 2-3 oz.of chicken or fish and a veggie, or a chicken Caesar salad. Then for a treat after dinner I sometimes have a Skinny Cow fudge ice cream cone as they are so yummy, lol.
I track everything on SparkPeople, I came across it by accident and love it, it's a great site!
In my case, the restriction helps the most when I go out to dinner or its a holiday/special occasion when there is a lot of food around. The normal day to day I was already eating like I am now, as I was always trying to lose weight.
The BIGGEST gift the sleeve has given me is my loss of hunger and I pray that it doesn't return. Not to say that it has disappeared completely, it hasn't but its diminished by 80% and that is such a huge gift.
I love my sleeve and can't wait to hit ONEDERLAND! :-)

If you can bring a small pillow to put between you and the arm of the seat. Some people use it to put between the seat belt and your incisions. I flew from San Diego to Tampa with a plane change in Denver. There was a LONG walk to change gates. Make sure you allow plenty of time if you have gate changes.
Best wishes to you!

I was thinking the same thing as marfar! great to hear you are doing well....keep us posted

Good to hear that you are doing good.. hope you have a speedy recovery..

My normal size mother. Normal mother hahaha. I love her but.....

On my last leg of my flight of Southwest I found out it was overbooked. I got a medical pass for boarding since I was post op so I didn't get bumped but I was terrified I wouldn't fit right.
I sat by the window and kinda tilted my body to snuggle with the window lol. My normal mother sat very comfortably in the middle seat. The only issue would have been if I would have needed to get up and walk around but it was BWI to PIT so only like 40 min.
I did need a seat belt extender on every leg but the stewardesses were so nice about it. There was a gentleman that I'm guessing weighed 100lb more than me and he didn't need one so its all it how you are built. It wasn't hard to travel at all though! The flight back was no worse than the flight there. I was not sore or slow.

Well, I think I'm prepared. It doesn't seem like many people have problems while traveling, so I'm not going to worry about it. I did buy some compression stockings for my flight home as a precaution. Can't hurt, right?

I'm not worried about the 40 minute layover anymore. I made it around a traffic circle in TJ and that makes NYC look like cake.
For me, I haven't eaten now for 11 days (high BMI, this is my 11th day on liquids, 5th post op) and I've farted only 3 times but burp almost anytime I sip or move around a lot. Silent though and minimal pain.

I have a 12 hour flight LA to Auckland haha ... The drs are giving us blood thinning meds and I have cute pink compression socks. We've upgraded to premium economy so we have the room to get up and walk as offer as we want ... Now I'm worried about the gas - is it stomach gas or butt gas? Lol

It's important to avoid blood clots and to rid your body of any gas left so WALK WALK WALK. Forget the wheel chair .. Take this time to keep yourself moving.

I flew to Virginia from San Diego with only a 30 minute layover in Ft Worth. Very long flights to and from. Walk as much as possible while in Mx..I was all over the place. Stretch your legs/rotate ankles/flex calves on plane. Never had any any problems. Good luck!

I'm worried too. I fly home Friday into Pittsburgh with only a 40 minute layover in Baltimore.

It's good that you have plenty of time for your layover... that way you're not rushing to get to your gate! As long as you're not rushing you shouldn't need a wheelchair.. I checked my bag and just had a few light things as a carry on. I purchased some yummy Vitamin Water zero at the airport and enjoyed those very much on the plane. I flew from San Diego to Boston and found traveling very easy. I didn't find it necessary to do pre-boarding or any of that stuff as by the time I was traveling home, I was already feeling quite well. I usually opt for a window seat, but for my trip home I made sure I had an aisle and I got up and walked every 45 minutes or so... also I wore my knee high compression stockings. I made sure I had lots of gas-x strips for the plane ride. I only needed a few, but some people have reported going through many of them so it's better to be prepared.

I checked my RTD shakes in cooler bags (they contained fresh milk) along with my Bullet blender. TSA always opened the bag, but I think it was the metal in the blender that set them off. Nothing ever disturbed.
Bariatric Advantage has powdered shakes in individual bottles ready to be shaken with Water or skim milk. Easy to carry through security, although TSA advised to take the bottles out of my carryon and place in the tray so that the plastic bottle shape didn't upset anyone. Skim or 2% milk was fairly easy to find in an airport, if you can have that on your plan.

Just to add on, I did have about 10 RTD shakes in my checked bag. Securely wrapped for leakage. Put my Rx right on top. I never get inspected but when I got to the hotel, there was the infamous disclosure slip and the shakes were not so securely re wrapped. But at least they did not take them!

Lol I agree! And MSP same thing. Never cut a connection close there!

Omg I HATE ATL airport! Who designed a place where you walk two miles to get out of the airport?? Ranks up there with MIA which I also love to hate.

I had one RTD in a gallon bag with my Rx. They did an explosives screen, never looked at my Rx and that was it.