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Getting Vitamin D from Vitamins or food is pretty much a myth. You would need to drink gallons of milk to equal the Vitamin D in sunlight. And the sunlight must be without sunscreen or windows, any kind of block. You only need about 10 minutes per day. So roll up your sleeves and pantlegs and go outside! Actually the sunlight causes your own body to produce the Vitamin D you need. The reason why there is a Vitamin D deficiency in people is because we're told, "Sunlight bad, no sun for you!" And it's not true. Like anything else, the trick is moderation. The face is different, it's a future wrinkle issue, so keep wearing the sunscreen there. But don't be afraid of getting some sunshine on your arms and legs. The medical world discovers something and runs with it without thinking of the consequences. Like when they discovered fat causes heart disease. They started telling everyone to avoid ALL fat. And we know how well that worked out. It's the same with sunlight.

I'm scheduled for surgery with Dr. Alvarez in Piedras Negras on January 6th (a week and two days!!) I'm excited and scared. I'm not so scared about the surgery itself, I'm scared about life afterwards. I guess the unknown is always scary, right? I've been doing my liquid diet for a few days now and not liking it very much. I tried the powdered stuff from Bariatric Advantage and couldn't do it. It was so disgusting I actually gagged! So I'm drinking cans of Slimfast (or the Safeway brand), and V8 and sometimes fruit juice. I found this really good juice at Safeway called Fruit 2day. It has little bits of fruit in it (my favorite is the Pomegranate Blueberry.) It comes in little 6.5 fl. oz. bottles and is 120 calories. I also tried the broth you buy at the store in the can Soup section and it wasn't very good. So I have been heating up cans of chicken noodle and then just straining the solids out. I'm using the liquid Protein bullets to supplement my protein. I saw that someone asked about where to get Vitamins. I got the gummy Multivitamins and SF chocolate calcium chews at costco. And then I got the sublingual B-12 and chewable Biotin from iherb.com. iHerb has a lot of good stuff.

I am going to be scheduling my surgery for January 2011. It may happen as soon as the 6th. I have chosen Dr. Guillermo Alvarez in Piedras Negras, Mexico to as my surgeon (www.endobariatric.com) for several reasons. The first, and most important, is that he seems to be a very good surgeon and cares about his patients. I've seen lots of good reviews about him, the staff, and the experience in general. The second is that he speaks very good English. I chose Mexico because my insurance does not cover me and I am paying cash, but I still feel it's very important to be able to communicate with my doctor. Three, my sister lives about 3.5 hours away and I can stay with her and still be moderately close by instead of flying back home immediately (just in case of any complications.) I'm not nervous about the surgery. I've had two laparoscopies before (one for endometriosis and one for gallbladder removal) and a few other kinds of surgery following a car accident, and I've always come through it well. It's not fun to come out of the anesthesia, but it's better than not coming out of it!!! (Dark/sarcastic sense of humor here.) The coordinator told me that I would need to do the pre-surgical liquid diet for three weeks. That means that if my surgery is on the 6th of January, I will be starting the liquid diet on December 16!! That's less than 2 weeks!! She said that I could lose 15 to 20 pounds just from that. I saw that there was someone who was asking about what to bring. The coordinator is supposed to send me a list of things I will need, but there are things I know I will want with me. Since I'll be staying two nights in the hospital after, I will want stuff so I won't be bored!!! I'll bring my laptop and a few DVD's. There's wifi so I can probably watch Netflix and email people. I'll also bring my iPhone so I can listen to music and audio books. They have a US phone line so I won't need to use it for phone calls. I heard from someone else to have a sports bra, or a bra without underwires. I'll bring some comfy clothes, undies, socks and a comfy pair of shoes. Toiletries. That's about all I can think of. Anyway, best wishes to everyone! Hope everything goes great!!

I'm 42 and single with no kids. At this stage of my life I wouldn't call myself a "party girl", but I do still on occasion enjoy going out and having drinks and sometimes taking a cab home because it wouldn't be a good idea to drive. It's pretty infrequent now, but something I still enjoy. I realize that this probably won't be the same for me if I have the VSG surgery, but I thought I would ask how it would change. What are the recommendations you have gotten from your doctors? What are some of your personal experiences? Do you have to wait a certain amount of time after surgery before having any alcohol? Is it something you have to give up forever? Thanks.

One of the doctors I've been looking into is Dr. Guillermo Alvarez in Piedras Negras, Mexico. It's across the border from Eagle Pass. It would be convenient for me because I was born and raised in Texas and know a lot of people there still. Has anyone on here had their VSG by him or know of someone who has? Thanks for your help.

Thank you all so much for your replies. I've understood in the past that there is a difference between physical hunger and mental appetite. And a lot of your replies addressed that. Congratulations to everyone for all your great results!!

I am starting to investigate having the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy (VSG) surgery after seeing it on the news last week (me and countless others). One of the things about it that interests me is that part of the stomach where the ghrelin hormone is produced is removed. On the news report the Louisiana surgeon says most of his patients don't get hungry..."ever..." And there are other things on the internet that state it, but I have yet to hear or read anything about it from the patient point of view. How true is this? How does this really make you feel? How does it affect hunger and/or appetite? I can't imagine that people just wake up from surgery and never feel hungry again. Are there post-sleevers out there who can better describe the ghrelin factor (or lack of it)? Thank you for your help.