littlehope126

ill also say after reading all these posts, is that people, you can defend the surgeries done in Mexico, but when you tell others not to be biased, and then you show a bias yourself by overly defending them, it only makes you look more foolish. The undeniable facts are that hospitals in mexico are NOT up to par with united states standards. If you are in the medical field you know this to be true. You can check with the W.H.O and find it out as well. To say you have the same chances as if you were in a level 1 , surgical trauma equipped united states hospital as you are in a clinic in mexico is absolutely ludicrous. Now does that mean you cannot have a great experience in Mexico with your surgery? Absolutely not. But it does mean there is the added chance that a high-risk patient will not get that lifesaving care that they may require. Sorry that is simple truth, it cannot be disputed by anything except emotional rhetoric. Now I am extremely lucky, oh and my qualification for my discourse. I was an Army Medic and Paramedic doing rescue in Massachusetts for 11 years. I was in the medical insurance field for 4 years qualifying physicians as exemplary caregivers for one of the largest insurers in the world. Now what can be debated is the percentage of increased risk that exists between the US and other countries. Medical Tourism sites would have you believe it to be zero. This is not the truth, sorry. However due to the inability of foreign governments to provide accurate data , you will never know. In the US you can obtain any lawsuits , deaths and the surgical record for any surgeon , and that is LAW. ( contact your local A branch of the AMA for more information) Now again I am lucky I live 8 miles from Boston where we have 3 level 1 trauma centers and 2 Level 1A trauma centers. Oh and by the way thy do not open the border for ambulances. That i can assure you. you do have a special lane to go into , but they still check your bus, ( sorry our term) and any medications on the US banned import list ( your drug kit) must be sealed on the way across the border. Ambulance from mexico must be stopped and the patient transferred to a vehicle on the us side. S it takes you some time to coordinate this. As a result the transfer time from a hospital in Tijuana to a hospital in California is not fast. I have many friends who make extra money as transfer medics in the companies that specialize in these calls. Now that being said. the facts as as is said many times. do your homework, if your accepting of the risk level, that that facility is for you, if not, then you move on. Be well and safe all.

I lost 150 pounds to get to goal. The first 100-120 or so came off following a fairly normal protocol. you know, sleever rules. Getting the last 30-40# off to get to goal was like doing hand to hand combat with each pound...haha.
So, after I got to goal, I stabilized for awhile and then lost more. I LIKED being trimmer than where I sit now - right at goal. In addition, I was working out so I looked fit. I feel a bit lumpy looking right now. What i find interesting is that I seem to get more attention from the opposite gender a little plumper than when I was thinner...but I don't care about that. I like fitting into slightly smaller clothes and just being less squishy.
Now, I am back at goal and due to some physical challenges haven't been working out and I have decided I want to look like I did a year ago. So.... I have decided to go back to the techniques I used to get to goal in the first place.
this time, I would like to lose about 12-15 pounds. So, here is what I am doing...
-Set a realistic and yet productive weekly goal for losing
-Write my weight on my bathroom mirror once a week compared to my goal... (dry erase markers are perfect on mirrors!)
-Reduce, and I mean seriously reduce carbs (I am already whining about missing wine!)
-Go back to doing more of my own physical farm work
-Ride my bike 30 minutes a day OR do my Julian Micheals DVD (due to physical problems holding off on my beloved kickboxing)
-Focus. Stay focused on my goals. This keeps me from wandering off track.

Day 1 went good. I got in 82 grams Protein and 18 carbs, and 1340 calories. Drank 6 glasses of Water (which is huge for me, I usually drink none). Lost 1 pound.

I'm sending you hugs and prayers, Lisa's Hope. I cannot even imagine how difficult it must be for you right now. Just remember to try to take care and nurture yourself just as you are caring for your husband. I pray that you have strength and support from those closest to you. ❤️❤️❤️

Thank you Band07! I'll be praying for you on Thursday. Please do let us know how you're doing. God bless!!

I'm revising to MGB with Dr. Rodriguez in Juarez on Thursday !! Scared and excited

A year. It has been a year. An awesome year. 12/21/12 sleeved along side my sleeve buddy thecurvyjones. I am rocking this sleeve and loving the decision to use Dr Alvarez. I raise my Protein Shake to toast all the 2012 December sleevers. Here's to you!

I've always had problems with middle of the night eating. It actually runs in my family and extended family. It got to the point a few years ago, when I would wake up in the morning and not recall getting up at night. Yet, there would be evidence that I did eat something at night on the table or counter. So, I started locking the cabinets and only keeping really healthy food in the fridge. Since weight loss surgery, I only keep vlasic dill pickles out (0 cal, 0 carbs, 0 fat, 0 sugar). Yes, they have no Protein, but I only eat them at the end of the day after already intaking 80-100 Protein grams.
So, this has been my way to still have late night and middle of the night Snacks with no guilt and still lose weight. This may not be a solution for some, since not everyone likes pickles. If I'm craving something sweet, I just shake splenda on the pickles.
I'm really not crazy. Desperate times call for desperate measures, so they say.

Squeeeeeeeee!!!!!!! I am super overly excited today I hit my first short term goal!!! <200
HELLO ONEDERLAND Ohhh it's so nice to see you.
I was in a 2 week stall, and after my checkup on Tuesday I think my body was like ok. Dropped another 5+ lbs this week, as I was bouncing between 207-203 all during the stall (whew the ups were hard). It's like a staircase, loose, stall, loose, stall, rinse, repeat....
Sent from my iPhone using VST

I love the Skinny Mocha. It's skim milk, sugar free mocha Syrup, and espresso. I get it Vente with two Splenda. The Skinny vanilla or Carmel latte's are good too.

Chike has a Protein plus energy shake that has two shots of espresso in it. It's delicious! I have it every morning. It's only 130 calories and has 20 grams of protein. You can get it at Celebrate Vitamins, Amazon, or chike's website. It comes in packets :-)

It's healthy and natural to be nervous. A week before surgery, I started having second thoughts. I got scared and started to worry about how safe everything was. But for me, I had already canceled this surgery 2 yrs. ago, and I wasn't about to do it again. I prayed a lot, talked a lot, and took that leap of faith. In the end, it's all up to you. But I can say that in my experience, once I finally got to Mexico, there was nothing to be afraid of. Medically, or safety wise.

Yeah March 18th with Dr. Lopez. Nerves and worries are simmering beneath the surface.
Amanda Rae

Really struggling to regain my peaceful easy feeling.
Amanda Rae

Has anyone GAINED weight during their stall :S ?!

@littlehope126--yes! Tuesday nights Centennial's Center for Treatment of Obesity. Call the Center for more details. Good luck. I'm sure I'll meet you there at some point!

To get a boost and break the stall, increase Protein, cut carbs completely out and only drink Water for a week.

just wanted to share something I read:
it's no secret that Water is a key ingredient for maxium fat loss. Keeping your body hydreated helps accelrate your metabolism and means you're buring more fat In fact, studies haave shown that drining to little Water can cause fat deposits to increas, while driking more can aturally reduce fat deposits. It all has to do with how your body processes fat.
It starts with the kidneys. The need adequate water to wrk well. If they dont't get it, they dump some of thier workload onto the liver. Tha's where the terouble begins because the liver is one of the key organs involved in metabolizing stored fat inot energy. When the kidneys aren't working to capacity, the liver has to pick up the slack. And when the liver is doing the work for the kidneys should be doing, it can't be doing it's job of geeing rid of stored fat and turning it into energy to the best of its ability. That means it metabolizes less fat into energy and mor fat remains stored in your body. The simple fix: drink more water.
I barely get in the 64 oz, for some reason I cant drink as much water when it's cold. I got tired of cyrstal light, picked up some mio and yes baby I am getting that water intake in now.
i just wanted to share this for those that aren't aware.

Hi! You are probably not doing anything wrong. I was sleeved on 12/3 and have only lost 22 lbs. I stalled for a week! It's all a learning curve and if you read through this thread, you'll see a lot of other fellow sleevers who have lost slowly too. Sometimes it's just our bodies. Sometimes we are not getting enough Protein and fluids, but I think in my case it's just that my body is getting used to my sleeve. I expect to lose tons of weight in the long run! It'll be great :-) Hang in there. I'm sure you're doing better than you think. How do your clothes fit?
Faith in Christ can move mountains <3

I've decided my body is stubborn but I'm more stubborn so I will defeat this slow loss. In 6 months I'll look back and laugh at how obsessed I was for no reason

Slimforme,
Sorry for all the loss your going through. Take your time in the healing process as in your heart and your new little tummy. My prayers and thoughts are with you.

UPDATE: I stepped on to the scale this morning, resigned that it would still report my weight somewhere between 200.2 and 204, as it has for the last 7-10 days. Surprise!! 199.0 on January 2 and one day ahead of my personal goal of 30 lbs. lost in the five weeks between start of liquid diet and one month out from surgery.
I know it's silly in some ways, but to finally make a personal goal AND to be in onederland for the first time since I miserably starved myself down to 170 in 2002. THAT didn't last long...this will!!!

Allnewme, I'm doing great!! Thanks for asking. I feel just fine, plenty of energy. I'm down 18lbs and I just had my first cup of coffee in two weeks. Needless to say, I'm in a happy place, lol.