SerendipityHappens

I had cabrera/valenzuela.. they used to be a team that did all their surgeries together. I was actually sleeved by Valenzuela, though to me it didn't matter which one did the actual surgery since I trusted them both and they both do the sleeve the exact same way and were both trained in the same program by dr Corvala.

I did book an extra day at the hotel because I was traveling to Boston which is a miserable flight even without having had surgery. Turns out the extra day wasn't needed. I felt fantastic. My biggest issue was trying to remember that I just had surgery and not lifting anything heavy!

A little more than half way through my goal for month. Did a Century ride on Saturday so that knocked out 101.8 miles. One more ride like that and i can take the rest of the month off

WOW That's inspiring.. I dream of doing a century! How long did it take you to work up to 100 miles? I started riding on 10/6 and the most I've ridden in a single spurt so far is 20 miles.

I've been drinking coffee since three days out. I start every morning with a 16 ounce coffee with a scoop of vanilla Protein Powder in it.

My highest weight was 360 with a BMI of 60 and when I started considering WLS, I was 330-340 pounds. I flirted with the idea of the DS but in the end I just didn't feel comfortable with it due to the malabsorptave compontent. I opted for the sleeve and promised my self I would my very best to make the sleeve work... I know that IF I'm not successful with the sleeve and IF I develop co-morbidities, I can opt for DS at a later time.... but there is no way that I wanted to have such a powerful surgery unless it was absolutely necessary. I felt that VSG however WAS absolutely necessary. I KNEW it was right for me and nobody was going to talk me out of it..

If I could have done it the old fashioned way and kept it off, then I would have...

Rode my bike five miles out to Boscov's and picked up $400.00 worth of too small spring/summer clothes for $43.91.. I'm starting to feel comfortable at my weight and I needed some motivation to get back to losing!

11/3 Squats:70 Desk pushups:110 Bike miles: 10 Other Miles:0

Totals: Squats:190 Desk pushups:280 Bike Miles: 30 Other Miles: 0

Goals Squats:2,000 Desk Pushups: 3,000 Combined miles:200

To go: Squats: 1810 Desk pushups: 2,720 Combined miles: 170

Blue skies, My name has a similar story to yours.. My husband, the love of my life, and the kindest man I ever knew, had a complete mental breakdown and I have not seen him since (he fled the country thinking the FBI was chasing him and that I was a spy) I felt like my life was over and that I couldn't possibly survive without him...Whenever I would feel like I couldn't get out of bed in the morning I would just tell myself "**** happens... it happens to everyone" This helped at first but eventually I needed more than that and I started looking for and appreciating the serendipitous moments in life... and there are many. Now every time I see my username or log in here, I'm reminded that around every corner there are happy discoveries to be made... without any reason... good things are just there for the taking...

I find that a LOT of the instructions given are for bypass patients. As I've read through sleeve manuals from various programs, I notice sometimes that they even leave bypass terminology in and fail edit out the term "pouch"... I tend to ask "why"? a lot.. Why? Why? why?... If it's a rule for my comfort that's a lot different than if it's a rule for my success,,,, which is different still than a rule for my safety. I've been told before on this forum that my doctor was not worth her salt because my doctor told me that after six weeks, I was free to drink diet soda.. through a straw if I wanted to as long as I didn't experience discomfort from it. Overall I'm really happy with the advice my doctor and her team gave me, and the answers they gave me when I asked "why" which I guess is why I chose them in the first place.... that said, there's more than one way to skin a cat.. and doctors who give different answers/advice are not inherently superior/inferior to mine.

Just posting my totals for yesterday.

11/1 Squats:60 Desk pushups:90 Bike miles: 15 Other Miles:0

11/2 Squats:60 Desk pushups:80 Bike Miles: 5 Other Miles:0

Totals: Squats:120 Desk pushups:170 Bike Miles: 20 Other Miles: 0

Goals Squats:2,000 Desk Pushups: 3,000 Combined miles:200

To go: Squats: 1880 Desk pushups: 2,830 Combined miles: 180

It depends on your comfort.. I can chug/gulp/guzzle Water if I want. I've been able to drink three gulps at a time since less than a week out.I never really went through the sip, sip, sip stage, though at first I did have to take it a bit slower... Now with a fully healed sleeve, I don't feel any different with liquids now than I did pre-sleeve.. with the exception of if I forget and take a drink after eating! THAT is not pleasant. but other than that for me I drink water however I want!

My doctor said soda was fine after six weeks but may make some sleevers uncomfortable so if it makes you uncomfortable, then avoid it... otherwise, it's no worse for you than it was pre-sleeve. Sounded like good advice.

I love soda. When I'm at family gatherings, I will drink a glass or two of diet soda and it helps keep me from grazing on chips. Also I enjoy a 20 ounce diet gingerale a few times a month. I don't believe that soda is a great choice for regular consumption,sleeve or no sleeve, but it's not the devil either. It is not a trigger food for me, it's fine with my doctor and I really enjoy it.

Also, I work hard to sip and ENJOY my soda but again, it has nothing to do with being sleeved, I just like to make it last. It does not hurt my tummy in the slightest.. I could guzzle it if I wanted to.

SerendipityHappens... because it makes me happy every time I read/type it.

Here I am before! I'm 38 in this photo. And here's a selfie from last week. you decide. I'm 41 and I've always looked a lot younger. Now I am looking more my age.. and I expect to look even older as I shed more pounds... I have made peace with it.. To me the youthful appearance that excess weight provides does not necessarily mean you LOOK BETTER fat. just younger. I liken it to people with ridiculously long beautiful hair.. their hair might look amazing, but the individual would probably look overall better with a cute hairstyle that flattered their face. ..... so yeah I'll take the hit in the "youthful face" department because overall I'm looking and feeling better than ever.

Bariatric Advantage capsules... the dose is six small capsules.. you can take all capsules at once for convenience but if you are sensitive, you can divide it into smaller doses and take with meals throughout the day.. there is no Iron in them so you can take them with your Calcium supplement without issue. For an iron supplement, I've found ferrochel to be excellent I take it before bed.

I am 7 months out and for dinner I just enjoyed 2.5 ounces of ribeye steak, 1/3 cup of garlic mashed potatoes, and a small scoop of spinach/onion/tomato for veg. Not a typical meal for me, but it was leftovers from a dinner out and It was delicious and sooooooooo satisfying. At first, I did struggle a bit with the small portions, but now when I put this amount on my plate it seems normal.

I know others have said it already, but what you are going through is TEMPORARY. Once you're able to eat and are able to fill up on solid Proteins, you'll have very little room for the pastas and breads that you crave. Just keep telling yourself that you have the REST OF YOUR LIFE to enjoy your favorite foods in moderation. You can handle a few more weeks without them!

11/1 Squats:60 Desk pushups:90 Bike miles: 15 Other Miles:0

Totals: Squats:60 Desk pushups:90 Bike Miles: 15 Other Miles: 0

Goals Squats:2,000 Desk Pushups: 3,000 Combined miles:200

To go: Squats: 1,940 Desk pushups: 2,910 Combined miles: 185

I'm in for 2,000 bodyweight squats,3,000 desk pushups and 200 miles on the bike outdoors and/or elliptical/indoor bike depending on weather. I didn't make my goal last month but I still feel good about making progress!

I think a better question would be "is it possible NOT to stall at 10 days out!" I stalled around week 2 and my stall lasted for a month. Don't worry about what the scale is doing, your body is changing plenty!

popcorn is a huge slider for me.. fortunately, my favorite way to enjoy popcorn is with a grannysmith apple (that I kind of roll around in the salty buttery bowl of popcorn between bites.. omg, yum).. and since the apple fills me up, I don't eat too much popcorn. As long as I PORTION out the appropriate amount, I don't worry about food being a slider or not anyway.. I mean.. I don't eat popcorn, ice cream or chocolate to fill me up anyway.. I eat it for a treat and if it's something I CAN'T exercise moderation with *cough* Peanut Butter cups... then I just try to avoid it altogether. If it's something that is a nice treat, that I can stick with the appropriate portion size and be happy even though I'm not "filled up" then I allow myself to enjoy it.

Hell on Wheels.

I love Dr. A's youtube channel too!

I went with valenzuela/cabrerra in Tj Mexico. I paid 4,500... That covered everything except: airfare, acid reducer prescription ($20.00 for a 3 month supply) Tips for roomservice/maidservice/drivers...

What it did cover: surgery, anesthesiology, hospital, preop testing such as blood tests and ekg, telephone nutrition counseling, hotel, all ground transportation, roomservice of 2 bowls of broth and 2 popcicles a day.. Maidservice also brought 2 bottles of Water daily which were not charged.

Also for many doctors they have a high bmi charge of 500-750 dollars if your bmi is over 45 or 50 depending on the doctor. Also if the doctor has to fix a hiatal hernia there may be an extra charge depending on how extensive the repair is.. you should discuss with doctor about the possiblity of an extra charge should it happen.

I'm recovered from my dog bite and back on my bike. Rode 10 miles yesterday bringing my total bike miles for the month to 90 (my goal was 300!) I'm still planning on my Halloween 21 mile ride though.... so I'll make one part of my goal at least!

AWESOME! I'm cycling.. but I had to take a bit of a break because I got bit on the leg by a dog.. Feeling better now and getting back out there. I go 8-15 miles at a time and it didn't take me long at ALL to get up to those distances. my pace is slower than yours though. I go an average of around 10mph-I can't believe you're already going faster than that at only two weeks post op! WOW!

In addition to my planned rides, I also try to incorporate cycling into my daily routine.. I cycle to work, I run errands on my bike, etc. At first I was really intimidated by hills... but now I just hop off my bike and walk up the hill and quit worrying about it because there isn't a hill anywhere around that is too steep or to long for me to WALK up!

For me cycling has nothing to do with weight loss.. it's just a fun activity that I've been LOVING.

come to my posts gamergirl... I have Cookies... er... um... I mean low-carb Protein shakes.

TexasZ, I haven't noticed negative posts relaying first hand experience about a doctor being deleted here, but if you contact a moderator by PM, they may be able to answer your question about if the post was deleted.

the seeds have a chance of getting inside healing staple line. Many people have no restriction on seeds however.. and most of those of us who do are cleared to have seeds between weeks 6 or 7... I'd say you're not in serious danger since so many people don't have the restriction at all.

I can relate to this. There are far too many choices of clothing now. I'm paralyzed with the over abundance of choices. I realize I don't know anything about fashion. I look at clothing on the rack and I wonder if that is suitable for a 44 year old man or is it for 20 year olds. I have no idea about some things. I don't wanna be that guy wearing kids clothes...trying to be hip.

As far as an unexpected NSV.....I've been washing under my belly roll over all my life every time I take a shower. I'm 4 weeks post TT and that belly roll over is long gone....but I'm still trying to wash underneath it. I feel like one of those people that lost a limb but keeps forgetting it's gone.

I've had a pannus since age 11... I have no idea what it will be like without one...It's just part of my body that I'm so used to now I can't imagine not having it.. .I actually have two sticks of deodorant.. one for my pits and one for under my roll.... TMI? perhaps, but it will be nice to downgrade to only one stick of deodorant and some point! I guess I can add that to the list of NSVs I'm looking forward to.