SerendipityHappens

I use the "swiss" brand it's in the dairy case, but it's a regional thing.. any sugar free "fruity" drink would work.. sometimes I use Vitamin Water zero.. some people use crystal light.. also welch's and nantucket nectar make sugar free juicy drinks too. The coffee tastes great with vanilla or chocolate Protein powder!

You could probably schedule your surgery for next week if you wanted to! Pick up the phone and make the calls... I went with Mexico Bariatric Center, but I called around to many different places. They all just have you fill out a health questionnaire and approve you for surgery based on your questionnaire. I called in November and could have had my surgery the same month... but needed to get together some money and I wanted to lose some weight first in order to reduce my surgical risk and to not have to pay the high BMI charge(I went from a 55 BMI down to a 48 BMI by surgery day) so I scheduled my surgery for March.

I'm not one who usually would tell you to ignore your nutritionist but seriously?????? Your nutritionist is nuts..... ENSURE??? Most programs specifically tell you to AVOID the ensure as the whole point of it is to provide CALORIES. Just look for any whey Protein isolate powder that has around 25 grams of protein for around 110ish calories.. that way you'll know that most of your calories are coming from protein.. Do two or three shakes a day plus your lean and green meal and you'll lose and shrink your liver. You can mix your powder with milk or with some calorie free fruity drink. I mixed my first shake of the day with milk (just to get the extra little sugar from the lactose in milk) then my second shake I mixed with coffee (soooo goood just don't let the coffee be too hot.. I mix the Protein Powder with 1/4 cup milk and 1/2 cup coffee then when it's all mixed in, I add the other cup of hot coffee.. makes around 15 ounce drink) Then my third shake I mixed with diet blueberry tea.. then I ate a piece of lean meat and some greens at night. My favorite brands are Jay Robb and Isopure because they make very thin shakes.. just tastes watery.. not like all thick.

Personal preference sweetie.. I like thin/athletic men.. My current BF is 160 pounds.. My ex husband was BUILT.. AND he was a marathon runner! What you LIKE has nothing to do with what you LOOK LIKE! I am the opposite of them, but they found me attractive even though I didn't have a similar body to theirs. For me it has nothing to do with self-loathing as some here have suggested.. I've never had a problem with the aesthetics of my weight and I've always been confident...(perhaps why I've never had a shortage in the men department???) I'm losing the weight strictly for my health. When I am thinner, I'll still like thin/athletic men.

I had a fine experience at Mi Doctor.. just don't be shy about ASKING for what you need.

I'm 41 and work 50 hours a week on my feet all day. I used to come home straight after work and put my legs up and cry from the pain in my feet, ankles and knees. When I gave up wheat in November I noticed a great improvement even without weightloss though there was still some pain after my shift. Now it's getting better and better. I now work all day, go for a three mile walk, come home, prepare dinner and THEN put my feet up.. yeah my knees and ankles still do ache a bit but NOTHING like before.

I should rephrase that... it was my first commercial diet... My FIRST diet was when I was six years old.

yup deal a meal was on my list.. it was actually my first diet.. I think I was maybe in Jr. High.

I tried the potato chips fried in olean.... after that fiasco, I never tried another product with the term "anal leakage" on the warning label.

I was told that all liquids that are chemically made up of water count as water... Even coffee, tea, juice, milk, soda... pretty much all liquid things except oils! Somewhere in my instructions it also mentioned to "try" to shoot for about half of your fluid intake as just pure water.. and the other half could be protein drinks, coffee, crystal light, etc.

Weight watchers, atkins, southbeach, 14 day diet, Physician's weight loss center (got phentermine from this place), Deal a Meal... uh let's see.. Oh I went to a community group that was similar to weight watchers, also I went to two different weight loss centers where they basically charge you an arm and a leg and they weigh you three times a week and pretty much bully you into losing weight.

My advice is DON'T CHEAT! If you stick with the diet after three or four days the mad-crazy hunger will reduce and you'll feel a LOT better. You might even think you have the flu... or you'll die from weakness or hunger.. But you wont, I promise. Also, start drinking some Protein Drinks now to get used to them. If you're allowed coffee, a scoop of Isopure vanilla creme powder or jay robb vanilla powder, 1/3 cup milk and 12 ounces of coffee.. Mix the milk with about half a cup of coffee.. add the Protein powder... stir.. add the rest of the coffee.. enjoy. You're welcome! Remember that you WILL eat all your favorite foods again. Don't panic about that. Just enjoy the process and keep reminding yourself WHY you're doing this. You got this!

I agree, that's why we have to research, research, research! I think the main difference is that for most of us you're going to go in the USA, you will likely go with someone who is close to you and your choices are limited.. in my case it was a doctor who charged 20K and was not all that experienced. Most of us are not checking all doctors in the USA we're just checking the ones close to us.. When you're going to Mexico, you choose from many doctors and facilities in a variety of cities to get the one that's the best fit for you. I would never say that my doctor in Mexico is better than any Doctor in the USA.. , but I DEFINITELY felt more comfortable with my surgical team than the doctor I was researching that was near me. If I lived in a different city and was researching a different doctor, I may have felt differently.

My surgery was $4,500 in Mexico.. Would have been $20,000 or more here in Pennsylvania.. My doctor in Mexico has done a few thousand bariatric procedures.. the doctor I was looking at in pennsylvania had only done 200 procedures! My price included the cost of the preop testing, the operation itself, two nights in the hospital post op, plus an additional two nights in the hotel, plus ground transportation from the airport/hotel/hospital.

when I was 3 weeks out I was eating puree'd beans with melted cheese on it, eggs, and cottage cheese with marinara sauce, lentil soup and pudding

I was 290 at 5'5" and I was around a size 24/26 pants when I traveled to Mexico and I did not need one. I just buckle UNDER the belly and then drape my shirt over the top so people can't see how ridiculous it looks with my belly hanging over the top of the belt. Arm rests also went down just fine.. The seats were 18" wide on my flight and I did not encroach on my neighbors space. Now if you are taking a small plan for a connecting flight, you may have a different experience. Some small planes have 16.5" seats... which is a LOT smaller than 18"... that inch and a half makes a huge difference! When I flew during the past few years at 310-320 pounds I only needed one once and that was on a belt that had been cut way down (I checked another seatbelt before getting off the plane out of curiosity and it fit me, it was just the belt I had that was about a whole FOOT too short!) I don't think you'll need an extender serenity, BUT if you do, remember that it will be the LAST time you ever have to deal with that!

Yup.. It's just one of your internal stitches working through. I just tugged GENTLY on them and they came right out.. the one that didn't yield when I gave it a gentle tug, I just clipped with some nail clippers (I used them fresh out of the package, but you could just sanitize them first)

I had one in the hospital and wanted to announce it from the roof tops! Though since then I've had periods of time where I've gone a whole week without one... which for me is REALLY difficult since I used to be a twice a day girl pre-surgery! Now that I'm able to eat vegetables and chia seeds again, I'm finding that my movements are coming every day or every other day which I guess is "the new normal" for me.

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.

Quite right.. Unless you're going to make green smoothies.. you don't need all the power of the nutribullet

I like the little nutribullet. you can use the 18 ounce container to make a shake or use the little small container to puree just a very small amount of food. I use mine a lot... it's great for making salad dressing and chopping garlic or veggies in addition to making nice smoothies.

I vote for a 6 ounce steak with grilled asparagus and steamed green Beans you can eat half now and half tomorrow for lunch! Go to outbacksteakhouse.com and click on nutrition information... you can check out complete nutrition info including calories and Protein grams. There are a lot of good options there... just stay away from that damn Bloomin'Onion whatever you do!

LOVE IT! Congrats on this huge milestone.. and so close to the "under 300" milestone as well! Looks like someone is going to need to go shopping for some flirty cute summer outfits!

I'm almost 6 weeks out and I can drink about 2/3 of a cup of water at a go... My sleeve empties of water pretty quickly so I just have to wait a few minutes before I can continue gulping more water. At about a week after surgery I was already drinking three gulps at a time so everyone is different. Some people have a very swollen sleeve and can't tolerate much liquid at a time at all... they also might get a lot of air in their tummies when the gulp.... others of us don't have much swelling and we are not air-gulpers! Everyone is different!

So basically, the Yes Whey! are just like any whey RTD shake.. except that it just has less fluid... and according to most people, it tastes like feet.