SerendipityHappens

Our van was pulled over for further inspection and one of the women with us had to get taken out and fingerprinted and they kept saying that she had a restraining order against her, etc.. She did not have a passport and they were questioning her identity, her address, EVERYTHING. We were held up for over an hour while they did research on her identity. Can't help but wonder if things would have gone smoother if she had a passport or enhanced driver's license.

I'm 41 and I started my preop at 335.. I did two shakes(or cottage cheese) and a lean and green meal plus I could include: an egg, an ounce of nuts, half a piece of fruit as long as my total calories was 800... sometimes I'd have some beef Jerky or a pickle . I'd often juice some vegetables and have a glass of juice and 6 ounces of fish for my dinner as my lean and green.

As long as you have advanced enough post surgery to include nuts then what's the problem.... as long as you don't overdo it.. They have a lot of calories for a very small portion so you just have to be careful that you are not going over your desire calorie threshold.

I started my inital preop on December 3rd. I did an 800 calorie VLCD until I started my actual preop diet which was also 600-800 calories. I lost 45 pounds in three and a half months... on similar calories that I can expect for the first 6 months post sleeve. (once I can eat a bit more.. right now I'm at 600 calories ) Yeah, it's slower than some, but It's REALLY good for me so I'm not going to complain!

OOOOHHHH lovely breastcicles! Me too!

Mine look like deflated flat balloons and I'm only 80 pounds into my 210 pound journey and I was never larger than a C cup even at 360 pounds... Yes, they're gettting nipped, tucked, lifted and stuffed... Small I can handle, but I really don't want spend the rest of my days tucking my boobs into my pants.

We're always going to have to watch what we eat. If you are really struggling with carbs, and by carbs I don't mean the carbs from spinach and cauliflower.... but if you're struggling with starchy carbs and sugar then it might be a good idea to completely cut them out for a month or two.. they try to add them back in moderation.. If you fail, then cut them out again and start the process over. That's what I was doing preoperatively and I was having some success. I can now eat a single piece of candy without going crazy. I hope one day to be able to enjoy all my favorite foods the same way. For me I was never able to simply "cut back" but cutting them out completely for a time and then slowly reintroducing them seems to work better. Yes, I've failed on this.. and had to cut out again and start over, but it's a learning process and I'm determined to learn moderation with my favorite foods before I die.

Great show.. It's the show that convinced me NOT to do the band. The doc banded his sister and she was thousands of miles away and absolutely miserable and nobody would adjust her fill. At the time I was contemplating the band with some reservations but after watching that, all I could think of is, I don't have a brother who is a bariatric surgeon.. so what would happen to ME in such a case. I never saw an episode that included the sleeve though.

Larger bougie tends to mean less chance of reflux but does not have a huge impact on amount of weight lost over time...

Some doctors will do VSG with a slightly larger bougie for GERD patients. As far as weight loss goes, I'm going to do my best to make this work for me. My highest weight was 360 with a 60BMI, I started this process at 335 and on surgery day I was 290. I'm 2 weeks post op and am now down to 280. I've set my goal at 150 to allow myself 20 pounds to gain back if needed before weight stabilization at a cherubic 170.... at least that is my plan.

At 7 weeks out I will be starting my final phase which will be beef, pork, wild game, seeds and berries.... So if you had my doctor, you'd be fine. But we all know that there are so many different plans out there.

I started a very strict diet program three months before surgery and I know that saved me from the food funerals. I did have some overwhelming feelings of "must eat all the things before it's too late" but then I'd tell myself that I CAN have those things in the future. I did have two days where I completely fell off the wagon that I'm not proud of.. and another three days where I consciously took a few days off my strict plan (it was an 800 calorie VLCD which is not easy to stick to with a full size stomach!) But ate normally and did not binge on those days. The feelings you're feeling are NORMAL, but you need to intervene and work NOW on changing your relationship with food NOW before surgery and remember that you WILL be able to eat all your favorite foods again if you want to. You won't be perfect, and you may fall off the wagon here and there, but if you continue to be out of control, it will only mean more weight to lose later, and a more painful adjustment to the sleeve after surgery.

I wasn't injected with blood thinner anywhere. Nor have I been during any prior surgeries in the USA.. I'm told they administer one during surgery, but no injection. Also as far as infections go... I'm sure that there are some MiDoctor patients who do suffer from post-operative infections, but I have not read anything relating to an outbreak at this particular hospital that would lead me to believe that their post-operative infection rate is higher than any other hospital.

Why don't you share what you know here.. or include a link.

You'll want to check with your coordinator on that.. they can arrange an extra night for you and you'll get a discount and get the broth/water room service for free. Alternatively, You could check out of the Marriott and stay at a SanDiego hotel that has free shuttle service to the Airport. I had a long flight after surgery (flew to Boston) I stayed an extra night though I think I would have been fine without it. Still it was nice to know I had the extra night booked since you never know how you'll be feeling after a major surgery!

Bodybugg and bodymedia are the same thing.. bodymedia makes the bodybugg.. I have the bodymedia and I love it! It syncs with MFP so MFP knows how many calories I burned and my bodymedia page knows how much I've eaten.

It's really not that time consuming once you know how. I do it all the time. they also have yogurt makers that you can "set and forget" They're not that expensive and you can buy on Amazon.com

My plan allowed for an additional shake after dinner if needed. My nutritionist also said I was welcome to throw in an extra salad. She also said that if I was REALLY feeling like I HAD TO HAVE SOMETHING, I could have an egg or a serving of almonds, but it would be better not to. I'm not saying that this is what YOU should do, but that's the advice I was given.

I looked into the potted meat too but ultimately it is too much fat and not enough protein for me. But it's personal preference...I'm sure it will be fine for your sleeve, it's just a matter of how well it will fit in your overall nutritional goals.

Ok, mother.. How about, I won't try to convince you to have the surgery, and you won't try to convince me not to. I know you are concerned, but my physician and several other well qualified doctors have highly recommended this treatment for me and my research agrees with their recommendation. Getting this surgery is kind of like getting your gallbladder out.. Ideally you really should have your gallbladder, it serves a purpose, but once it starts working against you, it's in the best interest of your health to have it removed. It's definitely not something for everyone. But I'm doing this in the best interest of my own health so please don't ask me to go against my doctor's recommendation, mountains of research, and my own instincts about my body.

I was trying to lose the weight to avoid the extra charge also and right before I left for Mexico, I was exactly at my required BMI... then I had a horrific thought.. WHAT if I had shrunk over the years? So when I got there I stretched up for all I could stretch and 65 inches on the nose.. I made it... but I was REALLY sweatin' it out.

WOO HOOO!!!! Everyone seems to celebrate ONEderland, but seriously, where's the love for Twoderville? When I started at 360, Twoderville seemed almost impossible, let alone the elusive Onderland. BUT OMG, here I am at 280 and it's AWESOME!!! Accept the reality, it's REAL and YOU are making it happen!

I'm newly sleeved and at just 11 days out, I'm still in the, "OMG, WHAT DID I JUST DO????" phase. It's not a regret, but the permanence of this is really sinking in...The bulk of my stomach is rotting somewhere in a bio-dump and there is no going back now! I didn't think I'd feel this way because I researched for a long time and even scheduled my surgery for four months out so I had lots of time to prepare mentally and physically.. but still, it's different once you are through it. Am I happy I had it done? ABSOLUTELY!!!! But I also still feel a little bit freaked out too!

I am always skeptical of nutritional supplements and tend to lean toward fresh whenever possible. I'm a HUGE fan of juicing. I have an auger style juicer (Omega 8004/8006) that is FANTASTIC at juicing greens. During my preop, I'd make a Protein shake and then juice up half a pound kale and some ginger and mix it in my Protein Shake along with some chia seeds. Unfortunately fresh vegetable juices are the very LAST thing, along with citrus and seeds, that I'm allowed to add back in so I can't have any juice for 5 and 1/2 more weeks but just as soon as I can, I'll be adding it back in. Some will say go with a nutribullet or vitamix and blend.. YUCK. it's just too thick. Blending is great for fruits to make smoothies.. but in my opinion, KALE is not great blended because of all the fiberous parts that makes the blend too thick. So if I wanted to make a smoothie, I'd blend up my fruits to maintain all the good Fiber of the fruit, and then juice up my vegetables to get all the good nutrients out of them and then pour my vegetable juice into my fruit smoothies.... yummilicious.