SerendipityHappens

If you don't understand why, then go back and read some of our posts... I think it's clear why we choose mexico. I'm not saying it's the right choice for everyone if you have a better option close by then of course choose it... For me, I'm going to a competent doctor who has done thousands of procedures but happens to be in mexico simply makes sense. I'm having a two night hospital stay AND I'm saving $15,500 off of what it would cost locally.

I'm going to mexico... but self pay here in my area is over 20,000 so $4,500 in mexico just makes sense... If I lived in lousianna or Texas where I could get treatment for $8900 I'd probably do that to avoid having to travel.. It WOULD be nice to have my surgeon close for followup support.. but since I have to travel anyway, I may as well get it done in mexico for much less.

My doctor asks patients to do a 1-2 week preop consisting of 2-3 low carb Protein shakes and one "lean and green" meal. It is for the purpose of liver shrinking.. he does not care about the weight loss. Personally I'm trying to lose a total of 40 pounds prior to my surgery in order to avoid the "high bmi" $500.00 surcharge! 9 more pounds to go!

Holly, If you drink isopure, check out the isopure at puritain's too. That's a great buy especially if you use the 10% coupon! They also have good iron and sublingual b-12 if you have to take that. Enjoy the snow!

I ordered the puritain's pride brand of calcium citrate petites online.. Puritan's pride brand products are always buy one get one free or buy two get three free so I got five for the price of two! The bottle comes with 200 in it and you need 6-7 per day so each bottle lasts a month.. That's just 6 dollars per month which is the cheapest I have been able to find for the calcium citrate with D3. If you're not already a Puritain's customer, here's a coupon for 10% off your first order at puritain's: https://puritan.sparkrefer.com/5z7lLq5 You can also get the name brand citrical petities at and CVS and RiteAid.. I want to say they are $12-$15 for a bottle of 200 tablets... so you can see that the puritain's brand will save you a LOT... but of course, it's pretty darn convenient to just pop into the pharmacy and have your pills today.

www.bodymedia.com It will be easier for you to read about it on the website.. The bodymedia IS the body bugg just a different name. I love mine. The calories burned that it reports for me are lower than my actual body burns due to hypothyroid, BUT It's still nice to see numbers and it's fun to plug in at the end of the day and see how much extra exercise I did. I aim for 10000 steps per day and usually make it. It's amazing how many more calories just strolling around burns vs sitting. When I'm at work even when it's slow, I pace the aisles rather than sit down and it really makes a difference

I have not had my surgery yet. I am 40 years old, hypothyroid, 5'5" and my highest weight was 360. My goal weight is 150 which is 210 pounds from my highest weight! My weight when I started considering the sleeve was 330. I NEVER wanted the bypass. If I wanted to do that I would have had weight loss surgery 15 years ago! The band just seemed too complicated. When I heard about the sleeve I just KNEW it was the right surgery for me. I don't know if I will loose all my weight with the sleeve or not... but I do know that I'll lose some of the weight and some is better than none!

I'm in love with Jay Robb Protein powders.. Delicious and sweetened with stevia. I mix the orange dreamcicle and strawberry flavors with some sugar free type of fruity drink and it's delicious. Also tastes good with some milk and ice. chocolate is good too.. I also use Isopure vanilla creme zero carb .. I like a half a scoop of that in my coffee with a bit of skim milk. Also jay robb unflavored and isopure unflavored can be mixed with your own chicken broth and it's good. when mixing with hot liquids just don't let them be too hot or the Protein powder will clump.

If the petites are too large for you to swallow then of course they are not an option for you. As far as them sitting like stones and being hard to dissolve,by looking at them, it did seem that this could be the case so I just did a test of this theory.. Both the citrical petites and the Puritain's Pride brand petites dissolved in a quarter cup of Water in less than 6 minutes (exactly how many minutes it took I don't know because I checked them at six minutes and they were completely dissolved already!!!)... and just so as not to be wasteful, I went ahead and drank the water.. Not bad the last little swallow was a bit gritty.. If it was mixed with a Protein shake or sugar free drink it would be fine with me. Also most dissolve tests say to dissolve them in vinegar.. but since we won't have much stomach acid I used plain water.. six minutes is VERY quick to dissolve.

I'll bet if you ask him, he'll let you do longer.. I mean, I wouldn't want you to miss out on anything here

Typically Ismael Cabrera Garcia goes by "Dr. Cabrera" Dr. Cabrera always does his surgery with Dr Valenzuela. So if Valenzuela is mentioned, then you know it's Dr. Cabrera. I'm booked with Cabrera, MiDoctor, Marriott. I paid 4500 but I believe he's going up to 4700. I used MBC and coordinated through Christy. I think he may also use another coordinating company as well.

It's only true to a certain extent.... Pay for quality yes, but not for the fancy trendy label.

March 13th surgery date. No hoops here.. I just had to fork over cold hard cash.

I am pre-op and I have dry mouth and furry teeth whenever I'm in a state of ketosis. Typically, I stay in Ketosis if I'm under 40ish carbs... or like now when my carbs are sometimes a bit higher than that, but my overall calories are under 800.

I'm allowed 2-3 no carb Protein drinks plus one "lean and green meal" Lean and green means lean meat and greens. I have found a way to make Soup fit into this.. I make chicken broth and then add cut up chicken to it and then put a few cups of baby spinach in it and I eat it as my "lean and green" meal. Potatoes and other root vegetables are NOT on any preop diet I've ever heard of.. I think because they are high in starch (sugar) You want almost zero sugar because that is what is going to promote the shrinking of the liver.

YAY.. My BMI is under 50 as of today which means I'm now officially no longer "super-morbidly obese" I'm now just regular old "morbidly obese" But wait... there's more........ I'm also out of the 300s!!!! 299.5 baby.... but wait... it gets better...... I haven't even had my surgery yet!!! Down 30 pounds in the past 10 weeks and a total of 61 pounds from my highest weight. Today's victory is definitely going to give me some good motivation to plow through the next month while I wait for my surgery.

I don't know if it's different for men and women.. My paperwork says 1500 mg a day.. I have purchased 200 mg "petitie" caplets. I've been taking six per day which is 1200 because I get the rest from my Multivitamin. Post sleeve I have some chewable tablets but I hope I don't have to be on them for long. YUCK. The way I've been doing it.. and it works good for me so far, is I just put all six in my pillbox and then just take one here and there throughout the day.. finishing by 7 PM so as not to interfere with my bedtime Iron pill. This helps me ensure that I've taken all my calcium and also gives maximum absorption because your body can't absorb a lot at one time.

YAY! I thought you had decided to hold off for a while... I'm glad to see this happening for you so soon! Who did you finally decide to go with?

March 13th in Tijuana Mexico... I've had my date booked since November and I finally feel like it's getting close.. only 4 and a half weeks for me but I don't want it to come too soon... I still have 9 more pounds to lose in order to meet my personal surgery day goal weight!

I'm getting sleeved in Mexico.. My doctor has you stay two nights in the hospital and then you stay two more nights in a hotel before going home. My guess is, that even if you are doing fabulously, you won't be released early due to the logistics of booking with the hospital/hotel.

Good reputation,basic hospital, right price.... I don't need the "top doctor in the world" But I want someone who has a few thousand procedures under his/her belt and has a decent reputation. I don't want to be in an outpatient facility. I want a hospital... Even a very very small hospital like MiDoctor just makes me feel better.

YAY!!!!! congratulations! I've been anxiously awaiting since NOVEMBER and still have four and a half weeks left to go.

As long as the artificial sweeteners don't disagree with you then it's all good. Personally I have to be careful of aspartame.. too much and I get MONSTER headaches.

I REALLY need to get some of this! Butter, have you used it to make a protein sludge yet? I enjoy an occasional protein sludge made with regular peanut butter and I wonder if the outcome would be the same with BP2 (Tablespoon peanut butter, scooop of chocolate protein powder and a few tablespoons of milk)

800 calorie high Protein VLCD for 12 weeks.... then I'll do two more weeks of pre op diet... I'm currently in week 10 of my VLCD and have lost 30 pounds so far.