SerendipityHappens

I'm on day 11 of 800 calories a day ( two shakes, a piece of fish/chicken, a salad of unlimited greens and cucumbers and up to a cup of other fresh chopped veggies, half of a piece of fruit (except banana) and one ounce of nuts or two eggs) This will continue to be my diet for the next 78 days, and then I start my actual pre-op diet. I work in a convenience store with FOOD all around me. I have to stock chips and sodas, prepare sandwiches, hotdogs, sausages and my FAVORITE fried chicken all. day. long..... except when I'm at the register staring down the peanut chews, slim jims and peanut butter cups that are sitting right there on the counter next to me. It ain't easy, but I keep telling myself that in the future when I am on maintenance, I can still have all of those things occasionally if I really want them, but NOW is not the time... then I chug a 16 ounce bottle of water. WE CAN DO THIS!

I used to argue with my ex all the time about what it means to have self control. He would buy a candy bar and put it in the fridge and leave it there. After three or four days I'd EAT it and several days later he'd come looking for his candy bar. He'd tell me I have no self control. I'd explain to him, "on the contrary I had a lot of self control. I thought of that candy bar thousands of times and only ate it once. 99.9% of the time when I thought of eating that candy bar, I didn't do it." Normal people don't understand how much we WANT to eat but don't. The sleeve is just a tool to make us feel more normal so that the self control that we DO have can be sufficient to allow us to meet our goals!

EXACTLY. I had initially chosen Alvarez, but after researching so many other competent doctors, I could no longer justify paying so much more for Alvarez. If I had ANY reservations at all about the doctor I chose,I'd switch back to Alvarez in a heartbeat. This is such a deeply personal decision and yes, cost does pay a part in it, but cost should not override our instincts.

Ahhhh almanza I'm not thrilled with the number of surgeries he does per day. Though, I haven't heard of that hindering him. I am more comfortable with the docs I have chosen even though they're less experienced. I'm booking though Mexicobariatric and they have several docs to choose from. I chose the team of Cabrera/Valenzuela though I felt I could have chosen any of them and I would not have been making a wrong choice.

Dr Alvarez is more expensive than most doctors in mexico.. he's also one of the very best. he has a youtube channel endobariatric.. hundreds of testimonies on youtube including other doctors who have traveled to mexico just to be sleeved by Alvarez.

Tessies, when is your surgery? I'm pretty sure Dr Garcia is practicing out of MiDoctor hospital.. There are several doctors who practice there and a lot of us here on this forum are going for surgery at MiDoctor with various doctors. So let us know when you're going and I'll bet there will be someone at MiDoctor/Marriott around the same time.

Thanks Girlies! Amanda, When we get closer to the big day, we'll have to share information and come see you before I go in for surgery. We might not be on the same floor but I understand it's a very small hospital.

I loved reading your entry. Thank you so much for sharing.

WOW, I didn't even know this was a possible complication. How did this happen? How does doing the bypass help? I'd be sooooooooooo frustrated right now if I was you. I mean I refused WLS for the past 20 years because I didn't want a bypass I'd be beyond disappointed if I wound up having to have one anyway. Did the doctor give you details as to exactly what caused this? I'm sorry I don't have any advice

Just booked my flight to SanDiego. I'll be flying out of Boston on March 12 for my March 13th Surgery date. I just can't stop smiling now. Clicking the "buy now" for the tickets just made this all finally start to feel real. I don't know how I'll contain my excitement for the next three months!

Good luck! I'm still a definite for March, but I hope you get your wish!

My preop paperwork allows for artificial sweeteners but personally I use Jay Robb because it's sweetened with stevia, I'll use other sweeteners once in a while, but if I'm going to be having several shakes a day I'd rather they didn't have artificial sweeteners.... it's just a personal preference.

I'm Missjulesdid over at MFP and I could use some friends over there!

The only thing my preop paperwork was very careful to point out was to be careful with very fiberous vegetables like steamed asparagus or cellery since they're hard to chew small enough. Now PHYSICALLY that's the only thing they were concerned about... NUTRITIONALLY is another matter... I just want to make sure I'm getting adequate nutrition and losing a lot of weight.... Once I'm on maintainence, I'll look at adding a slice of of pizza here and there. The sleeve will help keep me eating too much in one sitting, but I still have to be in control enough to say "no thanks" at times when calorically it wouldn't be a smart choice.

Amy, She logged in to the forum yesterday so she IS around.... just being quiet!

Yes you can! Some doctors will do it as part of a bariatric procedure anyway. Talk to your doctor about it and see if it is an option for you.

Just make sure that the doc removes your gallbladder when you do the surgery or you'll have to make up another lie to cover up if you have to have your gallbladder removed at a later time. Other than that, don't sweat it.

I use milk for the potassium. Since I'm avoiding all my favorite sources of potassium right now, I'll have to settle for getting it from Milk. If it wasn't for the potassium, I'd be mixing with almond milk since I'm not a huge fan of dairy. I've mixed my powders in Water before and YUCK, I don't like it much at all. Some folks mix with Crystal Light and say it's pretty good but I'm not that brave...

I use vitacost.

Hello everyone. I've been obese since child hood. At age 6 I weighed 65 pounds and subsequently placed on my first diet. At age 10 I weighed 122 pounds. By age 12 I was up to 172. By Freshman year of high school I was up to 230......I continued to gain throughout my life, except when I was on a very rigid and strict diet. At 25 I got all the way up to 280 and then dieted down to 230 but couldn't get below... and then started gaining again. My highest recorded weight is 360... I may have weighed more than that. I currently weigh 330 or a little less now since I've been on the VLCD Preop for a week already. ANYHOWISE... When doctors say that you can expect to lose half of your excess weight, it kind of freaks me out because that would still put me at a whopping 240 pounds! (I'm 180 pounds overweight half of that is 90, 330-90=240. Any childhood fatties here can share their experience with VSG?

WOW. your "before" sounds a lot like me. Thanks for the inspiration. I'm pre-op and just starting my VSG journey... I'm so afraid of getting stuck at 230 since I haven't been able to get below 230 in over 20 years.

If you don't want implants and are happy being small but want to be perky, you can do a breast lift. It's basically a line under your breast, a circular incision around the areola, and a vertical line connecting the under the breast incision and the areola. I

The first few days you're hungry still, I won't lie, but after a few days you don't feel a thing. I'm on day 6 of a 12 week VLCD and I have to remind myself when it's time for my shakes.

If you're worried about artificial sweeteners and the quality of milk that it came from, Jay Robb's Protein powders are from hormone free milk and are sweetened with stevia. Very high quality and it mixes well and tastes fine. As far as hypoglycemia, I don't know, I don't have any blood sugar issues.

Iggy, I was referring to the 1% figure. It is commonly quoted around that there is an average 1% leak rate.. and I was not inferring that leaks kill people, only that perhaps someone had confused the leak rate with mortality rate. Sorry if the way I phrased it was confusing. I want to make it clear that 1 out of every 100 people who have VSG surgery do not die. Here is a link to an example study. http://asmbs.org/2012/06/new-studies-weigh-in-on-safety-and-effectiveness-of-newer-bariatric-and-metabolic-procedure-sleeve-gastrectomy-demonstrates-weight-loss-and-safety-comparable-to-more-established-procedures/ As you can see, the mortality rate sited here is .08% even less than what I originally said and far far less than 1% .... Here is another example of a well researched source showing a .2% mortality rate http://www.thinnertimes.com/weight-loss-surgery/vertical-sleeve-gastrectomy/vertical-sleeve-gastrectomy-risks-and-complications.html Yes, a variation in the rate reported but still far lower than 1% If I am incorrect please site a recent source that proves that laparoscopic VSG has a 1% mortality rate... I would DEFINITELY want to examine any study that reports a 1% mortality rate for this surgery.