Stevehud

So I wanted to let everyone know I have embarked upon a series of taste tests of various brands of ready made and powder form Protein drinks and shakes. I have at least a dozen small easy and fun to watch videos up with more every few days. If you would like, you can watch the videos on my blog at cuttingthefatwithaknife@BlogSpot.com , I do not get any money for this or any sponsors or any such thing, this is purely to help me get through all this and to hopefully help others by seeing what I go through. There are no ads or products or anything like that, purely just me to you. So check it out if you'd like, feel free to leave comments or put in your email and get updates as I post them. Thanks and remember we can all do this together!

im on day 14 im down 15 pounds and I finally let my dark side creep in, I was so busy I had one shake for Breakfast and literally nothing else so at 8pm I had a whopper from burger king. SO now I know I have probably cost myself a few more days of the shake and salad barrage. Worst part is I hate the fact I did it. for the first time in my life I truly regretted eating. It really sucks.

glad to listen, sometimes we all need to vent. Glad you got it straightened out.

DO you even listen to yourself? You really think a surgeon , sits around waiting for people to com in with other surgeons issues and says WAH I dint get your surgical money so im not gonna like you. What do you think they are 5 year olds? They risk a lot of lawsuits from people who get substandard care or even good care but a screwup is a screwup and if you cannot sue doctor Mexico, who will you sue? Seriously. I have insurance under my wifes company, but her company specifically made her insurance deny all bariatric surgeries Specifically. SO what did I do,. I pay extra out of my own pay to have an insurance, for just me , a company that will pay 90% of my surgical costs. I now have 2 Insurances. you do what you have to, you have to go to mexico, good go for it. But do not belittle those who do not have to as if you are the enlightened , and everyone else is wrong.

Okay I have to be that guy I guess. First off. DO doctors in Mexico have to go through the same rigorous training as they do here in the US? Answer NO they take some pre med courses in HIGH SCHOOL AT AGE 15, then go right from high school to med school for four years. Then they do 1 year residency in a rural area hospital or clinic then they get to take their boards. Difference in training time? 4 YEARS. Here's the real reason why I would not go to mexico for surgery. If your surgeon screws up, face it, it happens, this is major surgery not clipping your toe nails. If it happens, you have no recourse. You cannot sue, you're on a self pay excursion, so if you suddenly need emergency care you have to pay for it out of pocket. All I can think of is flying down to mexico, then having surgery and two days after surgery trying to fit into an airline seat with fresh incisions, and in a lot of cases still oozing and draining. Somehow getting fluids in me, and keeping infections out, from the worlds most cramped common space ( an airplane) , yea that's what I want to do right after surgery. Be in a foreign country where my wife or family can see me, especially if something goes wrong. I also would like to bring up one MAJOR point, too many of you are acting very very childish. My doctor is better than yours, seriously, c'mon get a grip, if you cannot act like an adult how are you going to succeed with this surgery. Stop the denial, stop the oh care is better there anyway , it is al just you justifying your actions, we have all done it with food, please don't do it with surgery. If you went to or are going to mexico, it is because you cant afford it here. Great good luck. that's your choice. Do not expect others to agree with it or to somehow forego their own experience and knowledge of the surgery here in the US.

its funny at one point in my life I weighed 200 pounds, yes this was 1992, Im 5 8' and that was the last time I saw mine without the aid of mirrors. so just seeing it again will be.....enormous to me.

I do not know about others, but my weight loss team has outlawed all Protein bars because they just don't digest fast enough and can cause gastric discomfort and distress. Like I said though check out my blog and my taste tests trust me it helps.

If people think the surgery is cheating. Then educate them. tell them, say its a shame she will never have carbonated soda again or the other things we gave up. let them see the truth. then call them a bitchy shrew and walk away.

Okay first let me say, I am concerned. One A lot of people do not understand what a surgeon is. Now having been in and around the medical field most of my life, Both sisters nurses, one wither doctorate in nursing, mother was head of cardiology for many years, I was a secretary in cardiology, and an emt and medic. Here is a list of things a surgeon is not: A primary Care Physician Easily accessible A counselor A diagnostician A nutritionist A bariatric Care Physician Concerned with how much another surgeon got for his surgery, they are on staff at a hospital, they make what the hospital pays them. very good with the outsides of people, but they are great on the insides, for the most part. going to recognize you out of the thousands of surgeries they do. However you should research your surgeon, ask questions, and if you think they are ignoring you, for god sake say so, to them. I have seen my surgeon twice each time for over an hour discussing things. I made sure to ask, does he use suture reinforcement materials, does he do an inflate test after, how will he handle, other issues I have. etc. I will see him again before the surgery then the day of the surgery the the day after the surgery, then two weeks after the surgery and we make a schedule after that. Seriously if money was that big an issue then surgeons in Nevada where its average of 13 grand for the surgery would all move to Massachusetts where I am, which is the highest in the US at over 38 grand. ALL I can say Is I would never go to Mexico for this surgery, without a team to support me, I would fail miserably, and any complications, like infections etc, ( I know someone said they had a c-diff infection) Im sure the facility is wonderful, in your opinion. And to the person who said that the assumption that US healthcare is better than the rest of the world , is arrogance. I say this, The truth is never arrogance.

2new, I am in your boat except I will say this stay away from the special K, and a lot of Protein drinks, they have tons of sugar which will just make you GAIN weight not lose it. Many many protein powders and drinks are designed for weight gain not weight loss. Just because it is whey isolate doesn't mean its for you. Also gummy Vitamins are almost all loaded in sugar, look more for the chewables, there are several that have the calcium in them and Iron as well, and that dissolve fast. For some taste tests you can if you wish check out my blog, I video tape all the products I am trying and ive tried many of them, and add at least 4 taste test per week, in video form. I also have a bunch of products coming from a company that saw my blog and wants me to taste test their products, I get no money at all here, I am actually making this blog into an ebook 1 year post surgery as an adjunct to help men get past the stigma of bariatric surgery. if you are interested it is at http://cuttingthefatwithaknife.blogspot.com

while I understand when you say you didn't want to volunteer information. That's not at all what I meant. It's not like I run around saying hey look at me I am having surgery. But to the people I care about, the people who I will rely on for support either directly or indirectly, of course I told. The issue is whether or not you need to lie about it. Saying you had a different surgery , certainly cannot be a privacy issue, since you are admitting to having surgery. The only reason I can come up with is that the person believes the surgery does all the work and they will not have to do anything, so they want to make people who think the same way, that they did it the old fashioned way. Or they do not believe they are obese and somehow think that this is an admission of being obese or as I say, fat. I know that in talking to my psych person, we talked about people who cannot even admit they are fat, or obese. They say overweight, or yes big boned or, they use terms like "I'm big", or plus sized. To me my breakthrough that I needed help, was when I could finally look in the mirror and call myself fat.

It cannot be racism by the way because Mexican or latino Is not a race. The reason is much simpler, the standards of care do not have to be followed in Mexico, so doctors here do not know exactly what they are dealing with. They cannot call the surgeon and ask. For your daughter have you tried getting financial assistance through the www.wlsfa.org ?

congratulations!

The shakes are from Abouttime that's about time as all one word. And I will be doing the test tests on their products very shortly.

some things with stevia are just fine, others. .not so much. lol

Have you spoken with a mental health professional? I am a big proponent of the feeling, that if you cant accept why you are fat ( yes I call myself fat, I have come to terms with who I am and why) then you will have a much harder time trying to succeed. If you always blame something other than yourself, how can you possibly make the lifestyle change if you're not the problem. We are all our own worst enemies for a multitude of different reasons. It by no means makes us bad people or lesser beings. In my blog I used this analogy for when people asked me. If you are out running and your tired and you see a small hill up ahead you grit your teeth and go for it. That's losing 20 pounds. But if you saw a mountain front of you you would probably just turn around and avoid it. That mountain is how much we have to lose. If I climb that mountain on my own, I will never make it. But the surgery is my Sherpa, I still have to do the climbing, but he will be there to show me the way, and all my friends and coworkers are my climbing gear that support me as I climb. Try using that one and see if it works for you. Best of luck and success to you! P.S. I an running taste test videos of many types of Protein shakes and drinks, on my blog, at http://cuttingthefatwithaknife.blogspot.com (no ads, no sponsors, no money or anything like that)

I'm not being mean or attacking anyone when I say this. But why are you hiding it at all? Every single one of my coworkers is behind my surgery, they help me every day, we talk about it, they see me on my post op shakes and Protein drinks. etc. They are looking forward to me being able to run a 5k with them someday, etc. My friends, family even friends of friends, heck John Q public can read my blog! I only ask because I am writing an e-book out of my blog, and I am trying to fight the stigma that men have, where if you tell another guy ,hey I am having bariatric surgery they say, just stop eating crap and go workout more. Yeah right. But it appears a lot of you are hiding it for other reasons? I would love to know why. I do have a friend and a friend of that person had a sleeve done a year and a half ago, never told a soul well my friend had not seen this person in a long time, finally did and said how beautiful she looked and eventually found out from someone else that she had been sleeved. When she approached the sleever and asked why she didn't mention it, she responded with " I didn't want people to think I had help, I wanted people to think I did it on my own." Which drives me insane because that's exactly what I am railing against, there is no cheating, you CAN fail. Only you can succeed. I do worry a lot about people having this surgery for vanity reasons alone. Those are the high failure rates according to a lot of research I have done. So do not take this the wrong way I really am very interested in why people want to lie about it? P.S. if you are interested I am taste testing many Protein Shakes and drinks in videos on my blog at http://cuttingthefatwithaknife.blogspot.com , I am not being paid, no referrals or ads, etc exist or anything like that.

its only 1 incision but it is a bigger incision and can make you belly button look more like a smiling mouth as this is a lot bigger than a standard laproscope. I guess its a vanity thing perhaps.