atroglet

I have not been on this forum for a while, have been really busy getting ready for my surgery and now I'm here in beautiful Tijuana and it's done. I want to tell everyone how wonderful the whole team of Baja bariatrics have been to me. Florence Hospital care was supreme, the facility is nice and the nurses here are so attentive and kind. The surgical team is superb and Omar Lliles Acosta who is the coordinator for Dr Illan makes sure of it. His number one priority is patient care and maintaining there record of zero complications. I came alone and he was there right by my side when I awoke. After the surgery when you are released from the hospital, he will take you to the amazingly beautiful Hotel Lucerna ! Omar will make sure you have broth, Gatorade, Water and anything else you might need and he will take you sight seeing and shopping for souvenirs as well. This is something that you truly do not get with other companies. Dr Illan is an amazing surgeon, I had a lot of scar tissue from a previous surgery and he was totally prepared to handle that. Because he is also a well experienced trauma surgeon, that made me feel secure knowing he could handle my situation with ease. I did months and months of research and I know without a doubt that I made the right decision to choose not just this Dr but this team at Baja Bariatrics. If any one is considering surgery I encourage you to check them out, you can go to their web site and join the Facebook group of Team Illan. The support I received from his patients/ fellow sleevers is like none other. We are like a family and continue in our support for new patients and those who are considering having there surgery done here in Tijuana MX. If any one has a question, feel free to send me a message and I will do my best to reply.

I'm having surgery Friday. For me, I just had to get my head in the game. This is serious business, major surgery. You have to work at it. Yesterday, I was at Walmart. I walked in and all I could smell was McDonalds Breakfast burrito. I wanted it so bad. I thought to myself that no one would know. I walked away. I want better and I deserve better. I came home and had a Protein shake with PB2. You have to be honest with yourself. If you want this, it's up to you to achieve it. I'm committed 100%. I will succeed.
Good luck to you. Take a good long look at yourself. You gain weight by eating. I think we all know that, but it is hard to admit and change.

I practice saying no to my family with fast foods. They want to go buy fast food, then they can, I myself will not do it. I know that the food at fast food places are total cr** and I don't want to slip into my addiction of food.....I am working on eating clean. I do say no to fast foods or will find something that's healthy if I'm really crazed......I do say no to getting up and chasing down a head hunger that I may have or my family.....it's hard and I have felt guilty in the past....but no more.....
I did have a craving for a Taco Bell taco about 6 weeks post op. I bought one and was shocked that the stupid taco was over $1 and when I actually took a bite. It was horrible.....the shell was stale and dry, and not much of anything in it. I have never had another thought about fast food since. I am appalled at it now. My adult children love to eat out all the time and I'm watching them gain weight from it too. They know it, but still can't stop buying it. It really saddens me to the core, but it's their choice and I have no control over that..... So for the rambling........

There's another concept here…that is that the only person who can really sabotage your weight loss efforts is you.
I'm the main cook and bottle washer for my family. My husband is appealing a decision by the insurance company against weight loss surgery, but has been a little crazy with the kids since that point.
Look, just because someone orders pizza doesn't mean you have to eat it. Or even stay in the house while they do. Just because your husband wants Del Taco at 8 doesn't mean you have to drive him there. And yes, I TOTALLY get that you don't want him driving impaired. On the other hand, you're not the boss of him. If you see the first 2-3 pages of the Enabling thread, before it jumps the shark, these behaviors are what got us all to the point of WLS.
There's nothing that is harder at first than saying no to the people you love. My husband in particular is a pouter if everything is not just so. He also pouts that I have "gotten a jump on him" in WLS, and complains about how unfair it is. But I refuse to let that influence me off the path I have chosen.
Marfar, I know you're working through all this. But saying no to yourself is also important. Substitute! Make the drive but don't order something. Or, have your excuse ready and stick to your guns. The other night I was asked by a bunch of friends to go out and have a drink. I was just recently cleared for alcohol in very small amounts and I really enjoy the odd cocktail here or there. But I hadn't had a drink yet since surgery and I knew it wouldn't be putting me in an ideal situation. I said no, but it wasn't easy because I got the whole, "Oh, come on! One drink with us. It'll be fun! You've worked so hard." It's like they were the voices in my head. But I left. And it really wasn't hard to not have a drink when I was home and in a situation that I control. You know?
I know it sucks to be in a situation that you need to weigh the long term outcome vs the short term "benefits" but it is a muscle like any other and it needs to be exercised in order for it to work properly. We fatties are brilliant at ignoring the long term in favor of gratification. But we can change. And unfortunately, that change often needs to happen in spite of what is going on around us, or who supports us.

I'm almost 6 wks post op & I had minimal pain when I woke up in recovery. Minimal pain at home, to this day have never vomited, had nausea, diarrhea or Constipation. No food I've introduced has disagreed with me. I couldn't have asked for a better recovery! I went back to work after 2 weeks off. I was tired at first but that went away as I was able to take in more Protein. My only complaint was I got a UTI from the catheter in the hospital but that really wasn't anything antibiotics couldn't handle. good luck to you I hope your experience is just as great!

Please, please, please don't keep this to yourself. Speak to your doctor ASAP. The thread is a lark, true confessions, but we're just having fun. Yours is super serious and you need to talk to someone before your life is in serious danger. Do Not Wait!
My heart is breaking for you.

The standard sleeve has a 1 meatball limit. You have to upgrade to the multiple meatball deluxe version.

Mine was 1 week of each - clear liquids, full liquids, purees, then soft foods, then full foods

Had my surgery yesterday around 5. Did my leak test this morning. All is fine. I was given Gatorade this afternoon. It tasted sooo good after having fasted for so long for the surgery. Looking forward to starting the rest of my journey. Next post will be a long one detailing my experience here in Mexico for those who have not yet been through this.

On October 10 2012 I started my new life path and it def has been a hard one weight loss was great but so many things in life changed it wasn't funny infection and separating from my wife. I hope this year is better than the last. My sw 451 and weight as of today 241. 210lbs later def feel different. I went from 56 pants to as 36-38 and shirts 5-6x to 1-2x lost one shoe size. Went from taking 5 blood pressure pills and 2 diuretics to none and blood work perfect.

If you want the ultimate Medical Tourist experience go with Dr. Illan's team. They use florence Hospital- no strip mall.- excellent nurses. He has a Facebook support group- go to Baja Bariatrics to join. This group is very active and will answer all of your questions and cheer you on.
My SD was 10/10/13.

AKA... To go in search of the answer one WANTS to hear instead of the answer many EXPERIENCED and historically SUPPORTIVE people who have taken the time to thoughtfully compose from experience.
Great idea!

Everyone here is different but the commonality is that we are sleeved. I averaged 400-500 calories a day for the first 6 months or so. Its all I could eat. I never worried about it. I had good success and it did slow down after the first three months. My surgeon didnt worry about it either and they never pushed me to eat more calories. It gradually increased as I could hold more food. I was 100% successful in my weight loss and hit my goal at 13 months post op. The moral is.. do not make it your GOAL to eat a prescribed amount of calories. Shoot for as much Protein as possible 70-100 grams and that's it. No need to push it. You will not be as successful as you could be if you do that. I am shocked you can hold 1100 calories right now unless its high calorie Protein Shakes. I have a friend who is also sleeved and her doctor harps on her about not eating enough. I think its all BS. I think you should eat protein first and not worry about calories. Lets face it, If you are eating lean meat, cheese, etc.. good protein sources, there is no room in there for carby foods and junk or anything else really. You cannot really compare how you eat now to how you used to eat presleeved. Its totally different and your body is now totally different. If you get enough protein and hydration, you will not feel weak even if it seems impossible to live on that few of calories. I didnt purposefully eat so few. I ate protein and I could not hold much. I was so full I was nearly sick each time I ate. I only snacked on protein as well. I ate no bread or Pasta or rice because it filled me up with one or two bites and made me uncomfortable. Good luck to you and I think that you should try to stick to mostly protein and always eat the protein first. Dont worry about calories, only protein. The weight will come off as long as you are following that simple rule. Good luck to you! You can do this!

It's my thought that you are working yourself up into a frustrated fury and while it's understandable emotionally, it's a tad premature.
You lost a ton of weight pre-op and that's going to slow your weight loss after. You are also approaching that three month stall period. I "only" lost 20 pounds pre-op and I hit my three month stall at about 2.5 months. It lasted 28 days and in that time I fluctuated up and down by about 5 pounds. In that month, I lost 3 pounds but my body size continued to shrink. I ran a few 5ks, hiked a LOT, got in ton of kickboxing and martial arts classes and added calories, decreased calories, starved, gorged... My body did what it wanted WHEN it wanted.
Like you, I tallied everything; calories consumed, estimated calories burned, carbs, fat, miles, steps. There was no reason that I was in a stall other than that I was.
As much as I love science and math (I was a math/sci teacher!), it's not always that cut and dry. Stress will cause you to gain weight or hold on to what you have. I suggest you just keep doing what you are doing, exercise comfortably, eat what is healthy and makes you feel "right" and tough it out. The scale will move in it's own time. You've accomplished GREAT things so far, you will get to where you want to be, I have no doubt.

Butterbean is spot on! And I say "if you see it on TV, you don't want it". Somehow it helps.

Dr. ILLAN AND OMAR ARE AWESOME!

Oh boy ! could not agree more - that is exactly what I was thinking when I read the above post from nomorecupcakes - her doctor choice "Dr. A" most certainly has had some drama in the past couple of months. But unlike nomorecupcakes thankfully most of us recognize that this can and will happen to any good doctor ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD including the United States and Mexico. And as for bargain shopping - well why not !! - good lord most of us are not blessed with being independently wealthy - every penny counts - you just do your best to temper costs with choice - AND my choice is the lovely DR ILLAN !!

I would also like to say that Dr Illan's on site coordinator is "THE BOMB"! Omar Acosta will do anything he can to help you. He did a Skype call with me first, them set up another Skype call with Dr Illan and when I told him I wanted to get some dental work over there and could he help with that, he was right on it. He set up a Skype call with a dentist over there who answered all my questions and gave me a great estimate on what I needed done. Omar Acosta is golden and having just had the sleeve surgery himself about 5 months ago, he is very helpful and sympathetic to your concerns. Without him, I don't know if I would have made this decision. OMAR ACOSTA, YOU ROCK!

We're cool Sherry, just wanted to make sure we had this straight. This OP's thread was completely hijacked and taken off track. This thread is about Dr Illan and not about how nomorecupcakes thinks Dr Aceves is the one and only. I have spent hours upon hours of time researching and trying to find the right Dr for myself and I believe Dr Illan is the right choice for me. There are several very well qualified surgeons in MX, I just happen to believe that Dr Illan has put together an entire team that has made him so popular. You can have an excellent surgeon but if he doesn't have a good coordinator or a good surgical support team working with him then he won't be as successful. I believe Dr Illan and Baja Bariatrics are the complete package.

Personally, when I had my lapband surgery I made up excuses to friends and coworkers. I told them I had a come to Jesus meeting over my vacation to start eating smaller meals (mostly Protein drinks) and start moving more. Fine and dandy until 8 weeks later I get REALLY sick.
I became septic because of a nick of my liver during surgery and almost died. One lie became a million until I wasn't sure who knew what.
Needless to say, I won't be broadcasting it but if asked I will definitely tell them what I'm doing. Plus I just didn't feel good about myself making all kinds of crap up. What if I could help someone who is also obese out with the truth than making them feel like more of a failure because they can't be the type that can diet and exercise the weight away.
Don't know if I'm making any sense but just the way I'm going to deal with it. To each their own.

I agree that it does come down to the individual, I also agree that for any other procedure you aren't likely to be as candid. That being said there is a difference between not telling and making up stories that you want to sound like they are likely scenarios for what you are having done.
Secondly, how long will your relationships with anyone other than your significant other be impacted by hemorrhoid surgery or a vasectomy? My point is this, we as a culture tend to eat at social gatherings, there are going to be questions about why you do what you do when it comes to eating and drinking. The questions won't be meant to be offensive or rude they will just happen because they are different habits than what people are used to seeing. Many videos online talk about this (onelifetosleeve is the first one that comes to mind). He was questioned by a waitress who didn't even know him simply because he didn't want any drinks to be left on the table for him with his dinner.
If you make the story up once to tell a single co-worker or manager what is going on for whatever the reason and 8 months later you are out with a new coworker and slip up on some details you had given out before simply because the topic comes up in conversation, you would need to lie, the same lie, again and again.
I really hope this doesn't sound judgmental it is really not meant to be that way. I do think that each person needs to do what will work for them, but generally the truth is easier to remember and you don't have to worry about it potentially hurting your credibility in the long run.