Ftrain, by Paul Ford

Meals leading up to the buffet have been debated for ages. My recommendations are a large dinner the night before consisting mostly of light breads and vegetables to expand the stomach. It is also advantageous to drink plenty of liquids, preferably water. This also varies greatly on what time of day your buffet meal is going to be. For a breakfast buffet your larger meal should be the lunch prior with a small dinner. The morning of I would suggest a very small meal containing some sugar in order to get your metabolism up and running. Eat nothing more throughout the day. Liquids are advised, preferably water, as almost a mandatory health concern due to the high sodium content you are about to consume.

Not necessarily the prettiest of subjects but you’ll want to make sure that your system is sufficiently void of all previous meals as much as possible. This is important that you have kept to your regular eating habits the days prior as to facilitate this. It is also not a bad idea to ingest a few Rolaids a couple hours prior to the meal.

But with one trip to the doctor’s office and an adjustment to my gastric band, I am free again. I could now eat anything I want with no restriction on the amount or type of food. The first thing I did was visit a local dinner. I ordered all the foods I desired. I couldn’t do that before, just sit down at a diner, order a regular meal, not worry about chewing thoroughly and just enjoy. I couldn’t stop ordering food. I ordered a “Thanksgiving dinner” to make up for the thanksgiving I spent alone in my room. I couldn’t eat a full plate on Thanksgiving so to avoid the awkwardness I hid in my room while my family enjoyed a turkey with relatives. I ordered a hamburger to make for all the times I couldn’t eat one with friends. I ordered six milk shakes and wanted more. I loved every second of it. I allowed myself to continue eating by convincing myself “today” was a celebration of my weight loss. But that celebration lasted every day for the rest of the week. Now five days later I gained over 50 pounds and I feel fatter then ever.

We looked into getting the surgery done in our home state but nobody would even consider it until I was the age of 18, (I can only imagine how much heavier I would be in 5 years at the rate I was going)! My parents were really nervous about me having surgery in Mexico, but Dr. Ortiz was willing to meet with us and after we met with him, he felt I was mature enough to handle the surgery and my parents felt it was safe.

My name is Cassie and I had my surgery March 17, 2004. I was only 13 years old... My mom did some research and found Dr. Ortiz and Dr. Martinez at the Obesity Control Center. She explained everything to me and let the final decision be up to me. I was scared but at the same time ready and wanted my life to change.