Rick

I’ve lost quite a little bit of weight. I have more energy when I run, my knees don’t hurt, I find exercising more enjoyable, I can do more pull ups and I can do things that I haven’t been able to do in years, so it’s been a great experience for my overall health.

The facilities and staff are really nice. The surgery is pretty quick, you count 10 backwards and then you wake up in your own private room, a very nice facility, much nicer than you would find in most hospitals, much better than I expected it.

Essentially there’s a car service that picks you up at the airport or at your hotel and it takes you from the US to this part of Tijuana where you have Starbucks, Carl’s Jr., a Hummer dealership, McDonalds, a mall, nice hotels, it’s a pretty nice area.

My original goal weight was 195, so I’m below my original goal weight which I didn’t think I could ever reach because I was bouncing back and forth through years, between 205 and higher numbers, and 205 was the lowest I could get. So with the lap band I’m down to the 180’s and I would like to be maybe like 180 even.

I have to be a little bit more cognoscente of what I eat. I kind of stay away from bread and I’m not eating as much as I used to but I can eat at a restaurant, I can eat with friends, I feel healthier, more fit and it’s not a big struggle like with a diet. It’s just very natural lifestyle. I eat 3 or 4 meals a day and I feel satisfied and I’m able to maintain my weight, I didn’t go through some drastic weight loss, it was very gradual.

I would recommend getting the lap band, especially if you have health problems. You want to avoid things like diabetes, high cholesterol, potential heart problems and as far as going to Tijuana versus getting it in the US, it’s really economics. It’s less expensive here, I think the quality of service is higher because you are less treated like a number like in a lot of places in the US. I have friends that got the same procedure in the US an actually had quite a few issues.

The experience I think was a lot more positive than my friend had in the US.