• Name: Mariko Martin
• Age: 30
• Surgery: Gastric Sleeve
• Surgery date: June 20th, 2014
• Testimonial date: April 16th, 2015
• Surgeon: Dr. Almanza

It was my 30th birthday party. I bought myself two dresses to choose from. Under these dresses I had opted to wear both a corset to create a waist and a body slimmer to smooth everything out ( I could barely breathe). One dress was a size 20 and the other was a 2X which is basically the same thing. .About a week later, my friends and I had a best friend's photo shoot and I remember feeling so uncomfortable. That's when I decided that I needed to do something about my weight that would be permanent and didn t include drugs that could potentially do more harm than good. To make matters worse, every morning I would wake up with back pain and my feet would swell on a daily basis.
I contacted Weight Loss Agents, followed the doctor's pre-surgery orders and before I knew it, I was terrified (because I was alone) as I headed to Mexico to have surgery. My experience in Mexico was perfectly fine. I was driven around by a driver who works for Dr. Almanza to have labs done and then he dropped us off at the hospital where I relaxed until it was time to have the surgery done. I don t remember the surgery obviously, I was sleeping. When I woke up, the very mild discomfort that I felt was managed by walking around and by the medical staff (who were all very handsome for some reason- this includes the doctor)
June 20, 2014 will be a day that I will remember for the rest of my life- I feel like it was the day when I knew that things would be better forever. As I starting losing weight- I began to feel better; first the daily swelling went away, quickly followed by the back pain. Then it was time to start donating the clothes that couldn't fit. The first round of clothes included everything that was 3X, 24, 22, 20. A few weeks later it was 18, 16, and 2X. Today- not even a full year later- I have a few pieces of size 14 pants that are starting to get way too baggy. Size 12 for work pants is starting to get loose and size 10 jeans and dresses fit perfect. I never thought I would say this before, but I think my goal size is 8. I wouldn t have said it before because I would have thought that it was impossible. Before my surgery- I just wanted to get back to a size 14- because before I started putting on so much weight that's where I was and I was ok with it.
Most people want to hear about the awful side effects and how hard it was to keep food down afterward. Sorry to disappoint you, but I had no side effects. I never threw-up, I can eat whatever type of food I used to eat prior to surgery, and my hair never fell out- it is actually growing quite nicely (nothing to do with the surgery)
My pre-surgery weight was 282.8. I am 5' 7". Present day, I'm about 197; it fluctuates which is to be expected as I start to gain muscle from working out, but I'm not done losing. Needless to say, if I didn't go have surgery I would probably weigh more than 300 pounds. As my confidence soars through that imaginative roof, I am very proud of myself for making the decision to have the surgery done and very thankful to Dr. Almanza for performing it.

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* This is an actual testimonial, however, your results may vary. For more information, please read our Testimonial Disclaimer and Risks of Surgery.