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My husband and I grew up in two very different households when it came to food. Our relationships with food are very different. In his 40's, he's been on occasional diets but he's not that concerned with his weight. It is what it is. I grew up dieting from the age of 9/10. There are many days that I only eat maybe one meal a day. On the other hand, he wakes up hungry, wants to call and talk about dinner at 9am, calls at 1 to ask about what I had for lunch and reconfirm dinner plans, and wants to know when we are eating dinner before I can put my purse down most nights. Yesterday was Mother's Day and while I don't have to start my pre-op until June 1, I have started a pre pre-op diet for myself. He just couldn't understand that I didn't want to go out to eat. I relented and we went. The place served bread which I didn't touch, my husband and kids shared an appetizer that I couldn't/didn't have, then salads before our entrees came out. I made a smart aleck comment of "Thank you for letting me know how much I'm appreciated by bringing me to a restaurant to watch y'all eat." Yes, it was petty, but I don't know how to get him to understand that this is a permanent change for me and restaurants are not really something for the foreseeable future that I'm going to enjoy. Thanks for any advice.

Initial appointments today! Meeting with my Bariatric surgeon at 10:30 am, appointments with the dietician and exercise specialist after!!!! I’m so anxious, excited, nervous. Ready to do this, been waiting a long time. The health issues have piled on as of late and my weight keeps climbing. Starting weight today of 284.2 pounds, height 5’1” and BMI 53.7.

I had only heard of this on passing so I googled it. It says it can cause “stomach problems” as a side effect. Because of this I would definitely ask the surgeons opinion about when it’s okay to continue treatments. And maybe research a little further to figure out what “stomach problems” they are speaking of and how surgery will impact them.

Yeah, just because something doesn't work for you a month or two after surgery doesn't mean you will NEVER be able to eat it again. I'm 8 months out and I still can't eat salad, but I can now eat everything else. Slider foods to me are things that are so heavily processed that they break down into nothing in the stomach, so they don't make you full. For me, things like cookies or desserts. I can eat them after I'm "stuffed" with protein. I try to be careful about eating those, for lots of reasons.

I second the protein shake. Or maybe meat and cheese squares. Everyone worries about “grazing” but I’m not sure if it really is bad if you actually portion out a lunch or dinner and only eat that amount just over a longer period of time?? By definition it may be grazing but that doesn’t mean it is necessarily problematic?? It could be but I would ask my surgeon about this. Given your schedule it may be the only way you can get in enough protein.

During the pre op diet and the post op life do not compare your progress to others. Just stick to the plan your team lays out for you and trust the process. We are all here to cheer one another on but we are all so different that your journey will be unique to you.

Write a list of all your questions to take to your appointment

Your body goes into shock after the surgery & a lot of the hormones that regulate certain functions go haywire making your levels go up or down. Then some hormones, like oestrogen, are stored in your fat & as you lose weight they are released into your blood stream & cause issues like mess up your menstrual cycle. You may find your cholesterol goes up too & your liver function is off too. They all settle eventually & many, like your sugar & cholesterol, will be much lower.

So i had issues with my horse pill sized Calcium pill (that i had to take 3 times a day!) I would make me nauseous and/or barf. Cutting it up smaller or crushing it somehow made the ickiness worse. Then i stared burying that effing pill in a tablespoon of greek yogurt and swallowing the spoonful and that did trick. Took me almost 2 months to figure this out though. But then I discovered those chocolate calcium soft chews and Calcium Vitamin Time became a good time of day lol

When I had the surgery, I was 41, 6'1", HW of 505, CW 490, surgery day weight of 460. I had sleep apnea, prehypertension and a BMI of ~60. I also had to take blood thinning injections post-surgery. I also had bypass surgery (which has a higher risk of complications). So you and I are/were in roughly the same ballpark. I came through the surgery fine. Definitely sore. But it drastically improved my life and I would make the same decision in a heartbeat. Heck, I was able to look down today and see my toes, instead of them being covered by stomach. I've gotten to experience stepping on a scale and having the first number be a 2. I am approaching the nine-month mark and I weigh 295 and wear 2xl/3xl shirts (I'm like a 2.5xl at this point, I was a solid 6xl pre-surgery). Do you have risk factors? Yeah. But here is what I noticed from that list: you don't have a major condition that will obviously cause complications (like some disease that makes it difficult for your blood to clot or something like that). Do you have a higher potential for complications than someone who only weighed 400 pounds? Yeah. But its a generalized risk, not a specific risk. My recommendation, if you are still interested in the surgery, is to determine right now that you are going to follow your surgeon's post-surgery advice to the letter. If you need 28 days of injections, decide right now that you will do all 28 days. Whatever meds or vitamins he tells you take, take them. Commit right now, "I am not going to disobey my surgeon in a way that increases my risks." You cannot eliminate the risks entirely and if I am being honest, those risks will come to mind when you are being wheeled around on the gurney. You have no guarantees about what the other side of the surgery will look like and feel like. And you will wake up from the surgery in pain. But if you decide that you will do everything you can control to minimize the risks, I think you will be happy with a decision to have the surgery.