As I sit here almost finishing my day 5 of the liquid pre-op diet, I am wondering if this surgery is for me. If I have the willpower to only eat liquid for 3 weeks, is it possible that I can do this without the surgery? I am sure I need the surgery because my weight loss attempts are only good for short-term amounts. Am I the only one who feels like this?

Your next to last sentence hit the nail on the head for me! I need long term tools to help me keep the weight off! :-)

I feel the same way that you do. I can stay on a diet for 2 months tops and then unfortuntately it all goes down hill from there. That was one of the reasons that I decided that I want to have WLS. Even though I am a newbie here and am just getting started, I feel that surgery isn't in no way or form a quick fix or an easy way out. It is just giving us one of the tools that we need not to diet, but to change our eating habits for the rest of our lives. I wish you the best of luck with everything, and God bless you.

I feel exactly like that. In fact I even convinced myself I was gonna low carb it AGAIN because, surely, I can do this! Then I went to the store, bought a bunch of meat and instantly felt let down. I have done this multiple times. It works for a little while, then I go back to my old habits.

So I know surgery is for me. I have probably talked to more people, posted more stupid questions than anyone and it keeps leading back to... This is the right decision.

I've even spent a week backing out in my mind ecause of the hair loss!!! And I'm slowly making peace with that, too!!!

Good luck and let us know what you decide.

I too wandered the same thing. I lost 50 pounds by starving myself and I still did not get below 200. I gained back sixty. Nothing fits. I need this for a tool in order to live longer and be healthy for my children.

I want to run and play with my kids instead of sitting on the bench watching. I want to skate with the kids. I want to be the happy person that is trapped inside this huge body.

I want to stop being the pretty fat girl and to stop hiding behind my own fat jokes.

I have to have the surgery in order to live life!

I think we can endure the liquids for a couple weeks, because we can see that help is on the way! There is a light at the end of the tunnel. My motivation was that I did NOT want an open incision surgery because of a large liver or worse...he would cancel the surgery if i had not shrunk the liver enough! We don't normally have this type of motivation to stick with a "diet."

My pcp was glad I did this. He said once a person reaches a BMI of 40, there is little chance he/she will take it off and keep it off without surgical help. My BMI was 55. (not much lower yet, but getting there!)

If any of that helps....

I had jaw surgery in Feb 2011 and was on a liquid diet for 2 weeks an then soft foods for almost 6 months...I still tend to eat softer foods since I have my braces but it's doable...I lost 18 lbs during the liquid stage but gained it back after a few months...I went back to my usual eating too much