Hi. I've been reading the boards for a couple of weeks now, and thought it was time to introduce myself. My name is Kristal, and I've started the process of weight loss surgery. I met with my surgeon last week, and had my first appt with my PCP yesterday to start my 6mo supervised diet. I'm hoping to use this 6mos to focus on the habit changes I will need to make to be successful with my sleeve. My goals for this first month are 1.) to stop drinking anything at least 30 minutes before I eat and not drink anything until 30 minutes after I'm done, 2.) give up sodas (this won't be very hard because I normally only have 1-2 a week anyway), 3.) start chewing my food 20 times.

I'm 41 years old and have 2 young children. My son will be 2 in a week, and my daughter is 3 1/2. The only health problems I currently have because of my weight is severe sleep apnea. It's so bad that I had to have surgery earlier this year to try and correct some issues so I could even use the machine. The machine was going to be set so high because my apnea was so bad that it wasn't going to work for me. That surgery was terrible and I wish now I had looked into the sleeve first, but nothing I can do about that now. I'm almost 300 lbs and I want to live to see my children grow up. I know it's just a matter of time before I start to have all the health problems that come along with my weight, and I'm already an older mom, so I have to do ALL I can do to be there to see my children grown.

Any advice or guidance you can give me on how to use this 6 months fully to help me be successful is greatly appreciated.

Thank you for reading my post.

Kristal

Only real advice I have is ask questions, every question that enters your mind.

When you stumble, get back up and remind yourself of your motivation.

Make sure you find an accountability partner, then be completely honest with them

And visit this forum often. The success stories will keep you motivated, & the problems posted will keep your expectations reasonable.

Hi, Kristal! OTR's suggestions are great! I would also suggest trying to move your diet to a protein-based diet, and minimize your carbohydrate intake. You don't necessarily need to eat as little as you'll eat when you're sleeved, but moving yourself to the type of diet you'll want to eat after surgery (at least, after you're healed from surgery) will be helpful. I'm much better at sticking to a low carb diet now that I'm sleeved, but there was a several year period about 12 years ago where I was able to stick with it religiously and was slim and strong and healthy. Now I've got the sleeve as a tool to keep me in check.

*hugs* to you, and keep us all posted about how you're doing!

Congrats on your decision! I'm not much help now, but we are on the same page because I'll be getting sleeved in December. So excited!

But a really great thing about this forum is that if you have a question, chances are either someone has already asked/answered it, or if you aren't sure and ask, people are usually very quick to answer. There quite a few of "sleeve vets" here and everyone is so nice!

Welcome to the family, and your own special support group. Do as much research as you can because this isn't an easy decision, and ask as many questions as you can. No question is stupid, good luck.

Thank you!