Hello all who are in the pre-op stage,

I am 7 weeks post-op and by no means a sleeve expert, but I would love to share a bit of what worked for me thus far.

Please, please, please, do the work!

All of it.

I know how hard pre-op dieting is, I know how difficult exercise is, I know how painful it is to dig deep and figure out why we got so fat, and I also understand how anxious you are to just get the surgery done.

I have had an uneventful, rather effortless time, post-op and I attribute it to a great surgeon and doing everything I listed above. I haven't experienced a bit of emotional (head) hunger and I would like to believe that it had a lot to do with dieting and losing weight pre-op as prescribed by my DR. Oh, it was AWFUL and I was pretty miserable during the time but I have zero regrets now. I could have gone through the motions and pretended to do the work but in the end I would have only hurt myself, mainly by being 25lbs heavier today and feeling deprived from fattening food. I suffered through the liver shrinking diet and my liver was perfect...I have no idea if it would have been otherwise but I was not willing to risk it. I stepped up my exercise and HATED every second but it turned into a habit. I still HATE it but I just go to the gym and do it. I worked hard at ending my old abusive relationship with food by saying GOOD BYE and today food doesn't haunt me. I love how it looks, tastes, smells but it no longer controls me. I crave nothing. I gave up carbonated drinks, drinking while eating and with a straw. Weaned myself off caffeine which was so difficult. I began upping my water intake pre-op and that also became a habit.

I am not claiming that if you do what I did, you will have the same experience. Who knows what my situation will be a year from now? I am merely suggesting, why not give yourself every possible chance to have the best possible outcome?

I wish you all great success and skinny futures!

Carol

55 lbs lighter

Oh Carol I absolutely love your post. I am 100% on board with what you do, I believe it is the only way. The horrors of what I saw days right after by other post opers: eating a thick tomato soup, eating a creamy chunky strawberry icecreamsicle, buying a bag full of chocolate bars by one other post sleever.

I say if you are doing the surgery, commit to it 100% and you will sure not fail.

One comment to make I am self pay and maybe that is also part of the motivation, for me anyway.

I'm doing all I can to stick to the plan the nutritionist and surgeon has laid out for me. I used to drink seltzer only. But knowing going cold turkey would be harder, I gave it up after my first NUT meeting. I'm glad to hear that preparing as you have has made it a little easier for you. I'm hoping for the same.

Congratulations on a fantastic start!

In order to be successful in our journey, it is necessary to do all the hard work of preparing (pre-opt) and educating ourselves on how our food addiction manifests itself within us. The sleeve is just a tool help with portion control. It's our head that gets us into eating too much, eating the wrong foods that aren't nutritious, ect. This is hard work but also very rewarding. This is a journey for the rest of our lives and it's our job to do the work. CONGRATS! Today is my 1 year surgiversary and happy I did the work. Still have a lot of work to do though.

Great post. Couldn't agree more.

Thank you voice of reason. I've done everything you said and I've lost 125 pounds in less than 5 months so I must be doing something right. Amazingly, I've enjoyed every second of it. I'm not miserable, or deprived, or on a diet. I'm living healthy. It's great and it works.

Thanks everyone. It may be a little "hokey but I really do think being positive helps create positive results

I'm so proud of you! However, I have gone through the weightloss going from 245 lbs down to 130 twice. I'm now 34 and fat again. Back at 240 its a struggle keeping it off! I know with this tool I will have a long term success,for sure! This is not going to be a walk in the park. Gym food etc still have to be big part of being successful. I just know long term won't be on a my goal list anymore! I'm done with this one ..like Jay z says On to the next thing!Good luck on keeping it off!

Carolc, thank you so much for your encouraging post! I am pre-op and started my liquids today. Hunger wasn't an issue but I have a terrible headache tonight. Your words were just the motivation I needed to remember this is temporary and great things are ahead! Thank you again for your positive words!

Your welcome, I started liquids today! Head hurts... And I'm starving!!

This is exactly what I needed. Thanks!!

I'm just a few weeks behind you and feel the same way.