I when I started this process I has the belief that it would just be a walk in the park aka "the easy way out". Obviously we all know I was completely wrong and we work hard every day to make our sleeves do their job. What was the one misconception you had before your sleeve??

I expected that I would not want to eat as much. I was surprised by how certain foods that used to be fine with me don't agree with me at all! That really caught me by surprise.

I guess my biggest misconception was thinking that my life would turn around in all areas... socially, work, ect. I'm still the same old me 18 months later. And I really thought that my energy levels would just take off once I dropped the weight. I'd read so many stories of people just launching out of bed in the morning because they had so much energy.

Thought I would have less feelings of hunger and cravings. Food commercials and some food smells are still driving me crazy! Maybe cuz I know I cannot have them! Hope this gets easier....

I was wrong about how hard it would be. Because in my case it has all been so easy. The preop diet wasn't super fun, but two weeks goes by fast. Surgery and my care at OCC was top notch. Recovery was uneventful and nearly painless. None of the postop diet restrictions were too burdensome. After three months, I felt totally normal and even though my hunger returned, I have not had any major problems making the right food choices and listening to my sleeve so I don't overeat. Social functions that revolve around food and alcohol have been much easier to go to than I thought they would.

The biggest unexpected part was my C. diff infection, two months of diarrhea, and subsequent fecal transplant. But that's all behind me, I'm doing great, and the whole experience makes for interesting conversation.

I really underestimated/misjudged the emotional/psycholgical toll it would take. You read about it, you talk with others, but it really doesn't (didn't) hit home until you go through the process...hell, I am still going through the process of figuring out my relationship with food and learning new coping skills for stress and unpleasant emotions.

Only other surprise is how my "eyes are still bigger than my stomach" so weighing food serves 2 purposes, one, keeps me from "filling my plate" and two, easier to calculate calories and nutrients for recording in MFP....

I underestimated the adjustment period. The immediate after surgery sucked so bad. Not being able to drink hardly anything, the reflux, the sliming.... I'm 11 weeks out now and I have a pretty good grasp but most days when I sit down to eat, I still feel like a total newbie.

-MM

not too much. really. i read and read and talked to dozens of people who had surgery and i really felt like going into it, i had eyes wide open and i felt as educated as i felt i could be about it. nothing that has happened so far has been a big shock.

if anything, i thought post op would be hard and so far it's pretty easy. like Kindle, i've had a pretty easy time this far...