So my wife and I had to go to 2 required meetings lastnight. One of the meetings was where the dietician talks about diet expectations prior to and after surgery. The other class (don't remember what the name of the class was) was discussion group for those that had been through surgery with questions and those that had not yet had surgery that might have questions or for motivation.

We only had 3 people at the meeting that had had the surgery (all had the bypass). One of the preop people asked if they didn't mind, would they tell us how long it was they had the surgery and how much weight they had lost.

One of the women said she was a little embarrased because she was 6 weeks post surgery and had only lost 40 pounds.

Everyone told her that was great.

In my head I'm thinking that if I could lose 40 pounds in 6 weeks, I wouldn't need to worry about the surgery. Most dieticians and doctors when they put you on a diet only want you to lose 1 to 2 pounds per week. At most on a normal diet 12 pounds in 6 weeks would have been the max.

I'm 47 and I lost 23 pounds in the first 30 days after surgery and WAS THRILLED with the the progress! You really can't compare one person's results to another. There are so many things that contribute to our progress, many of which are out of our control. My advice is to set non-scale goals that are specific, measurable and achievable. 1. Get the recommended Protein every day, (74g for me). 2. Exercise X times per week for X minutes per session. 3. Weigh once per week and NO MORE... You get the idea. If you do these things, the weight loss will come. You WILL STALL! Make peace with that now. If you weigh no more than once per week, you won't focus so much on the stall when it comes.

As far as recovery, I'm not sure its the same. I have a desk job and went back to work the week after surgery and was fine. Some people have a lot of fatigue. I didn't. I was very lucky, (and compliant with what they told me to do, which helps).

I'm not worried about the losing weight part as much as I am about the recovery part. I can't take more than a week off work, and then I have to drive eight hours to get to work and will be in a remote location with the nearest town being over an hour drive away, that's what I'm worried about.

I think if going back to work that soon is going to be a problem you will know it after, lets say day 5 after surgery, then you just deal with it. I could have talk myself out of this right up until anesthesia. Im 54 yrs old. and was at first thinking "im too old for this" , but you know what ? I think its just another one of those mind games of an over eater, use any excuse to sit and eat what you want. The first 3 days after surgery were scarey because , IT WAS DONE and I wasn't sure how to wrap my head around it. Day 4, started to settle down, day 5, could dance in the street that I was on my way to a new healthy long life. Trust us, after the first few days of discomfort and anxiety, you will say to yourself, I wish they would have been able to do this 20 yrs ago. You will be fine, you will live a new and wounderful life. But please if you go back to work in a week and drive that far, stop and get out of your car every hour and walk around it a few times, you will still be recovering and sitting that long could cause problems.

Yes I was thinking the exact same thing. Getting out and taking a short walk ever hour or two so my poor little body doesn't go into shock. That a lot of abuse in a short time. I'm less than one week away from surgery, yay!

I hope age doesn't hinder the weight loss too much because I'm going to be 68 in October! I wasn't overweight when I was young--just snuck up on me after I had my children a little bit at a time. I've been obese though for enough years that I've forgotten what it's like to be slim! I'm hoping to be out of the morbidly obese category for a few years before I meet my Maker! I'm still working and plan to for another 2 or 3 years so I'm looking forward to the surgery--even with the yucky Protein shakes!

I'm not worried about the losing weight part as much as I am about the recovery part. I can't take more than a week off work, and then I have to drive eight hours to get to work and will be in a remote location with the nearest town being over an hour drive away, that's what I'm worried about.

Make sure you buy something like the Syntrex nectar to mix with water, take a water bottle, soup mix, stock and maybe a small blender. You will still be in the fluids stage for your first week back and then mushie's after that. So what ever meals they serve just blend them and add a bit of stock or water. Have the water bottle full at all times and sip all day long. If you can't stand to drink water after surgery add the Syntrax to it. You can do this but you need to be organized and prepare meals every night for the next day. ( Blend your food and fill in very small plastic containers) you will prob also need to take a cooler bag as I'm sure you won't be going back to your room for each of your meals through out the day.

I was 47 and it will be 12mths in Oct I have lost 100 pounds and if I can do it anyone can. Just remember stay prepared and drink drink drink. Also take shakes for emergency's