Hi! I am brand new to this site. My physician recommended it. I will be having suregery in November. I have been fairly nervous and kind of waffled for a while. But I am ready to go. Has anyone had to face doing the surgery and post op during the holidays? It is such a busy and hectic time, not to mention full of food and celebration... I have 5 children, what can I do to keep them excited while at the same time not place too many temptations in my path?

I'm November 2nd with 2 kiddos (a 3 and 5 year old), rocking in the same boat with you... Not sure how we'll get through this, except that the best Christmas gift I can give my kids is that of a healthy mama, to last longer on God's Green Earth for them. When I look at it that way...it helps Let's stay in touch!

I have 4 kids and they love all things about the holidays, not just the food. Try focusing on activities instead of the tons of treats. Maybe make a holiday craft instead of cookies. I don't want to totally deprive my children of treats, but I try to stay away from things that I really like. Gingerbread houses are a good option because you can get all that gross candy and the kids don't care. I actually rarely crave sugar after my surgery, so you might find that the old temptations aren't really much of a temptation anymore. Good luck!

I have 4 kids and had my surgery 11-19-13. Believe me if anything the smell of food will make you sick before you crave it. I cooked a full thanksgiving meal, with the help of my kids/spouse after surgery and I had no desire to eat any of it. My kids ranged from 5-17 at the time but we bonded and I used the time to teach them old family recipes. It was nice and they still help me cook even now.

Thanks so much! It's so good to hear others who have been in the same situation! And the yucky candy for the gingerbread house is such a god idea!!! I am really hoping that it works that way for me too, that I will no longer crave some of the things I do now. I have had to lose 37 pounds just to get to a weight where I can have the surgery. (My surgeon requires a BMI of 35-45 before doing the surgery.) So I have been working on weight loss since the end of February. I am finally there and start all my preop stuff October 13. Am so excited!!! Thanks so much for your advice!!!

I just realized this post is in the 30's group. Awesome! We have a lot in common. I'm 37...yicks! How did that happen lol. Yeah, I'm not a spring chicken anymore...so I figure another motivation is that the sooner I get this done, the better because I can't help but think it's tougher the older you get.

Since most of us have kids here, the first hurdle we'll have is not even Thanksgiving...it's Halloween (which I'm not particularly fond of), with all the bounty of chocolate and Candy. It's there at Easter, at Valentines, at Halloween, at Christmas...there is just no escaping it's presence....we will have to strategize to fight back!