Howdy!

I am reading some sleeve books (yay, Alex!) and am thinking it would be great to have a place for pre-op sleevers to put on our training wheels and start living as if we were already sleeved. Or at least to mentally and emotionally experience what we will likely encounter post-op and beyond. Maybe someone already has a thread or group going? If not, I'd love to start one. And the vets are more than welcome to help us learn to use our training wheels.

For instance, I am a great Water drinker and can slug down a 20 oz bottle, especially after working out. Whoa, 20 oz at one time? Uh, I foresee a slight problem...???? So this will mean I must pay attention to sipping through the day, something I don't really do, since I forget and then play catch up.

Also, hellaciously stong coffee is a major Quality of Life issue. A walloping caffeine headache is waiting me on pre-op week...

Eating Protein first. Hmm, I like to chomp on veggies (or whatever) when I am food prepping. Which brings up raw veggies and salads. 6-8 months without raw veggies? ????

That bariatric plate thingy: 3 oz protein, 2 oz starch, 1/2 c. cooked veggies. Holy moly...

Shakes: I did Optifast for 2 months and was famished the whole time. I will need to be able to do this again. Hopefully that 15% of my stomach won't scream for solids.

The whole commitment to all of these new habits I am reading about. I can do amazingly well for extended periods of time. Then get frustrated, say eff it and go back to eating 1/2 dozen doughnuts every day for a week. This will be a lifetime commitment and no room for week or month long food temper tantrums where I fall off the diet cliff.

Taking a bite and putting my fork down, chewing each bite (small ones!) 30 times, not snacking or grazing, no eating in bed while reading. i love to read and this last one is surprisingly hard.

Really overhauling my inner dialogue (self talk), the mental battles over why I should not eat something, and the depression that follows when I don't get to eat that treat. #SugarDragonBlues

Learning to tell myself that I can do this and I am worth the effort. ("And gosh darn it, people like me!") I want to look in the mirror and make peace with the person looking back at me. It's been a frustrating 20 years of Weight/Diet Hell, and I am feeling a tremendous sense of hope that this sleeve "assistant"/tool will set me up for the success I have fought so hard to achieve but could never sustain. Today I say goodbye to that heifer Lucy always snatching away the football from my Charlie Brown self. #BuhByeLucy

These are just a few of my training wheel things and I am anxious to hear yours and from the vets.

I found it helpful to pick one habit to focus on at a time. For instance, I slowly weaned myself off of carbonation (mostly by switching to tea, crystal light, etc.), then weaning myself off of caffeine, increasing Water, eating mindfully, etc. It can be overwhelming, but by breaking things down into smaller, more manageable tasks then it isn't as overwhelming.

It sounds like you are off to a great start!

The humane way to decaffeinate yourself is over a week or so. This works whether you make coffee at home or go somewhere that you serve your own. Replace part of your mug of high-test caffeinated coffee with a little decaf. A little more decaf the next day. And the next day...in a week or so, you're on to straight decaf. No headache required.

During my pre-op phase, I was on a three-month supervised diet prior to ten days of liquids only. I did indeed use that time to wean off of soda and caffeine. I bought little plates and baby utensils, and practiced sipping Water and paced beverages and food.

The hardest part was that I was doing with 100% of a stomach. However, eating Protein first and prioritizing veggies over mac and cheese and bread really helped. I lost 22 pounds pre-op and had established my new habits before I had my surgery. It can be done and I recommend it.

A lot of it I think is kind of pointless and will just create unnecessary stress for people. Trying to learn to sip Water is really pointless. The way you can and will drink pre and post surgery are completely different. It really isn't something you can practice. Then there are other variables to drinking water like the temp post op.

Creating a healthier relationship with food and getting off soda or alcohol pre-surgery are good ideas, you won't feel so deprived after surgery.

A lot of things you experience post op, you can't mimic before surgery. Mainly because how you feel is so important. A tiny stomach that doesn't get hungry is very different from a normal stomach.

Keeping your stress levels low are an important part of weight loss also, so creating additional stress can be counterproductive.

Ive been slowly cutting down on portions, cutting out my beloved diet coke, cutting out coffee and upping Water for the last month. I start my 10 day preop liquid in Wednesday. Ive lost 23lbs so far. No way Id be good mentally going cold turkey on everything. I did have a "bucket list" food that I needed one last time. Got a good pizza last night and had 4 slices after being good on 1000 calories for the last few weeks. I made myself chew chew chew forever, partially for practice and partially to savour my most favorite food in the world that I cant have again, atleast not for months. I think you have to start changing habits before hand so its less of a shock mentally

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A lot of it I think is kind of pointless and will just create unnecessary stress for people. Trying to learn to sip Water is really pointless. The way you can and will drink pre and post surgery are completely different. It really isn't something you can practice. Then there are other variables to drinking water like the temp post op.

Creating a healthier relationship with food and getting off soda or alcohol pre-surgery are good ideas, you won't feel so deprived after surgery.

A lot of things you experience post op, you can't mimic before surgery. Mainly because how you feel is so important. A tiny stomach that doesn't get hungry is very different from a normal stomach.

Keeping your stress levels low are an important part of weight loss also, so creating additional stress can be counterproductive.

I tend to feel the same way...after all - if I could do it all pre-op there's no need to have WLS. I don't have any food habits (soda, candy) that I'll need to quit (other than eating too much obviously) but that's why I'm getting surgery to help with that. I am using my time pre-op to fix my mind - that'll give me a better chance at success I believe.