I've never posted to any online forum ever, so this feels weird!

I am approaching medically supervised weight loss visit number six, with all of my duck in a row towards submitting to insurance so I'm starting to think logistics.

For those of you who have desk job that is very focus and analytical thinking heavy, how much time did you or would you recommend taking off work?

I was recently promoted, have a direct report to manage, and no one else can do my job at my current company, so my absence would be very noticeable.

I'm considering doing a combination of PTO and WFH, but want to understand where I will be physically and mentally.

Also, how did you tell your boss??

Edited August 25, 20178 yr by JessNYC

I've never posted to any online forum ever, so this feels weird!
I am approaching medically supervised weight loss visit number six, with all of my duck in a row towards submitting to insurance so I'm starting to think logistics.
For those of you who have desk job that is very focus and analytical thinking heavy, how much time did you or would you recommend taking off work?
I was recently promoted, have a direct report to manage, and no one else can do my job at my current company, so my absence would be very noticeable.
I'm considering doing a combination of PTO and WFH, but want to understand where I will be physically and mentally.
Also, how did you tell your boss??

I too have a heavy thinking desk job. I took off one week after VSG. When I returned I felt physically capable, but mentally I wasn't 100% on my game until day three back at work. Regardless, one week off was adequate for me. I told my boss I was having surgery for a hiatal hernia. I wanted him to understand that I was out for abdominal surgery, but didn't want to share the VSG info with him. Good luck!

I have an intense desk job in a fast paced environment with 15 direct reports who manage large teams.

I have to be mentally on point 60-70 hours a week. I took 6 days off and was fine physically but mentally and emotionally I did not have the same stamina.

I had to deal with irritability (I am usually very even keeled), mental fog and fatigue and a whole lot of emotional stuff that is not normal to me.

I think the rapid weight loss temporarily changed my hormones and my body took time to adjust to the calorie deficit.

On the flip side there were tremendous benefits to not being home and bored with nothing to do but think about what I couldn't eat.

I did tell my boss and some of my senior direct reports. I am glad that I did so when the going got tough I had the room to be transparent about what I was dealing with and they were very supportive.

Even if people haven't gone through this I find that there is a tremendous appreciation for what it takes to deal with a lot of change in a short period of time.

Others on this board have shared about the difference it made for them to take an extended period of time off to handle their headspace.

As with anything, have it work for you.

I also have an intense desk job. I took 2 weeks off work (surgery was on a Monday) and worked from home the 3rd week. I did not tell my manager, peers, or direct reports what kind of surgery I was having. I had zero complications.

Nice post! I was thinking the same thing and wondering if would be useless on a pre-op liquid diet. It sounds like us office-goers will be A-OK! Great info!!!!!

So helpful everyone! Thank you.

Any other tips on going back to work that helped you?