Newbie

[madvillain 3]

Hello all! I have been reading from this website for months now and tonight I decided to join in. I have my RNY surgery planned in about 3 weeks and i'm a ball of nerves... Almost to the point of delaying my surgery. I haven't cancelled it but man this is tough.... I have been on a food tour for the past 2 weeks since my surgery date was planned, "I won't be able to eat this for awhile" is what i'm telling myself. I guess need a little support before I start my 2 week pre-op liquid diet. Please help a newbie!!!

[James Marusek 5,244]

Good luck on your upcoming surgery. I would recommend three things.

1. Take a good before photograph of yourself, so that you have something to compare to after surgery. Many times we are blind to our obesity. We do not see ourselves. Therefore when the weight begins to drop off rather dramatically, we question if this is really happening. Photographs are a good visualization of our success. Many people carry a before and after photo with them, just to remind themselves of their success.

2. Walk 30 minutes each day, every day until surgery (or equivalent exercise). Walking helps the recovery process go smoothly and minimized the pain levels from surgery.

3. Wean yourself from caffeine and carbonated beverages now. After I gave up my 6 diet coke a day habit, I suffered from a week of severe withdrawal syndrome consisting of severe headaches and body aches. I was miserable. You don't want to combine the effects of caffeine withdrawal with the effects of surgery.

[browneyez42 280]

Hello all! I have been reading from this website for months now and tonight I decided to join in. I have my RNY surgery planned in about 3 weeks and i'm a ball of nerves... Almost to the point of delaying my surgery. I haven't cancelled it but man this is tough.... I have been on a food tour for the past 2 weeks since my surgery date was planned, "I won't be able to eat this for awhile" is what i'm telling myself. I guess need a little support before I start my 2 week pre-op liquid diet. Please help a newbie!!!

We've all been there before with the "last supper"!!! You've come this far now and that's a major accomplishment. All of us are here to support you and await to see you on the "other side" ( post op).

[BostonWLKC 806]

Don’t cancel! It is amazing and you won’t regret it!
Try to start weening off coffee and carbs if you can over next couple of weeks- it helps!— do you have a pre op diet and if yes when and how long?

The process is a bit tough in the beginning but nothing that isn’t temporary - gas pains were tough for 2-3 days. Once on foods it’s really great and such a motivator to watch your body change.

Don’t cancel- for anything!


HW 242, SW 236- (Bypass 12/20/17)
GW#1- 199 (2/11/18)
GW#2- 180 (4/2/18)
GW#3- 160
CW 173
5’6”

[FluffyChix 17,409]

Welcome! Jump right in, the water's fine!

Please do it. The only regret I have is that I wasted so much time fat--missing life. Limiting my future. Do it now!

[Abrial 23]

Hello all! I have been reading from this website for months now and tonight I decided to join in. I have my RNY surgery planned in about 3 weeks and i'm a ball of nerves... Almost to the point of delaying my surgery. I haven't cancelled it but man this is tough.... I have been on a food tour for the past 2 weeks since my surgery date was planned, "I won't be able to eat this for awhile" is what i'm telling myself. I guess need a little support before I start my 2 week pre-op liquid diet. Please help a newbie!!!

I was just like you. However, weather made me reschedule the day before (we got 24 inches of snow on my original surgery day lol). The next day was a month later. I found that the extra month allowed me to get me head reset.

My husband helped my by telling me not to focus on what I couldn’t have but instead on what I could. I started checking out recipes and such and found that a lot of the things I thought I would not be able to eat I could with some changes. He also allowed me to vent all my fear.

If you have someone close to vent to, I strongly recommend doing that. The forum is great for information and support, but it is not the same as having someone who really knows you supporting you. That person can offer better advice for you than we can, since he or she would know your situation better.

The 2-week liquid diet pre-op was hard until day 4. I was weak and the suddenly got my energy back. The second time doing it was easier as I was accepting of my surgery at that point.

I recommend doing the surgery. However, if you are not mentally ready there is nothing wrong taking extra time to help you get there. I recommend talking to your dr. about your worries.

Hope this helps you some.

[Frustr8 7,886]

Don't give up, don't be nervous and don't believe you can not make a success of this. I'm going to,have this surgery also, if I didn't believe in the,operstion, see it for the good tool to reshape our lives I wouldn't be here and I suspecr,you wouldn't be either. How can b I help,you to be less worried.? Well,your surgery will be a very safe,procedure. When,they started To do this kind of surgery back,in,maybr,the 60s ,there were some. bugs and kinks. Now they've done so many and it has become so smooth a procedure that surgery is nothing to fear.It is more scary to think of. the damage Obesity does to your body. I am 72 and the fact it hasn't caught up to me is more good luck than good planning. I am w walking time bomb and the only way,to keep me from exploding into diabetes or worse Will be ,myown surgery. I tried,for years to diet, every fad that came on the scene, I tried it. And some were even silly, my late mother in law was a booster of the Grapefruit Diet. She believed to her dying day that the grapfruit molecules , we're going to travel through your bloodstream like little pacmen eating cholesterol. Gave up trying to change her mind. Then we had cousins that were certain a magnet ran over fresh produce got rid of all,pesticides. Wash it, nope they never did.
Don't think,of those foods going over the edge of the world, it's more like they are going on vacstion. You can wave bye bye, but while they are gone, you will,make new friends like Protein Shakes and other low calorie liquids, and when they return you may find you have nothing in common with them or that they taste weird. Some people have b evenbsaid

[Frustr8 7,886]

If you ever find the internet cloud they talk about, look for the rest of my post it just floated away in midthought and now I closed with gibberish. to Sorry about that, be my friend anyway😟

[madvillain 3]

On 4/22/2018 at 7:45 AM, James Marusek said:

Good luck on your upcoming surgery. I would recommend three things.

1. Take a good before photograph of yourself, so that you have something to compare to after surgery. Many times we are blind to our obesity. We do not see ourselves. Therefore when the weight begins to drop off rather dramatically, we question if this is really happening. Photographs are a good visualization of our success. Many people carry a before and after photo with them, just to remind themselves of their success.

2. Walk 30 minutes each day, every day until surgery (or equivalent exercise). Walking helps the recovery process go smoothly and minimized the pain levels from surgery.

3. Wean yourself from caffeine and carbonated beverages now. After I gave up my 6 diet coke a day habit, I suffered from a week of severe withdrawal syndrome consisting of severe headaches and body aches. I was miserable. You don't want to combine the effects of caffeine withdrawal with the effects of surgery.

James thank you for the advice I started weaning the caffeine today!!! I'm starting to get emotional on how could I let myself go... I went to being an athlete to couch potato... I'm so ready to start a new chapter in my life "How I'm gonna keep this weight loss journey going on forever!!"

[madvillain 3]

Thank you guys for all the encouragement!!! I'm holding strong and tomorrow aka t minus 20 minutes I start my liquid diet. I'm scared as hell I had a wonderful last meal of broiled seafood!!! Yeah i'm scared but i'm resolved on changing my life! I want to live to see my grandkids, pick them up, and Celebrate them!!!

[angyplus5 470]

Welcome! You can do this!!!

Sent from my SM-G930VL using BariatricPal mobile app

[James Marusek 5,244]

Good luck on your upcoming surgery.

[FluffyChix 17,409]

8 hours ago, madvillain said:

James thank you for the advice I started weaning the caffeine today!!! I'm starting to get emotional on how could I let myself go... I went to being an athlete to couch potato... I'm so ready to start a new chapter in my life "How I'm gonna keep this weight loss journey going on forever!!"

It's this simple. And this hard...

You don't worry about the "forever" part.

You only worry about the today part.

A long time ago, a very wise person told me the way to success is to take small actions daily and repeat them over and over and over again each day like clockwork. LOL, I think it was Forest Gump.

Lo and behold, it's now a very famous saying. ROFLMAO!

You can do this.

[Frustr8 7,886]

And I can add another, similar but not the same. The journey of a thousand miles starts but with a single step. Sorry Brother F Gump but the ancient Chinese said that many years ago. Good Advice transends the ages. Plant a garden of peas. Positivity, persistence, passion. planning and enhance. And embrace the possibilities. Tain' t easy , the strong good things in life seldom are. But you can do it, I can do it and together we will rock the world!🌏
Some days it is awfully difficult for me, I am old (72) and arthritic, natural inclination would be to lay back, do nothing and die. But no, I am working towards a RnY, taking those small steps to complete my own journey. Why now? Well I am sick and tired of being sick,and tired. And if not now, when? I no longer have years to explore other options, been through the diet wars, they banged and dinged me around, were faithless associates, but I'm still standing and moving forward. I don't seem the traditional round peg in this perfect world scheme, but guess what? Even square or oval pegs have their,place, and I may not work so bad after all. I've been fighting this battle uphill since Summer 2015. A lot of twists , turns, up and downhill like an amusement,roller coaster but I'm going to my,finish line and so shall you. It will be worth it, believe you me, if it was not I would quit a long time ago. Take my hand if you're scared, no shame in that game, but let's run toward the finish. It's right ahead, put my bifocals on and I can see it. ...........One, two Yippee Skipper here we go!👈😜👉

[magpie26 244]

It took me a year and a half to finally get my surgery, I was scared to lose the foods I love. I'm not addicted to food, I am just if I want something I will eat it, if it's bad, meh! But I have the support of a 12 year bypass veteran (who, ps can eat candy now and cake but obviously just a bite or 2) and then I found this site which REALLY helped!

I'm 13 days post op today, I have gotten a lot of help and support and suggestions here. I have a sleeve not a bypass so mom is helpful but our surgeries are different.

I agree with the caffeine. Thankfully I am not a caffeine person and i stopped drinking soda six months ago. I was probably the only jerk that took forever to quit smoking and they thought I quit but I didn't until a month or so prior surgery, thank God they didn't test me, but i vow never to pick that up again, as I have changed my life completely.

Surgery is surgery. Some people seriously bounce back in like 4 days, there was a woman in my support group and I now want to smack her because she was so ugh! Some take a bit longer. Like someone else said. Walk. And get up as soon as possible after surgery and walk the halls, you will hurt some, but you will heal faster AND you may fart which you will really like at the time lol!! I didn't care who, what or where I did that! Gas from surgery can be a bugger.