Hello~

New to the website and forum. On April 13th, I made the decision that I know will enhance the rest of my life- to get weight loss surgery. Since then, it's been a flurry of appointments, tests and doctors! I have just one more dietician appointment and then 2 support groups to attend and then everything gets submitted to insurance. I don't anticipate any issues with insurance approval and have been told by every professional I've seen that I'm a "perfect" candidate for the bypass surgery and I'm SO excited for it as I feel like it's the beginning of the rest of my life, quite honestly. I guess, for my first question on this forum, I'm wondering if anyone can give any "I wish I knew..." facts for those of us who are in the pre-op process. Every little piece of information helps- I promise! Whether it's something you wish you knew about your hospital stay, the pre-op, post-op, really anything! I'm using this time before my surgery to educate myself as much as possible! So please- what is something you have experienced that you have said, "God- I wish I knew this!" Thanks in advance and a healthy day for everyone!

Hello~
New to the website and forum. On April 13th, I made the decision that I know will enhance the rest of my life- to get weight loss surgery. Since then, it's been a flurry of appointments, tests and doctors! I have just one more dietician appointment and then 2 support groups to attend and then everything gets submitted to insurance. I don't anticipate any issues with insurance approval and have been told by every professional I've seen that I'm a "perfect" candidate for the bypass surgery and I'm SO excited for it as I feel like it's the beginning of the rest of my life, quite honestly. I guess, for my first question on this forum, I'm wondering if anyone can give any "I wish I knew..." facts for those of us who are in the pre-op process. Every little piece of information helps- I promise! Whether it's something you wish you knew about your hospital stay, the pre-op, post-op, really anything! I'm using this time before my surgery to educate myself as much as possible! So please- what is something you have experienced that you have said, "God- I wish I knew this!" Thanks in advance and a healthy day for everyone! [emoji4]

Hi Jessie welcome to the group I am almost 6 weeks post-op had the gastric bypass and I absolutely love it I was also told by all of my doctors my surgeon my nut my primary care physician that I was a perfect candidate and that I would be very successful at it. So far I'm over 50 lbs down and thankfully has no issues with sickness, dumping, was in the hospital one night had surgery about 1 in the afternoon was home the next morning by 10 I have an office job so I took less than a week off my doctor said as long as I did not lift anything heavier than a gallon of milk I would be okay all of my wounds have completely healed and I have little bitty scars that you can barely see I have one scar that is a little larger than the other four. My suggestion is listen to what you're told read up on everything that you can and take it real slow I ask my surgeon why there were so many people that had issues whether it's be being able to keep food down keep water down not feeling nauseous and he just said that if you listen and don't overdo it you should be fine I am now able to eat soft stuff so mashed potatoes yogurt tuna ice cream anything that can pretty much dissolve oatmeal and about 2 to 3 bites and I'm full good luck to you on your journey and sorry this was so long

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Welcome to the site, JessieGrace. This is a very friendly, supportive community and I'm sure you'll get a lot of help here.

I would advise you to use this time before your surgery to prepare. If you smoke, stop. If you drink caffeine, wean yourself off. You really don't want caffeine headaches while you recover from surgery. Research bariatric recipes and give them a try. Have a set of recipes ready to go for the different food phases. Make some healthy soups and put them in the freezer. Start exercising now so that you're already in the routine before surgery.

Good luck, I hope all goes well for you!

1 hour ago, JessieGrace319 said:

Hello~

New to the website and forum. On April 13th, I made the decision that I know will enhance the rest of my life- to get weight loss surgery. Since then, it's been a flurry of appointments, tests and doctors! I have just one more dietician appointment and then 2 support groups to attend and then everything gets submitted to insurance. I don't anticipate any issues with insurance approval and have been told by every professional I've seen that I'm a "perfect" candidate for the bypass surgery and I'm SO excited for it as I feel like it's the beginning of the rest of my life, quite honestly. I guess, for my first question on this forum, I'm wondering if anyone can give any "I wish I knew..." facts for those of us who are in the pre-op process. Every little piece of information helps- I promise! Whether it's something you wish you knew about your hospital stay, the pre-op, post-op, really anything! I'm using this time before my surgery to educate myself as much as possible! So please- what is something you have experienced that you have said, "God- I wish I knew this!" Thanks in advance and a healthy day for everyone!

Hi Jessie! Here's my top 13 tips for the process:

1. Start altering your diet now. Cut out processed food, or at the very least processed sugar. Practice eating your protein first and then focus on non-starchy veggies. Also, start tracking your food. There are lots of apps that make logging very easy. I personally use MyFitnessPal, but there are others out there.
2. Find something that you like to drink that doesn't have calories. Try different caffeine free teas and water additives. I still can't drink plain water....so you want to have something on hand that you know you like.
3. Cut out caffeine. Most programs allow caffeine back in relatively quickly, but caffeine can hinder your body's ability to heal. You don't want to go through caffeine withdrawal along with the aches and pains of surgery.
4. Don't use protein shakes before you absolutely have to! I made the mistake of supplementing some of my meals with shakes to "prepare myself" for the pre-op diet. Big mistake. You will get to the point where they are DISGUSTING, and you don't want to increase the timeline of that by drinking them before you need to.
5. Start incorporating exercising (even if it’s just walking) somewhere in your daily routine. It will make it easier if it’s already a habit.
6. Practice chewing your food at least 20-30 times before swallowing. Muscle has memory and it will be so much easier if you already have this habit. If you screw up and swallow too soon after surgery, you will pay the price.
7. Set timers and don't drink and eat at the same time.
8. I highly recommend having at least 1 visit with a therapist to establish with someone for after surgery. It’s not required, but everyone seems to have some emotional struggles afterwards. Whether its 2 weeks, 2 months, or 2 years you may struggle with the changes.
9. I personally wouldn't share with people, unless you know they will be 100% supportive. It is nerve wracking already and you need nothing but positivity. Plus it’s a lot of pressure from people who know you've had WLS, versus people who think you are on the weight loss track. People think that the weight is going to melt off after surgery, and sometimes it doesn't. You don't want the extra judgment. Don’t engage people with people who say “WLS is too dramatic” or “You could just diet and loose the weight” or “You aren’t big enough for surgery” or “It’s the easy way out”. SCREW THOSE PEOPLE, they don’t know. They will never know how triumphant our victory will be.
10. I would also remember that you need to make time for you! Make the time to shop healthy, meal prep, cook healthy, and plan ahead. And I’m talking to all the selfless mothers, fathers, husbands, and wives. We give so much to our families, but NOW is the time to focus on ourselves. We are doing it for them, after all. We are doing it to prolong our lives and improve the quality of our lives.
11. Come up with a reward system of sorts. You want to acknowledge your successes. For my 50lb mark, I went and got pedicures with my girlfriends. For my 75lb mark, I bought myself some new dresses. For my 100lb mark, I already bought myself a really nice full length mirror.
12. Stalls happen and are completely natural. There are tons of threads in this community that you can search for suggestions or for advice.
13. Hunger happens. Some people don’t experience a decrease in hunger, but it is easily manageable with a small amount of the right foods.

Such amazing suggestions!!! I’ve tried to focus on this whole process as self care because I got to this position by years of self neglect!! So that is completely what I’m trying to focus on! I’m trying to start with little changes because it took 10 years to get here and it’s unrealistic to think I’m going to change my patterns so quickly. So there’s a lot of forgiveness going on when I slip up! Lol But little things- less Diet Coke, 1 donut instead of 3... taking the stairs instead of the elevator.

And stay committed to make a success of this all. There will be sucky moments, goodness knows I have had them, and even though my surgery approaches, I am still having them. But I will overcome and I believe you have the spunk to do it too. Best wishes, if there is anything I can do to help, please ask!?

Thank you so much!! I appreciate it!! I’m a therapist and push clients to ask for help and support but I’m not the best at it- joining this forum and site is one of my commitments to change!