Hello,

My surgery for December 14th was canceled until further notice with no date set at this time. What I'm wondering is if anyone is in my shoes and what are you doing in the mean time? I'm thinking about going on a 1500 calorie diet to get ready for surgery and then there is a part of me that is like time for some food funerals. Is there a middle ground for this? I'm going to start working with a psychologist the week to try to work on my bad eating habits as well as other thing. I'm wondering if it is a good idea to keep meeting with the nutritionist to keep me on track? If you aren't in my shoes what would you be doing if it was you??

Keep working on healthy eating habits and give up any addictions like caffeine, soda, sugar. It's so much better to do it before surgery than to go through withdrawal and post op at the same time. Working with the psychologist and nutritionist sounds like a wonderful idea. The more good work you do now is going to help you down the road.

I have been working on eating healthy for over 3 months now. It’s important to get yourself ready for after surgery. I stay around 1200-1500 cal a day 80-100g protein and under 50 carbs I have lost 31 lbs so far!

Yep, just keep on eating as healthy as you can. My surgery dates were wonky too; it was postponed and then postponed again and I was set to wait another two extra months but they called one day and said to start my 2 week liver shrink diet pronto-surgery in 13 days. I lost about 42 lbs total before the surgery on the program and I'm very glad I did. I'm close to 90 lbs down at 9 weeks post op because I lost some before hand and it really helps with motivation, feeling good and prepping for the your post-op diet.

Get as much down as you can with the help of your NUT right now. You will lose fast after and you want your body a bit more adjusted for that. Ask also if you should be starting the bariatric vitamins, it can help pre-surgery if that's the way your Dr goes. I was told it would be hard for some people to take them after the surgery for size etc but was really unprepared for how difficult it was. My Dr and NUT both helped in getting the correct chews before-hand to prepare me for after.

Exercise as much as you can! I missed that aspect. I had some minor complications and had to give up on my bike and core exercises until just these last two weeks and boy I did miss them even though the motivation was zero until recently. It really helps to get those habits in and get your body ready for the rapid weight loss after.

If you're not already tracking your food, I suggest starting now. I like the MyFitnessPal app, but a lot of people here swear by the Baritastic app (and it looks like they have similar features). It is a good habit that will help you after surgery.

I do think there's a middle ground for you! I lost about 70 pounds in the 5 months before surgery, just by doing two things: intermittent fasting and tracking all my food in MyFitnessPal. MyFitnessPal recommended a goal of 2190 calories per day, and I started there but kept challenging myself to go lower and ended up around 1500 calories per day by the time I had surgery. I still had food funerals, but I stayed within my calorie budget for the day (which sometimes meant that I had to fast all day and save my calories for one great meal). Food funerals can be a bit controversial, but I'm glad I did them. It still bothers me that I never had a chance to get one last donut before surgery.

7 minutes ago, BigSue said:

If you're not already tracking your food, I suggest starting now. I like the MyFitnessPal app, but a lot of people here swear by the Baritastic app (and it looks like they have similar features). It is a good habit that will help you after surgery.

I do think there's a middle ground for you! I lost about 70 pounds in the 5 months before surgery, just by doing two things: intermittent fasting and tracking all my food in MyFitnessPal. MyFitnessPal recommended a goal of 2190 calories per day, and I started there but kept challenging myself to go lower and ended up around 1500 calories per day by the time I had surgery. I still had food funerals, but I stayed within my calorie budget for the day (which sometimes meant that I had to fast all day and save my calories for one great meal). Food funerals can be a bit controversial, but I'm glad I did them. It still bothers me that I never had a chance to get one last donut before surgery.

Yep, this is an awesome suggestion. I loved myfitnesspal before the surgery but like baritastic better just for the more user-friendly ways it helps better with the lowered calories and support. Another one for people really serious on their carbs is carb manager. That one is pretty good too.

I was seriously planning one day to my hometown a few hours away to have a last meal with their Italian bakery and Buffalo pizza but my surgery was moved up last minute by 6 weeks and didn't have my last meal lol. Still miss the last taste of DiCamillo home baked rolls.

Don't do a food funeral. You'll regret it. Keep up the low-calorie pre-op diet and focus on protein and water intake. Act like you've already had the surgery and establish your future eating patterns. I'm sorry about your delay, I'm sure it's frustrating, but don't eat things you're going to regret while you're waiting.

I didn't do food funerals, but we did go to a couple of my favorite places and ordered something that I knew I wouldn't be able to eat again for awhile. I purposely didn't make a pig of myself when I ate it, though (as I would have before....). I just ate a "sensible" amount.

5 hours ago, BigSue said:

If you're not already tracking your food, I suggest starting now. I like the MyFitnessPal app, but a lot of people here swear by the Baritastic app (and it looks like they have similar features). It is a good habit that will help you after surgery.

I do think there's a middle ground for you! I lost about 70 pounds in the 5 months before surgery, just by doing two things: intermittent fasting and tracking all my food in MyFitnessPal. MyFitnessPal recommended a goal of 2190 calories per day, and I started there but kept challenging myself to go lower and ended up around 1500 calories per day by the time I had surgery. I still had food funerals, but I stayed within my calorie budget for the day (which sometimes meant that I had to fast all day and save my calories for one great meal). Food funerals can be a bit controversial, but I'm glad I did them. It still bothers me that I never had a chance to get one last donut before surgery.

After reading everything I think this will be the plan going forward. This will probably be a better option. I'm struggling with exercise because I have arthritis in my knees and it hurts so much to walk. I really wanted to do swimming as my exercise but with covid I don't think this is possible.