What is one thing you can tell me, that you wished you'd have known going into this?

Hi and welcome, just a quick note you may want to change your user name from your email address, there are lots of spam bots that troll the web for emal addresses and you will be bombarded with spam. Oh and don't forget to fill in your profile and make it public, it gives context to questions and helps members tailor their responses.

I am not sure there isn't anything I'd which I had known, I had researched for about 18 months on a non surgical weight loss procedure and found this site along with another plus facebook groups as well as many youtube channels, then in the the between the ESG (Oct18) and VSG (Mar20). I wasn't surprised by stalls or the fact that i would feel instantly full with some foods (for a while). I wasn't surprised that weight loss surgery isn't a magical tool, I know from research that it wasn't and it wouldn't instantly save me from my unhealthy habits or sugar cravings. These I had to resolve for myself with help if necessary.

I was probably more suprised how well I recovered and tolerated foods (with an exception or two) etc.

Thank you for info! I finished filling out the profile last night. I thought it was public already. Great lol!

All the information you need is here on this forum. You may not know many people in real life who have been through this surgery, but everybody here is in some stage of the process of weight loss surgery. If you haven't already, I would strongly recommend that you spend some time looking through the archives of this forum -- it's a gold mine! YouTube is also a great resource -- there are quite a few YouTubers who make videos about their WLS experience.

I was pretty well prepared for surgery because I spent months reading this forum and watching YouTube videos about WLS. It seems like the most common questions that come up include:

• Stalls - Almost everyone has a weight loss stall within the first two months after surgery (commonly called the "three week stall" but it can happen earlier or later). Do not be alarmed. You didn't do anything wrong. The surgery didn't fail. Stick to your plan and you will start losing again.
• Weight gain from surgery - Many people weigh more when they come home from the hospital after surgery than they did before surgery. That's temporary and it's because they pump you full of IV fluids in the hospital. You're better off not even weighing yourself for the first couple of weeks after surgery because it is honestly meaningless.
• Fluid & protein goals - It's almost impossible to meet your fluid and protein goals in the first couple of weeks. Most surgeons tell you to get at least 60 ounces of fluids and 60 grams of protein per day. It sounds easy but it's not at the beginning. Do your best and don't worry if you can't quite get there. Dehydration is a serious thing that can land you back in the hospital, so you do need to sip as much as you can, but it's not the end of the world if you can't get 60 ounces. Pro tip: try warm fluids (tea, broth, protein hot cocoa) if cold drinks are difficult.
• Hair loss - Most people start losing hair around 3 months after surgery (it's a phenomenon called telogen effluvium), and there's not a whole lot you can do to avoid it. Protein and iron deficiencies can contribute to hair loss, and some people say that biotin can help to prevent hair loss, but you will almost certainly have some hair loss no matter what you do. It will grow back.
• Vitamins - Your surgeon should have given you a list of vitamins that you will need to take. This varies a bit from one surgeon to the next, but most say to take a bariatric multivitamin (or a double dose of a drugstore vitamin), iron (which can be included in the multivitamin), calcium citrate (most drugstore calcium supplements are calcium carbonate, so make sure to check the ingredients and buy calcium citrate), and B-12 (sublingual, injection, or nasal spray). You'll have to take chewable vitamins for at least the first month or two. Vitamins come in different forms (chewable, melt-in-your-mouth, capsules, liquid, patches), so if you have issues with one form, try something else. The BariatricPal store has a great selection of vitamins and they frequently have sales. I purchase most of my vitamins from there (BariatricPal brand).
• Constipation - Nobody likes to talk about toilet stuff, but constipation is no joke. A lot of surgeons recommend taking Miralax daily (note: Amazon has a generic brand that is much cheaper). Don't wait until you get constipated to take something. Prevention is easier than treatment.

Other than that, the one thing you should do today if you haven't already is take your "before" pictures and measurements! Most of us have very few "before" pictures because we didn't like the way we looked before weight loss and avoided being in photos. You will want to have some pictures for comparison when you reach your goal weight. You will want to have your starting measurements so you can see how far you've come.

Good luck! Stick around and let us know how it goes!

Thank you so much!! I appreciate this info. I will definitely take some before pics asap