Considering surgery

[shadesoftoska 0]

Hi, I’m in the process of getting surgery work up for a sleeve and I have to confirm by next week if I’m going ahead. I’ve been researching the operation and I am overwhelmed with varying opinions, and having difficulty making up my mind. Clearly, I love food, it’s a passion, but my size has always made me unhappy and limited my life. I cannot decide if having surgery will transform my life in a positive way or if I will mourn the loss of food. Can any post op people give me their overall opinion of surgery, if it was the right decision, to help me guide my decision making process? 🙏

[WafflingWafa 17]

4 minutes ago, shadesoftoska said:

Hi, I’m in the process of getting surgery work up for a sleeve and I have to confirm by next week if I’m going ahead. I’ve been researching the operation and I am overwhelmed with varying opinions, and having difficulty making up my mind. Clearly, I love food, it’s a passion, but my size has always made me unhappy and limited my life. I cannot decide if having surgery will transform my life in a positive way or if I will mourn the loss of food. Can any post op people give me their overall opinion of surgery, if it was the right decision, to help me guide my decision making process? 🙏

I am 3 weeks out VSG. The surgery and recovery for me has been much easier than Id feared! I felt worse a few years back after I had my gallbladder removed . I know I am goinig to miss being able to eat what I like when I like but the health risks for me continuinig as I was were too great for me. I had to loose weight and just as importantly KEEP IT OFF or be prepared to suffer the consequences; after years of yo yo dieting I knew weight loss surgery was my best option.

Three things which I think have helped me cope with the new way of eating so fare are:

Since I had a year delay waiting for surgery (COVID!!) and during that time I did drastically cut back on my then large serving sizes and eat slowly (I always ate on the go!) and only drink at the start of a meal not at the end

feel free to contact me if you want to

its a big decision you need to be ready

[Guest]

I can only speak from personal experience, obviously, but I wish I had been in the right mindset to do this sooner. I think a lot of people will agree on that.

A great way for me to prepare was intensively working on separating food from emotions. That's tough. We use food for all kinds of social rewards, self-comfort, to express love etc. If that's what you're really worried about, that's a good place to start.

In terms of 'loss of food', talk to some veterans. Especially sleevers, if that's the way you want to go. I don't think they feel they lost a lot of food, they're just eating a lot less of it.

[Hop_Scotch 1,626]

Hello and welcome.

Sounds like some counselling may be in order for you to help you with your decision.

For me personally I am quite happy with the surgery choice I finally ended up making but then food of itself wasn't a passion to me.

I am nearly a year out and so far I have no regrets whatsoever.

[catwoman7 10,867]

I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Being normal weight after years of being super morbidly obese is/was worth all the sacrifices.

there are definitely food restrictions the first few months post-op, but I really don't have any anymore. I just watch my overall calories, so I'm eating much less than I did pre-surgery.

[Maisey 260]

I am 60 days post RNY. My surgery and recovery have been physically quite easy. Mentally, some days are better than others. I like to eat. I enjoyed food. I still do. I'd like to eat more, but now have the physical reminders that I can't. I'm working to replace behaviors that were linked to eating out of habit. That's hard. Every. Day.

The part of your post that sets off alarm bells for me is where you say that you have to make a decision by next week. There is no reason you should feel pressured to make a decision. Take your time. Research, research, research. Your program should have competent professionals on staff to help guide you. Make an appointment on your own with your own PCP or a counselor. In the end, the decision has to be yours and you have to be ready to live differently. No one can answer for you if you are ready for that. I know that I was not ready for it for a long time. I made excuses that living the post WLS lifestyle was just as "abnormal" as was being morbidly obese. It took realizing the long-term consequences of my weight on my health that finally was the decision-maker.

[BigSue 1,320]

I first looked into weight loss surgery more than 15 years ago, and my family talked me out of it because of the potential complications. I continued to consider it off and on over the years, but I kept deciding not to do it because I couldn’t stand the thought of giving up everything I loved. Eating was really my main pleasure in life, and I didn’t think I could handle giving up everything I loved — pizza, ice cream, French fries, Cookies, even diet soda (my one guiltless pleasure).

Eventually, though, I got to the point where my weight was destroying my health and my life. Last year, I was diagnosed with hypertension and diabetes. My mobility was going downhill quickly and I felt so limited in everything, like my career and traveling, because of my weight. I came to the realization that I was giving up a lot to continue living as a super morbidly obese person, and I had to make a choice between turning my life around or continuing to eat myself into an early grave.

I decided to have weight loss surgery because I realized that it was worth giving up the food to get back my health and my life. That is a decision that each individual has to make, and the trade off is different for everyone. It took me a long time to get to the point where I thought it was worth it. I encourage everyone to take a hard look at the pros and cons, what they would gain and what they would lose, what they are willing to risk for the potential rewards, and go into it with their eyes wide open.

I have now lost half of my starting weight, and I’ve completely turned my health around. My blood pressure and blood sugar are on the low end of normal. I can easily walk a mile and go up and down stairs without getting out of breath or sweaty. I can wear mainstream brands of clothing and fit in an airplane seat with no seatbelt extender (or I could if I were traveling). Giving up the food is a small price to pay. And although I had to give up a lot of my old favorites, I still find pleasure in eating. I cook more now and I enjoy finding new, healthy recipes. I’m not going to lie — I sometimes feel sad when I think about my old favorites that I can no longer eat — but to me, it was worth it. Like many, many WLS patients, my biggest regret is that I waited so long to do it and missed out on so many good years of my life by being morbidly obese.

[catwoman7 10,867]

18 minutes ago, BigSue said:

I first looked into weight loss surgery more than 15 years ago, and my family talked me out of it because of the potential complications. I continued to consider it off and on over the years, but I kept deciding not to do it because I couldn’t stand the thought of giving up everything I loved. Eating was really my main pleasure in life, and I didn’t think I could handle giving up everything I loved — pizza, ice cream, French fries, Cookies, even diet soda (my one guiltless pleasure).

Eventually, though, I got to the point where my weight was destroying my health and my life. Last year, I was diagnosed with hypertension and diabetes. My mobility was going downhill quickly and I felt so limited in everything, like my career and traveling, because of my weight. I came to the realization that I was giving up a lot to continue living as a super morbidly obese person, and I had to make a choice between turning my life around or continuing to eat myself into an early grave.

I decided to have weight loss surgery because I realized that it was worth giving up the food to get back my health and my life. That is a decision that each individual has to make, and the trade off is different for everyone. It took me a long time to get to the point where I thought it was worth it. I encourage everyone to take a hard look at the pros and cons, what they would gain and what they would lose, what they are willing to risk for the potential rewards, and go into it with their eyes wide open.

I have now lost half of my starting weight, and I’ve completely turned my health around. My blood pressure and blood sugar are on the low end of normal. I can easily walk a mile and go up and down stairs without getting out of breath or sweaty. I can wear mainstream brands of clothing and fit in an airplane seat with no seatbelt extender (or I could if I were traveling). Giving up the food is a small price to pay. And although I had to give up a lot of my old favorites, I still find pleasure in eating. I cook more now and I enjoy finding new, healthy recipes. I’m not going to lie — I sometimes feel sad when I think about my old favorites that I can no longer eat — but to me, it was worth it. Like many, many WLS patients, my biggest regret is that I waited so long to do it and missed out on so many good years of my life by being morbidly obese.

^^ I could have written that myself. I'm exactly the same!

[Wild13 10]

I honestly can’t be of help for future since I’m only one week post op but I can tell you this if you are reading this. The food restrictions how we overthink them aren’t really all that I know we think we will never eat certain foods but there are so many options for those of those that love food. Health is number one but if you google, Pinterest or even just ask there are so many good recipes and substitutes for meals that you can still enjoy the same. Yes we are eating less and not binge eating but it shouldn’t be like that regardless first week has been hard for me but I have spent the time I have no work planning out and researching basically a lifetime of changes. I follow people on social media that have been 1,2,3,4 even 10 years post op and they have their journeys up and what they eat and how they feel and it made me feel great. Even BariatricPal has items that resemble the real thing but are tailored to us. I know it’s not the post you all want to see it is more tailored to the part in your post were you might think you will suffer over food. Honestly I love penne vodka and Pasta and I know I can’t eat a whole plate how I used to but I found ways to replicate good recipes with low carb Keto or no sugar items. Hope you make the decision that feels good for you and that helps you. Just remember don’t rush it.

[shadesoftoska 0]

Thank you all! It’s been very helpful. My overall view now is that the first several months will be challenging, but that some kind of normalcy comes back eventually, and that overall people tend to wish they had made the decision earlier. So I will be going ahead. Thanks for taking the time.