What is life like after?

[DD87 7]

Hi all

I am booked in for surgery next week.

is it silly to do this before I have children?

any tips on really what to expect post operation? I really want to understand what life will be like after this?

my job and life is quite social so I feel I will struggle to adjust at first and to cancel a lot of plans last minute

i am not telling anyone other than my husband about the surgery / is it hard to hide?

what are peoples weight loss journeys like post op?

sorry for all the questions!!

[catwoman7 10,876]

it's really the first few months that things seem abnormal - you have a lot of food restrictions (although they gradually expand) and at first you're eating very small amounts of food. And yes - if you go out to eat the first month or two after surgery, it's going to be noticeable that you're eating ridiculously small amounts, and people will wonder what's up. But the further out you go, no, it's not noticeable, and your life seems pretty normal. I go out to eat, and no one would be able to tell I've had WLS. I now eat (and have been eating for the past four or five years) about as much as my never-been-obese women friends who are monitoring their weight - in other words, I'm a "light eater" - but certainly nothing out of the ordinary.

if you lose a significant amount of weight, people will notice, and many will say something and ask how you did it. It's totally up to you how you want to respond to that. You're not obligated to tell them you had WLS. I only told my immediate family and close friends at first. I was also honest with other obese people who asked, because I know they'd know that the "diet and exercise" excuse was a bunch of schlock. But most normal weight people believe that, so I'd tell them I was working with a dietitian and exercising like a fiend. That usually ended it.

[Jaelzion 1,123]

Exactly what @catwoman7 said.

[ShoppGirl 3,402]

I don’t think it’s silly to do before having children. Having surgery while younger will obviously decrease your chance of comorbidities that occur with long term obesity but you will also have less excess skin having surgery at a younger age. You will have to be careful sticking to your new way of eating throughout pregnancy but that would probably be better for the baby than a bunch of processed junk anyways. Think about it, thin women get pregnant all the time and lose the weight afterwards relatively quick after. If you do a poll on this site most women will say

their only regret about the surgery is not doing it sooner.

[Tim C 335]

5 hours ago, DD87 said:

Hi all

I am booked in for surgery next week.

is it silly to do this before I have children?

any tips on really what to expect post operation? I really want to understand what life will be like after this?

my job and life is quite social so I feel I will struggle to adjust at first and to cancel a lot of plans last minute

i am not telling anyone other than my husband about the surgery / is it hard to hide?

what are peoples weight loss journeys like post op?

sorry for all the questions!!

Not hard to hide. Start telling people now that you are on a diet under 1000 calories a day and not drinking any booze if you did before. Life is better after I think...you just eat less which has been easy for me. You will be able to eat smaller portions of many of the things you eat now. and have cocktail at some point.

As far as children go...It is much cheaper to have a dog. ...I could have retired years ago without kids LOL!

[JDLane 139]

I can't fully speak to this since I'm not in the after yet but I have one child and I plan to have another afterwards. My medical group just stressed they want people to wait 12-18 months before getting pregnant. My surgeon was much more nonchalant about it and said we just want you to wait a year so it doesn't interfere while you're still losing. He mentioned at a lower weight I'd be likely to have an easier pregnancy. And having started my last pregnancy at 246lbs I'm inclined to agree that starting at a lower weight next time will be less stressful for my body. Hopefully with a tool in place it will be easier to begin losing weight afterwards again too. And most importantly I'm looking forward to being a healthier, more active mom to my current toddler.

[njlimmer 338]

6 hours ago, Tim C said:

As far as children go...It is much cheaper to have a dog. ...I could have retired years ago without kids LOL!

#truth I love my kids, but if I knew then what I know now...