What one thing do you wish you'd known before having surgery?

[FutureSylph 377]

I'm at the very beginning of my WLS journey, and I'm hoping to learn from all of you. Is there something you'd like to share with a newbie? Anything you wish you'd done differently on your path? The juicy insider information, perhaps? Please do share.

[catwoman7 10,986]

stick to your clinic's eating plan as carefully as you can, especially the first few months. I read posts on here a lot about people pushing the envelope, and that's a slippery slope to go down. In time, you'll be able to enjoy most if not all of the foods you currently enjoy (in smaller portions, of course), but let the program and your new tool work its magic during the weight loss phase. This will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to lose a huge amount of excess weight - the first year after surgery will be the easiest time ever to do that - so take full advantage of it!!

[WishMeSmaller 1,270]

Exercise. I started with walking pretty much immediately after surgery and have progressed to running, weight training, HIIT, etc. I believe it has made all the difference in my physical and mental well being. I am happy and healthy. ☺️

[blackcatsandbaddecisions 845]

Surgery is a weight loss assist/boost, but it’s not going to do the work for you. I hate seeing posts of people who are back at fast food, candy, pastries, chips etc within a few months of surgery. Just because they “can” eat some of this stuff doesn’t mean they should be at this stage in the weight loss phase. Focus on your goal of weight loss, not testing your surgery limits.

Your surgery might allow you to eat almost anything without trouble, but at the end of the day you’re still responsible for what you eat. Don’t live off a diet of Protein Shakes and Water only, but also take this opportunity to reinvent your eating habits so you don’t end up back where you started in a few years. I was in my preop class with a guy I know who kept saying he was going to eat exactly how he did preop but just let the surgery limit his portion sizes. He stopped losing weight only a few months post surgery and never even got close to his goal.

[Chantrella 125]

I wouldn’t be able to drink or gulp Water fast. I would no longer be able to tolerate artificial sweeteners.

[HealthyLifeStyle 351]

That I wouldn't be able to stop losing weight if I wanted to. I am having a lot of trouble maintaining, and keep losing. I am too skinny and look sickly now. I know people have told me I will gain some back hopefully in the next few yrs. but right now I look awful. My face looks older, my eyes are sunk in, and also black. I am not happy with the way I look. I think I looked better when I was heavier.

[catwoman7 10,986]

2 hours ago, HealthyLifeStyle said:

That I wouldn't be able to stop losing weight if I wanted to. I am having a lot of trouble maintaining, and keep losing. I am too skinny and look sickly now. I know people have told me I will gain some back hopefully in the next few yrs. but right now I look awful. My face looks older, my eyes are sunk in, and also black. I am not happy with the way I look. I think I looked better when I was heavier.

to be honest, there are a lot more people who never make it to goal than there are who get too skinny. But you're definitely not the first (I got too thin at first as well, but it sounds like yours is worse).

not sure when you had surgery, but after you hit your low weight, things sort of shift around and resettle, and you don't look as drawn. Then in year 3, most of us have a 10-20 lb rebound (some more, of course, but 10-20 lbs is extremely common). So you may end up looking fine...

(actually, I just checked your stats. I'm 5'6" and got down to where you are now (low to mid-130s) -- my bmi was 22 - so number-wise I was slightly worse. I did look really drawn and unhealthy at that weight...but I was OK with it since I knew almost everyone has a rebound - and I did...)

Edited May 22, 2021 by catwoman7

[Creekimp13 5,838]

I wish I'd know that not everyone pukes after surgery. LOL. I DREADED the idea of vomiting so much. I hate it, and everything I read seemed to indicate that it was pretty much a normal learning curve thing to puke a few times after surgery while adjusting to your new gastric limits. Because of my horror and dread about puking...I put off my surgery for nearly a decade.

Reality....the anti-puke meds they have now are absolutely amazing. Since having surgery 3.5 years ago, I have never been severely nauseated. I have never puked. Not once. I was not nauseated after surgery. Felt great, walked, drank every bit of Water I was allowed with no issues (other than it taking a long time at first with the little bity sips)

If I'd known what a good job they do preventing vomiting these days......it might have been a gamechanger.

Yes, it's possible you'll puke. But it's also possible to have a super easy time of it and never feel sick at all. I didn't. I'm so grateful for that.

[HealthyLifeStyle 351]

4 hours ago, catwoman7 said:

to be honest, there are a lot more people who never make it to goal than there are who get too skinny. But you're definitely not the first (I got too thin at first as well, but it sounds like yours is worse).

not sure when you had surgery, but after you hit your low weight, things sort of shift around and resettle, and you don't look as drawn. Then in year 3, most of us have a 10-20 lb rebound (some more, of course, but 10-20 lbs is extremely common). So you may end up looking fine...

(actually, I just checked your stats. I'm 5'6" and got down to where you are now (low to mid-130s) -- my bmi was 22 - so number-wise I was slightly worse. I did look really drawn and unhealthy at that weight...but I was OK with it since I knew almost everyone has a rebound - and I did...)

I am 9 months out. When did you start gaining/looking healthy again? I don't even care if I gain. I just want to stop losing at this point. I saw someone today that I just saw last month and she was like OMG your so thin! I got mad at her and told her not to say that to me. Of course I apologized to her, but my initial reaction wasn't what I thought I would ever be at.

[catwoman7 10,986]

It took me 20 months to lose all that weight (I started out MUCH heavier than you did), so I was well into the second year before I hit my low. I don't remember exactly when i started looking better because it's been a few years, but it would have been within a few months after I hit bottom.

I just checked my weight log and by a little over 2.5 years out, my weight started to head up, so things had probably shifted around and settled and I looked better at my lowest weight sometime during the period of 4-10 after I hit bottom and before I experienced rebound weight (I was totally convinced I would NEVER experience rebound like so many people do, but...I did). Even though I loved seeing the 130s on my scale, I looked way better once my weight started to go up. But now I'm 20 lbs heavier (the last 10 thanks to COVID). I still look fine, but I'd really like to lose 5-10 lbs.

[chiquitatummy 327]

6 hours ago, Creekimp13 said:

I wish I'd know that not everyone pukes after surgery. LOL. I DREADED the idea of vomiting so much. I hate it, and everything I read seemed to indicate that it was pretty much a normal learning curve thing to puke a few times after surgery while adjusting to your new gastric limits.

Same here! I was so freaked out about being nauseous all the time and vomiting. I haven't vomited one time and only had a couple moments of nauseous right after surgery that were quickly and easily controlled.

[Arabesque 6,687]

I struggled to maintain too @HealthyLifeStyle. I did look drawn in that year I kept loosing but since I stabilised about 6 months ago I look fine. Things do shift about. I’m a little shorter than you (5’3”) and my bmi sits just under 19 and I’m not bony. Sure I can feel my bones but my shoulders aren’t sunken & nor do I have deep hollows under my collarbones (signs of being underweight). I have a smaller frame so I can carry my lower weight better. If you have a larger frame, you may look slimmer than your weight indicates. Give it time.

It can be hard to come to terms with how we look being slim. It’s body dysmorphia. I think a lot of us would put our hand up & say yep I’m still sometimes surprised by how I look in the mirror or they can be surprised when someone describes us as slim or small (who? me?). (I don’t really like ‘skinny’. It can have negative connotations or raise negative responses.)

Sorry, @FutureSylph your post has been hijacked a little - it often happens.

Best advice:

1 - fellow your plan. There are lots of different ones but stick to what you were given. You can negotiate with your surgeon & dietician as you progress.
2 - go at your pace. It’s not a race. You may lose quickly, you may lose slowly. You may struggle at times on the way but you’ll get there.
3 - listen to your body. It will tell you pretty darn quickly if it’s happy or not. It can be pretty fussy at first & may not tolerate one day what it did the day before. Give it a break & then try again in a week or so.

4 - what worked for me or someone else may not work for you. Still give any suggestions a go or research them to see if they might.
5 - take time to decide what foods you do want to reintroduce into your life & what you don’t when you reach maintenance. Consider portion size, frequency of eating or if there’s an healthier alternative for foods you do want to reintroduce.

Good luck.

[chiquitatummy 327]

Other things I wished I known:

• That I would be flattened with exhaustion in the first 3-6 weeks.
• That Constipation during the full liquid and pureed food stages would be a real issue and not to snooze on doing what needs to be done to keep things moving.
• That once my tummy healed getting enough Water in wouldn't be so hard. Sure, I can't pound a glass of water, but also don't have to take tiny baby sips anymore. I can get water in with normal size sips which add up easily as long as I keep a glass nearby.
• That starting my Vitamins would not make me throw up. I was really freaked out about this and waited longer than I needed to.
• That following my program's diet wouldn't be as hard as I thought. I have had a few tough moments, but it really hasn't been that hard and is waaaaay easier than all the other diets I've been on before VSG.
• That I wouldn't be losing 7-9 pounds every week. Intellectually I knew this, but I secretly held out hope that the big losses would continue after the first two weeks. I am losing consistently, but it's much slower than those first couple weeks. typically it's around 1.5 pounds, with 3-4 pounds a week every now and again for a big loss. Also, if have a big loss like that I can count on the next week having no loss, or only seeing a tiny loss of just a few ounces. Again, this is stuff I "knew" but a part of me still had some unrealistic hope that I would have "my 600 pound life" sized losses.
• How much joy taking walks again would bring me. Before surgery, walking was painful and I'd forgotten how much I liked it. I've lost enough weight now that there is no pain with movement, just the joy of being outdoors and feeling my body do what I'm asking of it without a problem.
• that I didn't need to worry about going into a depressive slump after surgery. this, along with throwing up, was my biggest fear - that the surgery plus the change in diet would cause me to feel down or even depressed. The opposite has been true, experiencing increased physical comfort, range of motion, and physical ability has been enlivening and I have found my mood to be more stable.

Edited May 23, 2021 by chiquitatummy

[FutureSylph 377]

8 hours ago, Arabesque said:

Sorry, @FutureSylph your post has been hijacked a little - it often happens.

Nothing for which to apologize. I've enjoyed reading all the replies, and I appreciate them. (Thanks, y'all!) Thread drift on message boards sounds more like natural conversation to me.

[louie82 3]

Thank you everyone, I have found this very helpful. I have surgery at the end of July and I am most worried about nausea and no energy. It has been reassuring to read the posts.

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