I've finished my Pre-Operative Program at Bariatric and General Surgery at MedStar Washington Hospital Center. I'd previously felt unsure about the program but it's turn out to be a very good experience. Now, I'm in the window where they will request prior authorization and then at some point I'll get a surgery date and be off. For me due to scheduling the gap is going to be about 3 months. Since I have the time I'm interested in learning what could be beneficial for me to consider in this waiting period. I will continue to lose weight with the goal of losing 8 lbs a month. I will continuing exercising, and seeing my dietician. I've eve reached out to setup sessions with a bariatric therapist. I've purchased six months of chewable multi-vitamins and calcium, an assortment of protein shake flavors. But I know there's more needed so please lay your wisdom on me.

Edited June 28, 20251 yr by MrBeeswax
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I live in the UK where this surgery isn't as common as other parts of the world. Information was hard to find until my teams dietician told me about this site. I still use it to keep me in line.

As I ended up waiting 8 months, I read all the back pages of this forum, There is so much information here.

Number one rule - Do not buy loads of things for after surgery, Your taste buds may change in ways you can not understand now.

We were all apprehensive about this big step into the unknown.

We are all here for you when you need a little help along the way. Good luck

My pre-op was a waiting game, and I joined BariNation. I watched their podcasts and thought I would try it for a month. I have been there ever since, and am glad to have people to learn from, licensed therapists to talk to and nutritionists that are registered dieticians to get recipes from and information about nutrition. There are physicians that give answers to questions, and peer meet-ups that keep you involved and are very helpful. I spend most days there because there is always something to attend during the day or in the evening. It is depending on the time zone you are in as to when these zoom meetings take place. There is a lot to learn, and one thing I learned is that I have a lot of Non-scale victories both before surgery and now after surgery. I have made friends that get me, and we talk, instead of write, and some I have numbers for and when we have some head work involved, we call and talk to each other to help us past the hard stuff. I would recommend it to help you during your waiting period. Isolation is not a good thing.

I learned over the months that isolation can actually be detrimental to your work and progress. You want to continue to progress before your surgery that is nothing more than a tool. Being in groups helps to keep you grounded, and you can learn about emotional eating to help you to get some work done in the emotional eating realm of our lives. We used to use food as comfort, and we can't do that now, once you are post surgery.

Wishing you the best.