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I'm the same age and happy to read these responses! I'm hoping for a Sept/Oct surgery and it's good to know that age is mostly just a number!

I’m on my second round of pre-op liquid diet (did it in December) and I have noticed this time that they’re a lot tougher to drink. Today I’ve only managed 2. I think I’m going to just end up using powders and make my own. Those go down much better than the ready to drink ones.

Bariatric pal or bariatric advantage or flinstones vitamins complete with iron is another I see a lot.

I'm a September surgery too! September 15th. I can't wait.

I started on the ones with iron, but the constipation was unreal and my surgeon’s office gave me permission to try to go without. They will check labs at the end of the month. Fingers crossed to be able to stay off! Like the person said above, I have heard lots of good reports on Flintstones vitamins.

I do NOT miss: - Boxy clothes. - My husband’s disappointed glances. Now he wants to touch me more all of a sudden :-). He never said anything out of line, but I don’t miss those occasional glances... - Inner thigh rashes and zits. - Hiding behind people in photos. - Only liking photos of me taken from the neck up. - Saving smaller clothing sizes for “one day”. Now I can actually wear them. - Pot lucks & buffets. Yeah... no thanks. An all-you-can-eat place would be a complete waste of money for me now, anyway. - Car seatbelts riding up around my neck. - The waddle my walk was developing. - Weak bladder control. I can “hold it” a lot longer now. As a result, I have less issues with odor after near misses. I know... TMI - Hot flashes. Somehow they have disappeared. Interesting.

For me it was life changing in every sense. The surgery was quite simple, minor pain at the incision areas, but aside from that really no serious pain. Thankfully, I didn't have some of the 'gas pains' that others have. No nausea, vomiting or extreme discomfort. Not really very hungry for the first few weeks either. I'm not sure if it's common practice, but right before my surgery and at my 6-month check up I had a "Myers Cocktail" which is basically a bunch of vitamins given through IV. Really helped with recovery and energy levels during a time where you really can't get much energy from food. YMMV, but for me recovery was super fast. I was eating pureed food by day 2 and solid foods by I think the end of week 2. Don't worry too much about calories in the beginning. Regardless of what you eat, you won't be able to eat much. Refried beans were a lifesaver for me the first few days on pureed foods, and the Ricotta bake that you see mentioned so much here was also a staple. Couple pieces of advice (again, everyone's different but some of what I see on here leads me to believe that the issue is more frequent than some others): Pay attention to your water. Sounds silly, but right after surgery I had no interest in drinking anything. I had to remind myself to drink water. So I started carrying around my water everywhere. That helped. Kept me sipping throughout the day. One of my biggest issues pre-op was that I ate fast, and when I say fast I mean really really fast. I honestly believe that was a huge part of my weight gain as it led to difficulty digesting, overeating, etc. Use the time in the beginning to re-train yourself on eating slowly and chew chew chew chew chew! Even your liquids. Even your pureed food. Even your smoothies. Chew it all. Sounds weird, but helped me monumentally. Don't try to jump into exercise too early, but don't put it off too long either. We all do this to bring about changes beyond food. We all want to be more active, make healthier choices. It's easy to want to jump right in, but I would wait until you get clearance from your doc (ask) to start, because any injury can cause complications with the surgery or set you back in your recovery or both. Also, you don't want to wait too long because it's WAY TOO EASY to fall back into old habits. Ask your doc at every checkup if you're cleared to exercise and when you are, get moving. Have a plan ready to go. Start with walks and move into beginner plans if you have to and then progressively take on more as you can, but start. Don't get discouraged with stalls. They happen. For some they happen sooner than others, but I think most of us experience them. Just stick to your plan. There are some good articles on here about how to work through stalls. Stalls will hit your ego a lot harder than your overall progress, I promise. Keep with your plan, and you'll push through. Use this time to change what you eat. Just because you can't eat as much of something does not mean that it's a good thing to eat. In the very beginning (first 1-2 weeks), you just need to get something in. Once you start back on solid foods, make sure you're choosing healthy foods. That doesn't mean you have to count calories, macros or any of that. Of course you can if that's what helps you, but I would use this time to find what works best for you. Since you can't eat a lot of different foods, chances are when you start back on solids you'll likely be eating only 1-2 different foods at a time. There won't be 3-4 sides, etc. It's a good time to see how different foods make you feel. Some people do great on a high-protein, low-carb diet. That didn't do it for me. I stuck with the physician's plan for the first 30 days (high protein), but I wanted something more balanced and more sustainable (for me) long-term. I made the change to go to a whole-foods based diet, and it's what I still do today, almost 5 years post-op. I stay away from anything processed as much as I possibly can. This doesn't limit me as much as other diets and it worked really for me. Try foods and see how they make you feel. Weed out the ones that leave you feeling bad, bloated, tired, etc. Enjoy what you couldn't enjoy pre-op. When you get out there and start enjoying the things that you may not have been able to do before your surgery, it's automatic motivation to stay on plan. If you have activities or certain things you have had to sit out because of your weight, having the opportunity to do them is like being a kid again and doing these activities for the first time. Remember those experiences. They will get you through any challenges you might face. Remember that times do get challenging, but that's why you're here. There's a lot of support here. I'm sure you have family and friends to help in that arena as well, but there's something about talking with people who've experienced everything you're going through. Don't forget that we're here. Sorry for the long-winded post, but I hope this gives you some encouragement as you start your journey. Best of luck to you and please keep us in the loop with how everything is going!

I don't miss everyone looking at me when I board a plane and thinking, "I hope the fat guy doesn't sit next to me."

I won’t miss “losing” the remote and then finding it under me when I stand up.

Sweating (I’m perfectly climate-controlled now). Hiding from cameras (I loooove getting my pic taken, like ALL. THE. TIME.) Snoring (I dont notice this, but Mr. is quite happy) Packing a sh*t-ton of clothes whenever I leave the house for vacation or a day trip (Now, everything I need fits in my purse) Being tired/winded at the tiniest exertion (I’ve got energy for DAYS) Feeling shy/uncomfortable/self-conscious (i have so much confidence now its quite disgusting)