SFacey

Elli'smommy, We will have to stay in touch. I am getting ready to go for my preop appointment with the nurse and anesthesia. It is all becoming real!!!!! I have lost 16lbs since the beginning of the 14 day diet. It will be all worth it! Very excited!!!

I am scheduled for July 3rd. Preop is scheduled for July 2nd and I am really excited. I would be lying if I said I am not nervous but I would be for any surgery. I am trying to make sure I have everything prepared at home so life will be easy. My doctor gave me a "shopping list" that make post op life a little easier. I have been on my preop diet for 8 days now and have lost 12 lbs. Ready for the numbers to drop.

Has your physician set you up with the dietician to see what other changes that could be made? I would definitely explore why more has not been lost. I understand there are several plateau's you will go through and it takes a little tweaking of the diet to overcome them. Are you getting enough protein in?

Riisey007 I know exactly what you mean. I have been pinning outfits on Pinterest to keep myself excited. I have not purchased a lot of clothes in this size. It is very stressful when we have an event to attend and then I do not have anything to wear. My husband is very fit, we use to run and lift together, so it is very stressful when these events come up. I am excited to shop again and it will nice to go into my closet and the struggle will be which outfit to wear. You have the right outlook and seem to be a very positive person. Those grandbabies can be a great motivation to stay on track. I have two girls a 15 year old and a 9 year old and I am looking forward to being an active part of their life. Best of luck to you and I hope to see you continuing to blog on here.

Even if people may not be in the "right place" when they begin the process, given a little time they may be ready. A lot of the desire for the foods is a psychological hunger. Part of the process to obtain approval for surgery was the psychological evaluation which looked at support system, your understanding of the procedure and the impact of your life. A lot of people get stressed, sad, mad, etc and turn to food. They wanted to make sure you plan for how you will cope with these situations post-op. Sometimes people get excited about the weight loss aspect of the surgery and lose sight of what they will be going through. I have surgery July 3rd and my focus at this point is that I am excited to get active again. I have a lot of knee pain right now, and a very low energy level. I am looking forward to gaining back that energy and also gaining the mobility back. I get caught up in the things I could do in my past. I was a powerlifter and could bench press 165lbs. I ran with a group of friends 5 days a week, we ran various routes 3-8 miles depending on the day. I look forward to gaining that kind of mobility back. I feel like the weight loss will be an additional benefit don't get me wrong and to most people it will be the most obvious changes. I think if you focus only on the weight loss you may find myself struggling more than usual post-op. I think the time it takes to get prepared for this surgery should be taken very seriously by everyone contemplating it and start making adjustments to the way you look at food and the way you cope with stress. Ensure that is in place prior to surgery to easy the transition. I will still have struggles but I will have prepared well enough to have a plan to deal with it. Ok, as I write this I find that I use "you" a lot. I am just speaking in general and do not direct it towards anyone on this blog. I in no way mean to offend anyone I am just speaking from my perspective and how I have chosen to view this entire process. I hope it may help someone.

I agree, everything on here needs to be taken with a grain of salt. One of they things that they have mentioned in our support group out our hospital is that you will hear stories of things that worked for some and they may not work for you. I have friends that are 8-9 months out and have had very little problems, not even much nausea. I also work in an ER that has nurses that use to work on a bypass floor and there are many stories of patients having family members bring them chicken nuggets while recovering from bypass surgery. I do not remember where the chicken nugget falls in the calendar for being an OK food. Another girl had her mom get her a strawberry milk shake and it ended in tragedy. If the food is not on your surgeon's list of foods to eat DO NOT EAT IT!!! We have come to far to suffer a setback now.

I have heard that you can have the bowel issue if you eat something you are not suppose to or if you drink liquids with your meals. I have not had the surgery yet, I have a week and a half. I am excited but reading every blog I can to try to educate myself on what to expect. Learn the do's and dont's. I have a list of things I can eat from my physician, I will follow it to the T.

I did not have to lose a certain amount of weight before surgery. I just made small changes, increasing my water intake and making better choices in foods. I would fluctuate 5 lbs. I have been on the liquid diet 4 days and have lost 9 lbs so far. It may be an insurance requirement, it may be the physician is not a fan of the surgery. Not sure but there is a lot of negativity regarding the surgery in the medical community. I am not sure what to advise here. I would ask her how the physician acts when discussing the surgery and how they acted when it was first brought up. It may require that she change providers to someone who is more supportive of the program. Do they have a dietician she can meet with every couple of weeks to help get her down the 10lbs. Have her cut out all calories from liquids. No pop, juice, etc. Just water. That will make a big difference.

It is so exciting reading these posts about the changes people are going through. You have a great outlook, you cannot control how people will react to your changes you can only control yours. Having the support of your husband is most important. My mom is very nervous but she has not been pressuring me too much to not do the surgery. I know with her she is just worried. If your mom has always been a critic you should just take what she says in stride. These change is for you and you alone. This is the way I am looking at it. I am doing this for me and only me, if I was doing it for someone else then I would be making the wrong decision. Keep your head up and keep blogging!!!

How are you feeling? I hope all went well and you are on the road to recovery. Read the blogs of the 3 week post op patients. There is light at the end of the tunnel.

Great job!! I was a runner before and loved to do 5k's and plan to do many more. The best runs were when it rained a bit, I don't know why! My husband and daughter run about 6, 5k's a year that are local and they have such a good time. I look forward to being able to do them together. Try and get family involved and make it something you do together. My brother and his wife have began to run this year and I hope to make us a pretty good size group at next years 5K race circuit. Keep it up!!

Reassuring!!! I am reading all of these blogs with people who have recently had surgery and seeing how everyone is doing. I will be keeping these posts in mind when I am in my first couple of weeks post op. Thanks for posting a positive blog. I will be sure to blog about how I am feeling at the 3 week mark, this is very important to hear when you are where I am trying to anticipate what it will be like after. It is nice to know that at 3 weeks we will feel much better! Thank you!

My biggest concern is the hydration. How hard is it to get your water in? I am on my two week diet and I have been trying to practice sipping my water. I have heard the things that will make you feel bad the quickest is dehydration and not getting enough protein in. Any tricks you have learned so far? I am just going to wear yoga clothes or workout clothes until I drop a significant amount. I do not want to keep buying clothes either. I have all kinds of clothes that have been given to me from friends and family members that will get me through the next few months in clothes. I know the shopping bug is going to bite when I lose 50 lbs. The thing is I will have to get things that will wear well as I get smaller. Smart buys! I am very excited. I have been pinning outfits on Pinterest to get over the shopping bug and to stay motivated.

I have not had my surgery yet so I have not encountered this. It is unfortunate but true, why do people feel the need to talk about something with someone and give their two cents? I say if you do not agree with my choice to do surgery keep your mouth closed. We do not have to talk about it. I am a grown woman and this is my decision to improve my life and nobody has to agree with it but me. If I made my decisions based off everyone else I would never be happy, I would be making them happy. I have become a bit "assertive" in the last few years (I work in an ER) and I would have probably said something about how inappropriate the joke was and in the future I would appreciate them not sharing. If it is the workplace it should make them nervous because if you were to go to HR they would have to address it. I refuse to tolerate stuff like that, especially at work. People at work will occasionally talk about someone because of their weight and I always say, "man I hate to hear what you say about me when I am gone?" My own passive aggressive way to deal with them and make them think about what they say. It has been my experience that people feel the need to give their two cents when it is not asked or appreciated. I am assertive enough at work that they realize real quick I am not going to tolerate it. You are right on when you say that people will always find ways to judge people. I am not sure if that is driven from their own low self-esteem or just ignorance but if you deal with it in the passive aggressive way it will constantly remind them that you are not going to take it. If that does not work just get assertive and tell them that in the future they can keep all jokes to themselves, you are not interested in their personal opinions and that the jokes are not appreciated. If you do not say something to stop them, in their head they have the green light to share these "jokes" with you all the time.

I am down 9 lbs from this diet alone! It is getting me excited for the dropping of pounds!

It has not been that bad. I think I need to squeeze another shake into the day. The real test will be when I go to work tomorrow. Everyone at work knows I am on the diet so I think they will be good to me. I have been making sure I do not let my family suffer because I am going through this. So they are eating the same foods they would before. My 15 year old daughter and husband said they would do the diet for a day in support of me. I thought that was nice. I have not been that hungry which surprised me. I have been pinning recipes on Pinterest which has not made me crave things either. I have been pinning recipes that I can cook later that the whole family can enjoy. I am in my last semester of Nursing school so I am trying to find things I can make ahead for them. My daughter keeps reminding me to just focus on the reward.

Yes, I heard you have to make sure you have documentation of your doctor having to treat recurrent infections in skin folds.

I am on day 3 of my pre-op diet of sugar free carnation instant breakfast. I can have a total of 8oz of skim milk in one day so I mix my shakes with milk and water. I am suppose to have 4-5 shakes a day but I have been doing 3. I can have 8 oz of sugar free jello a day and 2 sugar free popsicles a day. I have been doing pretty good surprisingly. I only have waves of hunger that hit every once and a while so I drink my water. I hope it helps me with the recovery from surgery on July 3rd.