Doing Good, Feeling Motivated... Should I Still Get It?

[FluffyBleu76 32]

I have been doing really good on my 10 day pre-op diet. Surgery is scheduled for 4/20 and I am wondering if I should get this procedure now? I am thinking I am motivated because of the surgery but... I guess I am just nervous.

[Not Amish 2]

I can't speak to the pre-op diet, but I can tell you the entire process leading up to the surgery was an acceptance ridden process. I continually went back and forth, wondering why can't I just do this myself. Long story short is I've been trying to do it for such a long time, that I'm risking greater health issues by continuing to maintain my current weight. So my motto going into everything is that I am controlling when I'm having a surgery, and not letting "natural causes" dictate when I get to have my first major surgery.

While I'm still recovering from surgery, I feel closer back to normal, and highly motivated for the future. The only difference is that I have a great tool to help me get to where I need to go. How I can understand your doubts, you really have to dig deep to know if this is the right move for you. My advice would be to make a list of Pros and Cons, and note the subjects that originally pointed you towards going through the surgery.

Good luck to you.

[patkaye 2]

I felt the same way you do. I lost 20 lbs on the pre-op diet and felt like I could conqur the world. But reality set in for me and I knew that for the last 30 years I did this exact same thing only to gain it all back and then some. Belive me I went through complete termoil with my decision, Even while on the pre-op room the anestegologist asked me why I was doing this because I wasn't huge ( I could hide my weight well) - right before going into surgery talk about termoil. But I did it and now am getting use to feeling more in control. It is a process some days are good and some days I am still trying to figure it out. I am just about two weeks out from having my sleeve done and to date since pre-op I have lost 32 lbs. pretty amazing!

What weigth for me said above is so true you need to soul search and make sure you are doing this for you and for the right reasons. It is a challenge but it is doable. - Good luck

[Writergirl 230]

I went on low-carb for the first time several months before my surgery, and for the first time in my life, I lost a good amount of weight fast. When I went for the surgery I was already down 50 pounds. I nearly drove myself crazy with the decision, and my family and friends said they would support me either way. Finally, after being really honest with myself, I admitted that every diet I had ever been on had come to an end at some point, and the weight eventually came back and then some. The time to end that cycle of self-abuse had come. I'm about 11 weeks out and even though I'm losing slowly (probably because I lost so much beforehand), I don't have a single regret about my decision. You're on this path for a reason, and you just need to remind yourself of it. Good luck!

[thebionicbroad 127]

Amen to what everyone before me said. If I could have done it on my own, I would have done it long before now. I'm 4 months out today, down 56 pounds, wearing a size 14 off the rack, and I thank God for this opportunity every time I look in the mirror. Hang in there!

[LindaS 316]

Before my sleeve, I would work hard to lose over weeks and months to lose 10 pounds, and I would gain it back in one weekend.

Right now I am in a stall, and I have been for weeks. I am not losing weight, but my body is changing. Muscles are emerging.

Still, the lack of movement on the scale is discouraging. And I realize that in the past, I would get to this point and console myself with food, which led to the weight gain.

Now, I can't console myself with food. I'm not losing pounds, but I'm not gaining them back either. My body is changing, and I just need to make sure I let it.

[Miriam 50]

As others have said, if we could have lost all that weight and kept it off just by dieting, we would have done so previously... I, for one, had basically given up on dieting before making the decision to undergo surgery. I had already come to the conclusion that it was hopeless because even at my most motivated, when I lost 40 lbs. over half a year with a really intense low-carb diet and major exercising, I not only couldn't get beyond that, but couldn't even keep that weight off for long - eventually I gained it all back and then some, as I'm sure just about everyone on this forum experienced time and again pre-op. I had no doubts at all that surgery was my last hope.

The only time that doubts emerged was actually AFTER the surgery, when I was trying to deal with all the pain and thinking to myself that I should have just dieted - that would have been much easier. But even then I knew that that was stupid, because there's no way I could have done it. Now, around 7 weeks post-op, I can say with even greater certainty that this sleeve has changed and saved my life.