Advice for someone not having surgery until November?

Hi all! Because of my job, I cannot have surgery until the fall. Any advice on what I should do between now and then to make the surgery more successful for myself?

Lose as much weight as you can before surgery. If you can't lose weight (I sure couldn't), at least try to keep your weight stable. Any pre-op weight you lose will make your surgery safer, your recovery faster, and your weight loss goal that much closer.

psychoticparrot

I have advice!

1 - find a therapist. Having a therapist to sort out the brain stuff is super important. The surgery will only operate on your stomach. Taking the time to find a therapist now will really benefit you in the long run.

2 - add movement to your life. If you don't already, try to build a walking habit. Start off small, like 5 minutes a day if you're not doing any already. This will improve functionality of many of your systems and make recovery a bit easier. And then you'll already be in the habit of walking when you're post-op! A Fitbit or other activity tracker can help make this fun - especially if you're a data geek :)

3 - start cutting back/out the caloric drinks you might drink and replace them with water. If you have a soda habit or a frappacapachinolattewhippedunicorncoffee habit? Work to scale those back now. At the same time, work on being someone who is well hydrated with calorie-free drinks.

4 - if you have any "bad" habits like smoking or drinking alcohol, work on cutting back on those now. (Or quitting entirely.)

5 - work on building the habit of tracking everything you put into your body using something like MyFitnessPal combined with a kitchen scale (they're cheap on amazon!)

6 - take pictures and measurements! You might be sad if you don't have "starting" information when you're 6+ months post-op.

7 - read everything you can. I seriously went through and read every post in this forum back to the beginning. So much information. I love information.

That's all that comes to mind right now. Basically, there are a lot of good habits and groundwork you can start doing now to prepare.

Oh! And if you haven't already, find a surgeon, talk to the surgeon, make sure you know what your surgeon and insurance company needs, etc.

8 - this ties in with #1 (which is the most important, imo) - start building Team Breakfree82. Identify the people in your life who will be pillars of support during this process (and, conversely, the ones who won't). Even though you can go it alone and, ultimately, we all do, it never hurts to know who will cheer you on.

I had the same thing with my job last year. I wanted to wait to December. I went to see the nut every month and tried to develop my post op habits in advance. The #1 thing I'm happy I did was give up soda and caffeine in advance. I can't image how hard it would be (for me) to do that at the time I had the surgery. Also think through your strategy of who your support group is and whether or not you're going to tell the world. Some people tell everyone; others don't. I told a handful and a few of them I regret I said anything. And don't have a farewell party for your favorite foods every week. I did that a few weeks and gained. Get the mindset now and it will all be easier. Read these boards. Watch AskDrA on YouTube if you haven't yet. He's got lots of short videos that will tell you everything you need to know. Good luck.

Well I had a long wait for various reasons. But I decided there was no reason I could not start healthier habits immediately. So I just dialed back on eating, tried to walk more (I had already quit soda) and just ate more healthy stuff. In 6 months I lost 17 lbs. It will make your surgery easier as the first fat you lose is around your liver and they have to get behind your liver to get to your stomach. And start drinking lots of water if you do already.

I allowed myself one food funeral - a prime rib dinner with all the trimmings. That was about a month before surgery and it was enough. GL diane S

Detox from sugar, you'll have less cravings.