Is it awful that I'm a "planner"?

So, I'm wondering if I need to just slow down and relax a little.  During a recent hospitalization, one of my doctors told me that I need WLS in order to deal with a myriad of problems....asthma, recurrent pneumonia, diabetes, sleep apnea, and on and on and on.  So...I jumped right on that.

My first appointment with the surgeon was on May 15.  My husband and I went, and the wonderful man spent 2 hours going over our options, the different risks and benefits, and answering all our questions.  We decided on the sleeve.

My psych evaluation was on May 17th, and is supposed to be typed up and turned in tomorrow.

I scheduled my endoscopy for the 14th of June, so that's just around the corner (would have scheduled it for next week, but will be out of town for work for most of the week).

I've already been hounding my doctors to submit medical records, and am about ready to drive 4 hours to Dallas to get them from one of my old providers who is dragging his feet.

And my appointment with the nutritionist is tomorrow morning.

It seemed like a good idea to make some of the needed lifestyle changes first, too. So.....we have:

Started going to the gym 6 days a week, and I work with a trainer 2 days a week
Cleaned every food item out of our house and "started over" with health conscious choices
(Just those two things have lost me 15 pounds in the last 3 weeks)

And now, I feel like I'm just sitting and waiting......I'm such a planner, I like to have a "plan of attack" and then go for it.  Waiting does not suit my personality well...so what do I do next?  Or do I just need to sit back and try to play a waiting game....is there anything else I'm supposed to be doing?

I don't know how you can do this without being a planner.  I've spent the last 6 months altering my eating habits, learning to get through a meal without a drink, etc. 

I'm the same way, so I prefer to call it "proactive".

You should relax a bit as you are currently "executing" a plan - but it is hard to not know exactly what is going to happen next and when. Just  keep up the good work, wait until your appointments, get everything together and proceed to the next step.

Ive never been so much of a planner in my life as I am now post -op. It's a great habit to have - the old wise saying is very true - if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

I am the same way. I like to have a game plan. My surgery is on the 12th. One of the things that has helped me get my head in the game is a booklet I found on-line:
http://www.muhealth.org/documents/bariatric/Bariatric%20Booklet%20VSG.pdf
Of course your doctor's plan may differ but it will give you an idea of what your eatting will be like.

 You and I sound quite a lot alike.  It was probably 6 weeks between when I decided to pursue WLS and when I was on the table.  I managed every bit of the process - including hounding doctors and insurance companies.

If you attack the post WLS life with the same dedication and mindset you have a very good chance of being successful.  Be prepared for quite a bit of soul searching and self-dscovery.  The hard part of the work is nOT diet and exercise - its in your head.  

After surgery, you need to plan your exercise, your meals, your strategies for dealing with food addictions and comulsions.  You need to be prepared to document and track all of the above.

I'd say what you are describing IS Awful, awfully good.  Keep it going.

You want to continue taking action - Join MyFitnessPal and start tracking all of your eating.  Buy a FitBit Ultra or similar tracker and start measuring your daily activity and developing plans on how to fimprove that.  Get the WLS cookbook for Dummies and start planning the kinds of foods you will have in the house post surgery and the kinds of meals you will prepare.

Theres plenty to do!

Ur doing good I'm still prep and I've been planing ahead. I have lost 20 lbs so far I started the wls process in Jan 2012, my surgery was delayed due to being diagnosis w/ high blood pressure... So now I'm scheduled for the vsg on 6/27. I've been working on eating right logging calories and making wise choices b4 the vsg so i can get use to it... I've never planned so much in my life... This has been a life change. I've already have a plan in place for when I go on vacation... So ur going down the right path

I, too, am a planner and I think it's a good way to be when you are preparing to have this surgery. You have to be your own best advocate when it comes to your health. The hard part is when things are in others' hands - like waiting for medical records or reports, or waiting for the insurance company to make a decision! I agree with the other posters that starting to eat like a VSGer is your next best thing to work on - like, for example, you should sample protein shakes to find out what you like, and stock up.

Good luck to you! You'll be so thrilled with the NEW you!!

I think it's great that you're being so thorough so early on. It shows that you're putting a lot of thought into this, and that you're not taking it lightly and doing it on a whim. I can't wait to follow your progress!

Thanks for the advice! And I knew I was forgetting something! My husband and I both got bodybuggs from our gym, and have been religiously tracking our caloric intake and output. I'm running an average of a 1300 calorie a day deficit, on a 1200 calorie a day diet.

I also made sure that the trainer that I'm working with is specially trained in corrective exercise, therapeutic exercise and working with folks with disabilities. That way I know that he's not only aware of my challenges, but that when he's pushing me, he's doing it safely.

i also quit smoking (one month smoke free after 23 years, so yay!). And my husband has quit using tobacco too.

I think it helps that we're doing it all together. I've lost 15 pounds, he's lost 12. We make our gym time a "date" where we go together, and leave together then chat about how our workouts were (he's a firefighter, so I'm not in good enough shape to work out with him yet, but I will get there)

I started blogging, so that I have a place to journal and vent, and I have an unbelievable support group with our family and friends.

I found a counselor in our area that works with bariatric patients....just in case.

My company has a specialized outreach program that they pay for, for employees and family members that have bariatric surgery, so have already been working with them for the "pre-care" and mapped out the "post-care".

I've been working with the PA at our onsite clinic to help track weight loss, for motivation and mentoring when I'm just not sure what to pick if I decide to eat from our on-site restaurant, and to help keep the myriad of other health issues under control.

I've been working with my regular doctor every step of the way with the diet and exercise programs, so he's on board (let me tell you, about the funniest thing ever was my 70-something doctor showing me Tai Chi in his office)

I feel like I've got my bases covered, but now I'm in this "lull"....and I guess my momentum has just been going full throttle for long enough that it feels weird to just not have something to do.