surgery date aug 29

so give it to me. your best advice: I am 20 days out. what should I be doing, what do I need to do to get ready. My doctor gave me a post op diet but nothing long term. Says to eat normally just healthier but normally just smaller amounts. recommended the Dash diet. (?) So lay it on me. please hold nothing back. Thanks in advance.

Congratulations on your upcoming surgery! I did not have the VSG but here are some links I hope will help!

http://www.obesityhelp.com/articles/14-things-you-should-kno w-about-the-vsg

http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/vsg/about_vertical_sleeve_ gastrectomy.html

Thank you so much for the links

I recommend reading everything you can in this forum - as far back as you can get. There's lots of super valuable information to be found here. And you'll see a lot of the commonly experienced things people go through.

Hi, I don't have any advice. I am brand new here but my prospective surgery date is also August 29. I see my NUT tomorrow to get further instructions on diet. i have been ready lots of info on this site, it is really helpful. Good luck!

Thanks, I have been back reading a lot of post over the last 24 hours. Some kind of scare me, some seem very helpful.

Based on what I read here, I made myself this list of WLS Promises and it served me well.

1. I will not panic if I stop losing weight for a few weeks. Instead, I will re-evaluate that my eating is on plan and wait until the stall has lasted 4 weeks before I start to panic.

2. I will not ask OH what I need to take to the hospital, I know these things. Chapstick and a pillow. And the pillow really just needs to be in the car for the trip home.

3. I will not lie when people ask me how I've lost the weight. I will either be honest and tell them "surgery, diet and exercise" or I will tell them "I'm not comfortable talking about this with you." These are the options, lying by omission is not one of them.

4. If I screw up, and I will screw up, I will forgive myself and return immediately to plan. It's okay to screw up, it's not okay to beat myself up for it or let it become the start of a downward spiral. It's also not okay to say "I'll return to plan tomorrow."

5. If I don't start losing sizes right away, I won't freak out. Chances are the clothes I wear now are too small and tight, and I just deal with it. It might take awhile for my current clothes to fit correctly and that will happen before I can get into smaller sizes. (This was true, I think I lost about 50 pounds before needing to buy new clothes.)

6. I will own my mistakes. They're mine and result of my own choices, no one is ever going to hold a gun to my head and make me eat crap, I control what goes into my own body.

7. I will not compare my weight loss to that of anyone else. I'm me.

8. I will do everything I can to find a therapist I can work with. This will help me out in the long run. (Therapy = awesome.)

9. I will be hyper aware of potential addiction transfer issues and especially aware of getting too caught up in numbers as I already know I am want to do.

10. Extra skin is a fact of life, get the **** over it. If I really hate the way my body looks, I can save my pennies and nickels for plastic surgery once I've maintained for a year or two. People will still have sex with me if I have weird skin, and lots of places sell compression gear. I will, however, have every issue with my skin documented. (This didn't happen as planned, but hey, life rarely does. People did still have sex with me even if I had weird skin.)

11. I will be kind to myself. I will keep getting to my monthly massages, I will keep engaged in my hobbies, and I will spend time with my friends.

12. I already know that being a "hero" about medication is stupid so I'll work on remembering that when the time comes. Pain keeps us from healing, it's not noble.

13. I will only weigh myself once a week. I will not let myself get obsessed with the scale. See #9. (LOL, this definitely didn't happen. I weigh daily, but I don't obsess thanks to TrendWeight.)

14. My stomach will probably gurgle after surgery, this is normal. Just don't go to silent Meeting anytime soon.

15. I will not worry if people don't comment on my weight loss. I will assume that they're being polite and not commenting on another person's body, which is what they should do. (I wish people didn't comment on my body.)

16. I will work to break the compulsions to "clean my plate" and to "not let food go to waste." Sure, there are starving kids in Africa, but throwing away food will not change the situation.

17. There is nothing to be done for hair loss, assuming that I'm eating on plan. It will happen, or it won't, but I will remember that it will grow back eventually. I will be a shavee with St. Baldricks six weeks post-op. (And I've kept my hair short ever since.)

18. I understand that my hormones will be all messed up after surgery. I will do my best to remove myself from the company of others instead of taking my hormonal changes out on them.

19. I won't weigh myself for the first two weeks post-op because I know that I'll gain weight from all of the fluids and swelling that surgery entail. I'll wait to weigh until I'm off liquids. (I made it one week...)

20. I will not panic if I don't feel restriction immediately post-op. Chances are restriction won't kick in fully until I'm eating dense proteins and that will take 4-6 weeks on my plan. (This, indeed, was the case. I never had any issue with liquids.)

Gwen.. This is a great list! Thanks for sharing it.

this may become my go to guide. thanks.