Wednesday Question

If you are post-op, what is something that you thought would be easy with the new life style that has turned out to be harder then you thought it would be... And is there anything that you thought would be hard that turned out to be easy....

Pre-op.... What is something that you worry over the most that you arent sure about and worried it is going to be hard to do or accomplish?

I'm pre-op, and while I don't worry about this, necessarily, I often wonder if I'll have a difficult time, physically, after my VSG surgery. I read some posts, from the different kinds of WLS, and the struggles make me pause. I'm pretty much a weenie, when it comes to pain or illness.

i am pre-op and right now as most know my main worry is getting the money to pay for the surgery.. my greatest fear is having to live like this forever. really cant think past that

I really thought that giving up bread (for the most part) and carbonation was going to be a lot tougher than it really was.  Even though I still enjoy a bite of bread or two-that's all I can do-more than a couple of bites, I clog up and can't eat for hours-which is not good if you've only had a couple of bites of bread.  It's a weird feeling to be hungry but unable to eat, weird and not very nice, so I limit bread without much hassle.  Giving up cola was not even really a problem.  It took awhile to figure out other things to drink "on the road" my biggest coke time-but now if I want the drive through experience I just get tea or iced coffee....not a big deal, but mostly I just drink water.

Harder than I thought was finding ways besides eating to relieve stress.  I truly had no idea how "hooked" on food I was.  It took some days of sitting, not being able to eat, but needing to release stress, before my brain moved on and thought of other ways.  I took my behavior of defaulting to food and modified it to defaulting to herbal tea-it's my new stress releasor.  My tactic was to replace the crutch with a healthy crutch.

 I thought it would be easier for me to accept the "new me".  For some reason, I still don't see it in the mirror.  I thought it would be hard to adjust to the changes needed to be successful and to exclude certain things from my diet.  It's been relatively easy though.  I still have "cravings" and I will satisfy them with a tiny bite of something then it's gone for weeks.  I love it.  This has been an amazing journey and I'm thankful every day that I finally made the decision to do it and for all the friends I've made on here.  It makes the journey even more special.  
Cindy

I am post and one thing I worried about was my social life.  It seemed that every function, family or otherwise, was centered around food.  I literally looked at the holidays last year as my last one with food. 

The thing that has turned out to be easy is my social life.  I'm invited to a lot more stuff now, have more fun, I'm not just stuffing my face anymore, and I actually taste what I put in my mouth now. 

It was hard for me to get my mind around the fact that I was going to be a slow loser. I figured it out several weeks into this journey. However, I'm not a teenager (by a LONG SHOT) and I'm now comfortable with my rate of weight loss. I'm following my surgeon's and dietician's instructions ... and the PTs instructions about exercise, so I know I'll get to goal, just not at the rapid rate some get there. But, it's not a race ... thank goodness! : )

The actual surgery and recovery were much easier than I anticipated. Comparing my VSG with my past surgeries made my VSG seem like a walk in the park. Also, the changes in eating habits were much easier than I anticipated .... with the exception of popcorn. And, I did cure myself of giving in to eating popcorn recently and now I have *NO DESIRE* to do that ever again! I RUN from popcorn or popcorn smell!

I thought it would be sooooooooo hard to give up my Diet Pepsi addiction!!!! But honestly, I dont even crave them. I've not had a glass of pop and I'm over 3 years out now.

What I thought would be easy was seeing myself as thin - but when I got there my brain still thought of me as FAT!!!
I still have issues today. YES a size 4 can think that they're fat. I look in the mirror and sigh at my big thighs almost every morning.

Giving up soda, bread ( my all time favorite food!), pasta, and rice was easy.  I was shocked that it didn't really hurt too much.

Dealing emotionally with my first 4 week stall was MUCH, MUCH, MUCH harder than I ever dreamed it would be.  I never expected to stall while still on liquids.  I was an emotional mess.  I was convinced I had thrown $10,000 down the toilet with all the other money I wasted on weight loss attempts.  It is a really good thing I didn't have spare cash sitting around or I would probably have found someone to revise me to a DS during that period.  Being a poor teacher does have some redeeming points!