Hardest part?

What is has been the hardest part of your WLS journey? Or if you are pre-op (like me), what do you anticipate being the hardest?

Right now I am in the waiting, waiting and more waiting phase pre-op. That is about driving me bonkers! I am so tired of being fat and just want things to start changing... But I'm pretty sure this won't be the hardest part when I look back a year from now. I am thinking it will be the sugar free diet that will be the hardest adjustment for me.

 I'm pre-op just like you and the waiting game is hard, especially if you are like me and want everything yesterday.  

I'm two weeks post-op and the hardest for me was nausea immediately after surgery.  I didn't throw up or anything, but the first two days were feeling pretty miserable between pain and nausea. But then once the nausea was controlled, every day has been better than the one before--literally!  I'm doing great!

Yeah that seems to be hard on everyone. Sometimes it is worse when you don't throw up! I'm so glad you are doing well...very encouraging for those of us who haven't been there yet.

 At 7 weeks out the hardest part was the first 3 days post-op and the 6 month wait before.  It was hard starting to get my head on straight and walking the "right" path during those months.  My eating and those things since surgery have been EASY PEESY compared to that.  

Good to know the diet changes are easier post-op. I'm not having so much luck making too many changes so far pre-op! Hard to get motivated when you have 5 more months...sigh

I'm only a month post op, so I can't comment on the entire journey, but for me, so far, the hardest part was the post-op liquid diet.  I got really tired of jello, popsicles, broth, pudding and soups. It was hard sitting down to dinner with my family when they were having pizza and I was having broth. Once I got to mushies, things got easier.  Now I can eat most foods and things are MUCH better. 

Did you find you were hungry on the initial post-op liquid diet? Or was it more about boredom with the liquid diet?

It was really boredom and missing being able to chew. I would get hungry, but I'd eat a little bit of soup and be satisfied.  It was the boredom and smelling things I couldn't have.  It's hard to smell pizza when you are eating cottage cheese.

Maintenance.  The surgery actually losing weight were quite easy, for me, particularly when compared to the mental re-calibration it's taken to go into 'maintenance' mode. I guess it really shouldn't be a surprise given maintaining loss is where most people fail in non-WLS dieting, as well That's why it is so important to build good habits from the start, to be exacting in your compliance with the program, and to learn to track what you eat.  . 

Is maintenance hard? No, but I find myself relying on the habits I built early on like eating protein first, waiting to drink after eating, walking a couple of times a day at work in addition to my time at the gym, etc.  It would be very hard if I still felt a drive-through was a viable alternative to actual food :)