Advice to Pre-Ops

 Thanks for your post. I will look forward to following your future ones. My surgery date was just a day after yours. 

Thank you and congrats on your weight loss! Good luck on your journey!

Thanks for the post. I am having my surgery this Thursday and I have a billion things rolling through my head.  Most of what you mentioned were things I have been mulling about.  These 2 weeks of the rigid pre-op diet have made me realize just how addicted to food I am and how I need to mentally work on that.  Just because I will have a smaller stomach does not mean that those mental addictions to food will be zapped.  They told us during our pre-op clinic that the surgery can't stop food cravings.  I need to learn about how to cope with those.  It will be a challenge but I am up for it. 

My biggest advice to you is to find the foods that are your biggest addictions. Pasta, bread, chocolate, WHATEVER! Do NOT touch them. The first time you think you can handle a bite is the last time that bite will be enough for you. Seriously... it all started with this girl bringing mini candies to my class as a treat for everyone. I had one little piece of chocolate and boom. That was the end. Before I knew it, I was trying to polish off a Three Musketeers bar (can't eat THOSE anymore, felt so sick.) It may not be the same for you. I was and always will be a chocoholic. So if you are a riceaholic or pastaholic, avoid them! I still have not touched pasta, for fear that I won't be able to turn back. And I've gotten the chocolate cravings under control, thanks to www.theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com 's recipes. (Her protein truffles are super amazing and are probably the only thing to get rid of my chocolate craving without getting a hershey bar.) Just collect a bunch of different go-to options to avoid overeating and eating the wrong things. You just need a "toolbox" after surgery. Everyone's toolbox is different. We all have different pre-op and post-op lifestyles. I am in college and ALWAYS running around. So my toolbox is filled with portable protein and chocolate exterminators! Seriously, check out her website though if you haven't already. She has saved me and kept me on the right path more than I can even explain. Maybe her site won't have the same dramatic effect on you but there will be something out there that will. You just have to find it! Everyone needs their "a-ha" moment to keep them focused on their goal. Good luck! I hope i haven't made you nervous about your surgery. Nerves are the last thing that you want. Just be excited and you sound like you're being real with yourself about your cravings and that is so important! Feel free to message me if you need anything!

I am one of the pre ops that your message is addressed to.. I have heard this many times. But please, give me details. What makes it the same or as hard as a diet? If that is so, then why does one say that they can't do it without the tool of surgery? What are the possible pit falls? What are the failures? How do you avoid them? what do we say to those who tell us that we are taking the easy way out? That we don't really need surgery and that all we need is to push back from the table and get moving? Kind of hard to find a counter argument when post op diet and excercise regiment is just that... smaller portions, quality control and move move move. So many times I hear that the WLS is a tool and will help us through restriction or malabsorption or whatever each technique brings with it - I also hear that it is necessary because before WLS things didn't work (with the same or similar advice in terms of food choices, counting carbs, calories, fat etc, exercising...) so what makes it work AFTER WLS?
For me it is perhaps true that I am not totally prepared and am thinking that this is going to be 'easy' - not an easy way out but easier than years of dieting. I don't care much about what the nay sayers are saying. I do care about the message to myself and I have to admit, sometimes I am finding it hard to formulate that message to myself. So veterans, tell us please without sparing us the painful details - what is in store for us? What are the hard parts? I know the great reward of looking at your scale and it looks back with a smile and a number that is pleasing. But what are the parts that are not so gratifying and the hurdles we will have to face?

Great questions! To start out, when you are dieting, there is always the ability to cheat. With surgery, if you cheat, those little "rewards" or "treats" could end up ruining your sleeve or pouch or whatever you have going on down there in the way of a stomach. For me and food addiction, a major issue is the fact that i am now constantly thinking about food. You have to always worry about protein and water intake and time everything out so that you get enough of both. So now that you're preoccupied with food, you start thinking about all the foods you COULD be eating. It started out that I'd be like "well I could have tuna now and then save room for x, y, or z". But don't let x, y, or z even permeate your thoughts. I never understood why I couldn't lose weight without surgery before and it was because I "rewarded" and "treated" myself way too often. I was and still am a food addict. Without the surgery, I wouldn't have ever admitted that to myself. I took one of those online questionaire things before surgery. I pretty much answered yes to every question but justified it so I told myself it didn't count. So in a way, for me, surgery helped me control my mental and emotional issues with food. I have a completely unhealthy relationship with food that I wouldn't have admitted to without VSG. So if you even suspect for a second that your relationship is unhealthy too, make sure you identify those emotional triggers and those foods you turn to. Avoid them like the plague. Substitute them for something protein-packed and healthy that will cure the cravings. Provide yourself with resources and places to go if you find that you can't deal with something. For me, www.theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com was a lifesaver! I don't know what I would have done without Shelly's blog. She is such an inspiration and her recipes keep me on track. Yes, post-op is all about smaller portions and exercise. Most people say, well hey, that's precisely what a diet is! But this surgery forces you to have the will power to restrict yourself. If you choose RNY, you get sick if you eat the wrong foods. You can still overeat with any of the options though. For me, I could get soooo full and still try to eat something. So all those tips about rationing out your food before you start to eat and using little plates and forks and stuff like that, they really are helpful. Because at the end of the day, it's all a mental game. I will be honest with you. It is easier to lose weight with surgery than it is with dieting. You will lose weight, that's almost guaranteed. But if you make the wrong choices, like too much carbs and not enough protein, you won't lose as much as other people will lose. For me that was so devastating. I felt like I was failing. But even if you are making the right choices and aren't losing the same amount, you shouldn't worry because everyone is different! All you can do is make the right decisions as often as possible. If your body doesn't want to let go of the pounds, then you can say you did everything you could.

I think I answered everything. If you have more questions, please add or message me! If I think of anything else to add, I will let you know! Good luck! Just by having all of these amazing questions, you are already doing great!

I will be having my surgery in the upcoming weeks; I will find out wednesday from my surgeon my date. Last time i seen him was Feb 25th of this year and I was 430.1 lbs. Here in NS the process is long and the wlp they put you into is one that trains and educates.... the the majority falls on you the patient. I am thankful I had the time to prepare... to start changing my lifestyle... work on my behaviours... for in doing this I have made changes and did some hard work to get me mentally there to be able to fit my tool right into my life. I know it will take me to my goal and keep me there.

Great post Chelsea. I really think there should be more of the same. So many put VSG on high on praise list for their salvation.... n yes is is a wonderful wonderful tool...but the patient...the person does all the hard work and changes to allow that tool to do it's thing.

Thank you so much. I sometimes wish my surgery team had prepared me better but honestly, that is an easy scapegoat. It is on the patient to keep up with the lifestyle. Congratulations and good luck!

Chelsea,

My surgery is one week from Wed. and so you are addressing your thoughts to me - thank you for taking the time to write and for your honesty. Certainly this is a serious, life-changing decision and it helps to have someone pose serious things to consider who has already made that decision...

The first paragraph though was the one that struck me the most: "I haven't been on the boards in awhile. I've been kind of avoiding OH, feeling guilty for falling off the wagon a bit. I've been struggling with food addiction and feeling unprepared for post-op life. But I'm back on track and I just wanted to post about my experience." - my suggestion, and one that I hope to keep myself is to not avoid this forum because herein you will find the answers to your questions, motivating encouragement and frankly, "we're all in this together" - when you needed this board the most is when you chose to avoid it... I hope you will not feel that way anymore. I have only been on here for about two months, but this forum - the VSG forum- has been so helpful to me, and frankly, if you are struggling, then this is where you should be! Sure, I have seen a few posts where someone has been lamenting about "falling off the wagon" but the responses, while being constructively critical, have been helpful. Bottom line, we all fail at times in this addiction battle, but the most important thing is to pick ourselves up and continue on...

So anyway, didn't mean to ramble, but I hope you will stay now and find encouragement and suggestions that can help you in your journey. Thank you again for posting.