Hi y'all from WV. I've been reading your sometimes funny, serious, and/or inspiring posts since my journey began last Sept. I finally got my surgery date for RNY on July 12. I'm excited & nervous, but after seeing so many positive experiences here I feel like I am gaining a great support system. 3 months til I join the losers bench!
Another newbie
- Thread starter KarenWV
- Start date
Thanks for your kind words. I LOVE those Daily Inspirations & will be benefitting from them when I'm feeling less than positive. The steps I'm taking for now are saying goodbye to some of my old food choices after one last visit. I'm reading up on recipes from this site & will start trying them out in the next 2 months. A friend gave me a mini chopper & a kitchen food scale. Hopefully those are the start of some positive changes.
missyinacage
Member
Hi, Karen and welcome. The food scale will be a great help to you in the upcoming months and making your own food is so much healthier than take out, so those were really useful and thoughtful gifts from your friend. I found the most helpful changes I made pre-surgery were drinking 64oz of water and not drinking 30 before/during/after meals. Oh and I gave up coffee a few months before surgery. As I drank a TON of the stuff a day, I had caffeine withdrawal. Since that gave me headaches and a general sense of tiredness/irritability, I was glad that I did not have to deal with that on top of recovering from surgery.
Hi Missy thanks for the tips. I have an empty Gatorade bottle beside me filled with cold water so I guess I'm off to a good start. I finally bought a scale yesterday & saw I'm within 4 lbs of my starting weight in Sept. I am pretty close to the minimum bmi that my insurance will allow to cover surgery. So no dieting yet, but healthier eating is my goal for May & June. It's sad when insurance says you can't lose weight until AFTER surgery.
missyinacage
Member
Mama Bella
Member
How I wish I had found this site before this. Just as my weight came on slowly, the decision (or I should say to be convinced) to have WLC was a slow process. Recently I looked at an old photo of me at 123 lbs., when my ex told me I was fat (starting the weight/self esteem issue).. I helped a friend through the pre and post op process three years ago. I learned a lot at that time but was not convinced I needed it. I could not relate to why my friend got to be obese and thought I could get control of my weight. I evaluated myself and my reasons for obesity and went on a strict low calorie/no carb diet and lost 45 lbs. For the first time people were trying to get me to eat. As soon as I did, I gained it all back. I have never been a yo-yo dieter. My best friend recently died and I saw how many of her health issues were related to her weight. I had to tell myself this decision has to be more than accepting that I am a failure (tied to my self-esteem issues) and that it had to be my decision and not my husband's and my GP. With a birthday approaching I had to make a decision about how I was going to live the rest of my life and live it as healthy as possible. My appointment with the surgeon was the day after my 71st birthday. The appointment was not what I expected. My friend three years ago was given choices to her surgery but I was told I would have the sleeve and given a date for late July. The surgeon's office was very efficient but I felt that I was just a number that had insurance, relative healthy for my age, not needing to repeat all the pre-op tests and given a date. His nurse gave me info about the procedure and went down a checklist of nos to eliminate from my diet. I did not fit her general list (not addicted to sugar, fast food, salt , high calorie snacks or fat). After the consultation, I sat in the car and cried. I saw my DR. the next week and broke down again. I trust my GP when she tells me that this is a good decision for me and that the surgeon is skilled. I still checked him out on-line. The call from the nutritionist was another checklist that I did not fit but I feel I can work with her because she was more flexible and said that once I have the surgery and slowly add foods back that I can have occasional things like carbs that the nurse said never again. This site has given me a map of the different paths people have taken to obesity and the different paths people have taken after surgery. It is helping me to understand that we are all different and that it is possible to find your own way after understanding how our bodies will adjust post-op. I will strive to learn as much as I can to help prepare me for what I need to do before the surgery and the rest of my life. Thank you all for sharing. Your stories and support have already helped me. Caterina
Mama Bella I can really relate to your struggles & journey so far. My surgeon is top of the line, and the team is good but I kinda feel like I'm going at this mostly alone. My nutrition class was in December, and other than the phone call & letter saying I was approved for July surgery, I almost feel like they are done with me now that insurance approved me. Plus I'm almost 60 yrs old. Thank goodness for this support group. I would be lost without the advice & support from the many people who post here. Y'all will never know how much you mean to me & so many others!