I'm new here and a question...

Hey everyone. My name is Laura. Im 35. A teacher. A wife. A mother to 2 boys, ages 3 and 1. I'll be having surgery on June 13th in Hickory with Dr. Cox. I wanted to know if you would give me the best advice you had.....it could be something BEFORE your surgery that you did or wished you had done...or it can be something AFTER your surgery that was successful. Thanks!

Start walking now! Walk as much as you can daily until your surgery date. It will help you be in the best possible shape for surgery and recovery. You will be able to start exercising faster afterwards. Exercise is key to this whole thing. Take care, good luck with your surgery, and please keep us posted. ~Ellen

Hi Laura! Follow your surgeon and nutritionist's advise very carefully. Allow yourself time to recover and don't push yourself. I don't have small children but I would suggest having lots of help with them during the first few weeks post-op. Find a protein you like before surgery. I found the 'juice-like' ones much better to tolerate than the 'milky-kind'. THis is due to the sweetness and thickness of the latter. Regularly attend a WLS support group. That's all for now.... Welcome to the OH board and the WLS journey!

Take all your body measurements before surgery- neck, upper arms, forearms, chest, rib, waist, hip, etc....on the days or weeks when the scales seem to stall, you will be amazed at the inches falling away. The best advice I got pre-op? Go buy lots of plastic spoons- they are smaller portion sized and you use nothing but spoons post-op due to your diet limitations. Plastic cups and bowls fall under this same caterogy. It keeps you from running the dishwasher so often. Good luck with your journey! Sheila

My best advice? Educate yourself as much as possible... ask as many questions as you can so you are prepared the best you can be post-op. I see many posts on here of people being lost post-op and not knowing what to do or not do to.... I would also start to work on changing your lifestyle now... start trying to eat a little better, start exercising, work on your food issues... I found this helpful because I didnt feel overwhelmed post-op and I already had some routines for myself. I slowly cut out soda, cut down on fast food, started exercising and dealing with my eating because I was bored/stressed etc. Good luck!