Surgery at Ohio State

My question or concern is How much weight do I have to lose and how closely do they look at your food diaries? I have made some changes this week but I'm still not making all "perfect" choices. I have having trouble getting the exercises in. I am recording all I eat but must admit I have considered lying so they wouldn't know about the bad food. Are these classes a do or die thing or just to help you begin to learn to change. I am doing better at eating slower and have given up caffine but I know I am eating to much at meals and haven't made the switch to 6 small meals a day yet. I've only attended one class but don't want anything to keep me from surgery. Dianna

Dianna.. It's my opinion (which may not be the best) that if you lie on your diary you are once again only lying to yourself. this is about a lifestyle change, I have said this over and over again..the surgery is the easy part. Learning to live a new lifestyle after the surgery is the challenge. Your success is not going to be measured in the way you are living now, or even of the lbs you lose after the surgery..But instead it will be measured in the changes you make ..the drive you have in making those changes and then in how well you do at living with the new tool and keeping the weight off 2 years down the road ... Keeping this diary and doing it right will give them an insight as to where you are going to have problems. Everyone that works in the centers are very aware of the fact that we have food addictions and serious problems when it comes to lifestyle changes, after all if we did not..we wouldn't need this surgery in the first place!! Hang in there and follow the rules they give you...allow yourself to see where you need to make serious changes in your life. Then work with those changes. I will be the first to admit I didn't follow any type of program before my WLS ...my surgeon didnt' have me on any type of a restrictive diet, etc. So I learned hard and fast about behavior modification after. You will do just fine, always be true to yourself first......I sat with Linda (one of Dr. Curry's patients) at lunch the other day..we talked about this, I stated that I had taken care of everyone my whole life,not once thinking of myself..this was the most selfish thing I have ever done..because it is about "me" this time...that alone gave me such feeling of freedom...sounds korney I know, but it worked for me!! good luck Brenda

Dianna.. I agree with Brenda on the lying piece. You should not lie on your food diaries. You need to start making the right choices now. If you can't do it before surgery, then you will most likely fail afterwards. I know it helped me by being truthful. You need to make sure you are eating the right kinds of foods and getting your proteins in. They will help you achieve that. You need to make these changes now before the surgery. Good Luck! Julie

Dianna, They will not throw you out for not losing weight but you need to keep an accurate food diary. The six small meals will come naturally after surgery because you can't eat much at a time. Good luck. No

Thanks for all you replies. You are right and I know it. I wrote down everything the good and bad. I know what I need to focus on in the next several weeks and will continue to work on modifing my behavior and the type of food I eat. I need to get to grocery store for one thing. Dianna