GETTING SLEEVED AND NERVOUS!!!

On October 26, I am getting the VSG and my emotions are all over the place. One minute I am nervous and worrying about complications/side effects (being the 1%, or post-surgery- hair loss, loose skin, FAILING!!!) and the next minute I am excited and looking forward to changing my life. I haven't really had a "food funeral" as I have read about but have gotten angry at myself for letting myself go this much that I have to do something this gastric to help me. I am also worried that there is not too much long term data on this procedure and I will be removing 85% of my stomach! Are all these concerns/worries/feelings normal? I begin my liquid diet on Friday, October 16 and am stocked with protein drinks, SF jello, and broths but hope that I will be able to use this tool to help me successful manage my weight and get healthy again. Please share any pre-op jitters and worries you have had and if this is all normal. Thanks.

Your feelings are natural! Slow down and take a deep breath...I know easier said than done! I was in your shoes exactly one year ago!! I had feelings that I was being drastic and I could do it on my own and I thought I was taking the easy way out! I think we all experience some kind of feelings! I woke up and realized I needed this tool to help me reclaim my health! Good Luck to you! You are doing a wonderful thing for yourself!

Thank you so much! That does help to hear from someone who has had the same procedure and to see your stats it has shown truly successful!!! Congrats! I am hoping this tool will help me reclaim my health too.

Can you tell me if you have any troubles? A lot of people mention problems post-VSG with acid reflux or related problems. Have you had any trouble with this? I also have heard that rice is a hard thing to ever eat post-op and I'm kind of mourning the idea of no more fried rice or sushi. Sad to realize how addicted I am to food and how much I think of food.

I had sushi once as an appetizer. Wound up ruining my expensive meal. It just takes up too much room. There'll be an internal click that says "you don't want this as much as you did" once your mind associates, say, rice, with feeling bloated and disappointed.

Also your tastes change. I loathe tuna raw now - it's a texture thing. YMMV.

1) Compare the complications of surgery with those of staying obese. It won't help entirely but humans are utter crap at evaluating liklihoods anyway so not much will.

2) Keep your protein up to minimize hair loss.

3) The tool will work if you work with it. You won't fail as much as you might decide to defeat it. If you do as you're told, and never eat to getting yourself sick, you will lose weight. If you pump sugary liquids like milkshakes, you will defeat the tool. But you won't do it unconciously. I know there is a lot of value to tough talk, but honestly if the procedure didn't make it possible and moderately easy to lose weight we wouldn't bother, would we. So trust in the surgery and your new tiny tummylet. Honestly you'll have to work to defeat it. (To see what it's like, imagine swallowing a bowling ball. Even cut into pieces it'd be a heavy stretchy painful nauseating load, wouldn't it?)

4) I had food funerals. Now I think of them as silly. All they do is set up the idea that you're missing something. I used to think life would be gray and meaningless without AYCE buffets. Haven't been to one since surgery and don't miss it. Try having a walk around a petites-size shop and looking at all the clothes you might want to buy. Or a wander through a sporting good store and look at all the fun exercise equipment you'll soon be contemplating. Say 'goodbye' to all the benches you need to use when walking through the mall, if as I had to, you have to go from bench to bench. Have 'farewells' to unpleasant things and find some new things to get excited about. Maybe a park has a hiking trail you've always felt a bit scare of - if you can't go now, read up about it and about hiking. Go to websites about landscape photography and plan how you'll take shots of the trees or the wildlife or the other scenery. All I'm saying is I did the food funeral thing and looking back, I wish I hadn't wasted the time or money. Besides which by and by they won't be anything you won't be able to have a tiny bit of.

5) Don't forget exercise (a) it helps with weight loss (b) it helps with metabolic syndrome (c) your palms might be too sweaty to open food packages(!).

Thanks for the advice AngloAm. I am ready to start my liquid diet tomorrow but have just been having second thoughts. Don't know if this is normal. Know I need to lose weight for my health and I like your way of looking at it but I don't know if I would rather be overweight with full rolls of fat or skinny with loose skin hanging everywhere. I really hope that I don't have a ton of loose skin but from what I read almost everyone does. I also am okay with not eating much but am mourning the loss of carbonated beverages, rice, and celebrating with big meals at holidays the most. Know it is kind of pathetic and silly but that is how I am feeling. At the same time, I want to be thin and be able to fit in almost anything I pick up or have more choice to wear in my closet than I do now. Being overweight sure zaps the fun out of clothes shopping....heck, even shoe shopping is not fun when your feet are wide and fat too. Believing that this will be the tool to help turn my life around but some may feel it is too drastic or not support me because they feel I am too young and should be able to do it on my own without surgery...I just can't and I'm miserable.