Best advice for someone about to get surgery- tips and advice welcome

Hello everyone,

My surgery is scheduled for 8/12. I am at a weird state where I am calm but nervous at the same time. Currently I weigh 241. I have gained weight, largely due to certain medications. Not blaming it completely on that but it has played a huge part. I tried diet and exercise, but this is my last stitch effort after tons of yo yo ing. My mom is the poster child for what can go right for this surgery and she has been a source of inspiration for me. Any and all advice regarding the pre op diet, post op diet, what I can expect recovery wise , exercise, ... anything you can think of is welcome! I truly appreciate your time . Thank y'all!

Caroline

Go back and start reading through old threads on the board here, both in the VSG section and the general section. This question gets asked a lot so you'll get some good info, and also get insight into others' experiences.

Thank you!

Caroline,

I wrote this to a friend of mine yesterday who is having the surgery later this week. Hopefully you will find it useful, this is no way meant to be medical advice nor it is it complete. These are just things that worked for me and/or things I would have done differently if I had known then what I know now.

You already know the first one:

One thing that really helped me because I was able to ask a lot of questions was this site: https://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/vsg/ It can get a little catty from time to time but there are generally some very helpful people that have either gone through what you are about to go through or are about to, so you can get some good info there. There used to be a lot of diary sharing like what you at in the day to sort of help hold you accountable and usually someone will chime in with successes, etc. BCAA - Branch Chain Amino Acids - these help you maintain muscle mass. They can easily be mixed into the water you will need to drink each day, here is the brand I have used in the past Xtend BCAAs | SciVation Here is an article that explains a bit more - 5 Proven Benefits of BCAAs (Branched-Chain Amino Acids) I highly recommend you start taking them now and continue until at least you return to solid food. But as long as you are exercising they will also be beneficial. WATER - water is critical, it will seem like you can never drink all the water you need to, but you have to keep going. My advice would be to always have some with you because at first you will only be able to take little sips. EXERCISE - from now on you should at the very least be walking every day (if you walk a lot in your job I mean in addition to your regular day) - basically you need to carve out a block of time for exercise, this will help you build a habit. PROTEIN - next to water this is your next most important nutrient. At first it will be very difficult to hit your protein goals. You will absolutely need either protein powder OR pre-made drinks. I never did find a premade drink I liked very much so I stuck with powders. After you return to full foods there are a few bars that are decent but you have the most coloric control with powders. I recommend mixing with unsweetened almond or coconut milk. Its lower in calories than milk and tastes much better and thicker than water. There are a couple places to get samples, I will see what I can find for you in that. PROTIP: Do not buy a lot of something, your tastes will change rapidly in the next couple of weeks and what tastes good to you now may not. I wasted a ton of money buying one brand/flavor and then ultimately tossing it out. My favorite was a company called Dymatize. You will want something with as low carb as possible. If you buy protein at Vitamin Shoppe they usually have a wall of samples you can buy pretty cheap so you can try several brands. If you try one you like save the package so you know what to go buy. Also early on there are liquid water based protein drinks you can get they, they generally do not taste very good so pick up some Mio from Publix or Walmart you can put a few squirts in to cover up the nasty taste. They will make it much easier for you to hit your protein goals. Also if I remember correctly if you buy a tub of protein powder from Vitamin Shoppe and you don't like it, you can return it. The liquid protein I used was called IsoPure, there are several protein waters out that I have not tried, here again, you want as little sugar/carbs as possible. Don't sweat calories too much now, particularly when it comes to protein. SUGAR - stay away from it. Especially when you start getting back to foods, it will make you sick. I wasn't paying attention when I got back to soft foods and picked up some organic baby yogurt, ate it and nearly passed out when the sugar hit my system. Read all labels. EDUCATE - the more you know about nutrition the more successful you will be. I am happy to help you out here and point you in the right direction. Same goes for exercise, the more you learn about physical fitness and how your body works the more successful you will be. LISTEN TO YOUR BODY - I think this one is a bit self explanatory, but you will notice a lot of changes in your body, pay attention to them. If something hurts it means something. If something makes your feel sick, even if it didn't before, its important to remember. BE PATIENT - This is important because just like the surgery isn't a magic bullet, it also is not fast. It takes time. It took me 18 months to loose 200lbs. Also while you will be tempted and probably will weigh yourself every day, do not get discouraged. You may lose 1-2 lbs a day and you may not lose any. Some people stair step their way down. I was a horrible stair stepper and hit plateaus that lasted sometimes 3 weeks or more, then all of the sudden 10lbs would drop off. My wife was the opposite, steady slide down for like 9 months, however in her first month she barely lost a 1 lb. She freaked out. It will work give it time. Keep in mind get your water in, get your protein in, get your exercise in. Keep the sugar and carbs out. Don't worry about fats too much right now, they may be very helpful, but we will have to see. A ketogenic approach might work really well for you or it may not, we will have to review your food/exercise journal in a few weeks to see. TRACK EVERYTHING - use MyFitnessPal or some other app to track your food, exercise, and water. Its a pain in the ass at first, but it is very important for fine tuning your program later. I am sure i have many more and I hope this prompts lots of questions. Ask away. I will send more as I think of them and I will go through my old ObesityHelp posts to see what other gems I have in there. When you are ready I can get you lots of recipes and we can talk about meal planning.