I'm new to the whole weight loss and surgery thing any tips please?

Grocery stores deliver. They are not that expensive for the delivery. 

Hate to break it to you, but that kiwi strawberry tea has 225 cal for a 20oz cup. That's NOT going to help when you're trying to lose weight.

You don't need to spend money on buying cookbooks. Recipes are available free all OVER the web. You don't need to spend money on buying exercise videos, either---walking really IS a good first step. (No pun intended, but let's just enjoy it anyway, shall we? *grin*) You don't need to worry about how many calories are burned by any given exercise, either. Exercise is good for your health, but it's simply not going to burn enough calories to make you lose weight. There's a saying "You can't outrun a bad diet" and it's totally true. 95% of weight loss depends on what you put in your mouth. Exercise is just to make you feel better.

Learn to read labels. Most of us who got MO got that way eating too many carbs, and many of us are more sensitive to carbs than the 'average' person. It's best to avoid processed, ready-to-eat foods as much as possible. Do your shopping around the outside edge of the grocery store---in most stores, that's where the fresh meat, dairy, and produce are kept. And yes, this means you need to learn to COOK. (See my comment about free recipes above.) Most of us can lose weight if we keep our total carbs below 50 per day, but carbs are sneaky---that's why it's so important to learn to read labels. Ideally, you want to ONLY eat foods that have at least as many grams of protein as they do grams of carbs. Even better if they have MORE protein than carbs. Don't worry about fat, and DO NOT buy things that have been artificially made to be low- or non-fat. When fat is removed, it's replaced by CARBS.

Yes, keeping track of what you eat is important. Keep a journal and write down EVERY SINGLE BITE that goers in your mouth. Do this for a week, and come back and post your food. Then we can give you some suggestions on how to change what you're eating.

There's info about the various forms of weight loss surgery all over the web. Check out a site called www.bariatricfacts.org, and there are several surgery-specific groups on Facebook. And right here at OH you can read up on the various surgery types. At this point, you need to research them ALL in order to decide which one, if any, is right for you.

I think b4 going crazy & making an appointment with someone who is difficult to find much less speak with, you should check your insurance. They will be able to tell you of their requirements & if you're even covered, or if this person is even in your network. Plus you might find places/people that are much closer to home that has experience in the bariatric world.

Your insurance might be listed online where you can find, if they have, Bariartic Centers of Excellence. These places probably has their own criteria/programs that will be covered by your insurance, they might also have free seminars where you can find out about the different surgeries, maybe speak with wls patients, they might have a nutritionist/dietician that has experience with bariatric patients etc, etc

You don't have to spend a lot of money on cookbooks, actually there's a woman here that posts recipes on her blog The world according to egg face & it's free & is geared towards us, unlike some other recipes in cookbooks that you might have to tweak & change in order for it to work for you.

Frankly I'm not into cooking. I'm more of a you cook it, I'll eat it kind of gal. So my food comes from either restaurants or it's presesoned food from box stores like Costco/BJ's but they do tend to have a good amount of salt/preservatives in them, so if you're sensitive this might not work for you.

Finally, it might not be popular, but check out your local library, there should be lots of info to get there, for free, & see if your local hospitals even has a bariatric unit, they might be able to steer you to resources that are in your area.

1. As others have stated, start with your insurance company. You can find out if you are covered, the names of surgeons in your area, and most importantly, the preop requirements. Many insurance companies require at least six months of documented weight loss. This means that once a month you will need to check in with the surgeon's office, or your PCP, for a weight check. If you are going to make a good faith effort at weight loss, it should be documented.

2. You seem to be putting up a lot of obstacles to losing weight. It appears you know that eating right and moving more is key to health. Don't bring sugar into your house. I'm not sure why shopping with your sister's kids led you to bring so much soda into your house. If you live with others, then this becomes harder, as you can't demand they stop eating sugar. But start with something you know is unhealthy and cut it out of your diet. After a few weeks, cut something else unhealthy out of your diet. Sometimes, if we cut everything bad out at once, it is too overwhelming for us.

3. Exercise makes you feel better. When I feel good, I am more motivated to eat better. If today you can only walk two times around the block, give yourself a goal to do a little more tomorrow. Keep pushing yourself a little every day to increase your stamina. 

4. WLS requires a protein forward diet. That means we eat protein first, followed by veggies. Carbs and fruits are limited. Lots of free recipes exist online; no need to buy any cookbooks. Pinterest and allrecipes.com are my go to places. I've only been cooking since surgery, but I find it very helpful, as so much of the packaged protein dishes in the store are loaded with sugary sauces or are deep fried/contain a ton of added carbs. So I buy a chicken, find a recipe, and eat on it for a few days until I need another protein source.  If this seems too difficult or you want something packaged, look into Medifast or other packaged weight loss plans.

Most of us have been where you are: significantly morbidly obese and overwhelmed. You can do this! 

I agree with the poster with a caveat- most of us ad most significantly overweight people can't make the necessary lifestyle changes that led to losing ad keeping off  large amount of excess weight without bariatric surgery.  

While I really admire Dawns resolve and resourcefulness I really encourage her like every else to find  out about her insurance plan's requirements for bariatric surgery and then do research into which nearby surgeons have an excellent patient satisfaction rates and followup years later .  

I used get so frustrate d after I made a mega effort to lose weight to see a little come off... but no significant change .  It took bariatric  surgery for me to get to a healthy size I feel comfortable exercising in , wearing attractive clothes in... just living  life finally looking like myself , not hidden behind a prison of fat . 

The OP requested help in losing weight, as she believes it will be required of her before surgery. I offered advice with that request in mind. Nowhere did I say or imply that she could lose everything on her own, and didn't need surgery. Obviously, I wouldn't be here if I could have done that.

I will be checking my insurances website here in a few minutes.

I will also look at pinterest as well as a few free recipe sites. And looking for some cooking videos as well.

There are a couple of websites you cn get some great recipes from that will be very good for you. The first is Atkins.com, they explain a very good way to lose weight by eating low carbohydrate, that is basically how you would have to eat if you got weight loss surgery. Another good one is lindaslowcarb.com she has lots of good snack type foods for you too, Good luck it can be a kinda long process to get to surgery but well worth it with the right surgery, just don't even consider a lap band or gastric band they are no good and can be very dangerous.