How to interact with this website?

Hi. I've been on this website before. I must have created a profile and never came back. ??

Anyway... I'm currently preparing for surgery and I'm interested in finding people with common ground to chat with.

Hope this post is the right starting point.

Welcome! I'm 3 weeks post surgery and I've found this site very helpful for wondering if what I'm experiencing is "normal" and getting ideas for how things will progress. I'm incredibly motivated by the answers and experiences some of the long-term members share, it's really helpful. You found a great place for help and support!

Congrats on your recent surgery. Thanks for the reply and encouragement. I'm looking forward to surgery - hopefully within the next few months. Has this site been helpful for your pre-op prep?

Yes, it helped me to gain a better understanding of what to expect -- both from the surgery and the first couple of weeks. Everyone is different so you won't have the exact same experience but I think it took my anxiety level down!

My nutritionist had also recommended the blog www.theworldaccordingtoeggface.com as part of my pre-op (and several people here have mentioned it as well. It was great for helping me understand what post op could be like -- both my obligations to exercise and make good choices! I also used it to show my sister, *****mains very concerned about "how little food I can have" that as healing progresses, you do get back to a wide variety of foods!

Also, in the pre op, my program required that I attend at least one of their group sessions before the surgery. I had never attended a support group of any kind and was surprised at how useful it is -- the opportunity to talk to people along all stages of their journey and get first hand information and support is really useful. If you have that option, you may want to check it out.

I also joined a Facebook group for people who had WLS the same month as me and that's very interesting and useful as well.

Good luck on your journey!

Welcome and congrats on your upcoming surgery.

This is a great forum from which to get general info! In case you're unaware, there is a search function and there are surgery specific sub forums for the RNY,VSG, DS surgeries, there's a lap band forum even though it's no longer a popular procedure, and a revision forum for those undergoing additional/corrective WLS procedures. Those specific forums are a great source of info for whichever surgery you are having, but all in all-the whole site is pretty informative and there are some people here who are a fount of information and wisdom.

Hope this is useful to you!

Thank you! Yes this is helpful information. I'd like to find more information with people who are in the preparation stage (since that's where I am). I'll utilize the search option and see what I can find.

There is a daily menu thread on both the RNY and the VSG forums that help with accountability, planning, and ideas, plus it's nice to get to know people. Welcome!

Thank you! Yes, I think THIS is what I'm looking for. (As long as I can find it :\ ... there is so much info here... I think that's why I wasn't really sure where to start.)

But I am finding just by my post you all are nice and helpful! :)

Welcome!

"friending" on here is basically useless. Just read through posts get to know the lay of the land.

Dsiky menu thread is a great way to get to know people.

That's good to know. I just wasn't sure how this works. The last time I interacted with strangers online was back in the aol chatroom days. So I'm following the helps from you all on this post and will visit the threads, hopefully I'll be able find what I'm looking for. :)