Pre-surgery lifestyle changes

jessiegirl84 ... I'm four years post-op following VSG surgery, lost 100+ pounds, and thus far have kept it all off.

I'm not sure I have anything new to add. But the fact that so many people here (many of whom are long-term successful WLS patients) are repeating the same things should signal that our common approaches are critical to your own long-term success.

Like so many of the others, before having surgery I:

1. Found a good therapist. I still see him monthly. In fact, over five years ago when I initially went to see my family doctor to tell him I might have enough energy for one more shot at getting healthy before I died, he said, "I'll support you in any way you want to, yet again, get the excess weight off. But what I really wish you would do is find a good therapist who can help you understand why you are unable to care for yourself." His advice is what put me on the path to deciding, eventually, to have WLS.

2. Practiced for many months pre-op all the healthier eating and other behaviors others have mentioned above, e.g., eating slower, chewing longer, taking smaller bites, not drinking with meals or immediately before or after meals, eating my protein foods first, hydrating much better, starting to exercise (in my case, it was only walking), using My Fitness Pal to plan and track what and how much I was eating, and weighing every morning.

3. Came to appreciate, finally, that the WLS process was NOT PRIMARILY about losing weight, because I'd done that over and over all my life, but about changing my lifestyle permanently so that I would never have to lose 100 pounds again as long as I lived. Consequently, I didn't give a flip about how fast I lost the weight, but was focused ONLY on building new habits and doing all the other work I needed to do to reduce my reliance on food for self-medication to address uncomfortable feelings ranging from boredom to procrastination to anxiety to frustration to anger to exhaustion to ... well, you get the idea.

I wish you all the best as you begin your own WLS journey. We each have our own unique issues to deal with. But ultimately we each just have to knuckle down and do the work required to be successful. And this work is about as adulting as it gets.

I want to stand up and cheer for #3! I think that's so powerful.

Thanks. :)

Best wishes to you, too. :)

I totally agree with what is #1 on Liz's list. I really believe that therapy is key to success, for most, if not all, of us.

I started "therapist shopping" when I first began my program. I really lucked out and hit the bulls eye with the first one I went to. She is amazing and we clicked from the very beginning. But I was fully prepared to keep looking until I found "the one".

I've been seeing her now for 7 months, and I will continue seeing her for as long as it takes. Maybe for the rest of my life! LOL I have very deeply ingrained issues with food, issues that took over 50 years to develop and I know that it will take a long time to "fix" me.

Very few of us have a healthy relationship with food and became morbidly obese in spite of it.

I changed habits. I got rid of bad ones and created new good ones one step at a time. I didn't try to change everything at once. Once I felt I had mastered one thing, I added the next.

I started by eating protein first. Once I had that managed, I got rid of caffeine. Then pop, then sugar slowly started disappearing. I stopped drinking with meals, cut down on alcohol, lowered my carb intake.

One thing at a time. Take the time before surgery to get in the game so when surgery comes and you start your new lifestyle, it's really not new. You know it. You just go back to what you've worked hard to establish.

I also lost close to 50lbs before surgery just by doing this alone.

Keeping hydrated and taking vitamins, and learn the language of your body for it's needs.