Need Encouragement & a Plan

As far as good drugs....if you can take Tylenol, ask about IV Tylenol while you're in the hospital. It actually helped me a lot. I can't handle morphine...blech.
For pain relief after you go home, have a plan in place regarding pain pills, and ask the surgeon what their policy is if you get prescribed anything narcotic. Some really limit the amount you get. For me, I was lucky that my surgeon would give me a new scrip if I needed it. I needed "the good stuff" for about 3 weeks, then tapered off of it. Put extra Miralax in your morning beverage if you take any narcotics.
After I transitioned from narcotic pain pills, I took Tylenol. I took it every 6 hours for a few months it seems. I rarely have knee pain now. I also iced my knee often, but only for 20 minutes at a time. Sometimes people get sent home with ice machines. I didn't, so I made my own ice packs with water, rubbing alcohol, and some blue food coloring.
Keep your leg as straight as possible after surgery until you're told to start bending it. Try to not sleep with it bent. That can affect your extension long term.
It's not an easy surgery to recover from, and it can be a fairly long recovery. Don't let anyone bully you into thinking you're being a baby if you have a lot of pain post-op. It's NOT a breeze even though some people may make it seem as such. And people who haven't had a knee replacement have zero concept how hard it is for us post-op, so if anyone like that gives you lip-tell them to stick it where the sun don't shine.
You'll do great. If I can do this-anyone can. I am the world's biggest weenie when it comes to knee pain.
Congrats on the weight moving down! Every pound helps where our knees are concerned.

My arthritis pain often depends on what type of day it is and ...what I ate the day or 2 before. Some foods can by highly inflammatory and I try to find out what and how much can give me trouble.

Weather - there are days that no matter what - it is going to hurt and hurt badly. there is not much I can do about weather. But on days like that I am more careful what and how much I eat, not to add to the issues.

When I was losing my regain, I focused on the diet, with a very little exercise.

There are food that I have allergies to. Eliminating or limiting that foods and additives is important to me. I can tolerate some of these foods once in a while, if I get them accidentally, or have a day "I don't care." But i try not to make a habit out of it. One major for me is dairy - milk, yogurt, and cheese. etc. I can live without milk, or cream, but cheese? Right?

Knowing what foods i need to avoid is important. There are also foods that I know I am sensitive to due to IBS. Grains, high fiber foods.. Lectins in food (most vegetables specially starchy vegetables) . Also sugars, any type of sugar - the table type or natural in honey, maple syrup, or fruits...

Let's not forget about nightshades. These are getting listed as the one to avoid when someone has arthritis or any type of autoimmune or inflammatory condition.

What is left is fat, and proteins like meat, fish, eggs (though some people are sensitive to that also). Add some veggies.. some non starchy veggies, some starchy cooked veggies, some nuts ...and there is actually a lot of food I can eat. I.e. I just had a nice plate of chicken with 1/2 avocado, and some green beans. Very filling, good nutrition.

That diet - low inflammatory type diet is also great for losing weigh.

Once you follow a very simple low inflammatory diet for 3-4 weeks, you can try adding some other stiff and test on yourself if the pain got worse or better.

I am below my goal, so I allow myself some stuff that I keep off when I try to lose, yesterday my poor choice were candies. Plain sugar artificial stuff candies. I had a dentist appointment and I mad a stupid decision to have some candies... Of course to day my knees pain is telling me how stupid I was doing that. But I can't go back and change yesterday, so I need to get over my self pity and keep plunging along. right?

BTW: when I noticed that my regain was out of control, and I needed to change what and how much I ate - during the first week I changed what I ate. I made and bought a wide selection of proteins, plus some fat (avocados, olives) and I ate as many proteins as I wanted. I added some very low carb and calories veggies (cucumbers, SF pickles, celery, lettuce) and ate when my body told me I was hungry. When I wasn't hungry for a few slices of cold cuts or chicken - I knew I wasn't hungry, but that I had cravings. Not limiting qty during the first week really helped me to get off carbs. The second week after that was so much easier, because by that time, my appetite and cravings were very limited.

I had to make sure i drank enough water, took vitamins, and minerals - specially electrolytes, sodium, magnesium, potassium and calcium...that was really critical. The sodium and potassium.. Plus I had to make sure that my rapid change of diet did not result in severe constipation.
Getting enough sodium and enough fat in my diet was really helping me with my BM. Fat really help me feeling satisfied with the food I eat. Good fat.

Long term diet, too many proteins can get converted into sugars. Fat the good fats, like butter, bacon, a coconut, olives, avocado - our body can use, either as a lubricant or fuel ...

Thank you for your comment. I will reread this, a lot of good information. I am interesting in what foods are good for inflamation or arthritis pain? I know sugar and bad carbs causes pain for me. I think I have the under control hopefully. I read somewhere where tomatoes may increase inflamation or arthritis pain. Do you know other foods I should avoid? What foods that would help me with joint pain? Thank you again! I will continue to read your post several times,,, loaded with good information.

Foods for me to avoid to limit inflammation and pain:

1. Sugars, the table sugar and the natural sugars in honey, maple syrup, even some if not most fruits.
2. Grains: with gluten or even gluten free... that can double my pain, both my arthritic pain and my IBS/Fibromyalgia pain.
3. Nightshade vegetables.
   The most common night shades are: regular potatoes, tomatoes, peppers (all of them), eggplants, Red spices (curry powder, chili powder, cayenne powder, red pepper), Paprika, Pimentos, Tobacco, Goji berries, Ground cherries (different from regular cherries), Ashwagandha...
   Nightshade foods contain solanine, a chemical which some people believe may aggravate arthritis pain or inflammation.
   https://unboundwellness.com/nightshades/
4. Food manufactured with additives,spices, or thickeners like potato starch..
5. Foods that the person is sensitive to - allergic to. Getting tested for allergies may be important. (if I avoid some foods completely for at least 2-3 months, allergies testing may not show any sensitivities, allergies to that items.

Any other foods that may cause gut discomfort - excessive gas.

Avoiding starches may be important when trying to lose weight. Most of the last year I had to add starches to stop losing. I found a great substitution to some of starches, i.e. sweet potatoes, taro root, tapioca, cassava - I can use that in small qty. Still too much starches can turn into sugars.

In addition to that list, I personally avoid dairy, soy, beans, and high FODMAP foods (vegetables and fruits). I also have a mild issues with eggs, and I try not to have more than 6 per week.

Check website: https://againstallgrain.com/ for recipes that limit food that can cause inflammation in the guts (that I deal with). I make waffles, pancakes, "bread" etc...

WW is a good option for you. The program is the smart point system with three different plans: green, blue, and purple. There is an assessment which is best for you. Most of us do well with the blue section.

As far as exercise, is there a gym or YMCA near you? Some place that would have a trainer available to help with your knees. Is there a pool available? Exercise in the pool would put less stress on the knees.

Your story is much like mine. I'm currently at regain of approximately 25 lbs, and bad arthritis, particularly in knees, also bone-on-bone from carrying around so much weight all my life. Had GBP in September 2012, and have really gone off the wagon, especially since the sudden death of my 34-year old son in January of 2018.

I'm beginning to heal a little emotionally and mentally, but I need to lose the excess weight before my surgeon will attempt knee replacement. And, of course, because of my knees, moving is extremely painful, so I need to find a way to move that I can tolerate.

All that said, I'm so glad I found this thread; there are so many posts of good ideas/suggestions! I am going to see if I can incorporate some of them, and begin to move forward. Thank you so much for all this encouragement, and best wishes to the OP! We are in this together, GF!

Need to update my signature icon. LW was 192, current weight is 217.