What is the best advice you would give to a pre op?

I wanted to ask what your best advice would be to someone (me) who has not had weight loss surgery yet but is hoping to before spring.

Do the work on your mental state and make sure your head is in the game; it will need to be for life. The surgeon will do the physical part, but you have to do the mental part.

Thank you for your advice!

Identify the main triggers that cause you to eat unhealthily. Then develop a plan for how you will deal with those triggers after surgery.

Some common triggers include stress, boredom, not wanting to cook.

All three of the triggers you mentioned apply to me.

One thing that helped me is that I put a lot of emphasis on senses other than taste. For example, here's a list of things I might do if I get stressed:

• have a nice cup of herbal tea with a strong scent (SMELL)
• cuddle my cats and appreciate how soft their fur is (TOUCH)
• curl up under the duvet and feel the warmth (THERMOCEPTION)
• dance (KINAESTHESIA)

I like your thinking!

Start working on a healthy eating style, journal your food, weigh and measure every thing that you eat, find a program that you can do indefinitely (I did WW), start doing exercise-even if it's taking a walk and build from there.

I definitely will follow your advice.

Good Luck, my friend! This journey isn't easy but so worthwhile. All of us are living the kind of lives we always wanted. I've read a lot of the posts and you were given great advice from others. Just remember to go easy on yourself. You're a work in progress.