I had the sleeve.

I have to ask...

Pre-operation, is diet soda OK? Is it as awful as some sites make it out to be?

First of all, I want to thank you as much as I can through a keyboard. Your reply helped me tremendously. I've been sitting here feeling awful - alone, angry, and just generally miserable. I haven't spoken about this to any of my loved ones yet and I'm not sure how to broach the topic.

I keep coming back to the fact that I just don't understand it. Sure, I need to eat less and exercise more... but, again, I am not sedentary and I don't eat crap. Everyone looks at me now and assumes I eat terrible **** I used to be very, very skinny... and I can definitely tell a huge difference in how people treat me. I haven't changed my eating habits much since I was underweight - that's the thing that blows my mind. I love to cook; I love to make fresh food. If food has a bar code on it, I feel like I'm doing it wrong. I eat too much... but is it really this much? Really?

Everyone judges me now. Having been extremely skinny and now morbidly obese, I am shocked at the difference in how people judge me. A doctor I saw for an unrelated problem sneered that I "needed to cut out the cheesecake, or at least eat less of it." A guy in the grocery store laughed at me for buying a container of ice cream - which I brought to a party, and didn't eat any of (I really, really, really do not have a sweet tooth).

I'm still sorting out a lot of thoughts right now, and some of them are falling out of my fingers. Consider this a stream-of-consciousness. Any anger is directed solely at myself and my misunderstanding of this whole new world of morbid obesity I've slowly woken up to. A doc told me I get another ten good years, then ten years of diabetic slowdeath. Eight years ago I weighed under a hundred pounds. And today I can't even walk without gasping in pain.

Thanks to your message, though, I've started keeping a food diary. If, after a week of being under 1600 calories per day (along with walking 3-4 miles every other day), I gain another pound - which has happened before - I honestly don't know what the hell I am going to do.

I can't be a miracle of science; I can't gain weight without taking in calories. I know that. I know. I just don't know where they're coming from and I'm at my wits' end. To have everyone assume I got this way because I am lazy, or stupid, or I clearly eat a breakfast of ice cream covered twinkies with butter on top.

Anyway. I apologize for my rambling note here, but finding this board - and reading your reply - is like manna in the desert. Thank you.

I didn't follow any particular kind of diet to lose weight but tried to eat healthy foods and avoid all kinds of unhealthy, junk and processed foods. 

If you're a beginner , there are few things you should know:

 Losing weight is a simple equation: if you burn more calories than you eat, the weight will come off. Start off by estimating how many calories you burn each day using the daily calorie needs calculator online. This will give you an idea of how many calories to eat. Healthy weight loss is 1-2 pounds per week. To lose 1 pound per week you need to create a calorie deficit (burn more than you eat) of 500 calories per day. To lose 2 pounds a week, you have to double the deficit to 1000 calories per day. You can achieve this by eating less, exercising more or a combination of both. So If you're wondering how to lose belly fat in a week or two, I would suggest you to be consistent and regular. Eat healthy foods, avoid junk foods, exercise regularly. Both cardio and weight training is necessary in this matter. Hope it will help.

Wish we could do that in the states. Ihave tried with my pharmacy and the answer was a big  NO!