any tips 4 me?

Jamie you have mail!

Hi Britt, Lots of good ideas here. Also remember to set up a good support system for you. Your job when you get home is to sip fluids, rest, and walk. That's it. Everything else should be taken care of by family, friends, etc. I am so excited for you. What an amazing journey you are about to begin! Hugs, Amy

Thanks Amy, I am so BLESSED to have a great support network. My husband is taking a weks vacation totake care of me and my AWESOME mom is staying with me for 4 weeks to help with my liitle angels with three little ones that I will not be able to lift ... i'll need her help! It feels good toknow that I have my family and friends ready & willing to help! hugs, Britt

Congrats Britt your time is almost here... All of the above are great and necessary....I also had purchased baby spoons and baby bowels and i used a sippy cup for my water for the first few weeks while home, it helps psychologically...some people dont agree but it helped me to remmeber to take tiny bits at a time ...i also had my stallone puddings because i couldnt do the protein drinks blah....hated them they were to heavy on my tummy....sugar free applesauce saved me when i had to crush my pain pills and take them. Good luck and we are here for ya. LisaMarie

LisaMarie, I cannot believe how quickly the time is coming -I am so excited I have heard other mention the sippy cup andutencils. I think that is a good idea and I think personally for me that will be helpful / a total reminder take care of my new pouchy as if it were a baby - what a stallone pudding? where do you get them? are they yummy? I have to but the sugar feee apple sauce (THANKS for the reminder) thanks again, HUGS Britt

~Britt~ The single BEST piece of advice I can offer being 4 yrs out is this to anyone: ***Disclaimer some may consider this a no-brainer, others a downer, some a new view, psychobabble, whatever thought it is just my opinion, so take it for what it is worth, and it is meant to be helpful/insightful and thought provoking at a time so many of us are caught up with the right vitamin to take, amount of water to drink, etc.. it is meant to challenge beyond those tasks to see the small stuff matters but that there is a larger and more global view as well to consider!!!*** Establish your mindset to accept that weight loss surgery is not a cure/quick fix for morbid obesity, it's a very effective/powerful/wonderful tool that can be used lifelong to combat the chronic/lifelong disease of morbid obesity that has NO *current* CURE (*So at 1 yr out when many say 100# gone forever I sometimes shudder, it is never gone forever it is gone for now but the work has just started at 1 yr out IMHO). The tool is flawed and can be defeated as well (emotional eating, grazing, drinking calories, eating/drinking together, alcohol use, high calorie dense foods, too many simple carbs, overfilling pouch, carbonation, no consistent exercise routine). Considered WLS as part of a life-long process & commitment to challenge your personal awareness/responsibility/consistency/accountability and that a life-long requirement to follow up with physicians, a regular exercise program, and healthy eating. Accept it will come w/ potential challenges & imperfections (risks, side-effects, complications, challenges such as plateaus, not meeting goal, regain, possible depression, grief over the loss/safety of food/obesity may of offered/invisibility it offered although may of been unwanted at the time/the new attention you get, possible anger or anxiety w/o comfort of food as it used to be/limits it may impose, effort it requires to be healthy etc.) that these frustrations are part of the process to make you healthier see them as challenges not difficulties, positive self talk helps!. Your mindset will be the most important tool for success, as all the challenges of traditional diets/exercise plans for health will be present after WLS as well *Yup so many say I will never diet again, well let me say diets don't work *because people go off them* correct but you will have to be mindful of food and pay attention to intake and exercise for life, so in a sense your dieting for life! Even after WLS.... The surgery won't make a person change, but the beauty is YOU HAVE COMPLETE control over those changes/choices needed after surgery for success, the choices are there and the best use of the mind/psychology will harness those. Surgery is such a drastic choice that so many are successful due to a recommitment to healthy living and choices that is one reason it works and we say it is a 'rebirth'. Changing habits pre -wls is the mindset that will keep you going, the surgery is a piece, the easiest/smallest IMHO. *It is however the milestone/landmark we set to focuses on. But truly the afterlife is the most challenging, the ever evolving challenges from things like getting in enough liquids to food introduction to vitamin taking, new ways of eating/drinking, introduction of exercise consistently to battling with the scale obsessions & disappointments as well as all the wonderful WOW moments. Have the support system needed to create the healthiest environment as well, willpower fades, the tools robust effects fades as well as the honeymoon closes...Harness your enthusiasm and mind for 6 months doing all you can to influence (not only wt loss) but the healthy lifestyle you want to adopt for maintenance, that elusive animal no one has mastered pre-wls. Exercise can become more routine after 6 months as well. Again the mind is just as/more useful than the pouch...it is the operator of the tool! Stress inevitable, so see each issue/stressful time as an opportunity to use your new tool/mindset! (Like I say use things as excuses or opportunities because holidays come and go each year as do parties, office food/celebrations, hurt feelings, sadness, losses, etc) I know this isn't one message it is a million crammed into one right! Anyone who knows me knows I am never brief, this is my PASSION (giving back), WLS saved me from myself. It isn't easy or fair, but accepting life is imperfect just as the world we live in, embracing that imperfection and controlling what I can has helped me get thru many issues. There is no perfection, I work on that daily. So what to do about all of this babble? Get a good journal, start writing today all the reasons you are COMMITTED to this change, what your expectations are (hopefully realistic for wt loss 50-80% of excess not an ideal body wt) and that the goals are not wt related alone, the functional ones how you can integrate into life easier, (clothes fitting, less medical co morbidities or risk of, less meds, less pain (physical/emotional) the benchmarks you are setting, take measurements and photos each month along w/ weights to document the journey. the mind is powerful but may be challenging to change so the photos/measurements help when the HUNKAMETAL doesn't register a loss. We are much more than a number on a scale, free from the numbers and see how much you are more than that as a person, your abilities etc....The journey is full of hills and valleys, some bumps and many more pleasures to see, it can be an awesome ADVENTURE! The letter you may write/journal entry today may save you from backsliding at your first plateau or at 1 yr out, a recommitment to those thoughts, and how you have grown over time. These are the things I recommend. I think everyone else has you covered w/ the 'physical items you need'. These are the ever-elusive psychological things you need LOL! OK if you have read this far thanks for hearing me out! I wish you well. Take Care, Jamie Ellis RN MS NPP Lap RNY 10/9/02 Dr. Singh 320/163 5'9'' (lost 45# before surgery) Plastics 6/9/04 & 11/11/2005 Dr. King http://www.obesityhelp.com/morbidobesity/members/profile.php?N=c1132518510 "Being happy doesn't mean everything's perfect, it just means you've decided to see beyond the imperfections!"

Jamie, Thaks for your insight ... One of my goals is to NEVER forget that WLS is ONLY a tool and the weight can come back. I have decided I am not going to "test the waters" with things I know are off limits. I am committed to changing my life as a whole - learning how to eat healthy and incorperate exercise as a part of my life for life. I KNOW THAT IT IS NOT GOING TO BE EASY - I know that there will be challanges and I will struggle!!! I know that there will be successes too - I am committed to making a change for me, for my family ....FOR LIFE! thanks for tking the time to post. have a great weekend, Britt

Jamie, I do have to say that what you said is SOOO true once your past your honeymoon phase.....I know this part is so hard right now but so worth the work I am putting into myself. I LOVE what you said and I couldn't have said it any better!!!! YOUR THE BEST! and thanks for WANTING to give back to us and for sharing your knowledge since you are out so far! Now that I am out 15 months I have so much to say about this but not sure how to get that across and you said it so perfect! Debra P