Pre-surgery feelings

Surgery is May 16.

Relieved. Excited. Scared.

Day 11 of Optifast and I feel frustrated. I am hungry. And when I am hungry all I can think of is FOOD. And then I start wondering how someone who is thinking about food is going to be successful, when that's the very thing that got me here. And it makes me worry. Did anyone else feel this way?!

Surgery is May 15

Nervous, excited, looking forward to 1 week from today (fast forward through the surgery part)

Day 12 and final day of Optifast. I've lost 10 lbs over the 2 weeks and they said yesterday it's off of the internal organs like the liver. Although my clothes don't feel any looser, the arthritis in my knees is better already and my wheezing is gone.

If this is how is how it's going to be-I'm in!!

Congratulations! Good luck with your surgery; you'll do great!

I hear ya...and I have not had my surgery, have not had opti yet, and don't even have a surgery date. How the hell am I going to pull this off! Please someone with some insight reply!!

Hey Guys, I had 14 days of Ensure & 3/4 cup plain Greek yogurt a day. I was hungry too, but keep your eye on the goal. I think it's pretty natural to think of food when you're hungry. I had my surgery on May 4/17. Hang in there, you'll make it. You're not hungry after surgery like you are now.

Hi,

You're almost there; how exciting! I remember feeling excited and scared before surgery, and worried about having to travel so far and stay in Toronto for 5 days afterward. I remember walking through a huge mall in Mississauga the day before surgery and having to sit in the food court while everyone with me had a huge meal and I sipped on water, surrounded by incredible smells and foods from what seemed like every nation on earth (we don't have food courts like that here, lol). I felt the way you do now.

Then I had surgery and woke up and the hunger was GONE.

You're going to be successful because you're getting a tool that will help you so much. Life right after surgery is completely different than life on Optifast, at least, it was for me.

I'm 14 weeks out now, and do get hungry now, but it's not the same as hunger before. Before it was a crazy, demanding, all encompassing hunger. Now it's a feeling of emptiness and a slight nudge that I need to eat. I eat, and it's gone. I'm satisfied. Before, I'd eat, and still be thinking about what I could eat next. I could eat so very much. Now, if I eat even one bite too much, I'm very uncomfortable, so I usually try to stop eating before that happens.

You've got this! You're going to do great.

Thank you so much!

That made me feel so much better!

Good luck with surgery tomorrow!

Yes, its normal what you are feeling. You have one more day! Be proud of yourself, and give yourself a break. Its very hard when you are drinking your 'food' when your use to something with more substance, and have all those thoughts.

Thinking of food, I admit isn't going to go away just like that. Head hunger doesn't just vanish, but this tool will be very useful in battling it. It will get easier. I won't lie the first month after surgery was the hardest for me. I'm two months post op today, and I'm living proof it does get better. But like anything, this is a journey, and your going to have ups and downs, but it will get easier to deal with the further you are out.

Just try and relax ( I know I'm preaching to the choir when I say that)!

I hope all goes well tomorrow, and wish you a speedy and healthy recovery!

Take care.