Vets: What advice would you give your pre-surgery self?
No mistakes, no regrets. I'd do it all the same.
Birdie girl had great advice. Get the weight off, fast as you can. Some people say it's a marathon, not a sprint. Well, it becomes a marathon, after a year or two. At first, it's a sprint. Zombies are chasing you. The fast kind. And angry, hungry lions. Lose the weight fast.
Make every calorie count. Don't put anything into your body that your body doesn't need. You can experiment, a little bit, after you reach your goal. That's when you put your marathon shoes on.
6'3" tall, male.
Highest weight was 475. RNY on 08/21/12. Current weight: 198.
M1 -24; M2 -21; M3 -19; M4 -21; M5 -13; M6 -21; M7 -10; M8 -16; M9 -10; M10 -8; M11 -6; M12 -5.
7 months out and I wish I would have been more strict with my carb intake early on. My loss is starting to slow down (though I'm still actively losing) and it's getting harder to stay on plan. Keep your carbs low, protein high and don't start letting little things in as treats.
I still have 40lbs to lose and it feels like it's not ever going to happen. Hoping to get it off by August.
Age: 44 | Height: 5' 3" | Starting January 2015: 291 | RNY 8/4/15 with Dr. Arthur Carlin| Goal: 150
Listen to advice and accept discipline, and at the end you will be counted among the wise. ~Proverbs 19:20
This surgery is a tool. And, your success depends on how you work your tool.
Follow your post op diet plan, to a T. Don't push the boundaries.
This is a life time commitment, cut the carbs and cut the sugar.
Plan your meals.
Eat meals that are satisfying. Dense proteins are best to keep us satisfied and not grazing.
You have about 18 mos after surgery to optimize your weight loss. Once you do start losing, it is easy to think that this is a breeze and you can let go a little. DON'T!!!!
Take your vitamins, no matter what. Get your labs done regularly, for life.
Be sure to have a support system in place, either in person support group meetings or online.
Exercise -
If you are bored - get out, go walk, do something. Boredom leads to snacking.
Remember, regain can and will happen. it doesn't mean you are a failure, you just have to cut the XX that you have let back in and get back on track, but it does get harder the farther out we are.
Good luck to you!
Nik
I don't think I qualify as a vet (just 8.5 months out), but the ONLY thing I would change about this whole process is that I would have taken more photos of myself as I got smaller! I wish I had documented my loss better.
Referral: 8/14; Orientation TWH: 12/14; Nurse: 01/15; SW, Dietician, Psych: 2/15; Surgeon: 5/15; RNY: June 15/2015
Great question! I'm scheduled April 4th and have splurged enough on the comfort foods that I don't want them anymore....4 weeks out and I'm cleaning up my diet and sticking to my exercise program. I have a 2 week pre-op diet starting March 21st, will be so relieved when the surgery is done, been a hot mess waiting for my date.
Best of luck to you, first of all. I also would do nothing differently, because I worked hard to find someone that I trusted and also vowed to follow directions religiously since my team knew how to get people through.
I also have PCOS and Type 1.5 diabetes and had RNY almost 5 years ago now. I was advised to have weight loss surgery about 12 years before I actually did it. I thought about it, rejected it, came back to it, ran from it, tried my own way, got angry, got frustrated, resisted, approached, avoided - over and over again for many years. When I hit 25 years as a T1.5 diabetic, I knew I needed to make a decision to either do it or not.
I AM SO HAPPY I DID AND COULD KICK MY OWN BUTT FOR PUTTING IT OFF SO LONG. Ok, there's my regret....
I also traveled a lot early on. Here's my advice - try to trust and take a few deep breaths. It works when you take the advice you are given and work with it. Plain and simple. I get the anxiety - I had plenty of it. But, if you FOLLOW DIRECTIONS, you won't screw it up. I have said this many times before - the people who struggled the most that I saw on these boards were the ones who decided to follow their own rules, and then they justified them to the world. They were the ones who ate things they knew weren't good for them, didn't follow medical advice, and didn't realize that the surgery is a TOOL that you can use to help yourself. It is not everything - it is a tool.
Remember that everyone's journey is slightly different. I was a slow loser, even after surgery. Welcome to my screwed up metabolism. Surgery improved it, but it didn't fix it.....And when others were dropping weight like crazy, my journey was about 2 pounds a week with stalls. Again, that was me. I'm grateful for it. But, it's important to manage your expectations as well, so that you don't set yourself up to think you are a failure and then return to unhealthy behavior and/or thinking.
Take this a step at a time. In a few months, you'll be ridiculously glad you did this if you just trust and relax - just a little.
