How did you?

How did you get into the right mindset to start on your healthy journey? I mean, I'm supposed to lose 5-10 lbs in this year with no gains. I can't for the life of me get on track and start eating right. It's going to be a long 12 months and I guess I'm just so exhausted from "dieting" that I'm frustrated. What did you do?

I look at this time as a - you cannot fail time.

Once you rid yourself of all the carbs it will be easier and you won't crave them as much

Use an app like my fitness pal and weigh and measure everything! If it goes in your mouth, it needs to go in the app

I lost 53 pounds before surgery and it made it an easier and less risky procedure.

What Supershopper said.  You have to make this like a job.  You need to set yourself goals.  A goal has to have a date on it.  You could set a goal of losing one pound a week and in ten weeks be a your weight.  Then continue the good eating habits and lose as much as you can before surgery.

If you were taking a trip, you would know how far you needed to travel and how many miles you want to cover each day.  This is the same.  You need the plan first.

The secret though is to have dates and deadlines and to meet those deadlines.  Sit down and plan this out first.  Weigh yourself daily.  Getting started will be easy once you know where you are going.

This is not a diet, it's a whole new lifestyle.  You have to realized that you just can't live like you did anymore.  You CAN do it.  It's not out of the realm of what is doable for you.  Just imagine what it will be like once you get through it and you can actually lose the weight.

I never had a history of losing and gaining over and over again like some of the others here.  I had just a steady gain throughout the years.  I was able to halt the gain at a few points when I had reason.  Like when i was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes I was really good for a while, then when i got pregnant I had to be good to keep my sugars in control for my son.  Once that was over I jumped back into food with both feet and put on 30lbs in a year.  

You can do it!  

 The first week on a diet was always the worst for me - you don't have it down to a system yet, so it will get easier.  We all need to find the magic thought that works, but here's what helped me. 

When my doctor told me to lose some weight before surgery, I wanted to scream at him - WHY BOTHER IT WILL ONLY COME BACK - I even think my eyes bugged out of my head because I was so angry.  But before I said anything, I realized that was why I was having the surgery so it WOULD NOT come back.  That thought helped make the pre-op diet different for me.  The promise of having the surgery made it easier for me to make good choices during that time.  Somehow knowing that I will never regain the pounds that I lost pre-op was a great feeling.   (My pre-op period included Thanksgiving and all the Christmas parties - I had surgery on 12/22 and busted out of the hospital on Christmas Eve -so I had a lot of temptation to say No to.)  Looking back I can say that the healthier you go into surgery the healthier you come out of it and that is really what is important.  Also, the more mobile your are the better - the sooner you can walk after surgery, the better.  Also, any issues you work through prior to surgery - emotional eating, boredom eating, not reading labels - will make your WLS that much more effective - the surgery does not do it all.

Your doctor should also have given you the long term success figures for WLS - ~25% of people put it all back on, even with surgery, so this is your year to do everything you can to max your chance of success with WLS. 

This is also a time to practice and strengthen your ability to follow directions - you will need to follow directions post-op and continue for good long-term weight loss.  The food and eating issues you work through now will be behind you and will make you post-op weight loss easier.  You are doing a good thing by asking for ideas that keep you following your drs instruction. 

I have a sweet tooth - so I added diet orange soda (~6 oz) to a vanilla shake (8oz) and had a creamcycle shake - it got me through pre-op.  Can't do it post-op because of the soda but you won't need much volume to feel full.   Pre-op I used 12gm per serving prot shakes so I could have satisfying volume.  Post surg - I used the 35 gms of prot per serving prot shakes because you will not need volume to fill you up.

Pre-op - I also added diet chock soda to chock prot shakes.

Hang in there - I would not be surprised if something clicks for you and you are able to lose more than the 5-10 pounds.

As others have said, set goals and consider it your job. Will you be perfect? No, otherwise you wouldn't need surgery. Just start with small changes, you have a year, you can do this.

I never really know how to answer this question because I think it's a lot like being in love: you just know.  We can rattle off some behaviors that will be helpful or things to avoid but it ultimately comes down to you.  You need to know it in your bones that you've had enough and you're ready to redefine for the rest of your life your relationship with food and your definitions of "normal" and "healthy."

Surgery is mostly just a reset button, an injection of hope.  For 12 - 18 months you'll be forced to lose weight but for all the years after that it falls completely on your behaviors.  Surgery isn't going to stop you from eating pizza, burgers, and chips at every meal.

In my experience, motivation and commitment only arrive once I get started. If I were to wait for the motivation to start a diet, it would never happen. As others have suggested, creating, and then following, a plan is your first step. Sometimes just taking those initial actions is enough to inspire motivation. Good luck!

My body didn't lose a pound until I got my brain in shape.  I started with a good counselor who is trained in eating disorders, because we need to face that our mind is what got us into trouble in the first place and develop new brain pathways.  That's what led me to WLS and what keeps me on the path.  My mind is still a bit of a mess, but it's in much better shape now than it's ever been my whole life.  This is not a diet.  I've eliminated every diet from my life and I'm replacing it with a daily PLAN to be healthy.  Sometimes I have to follow that plan one bite at a time - all day long, but I just keep going and learning more about what it takes for my plans to actually work. MFP helps me a lot and pure, sometimes painful, honesty is working for me.

Thank you all. You've all given me a lot to think about. I guess I've failed so many times in the past that I'm burnt. If that makes any sense. I will do this though. But I also know that I need this tool more now than ever. I'm at my highest weight ever and it hurts. Both physically and mentally. Calgon.... take me away!!!! lol