2 days until surgery

yikes! I'm getting so nervous and thinking of a thousand reasons why I shouldn't have the procedure. Everything you can imagine. I've been thinking about WLS for 5 years. I became serious with my first appointment with my surgeon in April It's been a long 8 months Lots of stress, diagnoses, procedures and finally approval end of November A few more appointments and lab work and I was scheduled I have read and reread journeys that others have shared and am fully aware of the pros and cons My greatest fear is going through all of this and having weight regain just like other diets over the years How did you know you were doing the right thing? Any advice will be appropriated. Thank you!

I think many people get nervous/anxious as they get close. For me, once I decided, I was firm in my decision.

I know there will be challenges but I will meet them. I know it will be hard and there will be ups and downs.

I am watching and hope I am learning from the people sharing their experiences so I am an educated and owning my health and accountability.

I am making the changes I need to sustain to meet the downs that are coming and I know I will have to have strategies to sustain them. i know will have to work and refine those strategies as I go.

I guess if I was having doubts and they were tied to "will I gain it back", I would probably ask myself how is that any different than the constant diet yoyo I'd been on struggling every day to stay under 300 lbs. It was hard and required discipline. It was devastating the day I got to my highest weight and I had to work so hard to get back under that "magic" 300 lbs.

If I have to have that same discipline and work to stay under 140 (when I get to 140), I know how to be disciplined, I know how to work...and with my RNY, I will at least 1) have a tool that helps me and 2) know that working to stay under a healthy weight is better than working to stay under an unhealthy,"I picked this number because as I long as there isn't a 3 at the beginning I can fool myself that I'm just heavy not morbidly obese" weight. Talk about magical thinking.

Being heavy is hard; getting and staying healthy is hard. Pick your hard.

As my surgery time approached, I was apprehensive about the anesthesia (I react badly); I asked for an appt with the anesthesia team so I could walk then through my concerns.

Although it's rare, people die in any surgery or suffer extreme complications -- I made sure my living will, will and medical/financial POAs were updated and I made my sister listen to what I wanted so she knew.

Essentially, I found the concrete things I could control and controlled them.

I hope this helps a little bit.

Helps ALOT, thank you.

I'm posting this on my frig--being heavy is hard;getting and staying heakthy is hard. Pick your hard! I love this because it's so true. Thanks!

I've thought about "pick your hard" as a motivational tattoo, lol.

"Being heavy is hard; getting and staying healthy is hard. Pick your hard."

Wow. What a phenomenal statement. I really needed to see this post as I am 3 months out & it is so easy to think negative/resort back to unhealthy habits. Thank you!

It is very normal to feel nervous when having surgery and this is no ordinary surgery...it fixes the stomach, but not the brain. Take a deep breath and make a list of the pros and cons if you need to.

As far as regain, there are no guarantees either way and in the end you are responsible for what you put in your mouth and how you move your body. It is a challenge and you can make the commitment to deal with reality every day for the rest of your life to be healthy. It is up to you.

That said, you aren't alone and you can choose to find support through it all...your medical team, maybe a knowledgeable nutritionist, a personal trainer, a therapist and real people, like here on OH, to give you ideas and to hold you accountable.

You can do it! But it's a choice, not magic. We are here every day to listen.

You WILL regain (sorry if that is harsh), but only if you do the same things like you did with other diets. You MUST decide to do things differently this time. Surround yourself with support and accountability. Treat this like an addiction and not a fad diet. If you do that - you WILL NOT regain. Be confident in that. But you must do things differently. I have a friend that did surgery two weeks before me - same surgeon. She's regained 70% of her loss and I'm at goal (down over 300 pounds). The difference is I'm surrounded - I go to support group every month, I see a therapist every two weeks (he specializes in weight and in bariatrics), I religiously work out at home and the gym - no excuses (I was up at 4 this morning on my Peleton and I'm going to a class tonight for Group Fight - it actually gets to be fun), I have a trainer who works with me twice a week. She was texting me the whole time I was in Las Vegas last week bashing me for eating some pasta and caramel corn - she really cares...... And that's not all of it. But I KNOW I won't regain - but only as long as I lock in on those things. Probably the therapist is the most important thing in my arsenal. He addresses the underlying eating disorder/addiction (and yes, we all have one). My friend does none of these and now she avoids me - that's hard as she sits 30 feet from me at work. But she goes out of her way to walk to the bathroom etc. Don't be her. But in the end you will choose. If you go autopilot, then likely high risk of regain, but the benefits of hard work are absolutely fantastic. Surgery was the best thing I ever did. Also I decided before hand to have fun on my surgery day. I was joking with everyone and laughing. The surgical team was relaxed and joking back... I still laugh at how goofy I was that morning. The blood person didn't like it - she was so SERIOUS... I laugh about that too. Good luck.

What a wonderful and uplifting post. I am only one week post-surgery and suffering a bit in terms of my mood (I'm being honest here). It is good to read that there are vets out there who are doing well and feel that surgery is the best thing that they ever did. I was so ready and determined when I went in for my surgery too. It had taken me 15 months since I first started the process so I had time to get very prepared. It isn't that I'm regretting it now, just having real troubles with constant nausea and regulating my mood. I do, however, have a wonderful support network around me and know that this will pass. Tomorrow I get to try some pureed food and I'm both anxious and excited.

Chris, you mention regulating your mood. Did your program tell you about the hormone dump? It can make you emotionally fragile some days for sure! Also, from what I understand, it takes a bit of time for all the anesthesia to work itself out -- up to a couple of weeks, I've heard -- I don't know if that's true or not but it also hits your ability to regulate moods, if it is.

Do you see your surgeon again soon?