Advice on picking a surgery date?

I had my surgery the week before Thanksgiving. I won't lie...it was hard... but it taught me a lot about myself.

Take the time to wrap your head around the fact that holidays and celebrations are about spending time with family and friends and not about how much you get to eat.

I have an "obese brain". There will ALWAYS be a reason to celebrate with food if I allow it. As hard as it will be to go through your first holiday season, and not be allowed to eat, the truth is... there will forever be temptations out there to trip you up. Getting the head stuff right is the biggest, hardest, part of having WLS.

Don't wait. Get the surgery as soon as your surgeon has an opening.

I also hope to have my surgery before the end of the year. I'm currently waiting for insurance approval after doing the 6-month doctor-supervised diet. Additionally, my surgeon requires a 3-month wait between having my lapband removed and the sleeve surgery. I had the band removed October 1; December 24 will be 12 weeks. I don't know if he will actually do surgeries on December 24, but that would be the ideal date for me. His PA said he'll be scheduling lots of surgeries those final few weeks to get everyone in who wants surgery prior to the end of the calendar year, so I'll just have to wait and see if I'm one of the lucky ones.