When asked what was the best advice anyone was given about having weight loss surgery, the following comments were posted:
1) Eat slow and chew, chew, chew!
2) Sip, sip, sip!
3) Clean and disinfect your living space before your surgery. It will keep you busy and keep your mind off the stress of the upcoming surgery in those last few days of preop time. AND, it will make it easier to avoid infection after you return home.
4) Stop worrying!
5) Make up a schedule for meals, water, vitamins, and exercise.
6) Eat every 2 to 3 hours and drink water with a protein supplement between meals.
7) Do not drink (anything!) for 30 minutes before and 30 minutes after your meals.
8) Keep meals to what would have been "snack sized" portions as a preop.
9) Work your tool to the maximum potential in order to make the most of your honeymoon period.
10) Just because you CAN eat it doesn't mean you SHOULD eat it!
11) Lay your fork down between bites. This helps keep you from eating too fast!
12) RESEARCH! Research every form of WLS. Research your surgeon/hospital and any follow-up plan offered. Research postop life. Research yourself and be sure you can handle life as a postop!
13) Put away the scales and only weigh monthly the first few months. This will save you TONS of frustration!
14) Exercise as MUCH as possible as SOON as possible to help maximize your honeymoon period.
15) Lose as much weight as you can BEFORE surgery. That is that much less you have to lose after surgery and it makes your surgery and your healing time easier.
16) Work out with weights!
17) BEFORE surgery, increase your protein and start a vitamin supplement regimen so that you are used to it in advance.
18) Increase your activity level however you can. No matter how sedentary your life is, you can do something! Try leg lifts while sitting in a chair.
19) Don't Give Up! You will have good weeks and bad weeks. Sometimes it will seem like months! But keep exercising and eating right!
20) Remember that everyone is different. Just because one person lost 50 pounds in a couple of weeks does not mean you will. And, you will stall at about 3 weeks out. Don't worry! That is just your body adjusting to the rapid loss.
21) Visit your surgery date forum. You will find that many of those people are going through similar things at the same time!
22) Measure yourself before surgery and periodically after surgery. This will save your sanity during stalls when the scales are not moving! Use Thinner Self or another tracking site to track the changes.
1 comment:
So true!! I had my surgery 11/15/07, and things have been the crazy roller coaster of trying new stuff ever since! I wish I'd paid closer attention to some of that advice before the surgery!! All is great though - feel free to check me out when you have some time.
Post a Comment