What to know before you have weight loss surgery
Regardless of what anyone tells you…weight loss surgery is not an easy way out. It’s not cheating or any other negative thing someone may tell you. Don’t let that brainwash you into possibly looking into something that can not only change your life but also prolong your life. F#%$ what anyone else has to say, especially someone who hasn’t been where you are. Because of others opinions on weight loss surgery, they’re people who are ashamed to admit that they’ve even had it. It could be fear or shame of what others may say about YOUR decision. As I’ve experienced personally, your family and friends can be against it and will try to talk you out of it. At the end of the day, this is your decision. You’re the one who has to live inside that body every day. If someone is willing to leave over you wanting to better yourself, then that says a lot about that person…not you. I know it’s easier said than done, but don’t risk your health over another person’s objection. I could understand them having issues with a pending surgery if you’ve had complications during surgery before. That’s understandable.
Weight loss surgery is just the beginning. It’s only a tool to aid in your weight loss. You have to work extremely hard for the rest of your life in maintaining and continuing the weight loss. If you follow everything that your surgeon tells you, then the weight will just start falling off. I lost almost 45 pounds in the first 2 months, then at least 7-12 pounds every month from then on. Well, that was until my 18 months post-op. My weight just completely stalled. At that point, I knew that I had hit my surgery goal weight, which is a certain percentage of weight that you’re guaranteed to lose during the first 12-18 months after surgery. (If you follow the post-op plan)
Your surgeon will give you a list of pre-surgery requirements as well as the before, during and after surgery diet plan. Yes…definitely utilize all of that information. DON’T GAIN WEIGHT!!! At least not a significant amount. I can’t stress this enough. If you gain weight during your pre-op diet, one of two things can happen, your insurance company won’t approve you and may even cancel your surgery. The pre-op diet is set by your insurance company to make sure you can lose a little weight before the surgery. If they’re investing in you, they want to make sure that you’re taking this seriously. The pre-op diet can last anywhere from three months to a year. Just keep in mind that the best preparation for this lifestyle change is mental preparedness. Hence why they have you meet with a psychologist. You have to get to the root cause of what may have caused your weight gain in the first place (if anything), how you feel being so overweight, are you mentally fit to not only go through surgery, but to also deal with the change after surgery, because it’s a huge change mentally. I’ll get into that in another blog.
So that you’ll have one less thing to do before surgery, be sure to stock up on the things for your liquid diet. Trust me…the first month that you’re strictly on liquids, you won’t be able to intake much. For me…I stocked up on water, sugar-free Jello, sugar-free popsicles and chicken broth. FYI: Go back to the liquid diet for at least a week if you ever need to reset your stomach. I didn’t even get through half of what I bought. I’m still glad that I did because I didn’t have the energy to go anywhere for weeks after my surgery. I was so nauseous and dehydrated, I just didn’t give a damn about anything. This is where depression can set it. Please be aware of the depression during the recovery process. I didn’t feel good mentally (at least for me) until I started feeling like myself again, three months after surgery. With all that I was going through, those three months seemed like an entire year. Now…with all that I went through, I can’t tell you how to deal with your recovery because everyone is different. Some people have no nausea after surgery. Some people actually go home the day of their surgery if it’s early enough in the morning. Some will also go back to work within a couple of weeks. I couldn’t even sit up for a long period of time during the first month. We’re all different in our recovery. All I can tell you is to be prepared for anything. It may not hit you mentally and physically as it did with some of us, but stay prepared. Good luck on your new lifestyle change and to becoming a better you!
