If you had it to do over again....

What would you do differently?

 

Hi all, I'm a fairly new poster. I've been reading here a couple of weeks and you guys are a great group with so much valuable information. Thank you for that.

 

A little about myself. I've been obese my entire life. I've tried every diet imaginable, I lose weight, then gain it all back plus some over a period of time. So I finally took the plunge and met with a surgeon last month to consult about WLS. Ultimately I decided on the VSG, I'm on target to have surgery sometime in March, I'll get my surgery date next month. Anyhow my question is to you vets, if you had to start the process all over again what would you do differently? Or if you did something that worked really well and you're glad you did it I'd like to hear that too.

I know my diet will change drastically so I'm prepping myself for the changes. For instance I was a diet coke addict, I quit cold turkey a month ago and haven't had a sip of soda since. 

Water consumption is an issue for me, it's not that I dont like it I would just forget to drink it. I bought 2 water bottles with measurements on them, one for work, one for home so I can monitor my water intake and get in the habit of drinking 80-100 oz a day.

I bought a food scale and I'm measuring and logging everything I eat daily on MyFitnessPal.

For about a week I added a scoop of French Vanilla Whey powder in my coffee to add some protein and get used to it, however I stopped after reading a different post about not add protein supplements pre-op. But on the plus side, I tried it out. I enjoyed it in my coffee hopefully I can continue that post-op since I love coffee.

Any other pre-op suggestions?

 

Thanks!

I have two for you that if I had to do it all over again I would totally have done. 

#1 Hit the Gym - While you can still eat and you have your body weight go to the gym and hit the weights, build as much new muscle as you can and eat tons of protein while doing it. Anything you build between now and your surgery will benefit you greatly later. The more lean muscle you have later the more calories you burn at rest. So hit the gym and go crazy working your legs, chest, and arms the biggest muscles you have. You are going to lose a lot of muscle one you start the pre-op diet so you want to gain as much as you can now.

#2 Start taking Scivation Xtend, this is a post-workout drink that helps to preserve muscle. It is being used by a study down here for chemotherapy patients during treatment to ensure they do not lose any muscle mass during treatment. They are seeing a lot of positive results with little to no muscle loss. Body Builders take it to not lose any muscle post-workout. It is 5 calories per serving and 0 carb so it will fit into your clear liquids no matter which stage you are in. You will want to start taking it now post-workout and then several times a day once you start pre-op diet and then you can really continue to take it until well past your return to full foods. There are other products like it but the Scivation product is particularly good, tastes pretty good and will make it easier to get your water in. The best part in you will come out the other side with much more muscle than you would have had otherwise. I am still not back to my pre-surgery strength and its been over a year of working out. Its harder to build muscle after surgery so take advantage of everything you can now.

Thanks for the tips, I did join a gym in November, but didn't go much in December because of tbd holidays. I'm going to start back up and hit weights. I usually just did cardio. I'll try the scivation too

I would say don't do any cardio except for some walking like 30 mins per day until after your surgery and you are cleared for exercise. Muscle is way more important to your speedy weight loss. 

These are great tips that I never would have thought of, very helpful. Thanks!

I would continue the protein in the coffee... my program had supplements going pre op, and it really helps to hit the protein targets.  Here are a few of my favorites-

1.  You are already tracking beautifully-keep that up!  Use the reports to start spotting patterns and trends. Really hungry and craving crap one day?  Check out your carb levels.  Notice all of a sudden you cravings and hunger have diminished? Check your carb levels.  Weight gain?  Is it around your period?  Patterns like this that can be identified can really help with the head games.  

2.  Start right now getting rid of the crap food.  Clear it out of your house and don't bring it back.  Don't eat it.  If you are hungry, eat healthy choices.  

3.  Find a support group for sleevers and start attending.  It can really help you get your mind in the right place!

4.  Make a list of things you like to do instead of eat and put it on your fridge.  This way, when you feel like eating crap you shouldn't, go to the list and do something on that list.

5.  See a NUT.  Have them analyze your eating patterns and suggest tweaks to help.  This was huge for me.  

Good luck!

Thanks I have been to a support group, my doctor requires we attend at least one. I found it really informative so I'll be attending more. I have an appt with my nut in a couple weeks. Thanks again for the tips.

This list is great! I really like #4, I'm going to do that!

My husband asked me that exact question when I was in misery the day after surgery.  In the throes of pain, I regretted it.  Now, I'm thankful I had it done.  But to answer the question-

I would have tried "one more time".  I also know I would have failed.

Knowing what I know NOW, knowing the pain I went through after (not too bad really because I didn't have any complications), knowing the pain would eventually go away and YES I Would be able to drink liquids again, knowing what truly works about eating habits (70% protein 30% veggies avoid carbs), I would try the atkins diet or south beach diet.  I probably would have lost weight, but I also know that when I hit a plateau or had a stressor in my life, I would have regressed in the diet and "blown it".  I know this sounds like more an answer to ''would you still have it done", but this is what I would have done differently had I known what I know now. 

I would have tried those two diets and experienced success.  I would also increase my water and give up the diet coke, waste of money and I feel better without it.  I also know it would have been short lived and ultimately not last.  I am still fairly early in my journey at 7 weeks out, but I've gotten 1/3 of the way to my goal and had more success with this than ANYTHING else!  I know myself well enough to realize that any other method might have resulted in initial weight loss but nothing like what I need to do, which is lose 100 pounds.  I attribute my success so far solely to having the surgery.  There is no going back.  There's no putting the stomach back in.  Eating too fast makes me throw up.  Eating too much hurts.  I wouldn't even DARE to try a carbonated beverage because I have a hard enough time with gas.  Breads... I don't even want to TRY out of fear of a blockage or some other issue (plus why cheat when I literally paid thousands of dollars for this??)  I enjoy seeing the loss every day, and every day it gets better. 

So... I guess my bottom line here is what would I do differently?  Nothing.  I love my sleeve.

Thanks for the feedback, I was very successful with Atkins and weigh****chers each diet I lost over 40lbs and then I'd hit a plateau, after a couple years the weight crept back on. I was never able to get under 200lbs. I finally have come to the realization that I can't do this on my own. Having surgery isn't the easy way out. I owe it to myself and my family to be healthy and around for then for years to come. My whole adult life I've taken care of everyone else, it's time to take care of me.