**Newbie to Begin 10% Weight Loss: Beginning of VSG Journey, yikes!

Well, I have finally re-settled in another city, in a different state (Houston, TX)--and found another wonderful surgeon to do the Metabolic Weight Loss that I had researched for nearly 4 years. I will be going forward with with the VSG after all, woo-hoo! Super excited! 

But....where on earth, how on earth, in what way do I begin to lose 33  lbs before my surgery date?!! 

I weigh 338, and she said to shoot for loosing 10% of my body weight before surgury--she was even nice and rolled down!

Ok, so any pointers on protein shakes, or anthing is very appreciated!!!!

Thanks and God Bless!!!

Welcome, and you can do this. For me, the combination of low carb and high protein allows me to drop weight. My presurgery diet was 20 grams of carbs per day, and all the protein you can handle. I had an aha moment on my ,preop diet. The last time I seriously did Atkins, I spent a lot of brainpower figuring out ways to make high carb things taste like low carb. This time, just focusing on protein kept me satisfied and not looking for things to convert. Typical day was an isopure zero carb shake for breakfast, and food for my other meals. And, be sure to log everything you eat. MyFitnessPal is a great app that many of us use.

Good luck!

Hi

Congratulations on getting settled in and getting your surgery moving.  I'm 8 weeks post-surgery, and I know it was the right decision for me.

I lost 50 pounds before surgery and I am so glad I did.  Its great to have a jump-start on the weight loss pre-surgery.  Here is what worked for me.

1. Low carb - I found that carbs trigger my food cravings big time.  So I kept my carbs as low as possible.  I couldn't have done it any other way.
2. portion control - My Nutritionist said to limit the protein portion of the meal to 3 to 4 ounces.  I was incredulous, but decided to try it.  I weighed my meats and it did get easier over time.
3. three meals a day - no snacking.  or limit snacks to healthy foods like no-fat plain greek yogurt with fruit, or cheese, etc.
4. So my meals consisted of 4 oz of meat, and then I  filled up with green veggies.

It worked.  I lost 3 to 4 pounds a week for 3 months.  Plus it was good practice for post surgery. 

I am so pleased that you are moving forward after 4 years of researching this.  I hope you will have a wonderful, successful journey.

Carol

Thanks for your clear cut and specific instructions.

Lord knows I need to keep things simple right not with changing to an actual "Controlled Diet."

 

Congrats on beginning your journey, so exciting!!

The losing 10% of body weight can be a bit daunting, but I have no doubt that if you truly want it, you can get it! :)

During my six month supervised diet before surgery, I was required to lose 10% as well which turned out to be 44 lbs. My doctor put me on an 1800 calorie diet with less than 30% coming from fat. I was told to cut out the simple carbs and sugar and to make every meal mostly protein, with veggies and a little bit of fruit. I found that after 2 1/2 weeks of not eating ANY sugars or simple carbs, I wasn't as hungry and my body kind of adjusted to eating only 1500-1600 calories. I met the 44 lb loss in about two months and ended up losing 107ish lbs during the pre-op phase. HOWEVER, keep in mind that I weighed more to start, so at first of course the weight comes off faster.

I found for me it was REALLY helpful to just cut out the bad stuff. There was no "little taste of something" or eating treats "in moderation." FOR ME, eating a little bit of something that's bad for me only kicks off more cravings for bad stuff. The NEED for sugar felt physical (as well as mental), but now... I just have moments of wanting the bad stuff in my head but it's not as frequent. I also drank 100 ounces of water each day. I cut out all soda and caffeine. I ate 3 meals per day and 3 snacks... I NEVER let myself get hungry and I did NOT skip meals. Skipping meals was a big part of my problem in the first place!

I did not regularly drink protein shakes until the two week pre-op liquid diet. There are A LOT of changes that you will be going through and I know that I felt as though I wanted to find a diet that I thought was sustainable for the long term to get my head on straight and drinking lots of protein shakes to lose the required 44 lbs wasn't the way to do it (for ME). I will say though that they are great for times when you are busy and it doesn't hurt to do SOME experimentation to find out what you like.

I would love to answer any question that you have, if you're interested. So many people were encouraging to me during my pre-op time and it was a big part of the reason that I was able to have success!

I can SO relate to exactly where you are coming from on thoe "Not touching a little bit of bad thing."

I would learn to hear more about how you started at the beginning of your journey, as I am battling the urge to overeat big time. My desire to have this surgery is big and to get healthy is tremendous, but the habit, routine, and history is so powerful.

Thank you for your time!!

Congrats!!!!
As for the pre-op...Listen to Nikke ^^^. She mastered her pre-op!!!

What I did was get very involved as a pre-op on both this site and on MFP (My Fitness Pal). It made a WORLD of difference.

Drop me a note if you have any questions.

Ok, so let me delve a bit deeper into some more brutal honesty that is keeping me from getting me where I need to be, which is even getting started...

I am totally a grazer, 100% to the core.  I eat a meal, then one hour later, go back for a snack, then go back to the kitchen for a handful of something else, then eat while I am cooking a meal.

I feel totally and completely powerless to stop these overeating and "binging" behaviors and have any type of sanity around my eating. But I want to start somewhere and need to begin at some point....?

How on earth do I get to the 40 grams a day of carbs, when I can't even conceive of making it to controlling what I eat for breakfast, snack then lunch time?! I am just a total mess here--maybe more than the normal person is who gets VSG or other weight loss surgery.

Thank you for your help.

Tammy