Hi Sarah! Welcome, first off congrats on your decision! I'm a newbie here I was sleeved on 4/7 had my first pre-op on Thursday and was released to resume normal activities - my surgeon said I was healing fantastic. Word of caution though every surgeon like every person is different...I spent four days in the hospital after where most people go home after just one night, I had a paraesophageal hernia repair done at the same time that threw a little hitch in my giddy-up, we didn't know about it until they were in there. Once I was home though (a Friday), I was moving and doing things, a little slow at first but it didn't take long by that Monday I was to working from home and haven't stopped since. Today I cleaned, did some laundry, went for a slow stroll around the big block. I wouldn't call my secondary surgery a complication it was a necessity - for long term success just hiccup. My incisions are great and practically healed completed (remember I am less 10 days post op). My surgeon has moved me to soft foods already too - not every programs has the same steps though, some stick to liquids much longer. Least favorite part hands down was the gas they pump into you to be able to see and move around to do the surgery - but with walking you can deal with it, I must have logged 100's of laps in the hospital. When they tell you to walk - it's no joke...walk walk walk and then go for walk! LOL! Not sure what my favorite part will be - but for now I will tell you, it's been the amazing support here on the forum, these folks are a wealth of information, they are inspiring and just all around good peeps! Good luck!

Do you have any words of wisdom based on your experience with this procedure? If you can take 4 weeks off after surgery do it. It will help you get your mind together. When you are on liquids and soft foods all you think about it eating.

How long was your recovery before you felt comfortable moving around and doing daily activities? I took the 4 weeks off. The first week I could only walk down the end of the block and back and was exhausted. The second week I was walking about 1 mile. The 3rd week I could do almost everything except lifting. The 4th week I treated myself to a vacation in Antigua. (I was able to do everything including snorkeling.)

Did you have any complications from the surgery? No complications.

What was your favorite and least favorite part of this surgery? Getting off of my blood pressure medications. I am loving shopping now. My least favorite was the soft foods. I hated that part.

Good Luck!!

I am coming up to seven months post surgery, but I honestly think of my progress as one year since I started the Bariatric program.

My main advice to new folk is that starting on day one, you need to hit the pre-surgery program as hard as you can. In my case, I had about 180 pounds to lose (starting at 420) to hit the middle-ish of the Overweight BMI range. Honestly, I am not sure I ever thought I would get there. What was clear to me, though, was that since a majority of the weight loss post surgery comes in the 6-9 months post-surgery, I was unlikely to lose that much. I would need to lose as much as I could pre surgery.

My program laid out the pre-surgery plan relatively simply:

1200-1500 calories
100g of protein
64 ounces of water
Start exercising
Log everytihing (food, water and exercise)

I jumped in with both feet and was surprised at how successful I was. I was losing so quickly that I asked the nutritionist if I should reduce the caloric deficit. She told me that if I was tolerating it, i should continue because it was set up to train me for post-surgery life. I continued and lost 100 pounds pre-surgery, which left 80 pounds to lose post surgery. I hit that goal last week, 6.5 months post-surgery and one year to the day after I started the process.

I believe that the high protein was the key to my pre-surgery success, because I had never tried high protein in my previous dieting, and the protein kept me from being hungry. My main concern coming up to surgery was if I could do it without the surgery. I looked back on my history (you can see the chart of my weight since 1999 in my profile pictures) and every time i was successful in dropping weight, *something* happened and the motivation/desire/habits slipped away and I regained. Having the surgery would give me a physical backstop if my habits start to wane, reminding me why I did it and hopefully kickstarting me back into good habits. I obviously don't know what the future holds, but do not regret having the surgery at all.

One of the big things I learned was that for this to be successful, you have to make yourself a priority. I can see that being difficult with your home load of responsibilities. It might be why it took me so long (about 5 years after starting to think about it) to decide and fully commit to having the surgery. My kids are now 13 and 16 and I have more freedom to take *me time* to go to the gym, cook and eat the way I need to (although for the most part, we all eat the same stuff, i just eat less and more of the protein). There needed to be a bit of selfishness for me to be successful.

I also echo juneau's comment to trust and commit to your program's rules. There are a lot of edges to my program that don't make complete sense to me, but I do my best not to push the envelope to see if it really is a hard rule or not. I gave myself to the program as much as I could and was successful (thus far). I recommend doing the same.

I suggest you read as many pages of topics in the groups here (VSGers and Gastric Bypass/VSG/LapBand are the two most active I have found) and add as friends people in all stages of the program who resonate with you either from a physical similarity, similar family situation, or just makes sense to you. By having friends on your newsfeed you will see the real day to day successes and struggles, check out eating patterns and get ideas, etc. My stable of friends is an extreme help when things are going rough.

As usual, I ramble, but I hope you seize this bull by the horns and jump in as fully as you are able. Hit your surgery date in the best physical shape as you are able and having lost as much weight as you could. You will love the results!

Rob