Oh, hun!! I was absolutely afraid of failing!! I think everyone does. And the pre-op and post-op to 4 month support groups were totally depressing!! My surgeon has a different group for people further out and sometimes pre-ops stop in. They always say we give them a completely different picture - much more encouraging.

Yes, post-op we do have to use our tool correctly and do the "headwork" that goes along with that... but, for me, the surgery was a game-changer. I felt like I had secret super-powers over food that I'd never had before. RNY re-booted my metabolism and I finally felt like I was working with my body rather than fighting it. I didn't have physical hunger anymore and my blood-sugar didn't drop like it did before. The psychologist with my surgeon's office described it this way, "When you are morbidly obese, trying to lose weight is like rolling a huge boulder up a hill. You make some progress, but if you let up for a moment, the boulder rolls back at you and you lose ground. It is a losing battle. After the surgery, you are still rolling the boulder - but now it is on level ground. Moving it becomes do-able. A momentary lapse won't mean you lose ground." I found his analogy to be true.

Statistically speaking, GBS is the best hope any of us who are/were super-morbidly obese have for shedding the excess weight and keeping it off for a lifetime. It is totally worth it!!

JJ

I thought the same thing pre-op. Having the surgery makes things easier to follow. You will not be hungry and /or craving food. I had surgery on April 5 and I have lost over 70 lbs. I even went on. 7 day vacation and did well with food. Good luck

Thank you, that does help. I have heard that the surgery itself will change my perspective of food and that is what I am praying for. Congratulations of your loss of 70+ pounds--good for you!! Thank you again for your response.

Everyone deals with the fear of failure. What's important is how we choose to deal with our fears. Whether we choose to acknowledge and face them, or allow them to drag us down. When I would hear myself getting into fearful thoughts I would acknowledge my fears and then decide what I wanted to do to move past them. Counseling is going to be one of your greatest tools because the head work is our greatest challenge. One of the reasons I joined this group back in 2010 was because it was a positive group full great people. People who have taken responsibility for their choices. You have done that by making the choice of totally changing your lifestyle. Good for you! Good for you for acknowledging your fears so that you can move forward! You can do this !

Well, I've been an avid reader but have not posted any comments since last July. However, last Thursday (Nov. 2) I had the gastric sleeve surgery. I feel surprisingly well and have had no nausea or other bad side effects. I'm on the protein shakes but don't find them particularly appetizing, although they do fill me up and I don't crave any real food. In fact, my family is now cooking spaghetti only feet away from me and I'm pretty indifferent to it. I haven't lost any weight yet--it's only been 3 days--but surely I will. The very hardest part of my journey so far was the last week before the surgery. My pre-op diet was 4 weeks long and I did very well (lost 29 lbs. total) but got so so bored with it during the last week. But that is behind me now and I'm looking forward to the gratification from seeing the scale numbers drop, rather than from eating. Good luck, everybody, and take what I've learned: the feeling of being out of control is way worse that the enormity of the job in front of you, as long as you know how to accomplish it.

That’s great that you’re doing so well! There are lots and lots of really yummy protein powders out there. Vitamin shop has a whole wall and you can return them if you don’t like them. At most places you can return them if you don’t like them. Check out the world according to eggface for protein shakes or smoothies. She has a LOT of wonderful protein drink recipes that melt in the mouth.