Please sway me!

Have my pre-op and surgery date set for 4/21!  I am truly excited, however like most nerves get to me now and again sometime.  I know that is normal and have been coping with it.  I guess I need advice or motivation - do not know what really I need!  I am not worried or am stressing over the surgery end of it - but of course the day of until I get there and they can help me I should be ok.  My worry comes from the after shock and new eating style, which I am willing to change, but am so dam afraid of not feeling normal.  I think I would do fine if I was confined to my house...lol.  However, being a Coach and always on the move and always putting out fires, I realize I will need to change my mindset during the hectic work weeks on and off the field.  The diet - not enjoying a cold beer after a game - mind you I am not the type to drink at home - maybe once a week out and at a minimum! I guess getting through the first 3-4 weeks in where my nervousness lies and because I do live a crazy hectic fall season that I am trying to prepare the best I can.  I got this  way because I did not prepare and would eat late at night / eat crap too.....I know I will miss my wings and will give them up for myself and my kids, but just to be normal - I do not want to feel out of place in front of people.  Any help is appreciated...

The best thing for you to do with your hectic schedule is prepare ahead of time. It will be very important for you to have something that you can grab quickly during those times when you are super crazy busy and you know there is no way you are going to have time to sit down for a meal. Get things like protein shakes( for the 1st few weeks especially and then anytime thereafter) and then as your diet progresses, protein bars, string cheese, almonds or pistachios, jerky or pepperoni( just some examples) you will need these grab and go items so that you won't get too hungry and then make bad choices. The beer and the chicken wings, yes you will miss those but as you start to look and feel better, you will get over it, promise. Preparation will be your key to success but it will take some effort. Don't worry about feeling out of place in front of others, this new way of life, of eating is your new "normal" and people will understand that. I hope this helps some. I've only been sleeved for a couple of months but this is what I have learned so far. I wish you the best, I'm sure you will be successful. :-)

It is great that you are thinking about this now, so you can be prepared when you recover from surgery nd return to your busy life.

For me,  I did not feel "normal" in my eating for months,  perhaps 6 or 8 months post surgery.  But I did get to a place where I felt normal and felt like I could eat this way the rest of my life and it would be ok. 

I've found that people don't notice what others are eating.  they are busy eating themselves.  I don't ever feel odd because others notice my small portions.

With a hectic work week, it will make meal planning all the more critical.  I've found that I need to cook myself more now because prepared foods are not on plan - too many carbs and/or too many calories.  But I will take a day for cooking and fill the refrigerator with good healthy foods.  Last night I inventoried the foods in my refrigerator and I had 7 healthy dishes ready for the week ahead. 

The good news is that there are easy, tasty, healthy dishes that will meet your needs.  I use my crock pot a lot, and make things like salsa chicken, a thai chicken with peanut sauce, chicken salsa verde, balsamic chicken, chili etc.  They don't take much time.  I also buy rotissary chicken from the grocery, take the meat off the bones, and then add a different sauce every day, making pesto chicken, chicken alfredo, or just chicken with a little salad dressing for dunking.  Also deli cold cuts are great for easy meals early out.  I used to wrap a slice of ham or turkey around a cheese stick for a nice easy meal.

A lot of people do the weight loss phase with a lot of protein shakes and protein bars, and little cooking.  This may work for you, as well. 

I'm sure you'll find a way to make it work. 

best wishes,

Carol

I'm three months out (don't let my ticker throw you. It isn't working right), but I'm finally feeling normal and don't think about the little portions much any more.  I started feeling normal (not feeling any effects of surgery) this past month. Things will start feeling normal for you soon after surgery and as the weight comes off, everything equals out. I am finding I am far more active, even in the past month, and I've started going to a gym everyday after work, and before I hit my front door, or I'd never go back out purposefully to exercise. I haven't really missed any foods, but that maybe the matter of choices of surgeries.  I chose to have the VSG rather than RNY because I didn't want to mess up my metabolism and worry about malabsorbtion the rest of my life.  I can live with not being able to overeat the rest of my life, but didn't want to worry about sugar issues along with anything else.  I suppose, if I had been diabetic, my choice might have been different.  I did have reservations for the surgery for years, and even going into the operating room, wanted to jump off the table and run away, afraid of the unknown ahead.  I'm very glad I didn't back out, but I did find my motivator right before going under.  Find your biggest motivating factor (mine was a picture) and keep that in front of your mind everytime you start over thinking this. It will help you get past the doubts and fears. 

At 5 years out, I learned a hard lesson. Normal is way overrated. Look at the stats - obesity rates are staggering. I am currently more than happy to give up society's definition of normal to do my own thing and enjoy success in losing/maintaining weight. Yea - sometimes, and more rarely than you would think - people are like wtf when I bring my own food or decline theirs...  But more often than not, people don't even care. We think they care more than they actually do. In fact I've noticed normally thin people do things like that all the time. 

You can choose to be "normal" or choose to be successful.

In all reality, my life is more normal than it ever was. Yea- I have a beer when I'm out from time to time. And have wings. But it fits within a specified and pre planned food plan and I adjust other areas to make it work. But it's not something I can do regularly or I see it on the scale. What was abnormal was me chugging a pitcher of beer and dozens of wings or most of  pizza...