I'm 13 days pre op, eagerly awaiting my surgery, not so eagerly counting down to next Monday and the start of all liquids for probably a month. I've been on this forum for over a year and have read about so many people's journeys that I just want to pass on some wisdom to my sleeved self who may not be thinking as clearly as I am now.

First, WOOHOO It finally got here! I know there were months that were just dragging, and you never thought it was actually gonna happen, but it did! The waiting and the surgery were the easy part, now the work begins. Pay attention!

1 - You just let them cut 85% of your stomach out. You are allowed to feel like crap for a few day. Oh, and the gas, it hurts, remember when you had your gallbladder out and thought you were having a heart attack, yep, this is the same stuff. It will pass. Get out of bed and walk. It helps.

2 - Tiny sips, all the time, just keep taking sips. Get the water in. It's probably gonna hurt. Hey, you let them cut out 85% of your stomach, and staple it closed! Guess what, it's raw and swollen. It's gonna hurt. DUH!

3 - Do not go near the scale. Make hubby put it out in the shed. The goal is only once a month, that may be tough, but no more than once a week. It takes a deficit of 3500 calories to get rid of 1 pound of fat. Simple science. If you had a big drop the week before surgery, it wasn't really fat, mostly it was water. You have not been maintaining at a super high calorie count, so really, 2 lbs a week will be great!

4 - Walk, every day. Do it for your heart, do it for your lungs, do it to increase stamina. Do not do it thinking you are losing weight faster. You have to RUN the equivalent of a marathon (27 miles) to burn 1 lb of fat. Don't worry about increasing the exercise until the weight loss slows down. If you are working out like crazy and not taking much in, there's nowhere to go from there when things slow down. (I am not talking about a stall).

5 - Somewhere in the first few months, you will have a stall, it is normal, you have yo yo dieted your whole adult life, you know there is always a stall when your body starts freaking out that it's starving. Do not think you will be exempt from this. This will pass. Do not think it's the end. Do not change what you are doing as long as you are following the Dr's Plan. It is NOT possible to consume 600-900 calories a day and maintain a weight of 200 lbs. Seriously, it is not possible. Even if you were to lay in bed and do nothing, you would lose weight at that calorie intake. If you only weigh once a month, you probably won't even notice.

6 - Your stomach (what's left of it) is swollen and raw and does not want to be friends with food. Take advantage of this. It takes 21 days to make or break a habit. Now is the time to break the habit of loving food. Do not spend the next few weeks fantasizing about food and drinks that you KNOW you need to stay away from. A year from now an occasional glass of wine or some bread and butter or any other processed white food that sends you into an overeating spiral might be ok. But do NOT even think about it now. Learn that you need to eat to live, not the other way around. If you pick just 3 or 4 things at each stage and only have that, good for you!

7 - Hair, hormones, hot flashes. You had some major surgery a few years ago, those same things happened then, they will probably happen now. It is temporary! If the hair gets to crazy, get it cut short. If the hot flashes are out of control, get some HRT from the Dr. The risk is minimal, the discomfort is ridiculous.

8 - This is a journey, not a magic wand. It is going to take time. It might seem like it's taking forever, but this time next year, if you did what you were supposed to be doing, you could be half the woman I am today! Ok, not quite, that would be 117. That wouldn't be possible without some serious skin removal, but you could be to goal. 135. Wow, it's been 27 years since you've weighed that, but it could happen! YOU GO GIRL!