Gastric Bypass Truth

You go to Pre-Op classes. You read, you research. People try to warn you about what it will really be like after you have gastric bypass surgery.

But somehow, the things you hear may not quite crystallize in your mind until you experience them. With that in mind, Here is a list of things I personally wish I could have grasped beforehand, along with some of the things I’ve heard others say.

What I Wish I Had Known 

• I wish I had realized that my life would still revolve around food – or at least, what I ingest. Instead of being able to forget all about eating, my day consists of counting fluid ounces, protein grams and supplements.
• I wish I had known how difficult it would be to get all of the required fluids, proteins, and supplements in every day.
• I wish I had realized that gastric bypass surgery – and the ensuing weight loss – will not make all my problems go away. That I would still face issues even though I weighed less.
• I wish I had realized how this weight loss would change the relationships in my life – for better and for worse.
• I wish I had understood how incredibly traumatic it is to follow the liquid diet immediately after surgery, to see others eat and how I would feel excluded from things like family dinners.
• I wish I could have understood how it’s both liberating and frightening to be smaller.
• I really wish I could have seen how the sagging skin and remaining fat would look, and how self-conscious it would make me continue to feel.
• I wish someone could have gotten it through my head that I would still have to work at weight loss.
• I wish I would have known that my weight loss would make others feel uncomfortable and self conscious about their own weight and therefore they’d want to lash out at me.
• I wish I had realized that complications can happen to me and that those complications can be very unpleasant.
• I wish I had known how my attitudes toward food would change, and how unpleasant it would become to watch others shovel too much food in.
• I wish I had known hwo my attitudes toward overweight people would change, and how strange it would feel to not be “part of the club” around them.
• I wish I had known how easy it is to become obsessed with how I look, and how I would have to watch myself to make sure all my conversations didn’t revovle around me, my weight loss or my wrinkled skin.
• I wish I had known how invasive well-meaning people can be with their questions and how uncomfortable it would make me.
• I wish I had known that after 6-9 months the old demons of cravings and head hunger would rear their ugly heads and that eating right would not be easy or automatic.
• I wish I had known how horrible dumping really is, and how often it would happen to me after also having my gall bladder out.
• I wish I had known how frustrating it would be when I suddenly had loads of energy but my family didn’t, and how depressing it would be that all they wanted to do was watch tv.
• I wish I had known how sweet and understanding my husband would be and how difficult watching me lose weight while he didn’t would be for him. And I wish I had paid more attention to that during the first year, and thanked him more.
• I wish I had known what a relief it would be to interact with strangers and not feel they were judging me for being fat.
• Most of all, I wish I had realized that I’d still be “me” 100 pounds lighter.

None of the above would have been enough to change my mind. At least I don’t think so. I don’t regret my decision. But knowing them sure would have made the journey easier!

I hope it does that for you.