Binging aside, my pre-gastric bypass surgery preparation was simple. I met with a registered dietician who ran a practice out of my surgeon's bariatric center. We put together a meal plan for several weeks of liquid diet. In preparation for this meal plan, I purchased:

• Liquid multi-vitamins called Peter Gillham's Natural Vitality Organic Life Minerals, and NSI's powdered Magnesium Citrate with Potassium lemon flavor, plus B12 sublingual vitamins, and Syntrax Nectar Whey lemon flavor from Vitacost (good prices on all).
• Profect protein bullets from the manufacturer's web site (be sure to use their online coupon for 20% savings). Profect are ready-made protein drinks 2.7 oz each that can be consumed in just two swallows or frozen and eaten. They are high in protein and low in calories, with 0g of fat and carbs. They tasted awful to me but are a solution for someone who needs protein but cannot stomach anything but the smallest quantities of food - they pack 25g of protein in 2.7 oz.
• Organic creamy natural peanut butter and some condensed cream soups and organic vanilla soy milk. Although I am not one to normally eat canned soup, I opt for them rather than making my own because the sodium content is high and will keep my levels in range. The peanut butter, although high in calories, is good for getting fat grams.
• I already have Optimum Nutrition Gold 100% Whey chocolate in my pantry and organic lowfat vanilla yogurt in the fridge. Lowfat dairy products and soy milk are good sources for carbs while on the liquid diet.
• Baby food spoons, which were the perfect size to help with eating my food slowly and in small bits.
• Diet scale, measuring spoons/cups for measuring my food and prevent me from over eating (this can happen especially when you are getting used to your new pouch).
• Straws to help slow down how much fluid I could take in a sip.
• Mini chooper/food mill for pulverizing food for the first 4-6 weeks after surgery.

I also purchased:

• Disposable plastic gloves that my husband could wear if he needed to wipe me after a bowel movement. Thankfully, we did not need these but many patients cannot bend down to wipe themselves, owing to surgical pain. Another embarrassing moment of truth here, folks...

Surgery

I was in the hospital for three nights, asleep or out of it most of the time as a result of the automatic pain pump that continuously injected a low dose of morphine into me. I certainly had pain but because I had the procedure laparoscopically I did not have the pain of a large incision, like I did with my c-section many years before. I found the c-section more painful but others I have spoken to found the gastric bypass more painful as compared to the c-section.

I returned to work in two weeks, after my drains were removed.

Cost

Costs vary widely for weight-loss surgery and gastric bypass ranges from $25 to $35k depending on the facility. My insurance covered the procedure because it was medically necessary owing to my Body Mass Index (BMI) of 46 (wow!) and comorbid conditions of diabetes 2, hypertension, and sleep apnea. My out of pocket expenses were roughly $800-1200, if I remember correctly.