13 July 2010

Thanks!

I logged in to write a new post and saw that I have 17 followers! WOW! Thanks so much! It may take me a few days, but I promise I'll visit each and every one of you. I find your stories  and progress reports so inspiring, encouraging, and educational.

Today, I started my pre-op diet. Why, you may ask, did I do that since I don't have a surgery date yet? A couple of reasons ... For one thing, I was getting tired of dealing with food. I was tired of thinking about it. I was actually beginning to get tired of eating, even though I was still doing plenty of it. Plus, my husband needed to do something to lose a few pounds; he's doing the diet with me, and he was ready to start.

Another reason -- and really the main reason -- has to do with getting a surgery date. I have to be on the pre-op diet for four to six weeks because of my BMI (53). When it comes time to schedule the surgery, I don't want to be a situation where they have an opening in, say for example, three weeks. But, because of the long time I have to be on the pre-op diet, they can't give me that date. This way, if that were to happen, I could always point out that I've already been on the diet for two weeks, so they can schedule me for that date. Does that make any sense?

Since many people are curious about pre-op diets, so I'll share mine: Two protein shakes (100% Whey Isolate, Isolate brand) a day and a small meal of three to four ounces of meat with a vegetable like broccoli or green beans. If I want to, I can combine 1/2 banana into each shake. If I need to snack (which is discouraged), I can have deli meats, low-fat cheese, or a boiled egg.

So, how was Day One? The drinks are surprisingly tolerable. I mixed them in the blender, as recommended in the directions. They also say you can stir the powder in if you don't have access to a blender or shaker. We noticed that after a few minutes, the shake starts to separate and the liquid tastes much better than the froth! Tomorrow, I think I will try stirring mine to mix it and see how I like that. I'll just eat my banana half as I drink the shake.

One thing I hadn't counted on dealing with on Day One -- I'm diabetic. I control it with meds and insulin. Well, because of the drastic carb reduction, I've had three lows today! That means there must not be much glycogen stored in my liver, which is a good thing. I'll call my PCP tomorrow and see how I should deal with this. I really thought this wouldn't be an issue for about a week. Guess I was wrong!

Again, thanks for the follows! I'll see  you on your blogs soon!

5 comments:

  1. I can totally understand why you've started the pre-op diet. I have a date (8/9/10) and technically only need to do a 873cal/day diet for 7 days prior to surgery but don't want to have to drop 500 cals/day over night so I'm weaning down gradually. Best of luck to you!

    Sarah
    http://nwanonymom.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  2. My mother purchased me an immersion blender for pre-op. I told her that I wasn't impressed with the regular blender so I doubted that I would like this one. WRONG! The immersion blender makes the smoothest shakes without the foam. If you add a couple of icecubes it becomes the consistency of a milkshake. Definately something to think about with a long pre-op diet. You can do it though and if you make it through the pre-op for that long, you can do anything!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Way to be pro-active on the pre-op diet. Mine was kind of the same but I didn't have to drink protein shakes, just real food. I lost 20 pounds in 2 weeks. I loved that part.

    Your liver won't start to release it's stored glycogen for about 3 days. You'll know when it does because you'll start feeling a lot better and at least for me I wasn't hungry all the time. Anyway, it would be interesting to know what your blood-sugar levels are at that 3-4 day mark to see if they go up. Maybe you could share that with us?

    I had a 52 BMI when I started so I totally relate. I'm 5'7" and I weighed 327 when I started my pre-op diet. I still can't believe I've lost over 30 pounds already. You will be so glad you did this...you're going to do great!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I understand the need to stop eating. I was so tired of feeding my addiction that it was a relief to stop eating and I was afraid to start again. I discovered that the farther I got from the obsessive behavior with food, the weaker my compulsion became. I am 5 months post-op now and I feel that the obsession to over-eat is finally gone, thanks to my band.

    You can do this! The band makes it so much easier.

    ReplyDelete
  5. You are smart to get a head start on the pre-op diet! Good job :)

    www.graces-fat-chance.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete