Annette Smith

Starting my journey with my decision for having weight loss surgery. 

It was only when I hit high school and getting a job at the age of 15 and have yet to stop working. It's also where I started gaining my weight. Now in my late 40's and dealt with my weight. I have tried every diet with little success other than maintaining my weight which is 300 and I am so tired of it. 

I worked retail for 7 years it was a very active job and always try to stay active. Life does get in the way at times. 

I am scared to death to have this surgery. My last surgery was at the age of 38 having my tonsils removed after years of battling with strep and bronchitis due to my tonsils. It was a horrible experience in having surgery for my tonsils. My throat felt like it had razor blades for over a month. I was married at the time and even with being married I was alone to deal with this. 

No my life is in a better place but I have battled with my weight my whole life. I was an active kid always on the go could always find me on my bike playing baseball or swimming during the summer months. No matter my weight I am who I am and I love who I am. I did the whole trainer for a year at the gym and didn't lose 1 pound. I at least maintained. I changed the way I ate during that time. Now that I have a good man in my life who loves me for who I am and doesn't care how I look loves me for me.  He said what ever I decide he will support me. My family lives 2700 miles away and he is my only support and I know once I have this surgery I will need him to help me along the way. I have no doubts that he will be there for me. 

My first appointment with the Surgeon was good. He told me to have 60 grams of protein and chew each of my bites 40 times and time a minute between each bite and sit water throughout the day. How can I retrain my brain to do this? i can eat 60 grams no problem. I already cut out breads , pasta , potatoes from my diet. I am already a non insulin diabetic so i have already cut most of my sugars and carbs out of my diet. I buy my meats at a butcher so I buy clean meats, being I live in Idaho I buy farm fresh eggs and direct from farm produce. Eating whole fat cottage cheese , drinking whole milk. My PA said they aren't worried about my calorie intake the are more concerned with eating whole foods with good fat in them. I love cheese and I found a recipe for cheese cake wrapped in filo dough for sugar free cheese cake bites using an egg wash one of my new favorite snacks but to help me portion things out I use ziploc snack size bags. 

I think my biggest challenge is going to be the fact that I sit at a desk for 9 hours a day since I work in IT handling my companies electronic customers so I am basically tethered to my desk. 

Help me understand how to change my eating habits? 

So I had my first 30 day appointment since deciding to have my surgery yesterday. 

The PA basically told me I am doing everything right.  I still need to way to train my mind on how I eat my food. Has anyone actually tried the food on the bariatricpal website of food options. It's what worries me most is that I will stop eating like I am now to eat pasta and potatoes. How has anyone changed the way they eat? 

So I still have 5 months before my surgery to make sure that I am continuing the way I am eating.