Early Preparation

Written 24th Feb.'09

Ok, where am I now. Well yesterday morning I attended my appointment at the dietician at my local primary care centre.

She asked who referred me. I explained that I was a self referral. Then I went on to tell her that I would be having WLS in the near future, but that I had some concerns that I've been unable to get answers to. Also i told her that despite the pending surgery, I would like to try and help myself as best that I can. I would like to tone up as best as I can and lose some weight before the surgery, I'm hoping to reduce the amount of sagging skin, if I can steadily lose some of the weight. (Who knows it may help). My main concern however, was pertaining to after the surgery. I understand that I would be on protein drinks for a few weeks. My problem is that since I'm a diabetic, when I do not eat for long periods, my sugar drops (obviously), but when it drops to say 5, which is quite normal for some people, my body starts to shut down, I'm unable to move or help myself. I'm trying to find out what will be done to help me in this situation in the first few days.

Unfortunately, my dietician has no experience of supporting people who have undergone WLS, but promised to look into it for me. However, she concentrated on looking at my diet as it is now. I presented her with a 3 day food diary. Overall she was quite ok with it. We set some goals,which was not difficult as they fit in with what I do already, but we looked at the portions in any one meal. This will be a change for me:-

1. To have half the plate - vegetables.

2. Reduce the portion of carbs. eg. rice or potatoes.

3. To ensure that I have 3 portions of fruit daily.

4. Take up some manageable exercise.

5. Try to eat slowly. As I currently take about 10 minutes to eat most meals.

I'm to keep a food diary and due to go back in two weeks.

She weighed me and i'm rocking 19st 3lb.

122kg. I think.

Lets see if I can keep to it.