Pinky Green

Nevermind

My last NUT appointment is Thursday and I'm feeling the same way. I'm hoping that the approval comes quick and can get a date and start my 2 week pre-op diet right away.

Well, I had a sleep study and it wasn't good. I had it because I started falling asleep all the time. Since I can't fall asleep and do my job and it will take a week or so to get used to a cpap machine and actually start sleeping better and by that time I'll probably be scheduled for my sleeve by then. I also am getting very short of breath which is causing a lot of fatigue and really will need the rest before surgery. I talked to the HR guy and he agreed and told me to talk to my doctor and fill out the form.

I was told by our nutritionist not to worry about losing weight in the pre-op phase because they go by what you weighed when you first came into the surgeon's office. I was told there was even someone who came in and lost 60 lbs waiting for surgery and only had about 25 more to go and they still were able to do the surgery.

I think a lot of that is fueled by others. My mother never let me wear a bikini when I was a kid. She said I was too fat - I weighed about 110 lbs and was 5'. Sure, I didn't have a flat stomach even at that weigh but how many times have you seen someone who was maybe 20 or 30 lbs overweight wearing a bikini and not caring what everyone else thought.

I tried them, thought they were the nastiest. Had a funny taste and also were kinda rubbery.

You might consider the group TOPS (Taking Off Pounds Sensibly - http://www.tops.org/default.aspx). They are nonprofit and each group runs itself. They collect dues like Weight Watchers but not near as much (they have national dues which were like $20 a years and club dues which are voted on by the members). They use the dues to give awards to people who lose weight and to do things. And to make it fair, they have categories - by sex, weight category and they even have a category for people who have had weight loss surgery. I used to go but quit. I might go again. The reason I quit is because I didn't feel like I fit in with that particular group - there were a lot of really old people in my group. But I went to one of their conventions and there were groups with much younger members.

I can't find it, is it still in existence?

I am pre-op and am trying to diet and lose a little weight. I have started lowering the carbs because I know I will have to lower them now or after surgery. I have lowered carbs before and didn't seem to have this reaction but now I am tired and always falling asleep and I've only cut down to about 40 or 50 carbs a day. And I haven't lost any weight yet. I am making sure I get enough protein by drinking a Premier Protein (30g protein, 3g fat, 2 net carbs and 3 fiber) twice a day, breakfast and lunch, I also have a V8 juice for breakfast (12g carb, 3g protein) and a Kroger Carb Control Yogurt (about 3 g carb for lunch), then I've had cheese and a low fat ice cream (28g carb) - so that's about 40 g carb - I try to have a vegetable and a meat with no bread, potatoes or rice for dinner. I've only been low carbing for about 3 days and haven't seen any loss yet. But I think the first 2 days I had more like 60g carb.. I'm trying to gradually bring it down until I get used to having under 30 g per day which is Phase I Intervention in the Protein Power Diet book. So I'm not too far off. After a week or so maybe I will be used to this and not be so tired.

I have not been sleeved yet but I am going to the reunion anyway. I missed the last one and don't want to miss this one. Wish I could have been sleeved by then but, oh well.

Well, I'm still waiting. Going to my 2nd NUT next week. Don't think I've lost weight but don't think I've gained either. I should start posting what I eat about this time. Yesterday I had protein shakes for breakfast and lunch then had a chicken roll at Costco. I know the chicken roll is bad. Then I had some samples at Costco - most I guess were not bad, but I'd already had too many carbs from the chicken roll. Then I got home and had the roasted chicken from Costco and "Texas Caviar" and then 2 sugar free Fudgecicles (80 cal) and then blew it by having a whole 3 1/2 servings of 94% fat free popcorn. I guess that isn't too bad except for the chicken roll and the popcorn. That sounds like good about 60% of the time. From what I hear I should aim to eat right at least 80% of the time. Will try to do better. Today I started with the Premier Protein shake again (30 g Protein, very few carbs). Yesterday something else happened, I was coming home and there was this guy in the parking lot of our apartment. I saw him and smiled at him but since I hadn't seen him before I wondered who he was. He approached me very timidly, he said that he came to me because I smiled at him and most of the time white women don't smile at black men. He told me he was looking for a friend of his that he thought lived there and had been waiting a while and needed help. He said he had just gotten out of the hospital and needed help getting back home from Houston to San Marcos where he has family. He had been living just a little while in Houston and didn't know Houston too well and then he got sick. When he got out the family he had been staying with had gotten evicted and he didn't know where to find them. He didn't seem like a drug addict or anything. I gave him $5 and since he said he was hungry I gave him 2 of the Premier protein shakes. Hope he gets enough money to make it back to San Marcos. Maybe I should have gotten my novio and put him on the bus. I've kind of started thinking that way about helping people since I saw the movie Play It Forward.

My those do look delicious. I think when I go to my friend Sam's birthday party I'm going to bring some of those. He usually has guacamole and deviled eggs so this will be a surprise treat.

I'm not at the Pre-op diet yet. But I did try to get the "eating all my favorite foods" thing finished before I started the weight management classes. I was told by my doctor that I didn't have to lose any weight during the weight management classes but was told by the nutrtionist at the first weight management class that I shouldn't gain any either. I haven't been to the second class yet but I think I've lost about 2 lbs by my scale. I'm starting to transition into drinking protein drinks for breakfast and lunch and and then if I really feel like cheating and going to eat Mexican food or fried chicken in the evening, it won't be such a disaster. Also I can get my appetite down enough that the 2 weeks liquid diet might not be so hard.

Cool, I've been to the cardiologist, the psychiatrist and have another appointment for a stress test with the cardiologist on July 10th, although he said he is going to clear me. I also have another appointment this month with my PCP to get her clearance, I think July 16th or 23rd. So as soon as the weight management classes are finished hopefully I'll be good to go. So I'm hoping for September I guess.

Ok, when I first went to the doctor they said I needed to have 6 months of weight management and then Cigna changed their rules and now I only have to have 3 months of weight management. So my first weight management class was June 25th. My second one is scheduled for July 23rd and I'll be having my third one probably on August 20th or 27th. What I want to know is how soon after the last weight management class I can get the surgery? Will it have to be a month or can they roll me into surgery on August 30 or September 1st? Enquiring minds want to know?

I haven't been sleeved yet, but I need to exercise. A couple of days ago I bought a Wii Fit so I won't have to even leave the apartment to get exercise.

My breaking point is when I was told that if I don't lose weight in 5 years I would need knee replacement surgery (this was 2 years ago) and then after trying for a couple of years I'm still not able to lose the weight, and after talking to people who have had knee replacement surgery and people who have had WLS and hearing almost all the knee replacement surgery people saying that they weren't happy with the replacement and most of the WLS people saying they would do it again in a minute - and knowing that the recovery for knee replacement is that you will pretty much be a cripple for about 6 months or more and with the WLS you will be back to your old self - except not able to eat as much and losing weight in about 2 or 3 months... that was my breaking point.

Well, I went to my first nutritionist class and while I was told that I don't need to lose any amount of weight in the next two or three months, I am certainly not supposed to gain any. I didn't gain any this month even though I went a little crazy eating all the things that I know I won't be able to eat for probably about 6 months and even then I won't be able to eat near as much of it. Mexican food, Popeye's Fried Chicken, shoe-string potato chips, chicken pot pie. Now is the time for me to start eating at home and cooking most of my meals. Eating less simple carbs and more fruits, vegetables and lean meat or vegetable protein. However, I still have a huge appetite and I have a few things left at the house that although I can eat them in moderation right now, I need to get used to doing without them for a while - pasta, popcorn, potatoes, corn tortillas, rice. Tonight will be one of the last meals I make with a starch. I'm making tuna casserole with lettuce and tomato salad. My sweet boyfriend will always want tortillas or bread, but even before now, I don't eat bread if I'm eating pasta, one starch is enough. I will probably end up having a snack after dinner of either Kroger's CarbMasters Yogurt - only 60 calories, 4 grams of carbs, 1.5 grams of fat and 8 grams of protein, and cheap too.

Maybe your time of month?

I've decided to try and blog so I can track changes and see how my body and my thoughts change over this journey. I've been on journeys (diets) before. I am 53 years old, 5 feet tall and currently weigh 240 lbs. I have not been less than 170 lbs since I had my daughter in 1988. I started dieting when I was in Jr. High when I went on Adkins the first time it was popular (1972). Then I went on Weight Watcher's the first time when I was about 15 and lost 13 lbs. I weighted in at 114. I really didn't have much of a weight problem back then but my mother thought I did - or at least thought that if she didn't constantly monitor what I was eating I would have a weight problem. I've been on Weight Watcher's at least 5 or 6 times. I lost weight at first when I was younger but the last 3 or 4 times I didn't lose much weight. I went on Nutrisystems about 5 years ago and lost down to 170 and was also riding my bike and swimming but then I moved in with a guy who was a bit eccentric and after a while we broke up and I moved out and with all the stress and I gained back up to 220. Two years ago, my right knee started hurting real bad and I I put on another 20 lbs this year when my company dropped BCBS and I had to go to Cigna and I didn't find a PCP right away and ran out of all my medicines. I think the Metformin I was taking for PCOS had kept my blood sugar down enough to never quite push me into diabetes but without it my A1C went up to 6.5 and my weight bounced up to 240. My new doctor put me back on the Metformin but maybe after I get sleeved I won't need it anymore. Anyway, after my knee Doctor told me that I would need knee replacement surgery on one or both knees in five years about two years ago, I started thinking about WLS and decided to call Texas Laparoscopic Consultants and got an appointment with Dr. Terry Scarborough on May 29th. He sent me to a cardiologist, a psychiatrist and told me I need to be cleared for medical necessity through my PCP. I have an appointment for that with my PCP and I have to go have a stress test for the cardiologist and then all I have to do is have 2 more nutritionist consults, my colonoscopy, my endoscopy and a consult about my pre- and post diets. If I'm lucky I'll have jumped through all the hoops and be ready for surgery in September.

I'm more of a meat sauce girl myself. And when cooking for a family meat sauce seems to go farther than meatballs.

I had a sonogram on my heart because my EKG was abnormal. But they said the sonogram was normal. I also have to have a stress test - although the cardiologist still said he would clear me for surgery.

Couldn't they just call Cigna?

I was originally told that with Cigna I would have to do 6month supervised diet but when I went in yesterday I was able to confirm that it had been changed to 3 months so it looks like my surgery will jump from December to September or October. This is really good news.

Well, today I went to my first NUT and also confirmed that I would only need 3 instead of the 6 that they first said so that would put me around the end of September or October. I've done my psych evalutation, and in the process of being cleared by my PCP and the cardiologist. After that I'm supposed to meet with a nutritionist right before surgery and have an endoscopy and a colonoscopy and then I'm ready.