Four more days of normal eating...

I just realized today that I only have four more days of being "normal!" Not that being at my weight is normal but four more days of eating like a real person anyhow.

Went to lunch with colleagues today. Trying to enjoy my food without getting crazy up until Monday.

Monday is when I begin my liquid diet. I've come to learn that this 6 weeks I'm about to enter without solid food is referred to as "Bandster Hell." Lovely.

Surprisingly, there's a part of me that's looking forward to it. It feels like a challenge. The surgery itself makes me nervous, but the liquid fast beforehand feels like something imposed (in a good way) that I can still control.

NYU's Program for Surgical Weight Loss

NYU's Program for Surgical Weight Loss is the program I am going through for the Lap-Band procedure.

So far I've been very pleased with the staff and the surgeon. And their materials have been quite thorough. However, if you're a patient, please note that their website is not up to date (at least not as of this posting) in regard to what you need for your procedure. I had a few problems with that.

I've been doing this list-thing on my other blog Dabble, and it's remarkably effective, so I thought I'd do that here too.

1. Order Juice Plus fruit and vegetable supplements (waiting for 7/17)
   


2. Buy chewable or liquid multivitamins (7/17) (Centrum Adult Chewables) The "Silver" has extra supplements
   


3. Attend support group before surgery (Mtg date 7/15)
   


4. Sign up for a "heal faster" seminar Call (Mon 7/6)
   


5. Send replacement insurance card (Found it! Mon 7/6)
   


6. Call surgical coordinator Tuesday to confirm she has my paperwork


7. Follow up with surgical coordinator Friday
   


8. Make an appt with my GP for a B-12 shot (unrelated to surgery)
   


9. Arrange with GP for esophogram


10. Get esophogram
    


11. Arrange ride home


12. Arrange care post surgery


13. Pass along hospital info to family / friends


14. Go shopping for pre-surgery 2 week shake diet (70 shakes for 14 days) (7/17)


15. Go grocery shopping for post surgery thin-liquid diet (7/17)


16. Order low sodium, vegetable broth (7/17)

Also just realizing that I'm going to have to wait until my post-rent-pay day for a few of these things. Some of the expenses related to the surgery have me pinching my pennies. Though I think I have it better than many in regard to insurance coverage.

Empty Fridge

I had a weird thought last night when I went to get a shake from the fridge. I actually can't wait to have an empty fridge. With nothing in it except shakes and maybe some veg and water. For the liquid fast part of the diet (since they do let us have 2 cups of veg a day).

Somehow that just seems to be symbolic of purging all the crap and starting new.

Will definitely have to plan on a good clean out of both the fridge and the cabinet. It feels rather liberating. (I say that now!)

Slim-Fast, not so much

So today I tried the Slim-Fast shake. Had to go with the low carb option as the regular one just has waaayyy too much sugar! I'm very glad that I'm testing this all out and getting used to it before I get to the actual 2-week liquid diet before my surgery. This makes me feel like I have a little more control over adjusting myself to eating less food.

Post surgery, I'll have the lap band, but pre-surgery, I'm going to need to make it as easy on myself as possible.

I'm not at all loving the Slim-Fast. This one has too much of an artificial sweetner aftertaste.

I'm surprised at some of the shake options that were on NYU's list. Not only Slim-Fast and Glucerna, but also Carnation Instant Breakfast and a number of others.

I do plan on going to GNC to check out some of their options as well.

Once I know my surgery date for sure, I'll work up a transitional meal plan. Right now, it's a shake for dinner, but eventually they'll replace all my meals and I'll have five a day.

How many calories post-op?

First of all, I'm learning that people refer to the lap-band and other procedures as WLS (weight loss surgery). Despite the various packets of info I've been given and the websites I've been sent to, I didn't have a clear sense of how many calories I'd need to be eating post-op. However, I just found the most fabulous blog post over on melting mama. She posted this info below about recommended calories, protein, fat, etc.

The ASMBS guidelines (which is where many surgeons GET their recommendations for you) state:

• 1,000 to 1,400 calories depending on the individual and activity level.
• 60 to 100 grams of protein depending on the individual and activity level.
• 27 to 47 grams of fat based on 20 to 35 percent of a daily 1,200-calorie intake.

Check out her post for more interesting info and some really insightful comments from others who've also had surgery.