You know I have felt really beautiful at 230 pounds and a size 22 and I have felt really fat and unattractive in a size 6 and a hundred and 145 pounds. I finally realized that it isn't the number on the scale or on the clothing label, it is how you feel about yourself. Surprisingly enough, I felt best about myself when I was around people that accepted me for who I was (am) and worst about myself when I was trying to live up to an image that I thought would please other people. Many years ago, I went to a support group for post op weight loss surgery patients, to learn what life was like after having surgery.
One of the women there looked like she weighed about 300 pounds. She talked about having lost down to a "normal" weight after having been overweight (500 pounds plus at one point) all of her life. She said, "When I was fat and I didn't fit in, the guy didn't like me, I couldn't make friends, get the job, etc, I always blamed my weight. Then she had weight loss surgery because she her diabetes was so out of control and she lost down to 190 something pounds. She said that she found that she still didn't fit in, the guy still didn't like her, she still found it hard to make friends, and couldn't get the job but now she had nothing to blame for it on but herself. She said the surgery had taken away from her the one thing that made her happy...food and eating. She dumped on sugar after her surgery so she admitted to sitting on the toilet and eating ice cream.
I was so shocked and sickened by her story but it made me realize something about myself too. I had always told myself how much better my life would be if I was just the right size, the right weight, etc. Just like that woman had. She had changed her appearance but she hadn't changed who she was. She had expected all of her problems to magically go away along with the pounds and when they hadn't, she became disillusioned and decided it was easier to go back to her former self rather than deal with the issues that the fat was only covering up.
My mother once said to me, "Once you figure out what the weight is doing for you and decide that you don't need it anymore, then you will be able to let it go." At the time I thought she was crazy. Was she saying that I choose to be fat?!? Was she saying that one morning I could just wake up and say, "Hum, self, you know what, I don't think I need to carry around this stifling extra 100 pounds anymore." and magically it would just fall away? Well not exactly but not too far from the truth either.
Since I have lost the 100 pounds, I have realized that it did serve a purpose, and no it wasn't just to keep me warm either. When I was 100 pounds heavier I felt stronger, I didn't expect men to hit on me which in away made me feel more comfortable with them, I felt I could blend in with the background (funny the smaller I have gotten the more noticeable I feel), people would get out of my way, and if someone complemented me..it felt more genuine (maybe I was telling myself that my make up/dress/hair/whatever must really look good if they noticed it instead of my weight).
Now I don't want to sound like one of those celebrities that complains how hard it is to be so rich and famous..Am I glad that I have lost that 100+ pounds...HECK YEAH! Has my life gotten easier? In certain ways but it has gotten harder in certain ways too. It is easy to be happy when the weight is falling off and everyday it seems like someone (or even several people) tell you how great you look, how much you are loosing, etc. But eventually you reach your goal or the weight loss slows (and eventually stops) and you have to start working at maintaining or even at having to loose the last weight to get to goal. The praise stops too. The fear of regain shows up along with the pressure to prove to the naysayers out there (unfortunately there is almost always going to be a few that you will come in contact with) that you can keep the weight off.
If you are like me and are very open about having had wls then it can be easier and it can be harder too. I know it is easier to turn down snacks and treats at work because I know that they (especially being health care professionals) know that a post wls patient really shouldn't be eating a double chocolate cupcake. It is harder too because they want to pull you out of their hat so to speak when they have a patient/colleague/coworker/friend/family member, etc. that has questions about/is having issues with/ or is considering having wls. It is hard because, you want to be honest and you want to set a good example at the same time.
If you read this blog regularly then you know I do cheat every now and again, and I usually pay for it. I have certain rules how ever that I never break;
1. I don't do rice..ever. My surgeon said he had had people die from eating rice and that was all I needed to hear.
2. I don't drink with my meals. I also don't drink 30 minutes before and thirty minutes after. Yes, it is hard especially since I am breastfeeding.
3. I don't buy bread or potatoes anymore.
4. I have come to realize there are certain foods that I cannot be trusted with, even in sugar free or low fat versions, and shouldn't buy except in single serving sizes. Ice Cream is one of these foods.
5. If I mess up with one meal, one item, one bite, it doesn't matter, I don't let it continue. Instead of beating myself up about it, I move on and start fresh with my next meal and try not to make excuses.
6. I always have protein in the house (bars, shakes, lean meats, low fat cheese, and non-cream based soups).
7. I weigh daily. I have too. I find if my weight is up 2-3 pounds, I need to reevaluate my last few days eating. I even start logging it again if I feel I have been really getting lax. (I still prefer an actual paper food diary, call me old fashioned) I didn't gain those 100 pounds overnight, it crept on a few pounds at a time. I have a certain number that I call my panic number and when I see it, I go back to shakes and bars for a few days to get back in control.
8. I try to get in some activity everyday. I may not hit the gym regularly but I will walk around the hospital on my lunch break, dance on the trampoline with my daughter for 15 minutes, do one of the 15 minute workouts on my favorite exercise video, etc.
9. When I feel down, I look through old photos of myself and go try on clothes from my closet. I am still amazed that I am the size that I am and I need to be reminded how far I have come by looking at the old sizes too.
10. I don't nibble. I don't have food that tempts me to nipple in the house. If I am at work and they have food that I know will tempt me in the break room, I don't even have one. I know it sounds harmless (how bad can one chip, cookie, cracker and some dip, etc. be?) but it is for me a slippery slope. If it stopped at just one, that would be fine but when you are only eating 1400-1600 calories a day and 2 crackers with dip can be 600+ calories (more than the calories in my whole lunch), it can get out of hand quickly.
But the most important rule of all....Celebrate your life and who you are at the size you are now. Don't wait till you are 15 pounds thinner or at goal. I deal with that rule every single day. It is harder than any of the others but I refuse to put my life on hold or have another bad day because of a number whether it is on my jeans or on my scale. Life is too short.
My Grandmother use to say, "If you believe you are beautiful and act beautiful then people will see you as beautiful." She also use to tell me not to "act ugly" when I was little which meant being mean or acting contrary. I think there is truth to that. If you feel good about yourself (I am not saying it is easy) and try to present a positive attitude, then I think it comes across to others and relays a sense of beauty. Beauty has nothing to do with a number and everything to do with how you feel inside.
Showing posts with label rules of the tool. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rules of the tool. Show all posts
Monday, December 15, 2008
Monday, November 10, 2008
if we fail to plan, do we plan to fail?
I think it is just impractical to believe that anyone no matter how dedicated or restrictive in their diet would be able to live 100% by the plan for the rest of their lives. Besides what kind of existence would that be anyway?
We don't live in a WLS friendly world. There are always going to be situations where there is very little if anything on the menu that is totally 100% wls friendly. That is life. We have to adapt and make decisions when situations like that arise. I often bring wls friendly dishes when I know that I am going to be in situations like that but you can't always know ahead of time and there you are. It is times like that when you are stuck making difficult choices, do you choose to eat off plan (hopefully by picking the dish that is closest to wls friendly as possible) or do you choose to sit odd person out and not eat at all.
I see far to many people posting on message boards and writing about eating off plan and being criticized for it instead of getting the support and encouragement that they are seeking. I think that is very sad.
That is why I try to be honest about my experiences so they know they are not alone and despite what many people want to believe...you will eat off plan eventually. It's up to you if you continue to do so and slide right back into old eating habits or if you only do it rarely or in situations like I mentioned above.
My grandmother had a saying, "What you eat in private, shows in public". I wish that were true on some blogs and many times on the message boards. I wonder how many people get negative feedback and just stop posting or when they do eat off the plan, say nothing because they don't see others posting or writing about it.
The world isn't a perfect place and we will mess up. Lets be honest about it when we do and support those that are brave enough to open themselves up to ridicule by admitting it.
No where did I read about possible seizure disorders post wls (I still wouldn't know about them if I hadn't read about them on melting mamas blog) and I never read or heard of a possible hyperglycemic crash like I had when I ate the torte. That is why I posted it, because people need to know that it can happen. Melting mama seems to post about a new post wls patient that is having seizures every few weeks now. Why aren't we being informed by our health care professionals about these kinds of possible side effects of wls?
No, not everyone is going to have a reaction like that, but it is nice to know that it is possible don't you agree?
I also had several, and I do mean several people e-mail me and comment on this blog that they had had a similar coma like crash post wls! But no one had talked about it before, perhaps because they had eaten something that they knew they shouldn't have and were afraid of the ridicule they would receive if they posted or wrote about it.
Let's try to remember that we are all here to learn and support one another.
Unfortunately no one can be 100% prepared 100% of the time. Life isn't that scheduled and regulated. Thank goodness too because otherwise it would be pretty boring. WE have to realize that there are going to be times when we are going to have to eat off the plan, when we fail to plan, when we lapse, when we are put in a situation that we couldn't for see, when we are tempted, when we are stuck without wls provisions, when we aren't sure of the foods contents, the possibilities are endless. It is bound to happen.
The average persons lifespan is 83 years, say you are 30 when you have wls. You cannot tell me that you will never have to go off plan in 53 years? How unrealistic is that? I know you may not want to believe me, and that is okay.
No one wants to hear that they will have to deviate (whether purposely, willingly, knowingly, or worse unknowingly) from the plan that utilizes their new tool that they may have gone into debt, missed work, endured pain, maybe even endured criticism, trying to get.
But I must repeat....statistically all of us will at some point eat off the plan whether due to poor planning, a lapse, or even accidentally (I once ate a protein shake at a gym that made me dump horribly). We can't always be 100% sure of the ingredients in our food. Sometimes even food that is marketed as healthy, low fat, low sugar will not be what it claims to be (or even if it is, might still make some of us very ill).
Do you travel? Can you tell me that you will be able to find or bring wls food with you where ever you will go for the rest of your life? I am saying that we need to be realistic and to realize what can happen when we do eat off the plan for what ever reason. We need to know what can happen when you do eat off the plan besides weight gain. We need to know that some people can have very serious effects including coma and seizures.
This is a very serious surgery and not a "diet" that you can just quit or stop. Just like you will need to supplement for the rest of your post op life, your reaction to foods will always be different.
I had a patient that had RNY surgery in the 80's. Initially she dumped on sugar and fat but it went away after a year and a half. She had some regain after that (not to what she was preop but certainly 60-80 pounds away from her original goal). By the time she was my patient (last year), she was rail thin, not only had her body gone back to dumping, it dumped worse than it did as a fresh post op. We really don't know the long term effects this surgery will have on us.
Some post ops will dump forever, some not at all, and some only for a while. But you never know what you will get and how you will react post op. Some post ops can get away with eating fat, sugar, etc. Some can't eat any of that without getting very ill (even in supposedly acceptable ranges and amounts as recommend by their physicians programs). We are all different, true.. but we will all have to go off the plan at times in our life and we need to realize that and be informed about the possible consequences. If nothing else but for safety's sake and so when those times come, we can try to choose to eat something that is likely to agree with our surgery even if it isn't 100% on the plan.
But most importantly, we have to realize that just because we eat off the plan once in a great while or even infrequently, that doesn't doom us to failure. That just means we are human. We need to be kinder to those out there that do take the occasional misstep and encourage and support them in their getting back on track.
We don't live in a WLS friendly world. There are always going to be situations where there is very little if anything on the menu that is totally 100% wls friendly. That is life. We have to adapt and make decisions when situations like that arise. I often bring wls friendly dishes when I know that I am going to be in situations like that but you can't always know ahead of time and there you are. It is times like that when you are stuck making difficult choices, do you choose to eat off plan (hopefully by picking the dish that is closest to wls friendly as possible) or do you choose to sit odd person out and not eat at all.
I see far to many people posting on message boards and writing about eating off plan and being criticized for it instead of getting the support and encouragement that they are seeking. I think that is very sad.
That is why I try to be honest about my experiences so they know they are not alone and despite what many people want to believe...you will eat off plan eventually. It's up to you if you continue to do so and slide right back into old eating habits or if you only do it rarely or in situations like I mentioned above.
My grandmother had a saying, "What you eat in private, shows in public". I wish that were true on some blogs and many times on the message boards. I wonder how many people get negative feedback and just stop posting or when they do eat off the plan, say nothing because they don't see others posting or writing about it.
The world isn't a perfect place and we will mess up. Lets be honest about it when we do and support those that are brave enough to open themselves up to ridicule by admitting it.
No where did I read about possible seizure disorders post wls (I still wouldn't know about them if I hadn't read about them on melting mamas blog) and I never read or heard of a possible hyperglycemic crash like I had when I ate the torte. That is why I posted it, because people need to know that it can happen. Melting mama seems to post about a new post wls patient that is having seizures every few weeks now. Why aren't we being informed by our health care professionals about these kinds of possible side effects of wls?
No, not everyone is going to have a reaction like that, but it is nice to know that it is possible don't you agree?
I also had several, and I do mean several people e-mail me and comment on this blog that they had had a similar coma like crash post wls! But no one had talked about it before, perhaps because they had eaten something that they knew they shouldn't have and were afraid of the ridicule they would receive if they posted or wrote about it.
Let's try to remember that we are all here to learn and support one another.
Unfortunately no one can be 100% prepared 100% of the time. Life isn't that scheduled and regulated. Thank goodness too because otherwise it would be pretty boring. WE have to realize that there are going to be times when we are going to have to eat off the plan, when we fail to plan, when we lapse, when we are put in a situation that we couldn't for see, when we are tempted, when we are stuck without wls provisions, when we aren't sure of the foods contents, the possibilities are endless. It is bound to happen.
The average persons lifespan is 83 years, say you are 30 when you have wls. You cannot tell me that you will never have to go off plan in 53 years? How unrealistic is that? I know you may not want to believe me, and that is okay.
No one wants to hear that they will have to deviate (whether purposely, willingly, knowingly, or worse unknowingly) from the plan that utilizes their new tool that they may have gone into debt, missed work, endured pain, maybe even endured criticism, trying to get.
But I must repeat....statistically all of us will at some point eat off the plan whether due to poor planning, a lapse, or even accidentally (I once ate a protein shake at a gym that made me dump horribly). We can't always be 100% sure of the ingredients in our food. Sometimes even food that is marketed as healthy, low fat, low sugar will not be what it claims to be (or even if it is, might still make some of us very ill).
Do you travel? Can you tell me that you will be able to find or bring wls food with you where ever you will go for the rest of your life? I am saying that we need to be realistic and to realize what can happen when we do eat off the plan for what ever reason. We need to know what can happen when you do eat off the plan besides weight gain. We need to know that some people can have very serious effects including coma and seizures.
This is a very serious surgery and not a "diet" that you can just quit or stop. Just like you will need to supplement for the rest of your post op life, your reaction to foods will always be different.
I had a patient that had RNY surgery in the 80's. Initially she dumped on sugar and fat but it went away after a year and a half. She had some regain after that (not to what she was preop but certainly 60-80 pounds away from her original goal). By the time she was my patient (last year), she was rail thin, not only had her body gone back to dumping, it dumped worse than it did as a fresh post op. We really don't know the long term effects this surgery will have on us.
Some post ops will dump forever, some not at all, and some only for a while. But you never know what you will get and how you will react post op. Some post ops can get away with eating fat, sugar, etc. Some can't eat any of that without getting very ill (even in supposedly acceptable ranges and amounts as recommend by their physicians programs). We are all different, true.. but we will all have to go off the plan at times in our life and we need to realize that and be informed about the possible consequences. If nothing else but for safety's sake and so when those times come, we can try to choose to eat something that is likely to agree with our surgery even if it isn't 100% on the plan.
But most importantly, we have to realize that just because we eat off the plan once in a great while or even infrequently, that doesn't doom us to failure. That just means we are human. We need to be kinder to those out there that do take the occasional misstep and encourage and support them in their getting back on track.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
more on carnie wilson's new reality show
I posted this on the message board after my post about Carnie turned into a huge flame war about post op regain. I too am not sure how I feel about her being the chef on this new show. I am very curious to see if her recipes will be weight loss surgery friendly. I am considering buying her cookbook although I have been told that the recipes AREN'T weight loss surgery friendly. I am hopeful that the recipes on the show will be however. This could be a great opportunity for her to showcase some healthy recipes that still taste great to people that are not post op weight loss surgery!
She was being made fun of on Chelsey Lately for being the new queen of reality television, that is how I first heard of the new show. I agree she has to work and if reality television is paying the bills, then who are we to judge. Obviously people are watching it, I know I will, or she wouldn't keep getting offers to do more.
Post Date: 6/18/08 12:32 pm
gee, I had no idea when I posted this that I would open such a can of worms. I must thank Carnie Wilson for my current situation, post op weight loss surgery, down over 100 pounds, married to a man who also post op weight loss surgery is CURED of type 2 diabetes (his fasting pro op blood sugars were over 300 on Metformin, his triglyceride's were 1500, the highest I had ever seen, this is also while he was on medication) now his cholest. is healthy and he is off all meds. I live in Alaska after taking a drastic leap of faith and leaving everyone and everything we knew to drive here in a VW bug with our infant daughter and 3 cats. (I would have never had the courage to do that pre op) I am in the process of making a drastic career change and going back to school. I always swore I wouldn't be one of those women that let my weight issues keep me from living a normal life and following my dreams but now I realize it was. I read both of Carnies books pre op and post op. I also reviewed one for my blog. She struggled with addiction and weight issues her whole life, she was very honest about this in both of her books. She even titled her second book (written after her weight loss surgery) "Still Hungry". She is very clear in that book that weight loss surgery isn't a magic cure, that you still have to work with your food issues everyday. She talks about this and the high rate of transfer addictions post weight loss surgery. She was on Oprah talking about it also. I really thank those two books for informing me about the honest realities of weight loss surgery. Most of the books I have read about it are either so technical and written with impossible medical language (I am a nurse and I found some very hard to read), or are so super positive that they don't even hint at a possibility of failure. I have tried to include the more realistic and down to earth books about weight loss surgery on my blog, including hers. Just think of it this way, she could have easily went into hiding after she started to regain. Lots of celebs do. She could have blamed the surgery and said it failed her, she didn't. she said it was her own issues and not paying attention to her eating that made her regain. She is accepting responsibility and being honest. You have to respect that a little don't you? I hope that you will read at least her second book, Still Hungry. It will help you once you are over a year out. This surgery doesn't fix your mind. What ever issues, insecurities, coping mechanisms, you had before surgery are still going to be with you after surgery. We had a woman that came to speak to our pre op surgery group that was considered a "failure". She said she had been over weight all her life. She said that when she was over 400 pounds (she was 5'2" I think) and the guy didn't like her, she couldn't make friends, she didn't get the job, or she didn't fit in, she always blamed her weight. Then she had the surgery and lost over 200 pounds and the guy still didn't like her, she still couldn't make friends, still didn't fit in, and still didn't get the job. She said she couldn't blame her weight anymore and realized it must be "her" that was the problem and the surgery had taken away the one thing that gave her pleasure, eating. She dumped on dairy post op so she sat on the toilet and ate ice cream. Is that an extreme example? yes but it also proves a point. Her coping mechanism had always been eating and she never did the work to change it so when she started to have stress post op, she went right back to it. It also shows that this surgery isn't the magic cure for all that ails you in your life. I hope you understand that many of us have this surgery after a lifetime of weight issues and all of the emotional baggage that goes with it, Carnie and myself included. If this isn't you also, then you are very lucky and hopefully you won't deal with having to find a new coping mechanism, transfer addiction, or regain as statistically most post op patients do.
She was being made fun of on Chelsey Lately for being the new queen of reality television, that is how I first heard of the new show. I agree she has to work and if reality television is paying the bills, then who are we to judge. Obviously people are watching it, I know I will, or she wouldn't keep getting offers to do more.
Post Date: 6/18/08 12:32 pm
gee, I had no idea when I posted this that I would open such a can of worms. I must thank Carnie Wilson for my current situation, post op weight loss surgery, down over 100 pounds, married to a man who also post op weight loss surgery is CURED of type 2 diabetes (his fasting pro op blood sugars were over 300 on Metformin, his triglyceride's were 1500, the highest I had ever seen, this is also while he was on medication) now his cholest. is healthy and he is off all meds. I live in Alaska after taking a drastic leap of faith and leaving everyone and everything we knew to drive here in a VW bug with our infant daughter and 3 cats. (I would have never had the courage to do that pre op) I am in the process of making a drastic career change and going back to school. I always swore I wouldn't be one of those women that let my weight issues keep me from living a normal life and following my dreams but now I realize it was. I read both of Carnies books pre op and post op. I also reviewed one for my blog. She struggled with addiction and weight issues her whole life, she was very honest about this in both of her books. She even titled her second book (written after her weight loss surgery) "Still Hungry". She is very clear in that book that weight loss surgery isn't a magic cure, that you still have to work with your food issues everyday. She talks about this and the high rate of transfer addictions post weight loss surgery. She was on Oprah talking about it also. I really thank those two books for informing me about the honest realities of weight loss surgery. Most of the books I have read about it are either so technical and written with impossible medical language (I am a nurse and I found some very hard to read), or are so super positive that they don't even hint at a possibility of failure. I have tried to include the more realistic and down to earth books about weight loss surgery on my blog, including hers. Just think of it this way, she could have easily went into hiding after she started to regain. Lots of celebs do. She could have blamed the surgery and said it failed her, she didn't. she said it was her own issues and not paying attention to her eating that made her regain. She is accepting responsibility and being honest. You have to respect that a little don't you? I hope that you will read at least her second book, Still Hungry. It will help you once you are over a year out. This surgery doesn't fix your mind. What ever issues, insecurities, coping mechanisms, you had before surgery are still going to be with you after surgery. We had a woman that came to speak to our pre op surgery group that was considered a "failure". She said she had been over weight all her life. She said that when she was over 400 pounds (she was 5'2" I think) and the guy didn't like her, she couldn't make friends, she didn't get the job, or she didn't fit in, she always blamed her weight. Then she had the surgery and lost over 200 pounds and the guy still didn't like her, she still couldn't make friends, still didn't fit in, and still didn't get the job. She said she couldn't blame her weight anymore and realized it must be "her" that was the problem and the surgery had taken away the one thing that gave her pleasure, eating. She dumped on dairy post op so she sat on the toilet and ate ice cream. Is that an extreme example? yes but it also proves a point. Her coping mechanism had always been eating and she never did the work to change it so when she started to have stress post op, she went right back to it. It also shows that this surgery isn't the magic cure for all that ails you in your life. I hope you understand that many of us have this surgery after a lifetime of weight issues and all of the emotional baggage that goes with it, Carnie and myself included. If this isn't you also, then you are very lucky and hopefully you won't deal with having to find a new coping mechanism, transfer addiction, or regain as statistically most post op patients do.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Ten commandments of Gastric Bypass Surgery
1. THOU SHALL NOT DRINK with thy meals.
This means never! This is cheating...cheating yourself. It washes the food out of your pouch and allows you to eat more. This will slow and eventually stop your weight loss. PLUS you will not be getting all the benefits of the wise choices you have filled your little pouchy-poo with.
2. THOU SHALL EAT SLOWLY, VERY SLOWLY.
This is not a rule for the first few months post op. This rule is for the rest of your life. If you eat too quickly, you will surely stretch your pouch. Eat too quickly and you will learn the hard way...the nausea is stifling. Oh and CHEW, CHEW, CHEW!! And when you think you are done, CHEW SOME MORE. Or your food will keep coming back to visit you.
3. THOU SHALL TAKE THY VITAMINS.
This surgery is a great tool for weight loss. But, as with all benefits, there are costs...and malnutrition is one of the potential prices of this surgery. Take a multivitamin supplement every day for the rest of your life and it is one you may never have to pay. You will also need to have your blood checked periodically for B-12 levels.
4. THOU SHALL EAT ADEQUATE PROTEIN.
What is adequate? I have read everything from 50-60 grams a day (which equals about 2 oz. of protein) to a much higher number. (To figure out the amount of grams of protein equals in ounces, multiply the # of grams by .0353. That will give you an ounce calculation. It may not sound like a lot, but when you get down to brass tacks, and really look at what you eat at a meal, are you getting in at least 2 oz of meat at a sitting? Then filling in with the rest? Meat is usually very heavy and it is hard to digest so it ends up being the last thing we work on at a meal. A lot (I did not say all) of post ops tend to take more of what rests comfortably in their pouch...all I am saying is to be aware and then adjust so you are meeting those requirements... above all be balanced in your eating.
5. THOU SHALL EXERCISE.
Just do SOMETHING. Even if it means starting off simply...take the stairs instead of the escalator or elevator. Park at the furthest spot in the parking lot. Carry your shopping basket instead of pushing the cart (on small shopping days of course...LOL). Enjoy your new energy and make te most of it.
6. THOU SHALL DRINK at least 64 ounces of water, everyday.
It seems that some people have problems doing this. Use a water bottle and carry it with you everywhere. Sip all day long. Or refill a gallon jug and drain it every day. Do it in 2 pitchers. Do it with 2-32oz sport water bottles. Please note however, that if you are drinking coffee or tea with caffeine, you will have to compensate for the diuretic effects of the caffeine. Caffeine robs your body of water, therefore, you will not only be unable to count the coffee or tea, but you will have to drink an extra cups of fluid for every cup of regular coffee or caffeinated tea that you drink to compensate for the diuretic effects of the caffeine. (I gave up Diet Coke after drinking it and only it (no water, no milk, no juice)for most of my life! I quit cold turkey in the hospital, so did my husband!
7. THOU SHALL EAT WELL BALANCED MEALS.
Protein first and foremost, then green/yellow vegetables, then fruit, then starches.
8. THOU SHALL NOT EAT SUGAR, in ANY form....no candy!!!
Treat yourself with some fresh fruit!! especially berries, they have antioxidents and are yummy! If I can give up blizzards from Dairy Queen, anybody can give up sweets! If you start tying different sweets to see if you dump on them, eventually you will find something that you don't dump on and them what are you going to do? It's better not to try it.
9 THOU SHALL NOT modify these commandments to suit thy needs.
It will not work. You will only defeat yourself physically.
10. THOU SHALL LOVE THYSELF and be happy with your body. We are not all cut out to be supermodels, and this surgery will NOT make you one. Happiness comes from within. Be happy with who and what you are. Or you will defeat yourself mentally. Then the battle will be lost before it is ever even begun.
Author Unknown
Also see "How to be a good weight loss surgery patient";
click here forhow to be a good weight loss surgery patient
This means never! This is cheating...cheating yourself. It washes the food out of your pouch and allows you to eat more. This will slow and eventually stop your weight loss. PLUS you will not be getting all the benefits of the wise choices you have filled your little pouchy-poo with.
2. THOU SHALL EAT SLOWLY, VERY SLOWLY.
This is not a rule for the first few months post op. This rule is for the rest of your life. If you eat too quickly, you will surely stretch your pouch. Eat too quickly and you will learn the hard way...the nausea is stifling. Oh and CHEW, CHEW, CHEW!! And when you think you are done, CHEW SOME MORE. Or your food will keep coming back to visit you.
3. THOU SHALL TAKE THY VITAMINS.
This surgery is a great tool for weight loss. But, as with all benefits, there are costs...and malnutrition is one of the potential prices of this surgery. Take a multivitamin supplement every day for the rest of your life and it is one you may never have to pay. You will also need to have your blood checked periodically for B-12 levels.
4. THOU SHALL EAT ADEQUATE PROTEIN.
What is adequate? I have read everything from 50-60 grams a day (which equals about 2 oz. of protein) to a much higher number. (To figure out the amount of grams of protein equals in ounces, multiply the # of grams by .0353. That will give you an ounce calculation. It may not sound like a lot, but when you get down to brass tacks, and really look at what you eat at a meal, are you getting in at least 2 oz of meat at a sitting? Then filling in with the rest? Meat is usually very heavy and it is hard to digest so it ends up being the last thing we work on at a meal. A lot (I did not say all) of post ops tend to take more of what rests comfortably in their pouch...all I am saying is to be aware and then adjust so you are meeting those requirements... above all be balanced in your eating.
5. THOU SHALL EXERCISE.
Just do SOMETHING. Even if it means starting off simply...take the stairs instead of the escalator or elevator. Park at the furthest spot in the parking lot. Carry your shopping basket instead of pushing the cart (on small shopping days of course...LOL). Enjoy your new energy and make te most of it.
6. THOU SHALL DRINK at least 64 ounces of water, everyday.
It seems that some people have problems doing this. Use a water bottle and carry it with you everywhere. Sip all day long. Or refill a gallon jug and drain it every day. Do it in 2 pitchers. Do it with 2-32oz sport water bottles. Please note however, that if you are drinking coffee or tea with caffeine, you will have to compensate for the diuretic effects of the caffeine. Caffeine robs your body of water, therefore, you will not only be unable to count the coffee or tea, but you will have to drink an extra cups of fluid for every cup of regular coffee or caffeinated tea that you drink to compensate for the diuretic effects of the caffeine. (I gave up Diet Coke after drinking it and only it (no water, no milk, no juice)for most of my life! I quit cold turkey in the hospital, so did my husband!
7. THOU SHALL EAT WELL BALANCED MEALS.
Protein first and foremost, then green/yellow vegetables, then fruit, then starches.
8. THOU SHALL NOT EAT SUGAR, in ANY form....no candy!!!
Treat yourself with some fresh fruit!! especially berries, they have antioxidents and are yummy! If I can give up blizzards from Dairy Queen, anybody can give up sweets! If you start tying different sweets to see if you dump on them, eventually you will find something that you don't dump on and them what are you going to do? It's better not to try it.
9 THOU SHALL NOT modify these commandments to suit thy needs.
It will not work. You will only defeat yourself physically.
10. THOU SHALL LOVE THYSELF and be happy with your body. We are not all cut out to be supermodels, and this surgery will NOT make you one. Happiness comes from within. Be happy with who and what you are. Or you will defeat yourself mentally. Then the battle will be lost before it is ever even begun.
Author Unknown
Also see "How to be a good weight loss surgery patient";
click here forhow to be a good weight loss surgery patient
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
A post on the OH main forum and my response
"Hello everyone,
I joined another group that I thought would bring me more information. I like to read as much as I can about the RNY surgery since I'm hoping to have that one in January. Within a day, I realized the moderater of the group is a huge advocate for NO WLS. Please clarify if you can some of the things she has been saying. I'm interested in long term effacts of RNY. I'm 29 and I have 2 small kids, I want to be around for a very long time.
Anyway, the moderator was saying that 95% of WLS patients gained ALL of their weight back after 10 years. Thoughs who did not gain their weight back were mostly sick. She did not offer any hard evidence of this, just sort of said it!
Please if you can, point me in the direction of factual information for patients longterm. She said most people don't get sick until they are 10 years out when the body no longer has vitaims stored up and that's when the real complications begin. Is this true?
Please help me understand!! Thanks!!!"
My response;
I tried for years to get my rny. I met several people through those years that had had surgery and bar none..they all said, you have to follow the rules or it only works for the first 6 months to a year. It isn't a magic cure. We had to take classes where post ops that were both failures and winners came to talk to us. I will never forget one woman who weighed about 200 pounds (she was still down from almost 400lbs). She said, "I have been fat all of my life so when the guy didn't want to go out with me, people didn't like me, I couldn't get the job, I could always blame my weight. Then I had this surgery, and I lost over 200 pounds. But the guys still didn't like me, I still couldn't get the job, and I still didn't make friends. Worst of all, this surgery had taken away the one thing that gave me pleasure, eating." This woman freely admitted that she ate ice cream while sitting on the toilet (because it made her dump) and that she no longer cared about following the rules, she just wanted to eat. I know that is an extreme example but there are people out there that think this surgery is going to change their lives, magically with little or no effort from them. The truth is, it can change your life, it can be that catalyst to make positive dreams a reality, but it is going to take some work. You also have to face the reasons that you were overweight in the first place. I am still dealing with stress eating at 9 months out. I still have to make myself exercise and I am realizing that with time, I am able to eat more so I have to manage my portions. This surgery has helped me and my husband feel and look so much better but it doesn't solve all of your problems or change how you deal with them, only you can do that. We are all/were overweight for some reason. My mother told me once, "once you figure out what purpose that extra weight is serving for you, you will be able to deal with it and choose to let it go." I thought that was some super self righteous garbage when she said it but it is true. I don't like attention from men. It is true. My weight helped keep that away. I realize that now. It is weird and has to do with time I spent in the middle east but it is part of my make up. I also choose food as my drug of choice for dealing with stress. Now that I have realized these things about myself, it doesn't mean that they go away. I have to work on not reverting back to old behaviors everyday. I have met many people, I have a home health client right now that was one of the first rny's ever done, that have been and continue to be very successful but they all follow the rules and work at it. It can be done.
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