Well kids the time is quickly approaching. I hope everything post op goes as easily, and quickly as the process leading up to this.
I am almost finished with the second day of the liquid diet. It’s not as bad as I thought it was going to be, although I might be singing a different song tomorrow. My stomach finally stopped growling at me around 6pm last night when it got the hint that it wasn’t getting real food anytime soon. The only thing I am interested in off the allowed items list is low sodium chicken broth, sugar free Jell-o, diet Ocean Spray juices, and the sugar free popsicles.
Perhaps I’m so hungry at the moment because I haven’t had as much today as I did yesterday. I am just sick of having to pee every three seconds so it’s kept me from drinking as much today. Yesterday I drank a whole bottle of juice, almost a whole carton of broth, at least 40 ounces of water, and 12 sugar free Jell-o cups. Today all I had was 3/4 of a carton of broth, a 1/4 of a bottle of juice, 4 Jell-O cups and then like half a bowl of sugar free orange Jell-O, and about 52 ounces of water.
My stomach just growls at me in protest after I “eat” the jiggly water like bitch this is not food! I am just so grateful that I only have to do this for 3 days and not 2 weeks pre-op like a lot of surgeons require.
Last night after work I drove to Ft. Collins to visit the Screamin Peach for a wax since I figured hair removal for a week or two post-op might be tricky or painful.
They had a giant version of this in the waxing room, it makes me far too happy.
I wasn’t craving anything bad all day until I got there. The wax smelled like brownie batter, and then all I could think about was how tasty a brownie would be.
Afterword I drove to Denver to hang out with some friends and we went out to the bars. I was surprised at how well I did without anything to drink considering how packed it was where we were. It’s not as if I drink much but I do enjoy a cocktail or two however I didn’t mind sipping on water all night.
Today all day long all I have wanted was cheese and fruit. My dad had a bag of smart popcorn and all I wanted to do was to suck the cheese off a piece but I resisted.
I had not been eating super well up to the liquid diet so I gained about 8 pounds and ended up at 301 when I stepped on the scale Friday morning. I actually wasn’t eating horribly minus the ice cream I had every night for the last month.
This morning when I stepped on the scale it said 298.6. I’ll take a 2.4 loss in a day. Here’s to hoping that I will never see 300+ pounds on a scale again.
Well I think sleep is going to win over hunger at the moment because I can’t stop yawning. Tomorrow I plan on drinking as much juice and broth as I can get in all day long in the hopes of controlling the hunger between midnight and 9 am when I go under.
Every time I look at my countdown I get excited and then my stomach turns in anticipation of certain things. It’s similar to the feeling you get before you ride a new roller coaster for the first time, your excited and terrified all at the same time. I got a letter from Cigna yesterday saying they received my surgeons request, and they now need my file to determine the necessity of an inpatient procedure. Now we wait (some more).
The closer I get the harder the fear kicks in, and the harder it is to put it to the back of my mind. To everyone I have not seen lately I am sorry but my anxiety surrounding this procedure has caused my social anxiety to kick into overdrive. Not to mention that I am having some body image issues which have made it all but impossible to get into the studio and dance. It’s strange to not have body issues your whole life, then all of a sudden be afraid of mirrors but it seems like since I have made the decision to go under the knife mirrors have not been my friend. I have become painfully aware of how much larger I am than the rest of my fellow dancers and instead of coming out of class feeling alive, I would just leave wanting to cry after an hour of being able to see them and myself in the same reflection. I am hoping this is something that will fade soon because I miss my Vertical Fusion family more than words can express.
Last night I joined a Facebook support group for Gastric Bypass patients. It will be nice to have a community of people whom have been through this process to seek advice from since I don’t know anyone who has had a bariatric procedure. My surgeon offers them but they are during the week days when I can’t make it.
One of the things I have been most afraid of is what will happen to all my beautiful ink if I ended up reaching my goal of a 150 pound loss? None of the bloggers I follow are heavily tattooed and large portions of my body are covered. Luckily a number of people in this group are heavily tattooed as well and they all said they didn’t notice any change in their tattoo’s. Luckily for me I don’t have them any place where they might have to cut into them if I end up needing any skin removed.
Just the tip of the tattoo ice berg.
In the thought that things are more frightening in the dark, I am going to shine some light on my fears in the hopes that seeing them written will help me deal with them. Here goes nothing.
1. The procedure and hospital stay- This is probably the thing that gives me the greatest anxiety. I hate needles (ironic I know considering the photo above but tattoo’s aren’t the same as an injection or IV). Anesthesia makes me very nauseated so I am afraid of how much it’s going to hurt if I have to vomit. Vicodin, Percocet, Dilaudid all make me vomit so there is a great chance that Morphine will too. Not to mention how little I am looking forward to having a catheter.
2. The financial piece of it – $500 is due to the surgeon the morning of the procedure (which I have now met my deductible so I don’t know if I will have to pay this or not). I was always under the impression that as long as you had insurance that you paid your co-pay then the hospital, and doctors etc. submit the bill to your insurance company and then you are sent a bill for whatever Cigna won’t cover. The last time I was at my pulmonologist his receptionist was talking about how her daughter had to go to the hospital for something that she had to pay everything in full out of pocket and then was reimbursed for what the insurance company would cover. I hope this isn’t the case for inpatient surgery. I have never been admitted to a hospital so I have no clue how any of this works. Also I was under the impression that our insurance company had a max out of pocket expense of $2000 for the year for in network treatment. Today while I was on Cigna’s website I didn’t see the information about max out of pocket expense like I did when I was previously on there. I have been planing this whole time not to have more than a $1,200 expense since I have already paid $898 out of pocket so far this year (I have sent an email to my HR lady to see what she has to say about these two things). Not to mention all the vitamins, protein product etc that you have to buy.
3. What if I hate what I look like after – I know this is a strange thought for most considering the body image issues I mentioned above but I don’t hate the way I look now (as long as I don’t try and do stripper pushup in a mirror). In fact the only thing I really don’t like about my body are my arms and my trunk (the section starting above your ass and ending below your boobs) and my arms. I think I have a beautiful face, a killer rack, and a nice ass and legs. I just want to be smaller. It’s hard for me to imagine what I might look like at a size 8/10 because the last time I can remember even being around that size was in 6th grade when I was 12/14. This is a horribly bitch thing to say but I have seen people who look really scary after WLS (cough cough Star Jones granted she must have had some work done to her face because she doesn’t looks so bug eyed anymore for a while I thought she looked more beautiful pre-op) and the last thing I want is to feel worse clothed at 150 pounds, than I did doing burlesque at 300 pounds. It has been a relief to see a bunch of before and after pics in the support group because I haven’t really seen many (aside from the blogs I follow).
4. Failing – What if I go through all this and I never see Onderland (A weight under 200 pounds)?
5. Losing way too much hair – I have had my hair thin out before so much to the point that my hair dress was like “dude why is your hair falling out” at the time I had no clue that my thyroid was out of whack and perhaps during that period it was really out of whack (it’s always off on my blood work but not enough to medicate me for it). I know that there is nothing you can really do about your hair falling out after surgery I just hope I don’t end up with a bald spot.
Well that’s it for now, apparently I am long winded because I hit a thousand words easily. I really appreciate everyone who takes the time to stop by and read my posts, and everyone who has expressed their support thus far. It really means a lot to me.
It’s been a rough 9 days adjusting back into my routine but I have finally stopped expecting to hear the ocean outside every door and window. I have been to Sint Maarten three time now and each time it gets harder and harder to come back.
Getting there leaves you feeling like you spent 24 hours raving in some sort of tubeular disco with babies and bad drugs since you often depart around midnight. It’s beyond worth it, there’s nothing like collapsing in a chaise on your balcony after two 4 hour flights and a 2 to 12 hour layover in someplace as unfortunate as the Ft Lauderdale airport to soak in this view.
The View from our room at Oyster Bay Beach Resort
The flights and layovers this time around were fairly painless except for not being able to sleep on the red eye flight. US Airways has the shortest seat belts I have come across. I rarely ever need a seat belt extender and if I do it’s because it barely wont clip. The seat belts on all 4 flights were really short. It’s kind of nice to know that the next time I fly that I wont have to even think about if I will need an extender.
We rented a couple of cars and my mom, nephew and I ended up with a Toyota Yaris that had bad breaks, a transmission I was sure was going to go, and had no power which is kind of an issue on an island that is nothing but hills.
I was determined this trip to spend as much time in the water as possible and I am pretty sure I achieved my goal. I earned the nickname Baywatch from my sister because I kept having to save people in our party from drowning. The first of which was my poor mom in what was probably the funniest moment of the trip.
I bought an iPhone and Lifeproof case specifically to be able to film and take pictures in the water. As I was showing my mom a video I had taken we failed to notice that a pretty decent size wave was coming for us. Since I am considerably taller than my 5′ mom the wave slapped her in the face while I just stood on my tip toes to keep it out of mine.
We both start laughing and as I am cackling and yelling out to my sister “did you see mom get hit by that wave?” a second wave knocks her off balance causing me to laugh so hard no sound is coming out and I can barely breathe. All of us are dying laughing while I am trying to help her up another waive has knocked her to her knees and myself off balance, causing an effect similar to that of trying to pick up a greased watermelon out of the water. The next thing I know a waive has knocked her face first into the water and all I can think about is oh fuck how are we going to explain that we let mom drown in like 3 feet of water (my mom has Parkinson’s and her drowning was a big fear of everyones). At that point I just grabbed for whatever I could get a grip on which happened to be the straps of her swimsuit and I hoisted her out of the water like Mufasa raising Simba to the sun À la The Lion King.
My Mom was saved and we all laughed so hard our sides hurt. My sister was like all I see is you picking mom up by her swim suit and her little legs kicking trying to find the ground.
The island is surrounded by reef so everywhere you go you will likely run into fish or some other marine life. I was supposed to spend 4 or 5 days with Octopus Diving getting my PADI scuba certification and taking an underwater photography course. However because of my size my primary care doctor ordered a lung test and that test came back positive for Asthma which caused me not to pass the necessary physical. I didn’t want them to have to refund all of my money so I booked a snorkeling trip with them instead.
I showed up on Monday and the wonderful and kind owner Sally got me fitted for fins and a mask, and then sent me and 5 others off with JT our captain/guide for the afternoon.
Octopus Diving is on the French side of the island in Grande Case, and the water on the french side as we departed was clear and smooth. We took a short 5 minute ride out to Creole Rock which is a French nature reserve.
The view leaving Octopus Diving
I couldn’t wait to get out in the water and jumped over the side of the boat into a cloud of colorful fish, and tiny little baby Jellyfish. Once I found out that they couldn’t sting I rather enjoyed swimming through them and looking at there iridescent veins that changed colors and sparkled in the sun.
The fish at Creole Rock
We got to spend an over an hour at each location, and I could have spent all day at Creole Rock. I got super excited as I saw a Cuttlefish crawl out from some rocks and change colors to perfectly blend in with his surroundings I thought he was an Octopus at first but was informed otherwise by someone in our group. The water at Creole Rock is about 30 feet so I didn’t get a close look at him but it was still pretty cool to see him dramatically change colors.
The guy diving in the video was our guide JT and he was down there for forever before he had to come up for a breath. It was pretty impressive.
We went to Turtle Reef next which was about 10 minutes away from Creole Rock, 30 feet deep, and out in the middle of the current with nothing around. There were lots of fish here including a puffer. One person in our group saw a turtle but they were over 100 yards away from me when they called “TURTLE” so by the time I got over there he was gone.
The next day a handful of us went out to check out Le Galion which is considered the children’s beach because it’s barely enough water to float in for at least 100 yards off shore. It was mostly sea grass with clusters of rocks that housed tons of tiny little colorful fish. At one point I ended up being circled by 8″ yellow and blue fish (I thought I had gotten video but failed to notice I put my phone in the float backwards so all you could see was orange). It was a really cool area but it had tons of trash in the water which made me really sad. I came really close to what I thought was a bigish sized jelly fish only to find when I calmed down that it was one of those cheap shower caps you get from a hotel.
Hands down my favorite day of the trip and possibly my favorite day ever was Wednesday when we chartered a 46′ catamaran with Private Yacht Charters called the Seaduction. My poor mom ended up sea sick with our first mate Toni taking care of her most of the day so we could get off the boat and enjoy the surroundings. We went to Creole Rock again which was fine by me since I knew the kids would get to see a lot of cool stuff there.
After that we were off to Penile Island. We had lunch on the boat and then our captain Johann took my Mom and nephew ashore to shop for souvenirs while we snorkeled the reefs. We saw a starfish and the kids saw a cluster of lobsters.
Next we were off to the place I had been looking forward to all day, the island of Tintamarre. We were told there was a 98% chance that we would see turtles and I was hoping this wasn’t just a sales pitch.
When we went to Turtle Reef JT told us to be ready when the boat stops because your most likely to see turtles when you first get there because they are curious about the boat, so before they could even pull the chain for the steps when we got to Tintamarre I had my flippers and mask on ready to go.
As I jumped in I was radiating the thought come to me my turtle friends swim with me! Over and over again. We hadn’t been in the water for more than 5 minutes when we saw the first one. I had just started running film on a stingray I had found when Chris yelled turtle. I paddled as quickly as I could. Tjhe water was probably 50 to 60 feet deep so he looked like a rock with flippers. As everyone else in our group made it over to where we were the turtle began to surface and I had to try not to bump into him he got so close to Ty and I before he took off away from us.
Coming up for some air.
We saw at least 4 or 5 more turtles. At one point I could see three at once. Then I shot two of the most amazing things I have ever captured. I hung out over two different turtles for 15 minutes each with my finger on the shutter button waiting for them to surface and praying for the right light and angles. As I was swimming after these fantastic creatures I had one of the moments you swear is a dream.
After about an hour I reluctantly swam back in so we could make the journey back to our harbor and the rest of the night was spent riding the high of that experience.
The quote I used for this blog really reminds me of the refection I did while I was there, and how I have changed since the first time I visited the island. Three years ago I was deep into a heavy dance regimen for the first time in years, bored with the job I was in, but otherwise feeling alive again for the first time in a long time. Last year I went alone, was unemployed, terrified and unsure what the future held, and not really sure of my worth to society because I had been defined by my job for so long. I came this year on the edge of a giant cliff of change, looking back at how much I have grown, and pleasantly pondering how I will have changed by the next time I return.
I apologize for the super long travel post but I figured since they are off topic of the main theme of the blog I figured I would just make them one long blog per trip so those uninterested can easily skip over it. The next post will be back to our same bat time same bat station.
Hold on to your seat kids because this is a kind of long one. New York feels forever a way now that I look back at it but it really hasn’t been. My sister, our friend Beth and myself went because Beth was on the Today show for this segment on body image during Love Your Selfie Week.
The trip started off a little rough do to my own stupidity in decision making the previous evening that resulted in a special little hell I created for myself for the day we left. I could leave this part of the story out but it only added to the adventure.
I love drag queens and the night before we left to New York City Carmen Carrera, Phi Phi O’Hara, and Shanel were coming to Nina Flowers Drag Nation here in Denver. My friends and I love RuPaul’s Drag Race and opting for table service for our group is usually a cheaper option than buying drinks when queens from the show are performing. Let me preface this by saying I rarely drink enough to actually get drunk. If I drink I will normally stop after a few because my body seeks violent revenge the next day if I drink enough to be hung over.
Carmen Carrera
That being said somewhere between only getting 2 drinks out of our first bottle and saying yeah lets get a second bottle (even though we only have 5 people) and the end of the show (which wasn’t very long maybe an hour) I got shit show drunk. Which resulted in me falling asleep in my friends shower after sitting under the water for hours because it was the only thing keeping me from purging my soul along with the cranberry vodkas that won that night.
I awoke to sunlight and birds and started freaking out because I had no clue if I missed my flight, or how long I had to get home and pack. Turns out it was only 6am so I gathered my friends and I had to have one of them drive home because I felt like I was going to die. I proceeded to vomit as if I was expelling demons all the way home from Denver. After hitting snooze until I could no longer avoid what would come out if I sat up, I had to pack 15 minutes before we had to leave for the airport and then proceeded to dry heave all the way there. I had to ask TSA for a trash bag because I wasn’t sure I could survive the train ride to concourse C without heaving on the train (but I did) all they had was a 50 gallon trash bag but it was better than what might happen without it. So needless to say I was in rare flying condition that day. I managed to not get sick on the plane, but couldn’t even stomach ginger ale I was in such bad shape. I finally was able to hold down some 7up (yup I broke down and had soda I felt so shitty) and half a slice of pizza at like 11pm.
Overall we had a lot of fun on the trip even though there were some bumps in our room reservation, and the fact that we didn’t actually see a whole lot. We under estimated how long it would take to get around on the double decker buses (we figured buying an unlimited pass on that for a few days would be a good way to see and hear about the city on route to places).
I love how ornate all of the buildings in NYC are. There was something to look at everywhere you looked and the double decker bus really allowed for you to get a close look at some of the beautiful art that covers the buildings there.
We walked around site seeing and did a carriage ride through central park on our first day. On our way back we got on the same loop for our bus that took us to Central Park because we figured it would just loop around and go back to Rockefeller Center which is where we were staying and the first stop on the loop. After the Time Square stop they announced that everyone should get off at this stop. Well we thought oh that’s because it’s the last stop but we should be able to stay on to go back to the beginning.
Boy were we wrong about that one. The guide come back up top and it took him a minute to notice there were people up here and they shouldn’t be. When he does notice he jumps in the air and proclaims “holy shit, you scared the crap out of me”. He immediately starts freaking out and yelling for the bus to stop. It turns out that this bus had to go through a tunnel to go do another loop and if we would have stayed on we could have been decapitated if we wouldn’t have dropped down on the floor. We couldn’t stop laughing we thought it was pretty hilarious.
The bus tour shortly before our near death experience
We spent the next day wondering around the city, and battery park so we could see the Statute of Liberty (from a far) and Ground Zero. On the way back to Rockefeller Center I had once of the most humiliating and infuriating experiences of my life. It was pretty chilly while we were out there, and well we brought warm clothes we really needed a decent coat to sit on the top of the bus. On our way back we decided we would sit inside the bus because it was cold and crowded up top. My sister and Beth had sat on a row of seats that had three seats and they left the middle one open, and I sat across from them in a two seat. When we got to the next stop a number of people got on and this girl sat next to me and her friend had to go sit next to a stranger further back so I offered to go sit with Beth and Monica so they could sit together. I looked at the spot between them and since we are 3 larger ladies I wasn’t sure if we we would all fit but we did.
A couple of stops later this European couple got off that had been sitting a row or two behind us and I can just feel Beth and Monica’s blood start to boil. As soon as they exit my sister tells me I should have tripped them. I missed what happened but apparently the second I sat down (I was ahead of Beth and Monica so they would have been walking towards them as my back was turned) they started laughing and whispering in my direction. Then when I got up and was like we all fit they started cracking up and were like leave it up to the Americans.
I was so furious I wanted to jump off the bus and unleash a few choice words on them. To quote Allson Rosens segment where people write in about jerks, “Go fuck yourselves”. I have never been picked on because of my size, if anybody has ever made fun of me for being fat it’s never been to my face, so for two random people I don’t even know to be such dicks infuriated me.
Even though this has never happened before it’s something I have always feared. It has something has held me back and has caused social anxiety and kept me from doing things when I am having off days because I don’t want to be the target for someones hate when I haven’t done anything to them.
It’s made me terrified to audition and interview for things because I am afraid they will only see me for my size and not for what I can offer. It’s kept men from openly dating me (and resulted in me leaving) because they are afraid of being made fun of by their friends for dating a fat girl. I just don’t get why it’s socially acceptable to be so cruel to people. Do people realize that it makes people so terrified of being humiliated that it makes the petrified to be able to even walk into a gym or studio (or even outside to walk or ride a bike) to make a change because they feel like the are damned either way?
We didn’t let it ruin our trip and the next day flew by with our visit to the Today show, Lunch, and then heading to the airport. I loved NYC and didn’t really cross anything off my list but NYC cheesecake and the carriage ride so I will certainly be back at some point.
My god I can’t believe it’s already June 15 it seems like just a couple of days ago this whole thing started in motion. Sorry I have gone so long between posts. I came back from NYC and was so busy between then and now with my nephews graduation and going to Sint Maarten that I didn’t really have time to blog which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
I will get a series of posts written to get everyone up to speed otherwise it will be one massive post and I know I personally have a hard time not tuning out after 500 – 700 words when reading blogs. So sorry for the absence and the non-post in the sense that this really didn’t have an information. I offer you an adorable otter pup as a token of my regret. More to come my babies.
Oh my how the time flies. April has just blown by because I have been so busy with my photography business and other general spring activities. I feel like April and May are always jam packed with birthdays, graduations, and other social requirements.
It’s hard to believe it’s been 4 months since I started this whole process, and in just 1 day and 19 hours I will be headed to NYC (see this post for more on my trip), In 34 days and 9 hours I will be soaking up the sun in Sint Maarten, and in 80 days and 15 hours I will be going under the knife for gastric bypass (if all goes as plans).
I finished the last of my three months of supervised nutritional classes on April 14th, the class was on fitness and since I am already pretty active all of this was review. The surgeons team has all the other paper work needed by Cigna to have the surgery approved. The only part left is to wait on is their answer. I was worried about the gap in my classes and when the surgery is going to take place (July 14th so I imagine they will submit my paperwork the last week in June) so I asked if they thought I should continue taking classes until it’s time to submit my paper work. The lady that handles all the insurance stuff for Dr. Browns office says that she doesn’t think so that she doesn’t see a reason why they shouldn’t approve it.
I really wish I could attend the last 3 classes of the series but since it doesn’t work out with my work schedule and I have pretty much all but used all of my time off for they year I wont be able to. They however were very helpful in providing me with the power point sessions and handouts for the classes I wont be able to attend so at least I will be able to go over this information on my own.
I keep thinking surely it can’t be this easy but perhaps it will be. It’s crazy to think that in 3 months I will be 10 days post op. I wish they would just submit the paper work now so we would know for certain. In the mean time I am trying to keep this in mind.
It’s hard because every time I look at the countdown on my phone I can’t help but feel scared, worried, and expecting the pain post op. So I try to focus on things like how awesome it will be to do a forward bend and not have my belly keeping me from reaching my fullest potential because it will only squish down so far. I keep going back and forth between being very excited and then wanting to vomit when I think about how momentous of a feat I am about to take on.
On the bright side I am down to 295 pounds which is a 18 pound loss since I started this whole processes. Hopefully I will have some more time to workout when I get back from NYC and before Sint Maarten. I just need to make sure I walk a ton in NYC so I don’t gain a million pounds from all delicious food we have planned to try while we are out there.
Well that’s all I have for now but I wanted to post something since I finished up my third class. I will be sure to keep you posted on our adventure to the Today show and our NYC shenanigans.
I have been trying to avoid sugar since January, and I have done pretty well considering I was a little out of control with sugar over the holidays. I am very good at avoiding and buying sugary treats unless they are right there in front of and then I don’t have a whole lot of power to resist them.
However temptation island has made it’s way to outside my freaking cube at work. It started the week of Valentines when the guy who sits next to me put out 3 candy dishes full of Valentines candy. Up until last week the only thing I had allowed my self was two Hershey’s Kisses. However last week my arch nemesis moved onto the island and now all three dishes (which were almost finally empty) have been refilled with Easter candy (my favorite I think probably because of the colors, since that’s the only thing that changes from one holiday to the next). The Butterfingers I could leave but I love gummy candy and there’s a dish of Sweet-Tart gummy bunnies that I keep sneaking one here and there as I go by.
Then today a box of cookies showed up, and then a box of danish after lunch that disappeared right before I went to take this picture (and as I write this someone is adding more candy to the dishes).
I have to pass this every time I go to my desk.
I then went on to start talking to my coworker about how sneaking labeling laws are in regards to lots of stuff but mostly GMO and Sugar. Did you know that if something has 2 grams of sugar or less they can say it’s sugar free even though it has sugar in it (I found this out at my 2nd class on Monday)? So depending on the amount of that product you eat you could end up with way more sugar than you expected. Plus it’s a beast that’s known by many names so unless you know what your looking for you could miss sugar being in something.
Here is a list of the different how hidden sugar and sweeteners can be listed on your labels:
White sugar
Brown sugar
Corn syrup
Corn syrup solids
High fructose corn syrup
Malt syrup
Maple syrup
Pancake syrup
Fructose sweetner
Liquid fructose
Honey
Molasses
Brown Rice Syrup
Cane Juice
Evaporated Cane Juice
Granulated sugar
Jaggary (unrefined cane sugar)
Palm sugar (made from sap of the Palmyra palm)
Anhydrous dextrose
Crystal dextrose
Sucrose (table sugar)
Refined Cane Sugar
Beet Sugar
Dextrose (crystalline glucose from starch)
Fructose (fruit sugar)
Maltose (malt)
Lactose (milk sugar)
Fruit juice concentrait
Powdered Sugar
Gluclose
Invert sugar (simple syrup)
Galactose (dairy)
Tubinado sugar (sugar cane-brown)
Confectioner’s sugar (powdered)
Caramelized sugar
Caramel
Agave
Acesulfame Potassium
Aspartame
Cyclamate
Neotame
Saccharin (Splenda)
The list goes on and on, these are just the common ones. I also shared with her this video from Robin O’Brien’s TED Talk on GMO’s and food allergies.
The bill that allowed for GMO foods to be used was passed in 1992 which would have been when I was 6. Now pretty much all of my friends that have had babies have been born with some sort of food allergy, and I wholeheartedly believe it’s because all of the additives, artificial dyes and GMO ingredients that have been in our food for the majority of our lives. I could go on about GMO’s but I will save that for another day this post has fulfilled it’s mission which was to distract me from temptation island until it was time to go.
Embarking on this journey is both exciting and terrifying at the same time. When I think about things like the actual procedure, going under, and the pain I will endure while healing, I get overwhelmingly scared and have to force myself to think of something else. Then I think about all the things that will change for the positive and it makes me wish we could just get this done and the ball rolling now.
In preparation for this wild ride I have been reading countless blogs and accounts of peoples bariatric surgeries. One of my favorite blogs that I have come across is Flirty by Thirty. It’s very inspirational to me because we are similar ages and I just love the concept of her blog. One of the things I like in particular is her 30 by 30 list which is a list of non scale victories that she wants to accomplish by the time she’s 30. Many of the things on the list have been made possibly by her VGS (vertical gastric sleeve).
In an effort to keep my eye on the prize I have decided to make my own 30 by 30 list.
1. Hike one of the 14’ers here in Colorado
2. Shop in the non-plus size section
3. Scuba Dive (I was supposed to do this on my vacation in May. Unfortunately because I have Asthma and I am so over weight I couldn’t get the medical clearance to do it. He said if it was just one or the other I could but both factors put you at a higher risk for decompression sickness so I won’t be able to do until I hit onderland)
4. Run a 5K (in particular the Color Run or the Rave Run)
5. Spend all day biking the tulip fields in Holland
6. Sky Dive
7. Wear dresses without shorts underneath and the fear of chub rub (chafing)
Yesterday was class two of three before we can submit my paperwork to Cigna for approval (see this post for what the current requirements are for my insurance plan). The class was on grocery shopping and how to read labels in order to make smarter decisions post op. This is super important post op (especially for gastric bypass patients because of the malabsorption part of that procedure) since you physically wont be able to consume a normal volume of food.
The recommended program for nutrition post op for RNY/Gastric sleeve are as follows:
Eat 5-6 small meals per day
60-80g of protein per day
64 oz sugar-free and caffeine-free fluid per day
No drinking during meals and for 30 minutes before or after meals
Take a Multivitamin daily
Take 1500 mg Calcium Citrate (no more than 500-600 mg at a time)
Take Iron daily (separate from calcium)
Take B-12 daily
Limit calorie dense foods (sugar, fat)
Avoid
Carbonated beverages (soda, beer, fizzy water etc.)
Nicotine use/exposure
Alcohol consumption during the rapid weight loss period (12-18 months)
High fat and high sugar foods
Straws
Chewing Gum
Getting pregnant for at least 18 – 24 months.
The class starts by everyone introducing themselves, what procedure they are having, what class they are on, and any struggles they are having. Then our nutritionist had us “go shopping” by selecting from a wall of food (empty food packages). She then would create a days worth of meals composed of the things people selected to see where we would land for our daily goals. She did this different times once for sugar, fat, sodium, and protein. After she would create the plan that put us over the daily limits she went back and selected things that were smarter alternatives.
Most of this information was review for me however I thought the class was beneficial, and I did learn a handful of new things. I didn’t know that fruit doesn’t count toward your daily allowed grams of sugar which makes me feel a lot better about the days that I was over for sugar on My Fitness Pal because I ate fruit for multiple meals.
I was a little shocked to see how many people in this group didn’t know how to read nutritional labels. Obviously we are all there because we could use a little help with our food choices, I just don’t understand how you can have made attempts at weight loss without knowing how decipher this information. I was also blown away by how many people didn’t know much about any of the surgeries or which one they were considering. Granted we had some people who haven’t meet with surgeon yet, however by the time I decided to go in for the consultation I had already done days of research and pretty much had my mind made up about what I wanted. Now I know I am an over preparer for sure but one would think you would gather some basic details before considering going under the knife. After my class I had a physical with my PCP, I recently switched to her and she is fabulous. She was also blown away by how stellar my labs were. The only things that she’s worried about is that my HDL level is still low, but she thinks that the surgery should help with that since weight loss will bring that number up.
One of the things that has always made me upset about food in this country is the accesses to affordable organic food (or food as our grandparents used to call it). It saddens me to see countless children being raised on Franken-foods because it’s cheaper than grass fed organic beef and vegetables. What if we could make it so affordable that it would make it accessible for the cost of a soda or a coffee?
I don’t often find products that I am so passionate about that I want to give it away like I am Oprah on one of those favorite things episodes everyone would field goal kick a baby to get into (I am totally going to give it away see below). I don’t even watch her show but I used to fantasize about getting to go to one as a kid.
I had decided this week that my next blog was going to be about Skoop, and last night I got the opportunity to be able to share it so I figured well now it can’t wait. The more people I see try Skoop, and they immediately notice a benefit I can’t help but think that this could really help a lot of people. Skoop is a supplement containing “the mad science of mother nature,” and 10 servings of fruits and vegetables in one serving for only 50 calories and 3 grams of sugar. Skoop’s proprietary blend contains 41 obsessively researched ingredients that have been formulated to maximize nutrient synergies. The result is a surprisingly tasty, nutrient dense Superfood powder – rich with antioxidants, probiotics and adaptogenic herbs that reduce inflammation and acidic build-up, increase energy and resilience, and supercharge your immune system’s ability to fight disease.
Having worked for a company that specialized in organic products for nearly 7 years I am pretty careful about ingredients (and how they’re labeled) and try to shop as organically as possible. When my sister was first trying to get me to try it back in January my only hesitation was that I couldn’t find their complete ingredient list on their website. However after further research it looks like all if not most of the ingredients are organic. So I figured what do I have to lose?
The recommend way to try Skoop is to do a 5 day challenge. It comes in a folder with 5 samples (it’s a dehydrated powder) and it’s recommended that you have it first thing in the morning. I drink mine with 8 oz of water, but it can be added to your choice of milk or milk like product, yogurt, protein shakes, pancakes, smoothies etc. It’s not meant to replace a meal but it’s often the only thing I have for breakfast and I am not hungry until lunch.
I was a little skeptic at first about the fantastic claims from the few people I knew that had started their challenges before me. I had given up soda about two or three week prior to starting Skoop and had still been thinking about the bubbly devil at the beginning of the challenge. I was shocked when day 3 of the challenge came around I stopped craving sugar. I noticed that the mental fog I had cleared and I had more energy. In addition to not being groggy all the time it has seemed to really help with my insomnia. My Skin is looking fantastic, and I keep finding more things that are improving the longer I take it.
I really credit Skoop for helping me be soda free for 74 days so far, and for helping me stay within my calorie goals because I am not starving and snacking all day. One of my best friends was hooked after her 5 day challenge and says she’s went from drinking 12 cups of coffee to just one.
If you would like to be entered into the drawing for a 5 day challenge comment pick me on this post by 5:30pm MST Friday March 28th when I will select 5 lucky winners.
I am going to check this week when I go to my nutritionist meeting to see if it’s safe for post surgery bariatric patients, which I am really hoping it is. How awesome would it be to be able to get 10 servings of fruits and veggies post op mixed in with your protein shakes?
Down Sizing Desi 