Well the support group was much bigger than I had anticipated. Most of the members were older than me, but it was nice to see a few people closer to my age. I didn't get a change to talk with them, but hopefully I can next time. I'm curious as to if people closer to my age had issues with excess skin or if it 'bounced back'.
The meeting started with the two surgeons answering any questions group members had. Some of them were questions in helping them decide between surgeries, others were questions regarding post surgery.
Later, we split into groups based on what surgery we had/are looking into getting. The newcomers (including me) were taken into a separate room, where the surgeons went into more detail regarding the different surgery options, why we have to 'jump through hoops' before surgery, what to avoid after surgery, etc. This was about half of the original group (which was maybe 100 or so people). Questions asked this time were more personal, such as if it would cure someone's specific disease, etc. There were some interesting facts I made notes of to talk to my dad about, but I threw it away after talking to him about it! I didn't even think to keep it to inform you guys/gals on my blog. I'm so sorry about that.
A few days later, I had my nutrition classes. Most of it was information I had already learned either from nutrition classes in school, or just doing my own research. The first class discussed general nutrition, the second was more specific to the surgery we were getting (bypassers and sleevers were together). There will be another nutrition class after surgery. They gave me about 75 pages of notes to add to my binder. I'll review over them with you:
Nutrition 101 (The first course) - discusses the important of structured eating; learning to eat until satisfied vs eating until full; how to build your plate; starchy vegetables vs nonstarchy vegetables; healthy food ideas and sample menus; label reading; sample grocery list
Nutrition 200B (dont ask me why it's not 201 or 102... but it is the next one in the series) - importance of vitamins, water, and protein pre and especially post surgery; pre and post surgery sample meal plans (week by week); clear liquid diet ideas; what to expect while in the hospital recovering from surgery; soft proteins; protein bars and trans fat; protein drink samples*
*Rather than purchase a $25-50 gallon of protein mix, you can purchase the samples online to decide if you like the flavor or not (nothing worse than buying a ton of something you end up hating). The websites to check are: injury.com and mybariatricpantry.com.
It is important to check with your bariatric team about your vitamins post surgery. Your body will digest these vitamins differently, so you'll need vitamins specially made for people who have had bariatric surgery. This is something you will have to take the rest of your life. With the gastric sleeve, this may not be neccessary, but since there is little history on this surgery, my surgeon requires us to take the supplements as a precaution until there is more literature.
I also have a note written in the margin regarding the liquid diet. The nutritionist recommended purchasing 'Torani' sugar free syrups to mix up the flavor. She said patients had even made this into slushies and ice cream somehow! Pretty cool idea. I just watched my dad suffer for a day of liquid dieting before his colonoscopy, and us surgery people will be doing it for a few weeks, so we better have options!
Until Next Time,
XOXO Miss Fat Girl
Monday, September 10, 2012
Sunday, September 2, 2012
PreOp Bariatric Appointments (Part Two)
My first appointment with a nutritionist began by weighing her me and noting my body fat percentage and BMI. She asked a few questions regarding my visit with the social worker, my eating habits, and the surgery I am looking into. I dont remember too many details... my memory isn't the greatest and this appointment was last week. In the end, she made her suggestions, which she wrote down for me:
The first, is to schedule my meals and workouts. This is also what my social worker has asked of me. We decided to 'schedule' it right then and there. She pulled out a paper and we decided when I go to bed at night and when I get up in the morning. I was really worried about this, since I have insomnia (prescription sleeping pills dont always work and I'm often awake until dawn!). I usually am up til the sun comes up... or close to... and usually sleep in until the early afternoon! Once in a blue moon, I'd get my schedule back to something more normal, but sooner than later, it'd eventually reverse again (up late, to sleep late). Luckily, this hasn't been an issue since our appointment. I set my alarm for 10 am, as we scheduled, and have actually been falling asleep within the scheduled 'go to bed' time, or around it. Only a couple of times have I slept in an extra hour. I'm not even groggy or tired throughout the day!
Scheduling meals is done so your body knows when to expect food. I've heard of 'starvation mode' before, but had read that it doesn't begin storing fat until after a few weeks or months of regularly letting your body get extremely hungry before eating it. However, she suggested that it can go into a starvation mode if you dont regularly eat at scheduled times. Your body wants to know when it's going to eat next (by eating at a normal, scheduled time). She also said a little bit of a hunger pain isn't a big deal because it tells you you've got a metabolism. You just want to avoid getting to the point where you're extremely hungry and then end up overeating. My social worker suggested eating every three hours. The nutritionist said every 3-5 and not to go more than 5 hours without a snack. We scheduled meals accordingly: 10 am (when I wake up), lunch at 2, a snack at 5, and dinner at 8 (our family has always had dinner around 8 pm). I'm used to having more snacks each day, so I may allow myself a second snack if I do get HUNGRY, but will otherwise stick to her schedule.
The other scheduled item is a workout. She scheduled me for one 30 minute workout every 3-4 days. I tried to tell her to schedule me for an hour every day, because I feel that's what I should be doing. She pointed out I tend to want to go from '0 to 200' (which I know is true) and usually results in me getting burnt out and failing, then starting all over again! She told me if I decide to work out for an hour, than that's fine, but to only commit myself to 30 minutes, so that way I dont disappoint myself if I don't do an hour... the same reason with only doing it 3-4 days out of the week. We scheduled this for 1 o'clock, since that's when the sun is in a perfect spot for my swimming pool. However, I haven't been able to swim at all since our weather is being all screwy lately! That's no excuse for my not having worked out at all though. Yes, I admit it. I saw my nutritionist on August 28th... it is now September 2 in the evening and I still haven't worked out! However, I AM working out this evening. I was going to earlier, but I wanted to wear my Exerspy armband to see how many calories I'll burn during my workout. The battery was dead so I have it charging now.
To follow my meals and exercise each day (if you want suggests for yourself), you can check out my SparkPeople.com profile. My username is LysMyMiss53. I've been off and on that website since winter of last year, but I'm back on it now to keep track of my meals for the bariatric team. I like that the site not only monitors calories, fat, carbs, etc, it also gives you a feedback report at the end of the day... pie charts and everything!
I may post my meal plans and workout details (what I'm doing, for how long, etc) on here at the end of each month.
The other suggestion was to plan my meals... not just the time, but also what I'll eat. This was also suggested by the social worker (so I'm getting my 'homework assignments' from both bariatric team members done at the same time). I asked my social worker what my calorie limit would be, however, she told me she was not ready to assign a calorie limit for me yet. She just wanted me to get in the habit of eating at regular times, and recording what I eat/planning meals (or 'menus'). I'll still be watching my calories based off of what SparkPeople.com suggests for me. However, even though I want to dive right in and do everything perfectly, it is nice that the nutritionist is taking it a step at a time. As she said before... I tend to go from '0 to 200', and I know where that gets me!
My next meeting is on September 4th. It will be my first support group meeting, and I will also be meeting with the surgeon one-on-one. I'm so excited for these support group meetings and I wish they were held more than just once a month. I'm only required to attend one, but I plan to attend every month!
My other appointments scheduled are:
September 6th - I will be taking the required "Nutrition 101" and "Nutrition 200" classes. My binder (given to me by the bariatric teams) says that '101' covers 'structured eating/balanced plate/label reading'. '200' is divided into sections based on which surgery you are getting... so I will be attending the one specific to the gastric sleeve (which is also with gastric bypass patients.... the lapband patients are in a separate section). You can take these two classes on different days, however, I was able to schedule them both back to back. They are scheduled to last three hours total... an hour and a half each. I will have a 30 minute break in between the two.
September 13 - I also was able to schedule two separate appointments back to back. The first one will be with the physical therapist (my first appointment with her) and the next will be my second appointment with the nutritionist. Those should be approx. 1 hour each. The physical therapist appointment section in the book says to wear tennis shoes and comfortable close, so I'll prob be doing a workout. I'm nervous about the workout though... I'm afraid she'll have me do more than my body is able to handle at this time/weight. I do expect to be 'pushed', but I hope she doesn't have me collapsing before my appointment with the nutritionist!
I'm also supposed to have a follow up with the social worker. The book says the follow up is only 'if recommended', but it IS recommended. It has not been scheduled yet though. I will schedule that when I'm there on the 13th, or maybe the 6th.
Welp, that is the update for now. I see this blog is getting many views, but no comments yet. :( I encourage you guys/gals to ask questions or give me feedback. As I've said before.... I'm so antsy that my life is pretty much revolving around forums, vlogs/blogs, websites, journal articles, etc when I'm not doing my schoolwork!
Til Next Time,
Miss Fat Girl
The first, is to schedule my meals and workouts. This is also what my social worker has asked of me. We decided to 'schedule' it right then and there. She pulled out a paper and we decided when I go to bed at night and when I get up in the morning. I was really worried about this, since I have insomnia (prescription sleeping pills dont always work and I'm often awake until dawn!). I usually am up til the sun comes up... or close to... and usually sleep in until the early afternoon! Once in a blue moon, I'd get my schedule back to something more normal, but sooner than later, it'd eventually reverse again (up late, to sleep late). Luckily, this hasn't been an issue since our appointment. I set my alarm for 10 am, as we scheduled, and have actually been falling asleep within the scheduled 'go to bed' time, or around it. Only a couple of times have I slept in an extra hour. I'm not even groggy or tired throughout the day!
Scheduling meals is done so your body knows when to expect food. I've heard of 'starvation mode' before, but had read that it doesn't begin storing fat until after a few weeks or months of regularly letting your body get extremely hungry before eating it. However, she suggested that it can go into a starvation mode if you dont regularly eat at scheduled times. Your body wants to know when it's going to eat next (by eating at a normal, scheduled time). She also said a little bit of a hunger pain isn't a big deal because it tells you you've got a metabolism. You just want to avoid getting to the point where you're extremely hungry and then end up overeating. My social worker suggested eating every three hours. The nutritionist said every 3-5 and not to go more than 5 hours without a snack. We scheduled meals accordingly: 10 am (when I wake up), lunch at 2, a snack at 5, and dinner at 8 (our family has always had dinner around 8 pm). I'm used to having more snacks each day, so I may allow myself a second snack if I do get HUNGRY, but will otherwise stick to her schedule.
The other scheduled item is a workout. She scheduled me for one 30 minute workout every 3-4 days. I tried to tell her to schedule me for an hour every day, because I feel that's what I should be doing. She pointed out I tend to want to go from '0 to 200' (which I know is true) and usually results in me getting burnt out and failing, then starting all over again! She told me if I decide to work out for an hour, than that's fine, but to only commit myself to 30 minutes, so that way I dont disappoint myself if I don't do an hour... the same reason with only doing it 3-4 days out of the week. We scheduled this for 1 o'clock, since that's when the sun is in a perfect spot for my swimming pool. However, I haven't been able to swim at all since our weather is being all screwy lately! That's no excuse for my not having worked out at all though. Yes, I admit it. I saw my nutritionist on August 28th... it is now September 2 in the evening and I still haven't worked out! However, I AM working out this evening. I was going to earlier, but I wanted to wear my Exerspy armband to see how many calories I'll burn during my workout. The battery was dead so I have it charging now.
To follow my meals and exercise each day (if you want suggests for yourself), you can check out my SparkPeople.com profile. My username is LysMyMiss53. I've been off and on that website since winter of last year, but I'm back on it now to keep track of my meals for the bariatric team. I like that the site not only monitors calories, fat, carbs, etc, it also gives you a feedback report at the end of the day... pie charts and everything!
I may post my meal plans and workout details (what I'm doing, for how long, etc) on here at the end of each month.
The other suggestion was to plan my meals... not just the time, but also what I'll eat. This was also suggested by the social worker (so I'm getting my 'homework assignments' from both bariatric team members done at the same time). I asked my social worker what my calorie limit would be, however, she told me she was not ready to assign a calorie limit for me yet. She just wanted me to get in the habit of eating at regular times, and recording what I eat/planning meals (or 'menus'). I'll still be watching my calories based off of what SparkPeople.com suggests for me. However, even though I want to dive right in and do everything perfectly, it is nice that the nutritionist is taking it a step at a time. As she said before... I tend to go from '0 to 200', and I know where that gets me!
My next meeting is on September 4th. It will be my first support group meeting, and I will also be meeting with the surgeon one-on-one. I'm so excited for these support group meetings and I wish they were held more than just once a month. I'm only required to attend one, but I plan to attend every month!
My other appointments scheduled are:
September 6th - I will be taking the required "Nutrition 101" and "Nutrition 200" classes. My binder (given to me by the bariatric teams) says that '101' covers 'structured eating/balanced plate/label reading'. '200' is divided into sections based on which surgery you are getting... so I will be attending the one specific to the gastric sleeve (which is also with gastric bypass patients.... the lapband patients are in a separate section). You can take these two classes on different days, however, I was able to schedule them both back to back. They are scheduled to last three hours total... an hour and a half each. I will have a 30 minute break in between the two.
September 13 - I also was able to schedule two separate appointments back to back. The first one will be with the physical therapist (my first appointment with her) and the next will be my second appointment with the nutritionist. Those should be approx. 1 hour each. The physical therapist appointment section in the book says to wear tennis shoes and comfortable close, so I'll prob be doing a workout. I'm nervous about the workout though... I'm afraid she'll have me do more than my body is able to handle at this time/weight. I do expect to be 'pushed', but I hope she doesn't have me collapsing before my appointment with the nutritionist!
I'm also supposed to have a follow up with the social worker. The book says the follow up is only 'if recommended', but it IS recommended. It has not been scheduled yet though. I will schedule that when I'm there on the 13th, or maybe the 6th.
Welp, that is the update for now. I see this blog is getting many views, but no comments yet. :( I encourage you guys/gals to ask questions or give me feedback. As I've said before.... I'm so antsy that my life is pretty much revolving around forums, vlogs/blogs, websites, journal articles, etc when I'm not doing my schoolwork!
Til Next Time,
Miss Fat Girl
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