things I learned yesterday

• Protein first from herein out. It’s imperative that I get at least 60 grams in a day. I don’t have a problem with that now, but may after surgery. So I’m going to start ensuring that things I’m eating now always have protein in it. And if I’m wanting something without protein, I’ll need to be sure to eat something else with protein at the same time. The nurse gave a great example yesterday of a patient who had lost a ton of weight and was feeling great, overall, but was so incredibly tired all the time. Turns out the patient was eating applesauce for lunch. It satisfied her because she didn’t drink for 30 minutes but there was no protein in the applesauce. Once the patient started adding unflavored protein powder to the applesauce (or had a piece of cheese in addition to the applesauce), she started feeling better.
• No drinking 30 minutes after eating. It makes sense and it reverts back to my early childhood when my grandparents wouldn’t allow us a drink at the table. They lived through horrendous when food was a luxury and drinking something pushed that food down and made them more hungry. I need to start practicing this with every single meal. This is not an easy task for me because I absolutely love drinking water and do so all day, every day. I won’t stop drinking water, but I did find an app – Baritastic – that has a water timer on it so that you just quick press a button and you just don’t drink anything till the timer goes off. I will be practicing this every meal from now till (and after) surgery.
• Eat like a baby after surgery. I think this was the biggest tip I got from yesterday’s session. When a baby is born, he drinks his mother’s milk or formula–liquids. That’s it for quite some time. Then he gets to try some purees, later some mashed foods, then soft, till finally he’s able to get introduced to regular foods. One at a time, you should introduce foods to a baby. The same should apply to a bariatric patient. Maybe not the duration of each food phase, but take your time with the phases and the new foods. I will have a new stomach. A much smaller, new stomach. I very well may not be able to eat the same kinds of foods I’m able to today. And I need to really stick by their guidelines with two weeks of liquids, two weeks of blended, two weeks of soft foods, etc. They’ve provided great examples for each category and I need to come to terms that this is the best for my new tummy and that, in time, I should be able to eat anything I want just in much smaller portions.
• Take your vitamins forever. This is actually a fear of mine- becoming healthy with my weight but unhealthy because of not enough proper nutrition. That’s where the vitamins come in to play and my center provides a fantastic array of proper vitamins to take and when. Also, it’s imperative to get blood work done when the center requests it (I think it’s every three months the first year but I could be wrong) and every year thereafter. If going to a regular doctor, tell them you’ve have bariatric surgery so they can be sure to test everything properly.
• Move your ass every day. I’m looking forward to this one, actually. It’s hard to be active when you’re carrying a lot of extra weight (I hate sweating), but I’m trying to walk more every day now and I know when the weight starts coming off, I’ll move more and I can’t wait. I’m not sure I’ll turn into a runner, but just parking father away and going for walks after dinner and to the park will be so much easier and doable and WILL become part of my every day like taking my vitamins and not drinking for 30 minutes after eating.

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Ahh I’m getting super excited about all of this again! Taking care of me and being the best that I can is such an empowering experience and hopefully I can revert back to this if PMS or some other bullshit strikes.

Still no surgery date but hopefully that will come after next Monday’s cardiologist appointment.