newlifetax
Making Changes
Aug 26, 2014
Currently, I am in the pre-op phase of my weight loss journey. I really hate calling it a journey as the name implies that it will come to an end at some point. Maybe I should look at it as the journey ends whenever my life ends. Regardless of what I or you call it, the truth is that in order to become successful, changes must be made in order to prepare to embark on the lifelong journey of good health.
Right now, my preparations include all kinds of pre-op blood work, radiology, nutrition counseling, etc. I have learned that I have sleep apnea. That means that I stop breathing frequently during my sleep. This problem leads to all kinds of unwanted effects on my daily life including sleepiness, irritability, and I believe, weight gain. What all this means is that I will be receiving a CPAP machine to help me breathe while I sleep at night. While having to wear a mask at night is an undesirable change, I welcome it. Hopefully along with the inconvenience of the CPAP will come more restful sleep.
I am making other changes too in preparation for my weight loss surgery. I know that these will be lifelong changes. Some things I will probably give up forever and some I will cut back on or eliminate for a time. Currently, I have reduced my soda intake from 4 or 5 per day to 2 or 3 per week. I don't know if studies have been done to prove it, but I believe that drinking soda can cause weight regain in bariatric patients. Even though I prefer diet soda, the nutritionist told me that the artificial sweeteners used in diet soda can cause your brain and body to do funky things with sugar. Since artificial sweeteners are 2000 times more sweet than sugar, the brain craves more sweetness when eating something sweet. This causes the body to consume more sweets to satisfy that craving and it possibly affects how the body processes sugars. I don't understand how it all works, but I do know that diet sodas and artificially sweetened drinks have not helped me lose weight. If anything, I have gained weight since I cut out the sugar drinks.
Since I want to become as healthy as I can, I am choosing to eliminate, as best I can, artificial sweeteners from my diet. Those 2 or 3 diet sodas a week will be eliminated and I might allow myself to have 1 regular soda every now and then as a treat. Once I have surgery, I will eliminate that from my diet altogether. Additionally, I am eliminating the artificial sweetener I use in my coffee and the other drinks (crystal light, Monster energy, etc) that I consume. During my pre-op liver reduction diet and post-op liquid diet, I will not strongly adhere to the no artificial sweetener rule as I will be severely limited on what I can "eat". My plan is to do my best to avoid the artificial sweeteners as much as possible during those phases. While it is practically impossible to totally eliminate all artificial sweeteners, I am going to do my best. I look at this not as losing some of my favorite things, but rather as an opportunity to reduce a man-made chemical that I am putting into my body.
I am also beginning to make other changes. Yesterday, my nutritionist recommended that I start a food journal. She said this is imperative after surgery to track protein consumption. She also wants me to track my carbohydrate and fat intake. She showed me the My Fitness Pal app. I am sure that many OH members know about it. I had heard of it but I did not have it installed on my phone. So, I downloaded the app and started tracking this morning. I can already tell that if I am honest with myself, this app will help me make good choices when it comes to the food that I put into my body.
The last change that I have already implemented is increasing my water consumption. I have never really liked drinking water unless I was hot, sweaty, and really thirsty. I have convinced myself that I do in fact like to drink water, especially if it is ice cold. Since I am no longer drinking the crystal light or diet sodas, it has been easy to replace them with water. I am also making the conscious effort to consume water even when I am not thirsty. So far, so good.
While I have made good progress, I know that I have a lot more changes to make. I need to quit smoking cigars, cut out caffeine, start exercising, practice slow eating, learn to chew really well, and get into the habit of not drinking while eating. I am not in denial that I have a lot of work to do. I believe that implementing too many changes too quickly will only set me up for failure...and failure is not an option for me. By making one or two small changes at a time and establishing good habits incrementally, I believe that I am preparing myself to become successful over the long term. Additionally, I don't want to tell myself that I can never have certain things (cigars, soda, certain foods, etc) ever again. I have done that in the past and it has made me crave them even more. I believe that totally prohibiting myself from having certain things has caused me to eventually slip back into bad habits. Whenever I gave in to a moment of weakness, I told myself that it was a lost cause and I went right back to my old habits. I have told myself that moving forward, I will replace bad things in my life with good choices. If I want an occasional cigar or soda or whatever AFTER A LONG HEALING PERIOD, I will allow myself to have it but I cannot allow myself to have those things on a regular basis. It has worked well with the sodas so far. I really don't even miss having them multiple times a day and I have even been able to say no without reservation.
I am optimistic about making healthy choices in the future. My nutritionist told me that I will have to make those choices daily and that the farther down the road I go, the easier it will be to keep making good choices. I believe that by starting to make changes now rather than waiting until surgery day arrives, I am laying a good foundation for a successful journey. I know that if I slip and fall, I have to pick myself up and keep moving forward.
