newlifetax

Send Message

Block

Add Friend

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.   

I went to the hospital this morning for an ultrasound, upper GI study, chest xray, and EKG.  I was in and out in less than 2 hours.  I was initially dreading this after reading how unpleasant these tests can be.  I decided to go in with a positive attitude and it paid off.  I can say that in my experience, these tests were a breeze.  Yes, the barium stuff was not all that pleasant tasting (it wasn't horrible either), but drinking that stuff and having all the pictures taken lasted maybe 5 minutes.  So, I can say that I feel good and I am glad that I got this part over with.  I was even able to make it in to work only 1hr late. 

I still have to do the sleep study on Sunday night.  After that, all that will be left is actual visits with the nutritionist, psychologist, GI doctor, my surgeon, and the anesthesiologist.

My name is James and I live in the Raleigh, NC area.  Currently, my weight is 360lb and I am 5'7" with a BMI of 56.5 and I am 36 years old.  I have been overweight my entire life.  Now that I have a daughter, I am ready to make a change so that I can be the husband and father that my wife and daughter need me to be.  My weight has caused me to miss out on many things in life and I am tired of it.  The turning point came for me when I applied for additional life insurance through my employer.  I was denied additional coverage because my BMI was too high.  On August 14, 2014, I had an initial bariatric consultation with Dr. Paul Enochs and I am currently undergoing the required pre-op testing.  I am shooting for a mid-October 2014 surgery date.  I am currently deciding between VSG and a new procedure called Sleeve Gastrectomy with Single Anastomosis Duodeno-ileal Bypass (also called loop DS, SADI-S, or SIPS).  I would like to lose 180lb to reach my goal weight of 180lb.  

I plan to update my progress here and I also plan to start a youtube channel to document my journey.  My desire is to raise awareness of the horrible disease that obesity is and hopefully inspire others (especially my friends, family, and co-workers) to beat this disease that robs people of not only years of life but also quality of life.  My goal is to always be positive with my blogs and videos, even if the topics themselves are negative.  I see so many people blogging/vlogging about their journey and every post or video shows them crying, whining, and generally being negative.  I don't want to present that image to those who I am trying to encourage.  

My next steps are pre-op testing at the hospital on Friday August 22, sleep study on Sunday August 24, and nutrition appointment on Monday August 25.  I have my psych evaluation scheduled for September 10.  When I finish those things, I should meet with the GI doctor to go over my upper GI study results.  After that, I will meet with my surgeon again, pay my co-insurance, and schedule my surgery.  I am hopeful that with surgery and a little hard work and determination, I will lose enough weight to take my daughter to Disney World (and be able to enjoy it) in the spring of 2015.