hey guys need help....

hey, well today i went in to meet with my nutritionist and she want's me to prepare for surgery in 3 months by weighing my food, controlling my portions and stuff. but i am clueless on how to do this. so if anyone has some pointers like how much is a right portion of food. because i also need to lose 10 to 15 pds. because my liver is enlarged. so by eating right and excercising i can shrink my liver by losing a couple of pds. so if anyone has any pointers. let me know. k. bye.

Hun I would ask the nutritionist what plan she wants you to be on..... I measure my food so I can get used to eating a set amount now that I can eat more... (out 15 months) I eat 3 oz of meat with the meals but I am not sure how much you should have pre-op, maybe check with her.....she needs to give you some direction. I wish you all the best hun! Keep us posted... Debra P

thanks. she wants me eat like if i had surery, you know proteins first, fruits, veggies second, and starches and carbs last. to get me used to eating like if i was post op. anyways is there somewhere i can go to see what are normal portions. because my problem is really overeatting. so i just wanna control that and learn how to do that.

You could try a weigh****chers for a few weeks. Just to get the hang of it. I haven't been to one in years, but i remember they use to sell scales, and measuring equipment, and i'm sure they can show you how to use it too. Scott

thanks for the suggestion scott. i'll look into that and give it a try. your right weigh****chers does do that. thanks for the idea.

Glenys, I looks like the others say try WW or something like that and that might be a really great idea, like Jamie said in the plan I would think a serving of meat are about 3-4 oz and about 3 oz veggies. I guess they want you to watch your carbs as well but if you can still have fruit that is really good as well. I wish you the best of luck hun and get yourself a scale at any home store, it will really help to know what the portion size looks like, I am STILL learning what it looks like so it takes time. Take care Debra P

thank you, you guys are great. yea i need to watch my carbs. yea, my scale will come on monday, yup coz so many years of over eating it's like i have to learn to eat again you know what i mean. well thanks. i hope i get use to it. thanks bye.

GDR: I agree w/ this philophy 110%, by working at the healthy habits you willneed postop you can get healthier preop and less wt to lose as well and avoiding the last supper syndrome! I did it and got 45# off in 3 mo! The nutritionist should be able to provide a caloried rec. 9such as 1200 or 1500 cal/day) and or a specific list of amounts. I will include below what i did and the rptoein sparing diet many use preop (this shrinks liver as u are talking about easing surgery and making it safer!) ~~~~~~~~~~ WT LOSS BEFORE SURGERY/MOTIVATION/AVOIDING THE LAST SUPPER SYNDROME In our program we are required to loose 10% of our body wt before surgery.... Loosing weight pre-op is required by many surgeons & for many reasons... and I am so happy I did! 1.. to show motivation, 2.. ability to adhere to a plan (as we will need to for life!), if you can't be mindful and able to follow restrictions pre-op how will you do it post-op? 3.. to increase your health even a modest 5-10% wt. loss is very helpful, the National Institute of health has even researched this...(hence why weigh****chers is so focused on the 10% wt loss) 4.. decreases surgical complications (by exercise and decrease wt your heart and lungs are in better shape for surgery, anesthesia and healing!)... 5.. Also psychologically it is tough going from a super-sized big Mac meal to clear liquids for 2 weeks post-op! 6.. ***MAIN ONE FOR PROTEIN SPARING or MEDIFAST DIETING***It helps shrink the liver and this eases their surgical procedure and decreases chance of nicking it.... 7.. exercising before helps you continue after! 8..The more you lose pre-op the less you will have to lose post-op and the closer to an ideal body-wt you will attain! I lost the weight by doing the food pyramid. That's it, I was eating so bad (fast food daily, large portions, consuming every high-fat/sugar thing imaginable and NOT exercising that just cutting down and walking 2 miles a day helped! For ME, it was "no one" was going to stop me from having this operation, it was my decision and all that was asked of me was to loose 30 lbs, I figured this is a small price for such a wonderful gift I would be given and the opportunity to have a healthier happier longer life....! I was so motivated/psyched; I dropped 30 pounds in 30 days and went on to drop 15 more before surgery! (Although this took me 2 months, as it got harder and I had a few last meals, we all do but you can't let this ruin your opportunity!) Exercise was another key; I faithfully walked 2 miles everyday..it helped that my mom went with me a lot! (a buddy is so helpful!) I followed the food pyramid given to me by clinical nutritionist Dr. Boham...I also wrote everything down (Many find www.fitday.com helpful for this) that went in my MOUTH!!! Or you can get food pyramid/bullseye version at: http://www.xenical.com/hcp/1400_Am_Beye.pdf I also had to remind myself how BAD I wanted this! Everyday it was/had to be more important to me to change my bad habits and lose weight to have this surgery than to continue to slowly kill myself with food/keep myself from the only hope I had!. I also told everyone about my plans and they helped support me, my friends/family and coworkers! I really can't give you any more guidance than this, it really had to come from within, it was a mindset with me, and I wanted this BAD real bad and I knew it was my last resort/chance! I felt invigorated and motivated by the end results...the long-term had to outweigh the short-term gratification of eating bad choices or overeating! It was a learning opportunity for me to change my habits and practice chewing well, not drinking with meals and eating smaller portions, giving up sugar/caffeine/carbonation/alcohol (if any of those are your issues, carbonation/caffeine/alcohol weren't issues for me)! So a few weeks/months of healthy habits to lose pre-op wt is not a lot if you frame it right! IT IS NOT FOREVER and it is about starting this journey! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PROTEIN SPARING DIET Here is the protein sparing in a nutshell!: The protein sparing diet I received is as follows: Breakfast: 2.0 oz. of cooked lean meat or 1 egg/eggbeater 4 oz. veggies 8 oz. Non-calorie beverages Mid Morning Snack: 8 oz non-calorie beverage 4 oz. veggies Lunch: 3-4 oz. cooked lean meat 4 oz. veggies 8 oz. non-calorie beverage mid afternoon snack: (same as mid morning allotment) Dinner: (same allotment as Lunch) Evening Snack: Same as all other snacks 4oz. cooked veggies= 1/2 C cooked or raw veggies 3oz protein= size of a deck cards/bar of soap Take a multivitamin with minerals daily, 1000mg of calcium daily (split 2xday) Drink at lest 64 oz fluids daily (calorie free...crystal lite, water, tea, coffee, broth, seltzer, club soda, artificial sweeteners are OK Meats: (NO SKIN, packed in h2o not oil)very lean burger, chicken, beef steak, turkey, egg whites, eggs, egg beaters, veal lean, lamb lean, pork lean, liver, fish (haddock, perch, cod, flounder, crab, halibut, tuna, shrimp are all low in fat) Veggie: sprouts, asparagus, bamboo shoots, beets, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, cukes, peppers, lettuces, mushrooms, pickles, radishes, spinach, summer squash/zucchini, tomatoes, green/wax beans, collard/other greens, tomato juice FREE FOODS: sugar free hard candy, sugar free jello, sugar free ice pops, sugar free jellies and syrups, butter buds/molly mcbutter, horseradish, soy sauce, kitchen bouquet, vinegar, lemon juice, nonstick pam, bullion/broth, all herbs/spices, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce, unsweetened pickles This diet is a 600-800 cal/day diet consisting of lean meats and veggies, with little carbs, it maximizes fat breakdown without losing lean muscle mass, fat is used as energy and the small amount of protein saves the lean tissue in the body :spares it". Diet is VERY limited and you may only have 1-2 bowel movements a week. EAT ALL Allowed veggies for bulk! Only to be used for short periods of time (1 mo or so)....You will be in ketosis on this diet so drink plenty of fluids to flush wastes out! You may notice sweet fruity breath, this is normal, it is the body's way of blowing of some ketones.... Good luck ! This was taken directly from my handout from the clinical nutritionist! feel free to email me if needed! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~` Take Care, Jamie Lap RNY 10/9/02 Dr. Singh 320/163 5'9'' (lost 45# before surgery) Plastics 6/9/04 & 11/11/2005 Dr. King http://www.obesityhelp.com/morbidobesity/members/profile.php?N=c1132518510 "Being happy doesn't mean everything's perfect, it just means you've decided to see beyond the imperfections!"

wow. thanks so much i love that fitday website it's so cool. now i can keep track of everything. thanks.

Hi Glenys We have a support group on another forum so I thought I would send you this post Okay here goes please don"t disappoint Saturday October 7th 11am Church Street Boxing Gym 25 Park Place Between Church and Broadway easily accessible by subway http://churchstreetboxing.com/ 30 pp all equipment included just wear comfy clothes I will go on faith and put up front the $300 I guarantee if I lose my money I will put you on blast any questions give me a call please or just call the gym Vivienne