Supervised Diet....I have to wait a year before surgery....

Ok I finally was able to get in to see my weight managment doctor today and found out all kinds of things

#1 my Vitamin D level is super low

#2 I am at a very high risk for heart problems

#3 I am starting a low carb diet and I am allowed 100carbs a day the less the better, and eat at least 25g fiber/day

#4 My goal weight as of right now is 277 in six months we will re-evaluate this number

#5 I was started on some new meds, Cozaar, Restarting my Metformin but eventually getting to a higher dose, and if my insurance approves it Invokana which is fairly new my pharmacy didnt even have it in their system.

a bit of information for me to handle at once but now making this list to update everyone it seems more managable, if anyone has any tips for me for starting this part of my journey I welcome them, thank you all so much for all of your support!!!

The more you learn, the more you can do to be proactive about your health.  Start taking a vitamin D supplement.  I take one by Nature's Own that is one that dissolves under the tongue.  I take two of these a day and my vitamin D levels are awesome.  My calcium supplement has vitamin D in it too so that helps.  Also if you can spend time outside soaking up some sun each day, that will help.

Can you start walking a little each day?  It doesn't have to be much, but a little bit will help so that you can get some activity built into your day so that once you DO have surgery, it will already be a habit.

Change things a little bit at a time so that you are not overwhelmed, and set small goals along the way for yourself.  Be sure to reward yourself when you achieve them--a manicure, a new pair of earrings--something nice for yourself.

You can do this! 

That was a lot of information at once.  But on the bight side now you have a plan and so it's easier to keep your eye on the prize when you know what to expect.  Take it one day at a time.  We'll be here to help you along your journey.  You got this!!

Upping your Vitamin D might hep your energy level - it certainly did with mine.  If you're not already, I suggest using MyFitnessPal to log your food - it'll help you track those carbs and fiber amongst other things.  It'll also help you once you have surgery get into the habit of logging everything.

Keep fighting the good fight - you'll be on the Loser's Bench in no time!

Hi Sarah,

I can imagine how  frustrating it is to have to wait so long for surgery.  It sounds like your medical team is taking good care of you, and that's the most important thing - to keep yourself healthy. 

I was super-impatient, and what I decided to do was eat as if I'd already had surgery.  I limited myself to 3 to 4 ounces of meat per meal, and then filled up on healthy veggies.  I limited carbs and calories, eating about 1000 cals per day.  I found I lost weight at about 15 pounds per month, so by the time I had surgery I was over 50 pounds lighter than I started.

It really helped me psychologically after the surgery to be down so much weight.  Plus I felt like I had started the changes in my life before the surgery.

Bust of luck with your journey. 

Carol

I had very low Vitamin D levels as well. Most obese people do. And no matter how many supplements I took, my levels barely raised at all. The one thing I have found that works is sunshine. Every sunny day that I possibly can, I spend 15 minutes lying down outside in shorts and a tank top and NO sun screen! I don't do more than that as there is a limit to how much vitamin D you can get from sunlight, plus I don't want a skin cancer recurrence. But just doing that has brought my vitamin D levels well back into the normal range.

Congratulations on getting the party started. And hey, welcome to the low-vitamin-D club; all the coolest people hang out here...

On the subject of waiting a year for surgery, I have a blog recommendation: Flirty by Thirty. The author, Nikke2003, who posts on this board a lot and is just an excellent writer and one of my favorite bariatric bloggers, wrote extensively about her six-month supervised diet. Here's a link to the pre-op diet category at her blog. I'm sure your diets and routines won't be identical, but Nikke2003 wrote about the general challenges and rewards of sticking to her doctors' and dieticians' guidelines over a long period of time while waiting for surgery. Very inspiring--a good read from a fellow VSGer who's "in it for the long haul."

Oh, I'm so sorry. I had to get a prescription for vitamin D. If I could recommend something. I would start using protein and still getting yourself ready for surgery anyway because the protein has a lot your body could use such as protein. It helps with passing bowel movements I have noticed like what fiber does. Protein smoothy with frozen  fruit has become one of my favorites. If you shop at bulk stores costco has great frozen strawberries, and a blueberry raspberry mix that you can toss into a smoothy with a scoop of vanilla protein powder. I can get some of your fiber in with fat free milk. It will make drinking the protein not such a drastic change and tastes great too. You can throw in any kind of our favorite fruits. I have Surgery in 3 weeks so I've been getting used to drinking these protein drinks. My first protein smoothy almost made me yak. But again I'm so sorry this is going to be drug out so long. Wishing you luck for speedy approval. Obvously your health depends on it. I wi**** wasn't such a pain for people to get approved.

I am so overwhelmed at the response I get everytime I post and I am so glad that I have all of you that have been thru this to keep me going and focusing on whats important!!!

Most people in the north are low in D. I take dry D3 which is the form best for us.  I take it with my calcium.

I was doing low carb for 9 moths while waiting to get my band removed and fighting to get approval for the sleeve and was able to get 60 pounds off.