Sheryl R.

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Someone asked me what I eat and if I measure everything.  This is what I do:
Carbs are the only thing I measure because its the potatoes and rice that get me into trouble.  For breakfast I usually have an egg with or without a piece of turkey sausage.  Sometimes I make an omelette with cheese and meat.  Once in a while, I have a 1/2 cup of oatmeal with some flax seeds and Splenda blend of brown sugar.
If I'm at work for lunch, I usually have leftovers from dinner or I heat up a single serving of frozen veggies (like broccolli and cheese sauce) and have it with a piece of chicken or a couple slices of deli turkey.  If I'm at home, I usually eat a slightly bigger breakfast a bit later in the morning and just have a snack like a low carb yogurt or something.
For dinner, I usually have some chicken sauteed in olive oil, or baked in the oven, a vegetable (normally broccolli or green beans), and 1/3 cup or less of mashed potatoes or rice (usually brown rice).  Very often I only have a heaping tablespoon of the potatoes, and more often than not, I don't even fix the starch, we just have the meat and veggies.  When the weather is warmer I eat salad a lot more often, but it just hasn't sounded good in these cold temperatures.  If I eat a hamburger, I either eat it with no bun, or I take the top bun off.
I also snack throughout the day.  I'll have a handful of peanuts at work, or an Atkins bar. Today I had a sugar free jello. 
 I also still have a huge problem resisting home baked goods and lately my son-in-law has baked cookies twice.  I'm going to have to insist that no more baking happen in my kitchen.
Anyway, that's what I've been doing and so far its working pretty well.  I'll have to shrink my portions once I get the lap band.  That will be interesting.

I see my surgeon tomorrow and have already began the testing required by him and by my insurance company.  I hope that I've jumped through all the right hoops and they approve me right away.  I saw my dietitian and she was happy about my weight loss, but was just concerned that I eat enough carbs.  I really haven't been following Atkins strictly so I have eaten more carbs and less fat than the diet advocates.  I lost the 10lbs I gained during my Christmas binge, plus 2 more.  I'm getting very excited!

I happened to look at the website that lists my insurance companies policies and found out that they changed the requirements for weight loss surgery.  Since July, they have required a 12 month long medically supervised diet before surgery.  Now they have decreased it to 6 months!  I am currently in  my 6 month of supervised diet so I am almost there.  I haven't done any of the required medical tests or the psych eval yet, because I thought I had lots of time.  Now I'm scrambling to get appointments asap so I can get this show on the road.

My husband isn't very happy about this change.  He's worried about the surgery and I think he hoped that after a year had passed, I would have gotten over this wls "thing".  I think his concern stems from my last surgery, which was for cancer.  It was a big, scary operation and he didn't know if I was going to come out crippled or even if I'd make it through.  I think those feelings are affecting his ability to be fully supportive of this wls.  I wonder how other's spouses feel about wls?  I may have to post that question on the boards.

Better get back to work...

Wow.  I did so well through Thanksgiving and the first two weeks of December and then I lost my mind for the last two weeks.  I decided to have a few goodies here and there and ended up going nuts.  I gained 10 lbs!  Depressing, but I'm not going to wallow in it.  I had my last hurrah New Year's Eve and as of yesterday I'm back on Atkins.  It's going to be a challenge tomorrow because it's my birthday, but I've decided my gift to myself is to take care of myself.
Here's to a new, thinner, healthier year!

Well, I'm still trudging along on Atkins.  I've lost 25 lbs so far.  I haven't seen the dietitian for a while because while my husband was on strike, we didn't have insurance.  Now that it's reinstated, I probably better make an appointment.

I feel so much better getting these 25 lbs off and I can't wait to get another 100 or so off.  My husband says that I'm doing so well with Atkins that I don't need WLS.  I totally disagree!  This is a good start, but I've never lost more than about 40 lbs, (except when I had cancer), and I've never kept it off.  I still have 8 months to go with the medically supervised weight-loss required by my insurance company.  I hope to lose at least another 35 to 40 lbs by then.  Then my wls surgery can help to get me to my goal.

Well, I struggled for about a month trying to follow my dietitians instructions, but gained weight instead.  I finally started Atkins on September 15.  I decided that I needed to totally cut out the sugar to try to break the control it seems to have over me.  So far, so good.  I've lost 16lbs, (after ballooning up to 331), and feel so much more in control.  I'm going to stay on the induction plan for a few more weeks, then try to gradually add some more carbs in.  I'm afraid that if I allow myself to eat sugar again, I won't be able to stop myself.  I haven't decided for sure whether I need to forever forget sugar or if at some point I will be able to eat sweet things without binging. I'm also wondering how long before I'm absolutely sick of eggs!

     I was right.  The dietician wants me to limit my carbs.  The interesting thing though, is that she wants me to limit myself to 2-3 carb choices per meal and not worry how many I'm getting overall.  She said that if you eat more than 3 per meal, the pancreas pumps tons of insulin which starts a bunch of other things happening which causes hunger and weight gain.  You can see by my very technical description that I paid close attention.  Whoops!  I'm not sure how it all works,  but it made sense when she told me. 
     So, I guess 2 cups of spaghetti at dinner is out now.  One third of a cup of noodles is one carb choice.  One third of a cup?  LOL.

     Well, I'm not impressed with myself.  My instructions from the dietician were to keep a food log, (did it most days), wear a pedometer and increase my steps, (did it most days), and decrease my fat intake, (whoops!)  Knowing that I had to decrease my fat made me immediately want cookies, buttered toast and pizza rolls!  I guess I need to look at the positive:  I did increase my steps to about 4500 per day from 2500 per day.  Still a long way from the 10,000 per day I'm supposed to do.  I kept a food log, but was often doing several days at once.  It's amazing how short my memory is.  I have a heck of a time remembering what I ate this morning, let alone yesterday's meal.
    I meet with the dietician again on Monday.  I think she's going to start having me limit my carbs.  I think I might actually do no carbs for a week or two and see if it curbs my cravings for cookies and the like.  Hopefully I'll be more successful this month.

     I talked to my doctor about needing a 12 month supervised diet.  He said that weight loss wasn't his area of expertise and referred me to a registered dietician.  With great apprehension I went to my appointment with her a few days ago.  I wasn't sure what to expect and went in feeling a little defensive.  I don't know why, but I pictured some skinny, perfectly groomed, know it all, trying to tell me that I don't need WLS, just need to eat this, don't eat that, etc.  Instead, I met a very relaxed, friendly, normal weight woman who was sympathetic to my plight.  She said the goal for the next 12 months should be to work on lifestyle changes so that when I have my surgery, I'll be as successful as possible.  She thinks wls is a good idea for me.  I was so relieved to not have to defend myself!

     For this first month, I'm supposed to keep a food diary, try to reduce my fat intake somewhat, and wear a pedometer and try to up my steps.  Should be pretty easy, shouldn't it?  Except that all I can think about is buttered toast.....

Damn!!!  I just found out that my insurance plan has changed the requirements for wls.  You used to have to show that you've been mo for 5 years, but now you have to show that you've been on a medically supervised diet for one year!   I'm so disappointed!  I just feel like going to bed and bawling my head off.