Oh No - Road Trip!!!

Well, this is gonna be a new one. I'm going to try to do a long-weekend-road-trip while maintaining my vitamin intake, 30 minute exercise routine and start the no-drinks-with-meals effort. All trying to get in proper 'surgery shape', but I have a feeling this is gonna be a hard weekend.

Although with the mess that I made last weekend (and I still feel bloated...), how could it be worse?

-sd

Adjusting my schedule for surgery...

Well, I know things are getting serious because I'm starting to push business out of the way (my operation will probably be sometime in October). I've got a big installation job coming due in the middle of October, and I'm already working on getting an in-position stand-in. During a meeting today, we were scheduling the next in-person meeting, and I begged for it to be pulled into September rather than doing it in October.

Even if I could physically make the meeting, I'll probably be on my "liver shrinking" diet plan, and will be a PITA to be stuck in a meeting - or go out for dinner.

I'm not sure why, but it seems like October is a wing-ding of a business month this year, and I'm spending a significant amount of time moving stuff out of the way. I really, really hope this surgery is worth it!

-sd

Taking This Thing Seriously

Last night was class three in the series we are supposed to take, and it was an eye-opener for me. I'm taking this (like I take most everything...) very seriously; therefore I'm reading the books, checking out the online resources, going over the diet plans and everything - I feel like this is going to be serious surgery (at least for me), and I want to be on it.

Well, during last night's class, we were talking through the different diet limitations we would be under. We were in the middle of the "soft and moist" section (which is what you are to eat during weeks 3-7), when a guy raises his hand for a question.

"Can we have beef jerky?" is the question.

The instructor was a little dumbfounded; she blinked a few times before asking "Is this a test to see if I'm paying attention? You can start considering something like beef jerky after you are on an all-food diet, but even then you will have to introduce is slowly. We are talking about 'soft and moist' - neither of these things would be used to describe beef jerky."

The class continued along, and there were several other questions that were, basically, asking about things that are in bold face type in the booklets we were given. Are these people trying to be "good attitude" people, or can they not absorb what they read, or are they just not engaged in the process?

Unknowable to me...

-sd

Dropping hay bales.

In the roundup of supplements that I'm taking, I dropped a hint that one of them (the Nature Made B-Complex) stunk like a hay bale. Well, it just started bothering me worse every day, so I made a switch - and I switched out the multi-vitamin as well. All gels and gummies, no traditional pressed-powder.

For the B-comples, I went with the Carlson B-50 Gel Complex; one of the few gels that I could find that looked to have a strong range of the B vitamins:

For the multi-vitamin, I went back to the Nature Made well, picking up the "Multi Adult Gummies":

So far, this is much better. No hay bale burps, no bad morning aftertaste, and the gummies are actually quite tasty! Big wins!!!

-sd

A Bad Weekend

So, what is it about thinking and talking about weight loss, careful eating and nutrition that puts me on an eating bender? The family is away - a perfect time to control my consumption and make some changes. Rather, I stick my face in a bucket of chicken.

I digust me.

But, of course, that's at the heart of it! Because I find myself disgusting, I want to soothe my feelings. And nothing soothes better than a big pile of food. Which I eat, then feel disgusted, then the cycle begins again.

Dammit.

-sd

The Verdict (Boost Glucose Control)

Yesterday, I said that I was going to get some of the Boost Glucose Control shakes to test; because they are low calorie and sugar (while still being high in protein), they seemed like the best bet for a trial run. Luckily, they carried this brand in the pharmacy area of our local grocery chain (King Soopers in the Denver area), so I bought both the chocolate and vanilla versions.

I don't have a lot to compare it to ('cuz you don't really want me to compare it to a DQ chocolate malt, do you?), but I have tried the Ensure diet drinks, and can talk about these drinks in general. They all share something in common: a bland flavor with a bit of a metallic aftertaste. I think the flavor is unique enough that you'd be able to get a craving for it, but I'm not there yet.

The 'rich chocolate' Boost shake was quite thick. Where the Ensure drink I'd tried was slightly thicker than a chocolate milk, the Boost shake had a lot more body to it. It was too thick to drink "all-in-one-gulp", but wasn't unpleasant or anything. The flavor was remarkably similar to the Ensure, and I didn't really have any difficulty drinking it.

I think the extra body, though, meant that the Boost seemed more filling - more like I'd had a meal rather than a distraction from a meal!

Right now, I'm drinking a 'very vanilla' Boost. In the vanilla variant, the metallic aftertaste is more prominant, and a bit unpleasant. This just seemed more 'medicine-y', and I'm not sure I'm going to buy more than the 6-pack I bought yesterday.  The chocolate is much better in my opinion.

So there's the quickie review. Hope you find it helpful!

-sd

Shaking things up!

One of the things that I'm working on is finding good items for my pre- and post-surgery food requirements. Before I took the classes, I tried the Ensure Plus nutritional shakes.

The were OK tasting, and certainly relieved gassy bloat that I'd been feeling recently. But during our classes, we were told to look for the following:

• Less than 200 calories,
• More than 15 grams of protein,
• Watch out for over-sugaring!

Today I'm going to go fishing for some alternatives. One that they pointed to is the Boost Glucose Control shakes.

It turns out that several stores in my area carry them,  so I'm going to take a drive into town, pick some of these up, and see how these work. One thing I'm always concerned about is the taste; tomorrow, I'll let you know if I was able to choke 'em down.

Cheer!

-sd

This week's addition (behavior modification)

One of the things we are supposed to be doing during these pre-surgery classes is to take a set of prescribed behavioral behaviors and make them part of our life. Last week (the first week), we were told to start our vitamin regimen; hence, the inclusion of B-complexes, multi-vitamins and gummy-goodies now sitting on my desk.

This week we weren't told what to do - but I think we will be asked about the thing that we added to our lifestyle. The thing that I picked is the addition of at least 30 minutes a day (or 150 minutes a week) of physical effort. This is pretty difficult for me; I've built up a whole internal monologue that goes something like:

You have important work to do.
If you don't do your work, you will disappoint people.
If you leave your desk, you won't get your work done.
Going for a walk is leaving your desk - which will cause everything to collapse.

It's kind of cool that I've built myself up to this level of importance, isn't it? I'm sort of amazed that this is the extent that my brain/body/food-obsession will produce in order to get me to sit in the chair and get ever-fatter every day. So it is walking.

Luckily, I live in a beautiful area, and I have a dog that loves to go for a walk. I also live at high elevation, so some basic walking, combined with small inclines and the limited oxygen, means that I'm huffing and puffing for most of a walk.

Actually started this last Sunday, but didn't want to say anything until I built up a few days of success. So far, except for Thursday (when I only did 10 minutes, because of a downpour), I've gotten a good neighborhood walk in each day. The only problem? I'm already starting to finish in less the 30 minutes, so I'll need to extend the walk a little.

Good problem to have!

-sd

Why is it that...?

... when you start focusing on food, you start having eating issues?

For some reason, it seems like all of the in-class discussion about food, nutrition, eating restrictions and future diets has hit me right in the heart(-burn region). What is it about talking about food that makes it such a disaster?

I've noticed this in the past: whenever I'd start a diet, or I'd talk to a doctor (or even a friend) about food and eating, I would end up with heartburn, over-fullness/bloatedness, rapid weight gains and a lot of self-disgust. Well, maybe the severity of the up-coming procedure is in my head, but I'm having difficulty sleeping through the night, and am feeling a lot of discomfort throughout the day. Not great!

I'm going to have to start paying better attention to my food intake - without paying too much attention to it. I'm a freakin' head case...

-sd

After Class 2 comes Obsession

Yesterday's class was all about setting up our meals for the coming pre- and post-surgery weeks. However, an obsession has taken over me that I just need to document. My major surgical fear, right now, is the need for a catheter.

I've never been admitted to a hospital, so I don't know what to expect. But I'm pretty sure (since this is significant surgery) that I'm going to be fitted with a catheter. Freakin' me out! The result of obsessing about this is that I've become very penis-focused, and am spending a lot of my time shivvering and trying to divert my attention elsewhere.

If this continues for the next several months, I'm going to go insane.

Now, I didn't put a picture on this blog entry, because just looking over Google Images of catheters made me need to dive into a hole. So, instead, I'm going to let you look it up yourself. In any case, not good. At least not good for my imagination.

I've got to stop obsessing.

I've got to stop obsessing.

I've got to stop obsessing.

-sd

The Kaiser Way

My health insurance, provided by my Most Excellent Employer, is Kaiser Permanente. I was very concerned about try to have them cover my weight loss surgery, since they are an HMO, and I figured they'd prefer that I just shut up and do a diet. But, alas, after talking with my doctor, I was pointed toward their Surgical Weight Loss group. I was skeptical, but followed through.

Well, so far - so excellent. They require me to take 6 consecutive classes in order to schedule the surgery, and the classes are led by the aforementioned nutritionist. She's pretty awesome, and has been super detailed about all of the steps before, during and after the surgery that we've been able to ask. They also have these booklets that we read, discuss and carry around with us. For tonight, I need to read the "Life After Weight Loss Surgery" book - and I have to do it now.

Talk to you later!

-sd

Career Deferred (???)

Well, today is the first time I've had to defer something for work in order to properly prepare for weight loss surgery. I wasn't sure how well I'd do when this came up - and it came up a lot sooner than I expected.

One of the problems of "life is work" issues is that it is hard to prioritize yourself ahead of the work to be done. So many people to please! But this was also a good test for me, since I needed to find out if I could hold a line on this.

-sd

Mr. B-Vitamin-Complex-Head

What kind of name is that for a blog entry? Well, it's how I feel this morning - I feel like my life revolves around B-Complex vitamin tablets. One of the things that the nutritionist has asked us to do is to start taking a specified course of vitamins:

• A standard multi-vitamin (I chose "NatureMade Multi For Him").
• A B-complex vitamin with plenty of Niacin (mine: the "NatureMade Super B-Complex" shown here.
• A D3 supplement (mine: "NatureMade D3 2000iu").
• A B12 supplement (mine: "NatureMade Energy B12 'adult gummies').

I'm sure this is a familiar area for a lot of people, but it wasn't familiar to me. I actually don't take a lot of pills (I've got some blood pressure and cholesterol meds, but that's it), so this is about tripling my pill intake. And, for some reason, some of these pills are real stinkers.

I don't mean that they don't work; I mean they stink. The Big Lebowski of Vitamin Stink is this B-Complex, which smells like a dank hay barn (that would be a pile of rotting grass for you city folk). By far the best is the B12 'adult gummies' - they aren't exactly Fruity Flintstones, but they are easy to take and digest.

One note for beginners: Each of the non-gummies is meant, I guess, to swallow whole. I didn't know that, and was too impatient to read the labels (still haven't...), and wanted to Do The Right Thing. My first shot was to chew them, and I'm experienced things I'll never be able to un-taste. <shudder>

Don't do it. Just swallow whole - except for the gummies. Treat those like the treat that they are...

-sd

Kicking off the Process (Weight Loss Surgery)

Last Tuesday, July 14th 2015, I attended the first class (of six) required by Kaiser Permanente prior to scheduling weight loss surgery. I'll talk more about why I'm doing this in a future article, but I thought I'd start the discussion by describing a funny story.

I was rushing to get to the class - it is almost an hour away from my house, and I wasn't expecting the level of traffic that I ran into. Therefore, I was flying around the streets in an attempt to get to the meeting location on time. Made it, but just barely. A little stressful.

The class ran for about 1 1/2 hours, and was filled with great information. The nutritionist that was assigned to the class is fantastic, and readily answered all of our (the class is 24 people) questions. Afterwards, we were weighed, then sent on our way.

At which point some crazy combination of psychological and physical bells started going off - I was HUNGRY! Too much talk about food, too much talk about how I shouldn't eat so much food (which is generally a trigger to make me want to eat more food). I hung a screeching right out of the Kaiser driveway and blasted down the road, looking for something to embrace eat.

And wouldn't you know, there was my good friend, Mr. Taco Bell. I ordered a larger portion of MexiStuff than I ever have, and gulped it down in an instant.

Huh. Not a great start, right? I have to get this train back on the tracks...

-sd