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