Vanishing Velez

Starting Weight: 267 lbs
Current Weight: 261 lbs
Total Weight Loss: 6 lbs
Goal Weight: 140 lbs
Pounds to go: 121 lbs

I will not be starting every post with my weight loss statistics. That is not healthy for me mentally, and honestly, I don’t think that people really care to know that much. Instead, I am going to post my weight information when I go to doctors appointments and am weighed. This way, I am always using the same scale, and it’s still a regularly scheduled event. If you do want to hear about my weight loss more than that, let me know in the comments!

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Now back to your regularly scheduled programming…

Friday 12/8 I went to my second nutrition meeting specifically for my weight loss. The PA at the practice seems to think that I only need three appointments, but the paperwork I was given originally says 6, so we are going with 6. That puts us through April, and then I have 6 months from then to schedule my surgery. I’m leaning towards June 24th. This way I can enjoy my friends wedding, do my liquid diet the next day, then have the surgery, take a week off, then have a short week due to the 4th of July. Obviously this is based on surgeon availability, but I am hoping it will work out this way.

My appointment was at 10:30 am. I was a bit late, because I regularly misjudge how long it takes to get from my house to Waterbury, and then for some reason I put Waterbury hospital into the GPS rather than St. Mary’s Hospital. When I got there, they had to scan my insurance card again because for some reason they didn’t have it. Then they asked me to give them a list of everything I had eaten the day before-including amounts. I knew this was going to happen, and I still was not prepared for it. I do try to weigh everything, but I really should write it down (that’s a different post entirely).

Then, I was brought to the back where they weighed me and took my vitals-BP, O2 level, pulse, etc. Finally, they took me to the office where I meet with Kristina. The first thing we did was went through what I had eaten the day before.

She was not happy about things like bacon and sausage. She said that while there is protein, there is also a lot of fat, and that we really need to be choosing lean options. She said that even turkey bacon isn’t the best option but is better. She suggested taking a piece of deli turkey and just putting it in a pan to warm it up. I can do that, and will do that, but at the same time it’s not the same. I had to explain to her that I knew it wasn’t great for me, but that I still make the choice to have it occasionally in moderation. She understood that.

The other thing that she was not happy about was my pretzels. She basically said that they were straight carbohydrates and did not meet any major nutritional need. I explained to her that I usually use the pretzel crisps as a vessel for my chicken or tuna salad. It gives me a crunch and forces me to slow down my eating since I have to use my hands. She was still pretty against it, suggesting I make toast out of the 647 bread and maybe using that, OR using things like carrots or celery to dip. I know that this is an option, but it’s not the same.

I know, I know, I need to get over this “it’s not the same” bullshit. Like, I recognize that it’s bullshit, but still. I do need to finish them because I’m not throwing away something that has absolutely nothing wrong with it. I’ll eat them in moderation until they are stale or gone, and then just not replace them.

Beyond that, she was happy with what I was eating. Our goal is 20g of protein a meal for a total of 60g a day. For the most part, I’m getting that. Post surgery, I need to be very strict about this protein goal in order to make sure that I don’t lose muscle while I lose weight. We talked a little about what I need to look for in protein shakes as well. Post surgery, shakes should have at least 20 but ideally 30 grams of protein per serving, with whey protein being easiest to digest. The calories should be around 150 per serving, and they should have no more than 5 grams of sugar OR fat.

We also talked a little bit about what the first few weeks post surgery look like. Dr. Shetty requires 3 weeks of liquid diet post surgery. This means protein shakes, clear liquids, and vitamins only. Clear liquids are liquids that light can pass through-things like sugar free Jell-O, low sodium broth, sugar free popsicles, and sugar free water enhancers. Decaf and herbal teas are OK too.

Week 4 is the puree stage. Kaitlin explicitly said baby food, but I’ve smelled the shit that I give Bea, and there’s no way that I’m eating that-especially since it doesn’t have any protein. Instead, I’m probably going to make my own. She suggests canned tuna or chicken, legumes, low fat cottage cheese, nonfat plain Greek yogurt, and eggs as protein options. She also said the Oikos Triple Zero Greek Yogurt was fine even thought it is not plain.

Outside of the cottage cheese, I can be OK with these. That being said, I did buy a small cottage cheese container with fruit, that I am going to try. I’m hoping that my brain is just afraid of not liking cottage cheese so I haven’t tried it. I think I’ve only had cottage cheese once before, and it was a long time ago.

Next time we are going to talk about carbohydrates, and some other things. I am going to ask her more about the drinking and eating thing. I have questions. Like for example soup-do I have to drain the soup and drink the broth later? Is the 30 min before/after a forever thing?

I’m not going to lie, weeks 2 and 3 are going to be seriously tough while I’m at work. But I definitely need to do this and want to keep with it even though it’s hard. I don’t want to fail and need to keep my head in the right space.