Sorry it's been a while since the last post. I'm in sort of a lull in activity between appointments right now. I am pretty sure it will pick up in the next few months as the pieces fall into place.
I had my third appointment with the nutritionist today, everything is going great. I was actually a little bit down going into this one because my weight loss hasn't been what I had hoped recently, I seem to be hovering right around the 24 pounds lost point even though I am doing great on the diet and working my butt off at the gym (I may do another post about that in a day or two). The dietitian didn't think it was a problem at all and reminded me that one reason I chose this route is because "traditional" means of weight loss don't work well for most people my size. That along with the realization that even though the scale may not be moving much I am feeling better and it is very early in a very long and important journey.
With each appointment I am given new steps to integrate into my diet and discuss how I did with the previous month's changes. Last month my big change was to really reduce the amount of pop ("coke" for you Texans that are reading) I drank. This actually went better than I thought it would, aside from the occasional one when going out on the weekend I have cut it out almost entirely, which is a big change from the not to distant days of having probably 4-5 a day.
I was also supposed to work on taking smaller bites. This is important since my new opening from my stomach to my lower small intestine will be pretty small after surgery, about the diameter of your pinky. This one I have been struggling with just because it is hard to remember to do it. We train ourselves in how to eat from a very early age (not only what we eat but the mechanics of how we do it) and these are habits that are very hard to change because it is so ingrained in us. The dietitian had one tip to try with this that I may try and that is to try using smaller utensils (which we are eventually going to have to buy anyway, more on that later). The thought being that it is a physical reminder to eat smaller maybe somewhat more dainty bites.
I kind of like the change for this month. After surgery I will have to rely somewhat, especially in the first few months, on protein drinks. So my task for this month is to start experimenting with different protein drinks to find some brands and varieties that I like (think I might have some more blog posts as I go thru that process).
That was pretty much it for the nutritionist appointment. I went to My PCP the other day to get all the lab work done that I need and it all came back good. I still have a pulmonary stress test to do and the psych eval (that one I am actually looking forward to). I will keep all y'all informed as these progress.
One thing that is so important in this process is having support of others in your life to help motivate you, I can't thank all of you for all your support and prayers and my wife has been wonderful but I now have one more reason to be motivated in this journey. For those who don't already know I found out this last weekend that I am gonna be a daddy. If being healthy enough to enjoy raising a child and actually being around to see him or her grow up isn't adequate motivation I don't know what would be.
I said I would post pictures for every 20 pounds I loose but I also said I would post some other pictures along the way of some other events in my life along the way just to share them with you. My wife and I went to see the musical "Les Mis" a few weeks ago and we got a good picture out in the atrium before the show (which was absolutely amazing).
Thanks everyone for reading and for your continued prayers. I would really appreciate it if those of you that are really following my journey would sign up as followers just so I have a better idea of who is following regularly.
