Little Epiphanies

Sim-pli-fy a) to reduce to basic essentials  b) to diminish in scope or complexity: streamline  c) to make more intelligible.

I'm going back to the basics. Uncluttering. Simplifying my life. And I'm starting with things I waste time doing. Things like Facebook and watching too much TV.

I spend way  too much time fooling around on Facebook so I deactivated my account yesterday.  I love hearing from my friends and family and I feel I'd rather use more personal forms of communication to do so.

Sitting on my fluffy butt watching TV for hours in a day is unhealthy.  I need to find a better way to fill my time. In the past, and even more recently, I've used TV as an escape from real life. A way to ignore what is really happening around me and instead dive into something where I can become emotionally disconnected.

Those are my little epiphanies this week. :)

P.S: I will be setting an official surgery date soon. Right now, it's unofficially June 21st. I'm still waiting for insurance approval to come back...


Natalie

Learning Lots

I learned a little bit about myself today at my psych eval. And I learned a lot of stuff during the nutrition part of the eval, too.

To sum up my psych eval, most of my problems with food stem from the age of 11-12 and involve poor coping skills in reaction to my parent's nasty divorce and the emotional chasm between this event and my religious beliefs. Wow, that was a loaded sentence. Did that even make sense? Any who, this knowledge isn't really all that new to me, but it has never made more sense than it does now.

The nutrition eval was super informative. She taught me what to expect pre-op, post-op, and the weeks/months following. The main piece of information I came away with was protein. 80 milligrams of it per day. Also, advancing my diet from liquids, puree, soft, to regular over a six month period. I learned a lot of other cool stuff but it's probably only cool to me.

I should hear back from the insurance company within 7-10 days for my approval. Then surgery could be scheduled three weeks (ish) from my approval. So, I could possibly have my surgery in a little over a month.

My EGD is scheduled for May 28th. EGD = Esophagogastroduodenoscopy. A procedure where a camera scope looks at the esophagus, stomach, and duodenum. Sounds like fun, right? So grateful sedatives will be involved to get me through it!


Natalie

Psych Eval & Before/After Picture Criteria

This is gonna be fun! As part of authorization from the health insurance company, I have the great privilege of having a psychological evaluation. Can't wait! Actually, I am kind of excited about it because it means I'm one step closer to scheduling my surgery.  Along with the shrink eval I'll have a nutrition eval.  These are scheduled for May 14th  :)
On another note...
I've observed something interesting in my research. Before and after pictures of folks who have had bariatric surgery are pretty dang hilarious. I know my sense of humor is a little twisted so bare with me. I just wonder what goes through their minds when this "before" photo is chosen. I've come to this conclusion:

Criteria for choosing a Before picture:
1. You must be wearing sweatpants or pajamas (preferably with cartoons on them).
       OR
2. You must be wearing only your underwear.
3. You must not smile.

Now don't get too excited, I'm not taking any pictures of myself in my underwear. Sorry.

Criteria for choosing an After picture:
1. You must be wearing skin tight clothes.
2. You must show an excessive and unflattering amount of cleavage.
3. You must be posing in the mirror and snapping the photo with your cell phone camera.

My before/after pictures are going to be awesome and I will not be following this criteria :)

big decisions...

My WLS seminar and consultation with Dr. Ludwig went great yesterday . I have decided to pursue having surgery . The surgery I have chosen is the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy .  It would most likely happen around August-ish. :)

So, until then, I'll be doing all I can to get ready . Lots of work, mental prep, and saving . Very excited!  Enloe Bariatric Program

Is WLS for me?

Three years ago, my doctor recommended I have weight loss surgery. I was shocked! My pride told me she was stupid and didn't know me very well.  How could I need surgery to lose weight? What does she know? I went into total defense mode.  Well, looking back, I think she knew me better than I thought. She has seen me cycle up and down since junior high. Lose it and then gain it back...then gain some more. Weight loss surgery has been on my mind ever since she recommended it. I've tried Weight Watchers (multiple times), Physician's Plan with Dr. Powell twice, and not to mention the dozen attempts to lose it on my own.

This morning I made the call to Dr. Ludwig's office. I will be attending a WLS seminar this Wednesday and meeting with Dr. Ludwig shortly after for a consultation to see what my options are.

delicious chicken & vegetable soup

3 points+

made with 99% fat free chicken broth

carrots

celery

zucchini

diced tomatoes

potatoes

chicken breast

onions

minced garlic

basil

oregano

should provide a week's worth of optimal consumption :)

making it through finals week!

Stress, stress stress!  And I'm just about out of motivation for the semester.  There's nothing like the pressure of a nice long case study and a packet of worksheets to bring on emotional eating. This is what I've been doing instead of feasting on that mint 'n chip in my freezer:

• snacking on my zero points+ mandarins super yummy!
• drinking LOTS of Diet Coke
• avoiding the kitchen when I'm not hungry

Kudos for today: Turning down a delicious cookie, eating more salad than rice, and only having one piece of Whitney's amazing pumpkin cake after dinner.

Overall, I'd say this weekend was a success!