Nervous, any tips? *Happy Update*

On Monday I meet with the dietician, nurse and social worker. I am so nervous!

It has been a very long wait (10 months) and I'm so scared they won't think I'm ready for surgery. I have been through a lot this year.

I've lost just 9 lbs since I saw the surgeon in early April. I was doing really well for most of March, making gradual changes to my diet and eating habits.

I've had two major setbacks - I started a new life-long medication in March that required meals with high fat and protein while my stomach adjusted. Just when I started getting used to that, I suffered a pulmonary embolism in mid-April and was hospitalized and on bed rest for 3 weeks. My mom came to care for me and all of my old eating habits came back. She had all of my favourite foods in the house at all times, ugh. That's her MO - she expresses her love with food. Of course I'm the one who put it in my mouth, so the blame is mine.

The day after she left I got back to tracking, decreasing calories and boosting dense proteins. I've been experimenting with protein shakes, bought a scale & now weighing portions, cut out pop, increased my water intake, swimming 3 x a week. I bought my surgeon's recipe book and tried a few of them (they were gross lol).

I still get terrible head hunger and am trying to divert my attention to other things, like doing crosswords, crocheting, ironing. I figure if I'm going to park myself in front of tv I should be productive. Through all of this I have discovered that I am a boredom eater. I don't have the energy to provide the physical stimulation my brain craves, so I do it with food.

Is this enough? Am I on the right track for my trip appointments?

I would so appreciate any tips or advice you can give!

I feel like, if you explain your situation, your history, and what you're doing to improve, that this will be good in making your case for yourself. Demonstrating willingness and attempt to change should be encouraging to your healthcare professionals. Maybe requesting an appointment with a therapist to help you when you see the social worker?

Good luck!

I understand your nervousness about the appointments. I met with the social worker and dietician two weeks ago, I was very nervous before hand. They both went well and they approved me to continue the process. They want to make sure you are trying to implement the dietary changes ie. cutting out caffeine, soda and alcohol. They also want to make sure you are in the right frame of mind and are not expecting the surgery to be a quick fix. Best of luck and keep us posted.

Thank you so much for your reassurance!

I PASSED! All three appointments, with flying colours!!!

This is the first time in my life that a medical professional has told me I am doing well with my eating. I am beyond excited, and proud of myself. :)

The only concerns were that my vitamin D is very low and I am not eating enough carbs, both relatively easy to rectify.

I'm more motivated than ever to keep this journey going. :) :)

Don't eat more carbs. Don't, don't, don't, don't, don't. I can't say it enough, or emphasize it strongly enough.

Your body does not need one single carb. None. Every calorie you eat in carbs right now is one fewer calorie of fat you will burn.

Nutritionists hand out this advice all the time. It's horrible, horrible advice. Just don't.

Hi Grim,

I actually remember you saying that on here before, and in one of the threads about what the medical personnel say vs. what actual patients know.

So I nodded my head earnestly and smiled and inside I vowed to continue to reduce the carbs. :)

thank you!

Congratulations! I know you are relieved to have that part behind you and you should be proud too. You are doing the right things. It's so true, dietitians always seem to stress carbs. Truthfully, you can get all the carbs they say you need just in green veggies and that won't hurt your weight loss. If you start loading up on the high carb stuff like corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes and fruits, it might slow it down or make it go up. If you go back to breads, flours, sugars, and the like of that stuff - it will most likely go up. I was using the fitbit diet tracker and trying to get inside different ratio's of carbs, proteins, and fats with various diets. I paid the extra money to see those reports, all I had to do was enter what and how much I ate and it charted it all out for me. It was pretty eye opening. Showed me there's more carbs in things than I ever realized. On the flip side, I don't think fitbit tracked "negative calorie" veggies and being "negative calorie" - it just counted everything. So that type of veggie might not be a bad choice....however just remember they aren't negative carb. Wouldn't THAT be nice?

That is great news, keep up the good work. My vitamin D is low as well. I have bloodwork tomorrow, I am hoping it shows a better level.