Day 5 - Making Some Changes

Wow, I can't believe I am already at day 5 of this God-awful pre-op diet. I think I read on someone's else's blog this weekend (from back when they were doing the diet) - that they bitterly regretted ever saying that they couldn't wait until they were doing the 2 week, all liquids diet. I hear ya, sister. I said it many times leading up to this and I will never say it again!

With that said - I totally lied when i said I wasn't going to cheat any more. LIED. Some were very minor, one was a total freakout. No need to go into details, but suffice it to say, that I have not been bale to stick to the surgeon's orders on any single day of this so far!!! So I decided, in order to avoid another major meltdown that involves Golden Arches - a few tweaks need to be made.

With that admission out of the way, I am going to swap one of the shakes (Carnation IB in my case, so I am allowed 6) for a Greek yogurt. It's the same calories, a scootch less fat, a teensy bit more protein, and keeps me feeling full MUCH longer. I am also going to double my veggie allowance to 4 cups a day (dr said 2, but I don't see how eating more steamed non-starchy veggies could hurt). Then I'll allow myself a string cheese sometime during the day, and a slice of this really great vermont cheddar at night (pre-sliced so no wiggle room in serving size). I am cutting out the broth, because all it does is slosh around in my tummy and make me hungrier. I'm going to up the water a bit (altho it's pretty high already - a typical day is 3 liters). Hopefully these minor changes will be enough to keep me on the (mostly) straight and (sort of) narrow. I'd rather plan in a little less rigidity, then freak out, and go to McD's for 8 chicken McNuggets and a double cheeseburger (errr, not that that happened....)

I can officially say that my surgery is next week now. Can't wait! It means I need to get a little more organized at work, so I don't leave anything hanging for the colleague who will be covering for me in my absence.

One teeny request - everyone send good luck vibes to Nicole over at A Little Bit Less of Me, she is having her surgery today! Yay Nicole! Can't wait 'til I get to join you in the club, and sending you big virtual (but gentle) hugs!!!

Day 2 of Pre-Op Diet

Whew. Made it through Day 1, sort of. I have to confess to you lovely ladies - I cheated. Just a little bit, and I felt so guilty about it afterwards that I don't think I'll be doing that again.

So I had my 6 shakes, plus 2 Jell-Os, a cup of broth, and about 2 cups of steamed broccoli and cauliflower (actually really good with a squeeze of lemon juice and some garlic pepper salt - that may have been because I was so hungry tho!) Then I got home from work (had night job last night), after successfully avoiding ALLL of the food that was in front of me, that I was serving, that my co-workers were eating, etc, and I snapped a little. The other night before the pre-op started, my dad made pot roast (nom nom nom), and I made a Brie-en-croute appetizer (basically Brie smothered in caramelized onions and apples, wrapped in puff pastry and baked), which we served with homemade crostini (sliced baguette brushed on both sides with EVOO, and seasoned with salt and pepper). Some of the crostini were left over, and were sitting in a baggie on the counter.

So when I went to take out the garbage, I brought 2 with me, and ate them in our front yard. Oh my God did they taste good. Then I realized that I had essentially snuck out of the house to eat something. So I came back inside, and something in my brain thought it would be a good idea to eat one of the fudge covered graham crackers in the freezer for my dad. After that, I went and locked myself inside my room and forced myself to fall asleep.

WHEW. OK. That's over with. I feel so guilty about "cheating" on my first day of the pre-op, that I am going to kill myself to stay on the rest of this diet. 1 day down, 13 to go (and today is half over). 1 shake in for the day, 5 more to go. Thank God I don't have to work tonight.

On the bright side, I was down 2.2 lbs this morning! If this keeps up (and I will be ok with it if not), it'll give me a nice head start to get through Bandster Hell with.

Thanks for all of the supportive comments yesterday - I truly think the people here are successful because of the community, and I am honored and grateful to be allowed into your circle :) I don't really know you that well yet, but I kinda think I love every one of you!

And So It Begins...

I started my pre-op diet this morning. Oh joy. 14 days of 6 shakes (I am using Carnation Instant Breakfast powder mixed with 1% milk - which is something I love in "real" life...we'll see how I feel about it in a few weeks!), sugar free jello, sugar free popsicles, and 2 cups of steamed (aka boring) veggies a day. I am one shake and one .5L bottle of water in for the day (my company is very nice and provides us free bottled water, so it makes it very easy for me to track....I just count the empties on my desk at the end fo the day!) So far, not hungry, and I am only a half hour or so away from shake #2.

I also finally added in a ticker, and stats, etc. As I mentioned in a previous post, I am kinda OCD, so I wanted to wait until today to post exact start weight, etc. Today's weight is what I will be using from here on out.

I go for my pre-surgical testing tomorrow, and then my esophagram next Wednesday. Not really looking forward to either one, but at least the testing tomorrow keeps me out of the house a few extra hours (more on this in the next paragraph). I can't believe that 2 weeks from today, I am finally going to be banded! I am so excited, and I am not going to lie - the time off work will be reeeeeeally nice as well! I have a "boring" day job, at a pharma company in NYC, and then I work a few nights a week as a waitress in a comedy club. I'll be out of the day job for almost a week (having surgery on Thursday, will come back to work the next Wednesday). I get a whole month off of the night job!

So, back to being out of the house for a few hours - right now, my parents' house is a dieting minefield. As I mentioned way back when, my father is currently battling gastro-esophageal cancer. The tumor is right at the bottom of his esophagus, which makes it very difficult for him to eat. He's lost approximately 130 lbs since November or so. Because of this, there are lots and lots of high calorie treats in the house to try to tempt him (at this point, empty calories still count as calories for him, since we want him to GAIN weight). This should be fun...

I will leave you with a pic from last Saturday night of me and my friend M (we have been friends since we were 16) at S's show. The girls are trying to escape a little, but I felt damn good that night...a little less so upon seeing this pic. Sigh.

Thank You!

Just a quickie here - wanted to say hello to my 31 (!!!) followers - thanks Stephanie! If I am not following you yet, it's because I want to do this right and read your entire blog before clicking the follow button (can you say OCD?!) This way, when your posts pop up in my list, I can read them right away :)

I am getting there - life's been a bit hectic between moving out of my apt and back into the parents' house, getting settled in here, still working both jobs, and oh yeah, this one was fun, a quickie trip to LA.

I took some before pics today, and went for the gusto. I stripped down to bra and underwear. NOT PRETTY. I'll get the nerve to post those in a few days, along with some starting stats. Pre-op liquids start on Thursday! I have less than 23 hours to eat "regular" food for quite some time. Wowsers.

All Packed and Ready to Go!

So I finally tore myself away from all of your amazing blogs for long enough to finish packing last night. It will probably take me a few days to get settled/organized at my parents' house (especially since I won't have a bedroom for 2 months!), but I just wanted to say a quick "HI!!!" to all of my new followers! I promise I am going to catch up on all of your blogs and come say hello!

And maybe if I get up the nerve, I will have my mom take some "befores" to post. I did mean to take a pic on Saturday night, but got distracted :)

My First Follower, Cute Dress and Moving!

Woo, I have my first follower! Hi, Nicole! I wasn't able to find a blog for you, but if you have one please leave a comment with a link, and I will definitely reciprocate :) I've also been finding more and more blogs to follow and have even been saying hi!

Last night one of my best guy friends, S, played a show with his cover band, and since I haven't been able to see him play for a long time due to never being able to get off work, I just said "frig it" and took the night off (I very rarely take a Saturday night off unless I am going to be away). So glad I did, it was a lot of fun to see all of my friends, and just have fun. Oh, and since I mentioned it in the title of this post, I wore a super cute dress from Old Navy (not on the site anymore, otherwise I would have posted a pic). It has a pretty deep V (I am a fan of tops/dresses that show off the girls - at the moment they're my best physical feature!), and it's just the right length (mid thigh or so, not too short that I think I am going to flash people, but short enough to feel sexy). I felt like I was looking super hot, and actually got quite a bit of attention from guys at the bar. Mind you, I'm kind of in the middle of a dating embargo, but it's nice to flirt.

I'm moving tomorrow, to my parents' house for 2 months, which should be interesting. My new lease starts 11/1 (yes, I got the apartment, and sign my lease this Thursday!), so at least it's definitely finite, but still going to be a challenge. I live in Manhattan, so it's super easy to get around. My parents live in the Bronx, which is still in NYC, but the neighborhood they live in is not really convenient to public transportation. Since it doesn't make sense to get a car for 2 months, I'm going to have to beg/borrow usage of cars, and/or rides to the train. I'm mostly packed, but being very procrastinate-y on finishing it up. If I could just step away from the computer for about 2 hours...and FOCUS...I would get it done. But it's just so tempting to keep reading blogs :)

Approved!

So I guess when I said I hope it's not a month before I write again, i was either being psychic, or just know myself pretty well :)

Honestly, since I submitted all of my paperwork to the surgical coordinator, I haven't done much thinking (ok fine, obsessing) over the surgery. I did have my call with my case manager at the insurance co. a few weeks ago and she said she saw no problems, and there've been a few emails back and forth with the surgeon's office to set up pre-op, etc...but that's it. Until today!

My cell phone rang midday, and I saw it was from the hospital, so I picked up and it was the surgical coordinator and she said, "Good news, YOU'RE APPROVED!" I almost got a little teary.

At no point did I NOT think I was going to be approved, but I have been super stressed lately between trying to move, waiting to hear about this, working 2 jobs, etc etc etc. This is a huge relief. I've spent a year or so actively pursuing this, from when I first tried to attend a seminar last September.

Ironically, after changing my original surgery date because of moving, I am now going to be moving a month after surgery anyway. I wasn't able to find an apartment I liked for 9/1, and refuse to settle for something I don't love, so I am going to go stay with my parents in the Bronx for 2 months (which makes my mom happy, she was nervous about me being alone after surgery). It'll be a little chaotic, and kind of inconvenient, but hopefully worth it. I just put in an application for a beautiful apartment that I want with every fiber of my being for 11/1, so hopefully that turns into good news as well.

I'm finally going to start following some of the inspiring people I've seen around here, and will make sure to start saying hi on your blogs!