2nd month pre-op nutritionist follow up

So in this waiting journey that my insurance company requires me to do before having the surgery, I am now in the second slow month. This month the insurance company requires me to have a follow up conversation with the dietitian and the exercise guy. This can be either done through email, phone or an office visit.

My follow up with the dietitian was via email. In the email she asked some basic questions and wanted me to either email or call in a response. I answered them honestly and I'm sure that she didn't like some of the answers I provided.

Here were the questions she asked in red and my answers in blue:

1. Please list any food and beverage consumed in the past 24 hours.
Sunday
2 BBQ chicken sandwiches on Poppy Seed Kaiser Roll
2 all beef fat free hot dogs on white buns
1 grab & go cup of Kraft Mac & Cheese
1 serving meat Lasagna
3 pieces garlic Texas toast
4 20 oz bottles of water
6 mini powdered donuts

Monday
4 tootsie rolls
2 miniature Hershey bars
2 tootsie pops
4 slices of turkey with gravy
2 scoops mashed potatoes with gravy
8 oz of fountain Pepsi
8 oz of water so far

2. How many times per day do you eat? (Including snacks and meals)
2 big meals - usually lunch and dinner I normally snack on stuff through out my work day

3. What kind of beverages do you drink throughout a typical day?
Water and for the moment usually less than 12 oz of Pepsi

4. When considering your daily intake, would you say you eat “normal portions,” “more than normal,” or “less than normal?”
more than normal I found this question difficult to answer. It really depends on when and what I am eating.

5. How many times per week do you eat away from home? (Includes restaurant dining, fast food, convenience food, etc., but not a lunch you may pack yourself and take to work)
lunch is usually 5 days a week, dinner is usually 1 sometimes 2 times a week I guess I should have clarified my answer on this one. I don't normally pack a lunch, so I either eat in the company cafeteria or go out for lunch. Usually if I go out for lunch, it is usually to Subway or Panera Bread.

6. What obstacles do you face in preparing foods at home?
time Isn't that the obstacles that everyone faces? Not just fat people?

7. Stress is a part of everyone’s life. When under stress would you say you eat more or less than usual?
More Doesn't everyone? I'd really like to meet the people who don't eat more when they are stressed!

8. If more, what foods are you eating when stressed?
sweets, salty items Can you say Chocolate? Hello?!?!?!

9. What would you say is your biggest obstacle to weight loss success, and how do you plan to overcome this obstacle?
I snack at my desk while at work. I think the biggest problem for me will be breaking that habit. I have been trying to prepare myself, but have not had much success.

Needless to say the dietitian did not like my answers. Here was the response that I got back after supplying my answers:

Based on your nutrition evaluation, I would like for you to work on the following things before your next follow up visit. These goals will be important expectations after your surgery, so let’s see if we can start forming some new, healthy habits now.

* Eliminate your intake of carbonated beverages
* Decrease your intake of fast food and the number of times you are eating away from home (except lunches that are pre-packed and taken with you)
* Drink at least 64 ounces of water daily.
* Decrease your portion sizes. You can do this by using a smaller plate, smaller utensils, or eliminating second helpings.
* Start reading nutrition facts labels. You are going to be focused on consuming a high protein, low carbohydrate diet after surgery.
* Try to consume three meals per day, with only one snack between meals. You mentioned that the snacking between meals was your biggest obstacle, and the best way to get over that is to make sure you are getting in adequate protein at your meals so that you do not get hungry for snacks in between. Try to have something high in protein at each meal, and do not keep snacks at your desk at work.

Be prepared to explain how you have made these changes in your life at our next visit, and also to give a recall of the foods you consume in a typical day.


Sure that's easy for her to say! Some of the things she has talked about in her response, I have already started doing. I didn't mention that I used to drink 3 or 4 or more 12 oz cans of Pepsi a day and I cut back to less than a 12 oz glass of fountain Pepsi 5 days a week.

Or how I started paying more attention to labels from when I was active in Weight Watchers.

Anyway, just waiting on the follow up with the exercise guy. I get to tell him that I walked in 2 Society walks the past 3 weeks and walked a total of 7 miles in those walks. I really want to get a pedometer so I can see how many steps I make in a 1 job day and on those days were I work 2 jobs. Maybe as an early Christmas present to myself.

I also need to follow up with my PCP. I told his nurse that I needed the 5 year history by the 16th. Letting her conclude that I meant the 16th of November rather than the 16th of December. Hopefully he has gotten that information to the doctor already. I want to hurry up and get this surgery over with so I can start my new life as a new me!

An eventful week on the Journey

So this week has been an eventful week for me on this weight loss journey.

* In my quest to end my caffeine intake up until the past couple of 2 weeks, I had been doing good. It has been a couple stressful of weeks so I did break down and have a beloved Pepsi. So I have been trying to go back to being good and drinking water.


* I had gotten an email from my doctor's office that they needed to reschedule my final appointment with the doctor before surgery scheduling. It is getting bumped back one week as the doctor is planning on taking a couple of weeks off at the beginning of December. My question was by bumping this appointment back, would I still be able to have the surgery by the end of December? On Monday I got reassurance from the insurance specialist in the office that I should be able to get it done by 12/31. I hope that is the case, because I am ready for it NOW!

* On Tuesday I attended the second of 2 mandatory support group meetings that you have to attend prior to having surgery. It is amazing to hear the post op patients talk about how much weight they have lost, some of the struggles they have gone through and things that have worked for them. I really enjoy these meetings. I think I'm gonna keep going after surgery.

So yesterday I got to talk to a woman I met at the first meeting I had attended. She was 2 weeks post op at the meeting. I peppered her with questions about what to expect, and she was great about answering them. She said she stepped on the scale and had lost between 20-30 pounds since her surgery. I can't wait to see her in January. Hopefully by then we'll both be on our journey of skinny!

At the meeting they focused on how to deal with the stress of the holidays and how to deal with not being able to eat the big, traditional holiday meals. Hopefully by next year, it won't be a problem for me.

* Today was my appointment with the Psychiatrist. So after a little wait, I finally got called back. He went over the results of the 400+ questions I had to answer before seeing him. Turns out, according to the answer of the test, I qualify as "normal". I had no signs of any eating disorders or depression. No suicidal tendencies. I understand what I'm signing up to do.

So all in all, it's been a good week in the journey. Although it seems like it is moving slow to me, I know that it will be here before I know it....hopefully.