Jenine! Welcome!!!! Congrats on you decision to do something for yourself!! However, that step is just the start of your long journey you will be taking. This journey can be the most rewarding journey ever!! It will have it lows and its highs. If you are positive about itand strive to learn from your every move, even those lows can be more rewarding then those highs!!
Pre-Op:
Educate yourself the best you can about your surgery. Network with people who have had this surgery. Attend support groups. Eveluate why you are having this surgery. What got you to this point. Was it a metabolic reason? Excessive eaiting? Emotional Eating? I would highly recomend starting therapy sessions, especially if you are an emotional eater. Many people find a shock to them after surgery that they are emotional eaters and their outlet for dealing with emotions is challenging and can lead to depression. Be aware of transfer addictions. Going from food to something else. You are having surgery on your stomach, not your brain. You HAVE to reducate yourself and set yourself up for a healthy lifestyle. This will help you learn to live a normal life.
Post Op-
Follow Brittany's food plan to a T. It is designed to assist you as a post op. Measure you food. As a new post op you have just went under major surgery on your stomach. You neves will be severed and in shock. You will not be able to tell when you are full, as you will not have feeling. That will come around 6 months post op. That is why it is so important to measure your food. Eat off of smaller plates and take your time to eat.
Many new post ops can go through buyers remorse. You have had major surgery and you will be losing massive amounts of weight. Our fat cells store estrogen, when those fat cells are depleted, we get a surge of estrogen into our systems and our mood can be effected. It is normal.
You have to understand this surgery is essentially forced starvation. That is why it is imparative to get a well balanced meal. Some things I struggled with as a new post op was calories intake. I was terrified to have calories in. As a new post op it is not important you calorie intake. If you are following Brittanys food plan, you will be getting in what you need to calorie wise as a new post op. At about 6 months post op your calorie intake will need to increase. What is right for you will not be right for me. This is where it gets tough, trying to find the right balance for you. I personally do not count calories. But this is me. I know I will be obssesive with my caloric intake. But I do know what I need and I prepare myself well balanced meals. I do plan my foods for the day. I eat usually 4-5 meals a day. Another problem I had was the fear of carbs. You MUST have complex carbs in order to LIVE and Function. If you have not read the What Kinds of foods are you eating post on the importance of complex carbs and what food you can find them in.
You HAVE to get your vitamins in. Compliance to this is imparative to your life and your health. Follow it to a T. It is not a luxury but a nessisaty.
You HAVE to get in your protien shakes. We do not consume enough protien in our foods to function. The best type of protien for us is Whey Isolate and next Whey Concentrate. Follow Brittany's instructions for protien intake by shakes. You will need to try sveral different types of protien before you find the right one for you. you taste buds will change after surgery. I ordered the protien sample from Bariatric Eating and tried the different ones they have. Unjury even has a unflavored one.
THis is all I can think of right now. If you have ANY questions please ask. I know some of the stuff I wrote may seem scary, but I just want people to be aware. Some of this stuff you are not previe to pre-op and then shocked post op. As I said, there are the highs and lows of this surgery. For me, I have enjoyed my journey and I have learned so much about myself and I have built a healthy relationship with food. It is the best thing I have ever done.
Melissa
RNY 6-17-08
414/375/215/200
Highest/DOS/Current/1st goal