Nearly There - 2 days To Go

So here we are with only 2 days to go and I can't wait to get this op done.

So how has it been?  Well I am well and truly sick of diet jelly (I hate artificial sweeteners) but other than that not too bad.  I have not been hungry but you never feel satisfied from just shakes, jelly and veggies.

I have really missed meat and cheese and a few days ago I had a piece of cheese about the size of  matchbox and it was divine.  On Sunday I had to go to my brother sister in laws baby shower where they were having a BBQ.  My dietitian suggested I stick to a small piece of steak and salad which I did.  I also took along a zuccini and grilled it on the BBQ.  All in all it was a good option.  But ohhhh the smell of BBQ sausages, potato bake and then there were bread rolls and real butter.  I had to look away.  But I have been good other than that.

But the best thing is that I have lost 6kg which is great according to my dietitian.  He tells me that it is a sure sign my liver is shrinking.
My meeting with him today was to discuss my post op plan and this is how it goes:

14th Feb - Operation Day, no drinking allowed IV only
15th Feb - no drinking allowed IV only
16th Feb -no drinking allowed IV only
17th Feb - allowed to drink shakes and water @ a rate of 60ml per hour that is 1 teaspoon every 5 minutes
18th Feb - Time to go home still drinking as above.

After 7 days I can increase my liquid intake to a rate of 100ml per hour.

Apparently it will take me about 3 hours to get through 1 protein shake... crazy.

Well that is it for now and I am not sure if I will blog again till after my op.

So see ya on the other side... maybe.

I really appreciate any comments you take the time to leave.  Feel free to ask questions.

If you are on this journey too or any other type of weight loss journey feel free to say hello and share your story.

4 Days Into Pre Op Diet

So here we are 4 days in and so far so good.

I have not been as hungry as I thought I would be but I have been filling up on jelly and cucumbers.  I have found that I am having a cup of tea when I get up and my breakfast shake at about 9.30.  This means I am not starving when it gets to lunchtime.  I think the Metamucil helps fill you up too.
One of the other things that my dietitian told me is that you cannot drink anything within 30 minutes before eating or up to 45 minutes after eating.  Apparently this flushes your food through more quickly and leaves you feeling hungry sooner.  In all my years no one has ever told me that but I can see how it makes sense.
This drinking habit is something I will be stuck with for the rest of my life as after my op there will not be enough room in my stomach for both food and drink.

So for dinner so far I have had stir fry twice and salad twice in addition to my shake which I had 30 minutes before.

At this stage I can say that I am missing meat and cheese, but I'll get over it.

Anyway I have some ideas for a dip for veggies and I might try a veggie juice too in the mornings which will help give me extra energy but not count towards my 2 cups since all the pulp is taken out.

I really appreciate any comments you take the time to leave.  Feel free to ask questions.

If you are on this journey too or any other type of weight loss journey feel free to say hello and share your story.

Pre Op Diet Starts

So the time has come for me to start my 2 week pre op diet.  The purpose of the pre op diet is to shrink the liver by stripping away the excess fat and glycogen.    A big fatty liver is a fragile thing so a smaller liver makes the surgery much safer.
To be honest this is the stage I have been dreading the most.  I am worried I will be hungry and won't be able to stick to it and then my surgery will be cancelled because my liver has not shrunk.

So the idea of the diet is to replace all of your meals with shakes and you can also have some green veggies and diet jelly.  The idea is to send you body into a state of Ketosis which reduces your hunger.  The dietitian explained it to me like this:  After 3 days of very limited carbohydrate intake and very low calorie intake your body thinks there is a famine so it shuts of your hunger signals and starts to convert the fat stores in your body to fuel.

So for the next 2 weeks I will be on 3 Optislim shakes a day, as much diet jelly as I want (the dietitian said it will not matter if I use this as a stomach filler as there is no calories or carbs) and I can have 2 cups of  green veggies (no potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, corn, parsnip, legumes or any starchy veggies) a day as well 1 cup of berries (blueberries, raspberries or strawberries) and water, black tea, coffee and herbal tea.  You also need too take a fiber supplement like Metamucil.

I can use as many herbs and spices as I want so I think stir fry will be a regular meal.  I plan on having a shake for breakfast, my berries for morning tea, another shake for lunch, a late afternoon shake and then veggies for dinner.  The dietitian also said that if I was ever hungry I should eat, celery sticks, cucumber and carrots as these would not impact my weight loss.

So here goes.  I hope it is not too hard.  No I will not think like that.  I will look at my vision board to remind me why I am doing this.

I really appreciate any comments you take the time to leave.  Feel free to ask questions.

If you are on this journey too or any other type of weight loss journey feel free to say hello and share your story.

A Brief Overview

I am at a bit of a loss as to how to start this, so I have decided to give a brief overview of where I am now and some basic details of my situation.

I am 35 years old and have battled my weight since I hit puberty when I was 11.  This is partly to do with the fact that I have PCOS (poly cycistic ovarian syndrome) but the reality is that I also over eat.  Not a good combination.

My weight has not been much of a barrier for most of my life and I have always done some sort of exercise, although not enough to ever shift a significant amount of weight or keep it off.

But over the last few year there have been signs that my weight is now starting to have an impact on my health and I can feel myself at the start of a downward spiral.

So just over 12 months ago I started investigating bariatric surgery and decided that a gastric sleeve might be the way to go.  I got a referral from my GP and started investigating surgeons.  I ended up going to see Dr Michael Hatzifotis .

After putting him through his passes with an exhaustive list of questions I had decided to book in to have a gastric sleeve in just over 12 months time.  The reason for the wait is that I needed to upgrade my private health insurance.

So for the last 12 months I have been in a holding pattern waiting for my surgery.  But now it is only 5 weeks away  on February 14 and there are so many thoughts running through I really needed somewhere to get them all out.  I have been looking on line to try and get answers to some of these questions/thoughts and while there is lots of information out there I feel like there are details missing.

So I hope through writing this blog about my experience it will help other people.

I have only touched on some subjects very lightly here and will expand on them in future posts but for now you know a little bit about a few things.

If you are on this journey too or any other type of weight loss journey feel free to say hello and share your story.

I really appreciate any comments you take the time to leave.  Feel free to ask questions.

If you are on this journey too or any other type of weight loss journey feel free to say hello and share your story.