Friday, February 18, 2011

Great flavor!

I found a protein shake I actually LOVE.  It's by Unjury and called Chocolate Splendor.  I just ordered a tub of it.

 I am sending one of the Syntrax Nectar flavors back.  Luckily where I ordered from allows you to send back opened protein.  I ordered from it from Vitacost.  I am sending Caribbean Cooler back.

I ordered some samples from Vitalady of some other flavors of Syntrax Nectar.  I will let y'all know what flavors are good.

Day 2 of protein diet

Well I am on day 2 of my protein pre op diet.  Yesterday was pretty rough.  I missed food so much and the protein shakes were not good.  I finally mixed the protein shake powder with Crystal Light and that was better.  I went with Syntrax Nectar for my protein shakes.  I ordered Caribbean Cooler and Crystal Sky flavors.  The Caribbean Cooler I haven't tried with Crystal Light yet, but I am drinking the other.  I also ordered samples of Unjury Protein Powder.  I tried the unflavored one this morning, and it wasn't good at all.  I had to gag it down.

At first I was thinking it was protein shakes ONLY for the 2 week period, but I went back and re-read all my info and learned I can have veggies like lettuce, tomatoes, broccoli, okra, and spinach.  I can also mix my protein powders with low fat milk, soy milk or plain or greek yogurt.  So after going all day yesterday with NO food (only protein shakes) I went to the store today to get my veggies and yogurt.  That was a tough experience.  First off I was at the dr. from 9 am to 1 pm, then straight to Cody's school for a parent teacher conference, so I had only 2 protein shakes and a bottle of water.  Everything was so tempting at Walmart.  I wanted to quit my diet 100 times.  They were even giving out samples.  I stared straight ahead, heading to the veggie dept and got my good stuff.  Came home and had a salad of romaine lettuce and tomatoes.  Never knew a simple salad with no dressing could taste so good!!!

My dr. visit went well.  To begin with I have lost 9 lbs since my last visit on Dec. 8.  YEAH ME!  I was nervous getting on that scale.  First I met with the Nurse Practitioner and she went over the procedure with me again, and detailed out what my first few days/weeks will be like.  She was very thorough and answered all the questions Brian and I had.

Then I went to financial office and filled out paperwork.  Went down to lab and had some blood drawn then back up to meet with the surgeon.

Here is where my day got a little rough.  It was 10:30 when we got to his office, but he had an emergency and was running late.  We waited until almost 12:30 for him.  I was worried because we needed to pick up Cody at 1:15.  I was afraid I was going to have to reschedule.  Luckily I didn't.  Sitting in that office for 2 hours listening to my stomach growl was not fun.  I am craving so many things.  I was really wishing I had a protein shake on me to at least curb the hunger.  The surgeon went over some forms for me to sign.  He described in detail all the risk factors to this surgery.  Although I have read them before, hearing him state them was scary.

I have had two c-sections and a uterine suspension.  As a result I have a lot of scar tissue.  He said if the scar tissue is too attached to my large intestines that they need for the surgery they will be unable to do a gastric bypass and will instead switch to a Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy.  I am fine with that.  I have researched the VSG and understand it also.

He did say my liver is really large and that could be a problem.  That is why this pre-op diet is so important.  It will help shrink my liver.  If they go in on the day of surgery and it's still too large they could have to abort the surgery.  He said that is rare and he's only had it happen 4 times.  It would suck to go through the surgery and have all the pain and they not be able to do it.  The last fear is they have to do an open gastric bypass rather than laproscopic.  Again the odds are against that.

I had a pity party for a couple of days.  I started thinking about how so many foods would be off limits and that was difficult.  I didn't realize how addicted to some foods I am.  I also have been having some fear which is natural, but still something to over come.

I went to support group this week and that really helped.  It helps to hear others experience both the good and the ugly.

I had Brian take pictures of me from all angles for my "before" shots and plan to take measurements of myself so I will know how many inches I lose.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

A time for sharing

I have done lots and lots of research on gastric bypass.  This post has to be one of the  more helpful posts I have found.

There are some blogs I read also:

The Bypassed Life
Pouch Party

Some websites I like:
My Surgeon is Dr. Carpenter
Obesity Help
Weight Loss Surgery Connection
Bariatric Eating

Where I plan to order my protein shakes and vitamins:
Vitacost
Bariatric Choice


Some that I just found, but plan to check out:
Gastric Bypass Truth
Miles to Go

I am always looking for more blogs, webpages to read.  If you have any to share that would be great!  I will update this post with more great pages that I find.

Miles to Go