Head Space and Eating Right

Although we both had our appointments scheduled on the same day, in May we each saw different people, Ally saw her nurse Darla, and I had two appointments, one with the clinic Psychologist Patti, and the other with a Dietitian names Colleen. Most people who enter into the program are supposed to see a Dietitian as soon as possible to help them with the one cup diet and ensure that you are getting enough vitamins and nutrients to lose the weight the “right way.” By now we have almost accomplished our entire pre-surgery required ten percent weight loss and are just now getting our appointments with the Dietitians. I have mine this month and Ally`s was canceled and rescheduled for next month.

Ally saw her nurse Darla who was very happy with her progress and her weight loss of 3 lbs. this month bringing her to 269 lbs. She told Ally that there was no point to making an appointment with the surgeon until the offsite psych evaluation and scope are done. They talked about Ally’s hernia, which is why she had a scope done in the past, and she is going to ensure that the surgeon is made aware of it before surgery. Other than that they mostly just went over her Food Journal and any food related struggles (temptations) that she was having. Have I mentioned we like ice cream?

First I saw Patti, who is my Psychologist within the clinic. Unlike Ally’s experience there was no large booklet of questions we just sat there and talked while she made the occasional note. We covered family history, child hood, and my support system to name a few topics. It was very natural and just flowed from one topic to the next. Although it did last about an hour and a half and was quite a bit of talking for me as I don’t normally talk all that much.

After my Psychologist appointments I had my Dietitian appointment with Colleen. We went over a lot, she looked over my food journal and I explained everything I was eating, she wanted to know about water intake and eating habits. While we were talking she takes notes and was writing down the advice that she was giving me on things like recommended protein per day, and calories per meal. She suggested that I try a Boost: High Protein drink in the morning since I don’t like eating breakfast, saying that I could even try getting a prescription for it and seeing if it is covered by medical. Colleen would like me to start a prenatal vitamin as it is the best one to get all your levels up before surgery. An increase in fruits and vegetables was also recommended, she wants me to eat an extra cup a day of just fruits and vegetables, when I asked about the effect on the one cup diet because I was concerned about what the surgeon would say and how it would impact my surgery she said that it’s what I need and the surgeon doesn’t even look at our Food Journals.

My suggested Calorie intake:

   Aim for 1400 – 1900 per day

   300 – 400 per meal

   150 – 200 per snack

My suggested Protein intake:

   60 – 65g per day

   20g per meal

When I came out of my Dietitian appointment to book our next month’s appointments I was excited to learn that we had received our scope dates. We are both booked in for February 4, 2014 and are on the next day cancellation list. The receptionist told me that there was a woman last month that received her date for next year as well and then was called to have her scope the week after she had gotten the date, so fingers crossed. We are both so excited. It seems that everything is falling in to place; we have either seen everyone we need to or else have appointments to do so.

XOXO, Evie & Ally