27 May 2007

Ramblings

The day after I wrote my last post, I was down at the company cafeteria buying a Diet Dr. Pepper (I know, not good) and was waiting in line to pay for it when I noticed someone I used to work with. He walked right past and didn't even recognize me. It was too funny, he was within a couple of feet of me and nothing. I had to smile.

So, as I anticipated my eating this week has not been as good and I didn't expect to be perfect. My calories were lower than normal and probably my protein as well, I hadn't been tracking as strict as I would have like, mostly eyeballing things. I've also had this potato chip ... thing. I had one of those small bags of potato chips every day last week. They are around 20g of carbs each so I still stayed below my 50 grams of carbs per day. I guess I was really missing something crunchy & salty. I am not going to beat myself over it because I realize my approach and relationship to food is changing. Night before last, I was in a bad mood and I found myself at the grocery store walking around fuming over an argument I had with my business partner. A year ago, I would have stocked up on loads of crap, ice cream, cookies, pastries, etc. That night, I got two jars of spaghetti sauce to make my meaty "chili", two packs of really good sausage for the chili, some sugar free popsicles and two 2-liter bottles of Sugar Free Tropicana OrangeAde (this stuff is like crack). I walked past aisles of all kinds of stuff, walked through the bakery section, past the cookies and chips and didn't snag any of it. I am really proud of myself for that. I don't see it as dieting or not dieting, I see it as me taking control of the relationship. Obviously, I have the DS to thank for a large part of that. This is where the tool aspect of the duodenal switch is so great. Even if I had bought all that crap and ate it, I know it would not have derailed me for weeks on end like it would have in the past. The consequences of having such a binge would have been crappy...literally and I have enough stomach issues to deal with.

Anyway, it seems like potato and corn meal based products are really the only carby foods that I can eat -- in strict moderation -- that won't cause me problems. Stuff made with wheat and/or sugar are definite no-nos. When I go home in like a week and a half, there are really only two things I really, really want to have, cheese enchiladas and my dad's barbecue and when you think about it, only the cheese enchiladas will cause problems. Those are the only things I want to eat copious amounts of or rather I could alternate between those two things for every meal for the five days I'm home, everything else, I could really care less about. I'm sure I will pay for all the cheese consumption, but cheese enchiladas are by far, my favorite food. I am going to try to enjoy them (and I may start researching stuff like Lactaid) because it'll probably be another year or so before I have them again. I'm sorry, but it's nearly impossible to get good Mexican food in Georgia.

I am really tempted to bring my scale with me on my trip, but I'm not. :) I'll just have to go five days without weighing. That'll be a first since I got back from surgery. I've heard many people talk about losing weight while on vacation, much to their surprise, well I'll go on the record and say I seriously doubt I will be losing any weight while I'm gone, not with the way I will be eating! The cheese alone will do me in. I am also concerned about gas, I haven't had to be around people when I've had bad gas. I know the probiotics help a lot, but maybe I need to start thinking about something in addition to them.

The biggest change for me this week was that I have switched iron supplements again. I am dropping the Ferrous Sulfate (325mg twice daily) to Ferrochel (72mg twice daily). Ferrochel is chelated and allegedly 10 times more absorbable than the old stuff. The other good thing about it is that it purports to not cause stomach issues like the Ferrous Sulfate, namely constipation, so I am keeping my fingers crossed that this stuff works out for me. All I want is normal poop patterns, is that too much to ask for? My next labs are in late August with my PCP so I am hoping that the Ferrochel works just as well, if not better.

I got my labs back from the hematologist and all looks good. I'm pretty happy about that. The only thing that concerns me a tad is my blood sugar was 92. Granted, this was 1:30 in the afternoon, but still. Everything else is normal, except for my vitamin B12 was high so all I gotta do is cut down on my B12 supplementation. Not a problem.

I weighed in at 336.6 lbs this morning for a total loss of 180 lbs since August 30th of last year. I am starting to notice the veins in my hands and arms more. It is becoming much easier to cross my legs. I poked two more holes in my belt yesterday. I can pull my size 30 jeans down without unbuttoning them (which is a good and bad thing). My double chin is almost completely gone. Oh, one more thing, and this totally caught me by surprised, I actually experienced an urge to skip! WTF? Talk about unexpected...

Well, I think I am going to go take myself a nice walk and get some fresh air. I spent most of the day yesterday catching up on sleep and work. Time to go get moving.

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1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey T-

Small choices make a big difference. Congratulations on minimizing the damage. I would love to talk tonight. Feel free to call me. I am up until 11pm. Tomorrow might be a good day for clothes too.

Kim

May 27, 2007 at 8:41 PM  

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