Two weeks pre-op.. the first week.

Going into the two weeks before the surgery I was a little anxious and nervous. The week previous I could only think about the things I wouldn’t be able to eat for at least 6 weeks if not forever. I made steak and BBQ ribs. I ate my favorite kinds of ice cream ( ‘Moose Tracks Extreme’ and Ben and Jerry’s ‘Cherries Garcia’). The night before the diet started, my daughter Heather made coffee cup brownies with ice cream, chocolate syrup, and Redi Whip topping. I love a good brownie! I didn’t overdo it though. I might have had the foods I enjoy, but I didn’t go crazy. I kept my portions way below what I normally would eat. And there were lots of things that I couldn’t get my hands on and that’s ok. Mostly, the week before, I tried to focus on having the right supplies on hand to have available during the diet. I needed it to be easy and ready to go.

So, what is this diet and what can I eat you ask? It’s a liver shrinking diet consisting of items on a full liquid diet. It is about 800-900 calories a day. Here’s a sample of my day:

Coffee with sugar free flavored syrup (no creamer or regular sweeteners)

1/2 cup of cream of wheat with a little Splenda in it and maybe a little unsweetened almond milk

A Premier Plus Protein Shake (2-3 through the day. I ordered several flavors from Amazon and they end up being under $2.00 a bottle)

Oikos Triple Zero Blended Yogurt

6oz of creamy Tomato soup (I like the microwavable bowls)

Sugar free pudding or jello cup (2/day)

A lot of water (I like the off-brand crystal light flavor cherry from Walmart)

The first day was fine. Getting my bearings straight and timing my food out. I was still riding on all the yummy foods from the week before. I didn’t do much to overexert myself and mostly rested the first 2 days. I spaced my food out so I would eat something every 2 hours. By day 3 I wasn’t getting the grumbly growling hunger sounds anymore. But I kept with the same routine and fed my body when I needed to. The weight was dropping off. Cool thing is that in addition to the app for the scale at the doctor’s office, this office created an app to monitor and record your weight loss, food intake, etc. It has a countdown to surgery and the nutritionist keeps an eye it and sends you encouragement and support. I love this! I am all about having the tools necessary to be successful! Because I like data and information, I took my weight on my scale at home the day I started. It was in line with the scale at the Dr.’s office. So are you curious yet? Do you want to know how the weight is going? I started the diet on Sat. July 11th, 13 days before the surgery. Here are the details:

My starting weight on Friday, July 10th was 329.4 lbs.

There it is, I am down 10.8 lbs as of today’s weigh in. That’s exciting. My first goal is to hit 315.9 lbs and I am getting pretty close.

It hasn’t been without challenges though. My family is still eating regular food. Granted, I am not cooking for them which was part of the deal, but it can still be difficult when you are eating 6oz of tomato soup and your son sits down next to you with a burrito. My husband has been great cooking his own meals. He likes to make foods I don’t like anyway. Heather would go on the same diet if I got her the food to do it. The first week I needed them to use up the food in the fridge. I did get extra of the yogurts and jello for Heather to eat the second week.

Another challenge is working. Some of you know that I am a freelance graphic designer and website designer. I was also working at Home Depot a couple of hours a week on the weekends in the back office. When I decided on the surgery and got a surgery date, I decided to put in my notice at HD instead of going on a leave of absence. The second day of the diet was my last day at Home Depot. That’s one less stress in my life, but it means that I have to recover that couple hundred dollars extra income and focus on my freelance business. Mostly my jobs have come through referrals. Currently, I am working on a digital menu board for a local Mexican market. So that means that I am editing pictures of food every day. Talk about hard! But the other downside is that when I do this kind of work it’s very easy to lose track of time. I have my office at my dad’s house in one of the bedrooms so I can stay close to him and make myself keep ‘office hours’. He doesn’t need day to day assistance right now, but I help him with ordering parts, keeping his pill organizers filled, and financial things mostly. I worry about him having something happen while I am recovering from surgery and can’t help him. I am all he has left. Yes, I know that there is a great racing family that would jump in if need be and I do appreciate that, but it’s not the same as having someone you can trust 100% to be there for you in need. I digress. The point is that it’s easy to get into a project. This can be great because I’m not thinking about food that I can’t have, but I have to set alarms throughout the day to remind me to get up and eat something. I brought over the items that I need to eat through the office hours, so I wouldn’t have to bring things every day. I also take my dad to breakfast every day. It forces him to get up and dressed and start his day. Since I can’t eat anything, I take a protein shake with me and sit with him and chat. It’s nice.

That sums up week one of the the pre-op diet. Next week, I have the COVID test on Wednesday and surgery is still set for Friday morning. I will try to put something out after the COVID test and share how that experience goes. Until next week be safe out there and thanks again for listening to my ramblings. Please leave comments or subscribe for updates in your inbox.