As I mentioned in my previous entry, I blog to remember. I also blog to share my story so that others know the honest truth of what goes into the process. Yes, all are different, but knowledge is comforting to both the giver and the receiver. Please feel free to leave comments, messages, or questions and I will gladly respond!

My pre-op diet started on Monday, May 18th (kind-of) and was supposed to fully star on Wednesday the 20th. Honestly, there are two things I didn't expect: I NEVER expected it to be as hard as it was. If you go out and celebrate and have fun with friends/co-workers, have prior engagements set up, or are anything but a homebody than the diet is hard to follow. It just is. Second, I never expected not to be hungry...and on this diet with such intakes of protein I was NEVER hungry. Maybe 3 time in over two weeks did I feel hungry. Which, after 20 years of feeling hungry all the time, was an absolute shocker.

I pre-started my pre-op diet. Two days before schedule at 262 pounds. (For the reference, I go by my scale only and recognize that there is a 2-3 pound difference with the doctor, hospital, respectively). 262 was the heaviest I had been since the beginning of 2012, and that number in itself made my desire to follow the diet hard. On day one and two I looked at calorie intake but didn't really look at carb/sugar count. On day three, my actual start date, I had pre-cooked my one meal of chicken/broccoli/strawberries for the week and had them ready to go. I had ordered in Light Muscle Milk and Chocolate EAS drinks (If you order Isporpal it's awful, don't drink it.), and was set with sugar free jello and pudding. Work days were easy as I was so busy. What killed me, completely, was my prior engagements. Thursday I had a trip with some students to treat them to sushi and Marble Slab--neither of which they'd ever had. I did AWFUL. I tried all sushi with them, rice, soy sauce, diet cokes, had ice cream with them. Friday during the day I had a few calories, stuck by the diet, but had a Pedal Party that afternoon with beer and shots and margaritas--I did AWFUL that day, too. By Sunday, 7 days in, I was down to 258. Even with the two massive mistakes, I had managed to lose 4 pounds.

I had one more major mistake, and that was on Monday, memorial day. Which, of course, was filled with grilled food, grilled burgers, hot dogs, beer, etc. I partook a little too much, and that was another hit for me. It was only on Monday night when I Googled "what happens if you don't follow your pre-op diet" that I found out how detrimental what I was doing was. I shut it all down that day and realized in the next 9 days I was going to have to be incredibly strict with what I was eating.

...and I was. With the exception of one piece of pizza on Friday, I stuck to high protein shakes, sugar free jello/pudding, brocolli, roasted zucchini, and baked chicken/shrimp. By Wednesday morning (the day of my surgery) I was down to 252. I had lost 10 pounds in 16 days. ((Why the heck can't I do that without the help of the lap band? lol)) The only thing that kept me going, and not cheating any more, was the fear of my surgery being cancelled. Could I have stayed focused without that fear? Sadly, no. no I couldn't.

Overall, I am lucky and my story for the pre-op diet isn't one of huge success so please don't follow my lead. It also isnt' healthy to live with the fear of failure during such a critical time of surgery.

I am (finally) sleepy, so I will write my next blog, the day of the surgery, tomorrow.

JB