Day One: A review

Yup, that about sums it up. 

I kid.  It wasn't quite that bad.

For starters, I will share with you that I spent a good portion of the day battling hunger pains.  It didn't help that my PMS was apparently peaking.  Also, I had a fill scheduled for last night, so I couldn't eat anything after lunch.  I kept my calories to about 700, which is low, but again, I couldn't eat anything after lunch, so I got quite a few in, if you look at it that way. 

I had a sugar free carnation instant breakfast with a banana blended in for breakfast.  I actually enjoy that quite a bit.  For lunch, I had a low fat and low calorie progresso soup, and I added some garbanzo beans in for more fiber and substance.  For snacks, I had one cracker, a sugar free popsicle and a sugar free fudgsicle at night.  I also had a piece of hard candy while I was waiting for the MD.  There you have it.  Today, I'm on liquids, so my diet will pretty much be the same as yesterdays.  Only I'll have tomato soup instead of progresso, and I'll have 1 or 2 more instant breakfast servings.

I did some research on exercising while getting over pneumonia, and I read in several places that yoga or pilates are a good place to start.  It's not as challenging on your cardiovascular system, and it may even help with respiratory issues.  I figured - it can't hurt to try.  I actually have a wonderful DVD collection of fitness programs, so I went to my collection and pulled out a yoga instructional I hadn't done in a while, and I did about 20 minutes of it.  I felt a little weak, so I stopped, but I honestly felt like I could breathe better after!  My body felt more healthy than it had in weeks as well.

Last night, I met with my lap band surgeon.  There was a time when I avoided making an appointment with him because I hadn't lost any weight since the last time I saw him.  That time was long ago, and I haven't seen him since then.  I kept wanting to lose weight before I saw him, and before I knew it, I was up 40 lbs.  He was not impressed!

He greeted me by saying how good I looked, and I thanked him, and then quickly alerted him to the fact that I had gained quite a bit since I last saw him.  He had me jump on the scale, and he became somewhere between annoyed and angry with me.  I know he has a lot of lap band patients that haven't had success and that annoys him.  They expect the band to do all the work, and they don't watch what they eat, exercise, etc...  That is not me.

I gave him a very brief overview of what brought me to this point, and he asked why he should give me a fill if I'm not active in the program?  I hadn't seen him in over a year, I haven't been to any of the meetings, I've gained 40 lbs - he doesn't treat people who aren't active in the program.

At that point, he had to leave the room because he got a phone call, and I'm very glad for that.  I wasn't feeling well from my pneumonia, I was tired from the trip down there, as his office is an hour away, I had to wait over an hour to see him from my scheduled appointment time, and I was already feeling really bad about the fact that I was up all the weight - I didn't need him making me feel worse.  I could feel my face getting hot, and I didn't want to cry.  I had a few tears in my eyes, and I remembered that Darcy said drinking water can help you from crying sometimes.  I quickly drank 3 glasses of water and I composed myself, planning on what I was going to say when he returned.  For a quick moment, I thought about just leaving and never coming back, but I quickly dismissed that notion as emotional and foolish.

When he came back into the room, before he could speak, I asked him if he thinks it's possible for this to work outside of his designed program?  He asked me what I meant.  I told him that I did not find value in his monthly meetings, and since I have moved, I can't possibly commit to going to them.  I had an unusually terrible year health wise, and it's not the norm.  I have my own program that is a lot more intensive than his program, in that I blog daily, I work out whenever I'm healthy enough to, I am a part of online groups to support lap band issues and weight loss, I'm training for a mini triathlon, my friends and I are doing a biggest loser contest together - my health and weight loss are at the center of my universe right now, and I need a fill to take it to the next level.

His demeanor changed completely, and it seemed as though he felt bad for taking a hard line with me initially.  He said of course he'd give me a fill, but he just has to make sure that people aren't abusing the tool.  He understands that I can't go to the monthly meetings, but I just need to make sure to check in with him every 6 months, and I said I could do that.  He ended up giving me 1.5 times what he normally gives me so I'd have a good amount of restriction for a while, and also since I won't be seeing him for a while.

So now I feel like I have a lap band again.  I think I have more restriction than ever.  It's taken me an hour to get through my carnation instant breakfast shake - probably because I thickened it with a banana.  That's never been a problem before, but this is the lap band I've heard about from the other people I've met online.  My MD is always very conservative with fills, so other people would talk about how they could only eat a quarter cup of food and then they were full, and that never happened to me, but I hope it does now.  I need that kind of jump start!

I have no idea if I lost any weight yesterday.  I flipped my scale over as a reminder not to weigh myself until next Tuesday AM.  I don't know if I can go that long, but I'm going to try.

I had my first physical therapy session this morning.  I loved the PT I'm going to be working with!  She is a doll.  I'll be seeing her 2x/week for the next month, and then we'll take it from there.  I got the impression that she thought my knee was quite bad from the faces and noises she made when she was examining it.  LOL - let's hope we can fix this!  My left knee aches a bit from physical therapy, so I'm not going to attempt to do yoga today.

I actually feel quite weak from just that little bit of running around and activity this AM, but I'm going to go into the office for a few hours today for the first time since I got back from ATL.  My thoughtful boss has made arrangements for me to work in an office that's right near a close parking spot to the door.  My usual office is a little bit of a hike from the parking lot, so I'd have to be in the cold air too long. 

Hopefully today will go well, and if I'm feeling well enough tonight, I may try to go swimming, but right now, I'm guessing I'll spend the evening resting.

Good luck to my competitors - I'd love to hear how you are doing after the first full day!