Showing posts with label optifast. Show all posts
Showing posts with label optifast. Show all posts

Monday, August 8, 2011

Six Weeks - Hypnosis and the Hypothalamus

I've been on my new lifestyle plan for six weeks now, and this week I weighed in at 134.4 kg - close enough to ten kilos lost! I'm happy with that, although I know I could have achieved more had I decided to do some exercise...


Somehow I have to get the energy up to start using the treadmill and bike. Gorgeous Jon (my weight loss surgeon) has referred me to a haematologist for an iron infusion as my iron levels are still very low. Hopefully that will hake place in the next month or so and it should have an instant effect. It entails sitting in hospital all day attached to a drip so it sounds pretty boring - but man, will it be worth it if I can get my iron levels up. The oral supplement has done bugger all.


Six weeks complete means I am halfway through the Optifast Intensive Phase and can start introducing protein in another six weeks. I see the dietician in a couple of weeks and depending on what she says, I may finish Intensive earlier. I need more energy and without red meat I am struggling. I think if I have my Optifast, two cups of vegies and one lot of protein every day I will still be well under 1500 calories and therefore should still lose weight. I record my food every day on Calorie King.com and they recommend I have 2000 calories every day (obviously a LOT more than Optifast and vegies).


I saw Beverly a couple of weeks ago - she is the NLP/hypnosis specialist. She was awesome, and really helpful, and I feel like I am getting my binge eating and screwy attitude towards food under control. She gave me a self-hypnosis CD that I've been listening to at night, which is aimed at resetting the hypothalamus and it's registering of when I am hungry. Apparently it gets put out of whack by regular binge eating and eating when not hungry (emotional eating, etc). I need to start listening to my body and eating at the proper meal times rather than just pigging out whenever I feel like it.


Overall, I am feeling confident that I can continue losing weight. I have only been doing 10 - 30 mins of medium pace walking every weekday (to and from the bus stop), and I know I can do more than that.


My 1st goal is to lose 24kg by the end of September (the end of the Intensive Phase).

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Wednesday

Current weight loss stats are: 5kg lost in 19 days.


I am managing to stick to the Very Low Calorie Diet fairly easily, the Optifast shakes, bars and desserts seem to fill me up and the evening salad or steamed vegies give me something to chew. It's hard to imagine doing this for another 9 weeks, but I know it's possible. I chew a lot of sugar free chewing gum and drink as much water as I can.


I am hoping to start doing more exercise this week, even just an extra ten mins a day on the treadmill. Eventually I plan to be able to run on the treadmill. I've always wanted to run and never been able to - it's on my bucket list which I am putting on http://www.43things.com/


Check out my Bucket List of things I will do during this lifetime AKA 43 Things.

Since I last wrote I've been in hospital with a gallstone attack - ultra painful! The irony is, the main trigger for a gallstone problem is eating a fatty meal. Hello...optifast!? Weird. It happened the day I saw Gorgeous Jon, my weight loss surgeon. He was lovely, and so forgiving. I hadn't seen him since two weeks after my operation (November 2007!!!). No wonder I kind of went off track. He said out of 500 plus sleeves he has done, there are only a few that haven't worked. Not that there are a lot of us "long term" patients yet. He said that one option for me may be the gastric bypass but not until the end of this year or the beginning of next. Apart from the necessity for him to train in doing them, I will be $6,000 - $8,000 out of pocket so will need to organise a loan or savings. Hopefully it won't be necessary.

Gorgeous Jon seemed uncertain about whether the sleeve could be stretched as much as I say, and also whether it would "stretch back" now I am on a VLCD. Neil and I went out for our one year anniversary and I managed to eat quite a lot. But it does seem as though there is less room in there...

Monday, July 11, 2011

Monday

This morning I weighed in at an even 140kg. When I started I was almost 144kg so I'm counting that as almost 4kg lost in just over a week! Go me!!

I had two stressful moments on Saturday, both of which I navigated without eating crap. I did, however, binge - on four cruskits with low fat cheese slices. The calories were negligent but I was very conscious of, and annoyed at, the way I gorged them. I was stressed out over a visit we'd had with Neil's mum (who is so negative and depressed, and her energy always affects me and makes me feel low). During the visit we took her McDonalds for lunch, and I had a garden salad. I had to watch Neil and his mum eat cheeseburgers, nuggets and fries! I was so proud of myself, and really didn't miss the junk food that much. Except for the emotionally calming effect it may have had on me for a few minutes.

I am trying hard to eat more slowly and mindfully. To chew my food properly, and enjoy the taste and the sensation of eating. My nightly salad or vegetables are wonderful, I really look forward to them after shakes or bars all day.

I see my weight loss surgeon this afternoon for the first time in about three years. I want to update him with my progress, or lack thereof, and talk to him about maybe getting revision surgery next year. I'm hoping it won't be necessary, and that I will be able to shrink my sleeve/stomach back to its small size and make some better food choices, as well as get my binge eating under control. But if my current plan doesn't work, I want to know what my options are. I read that in the US some doctors are re-sizing people's sleeves via endoscopy, so you don't even need to have keyhole surgery. I guess the fact that this, and other revisions, are occuring, mean I am not the only person to stuff up their sleeves and not lose the weight. Which does make me feel better.

Currently, this is the status:
800 calories a day (3 x meal replacement shakes, bars, soups or puddings plus two cups of vegies plus the occasional non-wheat cracker and cheese)
At least 8 cups of water a day
30 mins easy walking a day (to and from the bus stop, so I have to do it!)

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

The Prodigal Daughter

I'm back, and so is this blog. I need to get back on track, and to do so I'm using Optifast. Day One was 1st July, and in the 5 days since I've already lost 3kg.

My starting weight for this part of the journey is 144kg.

Can you believe it?

25 kilos heavier than my lowest weight (Jan 2008).

*Sigh*

Anyway, I am tired of looking back and regretting and I'm tired of eating to excess.

My eating is out of control, well it was until a few days ago. I'm finding Optifast as simple and useful this time as when I did it before my surgery. I'm on the intensive phase, which is three shakes/bars/soups per day plus 2 cups of non-starch vegies. It lasts for 12 weeks.

My main goal for now is to reach 125kg by the time I go to Melbourne on Sept 1st.