Post surgery and new home for these posts

I am almost w weeks post lapband surgery and doing great. I start back at work tomorrow.

I have lost a total of 80lbs between Atkins (first 50) and liquid diet for the surgery pre and post op diet.

It may seem like I haven't posted in a while. Actually I just decided to move my posting to Obesity help's site. I post there pretty regularly and it didn't make sense to post in both places. Please come check out my profile there. It is a public profile so you can read it without joining OH. http://www.obesityhelp.com/member/karriemassotti/

Liquid Diet

I am now 9 days from surgery. I am in the middle of the liquid diet phase. It is easier than you may think. I get to eat sugar free jello and Popsicles and the protein shakes really help.

The cool part is I have lost 13lbs in 4 days.

I have my final appointment with the Surgeon tomorrow and then a biopsy on my liver on Thursday and then all that is left is show up and have surgery.

I am really excited.

Day of Medical Tests

I spent the morning doing tests in preparation for the surgery.

It was quite painless and I was amazed at how they had it all arranged where I just went from one place to the next to the next for tests.

It all started at 7am with lab work (blood and urine) sample.

At 7:30 I went to have an ultrasound on my abdomen. That lasted for 45 minutes. They got all of my organs from every possible angle. On my back, on my sides, on my side angled half way toward on my back etc... that was the worst part. Uncomfortable and also the wand hurt sometimes as they had to dig past the weight to be able to see. but, not too bad.

Next I had a chest xray. That took all of about 2 minutes... step up to a machine, raise my arms and snap. Turn to a side raise arms and snap. Finished!

Next I went for a series of lung and heart tests. These were absolutely fascinating. I had to breath in certain patterns into a machine that was testing my lung capacity and other items. for example I had to take four regular breaths and then a really sharp inhale and exhale as hard as I could like I was blowing a dart gun and then keep exhaling for 5. All of this was charted and graphed. Overall my lungs were at about 97% of what they should be so that is great news. This was about 30 minutes of testing.

I also had an EKG, it was just to lay down on a chaise lounge and they put the ekg stickers all over me and then I had to do some breathing and holding my breath. That only took about 2 minutes.

then I was done. I already have had the other required testing, colonoscopy and endoscopy and psychological eval.

My next steps are:

Wednesday 1/27 I go to a 4 hour nutrition class that teaches me all about pre and post op diet as well as ongoing nutrition. It should be very interesting.
Friday 1/29 I have an appointment with an internal medicine specialist for medical clearance for the surgery based on all of these tests
Wednesday 2/17 I start the clear liquid diet
Monday 2/22 I have my final appointment with my surgeon
Tuesday 3/2 is my surgery.

Long time no blog

Okay so I know it has been forever since I have written. I am sorry for that. I could make all sort of excuses and most of them are true, I took a few trips, I had some really hard school classes that took all my free time etc... but bottom line is I didn't feel I had anything worthy to write about.

Today, I feel I have something to share.

I got approval from insurance to get my lap band surgery and I have scheduled it.

I will be having surgery on March 2nd, 2010. It will be here before we know it.

I am very excited.

I know in the past I was unsure if I would do surgery or not because of how much success I had already had on Low Carb.

what caused me to change my mind? Well, since the last time I have blogged (months ago) I haven't lost any net weight. I have gained and lost 8-10 lbs 4 times.

Each vacation, birthday week, thanksgiving week, Christmas week all an excuse to have a cheat week and when I cheat, I really cheat. So, I would gain back 8-10 lbs in that one week, struggle for 2-3 weeks to loose that weight again and then repeat cycle. No net change.

As I have stated before, lap band is not going to magically loose weight for me. It is going to be a tool to help me loose weight. I like what a friend in a support group wrote today about how can this be considered the easy way out when you have to think about EVERY bite and how that just one more bite thought can cause you to get very physically ill.

This is my tool to help aid my will power. My diet will be basically the same as it has been on low carb. The two are hand in hand. I will eat less with the band but the knowledge I have gained from this weight loss will go a long way toward my success.

Just checking in

Sorry I haven't had much time to write lately.

Other commitments have occupied my time.

I am here, I am doing well. I will write more soon.

Atkins Rumor Mill

It never ceases to amaze me how often I hear rumors about how bad for you Atkins is.

Or hear horror stories about people who 'tried' it and had worse health.

In every single case they have been because of people thinking they knew what Low Carb / Atkins was but not researching the actual program. Not reading the Atkins book and really following it.

They follow what they think the plan is based on what they hear from their friends.

Regardless what you have heard:

Atkins is not a license to eat a pound of bacon a day (in fact it should be avoided)

Atkins is not a high fat diet (it is a low carb diet)

It is not a meat only diet. You are supposed to eat 2-3 cups of vegetables per day in balance with lean meats like chicken, turkey, fish etc.

Atkins is not bad for your cholesterol (in fact it is fantastic for it)

Atkins is not hard on your gall bladder, liver, kidneys etc.

Just this week I heard of two cases of people whose cholesterol sky rocketed when doing Atkins which is near impossible if done properly and another person having gall bladder issues.

The gall bladder person told me she was eating a pepperoni and that caused it.

Atkins in his books warns about high fat foods, and all meats with nitrates are supposed to be highly limited (pepperoni, hot dogs, bacon, many lunch meats etc)

I find people latch on to the concept that you can eat red meat and take it to the extreme.

The reason that steak is allowed is it is actually lower in fat and calories than some chicken dishes but it isn't supposed to be your main food source.

You need a well balanced diet even on Atkins.

It also is not just cutting down on some carbs and eating more protein.

Also, If you cut some carbs but don't get into ketosis then your body is not burning from it's own stores so you are not doing any good and might as well had the potato.

All you are doing is adding calories and fat into your diet without providing a mechanism for removal so that can cause worse health.

You need all things working together to make the furnace burn. You must be in ketosis for the health benefits to be there.

So, if you plan on trying Atkins, again please buy and READ the book. Don't count on a friend or even this blog for your guide.

You need to know what the program is really about and commit to the program not someone's interpretation of the program.

By the way, my cholesterol is only borderline high at 203 and didn't change since starting Atkins but my triglycerides dropped from 292 to 191 and my Doctor is so happy that she is expecting to be able to take me off meds soon.

Search for low carb recipes

I have been experimenting with some low carb recipes lately and not having much success.

I have tried low carb waffles which looked fantastic and were pretty good but not perfect.  The ones that I cooked to a golden brown were soft and almost soggy textured, the ones I cooked to the crisper side to give a crunch like waffles should have were almost burnt. It may just take practice.

I have tried 2 "cookie" recipes and they are okay but for me, I just can't get over the texture of almond flour/meal.

the only recipe that I do love is the ricotta pancakes that I posted before.   (http://journeytohalfself.blogspot.com/2009/08/some-recipies.html)

I have not yet tried flax seed meal flour.  I will try that next and see if I can handle that flavor.

If I find anything good enough to share I will post it here.