Okay, this is getting real!

And I am so excited!  I have survived over 30 hours without food!  And so far, so good.  I got stomach growling hungry on the way home from work after 6 pm, but it passed after a few swigs of peach tea.  Aside from that, I've been really pleased at how well it has gone.  I mean, I have barely scratched the surface and I have to keep going until Sunday night.  At least I'm off to a good start.

I got my shipment of stuff from Bariatric Advantage on Friday of last week.  Vitamins, calcium, some Click (espresso protein drink) and Nectar (fuzzy navel flavored protein drink, which my pal Micheala pronounces as NecTAAAAR!).  Saturday morning, while still legally able to eat, I went and grocery shopped.  I got a ton more Crystal Light (dear Lord it was on sale buy one get one freeeee!), sugar free popsicles, jello and pudding, broth and containers that were on clearance and luckily the half cup size, which I needed.

I spent most of the day Saturday cleaning, scrubbing cabinets and the floors.  Not that it did any good because of rain later that night and 16 paws that tromped through the mud outside and sullied my clean floors.  

I also cooked a lean pot roast, which I blended with cream of mushroom soup and froze in 1/2 cup portions.  I cooked several chicken breasts which I shredded finely and froze in 4 oz portions. And I made a pot of chili with very lean ground beef and lots of beans, which I blended and froze.  It was my traditional yummy chili, and when blended it tasted like beef and bean burrito filling!  OMG, YUM! And I don't have to think when I get to pureed foods, as I'll have stuff in the freezer ready to go.

Saturday night I went out with my dog show gals to what was the Umpteenth Irregular Meeting of the Bitch and Dine Society.  We went to Longhorn out at Rivergate.  Somehow, I got confused and got directions to the one in Gallatin (Gallatin versus Gallatin ROAD).  I ended up driving off the grid of my GPS!  I'm zipping along the highway, waiting for the exit, when all the roads disappeared off the GPS and just a big orange U turn sign showed up!  It took awhile, but I finally got to the restaurant and enjoyed an amazing steak and baked sweet potato.  Drooool.

It was a good meal to wrap things up with and yet something I can eat after.  Well, like in late May.  And in greatly reduced portions.  Lean protein and a healthy complex carb.  Love me some baked sweet potatoes.  They don't even need butter. 

Today I was at work all day and I was expecting the liquid diet to be more challenging.  I know it will, but I'll get through it.  I'm choosing the attitude to use this as a time to break the hold I give food over me.  I got the idea from a woman named Lynnette, whom I affectionately refer to as Touch My Port Lady.  It was the outlook she used to get through it and she said it wasn't difficult at all.  In general, I think that most people have a lot of trouble.  Not that it was funny-funny, but Micheala only had two days of liquid diet and her blogs about the emotional trauma of it were quite entertaining.  

In the long run, I am counting on mind over matter and in understanding that this is a.) something that will end in a finite amount of time and b.) required in order to get to the OR, I think I will do well.  Three days from now, I need to come back to this blog and re-read this to remind myself!

I have a few sips of my last Carnation Instant Breakfast of the day and then I'm done.  I spent the first 2 hours after work cleaning out the fridge and getting rid of all the crap that was left.  Now my shelves are sparkling clean and I feel such a sense of calm relief.  Ahhhh, no fridge clutter to stress me out or tempt me.

Of course I could be wrong and come 4 am on Thursday, I could be drinking mesquite barbecue sauce straight from the bottle.  Barbecue sauce is a liquid, right?  Liquid diet--it's all good!

Nifty measure-y gadget!

So being an Amazon junkie, I was quite excited to get home last night to find a box on my porch.  Mostly it was Carnation Instant Breakfast (No sugar added) cans.  But I also got this nifty device to measure myself with.  

I've been meaning to do this for ages.  Like in October when I first really got rolling on this journey.  October, March.  Whatever.  

This gadget, called the MyoTape, is a measuring tape with a handle and a hook.  It allows you to easily measure your bits relatively accurately all by yourself. No fumbling, no small village required to assist. And it was less than seven bucks.  Oh, JOY!

It isn't quite perfect, as the slot that holds the hook-y part isn't very secure.  So it comes apart sometimes.  I solved that with a piece of scotch tape. (I am such the techno-fix-it wizard!) And I was able to measure every measurable part of me in about 5 minutes.  Now I have something to compare to down the pike as I continue to lose weight. This will help out immensely when I hit my first, inevitable stall. The scale may not be obeying, but things are changing.

Ode to Carnation Instant Breakfast

Oh my sweet, sweet Carnation Instant Breakfast! How I love you. Okay, love is pushing it a bit. But by the end of next week, I might be there.

Liquid diet starts in a matter of days and today I brought my canister of Instant B'fast to work. Monday I'll lug in a half gallon of milk and my blender bottle.  It's purple!

On one hand I am looking forward to the liquid diet because it means the time is coming rapidly to get banded.  On the other hand, I'm sure I will be a tad irritable.  Like right now, someone is mixing a solution on the lab bench in the nearby hallway.  There is an incessant clanking sound of a stir-bar against the wall of the beaker as the solution mixes.  It's crap like that that's gonna get someone killed next week when I'm hungry and grouchy.  Sounds make me especially crabby.  Don't know why, but I can't tune out obnoxious sounds.  I obsess over them, instead.  Nice.

Usually I am relatively tolerant of the Czech doctor who shares an office wall with me.  He's a loud talker and a frequent talker.  And sometimes he makes crazy noises (usually when on the phone with his kids, not his patients.  I hope.).  I usually sit in here and mutter, "Shut up, Peter!"  But next week I might actually yell it.  OMG!  A different doctor is standing right outside my office door munching potato chips! Next week is gonna be a challenge.

Perhaps I should just get up and take walks when the testiness sets in. Yeah, sideways crabby walks, that is!

Less than two weeks to go

And I'm getting excited!

Today I stopped by Target and bought a bottle of antibiotic body wash.  For the last few days before surgery, I'm supposed to shower at least twice a day with an antibiotic soap.  I guess this means I should change my sheets so I'm not rolling around in my own filth, huh? ; )

I also got a 10 cup (MONSTER SIZED) Brita water pitcher for my office.  Next week my liquid diet begins and I have to consume nothing but a ton of liquids. I have a mini-fridge in my office, and having a water pitcher right there is easiest. I can always have water to whip up my Crystal Light in an instant. Making things convenient and easy is half the battle.

At this point, I am almost looking forward to the liquid diet and being off food altogether for a few weeks.  I'm so over it!  Ya know?  I'm just ready for the next phase and am looking forward to the surgery.  Of course about the 2nd day into the liquid diet, I'll probably be having a royal case of the screaming meemies!  Waaannnnaa CHEW!

I think I'll do okay.  I'm just gonna keep telling myself that.

Two weeks from today...

Talk about hurry up and wait!  Now that I am only two weeks out, things are starting to go very quickly!  (Yaay!  I just realized I have an extra weekend I didn't think I had.  Whew. I can actually work on cleaning house.)

I am down to 19 meals and rather disappointed.  Not that my supply of favorite meals is dwindling, but that the stuff I'm eating really isn't all that good.  I had my minute steaks but they were not seasoned quite right.  Ehh.  I had a NY strip last night off the grill, but it was more medium than medium rare.  Ehh.  I got a piece of chocolate cake at O'Charleys.  Ehh.

I think my head is starting to disengage from this whole eating thing.  After 41 years of eating for reasons other than hunger, my brain is finally coming to its senses.  Ehh, it's just food.

Now that I have so many things going on in my life, and more friends than I have had in ages, food is not nearly as high on the totem pole.  And that's a great thing!

I think if things keep going the way they have been, that by the time my liquid diet starts on Sunday, I'll be welcoming it.  A palate cleansing phase, if you will, defining the span between my old life and my new, exciting life where food is not the sun around which I focus, but friends and relationships are.  That and shopping.  ; )