Archive for the ‘Bariatric surgery’ Category

On the right track

Posted: June 25, 2012 in Bariatric surgery, Exercise, Food porn, The Management, Wegman's, Weight loss
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Greetings from the land of the slimmer!

I had an appointment this morning with the exercise physiologist and dietitian at the bariatric center. First thing, I got weighed. It was a cool 368 lbs. That’s a vast improvement over my last visit to the clinic for group where the number was 380. So, 12 pounds in about three weeks. Much better. The funny thing is that before you can have surgery, they ask that you lose 10 pounds. Guess I took care of that.

The first part of my appointment was with the exercise guy. I found Ryan to be very upbeat and encouraging. He was impressed by my walking regimen and wants me to keep it up. He also set up some appointments for me in their fitness center. It’s not big, but they only have six people at a time in there. They have shower facilities and most importantly, Ryan and/or Cory are there to show you how to exercise and lift weights safely and correctly. I start with a one hour session on Thursday and I’m really looking forward to it. Apparently, one of the risks with bariatric surgery is the  loss of muscle mass. As such, they want to build it up so you don’t lose all of what you have.

Cedar plank roasted Copper River salmon with mushroom risotto and steamed broccoli

Following my appointment with Ryan, I met Cory, the other physiologist. Then it was off to meet the dietitian, Shauna. She also seemed to be very supportive and was pleased with some of the dietary progress I’ve made. She was pleased to hear that both The Management and myself like to cook, and she was really pleased with last night’s dinner. We were at Wegman’s on Friday and I managed to pick up some Copper River salmon. I roasted it on a cedar plank with a sheen of olive oil, fresh ground pepper and sea salt on top. To go along with it, I made a mushroom risotto and steamed broccoli. The Management approved.

Today’s route.

So, I also added a new track to my walking playlist. I think my hair band loving friends will like it. Many might remember an 80’s hair band called Warrant. They were in the news in the past couple of years thanks to the death of lead singer Jani Lane. So, this weekend, XM 80s on 8 was playing a countdown from 1989 and Warrant’s little known track, Down Boys came on. It was very catchy and I haven’t been able to get it out of my head. It sets a pretty good pace and I’m kind of scared to check my feet, because I might have overdone it a little. I did manage to walk about half of the Red Rose Commons perimeter. This gets me a little closer to my goal.

The one constant today is that everyone assures me I’m on the right track. It’s not easy, but when I saw 36_ instead of 37_, well, that’s a nice motivator. I’d love to have a 35_ next time. We shall see.

Back in the day

Posted: June 16, 2012 in Bariatric surgery, Exercise, Physical activity, Weight loss
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With my current situation, I’ve been thinking a lot about how much thinner I was back in the day, especially compared to now. I was so active in my high school years that I didn’t have time to work on my Jabba the Hutt physique. One of the surprising activities that helped keep me in shape was marching band. We had a band director who wasn’t real fond of marching, but knew it had to be done. He was much more of a jazz nut. So, we marched in three parades a year, unless there was something special in town. We also marched for the football games. You never quite realize how much lung capacity you need to march and play at the same time, I tell you what.

The Management will often quote the line from American Pie… “I am a band geek. I just never joined the band.”

It’s amazing how much that HS band stuff sticks with you. Choir, too. When we go to see the Candlelight Processional at Walt Disney World every December, I still remember every word and every note of the bass part in the Hallelujah Chorus. It’s been 23 years.

Regardless, I don’t think you can discount the value of being physically active. I’m not advocating giving up exercise, but rather the use of physical activity to help keep you in shape. During his talk the other day, exercise physiologist Ryan said you have to do both to be a successful bariatric patient. I’ve at least upped the physical activity part of my daily routine. See, my place of employment is located near what is known in the biz as a “retail power center”. Or, as everyone else likes to call it, a shopping center. Basically, it’s a strip mall with big box stores. I’ve made it my mission to walk every day and try to go a little farther each day during my allotted break. One day, I walked to Home Depot and back; the next day, HomeGoods and back. My goal will be able to go all the way around the perimeter of the shopping center in 30 minutes. Hope I get there.

So, Monday brings a visit to the regular doc’s office. This is all part of my bariatric program. I must have my weight monitored by a regular doc for six months. Then I could go on to have surgery done. I’m hoping for good news… my last visit there wound up with me weighing in at an immense 374 pounds. I’ve been trying to eat right and get my physical activity in… I’m hoping it reflects in the number on the livestock scale. It’s really scary that the number has gotten so high as I was as low as 270 last January. I guess the wheels don’t fall off as much as just disintegrate. That’s the main reason I haven’t been giving a weight update… our home scale doesn’t go that high.

Oh, and the chili I made the other night has been given the seal of approval by The Management. As such, I’ll post my recipe here:

Brian’s Beef, Bean and Beer Chili

Ingredients
  • 1 pound lean ground beef
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil (might as well get the Omega-3)
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 cluster fresh garlic, smashed or minced
  • 2 teaspoons cumin, ground
  • 2 tablespoon chili powder
  • 1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes
  • 8 oz of fresh black beans, soaked and boiled
  • 1 cup of beer (I use Sam Adams Boston Lager)
  • 1 chipotle chili in adobo sauce, chopped*
  • 1 teaspoon oregano
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 handful cilantro, chopped
    * If you are short on time or don’t want to mess with a real chipotle, just dump in Tabasco Chipotle sauce to taste
Directions
  1. Heat a large sauce pan over medium heat.
  2. Add the ground beef and brown, breaking it apart as is cooks, drain any grease and set the beef aside.
  3. Add the oil in the pan, add the onion and saute until tender, about 5-7 minutes.
  4. Add the garlic, cumin and chili powders and saute until fragrant, about a minute.
  5. Add the tomatoes, beef, beans, broth, chipotle and oregano, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 20-50 minutes. I then put it in a crock pot on low for 4-5 hours to really saturate the flavors
  6. If you want to make things healthier, use leaner beef. I will use 96% lean beef. It also makes for less grease to drain

If you are feeling like a big batch, double up on the ingredients, use a full bottle of beer and perhaps a can of beef broth or a packet of flavor enhancer. For those who like their chili with more heat, add hot sauce to taste.

Wow… just wow.

Posted: June 10, 2012 in Bariatric surgery, diabetes, The Beetus
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So, living here in Cow Country has taught me that a lot of the local cuisine is really not that great if you are diabetic or in a bariatric program. Everywhere you look, you find all sorts of compressed pig parts, carb-laden starchy goodness, breads, baked goods and candy. To say that the Pennsylvania Dutch really know how to make fattening food would be doing them a disservice. They are the kings of fat food.

One of the hallmarks of the PA Dutch country is the smorgasbord. Sure, many people have seen Old Country Buffet, Duff’s Famous Smorgasbord, Cactus Willie’s, any of those places. Many have eaten at a casino buffet. They all have their places… I remember going to a joint in Florida during a high school band trip where the buffet came to you. You stood next to a giant round carousel of calories and the smorgasbord rotated past you. No worries about someone cutting in line ahead of you, that’s for sure.

The PA Dutch have raised (or lowered) the bar when it comes to consuming mass quantities. Whether buffet or family style, you can get what you want at any of these places, just be warned, you’ll get a lot. Not only of food, but of people wearing stretchy pants, or as Jed likes to refer to them, “buffet pants.”

For us here at Chez T, the gold standard in buffet is Shady Maple Smorgasbord, located in East Earl, PA.

I’ve never seen the place this empty

The food is undistinguished… perhaps best described by Cookie, in the movie City Slickers, “You ain’t gonna get any nouveau, almondine, thin crust, bottled water, sauteed city food. Food’s brown, hot, and plenty of it.” I naturally assumed that I had eaten my last broasted chicken and stuffing. Then I discovered that Shady Maple actually has discount pricing for post-bariatric patients. My first thought was, “Seriously? WTF?” If you check this link, you’ll see what I mean.

You have to wonder if there are really post bariatric surgery patients lining up to strap on the feed bag. Everything the professional staff is telling me makes me believe  that this is the last place on Earth I will want to eat. I guess some habits do die hard. WGAL did a piece on the aforementioned discount, showing here:

Another gem in the culinary pantheon is Good n’ Plenty. This establishment is referred to by the local Disney nerds as “Amish ‘Ohana” because the food is served family style. The brown, hot and plenty of it rule applies here, too.

Mmmm. Fried chicken.

I did not see any post-bariatric discounts, though, but again, this is a place I’m not really seeing as being in high post-op demand. They do have some amazing fried chicken, though. This one will be tougher to give up than Shady Maple, since this is one place our friends from New York like to visit when they are in the area.

Other local establishments, such as Miller’s Smorgasbord, do not mention any kind of bariatric discount, which is probably a smart thing. I think that getting this type of major procedure done should also make folks reconsider their eating habits. I’m thinking that unbridled consumption helped get us here in the first place. If you want it to work, then maybe, just maybe, you might be better off at Saladworks.

I leave you with the following quote from Dave Barry:

I recently had my annual physical  examination, which I get once every seven years, and when the nurse weighed me,  I was shocked to discover how much stronger the Earth’s gravitational pull has  become since 1990.

A daunting challenge…

Posted: June 8, 2012 in Bariatric surgery, family, friends, The Management, Weight loss
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For most people, when they hear the words “daunting challenge,” it usually conjures up an image of something so difficult as to be nearly unachievable. To Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, the climbing of Everest would have been a daunting challenge. What I’m embarking on doesn’t sound like much, at least not when compared with climbing Everest or running a 5K, half marathon and a marathon IN ONE WEEKEND. To me it has the same level of challenge, though.

See, I had my first group class today in the bariatric program. What I’ve taken away is that I’m going to have to relearn how to live. This is quite a daunting challenge for me, because one could argue that I haven’t exactly been doing so well thus far, and maybe going back to square one is a good idea. It was a very good session, though. Things started off with a presentation by the dietitian, Shauna, who gave the class an idea of what changes they need to be making. One of those changes is the cutting down on fats, and they, of course, showed a picture of bacon. That’s going to be tougher than caffeine, because I can live without the latter. Bacon, however, was created by God because He loves us and wants us to be happy. Of course, what’s the point of being happy if you’re not healthy? She also suggested that we be mindful of what we’re taking in, calorie-wise. I can see that being important. They even said that if we’re not sure what to look for on a label, they will cover that in a one-on-one session. Tracking can be an issue, thankfully they suggest some apps and technology to make that a little easier to do. Everyone knows I love my tech.

Following Shauna’s talk, Ryan took over. Ryan is an exercise physiologist who took us through some of the things we can do to exercise productively. He suggested that anything can help, even if it’s an old Richard Simmons VHS. This of course, inspired me to find this gem:

It seems to me that everyone at the bariatric clinic is super supportive and they genuinely want people to have success. That’s good, because this sure as hell isn’t going to be easy. I’m glad that I have such fine support amongst my friends, coworkers and family members. The one who has been the most supportive of me and whose support I need more than any other would be The Management. Seems to me that I do her a disservice referring to her as The Management. Maybe I should take a page from her blog and refer to her as Supportive Partner Woman (Drinker of Frozen Concoctions!)

Thoughts?

Doctor’s office music…

Posted: June 7, 2012 in Bariatric surgery, music, regrets
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As I sat in the doctor’s office this afternoon, the dulcet tones of Bryan Adams crooned out through hidden speakers. As Mr. Adams (who has been apologized for on multiple occasions by the Canadian government) was telling everyone in the waiting room that everything he did, he did for us, it dawned on me that this is what I really want to avoid. Spending a goodly chunk of my life waiting in doctors offices, waiting to die. (As an aside, it’s not a good thing if you’re the mayor of a doctor’s office on foursquare and you don’t work there.)

This was a simple podiatrist appointment, or as I call it, my pedicure. Not too bad in the realm of doctor visits… he normally trims up the toenails, gives the feet a once over and that’s about it. Not really traumatic. But on the road of life, it’s a pothole. This is the main reason why I’m leaning toward an operation. Am I excited about going under general anesthesia? Hell no. (Granted, Versed is some good stuff… ask The Management. She witnessed me go from a ball of quivering nerves to singing a medley of 70’s hits in a few minutes)

I’m already getting a pet peeve about the bariatric surgery world. The peeve is people who think it’s the easy way out. There’s nothing easy about this process. It’s six months of work, basically relearning how to eat, relearning how to live, actually, and there’s a helluva lot of sacrifices to be made. The surgery is simply a means to an end. It’s not the end itself. The only way this operation will work is if I’m all in. I can’t do this half-assed, otherwise I’m right back asking for a seatbelt extender on the plane and being forced to buy a second seat on Southwest Airlines. No thanks.

I don’t want to be the fat guy just bouncing from doctor to doctor waiting to die. That’s not living. That’s an existence, and not a particularly good one. I can do better.

I’m not crazy…

Posted: June 6, 2012 in Bariatric surgery, diabetes, Stress, The Beetus, Weight loss
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Well, the appointment with the psychologist went well. It was nice to lay out a lot of what’s been eating at me over the last however many years and to get some affirmation that I’m not crazy. Dr. Collins was able to give me some recommendations and also some helpful hints to get ready for the surgery.

Yes, I think that as of this juncture I’m going to go through with it. I’m about at the end of the rope with the injections and the constant joint pain and the sleep apnea and everything else. I want to be healthy… I waited long enough to find the right woman and I want to have as much time with her as I can. I owe it to myself to stick around, too… there’s a lot that I haven’t seen/done, so I need more time to work on the bucket list.

Speaking of bucket list stuff, we’re about five weeks from the Roger Waters show. To see The Wall performed live will be something to cross off the list. If, by some miracle, David Gilmour were to show up and do Comfortably Numb with Waters, well, that would be cause for an eargasm.

It’s been a sad year for music, though. There’s been a lot of good ones (IMHO) who have departed the mortal coil in 2012 so far. Let’s take a look at that roll call (and I’m sure I missed a few… I’m getting old):

Etta James
Whitney Houston
Ronnie Montrose
Leon Spencer
Earl Scruggs
Andrew Love (Memphis Horns)
Levon Helm
Adam (MCA) Yauch
Donald “Duck” Dunn
Donna Summer
Davy Jones
Robin Gibb
Eduard Khil

So, folks… there you have it. I have my first group session on Friday… we shall see how that goes.

Next step

Posted: June 5, 2012 in Bariatric surgery, family, friends, Stress, Weight loss
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Greetings!

After yesterday’s tangential rant, I thought I would take the focus back to the weight. See, tomorrow afternoon is my psych consult. Apparently, they want to figure out why I am the way I am. Good luck with that. As Charlie Sheen said, “You can’t process me with a normal brain!”

And I just know this is what it will look like.

Seriously, the purpose of the consult is to determine if I’m a good candidate for surgery. Seems they won’t do it unless I have the right attitude and frame of mind to make it work. I’m actually looking forward to this, but I’m nervous at the same time. I’ve been thinking I should seek out a professional for some time, because I know that I have issues. I’m hoping that a session will be a good beginning, something that I can build on and get better.

I have no doubt that I have issues. I think everyone has issues of some kind, in some cases buried deep, in others, right on a sleeve. It’s finding the issues, confronting them, and reaching a peace that’s important.

I’ll let you know how it goes… so please keep good thoughts for me.

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