My Gastric Sleeve

Book Review: The Emotional First Aid Kit by Cynthia L. Alexander, PsyD

I wrote last week about slipping back into emotional eating as opposed to eating when my body actually requires food. A little like Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter series, when I need answers, I go to libraries. This time I was lucky enough to find The Emotional First Aid Kit: A Practical Guide to Life after Bariatric Surgery by Cynthia L. Alexander, PsyD.

Cynthia Alexander has spent many years working with bariatric patients both pre- and post- surgery. She's heard all the excuses and can teach you how to think logically and refute them. She also knows a ton of tips and tricks to help clients end negative self-talk, practice behavior modification, and start eating properly.

Struggling with Emotional Hunger

For the last couple of months, I've been stalled on my weight loss. I haven't regained any weight, but I haven't lost any more, either. Part of this plateau is just a normal post-surgery weight-loss patterns, but the other part of the problem is all me.

A few days ago, you see, I decided to keep a food log, and I was horrified at what was--and wasn't--going into my mouth. Basically, I had reduced my diet to chocolate peanut butter, Reece's Peanut Butter Cups, Diet Coke, and an occasional glass of milk.

Those are exactly the types of foods I used to eat--though in much larger quantities--during my old day of bingeing or emotional eating.

A (Relatively) Long, Hot Walk

The picture I'm using for my post today was taken about two weeks ago. It shows my mom standing beside a sign posted on Main Street of a small Kansas town. The sign reads: "Satan Called. He wants his weather back."

Ain't it the truth? For the last two weeks the temperature has registered 90 degrees or more by ten o'clock in the morning. We've had maybe three drops of rain during that time period, and all the local weather forecaster has to promise is more of the same.

This kind of summer heat wave is miserable for anybody, but when you're overweight, it's agony. Last summer when the weather heated up, I could only bear to walk about ten steps at a time before I had to pause and rest. Sweat soaked my clothes, ran down my face, and stung my eyes. By breath came in painful gasps, and my heart pounded so hard I actually worried it might just stop altogether.

Exercise? Not Me!

Back when I had my weight loss surgery, there was no question of me exercising. It was all I could do to drag my 300+ pound frame out of bed every day and force it through the activities basic to sustaining life.

Almost six months out from the surgery, that has all changed. I'm still nowhere near what people would call svelte, but I can move without the incapacitating pain and shortness of breath that once plagued me.

Furthermore, my doctors and friends have been encouraging me to exercise. There's just one little problem--I hate exercise! I can't hear the word without thinking of super-toned size-two teenagers in spandex racing along on their little elliptical machines or pretzeling themselves into a million different yoga positions.

Ick. That is so completely not me. So, I've given up on the idea of club memberships and treadmills. What I focus on now is moving my body, both for pleasure and for secondary gain.

So far, I've found at least five pleasant ways to move my body without the horrible connotation of exercise.

Weight Loss Surgery and Weight Loss Plateaus

 
Okay, I've spent the last few weeks trying not to panic. Over the last three weeks, I've lost a grand total of five pounds--that's not five pounds a week, mind you. That's five pounds total.

I haven't lost nearly enough weight yet, I thought, glaring at the bathroom scales I'd reluctantly purchased as though it were somehow their fault. I had counted on being able to drop at least another hundred pounds. Surely I had not spent all that money and gone through all that hell to stop losing while I was still morbidly obese!

I rushed to the computer to Google "weight loss surgery plateau." What I found was very reassuring. Almost every weight loss surgery site that I came across mentioned that most patients have a sharp weight drop in the months and weeks following surgery. Then the weight loss slacks off or even stops entirely. That plateau is followed by another sharp decline, and another plateau, and so on. In fact, if you graph the weight loss patterns of people who have undergone a gastric sleeve or other form of weight loss surgery, the graph would resemble a set of stairs more than it would a gentle, sloping line.

Turkey Creek Festival in Merriam, Kansas

 
Every third Saturday in May, the city of Merriam, Kansas holds its Turkey Creek Festival at Antioch Park. The festival offers music, games and rides for kids, booths selling jewelry and other crafts, and refreshments. Now, I happen to live less than three blocks from Antioch Park, and I love events like this, but for the past three years, I haven't been able to go to the festival.

Why? Because I couldn't walk the two and a half blocks to the park, much less walk around the park to enjoy the events once I got there.

Today, with a fifty-pound weight loss under my belt, I decided to try to make it to this year's festival. The weather was beautiful, a little humid, perhaps, but certainly not too hot as it sometimes is in May in the Midwest. I paced myself and walked the two and a half blocks without breaking a sweat.

Oh, What a Wonderful Weekend!

 
What a great weekend! My parents (pictured here at the Mendenhall Glacier in Alaska) drove into town on Saturday afternoon. We met at Denny's for lunch. My mom said that as soon as I got out of the car, she could tell I'd lost weight. Over lunch, she and my dad raised their eyebrows as I managed to put away about half of an egg.

"Is that really all you're hungry for?" she said.

I nodded. In fact, I'd eaten about a bite too much and was fighting that terrible too-full feeling.

"You don't feel deprived? You used to love the desserts in here...?"

"I don't feel deprived one bit," I said, and meant it.

Five Week Check-Up After Gastric Sleeve

 
YEA! 30 POUNDS DOWN SINCE JANUARY, 2011!

Forgive me for the "yell." I saw my bariatric surgeon today for my five-week check-up, and learned I had lost 30 pounds since my original consultation with her in January and 15 pounds since my last office visit. I know I still don't exactly look svelte in the picture, but 30 pounds down is a big deal, especially since all my previous weight loss efforts usually resulted in a four or five pound weight loss and then a rapid regain.

My bariatric surgeon said she was pleased with the weight loss and that, as far as she's concerned, I'm exactly on target. She said the weight will probably come off even more rapidly this summer because soon I'll be able to start walking for exercise and that will help get rid of the pounds, too. I can't wait (excuse the pun).

I asked my surgeon about my ongoing exhaustion. She reminded me that I'd had 2/3 of my stomach removed and that the body doesn't just bounce back from that overnight. She told me to continue doing what I can and resting when I need to.

She also told me I could start eating solid foods with two exceptions. First, no steak or roast beef. It's still too hard on my stomach to digest. Second, no gooey white breads. Gooey white breads are unfortunately a favorite of mine, but after seeing the results of following the diet plan, I'm prepared to do without them.

All in all, an excellent visit and excellent news. And it will be nice to go out to lunch with friends and not have to scan the menu for soup, mashed potatoes, a scrambled egg, or some other form of soft food. Baked chicken breast, here I come!