Countdown Day 7

My feet feel skinnier.  Yeah, you heard it, feet.  You’re jealous, huh?  

In the morning I went to my surgeon’s office and met with the surgical coordinator, Mary Ann.  She made sure that all of the pre op procedures had been faxed to her: mammogram-check, ekg-check, abdominal ultrasound-check, blood work-check, chest x-ray-check, endoscopy-check. You’re really jealous now, huh? Prescriptions for Actigall, Norco, and Prevacid were prescribed for me to take post surgery.  Actigall is so that my chances of developing gall stones are reduced to 5%, Norco for pain management (which I hope as all get out that I don’t have much of), and Prevacid for stomach acid reduction which will help with my ulcers.

Disappointed that the gastroenterologist, Dr. Sidhom, (Yes, doc, you’re being thrown under the bus, feel that?) didn’t test me for the H. Pylori bacteria during the endoscopy, Maryann gave me orders to go to LabCorp and have a breath test done.  So far I’ve only been taking Protonix for the ulcers, but if it turns out that I test positive for the H. Pylori bacteria, I need to begin 1 of several rounds of antibiotics to get rid of it.  She did not think this would hamper my surgery date, whether I test positive or not.

The upside, and only upside, of this diet: 10 pounds of weight loss in 7 days.  It’s been so hard and I have a miserable headache today.

Mid-afternoon, I scarfed 3 Werther’s sugar free caramel cappuccino hard candies like a wild animal.  I just want coffee!  Just a little coffee flavor helped a little.  Just a little.  In an attempt to describe how hard this is, every time I smell food I want some, just one bite, please.  Oh, that salad looks SO good.  Oh, greek yogurt, looks so tasty.  Oh, that hummus looks so inviting.  Rice cakes even look amazing right now.  All those mouthwatering recipes on Facebook, you’re killin’ me!  Today when I walked outside, I thought I smelled corn chips.  Weird.  This is why I don’t diet.  It’s just ALL consuming for me.

In the late afternoon, my last appointment was a pre-op appointment at Huntington Memorial Hospital. I’ll be there again for a pretty awesome sleepover.  Now you’re really really jealous, right? Wanna come?

As Day 8 comes to an end, I’ll leave you with a couple of interesting Ted Talks weight loss and dieting. Peace y’all goodnight.  I’m gonna breathe out some of my weight while I’m sleeping.  You’ll understand if you listen to the Ruben Meerman Ted Talk.

He answers these fundamental questions: “When somebody loses weight where does it go? How does it get out of your body?”

Sandra Aamodt is a neuroscientist. “Your brain has it’s own sense of what you should weigh no matter what you consciously believe.” About 7 minutes through the end of the talk is totally worth a listen.  Her conclusion based on her research experience, “What if we told all those dieting girls to eat when their hungry? What if we taught them to work with their appetite instead of fearing it? I think most of them would be happier and healthier and as adults many of them would probably be thinner.”