Getting Back On Track

It has been a while since I have made a post. Life has a way of taking over, and mine has been chaotic the last few months. But honestly I have been avoiding making posts because I have not made any progress and I really have begun to think I was a failure and maybe I had chosen the wrong surgery. The dietitians warned us that the “band” patients may start to get depressed or discouraged since their weight loss is at a much slower rate than patients from the other types of weight lot surgery. I didn’t think or want to believe it would apply to me. I mean common sense yes I know my weight loss would be slower. I chose this surgery because I wanted more control in the process and was just using the Band as a tool. But it hit hard.

I have not lost any weight since February, in fact according to the scales from my visit to the clinic today I have gained a few pounds back. I could contribute to a few things. But I fear it will be sounding like I am just making excuses. Bottom line I lost my momentum and suffered from a bit of depression. But after my visit today, I have come to realize that some of it may not have been completely in my control. Though a good amount of it is:

·        I have not done a 5k in the past two months, but that is being rectified I have already selected two I will be participating in for May and June. I will still do twelve 5ks in 2012

·        I am able to eat things I should not be able to eat such as breads, but after this current fill I don’t think I will be consuming too much of it (not that I do a lot anyway)

·        I am supposed to eat 4-5 small meals a day. Honestly I eat 1-2. Yes I know this is not good for me I know this effects my metabolism and I should remind myself of the effects of doing this during middle school and high school got me to my current dilemma. So even if I have to package my meals daily this is a habit I seriously need to modify.

·        I stopped drinking my protein drinks, and while I was going to my work site I had been purchasing commercial smoothies. Well they didn’t have enough protein and too much sugar. About a month ago I started to lose a large amount of hair. As in chunks. I spoke to a friend who had the band and also did a bit of WebMD Google research. The hair loss is directly related to lack of protein. So I am back to drinking my protein drinks. I still have hair and the amount I am losing has changed drastically since my protein intake has improved.

·        Multivitamins: let’s face it I have not been taking them consistently.  My lab work showed that I was ok with iron and various other levels but my vitamin D was extremely low, in the teens. I was a bit low prior to surgery. But even lower now. I just found out some interesting things about vitamin D.  Being vitamin D deficient increases chances of diabetes, cancer and impairs the immune system.  It can also cause fatigue, bone weakness and muscle pain. Being vitamin D deficient can also cause depression and……affect weight loss. Needless to say I need to get my vitamin D levels up. Due to this I was given a prescription for Vitamin D that I have to take once a week, its 50,000 units. Now that’s a lot of vitamin D.

·        Good news from the lab work I not anemic and I no longer need to take my pre-diabetic medication. My blood sugar is very much under control.

I could beat myself up on things I should have been doing, but I can’t dwell on it. I just need to improve things and go forward with using this band as tool it is supposed to be. It’s up to me from here on out.