Month 2 in the 6 mo run-up to surgery

loriloftness

Had my 2nd appt last Friday. Only 4 mos left before I can have my sleeve done. In the first month I made some gains in changing behaviors/eating habits. I have cut down on drinking pop about 90%. This month I need to get rid of that other 10% and also start reducing caffeine drinks. (Does anyone know why you can't have caffeine?) I am taking at least 15 minutes to eat my meals and will work this month to prolong that to 20 minutes. I was supposed to start getting my supplements in but that took a back seat to getting my iron supplements in since it turns out I am anemic. I need to get my hemaglobin level back to the normal range before surgery so I paid more attention to that. But, I now have all the supplements except Calcium so I will start taking those. Unfortunately, another "gain" I made was in weight-- up 2 lbs. I had a stressful month at work and skipped a lot of lunches, which resulted in me eating way to much for supper. So this month I will try to get a decent lunch in and not overeat for supper.
All in all, I think I am doing ok in getting myself ready for surgery.

bikrchk

Caffeine withdrawal is not something you want to be dealing with with post-op, (headaches etc., are no fun on a good day and you don't need to add that pain to your recovery. Additionally, caffeine leeches the calcium from you system. Since you'll be working overtime to get in all your nutrients, you don't want to create a greater deficiency there. I lived on diet coke pre-op. It was my "water". It took me 5 months to give it up to the point I had no more headaches. Today at 7 months out I still avoid it, (bubbles are bad). I do have 1 cup of regular coffee or Chai tea in the morning, (since about month 4 post op). That's pretty much the extent of my caffeine intake now and I don't plan to increase it. Not an addiction I want to kick again!