So You Want To Be A Superstar

Grams has been working two or three days a week at our local middle school as a substitute teacher. I really enjoy spending time with the students who are 6th, 7th and 8th graders. (Okay, not so much enjoyment with the 6th graders; they should be caged!) The daily lesson plans keep them and me very busy and, as a sub, it's my job to keep them on task, but now and then there is a little time to just talk with them.

I love the opportunity to talk about what they like to do and their plans for the future. I've noticed that at this age the girls seem to have a much more realistic idea of what they may want to do in the future. (Although I actually had a girl tell me that she didn't need to learn science because she was going to marry a rich doctor. Grams responded that rich doctors marry smart girls.) The boys, almost to a person, want to be athletes. I have talked to a few who want to be engineers or doctors, but far and away the answers I get are NFL football player, NASCAR driver, NBA basketball player, professional skateboarder, etc. I always respond with what I hope is an encouraging word but I always follow up with advice that perhaps they should have a "plan b" in case that doesn't work out.

Grams would never want to dash anyone's dreams and I'm a big believer that, within reasonable limits, you can be anything you want to be if you are willing to put in the work. But that's the rub ... kid's don't get the "work" part. It's mystifying to me that in a society where kids idolize professional and Olympic athletes, they don't have a clue how hard those athletes work. This has been on my mind this week because Grandad and I have been spending our evenings watching the Olympic Games from Vancouver.

It's true that many of the top athletes lead a very glamorous lifestyle, but the amount of work they do to get there is amazing. Grams spent a little bit of time researching the diet and workout regimes of Olympic athletes. Here's what I've discovered. A typical workout day is something like this ... thirty minutes of stretching and conditioning ... three hours of running ... three hours of weight training or body weight training (like push ups and pull ups) ... stretching again and spending time in hot or cold tubs. Note that the typical Olympic athlete spends seven to eight hours a day just on workouts and conditioning. At this point they haven't even worked on their particular sport. All this time is just preparing their body for their sport. After this they spend an additional three to four hours on their specific event, whether it's gymnastics or snowboarding. Being an Olympic-caliber athlete is a full-time job. And, I think it's important to note that most of these athletes start training at a very young age. This truly is their life's work.

And, in addition to all that working out, their diets are not enviable. They eat high protein, low-carb diets to maintain extremely low body fat levels. A typical breakfast might be eight egg whites with vegetables, then a lunch of salad with chicken or tuna, an afternoon snack of fruit, then high-protein low-carb dinner. (Very similar to my post-weight-loss-surgery diet, except they eat a much higher volume of food.) You won't find them noshing on nachos, burgers, or Oreos on a regular basis.

Grams is definitely in favor of encouraging the younger generation to dream big. But let's also temper those dreams with a dose of reality. Teach our kids that they must prepare for the future they dream of and for their far more likely future as another kind of hard-working American.

I'm all in favor of encouraging our children to be Olympic athletes. Shoni Davis, Shaun White, Lindsey Vonn, Apolo Ohno have certainly achieved their goals and may be great role models as far as their sports achievement go. And I can't imagine anything better than walking into opening ceremonies as a member of Team USA. You can follow the Vancover Olympics at their official web site.

I've Had a Relapse (Expletives Deleted)

Since my RNY gastric bypass surgery a little over three years ago, for the first time in my adult life, "dieting" has not been part of my life. Don't get me wrong, I eat very carefully. I've spent the last three years retraining my eating and exercise habits. But as far as old-fashioned dieting goes, I don't do it any more and I never intend to do it again.

One of the most important lessons I have learned is that I am not fat; I have a chronic disease called obesity. And make no mistake about it, obesity is a disease as much as diabetes, cancer or heart disease. I had surgery for my obesity just like my husband had surgery to repair a deformed heart valve. And just like he had to change his habits after surgery, so did I.

Dealing with the disease of obesity requires a radical lifestyle change. I have completely changed many of my habits from where and how I shop to when and what I eat. Meals and snacks have to be planned ahead of time. This requires sitting down once every two weeks, actually writing down a plan, and making a shopping list. When I'm fully compliant, I enter the plan into a program that analyzes the nutritional and caloric content of everything I eat. Eating according to a plan takes away the "grazing" aspect.

Even three years later, it's way too easy to eat mindlessly. In an effort to learn to control my mindless eating I have some hard and fast rules that work for me.

1. I don't eat out of bags or boxes. Food must measured out into a single serving portion and put in or on a dish before I eat it. I eat my meals from a salad plate and snacks go in a four ounce bowl. Putting food in a dish makes me aware of how much I'm eating and it makes me feel like I get to eat "the whole thing."
2. I don't eat in the car. For the last 30 years I always ate breakfast in the car on the way to work. That includes, but is not limited to, such healthy and nutritious breakfast foods as pop tarts, Krispy Kreme donuts, cinnamon rolls, kolaches, sausage biscuits, Egg McMuffins, and Breakfast on a Bun. I can't even imagine eating any of those things today. Although I do occasionally fantasize about Cinnabons. But I digress. My "behind the wheel" cuisine was not limited to breakfast either. I often ate sandwiches or burgers in the car as I ran errands at lunch and it was not unusual for me to take along a bag of chips or cookies as a snack.
3. I never fail to take my vitamins and supplements. I take them every single day exactly as instructed by my surgeon.
4. I drink 60-80 ounces of water every day. I never drink carbonated beverages or high-calorie drinks. I don't drink any liquid with my meals or for 30 minutes after a meal. That 30 minutes gives my food time to digest more slowly and gives my brain time to receive the message that I have eaten.
5. I eat lean protein first, then if I have room, I eat vegetables and carbohydrates. I only eat one serving of fruit a day. I limit my sweets to one serving of dark chocolate every evening.
   
6. I do some kind of exercise for thirty minutes at least three times a week. This doesn't have to be strenuous exercise, usually it's just walking or bicycling.
   

Okay, those are the rules that work for me. But, truth be told, lately I've been non-compliant with my own rules. Nothing big, just a couple of extra pieces of chocolate after dinner or bringing the whole package of graham crackers to the sofa instead of just a serving which is two graham crackers. And, it's been to cold to exercise outside and, honestly, I just haven't done any exercise since Christmas.

I'm not what's known in post-op circles as a "scale ho." I rarely step on the scales at home. I'm just not obsessed with what the number says. I know when I've put on a few pounds because my jeans get tight. Then I know it's time to tighten up on compliance with the rules and get those few pounds off. Sometime around Thanksgiving I realized that my favorite jeans were too tight to be comfortable. But, hey, it was the holidays, so I just wore a bigger pair and kept on going. Imagine my surprise when I visited my surgeon's office on Saturday for my three year follow up, I weighed in at 197, up 22 pounds from my post-operative low of 175.

Before-300 pounds & After-175 pounds

What the heck?! How did a couple of pounds turn into 22 pounds. (Expletives are deleted here.) Honestly, my doctor was great. No fussing, no complaints, only encouragement from Dr. Patel. The only dietary change he told me to make is to add a daily protein shake to my routine. That should help me feel more satisfied which will make me eat less. Hopefully when I visit him again in April, I'll be wearing my favorite jeans, which are a size 12.

What all this amounts to is that I've had a relapse, just like with any other disease. It's just a relapse of obesity. And just like many other diseases, there is no cure. This is a chronic condition, but it can be controlled. I know what I have to do, I know how to do it and I know I can do it. I have the tool, I have the training, and I have the will.But I'm not going on a diet. I'm just getting back to basics with my plan for dealing with obesity. Just wait and see ... in a few months I'll be able to say "Grams Made It" back into her size 12 jeans.

A Choice for Life

September 27 is a fairly uneventful day in history. In 1540, Saint Ignatius Loyola founded the Jesuits; in 1903, the wreck of the Old 97 occurred; in 1938, the Ocean Liner Queen Elizabeth was launched; in 1954, The Tonight Show debuted; in 1964, the Warren Commission released it's report on the assassination of JFK; in 1997, communications were lost with the Mars Pathfinder.

Famous people who celebrate their birthday on September 27 include Avril Lavigne, Wilford Brimley, Gwyneth Paltrow, Shaun Cassidy and Meat Loaf.

Grams celebrates September 27 as her re-birthday, known in the weight loss surgery world as my "surgiversary." On September 27, 2006 I had RNY gastric bypass surgery by Dr. Nilesh Patel at Innova Hospital in San Antonio. I am 3 years post-op, 115 pounds lighter and immeasurably healthier.

There were a number of things that led me to the decision to re-route my guts as a way to lose weight. I had recently been diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. I had been taking medication to control my blood pressure for more than 15 years. I was faced with looking for a job at 52 years old and 300 pounds. But most of all I was tired of failing. I had tried every diet known to mankind. Just to name a few of them I had been on 1,000 calories a day, diet pills, Weight Watchers, Atkins, South Beach, Cabbage Soup, liquid protein, low carb, high fiber, and so on and so forth. Now it wasn't that these diets didn't work, because they did. I lost weight on every single one of them. But I could never keep it off for more than a few weeks. Mentally, I was a failure and I couldn't take it any more. I had completely given up dieting and was gaining weight at an alarming rate. I could not let myself fail again.

After my father-in-law's funeral, I had the opportunity to visit with a friend who had already had RNY Gastric Bypass surgery. He looked great and seemed healthy for the first time since I had known him. I owe T.J. a debt of gratitude because he opened up to me and answered all my questions. He helped me overcome my fear.

Contrary to what anyone may think, weight loss surgery is not the "easy way out." There's nothing easy about it. It's a difficult decision that forces dietary and lifestyle changes. While it does "re-plumb" your digestive system, it doesn't "re-wire" your brain. Just because you shouldn't eat large amounts of sugary and fatty food doesn't mean you don't want to. It just means that when you do it's going to make you sick. That's right, WLS patients who don't learn to eat right are in for a lifetime of "dumping syndrome" which includes such fun things as sweating, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, cramping, fatigue, weakness, dizziness, shakiness, fainting and heart palpitations. Does that sound easy to you?

And trust me, there is a definite learning curve. About 8 weeks after surgery, I ate a meat pizza dish, which is an Atkins Diet recipe, and proceeded to vomit uncontrollably. I vomited so hard that I ruptured blood vessels in my face and got two black eyes. And, once, I absentmindedly ate a big piece of homemade carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and spent the next 2 hours laying on my neighbor's couch when I should have been playing bunco. There have been other occasions where I don't even know what made me sick. Something that's good today, might make me sick tomorrow. You just have to learn to know the signals that your body gives off.

Today, I weigh 184 pounds. My post-op low weight was 175. I regained about 15 pounds, which is totally normal. I have now lost 6 of those pounds and hope to get down to 150 pounds. I have not had any diabetes medications since surgery. The dosage of my blood pressure medication has been cut in half. I can walk more than 2 miles without any problem.

The reason I have been successful at this new lifestyle is the support I have received. My family has been amazing in their support. My husband, daughter and son have supported me unconditionally. They've been there for me through thick and thin. Pardon the pun.

For about 18 months I attended a monthly support group offered by my surgeon's office. My friends have been encouraging and supportive as well. Not one person has been disparaging about my decision to make this change. Even extended family has encouraged and supported me.

Shortly after surgery, my surgeon told me about an online support group at ObesityHelp.com. These women (and a few men) have made a huge difference in my life. Most of them are also post-ops. We have answered each other's questions, commiserated with each other, shared our stories, told of our failures and celebrated our victories. I turned to them for support when my husband was sick and my mother was dying. They are a great group of people from all walks of life who all share one thing in common. We were all morbidly obese, had weight loss surgery and found a new life. This past weekend I had the opportunity to meet many of them in person for the first time at an Obesity Help conference in Dallas. It was an exciting, educational, fun and renewing experience. This photo shows just a few of the OH Group who were in Dallas this weekend.


This picture will give you some idea of what I looked like pre-op. This is Grams and Grandad at a party celebrating our son's graduation from Texas A & M University. I weighed approximately 300 pounds.


This is a photo of Grams with her surgery twin, Terry, celebrating 3 years of post-op life. We had surgery on the same day in 2006; Terry in Alabama and me in Texas. We found each other at ObesityHelp.com on the Texas Message Board shortly after that.


These are my roommates from the 2009 Dallas OH Conference. From left to right: Grams, Dee, Sarah and Melanie. All post ops ranging from 10 days to 3 years. Dee and Melanie have only had surgery within the last few week.


Weight loss surgery isn't for everyone. It's hard work and you can never change your mind about the lifestyle changes. When you choose it, it's a choice for life, in every sense of the phrase. I would do it again in a heartbeat. Grams made it ... to a healthier and happier life.