03/23/10: Part 1 of "The Plan"

I am going to follow Band_Groupie's style and do this in a multiple series format. After yesterday's blog in which I blasted my surgeon as being idiotic, it really drove home for me what my plan is. I haven't necessarily sat down and said "hey, Lori, what's your plan going to be?" nor have I ever typed out or jotted down anything that could be resembled as a plan by anyone else. It's all in the pea brain. And I figure it needs to get out.

I have a plan for my diet and reasoning's for why. I have a plan for my exercise and reasoning's for why. I have a plan for my sleep, skin care, hair care, and even my bodily functions. So this will be a multi-part series covering one or more of the various topics I've managed to inadvertently develop plans for.

I will say that I seriously appreciate the blog world. I would not have inadvertently done anything if I hadn't been reading and learning all along. I appreciate everyone who has gone before me and shed light on their experiences. I appreciate everyone who ever offers a lick of support. I just appreciate it all!

I also want to say today - I am sorry for bringing up politics yesterday. I won't do it again. I crossed a line and no one here should be surprised by opening a blog about the band and weight loss and reading about politics instead. This truly is about the band and living with the band and that does not involve politics. I am sorry.

Ok

Part 1 of "The Plan"

Diet. I call it diet because what you put in your mouth is a diet. Diet is defined as "food and drink considered in terms of its qualities, composition, and its effects on health" by http://www.dictionary.com/. That is what I mean by diet. It's what we consume for the sake of nutrition. It is not what I am doing to lose weight. It is not what I am doing to build muscle. It is not what I am doing to do anything other than to live.

As you read yesterday, my surgeon believes that I should maintain a diet of incredibly limited foods with incredibly limited nutrients. But here's the catch. He also said:

"This diet is designed for those of you who will not be doing any exercise. If all you want to do is eat your way to a slimmer person, this diet is for you. If you are going to do minimal exercise, which would include walking and running, then this diet is for you. However, if you are going to weight lift at all, you cannot live on this diet alone. You must eat carbs."

He never said anything else about carbs and what I should eat. Most people in that room are not going to lift weights. Most people in that room are not going to do anything other than walk and try to maintain a life style less sedentary than they currently are living. I am not them.

I am going to weight lift. I am going to swim. I am also going to walk. And as I get smaller, I will probably revert back to trying to run/jog, too. But the key, for me, is I am going to lift weights. This does not mean I should go crazy on carbs. But it also means, for me, that I should make sure I'm getting a reasonable source of complex carbs with at least one meal. Yay for my smoothie!

So he's not all nuts. Just mostly. I don't think most people in that room were aware of blogspot or even LBT and they do not know the whole wide world open to them and all the info it contains. I wanted to shout out "go see how real people live with this. It doesn't have to be like that". But back in Oct, back before I found blogs and real life - I thought he was interesting. And most there last week were meeting this surgeon for the first time. I could see it in their eyes - they thought he was onto something. I mean, really, you mix surgery with a good ol' fashioned diet - and you don't have to exercise - and you'll lose all the weight you want?  What fat person wouldn't go for that?  There are a number of heavy people that are heavy because they don't like exercise. There are an equal number of heavy people that do like heavy exercise - but for whatever reason, they don't do it regularly. (That would be me.) And then there are those that like it and do it, too. But in the heavy world, the BMI over 40 because of flab world, I believe those are few and far between. And here is this surgeon saying 'it's ok to not exercise - I'll help you lose weight with just the food you eat.'

Now, I can't do that. It's a diet. It's a diet not with the intent of consuming necessary nutrients and sustenance. It's a diet for that dreaded sake of losing weight. And I will not "diet to lose weight".

A lot of you...A LOT...have played into the evolution of Lori's plan.

And the plan goes like this...

When I want to eat Hooter's chicken wings...I will. I will say about this that I will allow myself one visit a month. If it doesn't happen - great. It's not mandatory. But it's an option. It doesn't have to be Hooters - but if it's fried, it's greasy and it's generally on that forbidden "bad food" list, I will not be eating much of it at all - once or so a month, if at all.

My life is about options. I like options. That's really the heart of my plan. And that's really why I hate diets. No options on good ol' fashioned diets!

If I want to eat a half a sandwich on wheat toast with turkey and muenster cheese with a smidge of mayo...I will.

If I want to eat sushi for dinner as part of a celebration...I will.

I will chew and chew and chew and take my time and maybe only eat four pieces. But I will give myself that option.

I am counting on the band to tell me when I'm full. I am also counting on will power to make the wiser choice most of the time.

I have will power. I have a lot of it. I actually got fat because of will power. I will now take that same will power and use it wisely.

I already have been. Prior to this pre-op diet anyway.  I have to laugh.  I say that - but I couldn't really be doing what I wanted to do on the unweightloss program for fear that I would lose too much.  So I was, on the unweightloss program, still working to counteract my progress.  But it's interesting what doing that on purpose does to the mindset.  It took will power to make me successfully fail.  That was surprisingly difficult.  It's a relief to finally be into the realm of I can do what I want to do this right.  If this danged pre-op diet weren't standing in my way at the moment I would be thrilled.  And that's a double-edged sword.  I have to do this pre-op diet and this pre-op diet will help me lose weight.  But it's not conducive to my weight lifting so I am opting to stick with just walking until I am healed from surgery.  I could start weight lifting now but I'd be famished as I'm not getting real nutrients.  I could start weight lifting now but I'd actually screw up my cycle by not being able to finish the whole 6 week program before the interruption surgery would create.  So, weird as it is (in my head), I am still not starting the weight lifting.  It will be six weeks after surgery that I'll be let loose on my program.  In the meantime, I've got walking and when it's warmer and consistently nicer, I'll have my pool.

Side note - one thing I learned last week.  I can swim from the get-go.  Day of surgery if I wanted.  They use dermabond so the wounds would be completely sealed from the water.  On the same token that I'm allowed to shower from the get-go, I can swim, too.  Now, they said, I probably won't want to the day of surgery.  But the next day it might be surprisingly helpful with the gas.  But on the day of, if I wanted to get in the hot tub - it's an option.  And the hot tub would help a lot, they said, with the gas.  Yay for dermabond!!!!!  Honestly, I don't know that I'd swim swim.  I think I'd probably actually go for aquaroebics on the second day.  But that would be awesome!

Anyway, back to the diet.

So my "diet" of choice is one centered on options. And I can give myself those options because I will be lifting weights and swimming. That's tomorrow's blog.

So there you have it. Tomorrow's blog will explain the weightlifting program for weight loss that will kill plateaus before they start. Most people hate this idea, but weight bearing exercise is as important, if not more, than aerobic exercise. You don't have to bulk up...but when you run or dance or whatever, you take the fluids and O2 away from the muscles. Benefits in that - but not beneficial for muscle - the source of metabolism. You really need both.