SCHEDULED!!

October 19th is the big day. There were times I thought I would never have a date on the books! Wooo hooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I started the Phase 2 diet as prescribed by my doctor today. It's a toughie! Here's the details.

Breakfast

• 8 oz skim or 1% milk

• ½ protein drink

• 4 oz fruit

Mid Morning

• Protein drink

Lunch

• 6-8 oz low fat, light yogurt

• 4 oz vegetable or fruit

Afternoon

• 1 oz nuts or 2 tbsp peanut butter or ½ cup beans or hummus

• 4 oz vegetable or fruit

Dinner

• 4 oz protein

• 4 oz vegetable with 1 tbsp olive oil

• ½ cup whole grain starch or 1 slice whole grain bread or ½ potato

Evening

• 8 oz skim or 1% milk

• ½ protein drink

• 4 oz fruit

Please note: You must take the following twice daily until surgery: a fiber supplement (5 grams), multiple vitamin, calcium (600 mg), and CoQ10 (50 mg).

Be sure to intake 100 ounces of free liquid (water, crystal light, hot tea, diet iced tea, broth, decaf coffee, propel water, sugar free jell-o, sugar free popsicles, etc.) Your fiber supplements and your protein supplements count toward your 100 ounces of fluid.

You can purchase your protein drinks at many retailers, such as US Bariatric, GNC or the Vitamin Shoppe. It can be any brand as long as it contains pure whey protein, between 20 & 40 grams of protein per serving, is low fat and has less than 5 grams of total carbohydrates. If your protein supplement contains more than 40 grams of protein, you will need to cut the serving in half (i.e.: 20 grams each serving).

Ok, so my thoughts mid-way through the first day are #1 this is a lot of food in the morning and I'm not used to it! and #2 it is hard to stick with a schedule while working. I get on a call, held up in a meeting, have an unexpected visitor and then I have to rework my plan. But I will get used to it I'm sure. TMI alert...I'm having a lot of gas. My body will have to get used to the new way of eating I suppose. At least it will prepare me for the laproscopic recovery. lol.

In other news, I haven't posted a lot lately because my carpal tunnel has returned with a vengeance. I've refrained from typing long emails or participating much in my usual message boards because I don't want to aggravate it further. I've experiences CT flare-ups since I was 17 and apparently obesity can add fuel to the fire. Unfortunately, losing weight usually doesn't equal relief. So I'll probably need to have an additional surgery a little later.

So there's my update!