A New Leaf

Hi!

It’s been a few years since I’ve written but it’s finally time to put pen to paper or fingers to keys and start recording my journey again.

Health-wise I’ve been fine in the sense of no major problems. Weight-wise, I’ve gained around 40 lbs which has really made a difference in how I look and feel.

I got off track with eating better mostly when I went back to school in 2015. I also stopped running at that point, which I miss greatly. It’s time to get back on the horse.

Since 4/16/18 I’ve been working on losing weight. Since my needs are different since I had bariatric surgery in 2011, I decided to go with a sort of jump-start option called The 5 Day Pouch Test. The goal is to go back to basics, similar to the days following surgery. The first 2 days are liquid-only and for days 3-5 proteins are added back in. Protein is the most important thing in a bariatric surgery patient’s nutritional needs and we need more than most people. Since my surgery, protein shakes have come a long way and I’ve found some that taste great, are low in sugar and carbs, and really help me to get my daily protein in.

Along with the 5-day jump start, I decided to go processed carb and sugar free.  There are some carbs and sugar in the food I eat but it’s natural for the most part. My main goal with this part of my new journey was to get off bread, which I’ve successfully done.

The first 2 days of the pouch test were difficult and all about carb withdrawals. My 13-hour long headache was evidence of that.

I miss bread but I don’t crave it. It’s very strange for me because I figured out yesterday that I’ve never not had bread or at least some type of processed white flour food. This is the longest I’ve gone without it. As for sugar, I haven’t had that either. Strangely, I don’t really miss it either.

The choice to go processed carb and sugar free was because I finally got to the point in my bariatric journey that I ran out of luck. I was one of the lucky ones who rarely had an issue eating most any type of food after surgery. A few months ago, I started to have issues, especially at night. I would eat something like crackers, go to bed and the wake up a couple hours later to low blood sugar. Since I’ve stopped eating those processed carbs, I no longer have that issue.

I’m also starting to run. I’m doing Couch 2 5k. I started it last Saturday and haven’t been again since. I need to start working it into a routine. The main issue for me is that I’m still not, nor will I ever be, a morning person so it’s either run in the morning or at night after work. My next goal is to start being consistent again. I felt so much better when I ran and I really want it to be part of my life again.

I’ll be back soon!

Megan