ONE YEAR TODAY!

It's my bandiversary today! One year ago I was recovering in hospital after my early morning surgery. In fact, at this precise time, I was sitting in the chair watching TV and trying to take my mind off the discomfort and general fuzziness that was my head. Reading back over my blog post the day after surgery, I am reminded that on the evening of my surgery I watched the X Factor before getting a nurse to help me back into bed for the night. Well nothing new there a year on then, because I'll be glued to it again this evening!

So how has the last year been? Well, on the plus side, I am 110 pounds lighter than I was a year ago, I am MUCH fitter and healthier, and can now fit into size 16 clothes. I still have 25 pounds to lose and a couple more clothes sizes to drop, but even if I don't lose another pound, I would still consider my band journey to be a success. On the minus side, it hasn't been easy. There have been some low points as well as highs and it has been a complete pain the bum having to keep a daily food diary! That said, it will be the last habit I break becuase it has been enormously valuable and I wouldn't have achieved what I have had I not kept it religously. I've had a long route to finding my sweet spot, including seven fills and two de-fills. I've spent 48 days of the last year on fluids and a further 48 on mush!

This blog was started on day one of my pre-op diet, on 10th Novemeber 2008. Since that time there have been more than 6,000 visits to the site and about 350 posts. I have communicated with hundreds of fellow bandits through the blog and through the UKGastricBand forum (and other similar sites) and feel I have made some firm friends, albeit virtually, for life. In fact I will be meeting up with a group of bandits in Manchester next weekend - we've never met before but have all shared the ups and downs of band-life on a regular basis and Im sooo looking forward to it.

My daily life isn't hugely different from what it was. I don't eat breakfast before I leave for work any more - I eat it later in the morning. I also don't eat in the staff canteen any more. I don't eat 'on the go' any more - my daily eating is carefully planned out, prepared in advance, weighed, measured and written down! The contents of the food cupboards in our house are different - there's no chocolate, very rarely any cheese in the fridge (except Rosemary Conley's low fat cheese sometimes), and no biscuits or cakes. I still eat out occasionally, but I'm always the last person to finish now. I can still eat anything. I very rarely take the lift at work and can now take the stairs up to my fourth floor office two at a time. I do a bit of jogging, visit the gym, swim and do lots of walking. I get much less sweaty than I used to!

My wardrobe is completely different. There is now nothing left in my wardrobe that I wore before getting banded. There are relatively few clothes in there because I don't want to buy too many before I reach my final target weight. What has surprised me is the fact that most of my shoes are now too big and my wedding ring now fits!

Looking back to the days before I had surgery, I know that I had a number of concerns - not least of which was 'would the band work?'. But there were other things too, like, would I still be able to eat out? I had visions that I would never again be able to go out for a meal with my family. Anyway, to celebrate my 'coming of age' today, I have decided to start a short series of posts (starting later this week) where I will explore some of these pre-op qualms and look at how they have panned out, how I have dealt with them, was I right to be anxious about x, y and z, or were they empty fears?

If you have any pre-op fears that you'd like me to focus on, please leave a comment and I'll do my best!

Spending money and shedding pounds

I weighed in at 18 stone 2 lbs this morning - more than a stone less than when I started the pre-op diet! I expected to lose more weight in the first week or so - this is normal for most people on diets - but the weight loss is nevertheless very encouraging. I've also been shedding lots of pounds of the monetary sort - I spent over £70 on stuff from Weight To Go (the food 'arm' of Healthier Weight):

I bought a pedometer, because once I am fighting fit again I plan on working up to walking 10,000 steps a day. I am not yet sure where I'm going to find the time to do all this walking - but I guess I'll just have to make it a higher priority than all the other 'important' and 'urgent' things in my life!

I also bought some more strawberry shakes. I find these very filling and they will be a welcome drink once I start getting hungry again. I experimented with a new way to make them today - without using the blender. I just added a mixture of milk and water and stirred with a fork until I achieved the right consistency (1 packet made about 400ml). The blender is fine (and quicker, though more washing up!), but it tends to make the shake very bubbly. My stomach has been making enough bubbles of its own in the past few days so I thought I'd try putting less in!

I also bought some packets of the pre-prepared meals and soup. I won't be able to eat any of these until I get to the puree phase, but they look very nice!

I went for a 40 minute walk this morning - and it was probably too much - I was getting quite tired by the end. It was at a slow pace, over a distance I would normally have covered in much less time, but still, it was nice to get some fresh air - before the Arctic weather blows in at the weekend.

All going smoothly – except the blender?

I’m one third of the way through the five-day pre-op diet and there isn’t much to report yet. I ate about 800 calories yesterday, though I swapped two of the strawberry shakes for some lovely steamed vegetables (courgettes, aubergine, oyster mushrooms, cherry tomatoes and broccoli, with loads of black pepper and soy sauce). Next week I will get some vanilla shakes so I can add my own flavourings to make them more interesting!

Liquidising ice cubes is interesting though – it’d be nice to know if anyone else has found a reliable way to do this without making the blender smell of burning.....!

I’m rapidly getting used to the idea of having a band and am even, psychologically, starting to think I already have one. I’ve noticed a definite ‘lift’ in my spirit and have even found myself whistling along the corridor at work! I suppose I sense that real, lasting change is on its way. Wish me luck!

Pre-op diet – early progress report

I’m doing OK with my pre-op diet so far – though I haven’t even done a day yet! I’ve had a second shake and two Weight Watchers soups. I’m planning to have some steamed vegetables (I’m a vegetarian anyway so this isn’t too much hardship) and a fruit salad this evening. I’ve been working at home today so it’s all been fairly easy. However, tomorrow I’m back at work and I’ve got to plan out all of my 'food' in advance - which is a bit strange. I’ll have to blend my shakes before I go, and I've had to buy some food storage containers to take them in! I’ll also have to take some soup with me – fortunately we have a microwave available. It's funny that I've always thought that one of my problems is that my mind is always obsessed with food - and here I am, pre-surgery, having to think about it even more!!

I’ve got the shakes….!

My pre-op diet consists of four shakes and two soups per day, plus five portions of fruit and veg. This is all spread out over five ‘meals’ – breakfast, lunch, tea, dinner and supper. I’m fortunate that I’ve been drinking black, sugarless tea and coffee for years so I can drink as much as I like of them without putting any calories into my mouth!

I’ve just had my first ‘shake’ – strawberry flavour. Nice, and very filling, I wasn’t expecting that. It was a bit of a palaver making it – I had to first extricate my antique liquidiser from the back of the cupboard, wash it (not easy when it has some pretty dangerous-looking blades at the bottom, then follow the instructions on how to make my first ‘meal. After adding the powder, ice cubes and water as instructed, I started the liquidiser going and immediately smelt burning! I think this is because you are supposed to set it on low speed until the ice breaks up – but ‘high’ is the only speed my contraption has!