Earlier this week I had my month 2 pre-op visit with my bariatric surgeon, and since I promised complete transparency and honesty on my weight loss journey, I wanted to share what happened! It was a fast in-and-out appointment, so this blog should be pretty short.
Weighing In
I weighed in at 251.4 pounds – meaning I was up almost 3 pounds since my last visit. I’m honestly not sure why that happened, and my surgeon and nutritionist said that it happens sometimes. Obviously it needs to not be a continuous issue, duh! This is literally the heaviest I’ve ever been in my entire life. My BMI is at 41 and it’s awful, and scary, and something I’d never wish on anyone.
Month 2 Pre-Op Visit With My Weight Loss Surgeon
My visits with Dr. Regan are usually pretty quick, they’re more of an informal “how did things go this month? do you have any questions for me?” kind of thing. I don’t feel rushed, but, we also aren’t standing around making small talk. I can appreciate that he’s a busy doctor and I feel like he can appreciate I’m a busy mom.
Dr. Regan said that when I come back next month, we will schedule my psychological evaluation, which is a prerequisite for getting insurance to approve covering surgical costs. So, the only question I had for him this month was to talk about my mental health in regard to getting approved. Mental health and weight loss absolutely go hand in hand. Here is a really good article about the importance of looking at psychiatry from a whole-body approach!
Obviously, I’m not shy about discussing my lifelong battle with anxiety and depression with my physicians. Now that I’m in a really good place mentally, I don’t want to do anything to mess that up! Dr. Regan assured me that many patients who battle obesity also suffer from anxiety and/or depression, and that those diagnoses will not disqualify me from getting approved for surgery.
What could disqualify someone from getting approved for bariatric surgery is if they have untreated mental illness, or active disorders like anorexia or bulimia. Since my mental health is the best it’s been in my entire life, Dr. Regan said there is no reason to think I would have issues getting approved.
Month 2 Pre-Op Visit with My Nutritionist
As you might recall, after my first meeting with my nutritionist, I was supposed to drink at least 64 ounces of water a day, eat at least one fruit and vegetable a day, and purposely move my body for 10-15 minutes 3 days a week. I did pretty well with all of these goals, with the exception of eating vegetables every day. It’s not that I don’t like vegetables, it’s that it’s been so long since we’ve really been mindful of eating vegetables that it’s a habit I’m working hard to change. And apparently salad greens don’t really count as a vegetable, haha! 😂
So this month, we’re continuing to work on those goals together. In addition, we are also working on incorporating more vegetarian options for protein, including Orgain protein drinks (use the coupon code XOASHDURHAM to save 30% off your first order!). I have started to have a big aversion to eating meat – the running joke is that hobby farming is turning me into a vegan! I don’t know if I can give up ice cream, cheese or yogurt quite yet, but so far not eating meat the last few days has been really nice. Who knows!?
