The new year is rapidly approaching, and it’s time for us to contemplate New Year’s resolutions! Mine came earlier than expected. A few months ago, feelings of guilt and remorse visited because my exercise regime has dwindled and been lousy. My friend, Hugo Rivera, sent me a copy of “The Body Sculpting Bible for Women” about 6 months ago, and recently in a Facebook message asked how the exercise routine was going.  I completely avoided the subject because the truth was:  IT WASN’T GOING – ANYWHERE! (Sorry, Hugo… nothing personal against you. Just my guilty conscience gnawing at me).

The Thanksgiving holidays are fast approaching.  Before you know it, we’ll blink and Christmas will be over.  I want to share a special story with you that I revisit each year.  It’s a true story, one that I wrote out of experience.  I hope that it will inspire you to reach toward your goals.

Last time in “Food Journaling – Part 1”, we discussed the importance of balancing our nutritional checkbook.  And, left off with a challenge to write down everything you consumed to gain an accurate reflection of your intake.  I’ve been curious as to how you fared in the challenge!   If you want, please leave some of your observations in the comments section!   Let’s start off today by discussing the methods used to journal food. 

I had a friend who never balanced her checkbook. She never knew if there was enough money in the bank to cover her transactions. She panicked quite often, called her automated teller system to find out which debits and credits had occurred in order to get a “general idea” of her balance. It made me thankful that I didn’t have to live in such a state of emotional upheaval!

Several years ago, my mother decided to sort all of her photographs and give them to her four children. She asked for my thoughts, suggestions and help. So, I purchased four decorative photo boxes and together we began the task of sorting the pictures. As we sat in the midst of photo albums, I realized there were plenty of pictures of every child except me. I noticed that in the late junior high years, the photos became scarce. This made me somewhat sad and resentful towards myself. I knew that it was about the time that I started to gain weight, and as a result I dodged the cameras, not wanting my photo to be taken. There were about fifteen years of my life that only a few pictures exist.

Recently I spoke to a group of people who hope to have some sort of weight loss surgery within the next few months. The topic was “Support Needed For Success.” I arrived early, and sat in the car looking over my handouts and notes. I noticed that I had listed family, friends, society, support groups, self awareness. But it hit me! There was one very important support system that I had missed. Oh, yes I had touched on it before but without acknowledging its importance. And that is, what YOU can do to be your number one supporter. After all, if your head is not in the game and you aren’t prepared, oh the problems that lie ahead!

*This article is written with the gastric bypass patient in mind.  After weight loss surgery, individuals receive new instructions or “rules” when it comes to eating patterns and nutrition.

Each of us have spent a lifetime learning about food, more specifically, how and what to eat and drink.  These are not taught intentionally, but more of a ”learn by observance” method.  Here are just a few of them, which are now behaviors that we as weight loss surgery patients must change:

I meet people, both in person and online, who say that they do not like protein drinks. They invest quite a bit on a huge canister of protein powder only to find that they don’t like it. I’m not one of those people NOW. But at one time, I didn’t like protein drinks either. But it would be hard to pry my fingers off of my morning cup of protein coffee or afternoon frappuccino! It’s all in the art of knowing “HOW” to prepare them, or what I like to call “mixology”.

Let’s look at chocolate protein powder for a moment. Many brands carry your basic protein powder. I know of only a few that will knock your socks as mixed with just water. But others, well they might need a little bit of tweaking. In other words, they need some help in how they are prepared and what ingredients are added to them. So if you have a huge bucket of protein sitting around that maybe has had one or two trial run scoops taken out, and left for dead… try this.

I was thinking the other day about how I would describe the journey of a weight loss surgery patient. It’s much like a video clip that has been fast forwarded so that you can watch an entire year’s worth of events take place in just a matter of one to two minutes. The video I imagined to be playing would be the changing of the seasons. I liken this picture to how my journey has unfolded over the past two years.

Weight lifter. Those two words invoke an image in my mind of Lou Ferrigno and Arnold Schwartzenneger with rippling muscles, the perfect physique, and the ultimate picture of health & fitness. Years of attention and sacrifice have yielded maximum results! Much time has been spent in the gym working out, lifting weights, and forego personal fun time to build a better body. They feel the most comfortable among their peers in the weight room, at bench presses, and talking to trainers about the latest weight lifting technology. These are the individuals who are the envy of the average person who occasionally visits a gym. Onlookers stare in amazement, dreaming and hoping for just a small fraction of success as this incredibly fit crowd. Weight lifters educate themselves on the best diets and exercise regimes, as well as invest money on the latest craze protein supplements.