The last supper

So today I started my 14 day pre op diet! In anticipation of not being able to eat real food for at least 6 weeks, I went out for a final meal last night and I have to say it was fantastic! I said goodbye to normal eating for maybe the rest of my life with one final meal that was worth every mouthful. Now I feel that I've given normal food a proper send off and can get my head down and concentrate on the next phase of my life.

I rather nervously got up this morning and over a cup of hot water with lemon and ginger (my usual morning pick-me-up) I reread my diet sheet. This is what I can eat for the next 2 weeks:
- clear soup such as consomme, oxo cubes, knorr stock cubes, Bovril
- 3 small portions of fruit per day (example 1 apple, 1 pear, 15-20 strawberries/raspberries
- sugar free jelly
- green vegetables and salad,
- a piece of grilled or steamed chicken or white fish
- 2 eggs
- unlimited black tea and coffee, herbal teas, water, sugar free squashes

Really doesn't sound like a lot does it?? Will just have to get into a rhythm and hope for the  best. Will really miss having dairy, although I don't take milk in tea or coffee (luckily, so no big change there for me!) but a Slimfast or protein shake would sure cure the monotony!

I'm sure the first few days will be fine as I find my feet and think of interesting things to do with Bovril! But then it's going to get tough as hunger, or more probably sugar cravings, rear their ugly heads. Still, I must be grateful for sugar free jelly!!

I'm guessing this diet will really test my commitment and resolve and will probably test my family's love for me as I'm sure the above list of foods is sure to produce some eye watering side effects, particularly in the wind department let alone me getting extremely ratty and short tempered! Methinks there will be lots of teeth brushing going on too as chewing gum is not allowed but I'm sure a sugar free breath mint must be acceptable?

Well, day one over and 13 more to go. If they all go as well as this one then should be plain sailing - no??

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to!

So today is my birthday and I'm feeling a little emotional - for several reasons. The first is my age (a lady doesn't like to reveal it!) but suffice it to say that that I have tipped over the middle of a decade and starting the countdown to a milestone birthday. Very depressing!

The second has to do with cake. Now I love cake and have a little hobby-that-pays making and decorating celebration cakes and cupcakes. So cake is a big part of my life and I'm going to miss it!

This was my last piece of cake before starting the pre op diet on Saturday.

But as much as I'm going to miss cake, I know that this time next year I'm going to be at least 4 stone lighter if not more and that thought makes me so happy and optimistic for the future. Imagine a year when I leave it lighter than I started it! Don't know when that's happened in oh so many years.

Whilst I hate wishing the years away because they bring me ever so closer to that milestone birthday I don't want to hit, I just wish I could fast forward to my birthday next year and see how I look!

For now I'll just have to finish this lovely day off, where I've been treated like a queen by my gingerbread boys and gingerbread hubby, with sweet dreams of what the future holds and how the slimmer me will feel this time next year. So hasta last vista cake, maybe I won't miss you that much after all!

The countdown has begun

Hi, my name is Grace Anne Kelly and I am about to become a bandit!

Yes, in a few short weeks I am going in to have my gastric band fitted. I am nervous and excited. Nervous because it's an operation under general anaesthetic and that always carries a risk, but excited because my new life will begin.

I've taken the decision to go for a band after weighing up my many options. Like many people I think I have been on a diet for well over half my life. My weight has been creeping up on me since I was about 23 and since having my first child eight years ago, I have hovered around the 18 stone (252 lbs) mark. I have lost weight but never reached my goal and always it piled on again. Disheartening and probably the story of most overweight people's lives!

I want to do this right. Like when I was pregnant, I wasn't one of those people who thought it was a licence to eat whatever I wanted. On the contrary, that was what I did with my own body and not what I was going to do for my unborn baby. So during both pregnancies I lost weight, about 21 lbs with my first and a whopping 42 lbs with my second! I know, who loses weight when they're pregnant?? Well I was determined to only put healthy food into my body and for the most part (I'm not a saint!!) I did that. Developing gestational diabetes with my second meant I was more restricted in what I could eat and when the baby was born I was 3 stone lighter and felt great. Three months later I had piled it all back on. Clearly I didn't respect myself as much as I did my baby!

So I'm hoping my gastric band is going to be my new baby and having it in me will focus my mind and help me lose the weight. Certainly the cost of it should help me respect it - 5K for the band and aftercare. At least my children were free!! So I'm determined to make this work for me. To respect my band and hopefully finally lose the weight once and for all. I have 100 lbs to lose - a nice round number and the journey begins on July 27th when I start my 2 week pre op diet.

Let the countdown begin!