Finished my pre-op classes and weekly-weigh in

After complaining about how long the classes were going to be, tonight I finished the six months of pre-op classes required through Kaiser to move forward with bariatric surgery.  I can still remember the time, years ago, when I was talking to a friend at work about wanting to do the surgery but just not having time to wait for classes.  When I think back on it, she was so patient with me.  She had gastric bypass herself a long time ago and I confided in her that I wanted to pursue surgery but I wasn't willing to wait to take classes.  Unless a person chooses to pay out of pocket and go down to Mexico for surgery, it is a very long process.  In fact, I'm still not done with mine.

In terms of my ending weight, the program doctor wants you to lose ten percent of your body weight by the end of the classes or to at least be ten pounds away from that goal.  I weighed in tonight and was so disappointed because I was half a pound from reaching that goal.  Can you believe it?  Half a freaking pound!  I told my classmate sitting next to me and she told me to go to the bathroom and poop.  Ha ha, I busted out laughing.  I raised my hand and asked my facilitator if half a pound would be okay.  Sure, I could have lied since she doesn't check our weight on the scale.  If we haven't met the goal, we would have to go back to the program doctor to be reevaluated.  This could take up to an additional three weeks and he could have told me to work on it longer or even outright denied me.  Of course, we were assured that this never happens.  Anyway, when I asked if that half a pound would be okay, she and the entire class told me to go out, use the bathroom and take off whatever I needed to take off to ensure I would meet that half pound.  They all were completely serious and waited until I left the room to keep talking.  I went down the hall and used the restroom.  I did have a lot of water to drink today, especially before class so it was possible.  When I got back to the scale, which was in a separate but adjoining room, I took off my shoes and even took off my Fitbit.  I seriously considered taking off my top for a second or two, but someone could have walked in on me.  Honestly, I would have stripped down to the bare essentials if I knew no one would walk in from one of the other classes.  However, I'm happy to report that between my visit to the restroom and the removal of what I could take off, I made the weight requirement with a half pound to spare. Yahoooooo!  I swear, I was never happier to see a two pound loss this week than ever before.

Now the next step is for our facilitator to submit our files back to the program director and then she will process them.  That could take up to two weeks, but generally it happens quicker.  Then I will be required to complete a fitness test.  That consists of walking around this building five times.  It's not a very big building at all and, given that I aim to walk 10,000 steps a day as much as possible, that shouldn't be a problem for me.  That is about five miles a day so I'm not particularly worried about that test.  In the meantime, as one of the surgeons has recommended, I am trying to replace one to two of my meals with protein shakes.  Since I'm lactose intolerant, I have to be pretty selective with what I choose to drink.  I've been using Muscle Milk but it doesn't have enough protein in it so I ordered from Bariatric Advantage.  It's the brand that Kaiser recommends and I do get a discount since I'm a member.  It's pricier but if its better for me, I'm in support of that.  All of this shake drinking reminds me of being on Optifast again in some ways.  There is a huge difference, though - I felt very weak and lightheaded when I was doing the Optifast shakes.  I don't feel that way at all using the protein replacement, as long as I get enough of it in.  The smaller I can get for surgery, the better it is for the actual procedure.  I'm excited to continue moving forward.