I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with food. I love eating it but I hate the effects of it. The worst my relationship has been with food has been over the last few years. I gained a lot of weight due to medications I have to be on to treat my Bipolar Disorder. After 5 years of trying all sorts of diets I decided it was time to take some pretty drastic measures. I decided to get gastric sleeve surgery with a minimiser ring. I believe that I would have had better results from a gastric bypass but it decreases the absorption rate of medications so that was a no from me. I really thought it would be the answer to my prayers, but I’ve had a very rocky year and a half since surgery.
Straight off the bat I lost 30kg in 4 months, but I had so many problems with my bipolar medications that it sent me off to hospital with acute dystonia. That was caused by my antipsychotics not being adjusted for the amount of weight I had lost, this also caused me to have a manic episode. Once things had calmed down and I was slightly traumatised from all that happened, my weightloss just stopped.
I couldn’t understand what I was doing wrong, I could only eat such a small amount at a time, however I went into a deep depression for a long time so exercising was not on the cards for me. My medication also took away my ability to ever feel satisfied from food, no matter how much I ate. I gave up. I feel like there just wasn’t enough information out there that could help me. So I decided to pick and choose some solutions from other people and form my own conclusions.
It’s time I took back control of my diet and my weight and finally achieve the things I had wanted from the surgery. I researched a bit here and there and came up with a few ideas. I thought I would start from scratch, teach myself to eat all over again. I set a goal, 900 to 1000 calories per day, no more than a cup of food per meal and to stick to the basics until I had learned. I thought for a while sticking to bland food will help me to start a fresh relationship with food and to take away my dependency on it and constant need for me. I sat down and came up with a simple meal plan.
Breakfast: 1/3 cup of porridge cooked in water with a dash of soy milk and honey
Lunch: 1 small/medium boiled potato or
1/2 cup of rice
1 can of tuna or salmon or a boiled egg
1 teaspoon of mayonnaise
1 Salt and pepper to taste.
1/2 cup of edamame or beans
Snacks: 1/2 cup of grapes or
1/2 an apple (I can only eat half an apple before I have trouble digesting it) or
1/2 cup of sugar free yogurt.
I ate 3 snacks a day, one in the morning, one in the afternoon and one later at night.
Dinner: A protein of some sort, equal to half a cup, this could be chicken, fish, tofu etc (However I found since surgery that chicken is very difficult to digest and would often get caught in my minimiser ring so stick to very moist proteins.)
1/4 cup of carbohydrates, whether this is potato, pumpkin, rice or pasta
1/4 cup of green vegetables or salad with minimal dressing.
By keeping my foods bland and basic, I was learning to feel full without the desire to over eat. My food was still tasty and I still enjoyed eating it, but delicious food made me want to eat more because I couldn’t get enough. I don’t feel like I’m missing out because I’m still eating a bit of every food group, I’m just paying much closer attention to the quantity. I should mention that my diet is mainly pescatarian since I no longer eat chicken but I consume eggs, cheese and yogurt. I drink almond milk in my coffee and have almond lattes, I also have a bit of soy in my breakfast. Making the switch was never a problem for me and I have no issues when I go out to eat.
I was worried what it would be like when I went out to eat, how would I avoid the issue of over eating and keeping my calories low. I decided that if I go out to eat, I can eat whatever I like because it’s not very often I go out to eat. However, after 2 weeks of eating this way I noticed my stomach had shrunk again and I could no longer fit more than a cup of food per meal, and sometimes that was pushing it. So eating out, I either split the meal with someone else or I just don’t finish my food. The habit and need to finish everything on your plate is a hard one to break, but you must overcome that in order to control your diet.
So I’ve got my diet under control and now I’ve got to work in some exercise. I bought a small treadmill and started at 15 minutes at 3.5kmph. Over the course of a week I bumped my time up to 20 minutes, then 30 minutes and increased my speed to 4.5kmph. In my second week, I took the plunge and made it to an hour. I had read that the optimal workout time to loose weight is 30 to 60 min. Well I’m definitely going for optimal. I also increased my speed to 5.5kmph by the end of the second week.
I decided it time to weigh myself, after avoiding it for over a year. I stopped weighing myself when I gained weight back and was completely disheartened. To my surprise, I had lost 3kg and I know its because of the past 2 weeks. I had taken my waist measurement before I started and then again when I weighed myself and I has lost 3cm. I’m seeing results. Now all I need to do is keep this up and I can achieve my goals. I just need to keep pushing myself. I’m planning to keep you updated about my progress, mainly so I can track how I’m doing, but I’m happy to answer any questions you may have.