The moment you decide to have weight loss surgery, your journey has begun. Don’t wait until AFTER surgery to start making the changes necessary for success. Weight loss surgery is just one piece of a bigger picture… or a puzzle. Imagine yourself as a puzzle, but some of the pieces (of information) are missing. The more pieces we have, the better we see the whole picture and understand what is happening. As we have a better understanding of our situation, we can then make very specific goals to get great results.
For successful outcomes with great weight loss, we also want to utilize all the tools we find helpful. Weight loss surgery, in itself, is a tool. It is one of many tools you have available in your toolbox. Your toolbox contains many things such as food diary, exercise, support groups and follow up appointments at Roller Weight Loss & Advanced Surgery, etc. Many people find certain tools really helpful to meet their goals. Let’s take the food diary, for example. It can not only help you track specific nutrients such as protein, but it can show you a pattern of water intake, or lack thereof.
Food dairies take on many forms. “Old school” food diaries use pen and paper to keep detailed notes of how much food and drink you get ina day. There is nothing wrong with using pen and paper if you are more comfortable with this. Hand written diaries need a few basic details such as calories, protein, fat, etc., but can be expanded to your preferences to include details such as emotions while eating, time of day, etc. to give you more information.
New electronic food diaries are available online or through apps on your smart phone. These electronic food diaries calculate all of those details automatically! You just have to type in what and how much you eat and drink. That is key – input! You have to list it ALL! If you eat or drink something, but do not put it in the diary, you are missing part of the tool and cheating yourself. I usually suggest looking up nutrition information BEFORE eating. Then you know the nutrients and can decide if they are helping you reach your weight loss goals.
Did you know a Small Mocha Frappe from McDonald’s has 420 calories and 54 grams of sugar? WOW – I was shocked! That is about 13 teaspoons of added sugar. The Large Mocha Frappe has 89 grams of sugar or equal to 22 teaspoons of sugar!!
After learning that information, I changed my choices.
Instead, I chose to have the Iced Coffee minus the cream and sugar and ask for Sugar Free Vanilla Syrup. This changed the nutrition facts to 20 calories and 0 grams of sugar. Many restaurants provide this information; for most restaurants, it is required by law. Get comfortable looking up nutrition information.
By tracking food and drink intake, you may be able to weed out foods and drinks that are not helping you achieve your weight loss goals. Let us help you get started “filling in your missing puzzle pieces”! We are here to help you every step of the way to ensure you have the most successful weight loss journey!
Gena Pierce, MS, RD/LD
Dietitian
