Creating "MyPlate"

Today I had the much anticipated appointment with the Weight Management physician.  It is part of the Weight Loss Clinic that mostly does bariatric surgery.  I have been seen there before in 2007 and was pursuing gastric bypass surgery, but thankfully, the decision on the part of the clinic and psychologist was to not approve me for the surgery.  I know that surgery wouldn't have been the answer for me, this is something I needed to do on my own.  I wanted a quick fix at that point because it had gotten so out of control.

I was somewhat disappointed with the appointment today.  I think I was expecting more advice and help than I got, but I'm thinking that might be coming in the future.  I met with the physician for an hour and then with a dietitian for an hour.  I have to have some lab work done to check for some things, but my lab work always comes back just fine, so I'm doubtful that they will find anything metabolically that explains why I am the way I am.  The doctor I'm seeing has a grant right now so her patients can see a physical therapist to discuss exercise issues with a PT for free as part of the study she is doing.  I was very interested in that so I set up an appointment for that for next week.

So my current goals for the next couple of weeks are:

• Diligently track food intake and exercise on MyFitnessPal with a calorie goal of 1,650 a day.  I can have about 200 extra calories on the days that I run, but non-running days I shouldn't go above that goal. 
• Plan all meals and snacks 3-4 days in advance
• Focus on increasing veggie intake to 2 servings a day and continue 3 servings of fruit. 
• Follow the "myplate" guidelines for meal portions

Both the doctor and the dietitian were very encouraging and pleased with the progress I have made on my own.  They think I have a great start on things and believe that I am doing a lot of what I need to be doing to make this successful.  This is nice to hear but also frustrating at the same time since I have stopped making progress.  Since I am doing most of what they recommend already, the doctor did recommend that I consider trying a medication (appetite suppressant) short term to get me off of the plateau that I'm on.  I wasn't completely sold on that today, so she put in the order and I can get it filled if I want or leave it if I decide not to.

I had a lot of questions for the dietitian because I feel like that is where I struggle the most.  Being active isn't a problem for me, it is just wading through all the various advice related to food that I struggle with.  I asked her if there were any particular foods or food groups that should be completely avoided.  She quickly answered with a no, which I was happy about.  I also talked about struggling to find healthy and balanced recipes that are quick and don't require a lot of exotic ingredients.  She recommended two websites: Cooking Light and Eating Well.  I've gotten recipes off of both of those sites before and enjoyed them, so I think I'll spend some more time looking there.  I seriously lack creativity when it comes to cooking, so if I don't have recipes to follow, the default is pasta.  I'm looking forward to finding some new recipes to try. 

So all in all, I've got a good base, just need to tweak some things and hopefully things will start moving in the right direction again.  I really would have liked for some super clear answer for why things stopped moving, but I'll take this is a starting point.  One thing I know about this journey, it isn't easy and it isn't fast and it takes a whole lot of effort and planning.  It is nice to know that just because I'm not following a very specific or restrictive diet, they still have faith that I'll be able to reach my goal.

So that's that. 

I've got a long run this weekend (12.5 miles) and the weather does not look like it is going to cooperate and I'm on call on Sunday, so I'm trying to figure out how to work it in.  I'm thinking I might be running home from church on Saturday night if the weather cooperates, that will be kind of fun!