I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this earlier or not, but I’m not the only one in my
house who is serious about losing weight. Laurel is scheduled for bariatric surgery at
the end of the month.
She is the one who turned me onto the bariatric clinic at the local hospital. And
I’m very happy to say that with their help (read: prescription medicine), I’m having
some success.
But Laurel started treatment sometime before I did, and she has had pretty good success.
Her upcoming surgery and the results she expects will be the culmination of a lot of
hard work, A lot of research, and a few dreams.
In about two weeks from now, Laurel will begin a liquid diet to prepare her body
for the procedure. We expect that immediately following the procedure she will spend
a couple of weeks retraining her stomach –– the small percentage of her stomach that
remains –– how to digest food. In some ways, this will be similar to training a baby
to eat: liquids at first, followed by purées, followed later by small quantities of
solid foods.
Yesterday, Laurel decided to spend the next two weeks (or, the time before the start
of the liquid diet) basically eating whatever the Hell she wants. She knows that it’s
going to be quite some time before she could enjoy many of these foods (read: junk food)
again.
So it’s going to be a test of my willpower in a couple of ways.
The first test is my will to keep away from whatever Laurel brings home. I just
posted yesterday about how I’m on the brink of breaking into the 240’s for the first
time in years… so of course she’d choose NOW to go all “Augustus Gloop.”
The second test is in dealing with my daughter. At ten, she has zero self-control;
eats all kinds of sugary shit at her other parents’ home, unhindered by restraint or
parental oversight; and is in a growth spurt. I find wrappers in her room all the time,
despite having warned her about it. She will find whatever Laurel bought and will focus
on it. That’s part of my challenge. The other part will be in dealing with whatever
she’ll do when she’s all sugared up.
I talked with Laurel about it this evening and she agreed to hide it from kiddo.
I’m relieved; I don’t want to see it either. But there will be evenings like tonight,
when Laurel feels like making dessert. Double-chocolate brownies.
I escaped, having had a single bite.
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