So, as many of you may or may not know, I recently (July 2) had bariatric surgery. It was done for a variety of reasons, but the TL;DR was basically I didn’t want to die. I love my union and the health insurance that is a benefit of membership. All I’m on the hook for (so far) is the psych evaluation which turned out to be not in network (but that’s another diary, you came for the food).
As far as bariatric surgery goes, its main purpose is for the recipients to lose weight quickly. To accomplish this, all versions do something in the procedure to make the stomach smaller, whether to band it, bypass it, or to simply remove most of it. The result is that the patients consequently must eat much less—about 4.5-5 ounces at a time—but 5 times a day. Anything more and my stomach literally HURTS. This severely reduces caloric intake, resulting in very rapid weight loss. See the picture above. The left hand picture is a typical plate. The right hand is closer to a bariatric size. HOWEVER—SURGERY IS NOT A FIX-ALL FOR THE OBESITY PROBLEM A PATIENT HAS. The patient can easily regain all weight lost. Join me and explore the stages of eating and some typical bariatric cooking I’m discovering on the way