Our guest blogger, Tricia, provides a word-for-word account of the Very Low Calorie Diet (VLCD) program at Dean Clinic, part of the Comprehensive Weight Management program. If you’ve been reading along, you know that’s a fake name, but she’s absolutely a real person.
When we last left Tricia, she began to realize her remarkable progress in losing more than 40 pounds, despite the very real challenges that lie ahead. This week, those challenges come in the form of pizza and happy hours. This is the transition phase, and it’s waaaayyyyy harder than it seems. Fortunately, the pros at the program are standing by, ready to help.
June 15. Checking in from sunny Florida where I am on a mini vacation with my sister, visiting my aunt and uncle. It has been unseasonably hot and humid here, with record-setting high temperatures and humidity that frizzes my hair the second I open the door. It’s the kind of weather where you wear as little clothing as possible regardless of what standards you may have normally for percentage of skin and body parts revealed publicly.
I must say it has been particularly satisfying to be able to put on my old (smaller) swimsuit and feel OK going to the pool. I would not pose for a Land’s End catalog, but I could at least feel comfy throwing on a t-shirt and walking to the gorgeous pool where my aunt and uncle live. I felt comfortable traveling and was really happy to be able to run over to TJ-Maxx before I left and grab a handful of summer casual clothes in normal sizes and pack a suitcase full of things that fit and can be worn in unusually hot and humid weather — crop pants, short-sleeve t-shirts (gasp!) and even a pair of shorts.
So, how’s the eating going? Not perfect, I’ll admit.
I traveled with shakes and bars, and that definitely made things easier. I have had shakes for breakfast each day and bars for snacks. Airports and airlines are definitely easier (and cheaper) with bars packed in my purse.
The harder part is happy hour and meals with family. We went to a grocery store when I got here and were able to load up on Lean Cuisine and veggies. It helps that I am with my sister, who has the same issues I do with foods – carbs in particular – and who is a barometer to help keep me in line. A recent vegan convert, learning her food perspectives has been interesting.
Tonight we went out to a pizza place and I splurged on TWO pieces of pizza, which are not anywhere on my acceptable food list for now, but I felt OK knowing I kept a low calorie profile all day, got exercise at the pool and can compensate tomorrow.
At my nutritionist meeting last week I ‘fessed up that I was struggling with trying to comply with the transition plan. I spewed about all my transgressions. According to the black-and-white thinking I have always had about food, it felt like I had failed and it was all over. Fortunately, Toni (the Dean nutritionist) listened carefully and crafted a new plan for me that I can definitely live with.
Since the food part of the plan (outside the shakes and bars) was really challenging me, Toni suggested I try Lean Cuisines. They could provide a balanced evening meal — at my most vulnerable time of day for making good food choices — with a reasonable calorie range. Plus, they’d help me avoid having to make food choices, buying decisions and cooking issues. It was a brilliant and welcomed solution to a problem that had me quite vexed.
That suggestion was yet another way I valued the customized nature of the Dean Comprehensive Weight Management Program. Toni recognized that one size definitely does not fit all. She is passionately committed to helping each participant find a workable solution to what, for most of us, has been a lifelong struggle against bad eating habits and genetic predisposition.
Also last week I had the privilege of meeting with Jean, who is a Dean social worker with whom I am consulting to get a grip on what issues have contributed to my overeating and attitudes about weight and body image. Jean is expert at zeroing in on root causes. She has given me abundant food for thought about the mindsets that play into my lifelong history of weight obsession and struggles.
The work I am doing with her is definitely unsettling, but in a good way — I can sense that I am heading in the right direction. It’s not easy! Some of the things she is uncovering make me so uncomfortable that they actually trigger my eating urges, but I have always been blessed with the ability to dive head first into the tough stuff. I know from that experience that my discomfort with the process is the very sign I need. Indeed, I’m getting at the issues that will help get me to my long-term goal of overcoming my negative relationship with food.
My all-or-nothing thinking is gradually getting replaced with a more realistic two-steps-forward, one-step-back approach. This is invaluable, since I know from a bazillion past weight-loss attempts that losing weight is, by itself, not especially difficult once you settle in to a proscribed program. It’s the mental part of dieting that triggers the eventual undoing. I am feeling very optimistic that this 360 approach will make an impact that other programs have not been able to achieve. There is great peace in that.
Stay tuned.
To see all of Tricia’s posts and her complete journey through the Very Low Calorie Diet at Dean Clinic’s Comprehensive Weight Management Program, use the search word “Tricia” in the search box in the upper right. To learn more about the program or get started yourself, click here and have a look.
Subscribe to Updates
Social Sharing
Email to a Friend
