Today was another busy day at work. I say that and think, "it's always a busy day at work" lol. I guess some days are busier than others to the point to where I have to stay late to finish. I had to stay late today. I am exhausted. They even asked me if I would come in tomorrow! I seriously considered it because I want to help out and it would be over time (cha ching), but I am drained. I can't do 4 days in a row. Besides I would probably leave UBER late tomorrow, seeing that I couldn't finish everything today.
Anyway I did my usual work thing. Transferring patients, beds, stairs, yadda yadda yadda. I look forward to a day off.
I did learn something today that confused the heck out of me. I don't think it was "learning" something, but it was a random puzzle piece that was thrown into my mix that doesn't belong there. A coworker came back to work today after having gastric bypass surgery, and I asked her how many calories they had her eating. I asked because I had a gastric bypass surgery patient last week and they only gave her like 3 jello shots a meal to eat. JELLO. She said 200-300 calories. A day. A DAY! What the hizzy??? I thought and had learned in school that our bodies require a certain amount of calories a day (basal metabolic rate) and if we didn't get that, bad things could happen to our health. I'm thinking, this woman is a lot heavier than I am, and so her body needs more calories just to lug the extra weight around. She also works a 12-1/2 hour day. How is eating 200-300 calories a day healthy, even if she had gastric bypass?
What is your take on this? Does anyone understand this or know anyone that has been through this that could shed some light on this for me?
Off to bed. I'm exhausted and my brain hurts now. lol.
Take care and I'll see you tomorrow! I am thinking to make a few waves in my monthly biz (tomorrow is the 1st, ya know). I'm still thinking about it though ;). No hints until tomorrow.
I can do this. I am a star.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Day 273 (day 7 / week 38)
Posted by Melissa Henning at 10:00 PM
Labels: 10 flights of stairs, beyond exhausted, gastric bypass confusion, tired, transferring patient--bed, working
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
4 comments:
I was thinking the same thing! A friend of mine is on the HCG diet. She has lost 30 lbs in 40 days, but was limited to 500 calories a day! Apparently your body is supposed to use up all the stored fat to make up for the deficiency in calories. Still doesn't sound right to me.
Okay, so here's the thing. I used to be anorexic and bulimic and I can tell you that you can function on very few calories, even if you exercise. The problem? You screw up your metabolism big-time and have serious issues getting the right nutrients. Gastric Bypass people have to take a lot of supplements and, even so, many of them lose most of their hair and have poor hair quality. I don't know what the HCG diet is, but all those "starvation" diets end up with people quickly gaining back the weight they lost and then some because they've taught their metabolism's to be hyper efficient (they do more with each calorie, so "extra" calories get stored...the body knows it lives in "famine") It took me years and years to get my body back to "normal" (not to mention the harm I did to my GI tract by abusing laxatives...fiber was NOT my friend for many years as I retrained my body to health). So, Melissa, your friend at work? She's training her body to live in a famine and, if she ever tries to eat "normally", she'll gain a lot of weight quickly. (Ron Morelli from last season's Biggest Loser is a perfect example of this: He was 300+ pounds after having had gastric bypass.) Plus, she's losing weight so quickly, her skin doesn't have a chance to shrink with her, it will just hang. Just my two cents and what I've learned from my own history.
It doesn't sound right to me either! That's why it had/has me scratching my head. I don't want to try any of this, but I just didn't understand how doctors, nutritionists and other health professionals be on board with such a low calorie intake.
Thank you both for your opinions and takes on this and for sharing such personal information :).
Kind of tagging onto what's been said, rarely do you see a gastric bypass patient that looks "healthy". Sure, they are thinner in the end, but are essentially malnourished due to lack of nutrition because of so much stomach removed, or bypassed, thus no surface for absorbing nutrients. So, their pallor, hair, nails---none are great. Why would a doctor, nutritionist or other professionals agree to this? argh, I hate to say it and profess my cynicism.....but obesity is a billion dollar market. :(
Post a Comment