Yesterday was the first day of the program at the hospital. The program is for 2 years, the first year concentrates on weight loss and the second year is about maintenance. Insurance is covering the costs so I am happy about that.
My daughter was weighed in at over 200lbs and height of 5'5". Shocking. I didn't know she weighed that much. I felt horrible. The nurse talked to us first, mainly about diabetes. She was supposed to be talking to my daughter (dd) and us. It was so funny because the nurse could not relate the whole diabetes talk to my daughter. She was nice and tried though. My daughter was just looking at her with a blank stare. That lasted about one hour including paperwork. One part of the paperwork, I had to ask my daughter questions. What did she want to get out of the program. Her answer "lose weight". What did she think she would be able to do after the program. Her answer "be faster". One question was if she thought people treated her differently because of her weight and she said "yes" and then it asked why, she said some people were mean. So sad, it breaks my heart but it is going to change.
My daughter is a happy child. She is spoiled and has no worries. Some of the kids are mean to her because of her size and height. She is a bigger girl. She is sweet, helpful and is a nice girl. When she does come home and people have been mean to her, I try my best to console her and let her know that the people are mean and she should not listen. While I am saying this, in my head, I know that I have to do something. I also want to go and get those children for talking about my baby. *lol*
Back to the appointment, after the nurse, the nutritionist came in. OMG, I knew this was going to be an eye opener because all the bad habits were going to come out. *lol* She asked a lot of questions to my daughter and my husband and I. All the bad habits came out...we eat out 3-4 times a week, we run out of cereal so my husband takes them to McD's sometimes on the way to school, the kids watch too much TV, drink too much juice, snack on the wrong things, don't get enough exercise. We sounded like that typical family on TV that is doing the wrong things.
I know we eat out too much, we are a busy family, the kids have activities, I have church activities, my husband was working the later shift. I would be tired..too tired or too rushed to cook.
The nutrionist asked my daughter what did she think would be the hardest part for her. She said "nothing". You have to love children. She just doesn't know *lol* The nutrionist then asked me and I said the cooking. I am going to be honest. I don’t mind cooking but I also don't want to do it everyday. The nutritionist asked can we cut down on eating out to a certain number, I said yes. I said, if we can't eat out than we won't eat out. She said that may not be realistic. I then said once a week and she asked can we keep it to that. I told her that "We have to do what we have to do for her and the family." That is the motto. There is NO choice in this situation.
So we left with three 9 inch divided "healthy plates" for lunch and dinner. Half the plate is or vegetables, one fourth for meat and one fourth for grains. She is to dring a cup of water and eat a salad before dinner. No seconds except for vegetables. Luckily she is not a picky eater and loves salads. No junkfood, juice, french fries and things like that in the house. She can have treats but we have to buy single serving, no boxes in the house.
I am going to have to get it together with the cooking. The nutritionist suggested batch cooking on the weekend. I am going to have to do that.
The program has exercise classes 3 days a week for an hour. The third day is half exercise and have a class with the kids and parents. She has to keep a food diary that they look at every Thursday.
All and all, I am excited for the program, her and the family. But at the same time, it is going to be a struggle for me to make sure I have cooked food and keep her motivated and on the program to get healthy.
