Well, Shake It Up, Baby!!!

Today is the first day of the rest of my life...

Today, I begin a journey that I have been waiting for months to start. In many ways, it is a new journey, but in some, it is a journey to the past.

Today marks two weeks prior to my gastric bypass surgery day. Along with that, yesterday marked the last day that I would be eating as I have done most of my adult life.

This morning, I began two weeks of totally liquid diet using Optifast products. The purpose of this two-week period of liquid diet is to shrink my liver to make it easier for the surgeon to get to my stomach. Apparently, certain people, especially those whose excess weight is largely (no pun intended) around their waist, have larger livers. If they don't shrink the liver, chances are they won't be able to perform the surgery on the stomach. So, here I go...

My first taste was of one of the French Vanilla Shakes. There are two other flavors -- Chocolate and Strawberry, which I will try today as well. I had put a bunch of the shakes in the fridge last night, so it was slightly chilled. Not bad, actually. A little pasty, but not so much.

In addition to the shakes, there are packets of tomato soup and snack bars (Peanut Butter and Honey Nut 'n Oats). Which I will also get to try later today. An entire daily regime consists of four shakes, one soup and one snack bar, the sum of which totals a meager 960 calories per day intake. 960 calories!!! That's not even enough for a flea to subsist on!

Starting weight: 265.8 lbs.