The 5DPT:
A Learning Process | | |
You deserve to be your very best!
If we complete the 5 Day Pouch Test having learned a few things about our self, our weight loss surgery and our capability in managing life and weight loss surgery in relationship to one another we have succeeded: we can deem the 5 Day Pouch Test a success. Here are some things to consider while treating the 5DPT as a learning experience:
-- What can I eat that gives my pouch a feeling of fullness? What do I eat that fails to give my pouch a feeling of fullness?
-- Have the liquid restrictions become automatic to me? Do I have heightened awareness of how I consume liquids with my meals and snacks?
Refresher: Lots of Water & Liquid Restrictions
-- Am I eating protein in a ratio of 2 bites protein to 1 bite complex carbohydrate? (2B/1B Rhythm)
Article: Why 'Protein First' helps us lose weight
-- Have I found time to include physical activity in my daily routine?
-- Am I allowing myself to feel empowered when I make choices that nourish my body and respect my weight loss surgery?
-- Am I forgiving lapses in compliance with my guidelines and moving forward to make better choices the next time?
Don't you deserve to set yourself up for 5DPT success?
Testimonial:
"Thank you for a renewed faith in myself and my tool. Thank you for making the information available and easy to find. I have made an appointment with my weight loss surgery center and a dietician and thanks to you and your extraordinary team of researchers, I am on the road back from where I've been. It is never too late to regain control. We are never really broken, just a little off track."
~~Sheila B. 12/5/2011 .
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LivingAfterWLS
Losing weight and staying sane in a world where
it's easy to be fat.
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Confused: Soups & Liquid Diet
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The 5 Day Pouch Test calls for two days of protein rich liquids. Normally we think of ready-to-drink protein beverages or homemade concoctions using fruit, yogurt and protein powders. This is quite typical of the early post-op diet prescribed by many surgical weight loss centers. The 5DPT begins with two days of protein liquids in order to baby the pouch, much as we did immediately post-op. In addition, the liquids are useful in breaking a processed carbohydrate snacking habit or slider food addiction.
Ideally one would spend Days 1 and 2 drinking only protein drinks, clear broth, tea and water. However, depending on your food habits leading into the 5DPT this can be quite drastic causing hunger, dizziness and frustration. As I developed this plan I learned that more substantial soups made of animal protein, legumes, beans and low-glycemic vegetables work well to alleviate the discomfort of a liquid diet.
These satisfying soup recipes are made of foods low on the Glycemic Index: a measure of how your blood glucose levels are affected by food. That means they will stick with you without causing a rapid rise (and then drop) in blood glucose. These great comfort soups will help keep you feeling full longer, help you achieve and maintain a healthy weight, and provide you with more consistent energy throughout the day.
It is easy to confuse soup with slider foods since both are liquids that flow more rapidly through the stoma than solid protein. But the thing to remember is the soup recipes we recommend are nutrient dense. Slider foods such as crackers or pretzels washed down with liquids have no nutritional value.
A final note, the soup recipes we offer are less expensive than processed protein beverages and they are family friendly making the 5 Day Pouch Test more practical to incorporate into our busy schedules.
Soup RecipesCheck Out: Cooking with KayeSoups On!Budget & Family Friendly Recipes for your WLS Lifestyle
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Greetings Neighbors!
If you are receiving this message from me it is because you signed up to receive it and you probably already know a little bit about the 5 Day Pouch Test and about me. Thank you.
Today we take a look back at the most frequently asked 5DPT questions in the last year. As the 5 Day Pouch Test has become more widely known information about it --both accurate and inaccurate-- abounds.
 | | Kaye Bailey |
As the author of the plan this is a mixed blessing. I am pleased so many people have used the plan to get back to basics. On the other hand, glibly shared summations of the plan often lead to misunderstandings and disappointing results. I have seen the plan absurdly simplified to "just drink liquids for two days, then mushy food, then regular food. That's it." Not so fast. What are the liquid options? What is mushy food? What about protein first? Where is mention of slider foods and liquid restrictions? Simply put, the 5DPT is not that simple.
The 5DPT as it is written and presented online and in print is an organized approach to getting back to the WLS basics both mentally and metabolically. When followed with attention to details we hear great success stories that include restored feelings of pouch tightness and satiation, lost weight, increased energy and overall improved confidence and mental well-being.
If you are going to invest five days into getting back on track then do it all the way. Take the program as a whole and immerse yourself in doing it right. Build that storm of enthusiasm and recreate the excitement you felt leading into surgery and the days and weeks that followed. Learn about yourself. Take notes and use the 5DPT 2-page journal. Learn your strengths and weaknesses and harness that knowledge to do better on Day 6 and Beyond.
You Can Do This! KayePlease take a moment to read the article WLS-Split Personality Syndrome. This is our most requested article from 2011 and we have included it in full for your convenience. Quick LinkFor informative and inspiring reading please visit our 5 Day Pouch Test Articles Collection You are our valued reader. We respect your rights and privacy by never sharing your information with a third party. Please respect our creative rights by honoring copyright laws and prevent plagiarism.
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LivingAfterWLS General Store
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Two Coupons* - Great Savings!
We have two live coupons in the LivingAfterWLS General Store right now.
MERRY2011 - Save $4.00 off orders of $29 or more We did not reach our quota of alloted coupons with our December promotion - that means you can still enter coupon code MERRY2011 at checkout and save $4 off any order of $29 or more. Expires 1/31/2012.
HAPPY2012 - Save $2.50 off order - no minimum purchase Our January promotion is active as well. For orders less than $29 use Coupon Code HAPPY2012 and save. Great opportunity to stock up on soup or dietary supplements. Expires 2/10/2012.
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*Coupons may not be combined with any other offers.
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Questions & Answers
| |  I didn't lose as much weight as someone else, why not?
First: The 5 Day Pouch Test is not a plan to lose weight, although many people who do the test report weight loss. When we reach a point where we feel we need to "get back to basics" with our weight loss surgery the 5DPT is a tool to quickly get us back on track. Closely following the plan helps us break a slider food snacking habit that may have stalled weight loss or caused weight gain. We take our stomach pouch through the dietary progression we followed after surgery with two days of liquid pampering and three days of advancing from soft protein to firm protein to solid protein. During the 5 days we focus on the Four Rules, especially Protein First. We observe the liquid restrictions and focus on the very reasons we had weight loss surgery in the first place. Most importantly, the 5 Day Pouch Test gives us a renewed sense of confidence in our surgical pouch and our personal power in following a healthy eating plan that supports weight loss and weight maintenance. Any weight loss is incidental to that and should be considered a bonus, not the foremost objective. By the way, using the 5DPT Journal has proven to be one of the most effective ways to keep the momentum of the 5DPT going. Download it Here for FreeSecond: Seems like things have really heated up on the weight loss surgery scrimmage lines where it is more popular than ever to compare and compete with one another in our weight loss. And while some healthy competition can be a great motivator the comparison of weight loss can lead to utter discouragement. Frequently I see that people are making comparisons in how much weight is lost in the 5 days and if they do not meet that superficial standard they consider their 5DPT effort a failure. It is not. Unless you pound-for-pound and fork-for-fork competitively gained weight with another person you have no business competing to lose weight. Contrary to popular culture, weight loss is not a contest. Weight loss is a life saving initiative owned by the one taking action. Link to Full Article
Can I repeat the liquid days instead of going to Day 3? You can repeat the liquid eating plan of the 5DPT Days 1 & 2, but as soon as you do that you are doing a liquid diet; you are not doing the 5 Day Pouch Test. The intent of the 5DPT is to quickly progress through the post-op dietary stages and get us back to basics following our weight loss surgery high protein, low carbohydrate diet. Please follow the 5DPT as it is written: it was developed to help you achieve the best results with your weight loss surgery. We tested it many many times so you don't have to.
5DPT Plan I messed up on Day 1. Should I start over and repeat Day 1 until I get it perfect?: I have never done the 5DPT perfectly and I do not know anyone who has. Rather than make the 5 days about perfection make this time about learning. Little mistakes will not stop the world from turning. So forge ahead doing your very best and forgive little mistakes. Learn from each day, make notes on your 5 Day Pouch Test Journal, and emerge on Day 6 knowing more about yourself and how to work your tool. You can do this! The plan recommends Emergen-C but my center said no bubbly drinks. What gives?  Most bariatric centers discourage patients from having carbonated beverages after surgery. The carbonation may cause discomfort in the pouch, may cause the pouch to expand temporarily and may cause temporary or lasting injury to the stoma (the exit from the pouch to the intestine). In addition, consumption of carbonated beverages generally means empty calories that are eaten with non-nutritional snack foods. A fizzy vitamin drink mix is bubbly due to the effervescent reaction when the minerals hit the liquid. The fizz is not the result of pressurized carbon dioxide gas being forced into a liquid. Remember, fizzy is effervescent, not carbonation. The bubbles are a natural reaction when the minerals hit the water. Emergen-C is an approved dietary supplement by most bariatric nutritionists. Some patients may allow the effervescent bubbles to dissipate before drinking the vitamin mix. Emergen-C Energy BoosterI'm afraid to do the 5DPT because I've heard about people who binge eat after doing it. Why? Several people have come to me after doing the 5DPT to say they went into a period of binge eating following Day 5. As we dug deep to understand what happened we learned that consistently people who restrict food intake during the 5 days typically binge eat on Day 6. Remember, the 5DPT is not about restricting calories or fat. It is about getting back on track. As lifelong dieters we often fall in the trap of thinking less is better and we restrict calories, which paradoxically is our downfall. Follow the plan as written and eat when you are hungry. Be sure to keep notes and watch for patterns that reveal behaviors you can improve. Work very hard during the 5 Days and on Day 6 keep the momentum going; don't toss away your hard work. Review: The Plan Link: 2011 FAQ Newsletter
 New in the LivingAfterWLS General Store  What to Eat When You're Eating Out
by Hope S. Warshaw
Paperback, 800 pages 2nd edition published 2009 Valuable resource featuring nutritional counts for more than 60 of America's most popular restaurants. Learn strategies for selecting healthier restaurant meals. Get counts for calories, carbohydrate, fat, and protein; know the exchanges/choices and serving sizes for every menu item; and find complete menus from America's most popular restaurants. Also contains tips and facts for healthier restaurant eating. Great resource for eating out while trying to manage health, weight and wellness. Publisher's Price: $10.95 Value Price: $9.95
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WLS-Split Personality Syndrome
| | Losing the edge; forgetting the promises
Copyright (c) Kaye Bailey - All Rights Reserved
Previously published January 4, 2011
 If you have undergone a bariatric surgical procedure to control the metabolic disorder causing you to suffer from morbid obesity then you understand what it means to jump through hoops. Unlike any other life threatening illness people suffering from morbid obesity have to prove they are sick enough to undergo surgical intervention and mentally healthy enough to adapt to that treatment and its consequences.
I jumped through the hoops to get treatment with hell-bent determination that if I could just get this one break, some help from the good doctor, I would follow the rules and comply with every request. I would never be "one of those people" who get the surgery only to briefly lose weight and gain it all back. I did everything in my power to convince myself, my doctors, my insurance company, and even my Lord that I would die a miserable sickly death of co-morbidities if I did not have surgery to lose weight and save my life.
And that hell-bent determination carried me well, for a time. I did lose weight and I did comply with the rules and restrictions of surgery. And I did praise my surgeon, and my insurance company, and my Lord that my life was spared and I was healthy, alive, and living. I suppose with all that praising going on I kind of lost sight of the path, left the course really, all in the name of living. Pretty soon I wasn't eating protein first or drinking lots of water. My daily exercise was hit-and-miss and a little snacking never hurt anyone, right? Somewhere the fighting survivor personality gave way to a what-me-worry wanderlust personality that didn't bother to look at the map.
We cannot successfully manage our health with this surgery if we enable split-personality behavior.
The minute we give up the hell-bent fighter and survivor personality in exchange for the happen-chance dieter of lost-pounds-past we are at risk of gaining weight, of feelings of failure, and worst of all: we are at risk of succumbing to the metabolic disorder we fought so damn hard to have treated with bariatric surgery. We cannot have it both ways. If we truly believe our obesity is a medical condition -and by medical definition it is- then we must yesterday, today, and always consider it a medical condition. We cannot be gut-whacked one day for the sake of saving our life and the next day abandon the dietary rules like we could a few weight loss programs back when on a whim we joined a strip mall diet program advertising "Join Now! Walk-ins Welcome."
You see, this bariatric surgery, it is serious business. There is no whimsy in the decision to get gut-whacked, no neon sign blinking "Walk-ins Welcome." No lose 10 pounds or get your money back promotion.
Think back to the days and weeks prior to your surgery. Like me, you talked the subject to wearisome repetition with your closest confidant. You put your personal and financial affairs in order. You signed a liability release praying not to be the rare death-on-the-table, a risk to one out of a hundred of us. You set goals. You made your expectations known: what you expected of yourself and what you expected from others as you beseeched their support in this - your last hope at saving your life from a slow painful death from the complications of morbid obesity. Your claims were heartfelt and emphatic: You wanted to be there to see your children grown and maybe grandchildren too. You wanted to live.
This bariatric surgery is serious business.
It is a funny thing, the way the mind works. The healthier we become the less we remember how truly sick we were before surgery and before weight loss. Similar to the memory of pain reported following childbirth, findings indicate that the more positive our experience is with weight loss, the less vividly we recall the pain (physical and emotional) of obesity prior to weight loss. This suggests when we fall off the wagon of dietary compliance it is not so much about a moral breakdown or environmental pressure (think food pushers) but perhaps we just don't remember how bad obesity felt. The same is likely true for a recovering addict who returns to the drug of choice: they simply do not recall the agony of the addiction. This could explain why highly intelligent people often repeat the cycle of recovery and relapse befuddling those around them.
Toddlers are taught very quickly not to touch a hot stove. It only takes three little sharply spoken words, "Hot! Don't touch!" and one breach of the command and even the dimmest child learns not to touch the hot stove because doing so causes immediate pain. Behavior modification therapy works in a similar manner for adults. Some are taught to wear a rubber band on the wrist and when temptation for relapse occurs the band is snapped in a "Hot! Don't touch!" alert that danger looms.
The problem we encounter in the recovery from morbid obesity is that the environmental factors that feed our metabolic disorder don't burn when we touch them. Chocolate cake tastes good and macaroni and cheese feels comforting when we eat it. There is no sting from the snap of a rubber band, no burn from the heat of the stove. A 1972 love anthem recorded by Luther Ingram gave us those memorable cheating words, "If loving you is wrong, then I don't want to be right." Remember that classic? How easily it could be the theme song in our forever battle of the bulge.
I dare say the best "Hot! Don't touch!" snap for us comes when we understand the risk for split personality behavior following a bariatric surgery for weight loss. While it doesn't seem desirable to dwell upon the pain we suffered from our obesity it would serve us well to not forget it. Photos are a good reminder. I suggest not just the usual "before" picture, but how about a photo of your prescription medications or the CPAP breathing machine you had to wear at night, or the cane or walker you needed because your mobility was impaired? Those photo reminders will feel very much like a snap on the wrist and catapult your personality to being hell-bent on sustained recovery.
At LivingAfterWLS we use the Quarterly Self-Assessment 2-page worksheet (download here for free) to take inventory of where we are and where we want to go. The second assessment question is "What was my original goal when I had WLS?" This personal contract is an accountability tool to help us keep our morbid obesity in remission. And I'm pretty sure that for most us keeping morbid obesity in remission was the original goal.
More free downloads from LivingAfterWLS
Peer support also effectively nurtures our hell-bent personality in recovery. We can learn from those who are further down the road from us and we can tap into the enthusiasm of those new to recovery to boost our resolve when things feel redundant and routine. And who doesn't like having a cheering section when those baby steps become big accomplishments? Join our online safe haven circle of friends - the LivingAfterWLS Neighborhood - to learn what I'm talking about.
Keep learning. Continued education works to keep us informed, trying new things and having new hope that a remission from our medical disorder is achievable. And reaching out to support others becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy as we benefit from the give and take of a generous spirit. Learn, teach, share. We are in this together.
Now that I have laid this out for you I want to bring back the pom-poms and the cheerful optimism. The surgical tool gives us something no strip-mall "Walk-ins Welcome" weight loss program ever will: the ability to bounce back time and time again. We can get back on track and we can work our stomach pouch to manage our metabolic disorder. We have learned how good it can feel to manage our weight and we can do it again. So harness that hell-bent personality. Grab your original goal by the love handles and take charge of your destiny. I am here for you and we are in this together. Not for just a few pounds; not just to goal weight. We are in this together for the purpose of living. You can do this!
5 Day Pouch Test |
The health content provided by LivingAfterWLS is intended to inform, not prescribe, and is not meant to be a substitute for the advice and care of a qualified health-care professional. |
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