day 2 at the DFC

although it's only 3:00pm, day 2 at the DFC is pretty much done. i arrived at 7:45 for breakfast, and i was soooooo sad that i couldn't have the eggs because they had cheese in them. i love eggs, and they always fill me up, but the dietician had already crossed it off of my little menu because of my lactose intolerance. instead, i got a double portion of grits and two pieces of turkey bacon, as well as the ever present bowl of fruit. now, i was born in the south and have lived here pretty much all of my life, but i have never understood why people love grits so much. and if you're thinking "you're crazy! i love grits!" keep in mind that these don't have salt, cheese, or butter in them. see how you like them grits. i only ate half of them and only because i forced myself to. the turkey bacon was pretty good, but the fruit was a little on the squishy side. by 10am, i was feeling the first hunger pangs.

thankfully we get to plan our own meals from now on, which we learned how to do this morning. it's too difficult to try to explain how the menu-planning process works, but in a nutshell, we have a range of calories for each meals (breakfast 200-400, lunch 300-550, dinner 400-700), and i can have a total of 1000-1200 calories a day. we'll learn about protein, starches, fats, etc. tomorrow, so for now we just picked based on calories. there are some really yummy looking dishes, and i also got a cookbook with all of their recipes in it. my only concern right now is that the dietician told us that we shouldn't be really hungry during the day, and i'm finding myself REALLY hungry right now. she did say they can adjust calories on an individual basis, so hopefully when i talk to my nutrition person tomorrow we can figure it out.

after our morning class of menu-planning, the very fit gym staff gave demos on each machine which i am sure i will totally forget as soon as i get on them. they tried to explain how we sign up for classes and when we can do what, but it was a little confusing. i'm sure it will become clearer this week. they have a great selection of machines: elipticals, stationary bikes, recumbant bikes, something called a nu-step (a cross between an eliptical and a recumbant bike), free weights, treadmills, a pilates machine, and the other weight machines...plus those giant exercise balls, balance balls, jump ropes, stretch bands, steps, even raised mats for people who can't get all the way down to the floor or can't get up easily. we saw one of the exercise classes going on...it was pretty funny looking, but i'm sure those people could exercise my butt under the table any day!

lunch was a whole wheat bagel with two slices of turkey and some low-fat mayo, some sort of tomato and pepper concoction that was covered in something creamy that i couldn't eat, and fruit. i'm betting that if i'd eaten the tomato-pepper thing i wouldn't feel so hungry (not to mention only eating half of my grits), so i'll see how i feel over the next couple of day now that i've selected my food.

i spent the afternoon talking to the behavioral specialist (i.e. the shrink) where i rehashed my mental health history, and getting my medical assessment done. that consisted of determining my BMI, heartrate (76) and blood pressure (110/66), going over my health history and talking about all of my little aches and pains, looking at my eyes, ears, and throat, and that fun abdominal exam that has something to do with the spleen and liver but that just becomes one giant tickle-fest for me. unfortunately, i am not cleared to do any kind of exercise yet (this is standard for everyone, not the result of some physical abnormality). i had hoped to take the swim test today so that i could do some laps this evening, but that will have to wait until i talk to the fitness people during that assessment tomorrow. i have lost 5 pounds since last thursday when i went to the doctor, but a) this was a different scale, and b) it's all water weight. still, it's pretty nice to see numbers dropping.

so it was a short day, and even though i'm nervous about exercising since i haven't really done any in years and years, i'm ready to get started. i am wondering how hungry i'm going to feel after i've exercised 2-3 hours with no additional calories, though...should be interesting. then again, maybe i'm just dehydrated (they say usually when you're hungry, you're actually just dehydrated). i'll go finish my water in a moment. i do have to go back for dinner since i have to eat all meals, and all food in general, at the DFC. after dinner, when the sun has gone down a little and the heat has subsided, i'm going on a walk outside.

tomorrow i will have bloodwork and lipids tests done, the fitness assessment, and the nutrition assessment, as well as my first real exercise classes. should be a big day. check back then!