Ready, set...not until January!

So I had my first appointment at the Dr. Poon Metabolic Diet centre (Thornhill location) on November 30.  The first thing I found funny was that the doctor's office is located in the basement of a building and able-bodied patients were taking the elevator (and not the stairs) down for their appointments.  Ummm...this is a weight-loss thing, right?  So shouldn't you take every little bit of exercise you can?  Maybe that's just me.

When I got downstairs (elevator or stairs - I'll never tell) I filled out my three-page intake form.   I really like that they make you fill out a consent form which states, among other things, that if you don't stick with the program you'll get booted.  There's just something about signing a contract that makes the whole process real. 

(By the way, the contract also says that I can't disclose the specifics of the program but I will tell you guys how it works out for me. )

After I sat around for 20 minutes I was taken into the secondary waiting room (typical doctor's office) and told to take my socks and shoes off.  Hold on - nobody told me I'd have to do that!  If I knew I'd be showing my bare tootsies to all and sundry I would have kept up with my summer/fall pedicures!  Oh well, I know for next time.  Anyway, I stood on this metal scale and I closed my pretty eyes.  The machine displays your weight, fat composition, Body Mass Index and other wholly depressing numbers.  I didn't want to know, nor will I tell you what those numbers are.  Too damn sad.

So you get a printout with your "before" numbers and you're handed a leaflet with the guidelines of Phase I of the program.  I can't tell you exactly what they are, but it's really not bad!  I thought I'd be starving and would be chewing off my own arm for nourishment, but it's nothing like that.  You can pretty much eat as much as you want of certain things, some of other things, and none of other things.  (Clear as mud, right?)  There's no calorie counting - you just eat from the "allowed" list until you're satisfied.  I will tell you this - coffee is allowed.  With cream!  You have no idea how happy that made me.

Phase I is definitely the most restrictive part of the program, but it's also the most effective.  Just think of it like detoxing from any addiction - you have to clear the crap out of the body and start from scratch.  Apparently I should be dropping 7 to 10 pounds in the first two weeks of the program.  I know it sounds like too much to be safe, but a good amount of it is going to be water.  They're really up front with you about that, unlike some other programs that hail you to high heaven in the first couple of weeks when they know that you're just losing water weight.

After I read over my handy little brochure, I met Dr. Barsoum.  What a beautiful lady - amazing eyes!  She was really nice and sympathetic to all the health drama I'd been going through.  We talked about the program and she answered some questions for me (some questions were stupid, I'll admit).  She said that she has high hopes for me because I'm young, relatively healthy, able to exercise and committed.  When somebody believes in you, you don't want to let them down.

After having a candid discussion with Dr. Barsoum, I told her that I really didn't think that I could go balls-out on the plan until after the Christmas season because I didn't want to yo-yo.  She agreed with me that yo-yo dieting is worse than not dieting at all.  So we agreed that I wouldn't let myself go over December, but I'd start full-out in January 2011.  Boy, is Christmas dinner going to taste good this year. 

After I met with the good doctor, I was shown the "low-carb grocery store".  Don't let it fool you - it's not a bunch of Dr. Poon brand stuff - the stuff is from different companies.  They are low-carb choices that help you get through the restrictiveness of Phase I.  I bought some protein bars (you eat a lot of protein on this plan), some low-carb bread, low-carb mayo, carrot muffin mix, chocolate meringue cookies and hot cereal.  I tried some of the stuff at home and surprise - everything tastes pretty good!  The high-fibre content is going to play with my bowels - I'm just saying.

All in all, it was a great first experience.  I have at least 75 pounds to lose and for the first time in my life I think it's possible.  I'm pretty sure my next blog entry (sometime in early January 2011 when I start the plan) is going to sound absolutely bitchy because I'll be suffering from carb withdrawal.  Don't let that discourage anyone - everybody suffers from withdrawal at the beginning.

If anybody else is on this plan, send a comment!  We'll go through this together.  See you in January!

Let me introduce myself...

Well, here we go.  After almost two decades of struggling with my health and trying just about every diet plan out there (some sensible, some utter nonsense), I think I may have finally gotten it right.

I'm a 30 year-old legal professional living in Toronto, Canada.  I have a wonderful family, a fantastic husband (no kids), a rewarding job, great friends - but my health at the moment is pretty much shite.  There are a few problems that I'm battling at the moment including metabolic syndrome and polycystic ovarian syndrome.  Most if not all of my health issues are associated with weight.  It's hard to know who or what to blame for all of this drama. Figuring out whether weight led to the health problems or whether the health problems led to the weight is like the chicken-egg debate (personally I say chicken, but that's another story).  But after about 20 years of turning in circles, my doctor and I have pretty much had enough.

My family doctor (who honestly isn't the sharpest tool in the shed but God bless her heart) told me about a doctor who operates in the Greater Toronto Area that specializes in treating patients who are struggling with their weight along with weight-related health issues. His name is Dr. Poon.

You have to have secondary health issues along with weight problems and you have to be referred to him by a doctor before you even get through the door.  Seems kind of strange to have to "audition" for a specialist by demonstrating how messed up your health is.  I guess I'm well and truly messed up because I got my phone call for my first visit only a week after my doctor sent the referral letter to Dr. Poon's office.  Nice.

There are two great things about this plan for me: 

• One - it is covered by our provincial health care plan, so the plan itself won't cost me a dime. Canada rocks! I'm sure there's going to be supplements and snacks and stuff that I can purchase through the doctor, but we'll see whether those things are even worth it.
• Two - each person's diet plan is customized to their individual problems.  For example, I won't have the same diet plan as a guy who's dealing with high blood pressure and sleep apnea (I have none of those things).  Looove the customized approach.

There are, of course, some things I'm stressing out about: 

• One - since this is a provincially-funded plan, there is no shortage of people trying to see this doctor so they probably won't hesitate to boot my ass out if I cheat or play around too much with the plan. 
• Two - Christmas is coming up.  How am I going to go without the Christmas yummies? 
• Three - what if I'm hungry all the time and end up like one of those crazy women who carry around little chocolate bars in their purses and eat them on the sly like it's contraband? 
• Four - nobody I know is going through anything like this, so I have no real support group.

That's why I've decided to blog about my journey on the Dr. Poon Diet.  I'm sure there are lots of other people who are going through this and don't have anyone to share it with.  It's also going to be really helpful for me to blog about what I love and what I hate on this crazy journey.  I'll share things that work really well and warn you about things that drove me nuts. 

My first appointment is in a week - November 30.  I'm nervous, but so excited.  So I'm going to live it up this week because who knows when I'll be able to indulge in chocolate pecan cookies again.  Next post will go up after I see the good doctor for the first time.  Wish me luck!