So what I am eating this fourth week since surgery? Well, at this point I am sticking to pretty light foods and mostly what are called "full liquids".
Full liquids are kind of confusing. Since I don't have a surgeon here in the states and I really don't have the support that is so helpful, I have been relying vastly on the fellow "sleevers" (as we call ourselves) on a Facebook group that I joined. We all either had the surgery in July or are having it this Summer. It's so helpful to have a Nutritionist to see, but of course my crappy insurance policy through Aetna doesn't cover that either. Anyway, but I digress... Full liquids are loosely termed thus as they contain a large group from pudding, jello, soups without vegetables or meat, mashed potatoes, oatmeal, protein shakes, Cream of Wheat, grits, cottage cheese and things all the way up to scrambled eggs. Scambled eggs don't seem very liquid to me, but they are ok. I have eaten things not on this list like cheese, thinly sliced deli meats, and even very tender pieces of beef chewed well. Not much feels good going down right now. I have only had true pain once when I know it was a little bit too much food for my sleeve, but it's more of an uncomfortable indigestion. Whether I eat or drink seems to make little difference. Very rarely do I feel GOOD after eating or drinking something. It's just kind of not very much fun.
I have started tracking my caloric intake as well as my protein intake daily through a free app on my iPhone called MyFitnessPal. It's really great and it shows me how much I am taking in. The gastric sleeve is a great tool, but the real work comes in for me watching that I am getting a minimum of 60 grams of protein a day! I took for granted before my sleeve getting in the proper nutrition. When you eat as much as I ate, you know you are probably getting everything you need. Now, it's very tough to get in 60g of protein in a day. If I eat less than that consistently, I will lose my hair and become ill. This is a serious minimum and I have to work at this every single day.
A protein shake in the morning is good for about 25g of protein. Much more than 25g-27g per meal is not even absorbed by the human body per meal anyway, so that is about right. Sounds like a good and easy way to get some protein, right? Not so much. Protein shakes are not the most delicious things to drink and after many weeks of them I am downright SICK OF THEM. I can't really complain because lots of sleevers are absolutely repulsed by them since surgery. Our tastes change very much after surgery and sometimes things that we liked or could manage to eat are no longer possible. They taste bad and they are gritty, but that is a good start to proper protein intake for the day, so I try to drink one every morning.
Lunch is easier - I can eat part of a 3oz little cup of Chicken of the Sea tuna "to go" and that is good - all protein. Sometimes a little chicken salad made with canned chicken and some fat free mayo is good too, but you will note that neither of these is a "full liquid". I chew very, very well and I try to eat slowly.
Eating slowly. That's a topic all on it's own. I always thought of the people I know and of my family members, I ate pretty reasonably slowly. Wrong. I have to really concentrate and work hard to chew, chew, chew and I am forcing myself to swallow about once every 1-3 minutes. Do you know how hard that really is? My sleeve needs time to allow the food to move/slide down to make room for the next bite. Not waiting between swallows makes for pain and for some people, vomiting. I have been very fortunate with nausea and vomiting. I have had little nausea and no vomiting since Day 3 after surgery (and that was caused by that nasty Barium we had to swallow for the leak test).
I am tired of working so hard to eat already, but to be totally honest, I am not hungry in the slightest and do not miss food. I am forever grateful for this release from what could have been total torture. People that have the lap band or gastric bypass don't get this wonderful benefit. Losing that part of my stomach that makes Ghrelin (which signals hunger to the brain) is the BEST part of this surgery. I know when it's time to put energy into my body, but I really don't crave anything and I am not hungry. Every once in awhile I will think of something that I used to enjoy, but the thought is gone within literally only a few minutes. I just have no interest anymore. Seeing that in print and thinking of it the past few weeks has caused some tears here for me. I am happy and grateful, but I have grown up loving food so much, that it seems almost wrong or twisted in some way. It's such a new me and such a new life! I can't believe this is how I am now!
Snacks are easy for me right now - string cheese sticks, a slice of cheddar or some Greek yogurt (not my favorite) will give me quite a few more grams of protein. I look forward to being able to get just a tiny bit more in me, because at this point for most foods I can eat less than 1/4 cup at a time. The surgeon told me I will get to 1/2 a cup within the year, but I will probably never eat much more than that. Have you really looked at how much food goes into a 1/4 cup?
Right now, many of the other sleevers I talk to are telling me that I am not eating enough and certainly not getting my 64oz of water in everyday that is required and they tell me that this is why I am not losing more weight more quickly. I am going to make a big effort for the rest of the week to get in enough water and more than the 350-500 calories that I eat everyday. They say I should be up around 700 calories! Maybe this will end my "2 week stall" and give me some loss..... We'll see.
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