At least I seem to be creating a trend of sorts. Maybe the effects of the falls, and the episode of being in the hospital, along with the pulmonary embolism etc, etc have finally cleared and my body is ready to continue its onward descent towards a ‘healthy’ weight. Ok, again not a massive loss of weight, but a loss nonetheless and marks 11 kilos drop since the surgery. No complaints here… if I can keep it up.
On the other hand, I’ve had several real issues to contend with. The worst has been my seeming inability to judge when my stomach is *full* and I’ve found myself repeatedly having to vomit to stop the pain and discomfort. This is bad on several levels. Firstly it puts an unnecessary strain on the newly cut stomach so could create ‘leaks. There’s also the muscle strain that accompanies the effort since my body has little stomach to push against so the pain is magnified. Then there’s the loss of food because what I discard isn’t digested. Lastly, more seriously in the long term, I can stretch my stomach to the size it was before the operation and make the entire effort pointless! This I have to avoid at almost all costs.
I’m not just sitting back and accepting I’m an idiot and just suffering. I’ve been trying to limit not only the amount I’ve been eating but the types of food I’ve been eating. I’ve more or less assumed I can now eat *anything* as long as it’s capable of being chewed to a ‘paste’ before I swallow. However, I think I’ve not been 100% correct in the assumption. There are some foods I should simply avoid without question. These include pieces of bread (of course) but also lamb, steak, chicken breast and similar foods that are ‘stringy’ or overly dense.
To be fair to the CoC support, and dietitian, I really should do *exactly* what they suggest instead of wandering off down a path that is close to, but not identical to the instructions. For the time being I really *will* have to measure my food into a ¼ cup at each meal, and nothing more, tho I can still keep the calories and protein levels up by eating more often, say small amounts of food every two or three hours instead of four, I can have, for example, a Cruskit spread with a tuna/mayo mix every hour or two, and that’s assuming I remember to eat… not being actually *hungry* can be a real issue as well!! 😦
Also, eat smaller mouthfuls… no matter how irritating it is to not feel the usual ‘thrill’ a mouthful of food can give in terms of flavour and texture… and literally only take ¼ spoonfuls at a time and ‘chew’ for 40 seconds between ‘bites’! Oh yes, actually drink the 2 litres I’m supposed to! I’ve been finding it hard to remember to do that. Seems my reaction to thirst is diminished as well!!
The Support group told me it can take 12 weeks before we get into a real rhythm with regards to eating properly. Seems keeping to the diet isn’t as simple as it might appear at first sight! 😦
The Eclectic Interweb 