Four Weeks and it Seems Like Yesterday

Just notched my four-week "anniversary," from my gastric sleeve surgery Dec. 27, and I'm down 22 pounds. Counting the weight I lost before surgery, I'm down 39 pounds. That's from my high of 273, to my surgery weight of 256, and today I'm at 234. I'm weighing in once a week.

Before you say that's too fast, it's my understanding that the first couple of months when you're on a liquid and soft foods diet and your stomach is healing, you lose faster. It will slow down, but right now, it's go, go, go.

Today I'm at Stage 3 of my diet and can add back vegetables, which will account for about a third of what I eat with two third protein and a small amount of fat/oils. I'm thrilled to be able to eat the lettuce, mache, arugula, spinach, etc., still growing in my raised beds because of the mild winter and covering them up on cold nights. I'm thinking tonight I'll make mashed cauliflower as a substitute for mashed potatoes.

I have gotten a few questions and I'll start addressing those:

How much do I eat?

I have a regime I follow daily ... some of it is at the direction of my physician Dr. Gregory Walton and dietician Steph and some is my adaptation.

When I get up I take my meds, which include multivitamin capsules, a script to keep my stomach acids in control, B-vitamin chewable tablet and 30 mg of Cymbalta. My doc had me go off my Meloxicam, an anti-inflammatory that's hard on your stomach. Hoping I won't need it anymore when the weight comes off.

I drink a 32 oz. bottle of PowerAde Zero before breakfast, which is half of my required liquids for the day.

For breakfast, I might have a piece of turkey bacon, an egg over medium cooked with butter cooking spray and topped with a tablespoon of low-fat cheese. Then I don't have any liquids for an hour because of the "funnel effect." It would be really uncomfortable to have foods stopping up your smaller stomach and then put a bunch of liquid on top of that. I set the timer on my phone so I know when I can have liquid again.

I usually take 500 mg of calcium citrate at the conclusion of each meal in a chewable form. They're actually yummy and taste sort of like candy.

Lunch is usually something like tuna or chicken and egg salad, made with light mayo. One small can of chicken packed with water, a hard-boiled egg and a tablespoon or two of light mayo made with olive oil does it with a little custom-mixed seasoning from Native Roots' spice counter. I eat tiny bites and try to chew them 25 times.

I have my chocolate-flavored chewable iron at about 3 p.m. -- also pretty tasty and almost like having a small piece of Tootsie Roll.

For supper, I might go out to eat or cook something like fish. Softer baked fish is my best friend while my stomach is healing. A couple of nights ago, I split the Barking Fish sandwich (tuna steak with lemon caper aioli) at Interurban with my mom and just didn't eat the bun.

I take my blood pressure med at night, along with my other three multivitamin capsules. Dr. Walton took me off one of my BP meds because it's a diuretic and my BP has been a little on the high side, but not too bad.

My stomach will stretch a bit as time goes on and I will be able to eat more at a sitting.

I'm rarely hungry, thanks to the sleeve. It takes care of reducing ghrelin, the hormone that stimulates hunger.

Onward,
Carol