4 Weeks

May 16, 2009

Random thoughts at 4 weeks out...

Exactly 4 weeks ago, I was lying in the hospital recovering from my surgery.  I think things have gone pretty well.  I'm down 17.7 lbs as of this morning! 

I can eat pretty much anything.  I had mild foamies last weekend when I ate an over-easy egg.  Susan from Dr. A's office told me many people have trouble with eggs and to try again in a week.  Other than that, I haven't had any problems with things I've eaten.  No nausea.  I'm off the antacid.  I can take all of my pills, regardless of size now.  I had a slight problem with my calcium during the first couple of weeks (I am careful to watch for that since my thyroidectomy), but nothing Citracal couldn't handle. 

My biggest problem is I can't tell when I'm full.  Doesn't that sound crazy?  I was hoping I would have the hiccup like some folks do.  Because of this, I often feel bad after eating because I've eaten a little too much.  I still swallow a lot of air when I eat too, but my body is getting better about getting rid of it (I'll leave it at that). 

The other thing I struggle with is slowing down my eating.  I used to wolf my food.  Since I'm having such a hard time with this, I've come up with a strategy.  I eat 2 bites of my food and then push my plate away for a few minutes.  Then I can eat two more bites.  That seems to be helping.  It takes me forever to get through a meal.

Another suggestion I have is to make sure and get a bread plate when going out to eat.  When your food comes, put the amount that looks right to you on the plate and eat from it.  Don't eat from the big plate because you'll eat too much.

I also have real hunger now.  I get hungry usually a couple of hours after eating.  I think I'm going to be one of those people who eats more frequent smaller meals.

My energy is ok.  It has not improved yet and I can tell I'm weaker, but it's not far off from where I started.  I've been walking a few times, but nothing more strenuous than that yet.  I need to concentrate on exercise now.

Food doesn't control me anymore.  I had hoped this would happen, but didn't think it would click so soon.  For example, I took the boys to Macaroni Grill last night and I wasn't salivating at all the choices and didn't eat like it was my last meal.  I actually ordered something I would have never in a million years order before (fish) and was really happy with it.  I couldn't eat much of it, of course, and the waiter seemed quite concerned about that, but it was awesome to leave being completely satisified and not having eaten 2000-3000 calories!  We're also saving $$ on the food bill since we rarely go out to eat anymore.

I'm not anal about the low carb diet.  If I want carbs (like I had orzo pasta last night), I have them.  I do try to eat protein first though and limit my carbs to one meal a day.  If I get stuck on a plateau, then I can ratchet down on the carbs.  Right now, I'm happy with my progress and will keep eating this way until then.

Well, that's all that comes to mind.  Thanks for reading!

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