At 16 days: the mushies, grazing, and heartburn worry

Sep 04, 2010

 So it's mixed, again. As I came up to the two week mark, I was riding high, had lost 16 lbs, was feeling ok energy wise, and felt ready to start the mushies.

Boy what a difference two days have made. The mushies are a difficult transition. First off, I am no longer sure of how much protein I am getting, because I'm eating parts of things and leaving the rest. I'm still doing a shake a day, but I can't be sure I'm getting my 70.  Then, my liquid intake has gone off the rails a bit because of the dry window - 15 minutes before and 30 minutes after meals: add in the time for the meal itself, that's over an hour per meal without liquids... 

Of course I made things harder on myself by eating three of six mushy meals in restaurants (work related networking, family birthday, guest from out of town). I think it worked out ok - e.g. at a sushi place I ate a small piece of tamago (basically an omelette), a bit of tofu, and a smashed up small piece of soft tuna; at a thai restaurant I had a few pieces of tofu and a soft cooked shrimp smashed up - but none of it tasted great, and I think I didn't eat too much, but it's hard to tell when you're eating tiny fractions of typical portions. I've decided to stick with home mushies for a while so I can be sure of quantities and content and have control of my food.

AND. I met the grazing monster and I see how powerful it is.  I was scheduled to have lunch with two work friends at 1 on Friday, but my boss dragged me off to a lunch with a vendor at 12. I decided I would just hang out with my friends at 1 anyway while they ate. So at 12, I ate the little sushi nibbles - egg, tofu, sliver of fish - and as expected started feeling satisfied after I ate about 2 oz of food - and packed the rest into a styrofoam box.  At 1 I went to see my friends, and I had the rest of my lunch and chopsticks with me. By the time we all sat down, my sleeve had emptied, and without too much thought, I opened up my lunch box and started in on it and before I knew it I had downed another 2 oz or so of food!  If I think about it, it wasn't hunger driven, it was just that I was sitting with two people who were eating, in a cafeteria full of food, and it just seemed natural to eat. Old habits die hard.I can see how one could do this all day long and completely blow it.  It's really important to stick to three meals and no more a day.

I suppose the fact that I had an apparent bounce of 0.8 lb up since yesterday helps to reinforce the lesson (though it's probably mostly water variation).  People, watch out for the grazing monster!

I'm also returning to anxiety about long term reflux (hearburn) problems. Last night I missed one of my two Prilosec pills for Friday and broke my rule about not eating too close to dinner, and boom, I was up with heartburn again at 4. Another sleever posted some information about Prilosec interfering with sleep, and I've been having sleep problems (waking too early and unable to sleep again) as well. I'm feeling a little like I've traded one set of problems and meds for another.. but I know, I know, it's much better to deal with lifelong reflux than it is to deal with diabetes and heart disease... no free lunch!

Thanks for reading my somewhat whiny ramble.. Onward!

1 Comment