I’m still here!

Goodness! Thank you all for the wonderful comments. It seems I have been on the computer a lot, but I have not posted much — just been reading away. It seems this business of eating with a tiny tummy is very time consuming. I get up in the morning and take my meds — I will be on something called ursodiol to prevent gall stones for six months. I also must take an anti-ulcer med for six months. Then of course there are the allergy meds, etc., that I take anyway. I have to wait 30 minutes after drinking fluids before I can have anything to eat. So, I wait (reading lists, emails, and posts while I wait), then get in my 1/4 to 1/2 cup of food, then I’m off for my walk. This turns out to be a very lively neighborhood. Geez — I’ve lived here for 15 years and I’m just finding this out? A little scary I guess. I live a block and a half from Washington Park. They have concerts there on the weekends and sometime show family movies. The lawn is covered with blankies (gotta get some quilts in there!) and folks enjoying themselves. One evening, as I walked around, they had fire dancers as a preview to the movie. Men and women twirly batons of fire and dancing up a storm. Just the thing on a hot summer night, since this area of Oregon (or all of Oregon, as far as I know) has no fireflies. I do miss fireflies! But, I’m off track here.

So, I get home from the walk and it’s time for more water. Must drink at least 64 oz. Wait half an hour and it’s time to eat again. I am supposed to get in 75 grams of protein per day. This is not hard if you drink protein shakes. I’m allergic to soy, so I use whey protein. However, in the past few days, these shakes have begun to make me gag! ICK city! Well, come to find out, it is very common for weightloss surgery patients to become lactose intolerant! So, off I go to Costco to get a BIG pack of Lactaid. Fortunately, they have this very fast acting kind that is good for someone like me who no longer has a long digestive path to process these things. I still can’t tolerate the protein shakes, but I’m managing to get close to the 75 grams with yogurt, skim milk, and low-fat cheese. Not to mention that I can now eat tuna, salmon, and other soft fish. I’ve been careful to get the wild salmon — no north Atlantic farm raised mercury laden fish for this gal. Oh, I’m off track again. Geez louise!

So I eat. Then I look around and realize that I have been making a total disaster of my house. Laundry needs doing, the dishes (HA! 4 oz Gladware containers are dishes?) are piling up in the sink, rugs and floors need vacuuming. Of course, my post-op instructions say I’m not supposed to do any of this stuff, but just who in the heck do they think is going to do it? Where are those magic fairies when you need them? What I wouldn’t give for the Fab Five at this moment — they’d have this place looking great in no time! 😉

I’m sipping away from my water bottle as I go. Then out in the back yard. I’ve trimmed the roses. My niece has been here trimming the blackberries away from the old fence, as I am about to have a new fence put around the yard and the workers do not like the prospect of being swallowed whole by the blackberries before they even get to dig one post hole. Wimps! My niece is a bit OCD, and when she is working, it is almost painful to watch. She dissects the blackberry bushes, 10″ piece by 10″ piece, picking off good berries and dropping them into a container I gave her so she could make a pie. While I shudder at the pace of the work, I do find that if I go away and leave her, she seems to have accomplished an incredible amount of work by the time I get back. Yep, I’m taking breaks to go in the house and eat.

I’m managing about 600 calories a day. Since my SportBrain tells me that I’m burning up about 400 calories a day walking, and it takes almost 2000 calories to handle the basal metabolism of a body my size, well — you do the math. A pound consists of 3500 calories. It doesn’t take long for me to drop a pound. It has been two weeks since surgery and I am down 15.5 pounds so far. I imagine it will continue at a rate of 2-3 pounds a week for a while. Simple math. I didn’t gain it all overnight, and it won’t come off overnight, but it is flying off compared to any diet I’ve ever been on before. My pants are so baggy, especially in the butt — it’s amazing.

Well, I’m wandering on and on here and I should be eating, drinking, or walking! I’ll be back!