Where do I begin? I suppose first I will tell you that I feel great! I had a rough couple of weeks on the liquid diet. I also had problems understanding when I was full. So I will use this blog to tell you what I have been eating as well as my unofficial progress!
When I came home from the hospital I was still on "clear" liquids. This wasn't a strict clear liquid like before surgery. As long as the liquid was water based or juice based, without any chunks of stuff in it I could eat it. To that end, I mostly stuck with my protein powder and protein shots. The protein shots I had to mix because A. They did not taste great. And B. The whole shot contains 42g of protein and you can only absorb 30g at a time. So why waste 12g of protein? About halfway through the clear liquids phase I was already sick of it.
What saved me was a little concoction I made by mixing in a blender a popsicle and half of my protein shot. I then ate it with a spoon very slowly, and it helped me to feel more satisfied.
Also, miso soup, which is a Japanese soup made from soy beans, saved me. Every bit of the protein powder I had was sweet. Chocolate, vanilla, and Fruit Punch. Miso soup kept me from going crazy. Here is the brand I bought, and it tastes exactly like the miso soup at my favorite Japanese restaurant. Just leave out the seaweed packet if you are still on clear liquids.
Other things that I used were the broth packets from ramen noodles, beef bullion, chicken bullion. Just be careful with the salty foods as they are really high in sodium.
In week 2, I was able to add full liquids. I started mixing my chocolate protein powder with 2% milk. Really you are supposed to use skim milk, but I'll be damned if I'm going to be even more miserable than I am. I also got some premade cream soups. Although I dislike regular tomato soup, I absolutely adored the Pacific brand, Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato soup. I tried another brand but it wasn't nearly as tasty as the Pacific brand. I did not try the low sodium version either.
By week 3, I was starting to feel nauseated all day, admittedly because I was not eating enough protein. However, the though of even touching those protein powders made me want to vomit. I was so sick of eating sweet stuff. Although I did make a chocolate and peanut butter smoothie, because I could finally eat peanut butter.
On mother's day weekend (1 week ago) I went to visit my mom. Oh the saint that she is, she decided to make me two soups that would help me. The first one was a broccoli soup. The other was chicken soup. Now before I go on, I would like to say that I was still supposed to be on smoothies. I was not technically supposed to eat any solid food yet. But we'll get back to that. For both soups, the chicken was finely shredded and the broccoli was also chopped finely. These were both done in the food processor.
Recipe for Broccoli Soup (or other vegetables)
water
chicken bullion
Heavy cream
Cream cheese
Broccoli or other vegetables of choice
Place the chicken bullion, water, and whatever vegetables you want into the cooking pot. Bring this to a boil, and keep at a rolling boil for about 5 minutes.
Remove the vegetables from the broth and pulse them in a food processor until very fine. (Think fine enough to pass through your stomach if you can't digest it) Add the processed vegetables back into the chicken broth, add the heavy cream, and then add the pre-softened cream cheese. This should be thick, so think less chicken broth and more cream. You can add salt if you want.
Allow this mixture to simmer until all the cream cheese has mixed with the rest of the soup.
Serve and eat!
I absolutely love the above soup! Thanks mom! As for the chicken soup she made, it was chicken bullion and water and a little sage. She cooked the chicken tender in the broth, finely shredded the chicken in the food processor, then added the chicken back to the broth.
I also started eating hummus and some soft cheeses to help me feel full. Sometimes I will also just eat a spoonfull or two of peanut butter. My dinner the other day was some peanut butter and a mug of milk and I felt full.
Some may criticize me for adding in chicken so soon to my diet, I wasn't supposed to eat it for three more weeks. I haven't even tried fish yet which was supposed to be a week from now. But I think it was the best decision I've made for myself regarding my post surgery diet. The week and a half before I tried eating the chicken I was nauseated every single day. Sometimes even if I did drink several protein drinks. Since I started adding the shredded chicken I have felt fantastic! No more nausea, no pain when eating, no bad effects later in the day.
Why am I able to tolerate the chicken? I don't know. Judging from my past history, I have often healed faster than others. Even when I had my one week follow-up, my surgeon was surprised that I had already returned to work; even if my job was clerical.
I'm no doctor, and I may unknowingly cause myself to have an ulcer by doing this. I am happy with my choice to go ahead and try the chicken. I will go ahead and start eating fish too. I am also now officially on the week to start cottage cheese, eggs, salads, and other similar soft foods. I finally feel like life is getting back to normal.
Now for my unofficial progress!
When I weighed before my surgery I was 270 lbs. The day I came home from surgery I was 265. When I weighed again on mother's day, two weeks after my surgery, I weighed 247 lbs! That's 23 lbs in two weeks! I didn't realize because I don't own a scale yet. Also, I didn't realize how much different I already looked! From the front I couldn't tell too much, but from the side you can tell how much back fat I have lost! I am so happy!
On the left is the 2 weeks pictures, on the right is the day I came home from surgery.
I can tell that I have lost more weight since then, but I don't know how much. I have another doctor appointment until two weeks, and then I can get an official weight loss.
Until next time! I hope that some of my journey is helping you!
