It is time to cover what happened in my second week Post Op.
2 week follow up
The Nutrition
Liquid diets are hard. I used to complain about being on liquids the day before a procedure. No longer. After 2 weeks of just water, broth, the occasional jello, and popscicles....I will still complain. lol. It was an interesting two weeks for sure. The broth did help break up the waters. The jello gave some semblance of eating real food. And the popscicles were a nice treat alongside additional fluids.
After I got those IV fluids I didn't have any issues getting both my protein and fluids in. Night and day difference. At my 2 week follow up (last Friday) I met with the nutritionist again. We covered the foods I am safe to eat for the next 4 weeks. Semi-solids would be the best description. I can eat 'smooth' foods like cottage cheese, cream soups, hummus, applesauce, and anything broken down with my kitchen ninja. When I say broken down, I mean to smoothie consistency. It should be interesting for sure. Since Friday I have had cottage cheese, some soups, and mashed potatoes. "NO CHUNKS" was the final word of wisdom she gave me. I can try to get up to 1/4 cup servings every 2-3 hours. Honestly, the last few days that proven difficult. If I push that limit too much I don't feel great. Just have to ease into it. She wants my fluids the same and I am supposed to up my protein. When I was eating normal I never had an issue. Now I have to get creative by using higher protein milk and protein powder to keep my levels up.
I can have grits, but not oatmeal.
I can have soup, just no chunks.
I can have canned chicken or tuna, just smoothed out. Honestly, curious to see how this one goes. I will try today. lol.
I even went out with Jason and Cheddar soup at a restaurant. I have plenty of leftovers there.
I will figure it out, just on a learning curve right now. Trying to find that limit of intake and listen to my body. I can have club crackers which curbs my crunchy craving. I can put hummus on this for a nice snack.
Otherwise, the next month will continue to be interesting with the food choices as I get it sorted.
The Movement
Movement is going to be key here. I need to keep my ass moving no matter what. While I have been limited to 15 minutes on the bike, I have still walked around the yard when the dog was out. Plus we did a yard sale last weekend. I was moving boxes within my limits. After 2 weeks I was able to bump that up to 30 minutes. I managed to get 7 days in a row. I had to listen to my body on Sept 1st. I was worn down and just didn't have a bike ride in me, not even a short one. So I skipped, but I was at 5 days in a row before that. The 7 days got me a new badge in Zwift. After 14 I will get another one. I figure I will keep plowing through for 30 minutes and knock that one out too.
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| Slow and steady. |
This week I can add in my hand weights and stretching. I have a solid plan in place. I don't want to lose my muscle during these first phases. I want to maintain and tone. Nothing crazy, but every little bit will help. And of course I plan to be on the bike still. I will stick to the trainer and the 30ish minute rides through this week. Then gradually add more time. I feel better every day on the bike. The strange thing is that once I get to 20 minutes I feel stronger. Take a long time to get this body revved up I guess.
The Mood
Well, I won't lie to you.....this has caused some issues. Have you ever had the feeling that you could murder the next person you see because you are so irritated? I haven't....until last week. I will describe it as you are on the edge of a cliff....teetering and ready to fall off. All it will take is a single grain of sand and everything is going to go downhill. A solid 4-5 days I felt like that. I finally broke down one night talking to Christine. Thank God for her, because she listened to me for almost an hour. It was good to get it out of my system and off my chest. The next day wasn't great, but I wasn't as on edge. Its has gotten better every day. However, I am back at work again....so the stress could change that. I am just doing my best to remember who I am, and that I am far from a murderer (even though it seemed like a good idea at the time). It was a roller coaster week for my mood. I even caused a tiff that was very unintentional....but damage was done. Nonetheless, I did everything in my power to show that I it was not meant the way it was delivered. Things are good there.
The reason? Well....think of an addict coming off of drugs or alcohol. You have seen it on tv and in the movies. People turn into fuckers when the toxins are leaving their battered bodies. They say and do things that they would never do. They lash out. They get angry. Coming off of food is no different. Maybe not to the scale of drugs or alcohol, but legit enough that I was scaring myself with where my thoughts were going. As I said, it has gotten better. But I am slowly on the upswing and never want to feel like that again.
The Limitations
So I do still have limitations. I cannot pick up more than 20 pounds for the next 2 weeks. I have been very careful and used team efforts when something seems heavier. I do feel bad though, as Christine has to pick up the heavier things. Like the 40 lb bag of dog food. Sorry my love. The other limitations are generally only food related. During my follow up I also met with the surgeon. He asked how things were going and checked my incisions. Told me the deal above, and turned me loose.
I asked specifically. "So I don't have any other restrictions, like I can ride my bike as far as I want?" and he simply responded "go for it, more movement the better. just don't pick up anything". I am fairly shocked at that, but I plan to take full advantage of it. Like my off the bike exercises. I can start low and start building now. It will be good to get on a schedule.
As far as the bike, I can't just go out and rip off 20 miles. I have been living on very limited calories. I don't want to get out from the house and lose steam which would result in a rescue call. Not ready for that yet. So I will continue the 30ish minute rides for this week, while I figure out what I can eat easily. But, I do want to plan a Kal Haven ride soon. Not long, just 10 miles to start. Get outside and see people again. Keep an eye open for that. Won't be fast, but that isn't the point right now.
The Masses
So, today marks day 18 since my surgery. I have dropped five of the five pound bags of flower.
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| For reference |
Think about that for a minute. 5 of these bags of flower have just left my body. Now, before you go crazy and ask "is that healthy".......yes it is. Its also a positive side-effect and purpose of the surgery I had. The first 3 months I will lose 30% of my ultimate weight. The following 6 months will be another 20-30% based on my exercise. I want to lose 100, so I have 25% already. Not a bad start.
I do my weigh-in every Monday morning. This is intentional to ensure I am good over the weekends. Clearly right now I can't eat a lot, but I didn't do this to start eating french fries in a few weeks. I did this with the ultimate purpose of losing the weight. So, maybe I give you some insight to my ultimate goal now.
The ULTIMATE Goal
Along the way I will have sub-goals. Losing 5 pounds as an example. Hitting a 20 mile ride again. Making sure my lifting routine is accomplished. Stretching and ab strengthening. Short term, starting now are those. They can be boring, but I will still celebrate them.
The ULTIMATE Goal is where I want my weight to be. After discussions with the nutritionist I was kind of perturbed about what she said. She told me that based on my numbers that I might not achieve my goal. That is will be better to have a realistic goal in mind. I understand everything she said. I am older, I have a bigger muscle mass than I did when I was 25, my body mass (muscle, bones, organs) is already over my goal weight. This poses an issue....because all of the studies I see show where I am supposed to be. And even 15 pounds over that ideal weight gives me some wiggle room.
So what do I do? I will set my goal below and I will strive to get there. The way I see it, it takes a lot of muscle to haul around this massive body. So I would assume I will lose some muscle during the journey. Cycling will lean me up a bit too. So, its hard to say. I will have an ultimate goal, and a realistic goal. But, people telling me I can't do something....generally leads to me doing it anyway. So....
GOALS
Short term goal: Lose 5 pounds
Riding goal: Keep getting on bike every day.
Working out goal: Light weights 3x a week. Stretching Daily.
ULTIMATE Weight Goal: 185 pounds.
Acceptable Goal: Sub 200 pounds.
Nutritionist goal: 220 pounds.
Current Numbers:
MAX Weight: 309 pounds
Weight Monday before surgery: 291.6 pounds
Weight today: 266.6 pounds
Lost since surgery: 25 pounds
Weight to Ultimate Goal: 81.6 pounds
Weight to Acceptable Goal: 66.6 pounds
Strava Fitness Level: 2 (I was 65 max at LJ100 last year. I want to show this number to see how far I will go)
So that is about it right now. I will update again in a week, unless something exciting comes up and I feel like sharing. Keep following along, my posts will get better as things ramp up.
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