Two sides of the coin - PO Day 8

[NellyBelly]

Since surgery I have been doing well - physically. After the first couple of days with problems to get enough liquids in, that is now over.
But it has been a mentally rough ride. I think about food all the time I mean, I am not hungry or anything - but in general I love food, tastes, textures, smell from the food. I also love the fellowship around the meals. My thoughts has been swirling from "I will never be able to eat any kind of food again" to "how many kind of good foods with lots of protein can I possible come up with". I have been watching more series about food on Netflix than ever before....
You see, I love cooking and working with food. And I miss it, and it has been rough. I also desperately miss texture in the "food" that I can drink/zip for now. I have been planning the next 150 lunchboxes I'll bring to work when I can eat food again, like avokado with tuna, spinach balls with feta, egg muffins and cottage cheese with berries etc.

On the other hand;
I live in a country with a welfare system that has granted me six weeks of paid absence from my work, in order to heal completely from the surgery, do good food and exersice choices - and really have time to establish new habits. Today I went for a walk, actually I walked closer to 3 miles (4 km). Purposely I did not bring any headsets. I wanted time to listen to the birds and think.and I came up with a list of things I have dreamed to do, but never really hoped for - now those are my motivational goals: I want to be able to run 5K, to have enough energy to do lots of things after work - not only cook dinner and help kids with homework and their activities. I want to learn to paddle a kayak, and enjoy the outdoors as much as possible. As I walked and thought about my dreams I realized that I am the luckiest person in the world right now. I have gotten a new chance. I can live - lets say - 50 more years here on earth with a possible good health, good memories from all the activities I finally will have the energy to do - and hopefully I will have a thin body that I can fit in to clothes that I actually would want to wear! + I have the initially weeks on a paid leave to create the foundation for my new life.

Maybe it's the endorphins from the walk around the lake. But - I feel good! and I can now manage another week on fluids before I start on pureed foods in 6 days from now (PO Day14).

[Dutchie]

Yes, this new journey can be an emotional roller coaster, but I love it!
I loved it from the start, even with some setbacks.

I also love to cook and I have build myself quite a library with you tube recipes and online wls recipes.
One I find particularly good is "the world according to eggface"
She also is a weightloss surgery person and has great recipes.
Look her up and you will be busy for the next couple of months.
http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/
I love her website!

You will be fine, you can do this.
Especially when you love to play around with food and recipes.
Take care!

[NellyBelly]

Thank you! I’d love to check out that blog!!!

[sraebaer]

Try to concentrate on the positives, it will really help. 6 weeks off is wonderful.

[KiwiGal]

Good post. It can be a bit emotional at first, it's a lot to get your head around but I'm so glad that you are looking at the positives because there are so many!!! How wonderful that you have 6 weeks to get into new habits. That really is a luxury.
I was excited about my surgery from the start and continue to be so. The thing I noticed most during my 2 weeks recovery at home was the amount of food advertising on the television (I was watching more then I normally would the first few days)! It was everywhere. I wasn't hungry and it didn't make me want whatever they were advertising but it was noticeable by the sheer volume.
I concur with DutchSleeve that the "World According to Eggface" site has some great recipes however once you are in the swing of things you will be able to eat pretty much the same as everyone else - choosing the healthy options and eating much less and adapting old favourites to be more WLS friendly.
I missed crunchy foods initially but once I was cleared for all foods celery, carrots and the odd low fat cracker helped with that.
I'm know that you will do just fine and you will get through the next few weeks with no trouble at all.
As I sit at my desk in an air conditioned office I envy you being able to get out in the fresh air and go for a walk - have one for me please. I have to wait until the end of the day for mine :-)

[jackalope81]

Good attitude! One thing to keep in mind is your tastes are going to reset when you are back on solids. Yes things will physically taste different. I do lots of sheet chicken with non starch vegetables. Rich foods I ate before make me nauseous now.

[ThatGirlKat]

You are doing great! And having 6 weeks to recover sounds wonderful. That will hopefully give you enough time to recover emotionally/psychologically as well.

[Ann2]

Nelly, great, great attitude. You have the advantage of having a positive outlook on life -- it's easy to see that.

Gratitude -- so much for this opportunity we've been given. You're already doing amazing. And three miles in such a short time after surgery is awesome. I certainly wasn't up for that at your tenure.

Respect!

[Christie13]

Congrats Nelly!! Definitely take the time now to work on the mental aspect of weight loss. It definitely can be emotionally overwhelming for some people. I was fortunate because I was on an emotional high the whole time.