Wow, I can't believe I made it a whole week without an update.
Hahaha. I learned that sometimes stalls DO last a few weeks, even this early out, even with heavyweights, and that made me feel a little better and allowed me to stop stressing. Also,
@DuodenalSwitchaRoo told me that it was normal to stall at this stage and that it might not end until I was able to eat solid food and get 80+g of protein. I was very close to getting 80+ already (averaging 70ish lately) so I kicked it up just a little bit, and after several days, the weight has started trending down again. Not EVERY day... but that's perfectly okay. I don't care, as long as it's going in the right direction.
I had my follow-up with my surgeon Friday. We drove down Thursday to Melbourne (10+ hour trip). I was a little concerned about what I was going to be able to eat on the road since I'm still on pureed things for another month. I was packing things like canned tuna and canned chicken so I'd have something easy once we got to Melbourne, but both require mixing with mayo and keeping that in the car for 10 hours seemed iffy. We planned to buy mayo once we got to Melbourne, and decided to try to find Subways or similar along the road so I could get tuna or something similar that way. The first stop turned out to be a 7-11 with a cafe in it. I had an egg salad sandwich and just ate the filling out. That was just fine. The second stop, it was late, and there were many fewer options (you wouldn't believe how few "service centres" there are on the road between Melbourne and Sydney. Sometimes you go almost two hours without seeing a single place to eat or get gas.) The only thing they had that looked super soft was a "potato casserole" and obviously I didn't want the carbs! There was also a sausage roll (not really something that exists in the US) but it's pastry wrapped around ground sausage. So I got that and removed the pastry and just ate the ground sausage. But it wasn't as moist as I would have liked. In retrospect I should have said damn the carbs and either had the potato casserole or at least added ketchup to that sausage. But I was trying to do the right thing.
Well, that sausage went down like a lead balloon. I couldn't believe the pressure and discomfort. I was so sweaty and felt awful. I knew I needed to vomit, but I so didn't want to. I held it back, but it only got worse and worse. Finally I couldn't hold it back anymore and vomited for the first time since surgery. NOT something I want to repeat. On the drive BACK from Melbourne yesterday, we stopped and got tuna with mayo at Subway and I just kept it in the trunk (it's winter here) and ate it at both stops of our drive, risk of food poisoning be damned (it was fine, fortunately). You do what you gotta do, I guess. I'm glad for any future visits to Melbs I won't be on pureed foods any longer. It's easier to pack high-protein foods that don't need refrigeration if you don't have to have soft/moist/pureed stuff.
Last night I blew it, too - I was 10g of protein short, so I added one serving of some melted high-protein cheese to my 1/4c. of pureed chicken - it apparently bulked it up to more than I could handle and it was so uncomfortable I was actually HOPING to vomit for a while to get rid of the pain and discomfort. I didn't, though. I guess this process is all about learning!
When you guys were on pureed foods, did you do 3 meals per day plus protein shake, or 2 meals plus shake? The latter is what I'm doing now, and I think it would be easier to get in my protein if I did 3 meals plus shake. My only concern is that will easily put me over the 550-700 calories my nut said I should be taking in right now by a couple hundred calories.
I'm hating my WPI right now, btw. The Caramel Toffee Fudge from Optimum Nutrition was tolerable - should have stuck with that! Instead I tried the Rocky Road when it was time to reorder... oh god, it's so sickly sweet it absolutely gags me with every swallow! We also tried some Syntrax Nectar Tropical Cooler and UGH, same thing! GAG! But we can't afford to just toss them out - at $59 for a 2lb container (yes, they're more expensive over here!) they're too pricey to toss! I force them down, but it takes me hours sometimes. My kingdom for some Optimum Nutrition flavor samples, but I have yet to find anywhere that offers them here in Aus! I tried unflavored WPI with food instead - but it bulks the food up too much for my tummy to handle at the moment. I tried it in various liquids, and YUCK. Can't stand the flavor/frothiness. However, I found a local source for Unjury unflavored - hoping that might be more tolerable. My other option is just to melt a serving of some high-protein cheese and eat it by itself as a snack - but my surgeon's NUT is strongly against snacking, so I don't feel I should be doing that.
I think I'm finally understanding where the 30/60/90 rule came from, haha. But I don't want to back off when my weight is finally coming off again. If I have to, I will, but I'm still hoping I'll find a solution that works for me.
Oh! Almost forgot to talk about my actual surgeon appointment. He was very pleased with my weight loss. He could actually weigh me on his office scale (I was too heavy last time). He reassured me that a stall was normal and nothing to worry about. He asked me about my eating, and was so happy with my responses and obvious motivation that he said he trusts me to do exactly what I need to do, and that most of our follow-ups can now be done via phone/Skype! Can't tell you how happy we are with that - all those trips down there were getting expensive! They're going to call me in six weeks to check up on me, and then in three months they want me to send a letter from my GP with an update on how I'm doing.
Also, I have an amazing endocrinologist I adore staying on top of my lab numbers for my vits/minerals. She's really enthusiastic and I can tell she'll do whatever I need re blood tests/injections for vitamins/prescriptions, etc. She always asks about my general health, too, and follows up on everything really well/quickly. I get blood tests done again (many more than I had done last time) in Mid-May, so I should have a good idea of how my supplements are working at that point.
Sorry for the looooooong-ass update
, but thanks for reading it all, if you got this far.