Valentine's Day Torture

Okay... Day four on the recovery train, and I have to say that I have been tortured. My husband decided last night that he needed to make cupcakes for my son's class. On top of that, he made chicken marsala which is my favorite. My husband and I are not on the greatest of terms...so I'm wondering how much of this is subliminally torture. So I hid in my room drinking yummy crystal light and broth...woohoo! On top of it all, Cole is running in with candy bags for his class. You'd think after having your guts rearranged, you wouldn't have a desire for this stuff...WRONG!. The infamous HEAD HUNGER you've read about is insidious. It's the feeling of course like you want something, but in your stomach you know you couldn't eat it if you wanted to. I mean your stomach is bursting at this point from a few sips of water, but your mind is craving all those delicious foods that used to make you feel good, feel full, feel better. My biggest struggle with food is emotional eating. In the coming months, along with chronicaling my journey with gastric bypass surgery, I'm also going to journal about my internal struggle with overcoming emotional hunger. I recently got a good book called, Eating in the Light of the Moon, by Anita Johnston, PH.D. The book uses myth and metaphor, along with solid therapeutical approaches to teach people how to identify their problems with food an emotional eating. Here's a link to the book:Eating by the Light of the Moon

This week the focus of course is getting in fluids so I don't dehydrate. I managed 44 oz Wednesday, and 55 oz yesterday. Today (Friday), I'm trying to focus on both hydration and protein. I started out with a protein bullet, which are these big test tubes with this juice that tastes like jello water. They are thick and sweet, so I recommend cutting them with an ice cube to keep them cold and a little watered down while you drink them. They are worth the trouble... 42 g of protein in one shot. The rest of the day I'm alternating between drinking/eating something with protein and then drinking a glass of water. Another good trick is taking a sugar free pudding and mixing with half a scoop of Any Whey flavorless protein powder. It tastes ok, and boosts the protein content of the pudding to like 16 g. Very cool.

I haven't had to take my pain medicine much. My mom who is a nurse recommends I take a half dose morning and evening to deal with the overall discomfort. I wouldn't so much describe it as pain, so much as an uncomfortable pulling sensation. Also I've noticed when I'm stressed out, my stomach hurts instantly....so if you can protect yourself from stress in these early days of recovery for sure.

I have the book from http://www.bariatriceating.com called Before and After. The book is pretty good at answering questions you have about gastric bypass and also has a ton of recipes. My goal next week on my second week in recovery is to make a couple recipes from this book. Next week if all goes well in my post op visit I'll be able to start on soft foods. My goal is to be varied and not get stuck in a rut. I'm going to learn to eat fish more, and not be lazy about cooking.

Well, back to sipping my water....