So full...so fast.

Eating is all new after weight loss surgery. It's going to take some time for my habitual behaviors to cease! I scoop reasonable amounts of food on my plates only to find that I've sorely misjudged how much food to serve myself. I haven't overeaten, because the newly sized stomach form won't let me, but I have taken a lot more than I can honestly put away. It's a strangely fun conundrum I am having a bit of enjoyment with.

Eating and drinking enough is; however, an unforeseen chore. I mean it! In the fifteen or so hours of being awake, I'm supposed to drink at least 48 ounces of liquids, SOME of which needs to be protein drinks, AND eat 4 small meals. AND I have to space the liquid and foods at least 30 mins. apart from one another. Do you know the day is just not long enough to do all this? At least not yet.

Clear liquid isn't very filling and it doesn't cause discomfort unless I drink too fast and trap air in there...then have to burp. Burping sucks. It is at once a relief and an awkward pang...but enough of that. The thicker stuff, like protein shakes and soft foods (eggs, beans, minced up meats like ham, fish and poultry) make me feel full relatively quickly and just kind of sit in my stomach. It takes some time before I can safely drink anything (because it's a rule) so I'm usually thirsty after a meal. I'm like a ten-year-old watching time, just waiting for the go-ahead to sip something.

For the first week of eating foods, I have flailed just trying to keep up with demand (the ounces, the number of small meals, the instructions to eat every 4 hours)...so I created a schedule with prompts that push to my phone and calendar - stuff to make me do what I'm supposed to.

Here looks a day in the life:

8 AM Soft Food Breakfast (2-3 ounces)
8:30 AM to 10 AM clear liquids (sipping, sipping, sipping whenever possible)
10 AM Protein Drink (11 ounces)
- this takes me anywhere from 1 to 2 hours to finish but I have to stop by 11:30 because I can't drink anything from 30 mins before until 30 mins after any food.
12 PM Soft Food Lunch (2-3 ounces)
12:30 PM to 2 PM  clear liquids (sipping, sipping, sipping whenever possible)
2 PM Protein Drink (11 ounces)
4 PM Soft Food Snack (usually a string cheese stick or a Babybel cheese)
4:30 PM to 8:30 PM clear liquids (sipping, sipping, sipping whenever possible)
8 PM Soft Food Dinner (2-3 ounces)
8:30 PM til bed time clear liquids (sipping, sipping, sipping whenever possible)

But, believe me, it's hard to drink 48 ounces of liquid AND eat 12-ish ounces of food - which sounds crazy, right? I could easily drink 4 Coke Zeros a day. Maybe even 5. Maybe even 6. I skipped meals, drank Coke Zero, lost myself in work and busy-ness until I was so ravenously hungry, I'd go for anything fast (aka premade and ready to eat!) Nothing healthy to mention.

I'm going to keep trying to stick to this plan and (hopefully) get better at it. The real threat is dehydration and hospitalization so I want to be super careful about it. Anyway, tomorrow is my week three-versary.

I am functioning well. I'm back to work, back to driving, back to eating (kind of) normally and I'm still so glad I chose weight loss surgery. My next goal is to treadmill just a little bit and see if I can make a pattern of that.