4 Weeks Out & I Feel Fine (mostly)

It has been almost a month since I had gastric bypass surgery and some things have gone well and some things are still a struggle. Last Saturday I weighed in and had lost 56 pounds from my starting total of 521 pounds. Now at 465 pounds, I move better, my feet and legs don’t hurt nearly as much, I feel generally happier most of the time. I also want to be moving more and one of the times I look forward to the most each day is my walk.

When I’m at work, I tend to go for a walk around the perimeter of the campus. I get to see the new construction that’s happening. Spring is well underway here despite it being February. The last couple of days have been in the 80s and trees are showing signs of life, at least the few who lost their leaves. I listen to an MP3 player loaded with some of my favorite songs and walk for a little over 30 minutes at lunch everyday. The perimeter of the campus is about 1.25-1.5 miles and it’s a nice walk.

On weekends I try to walk in my neighborhood. It’s not as easy to do because of the distractions of home life and the requirements on my time. Weekends are busy with running errands and lately Amy has been traveling a lot but that should change soon. We did get to the zoo a couple of weeks ago and that was a good walk. I should try to take Elizabeth more often because I think she really enjoys it too. My typical walk is about a 1.5 miles through our neighborhood. It’s less interesting than the walk at work mainly because about a third of the houses in our neighborhood are in foreclosure. Our neighborhood is not very lively right now.

The hard part right now is still food and surprisingly the hardest part is eating enough. I still do not have any appetite. The nutritionist says I should be consuming between 800-1100 calories a day and most days I’m lucky if I can consume 400. I measure my food into 2 ounce servings and eat 3 times a day most days. The protein shakes and other liquids are another challenge. The protein shakes taste fine when I mix them fresh and they are cold but they tend to upset my stomach. I have only been consuming about 8 ounces a day when I should be consuming about 24 ounces. That would add a couple hundred calories to my daily intake if I can get to that point. And other liquids are just hard to keep up with because of the quantity. My water and sugar-free drink intake should be between 64-96 ounces a day. That means I spend most of my day with a bottle in my mouth so that I can get the minimum amount of liquid each day. It also means I feel full all the time which makes me not want to eat. It’s a nasty cycle to get into.

Most of my mental energy outside of work is spent trying to wrap my head around all of these changes. It’s not always easy and I find myself getting angry once or twice a week. I know that is has everything to do with me and I try not to make anyone else suffer. Trying distractions like painting models and reading have not been working lately because I feel like I need to be more active. I definitely have a sense of restlessness. After Amy has her surgery and is feeling better we may have to spend more time being active. We probably should just for the operations to be successful but I also want to which I haven’t felt since my early 20s. I feel younger just for what weight I’ve lost already. I hope it continues.