Week 5: Beginning Phase 4, the Return of Coffee, and General Check-In

Yesterday was five weeks since my surgery. 

I began the Phase 4 eating plan, which means gradually introducing soft foods to the pureed-food diet. Yesterday, for example, in addition to my pureed food, I had a few slices of canned pears, a banana, and a carrot that had been cooked in chicken broth. I tried to eat each one very slowly and chew it to death. 

This phase will require a lot of prep, since I still need to have pureed foods on hand, and also need to get some non-pureed foods every day. We bought some additional muffin tins, so I can make the pureed foods in larger batches and freeze several weeks' worth of small portions.

Meanwhile, my partner has come to the end of the food I cooked and froze for him, way back here, before my pre-surgery fast began. So I have a lot of meal-planning and cooking to do.

I've also started drinking coffee again, several months before I'm supposed to. I just missed it so much! (85% thinking!) I've made a half-decaf blend and I'm going to try to hold my caffeine intake to three small (8 ounce) cups of half-caff. This will definitely be a challenge!

I am itching to weigh myself but waiting for the December 1, which will be the first of my monthly weigh-ins. I had my hair cut and coloured yesterday, and the stylist immediately exclaimed how much thinner I looked. She is a beauty and a gym rat -- who used to weigh 250 pounds, and lost it all through diet and exercise. She thinks that's how I'm doing it, too -- a topic for another post (one that I have been trying to write for a while). 

The only thing I notice is that my face looks much thinner, which I really appreciate. I spend a lot of my day in Zoom meetings, and I hated looking at my fat face! My slimmer face makes me less self-conscious and less camera-shy -- a nice benefit.

In general I'm feeling very good. I'm walking almost every day, often on the treadmill, because it's winter, but often because it just feels easier, like less preparation is needed. My new habit has been treadmilling at lunch, which has a huge added benefit of forcing me to take a lunch break. I'm working at home and tend to work long hours without a break. Having a walk in the middle of the day really helps me recharge.

I was having some discomfort -- sometimes real pain -- after eating certain foods, but I couldn't tell if it was caused by the food itself or by eating too fast. I took a chance and ate the same foods later in the week, consciously eating much more slowly, and had no discomfort. There's my answer. It's not easy for me to eat a tiny portion of pureed fruit slowly, or to eat soup so slowly that it doesn't stay warm. But it's obviously essential, and the pain is a reminder.

In order to eat properly and avoid pain, it's also important to properly space out food and liquid intake. I've adopted a little trick of having a timer on my phone set for 15 minutes. When I finish eating or drinking anything, I turn it on, and can't take in anything else until it goes off.

I sometimes have a weird feeling that I'm eating too much. I'm trying for the recommended six tiny meals each day, or three meals and three snacks. Sometimes I can't finish even the tiny half-cup servings that I'm currently up to, so I eat more than six times in a day -- which makes me feel unsure. 

When that happens, I do a quick-and-dirty calorie check, and I'm always right on track. I'm amazed at how few calories I'm taking in. The target for this phase is 700-1000 calories per day, including 70-120 grams of protein. Yesterday I felt like I was eating all day, and came in under 800 calories. A very bizarre feeling!