It’s a sleepy Sunday morning and I don’t have a lot of deep thoughts and realizations running through my head. Even so, writing something helps me maintain my focus so I figured I’d recap a few things.
This is my second full day on pureed and soft foods. I’m really amazed at the shift in how I look at food and eating. I used to wonder if the portion before me would ever be enough. This morning I scrambled an egg with some mozarella in it for added protein and hoped that I’d be able to eat the whole thing. Whole thing — like a single scrambled egg is a lot of food. It isn’t. I managed but it took me almost 30 minutes. All my life I’ve heard the advice that eating slowly is a good practice. Now it’s the only way I can consume food.
Last night I met friends for dinner. It’s the first time that I’ve been out for a meal in almost two months. I wanted very badly to see these friends who were in from out of town for a few days so we picked a local restaurant that I’ve been to before. I was confident that I could find something on the menu to meet my needs. I almost opted for the hummus platter when I spotted a newer item — chicken or tuna salad with fruit. Not very glamorous, but chicken salad is something I can tolerate while in this stage. When my plate arrived, it held a generous scoop of chicken salad on a bed of greens surrounded by grapes, pineapple and mandarin oranges with three slices of baguette. I can’t eat bread yet, so I put the slices on another plate. I can eat fruit if it’s cooked, so I decided right then that I’d take it home and stew it or something later.
My friends and I had a lovely time chatting while we ate. I took a quarter of a forkful of chicken at a time, put down the fork, and thoroughly chewed before swallowing. I probably didn’t eat more than two – two and a half ounces all told but it took me as long as it did my friends to eat their entrees and I enjoyed every morsel. I brought the rest home to eat for lunch today. Given the amount that remains, it might be lunch and part of dinner.
The experience taught me a lot. I can eat the way that I need to even in public without a problem. My friends get it and don’t feel weird eating bigger meals in front of me. They’re genuinely thrilled for me. To Go boxes are always available. My new way of eating in no way diminishes the social benefit of dining out with friends.
Win-win all around!
A lot of people who have had this surgery have shared that they hit a stall or plateau in their weight loss around the third week post-op. That didn’t happen to me, but I full expect it will at some point. Even though logically my head will remember that stalls happen and the weight will eventually come off, I anticipate that I will have some negative feelings. I’m determined to take my measurements once a month and, to measure again if I hit a plateau because I know that even if the scale number doesn’t move, the inches probably still reduce. It’s important to shore up my defenses so that my attitude remains positive.
Finally today, I am overwhelmed at the everyone’s support for me. I’ve never met some of you who comment here and know you only from the blogosphere and Bettyverse. Your input and positive energy means a lot. I hope you’re getting something in return from your visits, but please know how much I appreciate you — along with the friends I’ve known all or most of my life. People, both here and in my everyday life have been terrific. Yesterday I got a call from a man whom I know socially, mostly through his wife who is friends with other friends. Turns out that he had weight loss surgery over four years ago. He heard that I’d just gone through it and called to offer support, encouragement and helpful tips. “You’re in the club now,” he told me. “If you have any questions or there’s anything you need, keep my number.” He offered some great advice and, above all, the generous spirit that moved him to call touched me deeply.
Thank you, everyone. I’m very grateful!
Weighty Matters 
An cool post there mate . Cheers for it !
Always love spending time with you and Celie. I hope this is helpful. If you have any questions and you’re reluctant to ask them here where they’re public, feel free to shoot me an email or we can talk!
Hi Mary, Celie and I enjoyed our nite out with you!. I have read most of your blogs so far and it will definately help in my path to losing weight as it does others. Thank you for your raw truth on such personal matters. You do make a difference in your writings and I pray your daysforward get stronger and even more radiant than you looked and felt last Saturday night. I truely look forward to corresponding with you. I am starting my research and you blogs already have helped with some more questions I need to ask.
Susan Lindley 😉 ❤