Hi all - longtime lurker here, first time poster. Been on a (successful so far!) weight loss journey for over 7 months now with over 100 pounds down (and nearly 200 still to go).
I have my first major (potential) wrench coming up, which is that I'm having major surgery in early February. (Not bariatric surgery - it's to fix a mechanical body issue that's not related to weight.) After surgery, I won't be cleared to do any exercise for at least two weeks, perhaps longer. I'll also need to be on a liquid diet for at least a month, then a very soft foods diet for another 3-5 months.
I'll also be on an assortment of medications after surgery - strong painkillers for at least a few days before switching to OTC ones for another couple weeks, plus a course of antibiotics and steroids to prevent infection and reduce swelling. (I know steroids, in particular, can cause substantial weight gain in the short term!)
I'm hoping for some support/advice on a few levels here, so here are my specific questions:
-Has anyone else successfully navigated major surgery (other than WLS) and recovery from it while staying in a successful weight-loss trajectory? Would love to hear your stories!
-I know the steroid weight gain won't be "real" if I don't overeat - but should I even bother weighing myself for a couple weeks? Between water retention from the surgery itself, and the medication, I'm expecting the scale could go up as much as 10-15 pounds.
-I typically get around 15-20K steps a day which helps my mental health considerably, particularly walking after each meal for 20-30 minutes as well as other walks throughout the day. I also do chair yoga (not quite up to doing regular mat yoga at 300+ pounds - hopefully someday!) and some body weight exercises (modified planks and wall sits). And I won't be able to do...any of that - my surgeon said a few minutes of walking here and there at a gentle pace is actually encouraged starting a couple days after surgery, but nothing that elevates my heart rate much. So I'm just wondering how to manage that mentally. Funny how I'm actually pretty addicted to my daily movement now!
-Regarding my diet, I currently follow a fairly low-carb regimen (max of 130 grams of carbs a day). The post-surgery soft foods recommended are things like mashed potatoes and mac and cheese which obviously don't fit that! Or things like pudding and ice cream but I'm trying to avoid added sugars. But I'm afraid I'm going to get pretty tired of having not much more than protein shakes for months on end. Unfortunately I can't stomach yogurt and cottage cheese - I wish I could but can't manage the taste and texture.
Overall, I'm just trying to figure out how to manage my own expectations here and stay on track overall. I'm thinking it may be best to just treat February as a maintenance month - try to eat around my TDEE and be more flexible about the carbs if I'm having trouble getting down food anyway, which I understand may be the case - but would welcome any other perspectives. I'm okay with a planned pause especially having lost so much weight already in a pretty short time, but don't want to backslide any more than necessary. (And for the record, my medical team doesn't think weight loss should be a priority during at least my first few weeks after surgery, but that I should focus on resting, healing, and making sure I get enough calories and protein to heal well.)
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