Figures

Still having to try and hold my nerve.  At WI yesterday (I had to make it yesterday because I couldn’t compare with the previous Wednesday because of my STOLEN PHONE), I had lost ¼ lb.  Which I think we can all agree is really a STS.  And whilst STS is better than a gain, it most certainly is not a fair result for the work I’ve put in.  Also I’m stuttering at the point of a different stone bracket – and we all know how momentous that is.

I saw my mad Professor yesterday and told him about the dwindling losses.  He did say that a 5lb gain could result from dehydration – if I was really, really dehydrated, which I am certain I was.  He also gave me the glass half empty news that with my stunted metabolism, the more weight I lose, the harder the weight will be to lose.  I’m trying not to think about this too hard as it’s too depressing.  If I can’t succeed now, there’s no hope for me.

In the meantime, I am sticking to my 1000 calories a day, all entered with the determination of a zealot on MFP.  It does help keep me on the straight and narrow.  As of this weekend, I can start to add “texture” to my diet.  This means food that will stop at the banded bit of my stomach (above the band) and go through it more slowly. I am kind of transitioning towards that by having soup with chunks in it – and I’d made a dhal that was, modesty aside, pretty delicious.  And I have some pasta tonight.  But I need to have things like salad (which, fortunately, I love) and Ryvita (they’re flipping obsessed with Ryvita).  At this stage I need to be mindful of their rules – don’t eat for longer than 20 mins, don’t continue to eat if you’re full (and being full is a different feeling with a band – higher up), chew everything to puree consistency, pause before your next mouthful, bear in mind that some may not go down and don’t drink with your meal or for half an hour before and after (the water tends to swill food down too fast).  I have just eaten some cherries and I can feel that something is stuck – the skin most likely.  There is always the risk (and the worry) that if you can’t get something down, it will, well, come back up.  I’m hoping this bit of cherry skin gets a move on…  And that I can swill it down with water.

Things I’m worried I will never eat again:

• Fresh bread – not boring sliced bread, but really fresh wholemeal or cheesy bread;
• Cream tea
• Pizza

You’ll notice that they are all bready (as well as super-delicious).  Apparently bread can cause a problem for some bandits (yeah, I know).  They’re also things I have very, very rarely – for instance I might have one cream tea a year – or even less often than that.  But it is a shining pinnacle of loveliness and I wouldn’t want to never have one again.  Maybe I’ll be one of the people who can tolerate these things.  They do say that you might try something one day and not be able to get it down, but be able to get it down another time (or vice versa).  Tbh, I don’t really have multiple occasions to have a cream tea…. But there we go.  I’ll find out at some point.

This weekend I am cooking a jambalaya.  I spent a lot of time when I was so ill pinning things on Pinterest – I didn’t even feel well enough to read for long, but I could look at pics.  I pinned a lot of recipes and this was one I can do in our slow cooker.  I am a massive fan of the slow cooker – but we mainly use it in the winter for beef stew or coq au vin.  I have never had a jambalaya but it sounds like a saucy paella (ooh missus).  I need some sauciness to help the food go down (especially the chicken in it – and possibly the peppers and sausage as they (obviously) have skin on them).  I can put it on tonight, we’re going for an urban walk tomorrow and I can come back, warm it through and put the remaining ingredients in it – and hey presto, dinner.

Update on the fall: I can’t touch one side of my face so only one side has make up on (both have eye make up however as that would be weird).  I kind of look like the phantom of the opera but vertically, rather than horizontally.  I do have a bruise but it just looks like I went to sleep on a newspaper – that sort of level.  My left knee is also a problem.  I can now walk okay – it just twinges a bit – but stairs, especially down, are still quite painful.  My commute consists of more stairs than I’d previously noticed.