How Does One Survive on 600 Calories A Day? Plus, a stall and a new job

What do I eat now that my stomach is basically the size of my thumb? Not a lot. I can usually manage about one or two bites of food at a time. What does a typical day's menu look like? Well, last week I ate an ounce of greek yougurt with a defrosted strawberry blended into it and a packet of stevia. For a snack I had a bottle of Muscle Milk protein drink. Lunch consisted of an ounch of sugar free pudding and dinner was a mini baby bell cheese. And, to wrap it all up, for desert I had a lovely sugar free popcicle. Yeah, that's my day of exciting food.  Today I managed to eat actual food which was exciting for me. I had two thin slices of deli ham and a slice of Swiss cheese at lunch. I call that a success!

I'm 3 weeks out from surgery and I have hit what many people have experienced on my various Facebook boards have - the dreaded 3 week stall. I knew it was coming so I was prepared emotionally for it to happen. The scale has not moved in a week. In fact, it went up a few tenths of a pound. In the scheme of things who cares! I've lost 72 pounds so far and eventually this stall shall pass and I will continue moving back down the scale and will lose the weight. Stalls happen in this journey. It's inevitable. Success is how we handle those stalls without being discouraged so much that we sabotage ourself and our food plan.

This past week I've started a new job and I'm having to learn how to deal with less energy but still having to get work done. Even though my job is a desk job, it takes a lot of mental energy to figure out all of the steps involved in this new job. I've been thrown into the deep end with only 4 days of training. By the time I get home in the evening I'm physically and mentally drained. I've been gonig to sleep every night at 9 because I'm so exhausted. I'm hoping to start walking at lunch to up my energy level during the day. Adding real food to my diet should also help.

I visisted a friend today who hasn't seen me in awhile and of course he noticed immediately the amount of weight I've lost. It's funny how comments about how great I look don't make me feel like I'm great or special, they just make me feel like I'm losing weight. I attribute this to my therapist and the work we've been doing around my body image and my attitude about my weight loss and this surgery. The weight loss is important but what is really important is how my body feels.