day 19; week long update

Hey everyone!  Finally back to update.  This week has been pretty hectic for me, but I've managed to take note of my progress since my last update.  

Swelling: Only a few new things this week, as far as swelling goes, it's continuing to decrease veeery slowly, but nevertheless it's going down.  I've stopped taking pictures everyday because the difference on a daily basis is so minimal that I just take a new picture maybe every other day or a little longer.  
Smiling: I am FIGHTING to smile properly again hahaa, I think that's my new goal.  I guess I just need to wait for the incisions to heal more.  Can't wait until I can smile properly with teeth, have yet to see what I look like smiling so I'm getting anxious.  
Numbness: I'm still numb!!!  It's a little worrisome that even now I can't feel certain parts of my face still.  I know sensation takes a while to regain from this kind of surgery, but I'll be sure to ask my surgeon during my next appointment next week.  
Food:  This week I hit a wall pretty hard.  I managed to blend spaghetti one night and the next night I blended up lasagna (actually the same recipe that my cousin made for me for my feast).  Pretty much my diet for the past week was ensure, boost, and the like, then mashed potatoes and pasta. LOL. So random.  Unfortunately I'm a little disappointed that I strayed pretty hard from what I planned for myself.  I think I was just that upset.  Not to mention, the past thursday was my birthday and I felt like crap.  I'm pretty sure it was the crappy diet, but it didn't help make this lack lustre 22nd birthday any better.  With that being said, today I woke up this morning with a fresh perspective.  I made myself an AMAZING smoothie (which I planned the recipe for pre-surgery).  VOILA!  This is my berry pomegranate matcha smoothie with yogurt.  



I had a big ol' glass of that for breakfast.  Pretty much, a heaping of the frozen berries, with pomegranate juice, a big helping of matcha, and finished with fat free, no sugar added yogurt.  All I did was strain and pour it in a big glass.  Breakfast is served.  Also I'm proud to say today was my first day back exercising! 
Exercise:  Seeing as how I haven't worked out in almost three weeks, coupled with the fact that I'm still weak from recovering, I knew I had to take it easy.  Pretty much I just circuit trained using considerably less weight than where I left off just to ease my body back into it.  I finished with very light card just to get my heart rate up, but not enough to burn any chunk of calories that I already lack.  I can't say how excited I was today to start working out again.  I'm a freak like that!  It really helped me stay positive and get me out of my slump.  
Food: Immediately after, I made my VERY favourite shake, since I am a chocolate FIEND!  It's a chocolate peanut butter and banana protein shake.  YUM. Chocolate protein powder, half a banana, a spoonful of peanut butter and half chocolate milk and half unsweetened chocolate almond milk.  

Anyway, last night was my bf's sister's Jack and Jill.  Both him and I are in the wedding party, so I had to be there to show my support.  Plus, it's fun :).  Anyway, that's my novel for the week hahaha.  Here are pics of my progress!




Take care guys!  

8 comments:

bmb4u said...

Glad you are feeling so much better. I think making a blog to get out what you are experiencing and informing others is a great idea. I look forward to hearing more about your recovery. I have TMJ. It's not too bad now but I am worried it could get to the point of surgery. Thank you for sharing your experiences. I am definitely going to bookmark this in case I at a later point do need to have a surgery.

Kat Marie said...

Thanks so much! This blog is really just a way to show another perspective of the process since for me, I wanted to learn about allllll the perspectives and opinions haha, I'm so glad you like it! Good luck with your TMJ! Hopefully it doesn't cause you the problems it caused me and surgery can be avoided, but if not, don't worry, preparation is really the key to overcoming this. Also, as for the recipe for the nutella blondies, I have no idea lol, it's my cousin's recipe so I'm not sure if she'd want me to post it, but I'll ask her when I see her next :)

bmb4u said...

My college biology teacher always went on about perspective. After that class I would catch myself thinking about it a lot. Anytime there was a discussion or argument I would find myself playing devil's advocate to help others think in a perspective other then their own. It was interesting and fun. And I completely understand if your cousin doesn't want to post it. I know I have a few recipes I wouldn't want to post.

Elana said...

Hi Kat,

I've been following your blog for a few days now, and I really appreciate your updates. Today is my 34th day post-surgery. I just had my lower jaw done, but I'm still wired shut and probably will be for at least 3 more weeks. I had my first jaw surgery a year and a half ago, though, so I'd already had some experience with a lot of what we're going through.

I thought it was so smart of you to do so much advance planning, especially with respect to how to keep yourself busy. (How's the wedding planning, by the way??) I did not do that the first time around (well, I'd had an accident, so the surgery was an emergency situation at that time). This time, the really weird, masochistic thing that is keeping me happily busy is COOKING! It's crazy because I can't even taste anything I make to make sure it's right, but just being around the food and creating healthy meals for my husband is keeping me happy. I've been glued to the Food Network, and it keeps me inspired without depressing me, somehow.

Also, I've been keeping a list of all the healthy foods I'm craving in the hopes that when I can eat solid food again, I will turn to healthy things and not go on a junk-food binge like I did last time. I've already lost 22 pounds, and I don't want to yo-yo back after all this is over.

Finally, since you shared the details of your amazing smoothie and your favorite chocolate shake, I wanted to share one of my favorite quick sweet treats to eat through a straw: basically I mix a couple scoops of any flavor Coconut Bliss (dairy-free ice cream; choc/PB flavor is the best!), with about a half a cup of coconut water. The coconut water keeps the fat content down and makes it drink-able without actually watering down the ice cream flavor. Hope you give it a try!

Hang in there and keep up the good work! You're looking great!
Elana from California

P.S. I too just got back into my workouts and it feels great. I went for my first (very mild) jog today, and I'm starting to feel strong again.

Kat Marie said...

Hey Elana!

Thank you so much! 34th day post-surgery oh my! And you still have to be wired shut for three weeks longer?? That's pretty tough, I definitely hit a rough wall between day 7 and day 14! You're are ENTIRELY right though, it's funny you should mention your love for cooking! I am too CONSTANTLY glued to the Food Network! Well, actually, the food network has been one of my favourite channels since forever, but I find during this recovery I have been watching it non-stop! My friends and family think I'm crazy because they think I'm torturing myself hahaha, but I absolutely love it! You're right, it's not depressing, it's actually soothing me! :) I haven't tackled cooking yet, but I've gathered a bunch of ideas and recipes that I'd love to try after they unwire me. Instead, I choose to live through people eating. That's quite unfortunate for whoever's around me though because I will make them finish every last morsel of food! hahaaa, I even smell their food and it doesn't kill me! I love that you also understand my food obsession, it's good to know someone else shares what I'm going through!

Also, I like the idea of making a list of healthy foods so you won't turn to junk food! I'm sort of doing something similar (concept wise) to make sure that when I'm unwired I don't go crazy and eat everything! I'm making a food schedule which will last about a month of how I'm going to work in all the foods I've been craving into a healthy lifestyle. That way, I get what I want EVENTUALLY, but I won't pack on the pounds too quickly. I also have lost 20 pounds :(.

I LOVE the sound of your shake! Where can I find Coconut Bliss?? I'm going to have to look it up, chocolate peanut butter is one of my ALL time favourite ice cream or anything combination hahaa. I'll definitely give it a try.

As for working out, I'm definitely easing myself back into it, just had another workout today actually. It really lifts my mood so I'm so happy. I know what you mean about feeling strong, I had to be veeery patient not to rush myself into exercising again.

Anywhoo, I wrote you a NOVEL hahaa, thanks for your wonderful comment! Please keep me updated on your progress as well and thank you for reading my blog!

Kat<3

Katherine W. said...

Kat, so happy to see that everything is getting better. And I love your hair in the pic! Tutorial? haha. You should show a side profile pic too! :)

Elana said...

Kat,

Wow! I feel so much better to know I'm not the only person on a liquid diet addicted to the Food Network! Haha! I've been eating vicariously through people, too, and it is soothing, like you said. I felt bad for my husband tonight, though, 'cause I was totally hovering over him while he was eating dinner to make sure he liked what I made and that he ate it all! I don't know how he puts up with me sometimes. :)

Anyway, I *love* your idea of a food schedule, and I totally think I would benefit from something like that. Spreading out all the foods you've been craving across a couple weeks or a month is such a brilliant idea. You put a frown-y face next to your weight loss (and I can see from your before pics that you definitely didn't need to lose any); as for me, I was due to lose a good 15-20 pounds or so before the surgery, so I'm really happy to be at my goal weight now. That's why I'm really determined not to yo-yo back after I'm unwired. So, I don't know if you're willing to share, but it would be awesome if you could offer a week's worth or even just a day's glimpse of what your food schedule is. I've done really well on meal plans in the past, so I think something like what you have going would really work for me. Figured it couldn't hurt to ask!

Also, I was curious to know how you've been tailoring your workouts to suit your current limitations. If you wouldn't mind sharing some workout ideas, too, that would be great. I went for another mild jog today, and it felt good again. Other than that, I've been doing some light weights and a couple little 20-minute pilates DVDs.

Oh, the Coconut Bliss I usually get at my local natural-foods-type grocery stores. It seems to be easier and easier to find these days, and they keep coming out with new flavors. Definitely look it up! I'm not a vegan (although I am vegetarian), but I like to go light on dairy when I can.

So far, your blog is so informative -- have you ever thought of going into nutrition and/or training with your love of food and working out? Just curious!

Looking forward to your next update!
E

Kat Marie said...

Hey Katherine! Hahaa, thank you! Ohhh man, I haven't done a tutorial in a LONG LONG time :P Maybe when I'm fully recovered it can be my first tutorial back hahaha. Also, that's a great idea about the side profile! I actually never thought about that, I'm going to have to start that. Thanks for the great idea!

Hey again Elana, my wired companion!
Again, we find similarities between our recovery process haha! I'm glad that you like my food schedule idea and I love your determination! I'm also determined not to gain weight too quickly or stuff myself with junk! hahaha. I'd love to share what my plan looks like, that's a great idea :) I'm actually planning on creating it right now after I get off the computer, but I'm sure it'll take me a few days to perfect it since I'm going to be making it for at least 3 weeks post-unwiring.

As far as my tailored work outs go, as you can tell I'm super organized when it comes to things I love haha, so I made sure that exercising was a-ok by my surgeon, and then went from there researching different exercises and such. Also, I'm lucky because my BF went to school for kinesiology and just finished a course on personal training, so he really helped me figure something that worked for me. Since I've only just started working out again post surgery, I've really just been concentrating on restrengthening my body and muscles. This means I've been circuit training for the past 7 days now; just using light weights and strength training on every area of my body in rotation. Since it's not a very intense workout, I've been able to work out everyday or every other day and have just been increasing weights slightly when I felt good about it. I've been progressing pretty well, so this weekend I'm going to start strength training individual areas at different days of the week with enough rest in between since the weights are going to be heavier. A lot of people don't like strength training and lifting weights, but I love it! I'm not trying to get jacked up or body builder size hahaha :P! Just toning to get lean muscle mass. Muscle burns more energy/calories than fat does so it's really good for everyone. As far as cardio, I only just lightly jog, like you do too, since my doctor warned against running; BUT I do light cardio to keep my endurance up for when the wires come off and I can really start running. Pilates is a GREAT idea btw, because it's tones and encourages lean muscle mass, and it's not for the weak so good for you! :)

Do you think Whole Foods would sell it? I loooove Whole Foods! I agree on going light on dairy too. This liquid diet isn't easy when so much of what we actually CAN eat has dairy :P I also like replacing dairy with almond milk instead.

And thank you! I'm glad it's informative. I might make an entry out of my replies/comments to you hahaa, you've shared a lot of good information with me too! Now that you mention it, I think I would enjoy getting into nutrition/training since I LOVE planning and LOVE food and exercising more! Hmmmmm.... interesting. Too bad I went to school for english :P.

Post a Comment

top