This is gonna be one of my health update posts for those who inquire from time to time. I don't think I'll ever be 100% of what I was prior to my bout with stomach cancer, but I continue to improve.
Ever since my surgery I've tracked what I eat with a goal of hitting 1600 calories a day, which was enough to maintain my weight, but not really enough to gain, and the entire thing was derailed by my shingles episode last year. I had a "nice" weight I was maintaining, but lost almost ten pounds that I didn't have when the shingles was so bad I didn't want to eat. (The shingles was on my head and gave me incredible eye and headaches.)
Though it eventually got better (mostly, I'm still on pain medication for the nerve damage it caused), I've spent the past year trying to play catch up, and I still have not gotten back to my early February 2022 weight. But, things are getting better.
My capacity to eat will never be what it used to be (no stomach equals less space to store incoming food), but I'm getting better at identifying what digests quickly for the amount of calories provided and I added a calorie column to my food tracker so I can track long term how much I'm eating. When I can, I try to add in a little more, pushing my intake to 1700 or 1800 by the end of the day.
My oncologist thinks that it may be best for me not to push myself too hard and focus more on maintaining than gaining, and I think I'm doing at least that.
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