Ch- ch- ch- ch- changes...

So I'm a vegetarian now.

(Some new statistics for the curious: I'm down 112 pounds from my top weight and 100 pounds from my weight on the day of surgery.  Once I lose two more pounds I will no longer be obese.  I bought a pair of skinny jeans from Old Navy this afternoon, and they weren't the biggest size in the store.  Or the second biggest.  My shirt size no longer contains any X's.  Back to the topic at hand.)

So I'm a vegetarian now.  When I went into this deal they told me I would need to eat meat.  A lot of meat.  Fish and chicken especially.  The timeline was supposed to go like this:

Day after surgery: clear liquids
Two days after-a week after: full liquids
A week after-two weeks after: soft foods
Two weeks after: start introducing real foods and go from there.

This did not work for me.  I am, essentially, still on clear liquids (thanks, Isopure!).  I eat no food during the day.  At night I try to eat something, but so far the only things that really go in and feel good are:

Edamame
Edamame with peanut sauce
Horrible fattening terrible things that they promised me would make me sick.

I can eat raw vegetables.  I can eat mushrooms.  I can eat certain beans.  I can eat certain nuts (soy, cashew, and almond).  I can eat a little egg, a little cheese.

I can't eat chicken.  I can't eat beef.  I can't eat pork.  I can't eat fish.  Me, who used to be able to joyfully consume literal pounds of steak at one sitting!  I can't eat meat.

It's not so bad.  I can keep drinking this Isopure stuff.  It's kind of like Gatorade, if Gatorade had a slightly milky aftertaste.  I mix it with ice and water and, by the end of the day, consume 55 grams of pure protein that way (along with about a gallon of water).  I don't need to eat meat.  The edamame is fine.

If I squint, it looks like a pile of little green steaks.