So Take These!
This process is hard. Really hard. While you can do it tracking everything by pen and paper and wall scratchings by candlelight, I found it simplified things enormously to use some tech to make life easier.
Medisafe
After surgery, you need to take vitamins. A lot of vitamins. An uncomfortably huge amount of vitamins. You need them everyday, can’t take some of them with others, and if you get off schedule it can be a real headache to try and get back on. Enter Medisafe
With this app, you enter the meds you take (prescriptions, vitamins, whatever), set the times you need to take them, and you’re done. When it comes time to take your medicine, it will give an alert. If you miss them, it will give you reminders every 10 minutes for half an hour. If you’re out and about and forgot your stuff, you can snooze the alarm until you get home. If you’re late on one med, you can easily reschedule the next doses until your timing allows.
Another nice feature is “Medifriends.” If you miss a dose, it will send an alert to a designated individual, who can then follow up with you. I know that during recovery, naps can run longer than expected, so it’s good to be able to have someone call you to get you back on schedule.
Right after the surgery, I put “protein” and “fluid” into the app as well to remind me to keep up. After about 10 days I deleted those, but it was definitely helpful when getting going.
MyFitnessPal
If you’ve been trying to watch your diet using a smartphone app at any point in the last five years, you’ve probably tried MFP at some point. Even immediately post surgery, this app comes in handy due to how easy it is to track water intake. Three taps and you’re done. Plus, it’s great for making sure you hit your protein minimums.
Once you move on to eating actual “food,” it’s recipe feature is a lifesaver. You put down all the ingredients for your dish, list how many servings, and it automatically calculates the nutrition breakdown and saves it for the next time you cook. It’s how I’ve calculated all the nutritional breakdowns for the recipes here.
There is a social aspect to MFP that I always shied away from, but some people really like it. The one bit I do use is “friending,” where you can get Facebook style updates from your actual friends about their diet, exercise, etc. Getting little congratulatory messages for logging in every day and having friends “like” your progress does help motivate.
Digital Scale and Measuring Cups/Spoons
Considering everything you will be eating for a long time will need to be measured in tiny increments, these are really important. The scale for obvious reasons.
I know. You have measuring cups and spoons already. Why do you need more? Because you are going through enough right now. Don’t make is so you have to wash that half teaspoon nine times a day as well. Treat yo’ self.
A Good Blender
Whatever kind you want. Just make sure the blender has a low setting for mixing up shakes without pulverizing them, as well as the ability to actually pulverize ice.
Stand/Hand Mixer
While it is theoretically possible to whip egg whites to stiff peaks, it is something out of Dante to actually have to do it. Buy yourself something electric to do the work for you. Spend the $20. You’ll thank me later.
Drastic Times, Gastric Measures 