Milkshake

Today’s deep thoughts are on the big D. Not that one. Diet. Or “recovery diet,” which is the more honest framing.

Here’s the thing. When I’m logging 70–80 miles a week, hitting [solidcore] 2–3x, and lifting heavy once a week, my calorie needs are a completely different animal than they are right now, doing very, very little. I’ve been a runner long enough that I’ve gotten pretty good at adjusting intake to match output. Tapering, and mileage drops? I naturally eat less. Big fueling block? I eat more. A lot of endurance athletes dial this in eventually; it’s why they can swing between hard efforts and rest without their weight bouncing all over the place, even as the calorie burn does.

I did not do this in 2022.

When I had this same surgery on the other foot, I kept eating like I was still running. I was also drinking pretty regularly, which, looking back, was a huge mistake. I felt terrible through the NWB weeks, and even once I started walking in the boot, I still looked and felt relatively bad. So this time I made some intentional decisions going in. The overview:

• No alcohol. I stopped drinking regularly in the summer of 2023, and there have been zero downsides. No reason to change it now, and honestly, my body was super happy sans booze well before surgery.
• Prioritize protein. Carbs are wonderful and I adore them when I’m doing a lot of cardio, but over the past three years I’ve swapped a lot of them out for protein, especially when I’m not logging weekly mileage. Protein builds muscle, and my rough target is 1 gram per pound of bodyweight (current or goal). I usually get there at 40g+ per meal, though it absolutely fluctuates.
• Manage carbs. I’m also diabetic (MODY) and take a GLP-1 to moderate my blood sugar, so keeping carbs in check does a lot of the work of holding my A1C where it needs to be. Right now it’s running high, for two reasons: post-surgical blood sugar can take up to two weeks to come back down, and the single fastest way to drop it — being active — is off the table when you can’t walk.
• Eat fruit every day. I LOVE berries, blackberries especially, which bring real antioxidants along with fiber. Apples are a must too: fiber plus high water content. Which brings me to…
• Fiber-maxxing. I’m mildly obsessed with Royo bagels, which pack in oat fiber, psyllium, and wheat bran. They can run a little dry, so I slather on real butter, or toast one and build a sandwich on it. At least one a day, sometimes two, because they’re filling and they earn their keep.
• Water is non-negotiable. I had some rough headaches once I got home post-surgery, and the reality is all that anesthesia and other stuff floating around in my bloodstream needs to be flushed out somehow. A Diet Coke (aka a “fridge cigarette”) is fine now and then, but you’ve got to hit the water too.

I could go on and on, but you get the gist.

Speaking of simple, I owe a shout-out to District Farmacy. I’ve been buying their snacks and vegan treats for over a year now. I used to bring them to my ultras to offset the junk food I’d inevitably eat mid-race, and that habit didn’t disappear just because I stopped running. Case in point: these blueberry freeze-dried squares, which are, gloriously, just blueberries. My current favorite snack is a protein shake — almond milk, whey or vegan protein powder, FLIP 6 greens powder, a handful of berries, a small handful of walnuts, and some ice — with these blueberry bites and it is, no notes, chef’s kiss.

As you can see, I’m not the only one in this house with strong opinions about the blueberry squares. Booger is a firm believer, so I occasionally share (emphasis on occasionally). District Farmacy also makes a Walnut Energy Bite cookie that is genuinely to die for and, full disclosure, I ate half a bag of them last night watching Sullivan’s Creek.

Here’s what I keep coming back to: being able to reach for a snack that’s also clean makes all of this easier, because we’re all human, and snacks are part of enjoying a life worth healing for. I am, and always will be, a hardcore junk food addict. Am I going to keep eating Oreos, brown sugar cinnamon Pop-Tarts, and Lupo Verde pizza? Absolutely. But moderation is the whole game. In 2022 I let the couch decide what I ate. This time I’m the one deciding, and the difference already shows: in the mirror, in my bloodwork, in how I feel at the end of a very stationary day.

My protein shake may not be bringing all the boys to the yard, but it’s slowly bringing back a stronger version of me, one 40-gram scoop at a time. And if it brings Booger padding into the kitchen too? Even better.