You Need This Chicken Recipe

Lord have mercy. This chicken recipe is divine. You MUST try this. it was so juicy and flavorful the whole time I was eating I kept going "OOOHHH, MMMMM, YUUMMMM" ha!

Melt In Your Mouth Chicken from Food.com

Photo by Marg (Cayman Designs)

- 4 Boneless Chicken Breast Halves

- 1 cup mayo

- 1/2 cup freshly grated parm

- 1 1/2 teaspoons Seasoning Salt

- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

- 1 teaspoon garlic powder

1. Mix mayonnaise, cheese and seasonings.

2. Spread mixture over chicken breast and place in baking dish

3. Bake at 375°F for 45 minutes.

What Day is It?

I have so many things to tell! I'll just bullet them out.

- Yesterday I went to a Pure Barre class with my girlfriends and I can't tell you how amazing it was. I could barely do what the instructor was doing, but today every single muscle in my body has been aching. It's like the muscles you want to ache, but can never get them on your own. It was crazy.
Pure Barre, however, is kind of one of those desperate housewife type places for bitches that have someone else to pay the bills if you know what i mean (if you're one, trust me, I mean bitch in the most admirable sense, I'm totally jealous of your lifestyle). So to join this place It's $150 a MONTH and the last class of the day is at like 5:30 at night. You can, however, buy single classes which are $20 a piece.
Honestly, down the road, I could possibly consider it. It was that good. If I could do it once a week I'd probably be shredded.

Oh yeah, and everyone who goes, wears the cutest lululemon workout gear and accessorizes workout diamonds. Big .. effing.. diamonds.

- As a nice follow up to that body wrecking work out, MS and I went to Bosu tonight. I was so excited that he decided to go with me. He kept saying "This dude is the devil"

Class was ridic.  The instructor was doing high knees while running in circles, and his uhh, package, kept jumping out of his little shorts. Why is it so hard to look away in those situations? I was jumping so hard I felt like my port was going to bust loose at any second. My fat was just bouncing up and down, there were a million things to look at, but every time he jumped extra hard my head was like "AHHHH BALLS" and my eyes just shot there. I kept thinking DON'T LOOK DON'T LOOK. It was impossible.

I hope MS keeps going with me. It was fun besides the balls part.

- Soooo this weekend my girlfriends and I entered a contest for $1000 worth of sunglasses... Currently I'm winning, would you guys vote for me? Here's the link: http://bit.ly/IAh3QL

- MS made some chicken from a pinterest recipe that I pinned a while back and it was TO DIE FOR! I'll post that here

- I think that's it for now! Hope everyone has a great week!!!

Is That The Light?!

Holy crap, after weeks (which feels like years) of teeter tottering on the scale, I finally lost more than my lowest number!

I'm not out of the woods yet, but hopefully that's the boost I need to get back on track. The past few days have been sooo hard. No motivation to work out, and very little will power. But last night I just toughed it out. I wanted to eat anything that would fit in my mouth, but I didn't. I wasn't hungry, I just had a great fill....but my head just wanted to EAAAAATT!! I stuck to it and ate just less than 1000 calories yesterday!

Alright I'm going to the gym. I need to burn some calories! Here's some more inspiration from pinterest:

FRS - Product Review

I'm on liquids for the day because of my fill so I tried this new Pre-mixed protein drink.

It's a nice departure from the same old protein shakes. If you don't like Pre-mixed shakes to begin with, you won't like this. But if you don't mind those shakes this is pretty good!

Gained a Little

My past few weeks have been up a little down a little. No excuses, just eating too much and not exercising enough.

I'm scheduled for a fill today and I hope that will help give me more discipline.

This is my mantra for the rest of the week:

Re Grouping & Joining CeCe for a 30 Day Band a Thon

Good Morning! A couple of weeks ago I hit a plateau. Then promptly after that I started skidding backwards just like i normally do. Eating anything and everything I could put in my mouth, eating when I wasn't hungry, eating unhealthy foods, not weighing out my foods and definitely not tracking them!

I'm struggling right now with the fact that I still need to lose about 60 more lbs. It's daunting and feels impossible. But I know it's not. Isn't that funny? I feel stressed about having to lose 60 lbs so I shove food in my face as a result. Now THAT makes a whole lotta effing sense!

The cool thing is I have this band and when I get out of control, I can wrangle myself back in a lot easier than I could before.  Since CeCe over at http://bandedforboots.blogspot.com/ is doing a 30 Day Band a Thon to get back into good habits, planning, tracking food, working out, etc. I'm going to join her.

 If anyone else is struggling right now join us. I'm on Myfitnesspal, I'll add you as a friend if you use it too and we can encourage each other. I need all the help I can get right now to get back on track.

Today I'm on all liquids to hopefully clear out some of the ick that is hanging out in my system from a week of abuse. Tomorrow I'm going to work on eating proteins and veggies. And I'm going to get my ass to the gym tonight and tomorrow so I can get this show on the road!

Inspiration Blog Post

I just love this post ... http://bandstermomma.blogspot.com/2012/04/inspiration.html

BYOC a Day Late!

I'm a day late! please excuse all the crazy fonts! I copied from Jen and can't figure out how to change make them match! It’s Friday – so it’s time for BYOC – Bring Your Own Crazy! We answer 5 questions to get to know each other better and to give our blogging brains a break! Copy to your own blog and enjoy!


1. Do you have any siblings? What is your relationship with them? Good, bad, ugly?
Yep! 1 sister she is 7 years older than me and we have a great relationship

 2. Let’s talk pizza. Do you prefer homemade or restaurant? What toppings are your fave?
My fav is just a good old slice of cheese pizza in NYC. But pizza on the grill is pretty bangin too.

3. When is the last time you cried – in sadness and in joy?

I had stress tears running down my face sitting at my desk yesterday. I just closed my door and let them flow for a while.

4. Do you own a gun – one that is specifically yours? Do you know how to use it?

Hell Yes I do! And she's one bad little bitch:

My husband works in federal law enforcement and he has guns that I needed to know how to use. So I took some classes with a girlfriend and got this little beauty to handle on my own. I only have a few hours to take for my concealed carry, but I haven't taken them.

Sometimes I wish i could just carry it around and shoot it in the air when people piss me off. Ha .. or in my office when someone is pissing me off, just pull it out and be like GET OUT. (i'm joking people)

5. Repeat question. Summarize your week!
Real life - stressssssful, but hopefully that's done down
blog week - I've barely had time to keep up and can't wait to catch up on everyone's blogs this weekend

My Husband's Graduation

Tomorrow is our 4 month bandiversary and today, MS went in today to get a fill. They checked his restriction before hand and he was still pretty restricted. So he got a very tiny fill today. She told him that he doesn't have to come back on a monthly basis any longer.  He's "graduated".

MS has lost 90 lbs in 4 months. Excuse my language, but that is un-f*!king-believable. His blood pressure is normal, type 2 diabetes is gone and he's 20 lbs away from hitting his goal weight.

I couldn't be prouder of him. Being a witness to this, I can tell you what he did to be successful. 1. He followed the instructions given to us by our medical team to the tee. 2. He started working out religiously 3. He has a BMR that could burn our house down. 4. He still loves to eat, he just doesn't eat as much as he used it.

I think he's pretty rad and he has really helped me stay on a good path. I always joke and whine about having to work harder to lose less, but I only kid. I knew going into this that it wasn't about competing with each other, it was about having each other's backs!

So now he's moved on to getting ripped......I mean, I'm not going to object to that! ;)

Love This Post

I just read this post and really loved it. http://mybigfatbandgeeklife.blogspot.com/2012/04/random-thoughts-honesty-is-important.html

Nobody Said That It'd Be Easy, They Just Promised It'd Be Worth It

Tonight I went to my beloved bosu class with the crazy instructor. He is just a beautiful gay guy with a super skinny super toned body and his workouts are crazy.
I can't remember if I said this last week, but my first time at the class I was sitting outside watching the group before us and he was teaching. I kept thinking holy crap that guy is CRAZY HARD CORE! Then when I walked in and saw he was teaching my class I kept thinking, "aww shit."

It was funny because tonight a girl sitting next to me on the bench said the same thing to me out loud . She said " He IS INTENSE! Does he teach the next class?!" I told her yes and about how much I loved it. After the first 15  minutes we caught glances and she mouthed to me "HOLY SHIT!" haha so funny. Skinny people problems. I tell ya.

Anyways. The point of my story is this.... after the class I wanted to go talk to the instructor but for some reason I could feel myself getting teary eyed. weird. PMS I guess. I just wanted to hug him and tell him thanks, but I just kept walking. When I turned in my locker key he was standing there, and I was over that little teary eyed thing and I said to him, "Thanks for making me ugly sweat!" so we started talking and I told him that I loved his class and that I loved the other one as well. We talked about the differences and I told him that I had lost some weight and I knew this was going to help me get over a plateau. He kept saying that he was at a plateau too and he's trying to do everything to just break through it.  I said, "You don't have to lose any weight!"

And then he told me something awesome..... he said, "I lost 181 lbs!"

181!!!!!!!! And he is in AMAZING SHAPE. AMAZING. I would have hugged that man in all my ugly sweaty glory, but I'll save that for 20 lbs from now.  I told him that he was helping me more than he knows.

It's just goes to show how much everyone struggles and everyone has their own battles. I can get there, we can all get there. "Nobody Said That It'd Be Easy, They Just Promised It'd Be Worth It."

I don't know who said that quote but it's going to be my mantra for a little while, at least until I can get to 198.

Qdoba Yum!

Heads up Qdoba makes a kids naked burrito bowl for $3.00! It was about a cup of food with lots of protein. I skipped the rice and it was only about 190 calories! I couldn't even finish it. Thumbs up!

BYOC

BYOC - Bring Your Own Crazy!
It’s Friday! That means it’s time for BYOC. Bring Your Own Crazy! We answer 5 questions in an effort to get to know each other better and to give our blogging brains a break! Copy to your own blog and enjoy!


1. Whether you’re a parent or not….what do you think the appropriate age is to talk to a child about “the birds and the bees”?

I honestly have no clue. I think they are hearing about it very very young. Have you heard songs on the radio lately? Lord have mercy. I think I'd probably keep my ears open and address it as soon as I heard the kid talking about it  with friends or saying something they heard at school. Then I would put the fear of God in the kid about having babies.

 

2. What’s the color scheme in your bedroom?

Dark Brown, Caramel, Light Blue, Beige

3. What kind of shampoo and conditioner do you use on your hair?

I seem to use herbal essences shampoo and Aussie conditioner

4. And since it’s nearly summer time…do you paint your own toes, go some place for pedicures or not paint your toes at all? What’s your fave toe color?

Both, sometimes I do it myself, sometimes I just get a pedi. I like super bright colors in the summer


5. Repeat question: Summarize your week!

Crazy work week. A million interviews, we offered jobs to 5 people, moving our current sales team over to a new mgmt software monday. tons and tons of work.

Blog land is always good, I love catching up with everyone.

More Bosu!

Tonight as I was holding weights over my head, standing on a squishy half ball, shaking to keep my balance, and shaking to keep holding up the weights for longer, the instructor said, "Who's ever lost 10 lbs? Imagine these weights as the 10 extra lbs you were carrying around." I wanted to scream "I LOST 60!!" but I kept it in and had a celebration in my head and then I fell off the Bosu. Ha!
After my second Bosu class, I am totally addicted. This one had a different instructor that has a completely different style but I loved him too. So, Monday nights will be balls to the walls crazy can hardly keep up Bosu/Kickboxing/Toning and Wednesday nights will be a little calmer, but just as hard bosu cardio and toning with weights. I'm so flippin excited because I can tell that this is what will blast me into the second phase of my weight loss.  I could see myself in the mirror tonight doing all these crazy jumping and toning moves and I was so grossed out by how big I looked. Seeing that twice a week is really going to help keep me in line!

Another New Blogger!

Megan is getting banded in 12 days!! www.bigbottombanded.blogspot.com  

New Blogger Alert

Sara is getting a lapband in July and she needs some followers!

http://bloggingthequest.blogspot.com/2012/04/holy-cow-its-really-happening.html

Bosu / Kickboxing / Toning

Woah. I just got done with the craziest fitness class I have ever taken in my life. It was a combination of cardio and toning all on a bosu balance trainer. I got the ugly red  workout face afterwards. I realized that I've been working out hard enough to get where I am, but to get to where I want to go, I'm going to have to start working out harder!

Right now they only offer this class on Monday nights, and there is another similar one on wednesdays. So I'm going to put those into regular rotation.

Every muscle in my body is still shaky and I'll probably feel like a mess tomorrow but it was worth it

Protein Review - Matrix Mint Cookie

I just got a delivery of Matrix Mint Cookie Protein Powder per the reccomendation of my fellow NC bandster Stephanee. Did the price searching online and still ended up buying it from www.mybariatricpantry.com

Although Syntrax Nectar Protein Powder is nutritionally superior, Matrix is also made by Syntrax so it has the wonderful flavor and spacks 24 grams of protein/140 calories per scoop.


So, how does it taste? OMG. Have you ever had a Shamrock Shake from McDonalds? This is better. You don't even have to mix in sugar free syrups and get fancy with this. Mix it with a cup of Milk, Almond Milk, or Soy Milk and little bit of ice and pass out from the goodness.

Protein Review - Isopure Protein Drink

3 Words

Dis. Gus. Ting.

Fab 4th Fill

It's seeming like I need a fill every 3 weeks and it seems to be working out great. I've lost 9 lbs since my appointment and my doctor was happy with that success.

So this is how it went down today. I had a larger than usual breakfast at about 8:30 am. I finished off half of a salad left over from Chick fil a and I had some ground turkey with it. Then I popped my chill pill and drove over to the Dr's office.

After all that, I was still 3 lbs lighter on their scale after eating and with clothes on than I was on my own scale! YES!

My sweet Dr decided to tweak the way she does the fill to deal with my passing out issue. While I was standing up, she found the port with the fluro and got the needle in (that part never bothers me)
Then we moved to the edge of the table and I sat down as she adjusted the band very slowly. Everything went as smooth as could be!

I never felt clammy or light headed at all. I wanted to hug her after we were done. She has been so wonderful through this whole thing with me.

Now my only problem is that dang chill pill has really affected me today. I feel like a zombie. I can barely get my work done. I figured I would blog to help get my brain going and working again. Hopefully after I'm done with this I can actually focus on a few things I need to get done today. But, hey. It's the last day of the week for us here so If i have to put something off until Monday so be it!!

Dreaded Hair Loss

I've been meaning to post this for some time now. I emailed my dietitian a week or so ago because if I'm going to continue to lose hair at the rate of which it is coming out I want to do everything in my power to help prevent it.

 I figured I'd share the emails between me and my dietitian for anyone who's going through the same thing.

So Here are the emails, starting with one from me:

In our last visit I was asking about hair loss and you had mentioned that for some reason at 3 months it’s possible to start losing hair. Well, I am at the 3 month mark and my hair is definitely coming out. It’s so bad that I’ve been keeping my hair tied back, not washing it for a few days because when I wash it so much comes out. As far as protein goes I’m really keeping up with it. There have only been a handful of days that I’ve missed my daily goal.

Is there anything else I can do to make this stop? I bought some vitamins with 300 mcg of biotin and started taking them last week. Should I even bother with that or should I bump it up to even more? Are there any other supplements that I could take to help?

I attached a report of my protein intake over the last 90 days from the food tracking site I use. I figured that would help give you a better idea if I need to take in more or what. I can run quite a few reports from it so let me know if I can give you anything else that might help with figuring out what to do with my hair situation.

I completely understand if I need to come in to see you for something like this, just let me know and I’ll make an appointment!

Thanks!

Her Reply:

It is good to hear that you are doing well. Your protein intake looks very good esp if the values represent protein from animal sources. Taking a good quality multi-vitamin is also important. There is not a lot of research to support the use of biotin but it may help you; the upper limit appears to be 2000-3000 mcg per day. Significant and rapid weight loss is a stressor on the body and this is probably the primary factor but it sounds like in your case the hair loss seems very significant. It may also take up to three months to regrow the hair.  If you think that there is too much hair loss, you may want to consider seeing Dr Yoo.  

Hope this helps

Me Again:

Thank you for your response. I’m not to the point of getting bald spots or anything, but if this continues for a month or two I could have a problem! Can I run these few things by you to see if I need to change anything?

 

-6 days a week I get  just under 30 proteins from Syntrax Nectar Protein that I mix with almond milk – so sometimes almost half of my protein for the day is whey protein. On Saturdays I’ll have an egg and possibly a piece of morning star sausage

- I’m still trying to stick around 800 calories, on my highest days I might go up to 1,200 but I normally fall between 800-1000. I feel like if I don’t get a ton of protein from my shake in the morning I can’t eat enough to get above 50 grams of protein or I can’t fit in any veggies or fruit. About once or twice a week, I actually eat some sort of meatless product. I like Gardein and Morning star varieties which I’m guessing are Soy protein. They seem to pack a ton of protein for the calories and they are so light, that I can eat a little more than a serving and still stay within my 4 ounce meal size.

-In addition to the biotin I just started taking, I take 1 Flinstones complete and three Viactiv calcium (500 iu D, 500 mg Calcium, 40 mcg K) every day – Any improvements I can make there?

Thanks again for any advice you can offer!

Her Last Response:

The Syntrax protein that you are taking is a whey protein isolate which typically is the best quality and if you are getting the remainder from your food that sounds fine, so the protein piece is covered.

The vitamins sound good. A lab panel may reveal any potential deficiencies.  From a nutrition standpoint it appears as if you are meeting your requirements.

So that was it from the dietitian, and I also talked to the dr that does my band adjustments today. She said that it is very normal to lose hair for a bit even if you are meeting all of your nutritional requirements. She also said it slows down and stops after a little while, so there is light at the end of the tunnel. She mentioned there is also shampoo that has biotin in it, so take the biotin and try the shampoo. She said that half of the people she talks to about it say that it works, and half of them say it doesn't work.

I'm not as stressed about my hair as much, because everyone has assured me that it will stop. I'm getting a full blood panel done tomorrow morning to see if there are any deficiencies and after I get those results I will have done everything I can to make sure I'm not doing anything wrong.

So hopefully this is just a tiny little bump in the road!

Feeling Much Skinnier Than What I Look Like in This Picture

Sometimes pictures are total bullshit. I'm feeling fab because I've broken through the plateau, I can just feel it.  I'm on the brink of a clothing crisis. Everyone says they don't have anything to wear, but all of a sudden I'm truly running out of clothes! YAY! I resorted to Ross and Marshall's  over the weekend and found this super cute dress. I was so excited to wear it and I wanted to show my mom so I took a picture of myself in the mirror on the elevator. When I looked at it, I was like WHAT THE HELL?! I'm still a fatty! HAHA oh well, I'll just chalk it up to a wierd elevator mirror and a camera phone. It's more about how you feel right?

Dear Plateau - Piss Off

I hit the dreaded plateau! for the past three weeks I've been down, then up, then down, then up. I knew it would happen so I've decided to kick it into overdrive and get over this hump.

First off I've noticed that my belly fat is sticking around for a lot longer than normal. My arms, neck, face  and calves are slimming up nice but everything else is still just hanging out.  Since I've always been a huge believer in low carb dieting, I've decided to go ahead and start that today. Everyone always says that low carb dieting really targets belly fat, so I'm hoping this really helps.

This throws my tracking system for a loop because Myfitnesspal primarily tracks calories and I'll need to really just track net carbs. I'm still going to use it, but my calories will probably need to be adjusted. I've tracked net carbs so much in my life that I can pretty much do that in my head so it shouldn't be an issue. If I find myself getting off track I'll resort back to writing everything down on paper.

I'll report back on how it goes!

P.S. I had to go out and buy 2 pairs of Size 20's yesterday!!!! YES!!! Life is good!