Ultra Light Pizza

I'm so satisfied what we ate for dinner I have to share! My previous post about cloud bread, really does make a great pizza crust! Check this out:

1 slice = 198 calories, 4 carbs, 14 fats, 16 proteins

 

MS gave this pizza a two thumbs up and asked for more. The cloud crust is really easy on both of our bands, and as it cools off you can actually pick it up like a real piece of pizza. You could cut the calories and fat down dramatically by using veggie toppings or Turkey pepperoni. That just doesn't fly with my hubby. Just use this recipe and spread it over a greased pizza pan, bake it for 25 minutes.

I let mine sit out for a few hours, just because I prepped dinner a little early. When we were ready to eat I fired up the broiler and topped the pizza with Ragu Light (it has much lower sugar than most tomato sauces) and cheese and toppings. I spread the toppings and the cheese all the way to the edge because I wasn't sure how the crust was going to hold up under the broiler. The parts that were exposed browned up like a normal pizza crust, but I'm actually glad I  spread the toppings all the way to the edges.

 

The only thing I will do differently in the future is season up the crust more. I'm out of parsley AND oregano. So I will make a trip to penzey's spices before I make another one of these bad boys!

 

YUM!!



It's not really September is it?

Hey Y'all! Please tell me it's not September!? Where in the world has this year gone? First I wanted to say thank you so much to all of the people who left comments about praying for my dad and family. That has been and still is a very stressful situation for the past few months. I don't know if the worst is over, but there's progress so all is good for now. Our lives have been crazy lately. I haven't lost any weight and I sure have been doing everything in my power to sabotage my weight loss efforts lately. So I'm trying with all of my might to get back to the gym and get back to blogging. Hopefully with those two things my eating habits will start to fall into place again! I really want to lose 100 lbs before the end of the year so I really need to kick it into gear.

We went home to Michigan to visit my parents 2 weeks ago. We took our sweet little dog with us on the plane.. trust me... that will never happen. Ever again. Ever. Anyways, we had planned to stay for the week but actually had to cut the trip short because MS' grandpa took a turn for the worst. We were able to back to NC and then drive up to VA in time to go see him and then be there when he passed. It was really sad but also very peaceful. 

I have a not so cool band story to tell you about home though. Holy shit. Have you ever heard of the great Detroit rivalry between American Coney Island and Lafayette Coney Island? Well being that I'm from around Detroit, I always used to go to Lafayette with my girlfriends after a night out partying. I never even knew about American Coney even though it is right next door. So last year before surgery, MS and I went to Lafayette and American and had one coney at each. We decided hands down that lafayette was the most amazing coney we had ever had in our lives. So on this trip we wanted to go back. We knew we wouldn't be able to eat all of it like we used to, but still wanted to have a little bit.

On our way to the airport we stopped in Detroit and got a couple of coneys. There is a really pretty little city garden next to it that we sat in. I was completely fine, just ate the hot dog and the chili with a fork and skipped the bun. MS only ate about half of his hot dog and had to get up and walk around (he doesn't do well with any type of sausage or meat that has a casing on it) So after walking around a bit he was fine, but he was done eating. So just as I was about to wrap it up and go, I ripped off a piece of the bun and ate it as I started standing up. I must have swallowed it without chewing well because what was about to happen was the worst experience I have ever had with my band to date.

I felt stuck so I got up and walked a bit, and we walked the dog back to the car and got the A/C going so he didn't cook in the car. That's when the pain came.... and then the urge to barf my brains out. I had to walk up and down the busy street over and over. A few times my whole body lurched like i was going to throw up, but just clear watery spit came out. That kept happening over and over. At one point there were two guys walking down the street and I faced MS. I heaved but kept my mouth shut as I was standing right across from him. He jumped so far out of the way. I didn't projectile vomit on him or anything. I was just so self conscience because all of the people around, so I went back in the gardens and hid between the tall sunflowers and willed myself to barf. Nothing. Finally the urgent pain went away and we had to get on the road to the airport. About 2 minutes after being on the road. It came back full force. God Bless my sweet husband who understands the pain i was going through. We luckily had a zip lock bag in the car because every time I would barf clear spit -- or I guess that's called sliming -- he would hold the bag for me to spit in as I was driving (I know how to drive around there and only my name was on the rental car-hence why I was even driving in the first place) We had to pull off the road and I actually had to bend over and take a tiny sip of water and it finally went through. Honestly that was horrifying. All for a little piece of hot dog bun. The area around my band was so sore and tight for the whole night and morning afterwards.

 I've read stories about people getting stuck and "sliming" and all of that jazz. But I had never had any of that happen. I've gotten stuck before and have had some painful moments that have taken my breath away but woah. I don't ever want that to happen again.

So that's really all on the band front. I've been back to the gym for the past few days and I'm so sore! I know that's a good thing, I just have to keep it up!! How has everyone else been! I am going to catch up on blogs this week to see what I've missed!!!

Welp, I Thought We Had This Fill Thing Under Control

So I had a new experience today. This one was extra special.

Like I mentioned yesterday my band was WIDE open again. I even ate a little bit of steak last night because it was so loose. I will say, that was a great decision on my part. yum.

This morning I wanted a mother of a fill. Everything was great, I drank a slim fast shake, took my chill pill, and drank about 90% of a bottle of water on my way to the doctor's office.

She said she gave me a .5ml fill which is what I've been averaging every 3-4 weeks. Didn't get dizzy and didn't even feel like I was going to pass out.

I left the place without an issue, and I called my mom and dad to see how my dad was feeling. While I was dialing I took a quick sip of water. It went down a little gurgly, but not a big deal.

Got to work, and saw that the car detailers were working in the parking lot today and decided to see how much it would be to get my car cleaned up.The price was pretty fair so I decided to go back out to an atm to get cash for it.

That's when all hell broke loose.

As soon as I pulled out of the parking lot I took the last sip of my water. Not gulp, just the last sip. Instantly stuck. Watery/pukey mouth, sweaty, tears, snot, horrifying pain in my band.

I kept breathing and trying to swallow. I've been stuck 2 times before and I knew it would pass. It just needed to get through. It was just flippin water! The pain kept getting worse. I had to pull over in a gas station because I was getting to a point of not being able to drive.

I got out of the car and started walking, my whole head was leaking... like snot, eyes just streaming water. There was so much pain but it absolutely had to pass. I mean the damn meatball I got stuck on a few weeks ago took half as much time to go through, what the hell was going on??

I called MS, because why would I call the dr first? Called the dr, they said to come right back. Then I called my best friend (SH) and told her to come get me. I couldn't even get words out right. It was like there was a car laying on my chest.

She said my voice sounded so wierd that she knew something was really wrong and she ran out of the office.  She showed up and drove me back to the doctor. It was good to have her there so I could sit there and try to burp.

I slowly got better as we made the 20 minute drive, and have the comic relief of SH there made it easier to deal.

I went in the saw the doctor, she is just wonderful. I told her what happened and was adamant that I didn't want to be unfilled. She told me to drink sip water very slowly for a few minutes and then she'd come back.

Every sip gurgled and hurt going down. Shit.

She came back in and I told her, feeling pretty defeated, how bad it felt. She took out .1 ml and I was 100% better. The brick feeling went away and water went down great. Holy crap .1 ml is all it took.

I'm super tired from the ordeal but man I'm glad I went back in. That would have been a nightmare to deal with all weekend.

Even though random crap like this keeps happening, I still think the band is the best thing I've ever done for myself.

Now let's see that scale move!!

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!

Little Bundles of Joy

I'm not talking about babies, people. These little lasagnas (inspired by pinterest) were so delicious.  I could eat a whole pan of lasagna if left alone. The portion control by using a muffin tin allowed me to only make enough for dinner tonight and tomorrow's lunches

Here's what you need:

- Won Ton wrappers
- Red Sauce
- 1 or 2 Meatballs, sliced -OR- any cooked ground meat/soy product
- Sliced Mozzarella
- Ricotta (Kraft Simply is the closest thing I've found to fresh - use fresh if you have access to it. Or you can use my sister's recipe found here)


Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray and stack in the following order:
1 wonton wrapper
Tiny dollop of ricotta
2 meatball slices
teaspoon of sauce
1/2 slice of mozzarella (cut the slices into quarters they fit perfectly)
Repeat

Bake at 375 for 20 minutes.

Each of mine were a little over 3 oz. 179 cals and 13 proteins. Leaves just enough room for a little spinach salad! Yum!!!

Vacation and Second Fill!

Vacation was wonderful! My sister and I have been taking trips to Disney for a long time and we just had the best group of people this time. My husband was so excited to be there and loves hitting every ride. My sister brought her hilarious friend that I just adored. We all had a really great time.

About 2 days before we left, I knew I needed a fill something fierce but I wasn't scheduled to go in until a week later (which was today) I had perfect restriction for the entire month and then BAM flood gates opened.

At first MS and I shared meals at the parks. Even half of the meals were way more than what we normally ate but we were ok with that. Well of course, sharing meals with someone gets old after a while. You don't always want the same things so towards the end we started ordering on our own.

We ate way too much. I started feeling guilty on one of our last nights when I ordered a lobster roll. I planned on eating the lobster salad with a fork and leaving the bread. But after my first bite of the super soft bread going down with no problem, it was very hard to stop.

The good news is, we ate like crap, but we walked about 50 miles over the entire week, so I came back and lost 1 lb.

It's crazy to me that you have to walk THAT much just to burn what we ate. I will say that even though I ate a lot, I still didn't eat half as much as I have on past trips!

The good news is that we were both scheduled for our 2nd fills today! We both were ready for her to shut it down! If you are a normal reader I"m sure you remember my first drama filled adjustment.

Well today, MS went first and he reported back that he didn't pass out and everything went fine. I took the atavan pill 30 minutes before I went to the doctor's office as directed. When I got there, she told me that MS had done great, and she actually had done quite a bit of research after our last visits to better understand our reaction the last time (When doctors say things like that I instantly fall in love. I have so much respect for a doctor that does continuous research and doesn't just sit on his/her heels acting like he/she is the end all be all.)

Anyways - she explained that there are nerves that go from our brains down and are on each side of our stomach. We both have an issue of sensitivity with that nerve. Some people don't have that issue, some people do. For me, when she fills my band, that nerve gets aggravated and causes me to pass out.

So today, I was standing up, she located the port with the fluoroscope and marked it on my belly. She inserted the needle and that hurt a little more than last time. But still no big deal.

As soon as she started filling the band I had the same feeling as last time, but I remained in control and didn't panic. I told her I was getting light headed but I was still ok, she acknowledged that I was starting to lose color but she kept going. Every few seconds I told her how I was feeling and then she was done.

She had me lie down and she tilted the table back. As soon as I laid down I was fine. I never actually passed out this time so I recovered much quicker.

She explained that next time she'll fill the band in even smaller increments until we can get it so the nerve doesn't react. I'm ok with the fact that this is just something I'll have to deal with on a monthly basis.

She said that she'd see me in a month and I explained what happened last week (flood gates) and she said it is perfectly ok for me to come in a week early if I'd like. Because she does this with the fluoroscope every time she will never over fill me and cause issues.

If you have not  had this surgery yet and are just in the research phase I would highly recommend choosing a doctor that uses a Fluoroscope for every fill. It gives the doctor the ability to see the fill and give you perfect restriction every month. From what I've read, it hurts a lot less because the doctor doesn't have to dig around for the port. Also, everyone has talked about finding the green zone and how hard it is to get there. I believe I was in the green zone for 3 full weeks last month and I'm positive that it was because of the fluoroscope.

Well, I should get back to work. I'm a little tired from that atavan pill, but I have lots to do today. I really missed everyone while I was on vacation and I can't wait to catch up on all of your blogs!

Eating After Restriction

Woah. Bring on the weight loss.

This is what I've eaten today and I don't think anything else is going to make it down besides some more water.


Spinach and Blueberry Smoothie w/ Designer Whey Protein

2 servings of Pretzel Thins w/ approx 2 tablespoons Chipotle Hummus

1 cup of hood countdown Chocolate Milk

Water

That's it. I'm serious.

MyFitnessPal.com

Yesterday, on Lapbandtalk.com, I asked what the best web based food tracker was and I had two main responses. Myfitnesspal.com and Sparkpeople. Being the serial dieter that I have been, spark people is old news to me. But MyFitnessPal.... now this is something to write about.

Pros: The mobile app is awesome. I can read a bar code on anything I'm eating and it will add the nutritional information for me. No bar code? The database is crazy. I mean they even have every kind of kroger brand cheese the place sells.

You can track your food and fitness. I still like having Endomondo for the GPS in case I walk outside.

At the end of each day it tells you your calorie count and gives you a message that says something like "if every day were like today you'll weigh XYZ by this date" I think that's cool

Cons: It doesn't let you track what you want to track like Spark People. For instance, I want to see how much protein I've had on my phone. But it only shows calories. I have to log into the website to check my protein.

On that same note, Myfitnesspal figures out what calories I need. My nutritionist told me to try for 800 a day but not to worry so much about that yet, and just too focus on getting protein from real food. Myfitnesspal says I need 1400+ calories and keeps giving me a warning for eating too little. I think it would be cool if these sites let you pick your weight loss method.

All in all I'd say it's pretty cool!!

Is this Really My Life?

I am officially a member of 2 gyms. WTF? Never in my life would I have ever thought I'd see this day. Don't get my wrong I absolutely love working out, but for whatever reason I have a history of working out for a few weeks and then never going back.

Honestly though, the reason I've decided to do this will make sense when I explain it. I work for an awesome company. They offer a wellness plan and as long as we as employees commit to visiting the gym 10 times over a 3 month period the company will subsidize gym memberships. It just so happens that I can join a group of YMCA's for $4 a month that automatically deducted from my paycheck. We didn't look to this option first because it was still close to $50 a month for MS.

This is perfect for me, because the YMCA offers hundreds of fitness classes every week and that is where Planet Fitness is a bit weak. MS and I can go together to planet fitness to work out for the rest of the year but if I feel like going to a Zumba, Yoga or spinning class first thing Saturday morning I can. In fact I have to go to at least 10 of them every quarter!

The group of people that I work with is super close, we all get along really well and have a blast together. There is a small group of us that have committed to each other that we'll be meeting at the YMCA before work 2 days a week. If someone doesn't show we'll give each other hell about it. I'm going to curse myself when I actually get up and go, but it will be worth it when I fit into a smaller pair of jeans.

All that being said. If anyone ever tells me that I took the easy way out with this lap band, I'll probably punch them in the face....and it will probably hurt because I'll be ripped.

Fast Foods For Bandsters!

Check this out! I just saw on the news that Chick Fil A is offering a healthier kids meal option and it looks like a really fabulous option for anyone with bariatric surgery. Yay!

Even in our soft food stage all of this food would be acceptable. Heck if the chicken is too dry, even a half container of chick fil a sauce would be fine.. I looked on the website and can't access the nutritional information yet. But I did see that you can order this meal with a lot of other options.

Of course there is White Milk and Chocolate Milk, you can choose from 6 grilled nuggets or 4 along with . The healthy  sides are Buddy fruits or a Fresh Fruit Cup.

While I was looking at the Chick Fil A website, I noticed a few other great options for us if ever caught in a bad situation.  Or heck, if we just want to go out for lunch with our friends.

Chicken Tortilla soup looks amazing, just skip the tortilla strips if you can't have those yet. I don't know how many ounces are in the medium cup, but we can probably get two meals out of it. There are 230 calories and 19 grams of protein in a medium serving. Looks like this one is a limited time offering.

There's also chicken salad that is available in a cup. The whole cup has 28 grams of protein! It is a bit high in calories (350) because of the mayo... but if you split it into two meals, it's a great option.

I'll make sure to update this post when I know what the serving sizes of the soup and chicken salad are.

I'm guessing both are 1 cup, which would be 2 meals for us now, but after a year or so that would be a perfectly portioned lunch packed with protein.

This is great if you're busy shopping and realize you really need to eat something. Or you just feel like going out to eat with your family or friends.

Special Delivery

I'm so excited!!!! Remember how I was saying I was sick of chocolate protein powder? The other day at the store I saw 2 lb jars of  a brand of  protein powder called Nectar but it was close to $40! Now i don't know about you, but I'm a sucker for packaging. This is what the description says on the back of the jar:

"Gone are the days of low quality whey protein. Gone are the days of those blah-tasting protein drinks that promise much but deliver little. Nectar once-and-for-all breaks the mold by combining Promina, the highest quality whey protein isolate ever developed, with a flavoring system that is so fruitilicious that you will never drink another whey protein shake ever again. If you like the refreshing taste of fruit juice, you'll love Nectar! With its mouthwatering fruit juice flavors, Nectar is truly a protein drink you will look forward to drinking each and every day. Whether it be Chocolate Truffle, Roadside Lemonade, Caribbean Cooler, Strawberry Kiwi, Lemon Tea, Fuzzy Navel, Strawberry Mousse, Vanilla Bean Torte, Twisted Cherry, Apple Ecstasy, or Cappuccino Latte. Nectar will keep you coming back for more. What's more? Well, Syntrax did something totally amazing by engineering Nectar to be so delicious that you can eat it right out of the container. Imagine putting a protein powder in your mouth and it tasting like candy. Imagine this protein powder having zero carbs and zero fat."

Are you kidding me? Is that not the best sales pitch for protein powder you've ever heard in your life? I wanted to buy one so bad but my inner cheap skate kept telling me it was a rip off. So instead I bought something I didn't want for less. boo. (that's getting returned of course)

I've come to realize that you should price shop protein powder. Like I said in an earlier post, we paid $26 for the same 2lb container of body fortress powder at kroger that was $14.99 at wal mart.

When I got home I searched for Nectar online and not only found 2 lb jars for $26 but I found this fab little variety pack for $16!!!! Reviews on a few Bariatric websites were all excellent, so I ordered my variety pack.

The package arrived today and it was like christmas all over again. I can't wait to try them

Look at all these flavors!

Just as I was typing this, I searched for that packaging message, and found this sample pack for $3 less than what I paid. Go figure! Here's the cheaper link:

http://www.mybariatricpantry.com/SYNTRAX_NECTAR_PROTEIN_POWDER_SAMPLES_p/nectar-sample.htm

2 More Protein Ideas

As a follow up to yesterday's post I have some good news. This morning I mixed 2 packets of the Designer Whey 2 Go with 12 oz of milk in my little GE blender. I was pretty pleased with the results.

Although the Designer Whey has a funny smell. If you can just kind of stop your self from smelling as you drink it, the taste is actually quite good. I drank all of the liquid but there was quite a bit of foamy texture left on top of the liquid. I didn't want to waste the protein, so I grabbed a spoon and to my surprise the foamy stuff was quite satisfying. It's like a mousse lemon dessert.

I'm not going to go out and by a bunch of Designer Whey because of it. But drinking/eating it this way was much better than drinking it with water.

Also - one of my fab followers, Bandedwithfavor left me a great tip that I wanted to share:

bandedwithfavor said...

I found this drink at GNC...it is called Isopure it is a liquid drink in a bottle 20fl oz with 40 grams of protein...many flavors and they are good...I figure after surgery this Friday those 20 oz bottles are going to be a good friend to me...will probably take all day to sip but at 40 grams of protein I am ok with that!! I would post a picture but I have no clue how to do that..sorry

I saw this too - it ran about $4.00 a bottle and all of the flavors sounded good. You can also buy this online. The link is below the picture.  I wish I could be one of those people who drinks and eats the same thing day in and day out, but I'm just not. I need variety in my life! Now that I have a few followers that have been banded for a while, please let me know any of your tips. I'll take any advice I can get!

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&q=isopure+zero+carb+drink&gs_upl=4434l6060l2l6542l12l6l3l2l2l0l175l790l1.5l11l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&biw=1257&bih=719&wrapid=tlif132559920715210&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=14099271619185465674&sa=X&ei=8wkDT-zeCsbs0gHNwJmADg&ved=0CHwQ8wIwAA#

Listening to My Body - Protein

At our pre-op appointment on December 8th, the nurse went over how we were to drink our protein and hydration fluids after the surgery. She explained to us that Protein was the most important thing for us to get down post-op because it would be the only thing giving us energy and helping us heal.

Since the surgery, each of us has consumed the proper amount of protein we were told to and some days we've had more. This past week I settled into a nice routine. Every day I'll drink about 58 grams of protein in my morning shake. I'll go for a 1.5 - 2 mile walk at 11:30 and I don't even feel hungry until about 3:00 pm. I'll eat something then (with more protein, because I don't want a repeat of that super hungry day) and then I'll eat dinner around 6:00 with another walk somewhere in there.

Well, yesterday I deviated from that routine and I paid for it dearly. Since we are transitioning to soft foods now, MS and decided to just have a slim fast shake (20 grams of protein) and then go to the gym. I felt pretty tired after the gym and decided to eat some salmon salad for lunch. I mixed 2 oz of salmon with a touch of mayo, dill and lemon. I started by eating too fast, and I knew it was happening. I told myself to slow down and when i didn't, I just got up and walked away from the table for a while. That really screwed me up because I was full and had only eaten less than 1 oz of salmon which is only 8.5 grams of protein. It was close to 1:00 at that point and I had only consumed 28.5 grams of protein and 178 calories for the whole day. Needless to say, I started to feel pretty icky.

We went on a little shopping trip until about 5:00 or so. It felt like 8:00. Just as I was about to say, "I think I'm going to go to bed." I asked MS what time it was, and he said 6:00. What the heck? I continued to feel worse. As I sat there I started to get agitated and actually a little angry.  I didn't have the brain power to read anything let alone blog about anything. I knew that wasn't like me at all. That scene from Steel Magnolias where Julia Roberts flips shit because of her blood sugar flashed in my head and I definitely knew I needed to do something. MS got up and made me a full protein shake and very quickly after I drank that I started to feel a lot better. Within an hour I felt good enough to write 3 or 4 posts and we stayed up past midnight. How crazy!

When you only have so much room in that little pouch above your stomach you have to put the right things in your body and you have to eat very slowly. I can see why people have issues with this surgery if they are not getting enough protein. I don't want to feel the way I did yesterday ever again. So if you are getting banded and you take anything from this blog, please let it be that you get enough protein every single day!

Tiny Everything!

I  bought myself a fun little gift today! We went to Bed Bath & Beyond today to pick up some more cocktail flatware and I found these wonderful little plates and bowls! I couldn't resist. To give you an idea of just how small these puppies are, I posted some pictures below of the new plates and bowls compared to my current sandwich plates. Can you believe that?! The dish on the left is an average sized sandwich plate!  

Each small plate was $1.99. The little bowls were an even better deal. Each bowl came with a spoon for $1.67. The most expensive piece was the box of cocktail forks that had 12 forks for $14.99.

My old sandwich plate vs. My new tiny dessert/appetizer plates!

Bed Bath and Beyond lets you use as many coupons as you'd like as long as you meet the requirements of the coupon. I was able to use 1 $5 off coupon along with 2-20% off coupons. What a steal!

According to our paperwork from the nutritionist one year after the surgery, we will be able to eat about 8 oz of food volume per meal. That is so crazy to me, but I don't care! I'm so happy to be losing weight and to have help controlling my portions with the band!

So Much to Talk About!

First and foremost, today was wonderful. My face feels skinnier, I had some serious wins at work today, and I walked 2 miles at lunch, then I came home to the most wonderful comments on this blog!

The walking really felt amazing today. I broke a great sweat and was out of breath when I got back. I have always loved working out and have been very athletic, but sadly over the past few years I  became so overweight that I was just plain embarrassed at how little I could actually do. I felt embarrassed getting winded on light walks with even my closest friends.

That's behind me and I'm never going back that far. I will struggle with my weight my whole life even with this band. But I will never allow myself to ever get so close to 300 pounds again. (there, I said it. ugh. My pre-op weight was 298. sick.)

Anyway, yesterday my struggle was being extra hungry all night. I nipped that in the butt today by changing my lunch choice up. Yesterday I had soup that only had 2 grams of protein for lunch. Today I packed Greek Yogurt (some more of that fab Fage plain) I mixed in peanut butter, splenda and a sprinkle of Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein powder. Oh man. Talk about amazing. I was ready for dinner when I got home but I didn't feel like I could gnaw my arm off, which I think we can all agree, is not a safe place for a fat person. ;)

Remember how I said I love cooking? Well I really do love it. If I were skinny, I would refer to myself as a foodie.  I love all things food. I can watch tv shows about it, spend hours looking at food blogs, and spend even more hours grocery shopping and cooking. I have made the promise to myself that I will continue to do that. I will just cook smaller portions and take much longer to eat and enjoy my work. It is therapeutic to me to be open and honest about this. I want to lose weight, I don't want to lose a passion.

That being said, I got my cook on tonight and did not overeat and did not over taste test. Is that a Non-Scale Victory? Well I'll be damned.

I've had a few recipe ideas in my head for the past few days and I've been craving beef for some reason. I went to the grocery store and spent $4.00 on ground beef, sour cream, and re fried black beans. Can you believe that it was enough food for our dinner tonight, lunch tomorrow and possibly dinner again tomorrow! With plenty of left over ingredients to prepare more food later. HA!

I couldn't buy ground beef in a small enough amount so the butcher just gave me 1 premade hamburger patty. I knew that was going to be tough not to pop ground beef in my mouth while cooking so my sweet husband helped me cook. I asked him to keep me from tasting anything :) We make a good team.

Dinner turned out amazing. MS and I just sat and savored our little tiny dinner with our tiny forks. So, check out the links for Mexican Mush, and Smooth Lasagna! I'll probably continue to make these recipes as we move onto soft foods.

Thank you so much for following my journey, reading about my drama and cheering me on. I can't even explain how great it feels!

If There is No Struggle, There is No Progress ~ Frederick Douglass

The scale did reward me today with a 1 lb loss! YAY! So I went on a 2 mile walk at lunch to celebrate. Onward Bound!

First Small Struggle

I'm struggling a bit tonight. I've definitely been a lot hungrier today. I think my issue is that I drank all of my protein in the morning and didn't have as much with my lunch or dinner and added in some work outs.

After we ate our soup tonight for dinner, I wanted more to eat. So I asked MS if we could just go on a walk. I was hoping that would help!! After the walk, I drank a bottle of water and that didn't help either. Ha! So I think I'm going to turn in for the night.

The GREAT news about today is that with the addition of our walk tonight, I have walked 2.62 miles today all around 3 mph!

Let's hope that I get a little reward for  tomorrow when I step on the scale!

Protein Pudding - Cheesecake? Maybe.

I think I might like Fage Total 2% Plain Greek Yogurt the best so far. I'm still not crazy about just eating it plain. But I've been avoiding the containers that have a fruity addition on the side because of the amount of sugar and that I can't eat a whole container just yet. I love adding powders and mixing it with flavors and honestly it's excellent with just a packet of splenda.

When I add splenda it makes me feel like I'm having a little cheesecake. But who knows, it is possible that I'm delusional from the tiny amounts of food I have consumed this week :)

I'll just go ahead and make it a mission to taste test the brands and I'll report back on that when I can!
Meanwhile, if you go to the Fage website, it looks like they occasionally offer coupons.

Protein Pudding - Peanut Butter Pudding

1.5 oz of plain or vanilla Greek Yogurt
.5 oz of low sugar peanut butter
1 packet of splenda

Mix  until smooth. Heaven

*you can add a little protein powder to this if you need to