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!
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Saturday, December 31, 2011
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.
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| 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!
Getting Skinny & Rich!
Wow. I knew we spent a lot of money on food, but didn't think much of it. I am definitely seeing the savings now and I'm blown away. Let me just do a quick calculation and see how this all pans out.
I used to spend at least $100 a week on groceries for the house. Sometimes more if I didn't plan right.
MS and I would go out to dinner a minimum of 2 nights a week, and out to lunch on the weekends more times than not. Let's just guess that to be $100 for the 2 dinners and $50 for the two lunches. On top of that I would almost always grab lunch out just to get out of the office. That could be anywhere from $5 to $15. So let's just average it out to $10 a weekday so $50 a week. MS also said that once or twice a week he would stop at the gas station close to work to get a snack, a soft drink and peanuts or a slim jim. He said that would average about $4 making that $8 a week.
oh goodness... let's see the results:
We were spending a whopping $308.00 a week on food!!! HOLY CRAP! Holy crap. $1232 a month!
That's just on average. That doesn't include holidays, special occasions, or parties that I would go all out for!
Well, the great news is that it will never happen again! I would imagine we probably won't spend more than $100 a month on food for quite some time. I can't wait to see that money start piling up!
I used to spend at least $100 a week on groceries for the house. Sometimes more if I didn't plan right.
MS and I would go out to dinner a minimum of 2 nights a week, and out to lunch on the weekends more times than not. Let's just guess that to be $100 for the 2 dinners and $50 for the two lunches. On top of that I would almost always grab lunch out just to get out of the office. That could be anywhere from $5 to $15. So let's just average it out to $10 a weekday so $50 a week. MS also said that once or twice a week he would stop at the gas station close to work to get a snack, a soft drink and peanuts or a slim jim. He said that would average about $4 making that $8 a week.
oh goodness... let's see the results:
We were spending a whopping $308.00 a week on food!!! HOLY CRAP! Holy crap. $1232 a month!
That's just on average. That doesn't include holidays, special occasions, or parties that I would go all out for!
Well, the great news is that it will never happen again! I would imagine we probably won't spend more than $100 a month on food for quite some time. I can't wait to see that money start piling up!
Soft Food Phase 1
Like I mentioned, we met with our nutritionist on Friday. She was very pleased with our progress and mentioned that we were doing so well because of our protein intake. She said people really struggle with that. I have to say, if we would have followed the protein instructions they gave us to the tee pre-op, we would have spent a lot more money and probably wouldn't have gotten all of our protein in either. MS told her that adding protein powder to already pre-mixed shakes was what made us successful.
For this soft food phase, we will still have a protein shake for breakfast. It's the easiest thing for us, and honestly, we drank those EASAdvantEdge shakes for breakfast during the week for a couple of years prior to this surgery. Although we'll be drinking the shakes, the nutritionist wants us to try to keep gettting more and more protein from actual food.
So over the next two weeks we are still aiming to get 50-70 grams of protein. All of the following foods are recommended:
Eggs
Shredded or Soft Cheese
Flakey Whitefish or Tuna
Tender cooked Beef, pork or poultry
Canned Lentils or Beans
Fat Free Refried Beans
Low Fat Deli Meat
Low fat yogurt, cottage cheese or ricotta
Tofu
Imitation Crab Meat
We'll start by eating 2-4 oz of protein per meal. After we try proteins one at a time, then we can start adding soft veggies and soft canned fruits. For example I'll have 2 oz of protein and 2 oz of soft veggies. When we start eating veggies, it is imperative that we eat our protein first.
To give you an idea of what 2 ounces looks like:
Yep, a salad dressing cup! I used to ask for like 3 of those things full of ranch dressing for salads I ate in restaurants!
For this soft food phase, we will still have a protein shake for breakfast. It's the easiest thing for us, and honestly, we drank those EASAdvantEdge shakes for breakfast during the week for a couple of years prior to this surgery. Although we'll be drinking the shakes, the nutritionist wants us to try to keep gettting more and more protein from actual food.
So over the next two weeks we are still aiming to get 50-70 grams of protein. All of the following foods are recommended:
Eggs
Shredded or Soft Cheese
Flakey Whitefish or Tuna
Tender cooked Beef, pork or poultry
Canned Lentils or Beans
Fat Free Refried Beans
Low Fat Deli Meat
Low fat yogurt, cottage cheese or ricotta
Tofu
Imitation Crab Meat
We'll start by eating 2-4 oz of protein per meal. After we try proteins one at a time, then we can start adding soft veggies and soft canned fruits. For example I'll have 2 oz of protein and 2 oz of soft veggies. When we start eating veggies, it is imperative that we eat our protein first.
To give you an idea of what 2 ounces looks like:
Yep, a salad dressing cup! I used to ask for like 3 of those things full of ranch dressing for salads I ate in restaurants!
Great Deal at Planet Fitness
We joined Planet Fitness today because they have an amazing deal going on right now - $99 for a whole year. We shopped around for a bit and that was the absolute best deal anywhere around. I know they have quite a few locations across the country, so hopefully some of you can take advantage of it as well.
We walked for a little over 30 minutes on the treadmills. We don't go back to see our surgeon until Jan 17, so we're not going to do anything but walk until then. Once he gives us the ok to start working out a little harder we both plan on doing more strength training.
Since I've been yo-yo dieting my whole life, I'm used to seeing my body lose weight. Unfortunately I'm noticing my skin seems a little looser this time around, so I want to do anything I can to prevent extra skin. I've read that strength training helps with the look of loose skin and I'm also going to use lots of moisturizer with Vitamin E and/or coco butter. If anyone out there has tips, please share!
Happy losing, my friends!
We walked for a little over 30 minutes on the treadmills. We don't go back to see our surgeon until Jan 17, so we're not going to do anything but walk until then. Once he gives us the ok to start working out a little harder we both plan on doing more strength training.
Since I've been yo-yo dieting my whole life, I'm used to seeing my body lose weight. Unfortunately I'm noticing my skin seems a little looser this time around, so I want to do anything I can to prevent extra skin. I've read that strength training helps with the look of loose skin and I'm also going to use lots of moisturizer with Vitamin E and/or coco butter. If anyone out there has tips, please share!
Happy losing, my friends!
Before and After Picture Bust
We took some photos of each other the night before our surgery. Now that MS has lost just over 29 lbs and I have lost 22 lbs I thought it would be fun to post some after photos. To me we both have shown quite a bit of weight loss in our faces, necks and bellies.
We took progress photos today and I spent 20 minutes trying to get them in a good format. When I looked at them I was disappointed. I don't think the photos represent how much we've really lost. Could be that we are wearing different clothes or they were taken in different ways.
When I look at MS he looks a lot thinner than what it seems in the photo and I feel the same about how I look. So for the sake of motivation, I'm going to skip posting the after photos until a week or two more.
I feel like we've worked too hard to post pics that make me feel like we haven't come that far because we have!
We took progress photos today and I spent 20 minutes trying to get them in a good format. When I looked at them I was disappointed. I don't think the photos represent how much we've really lost. Could be that we are wearing different clothes or they were taken in different ways.
When I look at MS he looks a lot thinner than what it seems in the photo and I feel the same about how I look. So for the sake of motivation, I'm going to skip posting the after photos until a week or two more.
I feel like we've worked too hard to post pics that make me feel like we haven't come that far because we have!
Friday, December 30, 2011
Mushies - Smooth Lasagna
I made this last night along with the mexican mush! I can't believe that 1 hamburger patty was enough ground beef for MS and I to have 2 meals plus left overs! My mom is Italian, so this is a feel good mushie meal for me.
This makes a little more than three servings.
2 oz of ground beef, turkey or chicken, browned and drained
1 clove Garlic grated
1/2 cup Wolfgang Puck Creamy Vodka Sauce (or your favorite)
1 tablespoon of cottage cheese (only if you have it, you can skip this if you don't have it)
Salt and Pepper
Italian Seasoning
Dash of Splenda
3 tablespoons Kraft Simply Ricotta Cheese
(I having a food scale to make this, but you can measure it out by the tablespoon if you need to)
In a small skillet brown the meat season with salt and pepper and drain. Do Not over cook. Wipe out excess grease from the pan
return the meat to the pan and grate garlic over the meat and season it with as a lot of italian seasoning
Stir in the sauce and 1 tablespoon of cottage cheese let simmer on low heat for a bit so the flavors can meld. Add two small dashes of splenda (not even half of 1 packet)
When sauce has simmered for a few minutes remove from heat and blend in food processer or blender until it as smooth as possible.
Add 1 tablespoon of Kraft Simply Ricotta cheese to a small bowl and cover with 1/3 of the sauce and enjoy.
I must say Kraft Simply Ricotta Cheese is the absolute best packaged Ricotta cheese I have ever tasted. It is incredibly close to a fresh made batch. I highly reccomend it.
This makes a little more than three servings.
2 oz of ground beef, turkey or chicken, browned and drained
1 clove Garlic grated
1/2 cup Wolfgang Puck Creamy Vodka Sauce (or your favorite)
1 tablespoon of cottage cheese (only if you have it, you can skip this if you don't have it)
Salt and Pepper
Italian Seasoning
Dash of Splenda
3 tablespoons Kraft Simply Ricotta Cheese
(I having a food scale to make this, but you can measure it out by the tablespoon if you need to)
In a small skillet brown the meat season with salt and pepper and drain. Do Not over cook. Wipe out excess grease from the pan
return the meat to the pan and grate garlic over the meat and season it with as a lot of italian seasoning
Stir in the sauce and 1 tablespoon of cottage cheese let simmer on low heat for a bit so the flavors can meld. Add two small dashes of splenda (not even half of 1 packet)
When sauce has simmered for a few minutes remove from heat and blend in food processer or blender until it as smooth as possible.
Add 1 tablespoon of Kraft Simply Ricotta cheese to a small bowl and cover with 1/3 of the sauce and enjoy.
I must say Kraft Simply Ricotta Cheese is the absolute best packaged Ricotta cheese I have ever tasted. It is incredibly close to a fresh made batch. I highly reccomend it.
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