Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

Well this was a very interesting day. I am SOOOOO glad I didn't get the fill a few weeks ago. I cooked up a storm. I made green beans, macaroni and cheese, pineapple casserole and spinach Waldorf salad with apple cinnamon dressing. We took it all over to my Mom's. There we were greeted with Turkey, ham, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes with gravy, carrot souffle, rolls, another salad, egg nog, soft drinks, sweet tea, hot chocolate and THREE pies along with cookies, oh and piggies. Yes piggies. They are a meat mixture that has rice and seasonings wrapped in cabbage leaf and cooked in sauerkraut. It's German and absolutely delish!! We had large plates and salad size plates. I chose the smaller plate my kids were using. I was very good. It was nice spending time with the family. A little sad that some family thinks we are there to wait on them hand and foot. Seriously, get off your keister and help clean up for once. No dice. Same as last year. Oh well.

I had 1 slice of turkey, 1/2 a piggie, a tablespoon of mac n cheese, a tablespoon of pineapple casserole and spinach Waldorf salad. I drank vitamin water zero. This was around noon. I didn't eat anything else and I wasn't hungry. That all changed when I got home around 7pm and was ravenous. I heated up some meat spaghetti I made yesterday and once again am satisfied.

Tomorrow I am making a ham. I made extras of the food I made for Thanksgiving so we have all our sides tomorrow for our usual Black Friday tradition.

I have been taking my Biotin daily. Some days it seems to be working and I have less hair falling out and other days it's like I am going bald. I started using John Frieda's Voluminous hair creme. I really like it and it makes my hair look thick without a heavy greasy look and feel.

I also started taking Vitamin D supplement. D3 to be exact. A few months back I was diagnosed with a severe Vitamin D deficiency. I took the prescription supplement of 50000IU a week. I noticed that my stomach was getting flatter and not as flabby also my bone and joint pain went away and my doctor said I had arthritis in my knees but nothing about a deficiency. When I stopped taking the supplement after 12 weeks I noticed after a few weeks my bones and joints started hurting again and my stomach become more pronounced. I had the muffin top back. Well mine is more of a pop over tummy. I had the thought about Vitamin D. Then came the news stories about Vitamin D and it's connection with losing belly fat and weight. So I am now taking D3 as a supplement again. I am taking 5000IU per day. I am hoping this helps me. I will keep you updated.

Ok...enough for now. I have a splitting headache so I am off to get some rest.

Band-a-monium

Well, I can say for certainty that my band needs some serious adjusting. I did the most horrible thing the other day which tells me without this band I would be right back where I was. I got a western bbq bacon cheeseburger from Steak n Shake. I planned on taking off the bun and eating the meat for a treat. Well I thought I would try a bite with the bun. BIG MISTAKE!! The mistake being there was no restriction. NONE!! It went down just fine. I ate the WHOLE thing, bun and all. I should not have been able to do that.

My doctor lowered my BP meds and took away my water pill. I started to swell and I started to gain weight. I put on 11 lbs in one weekend. I am now back down to where I was so the good news is I haven't gained but I haven't lost either. This will be the 1st time I haven't lost anything since the surgery which is discouraging. It took all I had to get the 11 lbs back off.

It isn't like I am eating constantly but when I do eat I can eat MUCH MUCH larger portions and I don't stop. I am getting hungry about every 3 hours when before it was 5-6 hours. I don't go back until Dec 2nd which I thought I was glad about since Thanksgiving was coming up. I didn't want to get stuck at the dinner table and have to get up and get relief so to speak. Now I am thinking I need to go get a fill and chance it and be very careful. I think I will call them tomorrow and see if I can get anything for Tuesday or Wednesday. If I get it Wednesday I can't eat meat, bread or pasta for 24 hrs so that could be a problem. I am going to have think long and hard on this one.

I also don't want to eat much at the dinner because I have family who I am sure will make comments about how much I eat. They are on a "diet supplement" that they now sell that they said made them lose 20 lbs in a few weeks. Not healthy in my opinion but that is their choice and if something was that great it would in my opinion be FDA approved so it could help others. Just my thoughts. They like to compare so I guess they will say look I take this supplement that is cheaper than your surgery and natural and I have lost all this weight. I don't like to talk about my surgery. I don't think it needs to be the focus. What I do to lose weight and get healthy is my business and I don't feel I need to explain it or bring it up everytime I am in a group setting. If someone happens to know and they ask me questions I am more than happy to answer but I NEVER bring it up myself. The Band is a part of my life and will be for the rest of my life so there is no need to discuss it whenever I eat. I guess I am tired of people who "think" they know about the surgery telling me what I am doing wrong or that I am eating too much. Really people, I think I know what I can and cannot have.

Today is my son's 21st birthday and he wants to go to a buffet. Not a good thing for me since I am able to eat loads of food. It is going to be a very trying day.

Wish me luck....

P.S. one final note...I did get my first random compliment. Someone I haven't seen much and one that I don't think knows I had surgery said I was getting skinny. Well skinny is a relative term since we are both quite heavy already but the fact is she noticed and she is the 1st person to actually notice and that I didn't feel she was saying it because she knew I had surgery. I felt it was a real observation and compliment. It felt good to hear it.

Stuck Stuck Stuck like a big ole truck

WOW this has been a HORRIBLE week. I have gotten stuck over and over. I didn't get a fill so I have no idea why. At one point I was able to eat a lot this past few weeks but lately it has been difficult. The hot beverage does work though people. It has saved me many a trip to the bathroom at a restaurant or at some one's house or even at work.

My doctor has reduced my blood pressure meds once again and the only reason I am still on one of the meds is because it is beneficial for diabetes in sugar control. So I am on the minimal dose for that one. The other med is for my heart rate. I am staying on that one. No more water pill. I am not sure how I feel about that. I have been on a water pill for 9 1/2 years since I had a spontaneous collapsed lung (pneumothorax). I was diagnosed as Congestive Heart Failure (CHF). I didn't have trauma or coughing fit. I was sitting on the couch one evening. Kids were asleep and hubby had taken our oldest son on a Boy Scout camping trip. I sat forward to get up and had a sharp pain in my back. Suddenly I couldn't move. I was unable to breathe. I was stuck in one position all night. I couldn't reach the phone and my kids were young and sound asleep. I took short shallow breaths all night. I had no idea what it was. I thought I just had a really bad "catch" in my back. I went to work on that Monday, still in pain and ended up leaving to go to urgent care. They said I had pleurisy. The treatment didn't work. So I finally got into my doctor's and he did an xray. He showed me my partially collapsed lung. He said it obviously had worked itself out a little since I was able to breathe a little better. That is my CHF in a nutshell. Since then, I swell easily and walking across the parking lot or up the short flight of stairs at home causes heavy breathing. It may be why I fall asleep as soon as I get done exercising.

Anyway, I guess I am concerned that without the water pill my symptoms will get worse. We shall see because if it does don't think I won't be high-tailing it to the docs again.

Wish me luck...

Continuing on...

I am really glad I didn't get a fill. My heartburn is clearing up but I am starting to get stuck more often. Not stuck bad but just enough to make me uncomfortable and have to stop eating.

I am thinking about starting ZUMBA. I don't know if I should sign up for a class or get the DVD to do at home. I am thinking at home. I just need the motivation to actually do it and stick to it. I have not been exercising like a should. I have the recumbent bike and hardly use it. I am hanging clothes on it right now. I keep using the excuse that I will use it in the mornings after I get the kids off but I don't. I reason that I am running late for work. I tell myself I will use it once I get my "exercise room" painted and rearranged. That hasn't happened yet. I have a treadmill in the room. I also have an elliptical in the basement and a recumbent bike in my living room. What can I possibly do to motivate myself to do this? I also have Wii Fit and I don't use that. I know I am just lazy when it comes to exercise. That and after I exercise I fall asleep. No kidding. I don't think I get enough oxygen when I am exercising and when I am done I get really lethargic and lay down and go to sleep. Any one had any ideas on what I can do to get my butt motivated to stick with something? I know...find something you love. Well I don't like ANY form of exercise. Again it ALL makes me sleepy. It's almost like a downer for me.

Let me know what you all think.

Made a meatloaf casserole this week. It was delish. Probably not the best thing for banders but it didn't get stuck. I am not a bander who eats light minimal meals. I eat a salad plate size serving at every meal just about. Meatload casserole is a meatloaf on the bottom then layer of mashed potatoes. You can throw in a layer of vegetable if you want. I just put the veggie on the side. Very good. Check my recipe section.

One thing about the band is that I control it, it does not control me. Meaning...I eat regular foods just smaller portions. I will generally try to make everything with lower fat/calorie ingredients whenever possible. I want my life to be just that. MY LIFE. The band controls some aspects like what foods get stuck and how much I eat but for the most part I eat whatever I like. Just like with any diet, if I want it I need to go ahead and have it otherwise I will break down and have it later in a larger portion.

I am going mexican/southwestern for my food choices this week. I am making nacho casserole and southwestern Chicken for the week so that I have lunch and food when the family eats things I can't have, such as pork chops. My husband wants chops. Chops no matter what get stuck unless they are baked in a gravy. He also wants pot roast. That I can't have no matter what. Not going down that route again. So not worth it. I will eat the cooked veggies though. Planning ahead and putting the food in potioned containers helps.

Please let me know any casserole ideas you have and any exercise ideas you have.

Still doing down, down, down

Well went for my follow up and I am down 4.5 lbs. in a month. Not a lot but still plenty. I have been having heartburn for the last few weeks so I decided to not get a fill. I am going to take protonix for a few weeks to get this cleared up. So I go back in 4 weeks.

I have had a good work/food week. After that heavy Paula Deen buffet it was nice to eat lighter fare. I did however had some mac n cheese from Famous Dave's. Awesome stuff. Mac n cheese with corn and jalapenos. YUM!! Hmm...maybe that is the source of my heartburn??

I am cutting this short. I have to head out. More to come...