Family Reunion

This weekend was a family reunion. The first such event in more than 25 years. Needless to say I usually only see these people at funerals. No one has seen me since the last funeral and I was 120 lbs heavier. Would they notice? Yes and no. A few noticed and most did not. A little disheartening.

This reunion was a cookout at the park. They supplied the meats and we brought side dishes. I made jalapeno mac and cheese and cheesecake brownies. For my meal I made cashew chicken salad. I wanted to make sure I had food. I also brought my waters. It was a beautiful day. I got slightly stuck but it went down. I ate a cup of chicken salad (40g of protein) and a cheesecake brownie. That's it.
They had smoked pork, which I can't eat and hot dogs which also I cannot eat. Glad I brought the chicken salad.

It was a great time with family but the pictures got me a little depressed. I saw the pictures and I saw myself still very heavy. Lately when I take pics I looked like I lost weight but for some reason in these pics this weekend I looked heavy. I haven't gained weight so I am at a loss. Am I seeing things? Now I am bummed about it. I know I haven't gained weight because my jeans I wore today I had to keep hiking them up. I won't be able to wear them anymore, too big. I know pics tend to show more weight on you but really lately I thought I looked decent in pics and didn't mind taking pics. Now, I don't want pics taken. Mental?

Need to do some rethinking and reassessing. I am definitely thinking of getting my fill after my project at work is over. Mid October maybe. Got to get back on track.

Can't believe I have neglected my blog

I have been extremely busy for a while now. So busy, in fact, I haven't had time to update my blog.

No additional weightloss to report. I am finally able to eat without getting stuck at every meal. It is a huge relief but I am still wavering between, to get a fill or not. I am just enjoying eating again and not that I am overeating just being able to eat normally.

I had one week where I was able to take my lunch daily instead of running out. My friend was on vacation. For the first time I was able to get the stubborn 5 lbs off and kept it off. Eating out is my enemy. When I eat out daily during the week I put on 5lbs and then lose it over the weekend only to gain it again the next week. I am trying to bring my lunch more often now that my friend is back from vacation. She isn't too happy about that but I have to do it for me.
 Since starting my new job in June, I now get up earlier, eat breakfast earlier and therefore am hungrier for lunch earlier whereas, before, I didn't eat lunch until 1 or 2pm. I am now hungry at 11 or 11:30am. So I have been bringing snacks like yogurt or cheese sticks. I did go out this week and got 3 bowls of chili from Logan's Roadhouse. I love their chili. It has 13g of protein. So I had chili three days. Still kept those stubborn 5 lbs off. Then on Friday we went to IHOP and I got an omelette and bam a few pounds came back. Crazy!!

I need to bring my lunch or get foods ahead of time that are good choices, like the chili.

Life keeps me busy with football, jazz band for my son and cheerleading for my daughter. I need to get back to my roots of keeping prepared. I still take my lunch tote everywhere with drinks in it at least so I always have my Vitamin Water but I need to be more proactive and more assertive with bringing my lunch despite how it upsets my friend. I do try to warn her by emailing her the night before.

Being prepared is the key to success. Bringing foods rather than buying is always the better choice.

For those reading my blog...if you aren't able to post a comment, you are not alone. I can't respond to any posted comments either. I am working to get this resolved. If you just want to email me directly, feel free at latinalov7@insightbb.com.

A long long week

This eating out has to stop! I can't keep doing it day after day. I try to keep on track but it is no good.

I eat maybe every 4-5 hours. I was wondering why I was so hungry at 11:30 am everyday when before I wasn't hungry until at least 1pm. Duh...I now eat breakfast at 6:30am when I used to eat at 8:30am.

I made another crockpot meal and the family loved it. I had no problems eating it and it had pasta in it. I will be adding it to my recipe page. It is chicken stroganoff. Yummy!

Ok, here's a touchy subject...constipation. It happens to everyone regardless if they had surgery. It happens more often with someone who has had surgery. Gas and constipation go hand in hand for me. I cut out or limit my veggies and try to focus on protein and I get constipated. There's no happy medium. I can hold onto about 5 lbs when I am constipated. I need to find balance in this area or add metamucil to my diet which I really don't want to do.

Still looking for recipes. If you have any send them to latinalov7@insightbb.com

Thanks everyone!!

The week in review

Well, it didn't go as planned. Monday I took my lunch and life was good. Tuesday was our Mid-Manager's retreat. BORING!! Lunch consisted of grilled chicken, bbq pulled pork, potato salad, cole slaw, green beans, salad, and cookies. I got a small piece of chicken, a tsp of pork, potato salad, green beans, a little cole slaw, a little salad and cookies. I always get a smidgeon of each because I never know what will go down and what won't. It went okay. I ate 3/4 of the chicken, pork, potato salad, green beans. I ended up eating about 3/4 of my plate. Wednesday my hubby and I went to the state fair. I had several lemon shake-ups. LOVE EM! I had 1/2 a cheeseburger and some aussie cheese fries. A little caramel corn and that was it. Not too bad. Lunch on Thursday was from our company caterer which was angus patty (like salisbury steak) mashed potatoes and salad. I ate all of the meat and a little of the rest. Friday was QDoba so I did not keep to my plan to bring lunch everyday.

Next week I should have a better shot at it. I start a computer programming class next week, Mon/Wed/Fri, during lunch so I have to bring my lunch if I want to eat. That leaves Tues/Thurs. I think I can make it work. I also take 2 night computer programming classes each week.

So, for this next week I once again am going to try and get my protein in.

It will be hard because of my son's football and in a few weeks it will be his football and my daughter's cheer.

The daily buzz....

Hunger is not a problem these days as much as getting the protein in is. I believe that I haven't lost any weight because I am not getting enough protein. So, my goal this week is to increase my protein daily to get in at least 120g a day. I need to find my niche again and this is the only thing I can think is causing me not to lose weight. I am not overeating, if anything I may be under eating because I am not hungry very often.

So far today...

B: eggs, laughing cow cheese (28g protein)

L: McDonald's Angus deluxe snack wrap (20g protein)
D: will be meatloaf casserole. I don't know if I have calculated the protein in that or not. Need to check on it.

Even if dinner is 20g of protein that will leave me short on protein for the day since we should have at least 70g of protein a day. What to do, what to do? I am usually not more hungry than this. I am not a fan of protein bars or protein shakes. I prefer real food to get my protein. I am making spinach artichoke dip for snack so that will add another 7-10g of protein.

Another thing I have been or haven't been doing lately is eating my protein first. I am a plate grazer. I eat a little of this and that all over the plate. When I first had surgery I put only protein on my plate first then veggies after I ate the protein. I don't anymore. I fix my entire plate and hence I graze on different ones instead of eating my protein first. So I have identified two potential causes for me not losing weight. This week I will put them to the test.

Speaking of tests, Tuesday will be a big test for me. I have a Mid-Management Retreat. My first one. It is an all day event at a facility away from work. We eat breakfast & lunch there. I know for breakfast they are having ham biscuits. I plan on eating my breakfast before I leave home. So I may eat a little fruit. Lunch will be chicken. I can do chicken. The test is that I don't get stuck. This retreat is with dozens and dozens of people so the stuck potential is high and close proximity to the bathroom is low. Fingers crossed.

I also plan on going to the state fair this week. Wow how will I ever resist the krispy kreme hamburger on donuts or the fried kool aid? Yeah I don't see them as a problem, yuck!  I used to love the ribeye sandwich, too tough for me to chew now, and the pork sandwich. Pork gets stuck. Fried broccoli and cheese and fried cauliflower, can't have. I loved the fries with cheese, bacon and ranch. Can't really eat fries anymore either. Oh and funnel cakes or elephant ears?? Bread product, not likely. I'm really not sure what I will get to eat. I went last year and got a healthy veggie plate from one of the stands and was bored and disappointed. I mean part of the fun of going to the fair is the fair food. I might try a Gyro. Never had that. Burger without the bun I guess. Not too appealing at the fair. Looking forward to the lemonade shake ups. YUM! Lots of walking to be had there so I will get my exercise in. Not too many places to sit down and veg out. I can have the sliced apples with hot caramel. Yummy. We are going sans kids so I am looking forward to enjoying some time with hubby just perusing the fair seeing what we want to see when we want to see it.

The rest of the week will be ordinary. I just have to bring my lunch. I have problems with a friend who wants to get lunch daily. We don't actually go eat somewhere, we just run and pick it up so it's a lot of fast food. Famous Daves (BBQ place), QDoba(southwestern) which is actually high protein(45-50g) so I don't mind that one, Homerun Burger, Jason's Deli. Other than QDoba none are good choices for me. I want to bring my lunch all week that I am there but how to tell her without pissing her off?? She uses our lunch time to vent about how crappy things are for her since I left the unit. I feel bad for her but I am not sorry I left. I had a great opportunity and took it and am extremely happy where I am at. Anyway, I need to think of myself and where I am heading both health wise and job wise. This time I come first. I am off work two days this week so that only leaves two days to bring my lunch. I can compromise to Qdoba one day but the other will be my lunch from home.

Now I am off to get laundry finished for another school week for the kids and work week for me.

MIA for a while

I have been busy busy for quite a while. My new job keeps me busy all day but now that I get off work at 5pm I have more time for my family. My son just started football. He's in middle school. You know he played flag football for 3 years. He's in 7th grade and is playing his first year of full contact football.
Now, my son is by no means a big boy. He's tall but lean and they have him as a linebacker. So sad really. Some of the boys he's played against he said he just prayed they didn't fall on him. They were HUGE!!

Well we have been going to his games which are about 2-3 games per week. My daughter starts cheer at the end of the month so once we get football over we will be going to the elementary school basketball games that she cheers at.

 My new pic from last week

Band news-- 
Nothing. Absolutely nothing. No gain, no loss. I thought I was getting restriction back but no, it's gone again. I guess I just need to suck it up and go get a fill. I hate to shell out the $150. As I have said before I don't have restriction. I eat fine for about 5-10 min then BAM. A wall slams down and the food prairie dogs back up my throat. Sometimes there is pain in the chest with the food coming back up. Sliming is a real possibility. Throwing up is almost a certainty.
I don't overeat though. I think because most of the time the food comes back up I end up not getting enough food. I have added some protein drinks on those day. I still am not fond of protein drinks.

My food intake today:

B: a scrambled egg, wedge of laughing cow @ 6:30 am

L: a deluxe angus snack wrap from McDonalds @ 12:30 pm

D: Chicken breast, cauliflower @ 7:00 pm

Snack: snack pack of pringles, rice krispie treat.
Vitamin Water Zero.

I only eat when I am hungry so it's not as if I am hungry often. The food I do eat stays with me for a long time. Sometimes I force lunch or dinner because I am not hungry but I know if I don't get enough calories/fat in a day I can't function and my body will revert to starvation mode. I had that happen when I was 17 yrs old. It is not pretty. I was very sick. I didn't know at the time but later found out the cause. I had sores in my mouth and down my throat. It was so bad I couldn't eat or drink for 3 weeks and I couldn't even swallow my own saliva. I spit in a tissue. I ended up in the hospital with collapsed veins. When they were finally able to get an IV in me I was 70% better in no time due to the fluids. Test revealed I was in starvation mode. I also learned after spending a week in the hospital that I am allergic to artificial sweeteners like splenda, aspartame, etc. Stevia doesn't bother me because it is natural.

Tomorrow is a new day. I need to get this figured out. I guess I am back to trial and error. More error than anything it seems.

I think its time for another fill

But I am still on the fence about it. After weeks if not a few months of consistently getting stuck I have been able to eat bread lately. Not a lot but still, something I don't usually do.

For instance, when I eat egg salad on toast, I can eat 2 slices of toast. Last night I grilled burgers and I ate 2/3 of a burger including the bun. But that's all I ate for dinner. Today we got HomeRun Burgers. I usually take the bun off and eat the meat and toppings. Today I cut the burger in 1/2 and picked off most of the top bun and ate half of it with about 6 cajun fries. Now the kicker is I seem to get full faster when I eat some sort of bread with my meal as part of the meal like the toast or the bun.

Tonight's dinner is Chicken and Black Bean Quesadilla.

My total food intake for today was:

Breakfast:2 tbsp egg salad on 1 slice of toast.

Lunch: 1/2 Cheeseburger w/ 6 cajun fries

Dinner: 1/2 of a Chicken/Black bean quesadilla (maybe as I have eaten 1 wedge and may not finish the 2nd wedge yet)

I feel restriction which I haven't felt in months. Not the stuck feeling but the full feeling. It's nice to feel it again.

Ok, I got a new phone for my birthday so it takes pics front and back. Sweet! Here is today's pic of me. I took it at work today. After the pic I called up the salon and made an appointment for a cut and color next Friday. I desperately need it!!

I had a wonderful vacation, and am really rested. I am glad to be back at work but still puzzled by the restriction feeling. It's something I haven't felt in so long it is foreign to me. Hello my old friend, welcome back! I hope you stay awhile. I may hold off once again on getting that fill.

Question, does anyone else "hiccup" when their pouch is maxed out? When I eat (when I have restriction, that is) when I have the restriction feeling, I start to biccup. It's a cross between a belch and a hiccup.

Oh well, here's to restriction, may you reside in my band as long as you can...

I say....Unbutton your pants!!

Ok, I know that sounds crazy but frankly I was at my wits end lately with the whole getting stuck thing. No matter what I tried, did or ate there was no rhyme nor reason on why. Well, I have come to the conclusion that it may have something to do with my pants. Or more specifically my waistband.

Let me explain...

My port like everyone else is located basically where my waistband hits. I tell you it is a freaky feeling when my waistband "catches" on my port. I am so paranoid something will happen to it given that I paid cash for my surgery. No insurance will cover the problems. Anyway, back to topic. I found that whenever I wore loose pants or pants with a non binding elastic waistband I didn't have "slam-the-door-shut" stuck issues. I mean I would still get the slight pressure which was an indicator to slow it down but it wasn't so painful that I would have to go throw up to get relief. I was able to enjoy my meals. Now I started watching what was I wearing when I got stuck, stuck hard and apparently those times I had on jeans or tight waist pants. I got the idea to unbutton my jeans one day when we were eating. It was just enough to allow the pressure to subside and the food went down. I have continued to test my theory over the past few days and it seems to be consistent.

So, stress AND waistband tightness can cause band issues. And people think WLS is the easy diet fix. There is nothing easy about it. 

As I have said before, I recently got promoted. New promotions are announced in a newsletter which includes a picture. UGH!! My last picture was nearly 2 years ago so I opted for the picture update. I really don't like pictures but given that I have lost 115 lbs in the last year I think the difference would be amazing and was worth it. So I stood up against the wall and had my picture taken and  must say it was a pretty good one. One that I won't mind when it comes out. I will have to copy it and post it on here which reminds me I still haven't posted my 1 year pics. I am so behind the times. 

Today I went shopping for my birthday(which is tomorrow). I will be 41. My mom insists on taking me out and buying me a gift rather than giving me a check. So we went to Old Navy. Yeah I love that place. Found clearanced a pair of pants, a shirt and sunglasses. We then went consignment shopping. I found 3 pairs of pants there. It's funny how I don't mind shopping for clothes anymore. 

Despite not losing much weight lately, it is still all good.

Finally back to normal

Well, my water weight gain is now gone. I am back to my pre-water weight gain weight. Boy that was a mouthful!! I am also down an additional .5 lb. My grand total to date is 115.5 lbs.

I have NO idea on why I swelled. No idea on why it went away. Go figure. Maybe the lab work I had done will tell me something.

My little addictions are getting out of hand. I am really into egg salad on wheat toast (yay I can eat toast with egg salad on it!!) and rice krispie treats. I eat a rice krispie treat every night before bed, while in bed and after every meal. Seriously I do! I go through these phases or cravings all the time. It's crazy but my one rule is that I don't deny myself anything I want as long as it doesn't cause any band problems. While I would love to have a Big Red or a grape soda I won't because of the carbonation however I do indulge in the rare Coca Cola Float from Wendy's. YUMMY! and since it is mixed with a frosty the carbonation is not a problem. I love them so I do not go by Wendy's very often.

Today I had:

egg salad

wings

rice krispie treats

Sad isn't it?

Gaining ground...not a good thing

I am posting my first gain. This gain though is due to water retention. This heat is causing me great distress with swelling. I haven't had any issues with swelling in a year. I went on vacation and gained 12 lbs. I took a water pill last night and lost 8 of those pounds. At first one would think ok you were on vacation and just gained weight due to poor eating. Nope, I ate better than I do at home. I still got stuck just as much so nothing really changed. I spent 10 days swimming and bike riding but it wasn't muscle gain.

I went to the doctor today about it. I was diagnosed with CHF(congestive heart failure) in 2001. I assumed the swelling was also due to the CHF. Probably not. My doctor said back in 2001 they didn't have the tests available to pinpoint specifically if a person has CHF. Due to my spontaneous collapsed lung and back then they assumed it was CHF. She said since I have lost so much weight that it is unlikely plus coupled with the fact that I had an echo cardiogram and PET scan before the band surgery and they both came out normal.

Needless to say I am going back tomorrow for more tests. But the extreme heat here is probably the cause.

I found that roll ups are good protein choices when traveling. They are very simple and when kept in the cooler are good for a snack or light meal.

I am making my foods for this week for lunches. I have to get away from eating out every day. So, I am making egg salad, chicken salad, jalapeno roll ups and smokey red beans and rice with smoked sausage. Now if only I can keep to the plan. It's hard to do when I have someone who wants or expects me to go to lunch daily. Be strong, say no. Yeah, easier said than done.

Eating lunch while traveling was difficult because the choices for lunch are fast food. We ended up at Wendys most days when we were on the road. I had the chicken wrap but frankly got sick and tired of chicken. We stopped at DQ on the way back home and I ate nothing. There was nothing but chicken strips and I just couldn't bring myself to eat them. My husband pissed me off by telling me its better than nothing. Oh how I ripped him a new one over that comment. I think he was being insensitive since I told him there was nothing there I could eat but chicken and I didn't want chicken so he said that was where he was stopping. Intentional? Oh Hell yes! Anyway I let him have it over that. It's not too much to ask to go somewhere where they have something for everyone.

I am getting ready to grill some smoked sausage for dinner and also for my red beans and rice. Two meals at once. It's a good thing.