Monday, January 14, 2013

14 days into the new year and everything is going great!

I made a new discovery over the weekend that I thought was kind of exciting for anyone out there who may have recently had weight loss surgery. Dannon Light and Fit Carb and Sugar Control Yogurt! These little servings are the perfect size for people who have to measure out every ounce they eat and count carbs. I just wish they were available the first few months after my surgery when I was searching the stores for any kind of low carb yogurt to eat! Instead, I was stuck with cottage cheese and peanut butter during the pureed foods part of the healing process. Yuck.

Ah well, I digress, both Dannon's Light and Fit Carb and Sugar Control Yogurt as well as the Dannon Light and Fit Greek Yogurts are wonderful low carb options for those of us on a restricted diet. They taste great and fit nicely into the 30-60-60 guidelines. Of course, while they do have protein, it isn't enough to meet the 60-75 gram rule so I still have to drink protein shakes daily as well but I'm sure that's something I'll have to do for some time.


Today's Meal Plan:

Breakfast- Dannon Light and Fit Carb and Sugar Control Yogurt

Snack- 2 Protein Shakes

Lunch- 2 oz. Chicken
       1/2 tbl. Teriyaki Sauce
       a couple of spritzes of I Can't Believe It's Not butter to cook the chicken in

Dinner- Same as lunch

I can see that from looking at the app. My Fitness Pal my numbers are low enough today that I can have a glass of Sunny D when I get home tonight! It's always nice to look forward to a treat at the end of the day. =)

Friday, January 11, 2013

Starting Weight: 360 lbs.

Current Weight: 199 lbs.

Total Weight Lost: 161 lbs.

Days Until 1 year Weight Loss Surgery Anniversary: 83

Goal Weight by Anniversary: 150 lbs.

Today is a magnificent day. A stupendous day! I am finally below 200 lbs. How amazing is that? This week has been a week of new experiences as well. Completing the police applicant exam and yesterday I went snowboarding for the first time. Let me tell you, snowboarding is so much more flippin' hard than I thought it would be. Honestly, I didn't even make it down the ski school slope up at Ober Gatlinburg but I'm not giving up. I will be back up there bright and early Monday morning to try again.

They said that it's harder to learn snowboarding but that it's easier than skiing once you learn so since I have no frame of reference I can't tell you. All I know is that yesterday was a great day even though I have the bruises today to prove how hard it is.=) It's really a mental obstacle more than anything I think. You just have to tell yourself that it's ok to have your feet strapped to a board going down hill. I found myself panicking a little whenever I would actually get some movement on the board and ended up making myself fall a whole lot more than was necessary. I am determined to overcome that the next time I'm up there though.

So today I am sore, I  was scolding myself earlier about working out so much that I then can't work out for a couple of days but I don't think it could really be helped this week. I hope that I'll be up to working out again tomorrow even if it's just for 30 minutes or so because I don't want to back track on my weight loss and exercise is very important for achieving my goals. Today I think it's best to rest though because my legs are really very sore after all of the exertion I've done this week. Heck, even my butt's sore after yesterday so I don't want to push it too much.

I'm still following the High Protein/ Low Carb, Non-Starchy Vegetables and No Starchy Vegetables diet and it is working! You can see the results with the weight loss. =)

Also, I wanted to take a second to say that the staff at Ober Gatlinbug yesterday were all great. They were extremely helpful and understanding of my scaredy-cat-ness of the board and knew what they were doing. Shout out to the people at Ski School- Mikey, Ted, and Pete! Great guys who were extremely helpful!

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

86 days left to my 1 year weight loss surgery anniversary and things are going great! I'm stronger now than I've ever been and I'll be even stronger when I reach my goal.

I have lost a total of 160 lbs. now which means I only have 50 lbs. to go to reach my goal! I hope to have lost those last 50 pounds by the 1 yr. anniversary which I think is doable.

Yesterday was the testing day for the local Police Officer applicants and I am proud to say that I was there and ready to go. There were over 200 people applying to be an Officer and I believe they said they would be taking 80-ish. I know it's a long shot, I've never been good at taking tests so I'm hoping for at least an average score on the written part of the exam.

As for the physical test, saying it was hard is an understatement. Plus, it was very cold yesterday morning, you don't realize how much your lungs will hurt when you're not used to running in cold weather until you do it. I knew it would be tough though and I knew that I would be at a disadvantage since I've still got that 50 lbs. to lose. But compared to a year ago when I weighed 360 lbs. I am in fantastic shape right now. Still, even though I've lost 160 lbs., I weigh 200 lbs. which is still overweight and I have a ways to go yet. I know. I get it. That doesn't mean I won't try my hardest for something I really want. =) And becoming a part of this honored institution is definitely a reason to push past your own boundaries. It's a Police Officers job to protect those who can't protect themselves and I've always felt that these people should be admired and respected for putting their lives on the line every day to keep people safe.

As for the physical exam-

The course consisted of:

overcoming a 2 foot barrier, hurdle
overcoming a 5 foot barrier, hurdle
overcoming an 8 foot barrier, hurdle
before crawling through a 3x12ft metal culvert before
balancing across a 20 ft. pole
before moving a 165 lb. rescue dummy 3 feet
and running through 20 tires
before running to the finish line
the total course was 425 yards 

and I am proud to say that the only part I couldn't finish was climbing over the 8 foot wall. I gave it my all, boy did I give it my all! I think I made it about half way up the wall but just didn't have the upper body strength to pull myself all the way up. But I finished the course! And I am so proud of that. I got over the 5 foot wall, I dragged the dummy 3 feet, I balanced, I ran and I crossed the finish line! My time was 5 minutes which wasn't great. Most of the guys who went before me seemed to fly through it, finishing with times of 1:30, 2 minutes, etc.

As I said I knew it was a long shot but I'm still going to call back in a week and see what they say. Even if I don't make it this time I'm sure that the next time they're hiring I'll be in even better shape than I am today and will probably have reached my goal weight as well.

Just wanted to take a second to say that the Officers conducting the tests were great. Very nice and helpful throughout the whole process and the officers outside definitely deserve a little extra praise. After all, I got to leave after finishing the test, they had to stay 'til the end and that wind felt like it was about to cut through you. Poor people.

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Days left until my 1 year anniversary: 88

Last night I made enough chicken to last for a couple of days so you'll notice that chicken is the name of the game this week. I'm sick of turkey burger so for awhile I'll be sticking with chicken. Today I'm trying to decide if I want to spend the carbs in my carb allowance to include a glass of orange juice. A 15.2 oz bottle of Minute Maid Orange Juice, which is what we have available in the food machines at work and is currently calling my name has the following nutrition facts:

Minute Maid Orange Juice
Serving size: 8 fl. oz.
Servings per container: 2

Calories: 110
Total Fat: 0
Total Carbs: 24 g
Total Protein: 2 g

So in order to know if I can have this for a snack I need to know what else is going into my body today. Remember, everything that goes in this mouth has to be weighed and measured! It's a pain but necessary.

Breakfast: Dannon Light and Fit Greek Strawberry Yogurt
Calories: 80, Total Fat (g): 0, Total Carbs (g): 8, Protein (g): 12

Lunch: 4 oz. Chicken
Calories: 140, Total Fat (g): 2.5, Total Carbs (g): 0, Protein (g): 23
           1/2 tbs. of Country Crock Butter
Calories: 25, Total Fat (g): 2.5, Total Carbs (g): 0, Protein (g): 0
            1 tbs. of Lawry's Teriyaki with Pineapple Juice Marinade
Calories: 20, Total Fat (g): 0, Total Carbs (g): 5, Protein: 0

Dinner: Same as lunch only with 3 oz. of Chicken
Calories: 105, Total Fat (g): 1.9, Total Carbs (g): 0, Protein: 17.2

Daily Totals:
Calories: 415
Total Fat (g): 9
Total Carbs (g): 18
Protein (g): 52

So here are the totals for each meal today. In order to know what I can eat I absolutely must plan out each daily meal. Normally I do this the night before when I work mornings. From looking at these totals I can see that I'm doing ok but my protein isn't falling within the 60-75 g range that it's supposed to so I'm going to add:

Snack: Aria Chocolate Women's Protein Powder with 8 oz. of water
Calories: 80, Total Fat (g): 1, Total Carbs (g): 4, Protein (g): 14

Updated Daily Totals:
Calories: 495
Total Fat (g): 10
Total Carbs (g): 22
Protein (g): 66

So now my protein is where I want it to be and my carbs and fat are still low. But can I have that Orange Juice?

Minute Maid Orange Juice
Serving size: 8 fl. oz.
Servings per container: 2

Calories: 110
Total Fat: 0
Total Carbs: 24 g
Total Protein: 2 g

The answer is that I can have it if I can stop at 8 oz. but I honestly don't know if I could not drink the whole bottle if I had it sitting beside me at work all day so I'm going to choose to save my extra carb allowance for something else later in the day. After all, I could have 4 sugar free popsicles later today with the amount of carbs I'm still allowed to have today!

So, in my opinion, this is one of the hardest parts of losing weight. No one wants to actually sit down and measure out every single thing that goes into their bodies. Who wants to buy a food scale? To cut and weigh and then keep track of those numbers in a food journal! Preposterous! We're busy! We don't have time for that. Let alone be expected to ignore those late night cravings if we've met our allowance for the day!

All I can say is...it works. It's annoying and tedious and I hate doing it. But...it works. I wouldn't expect anyone to go by the severe numbers that I have to due to the surgery but if you want to try it then I would definitely say look up the numbers that go alone with that 1500 calorie or 1200 calorie diet and give it a try. Maybe you could track the amounts that you already eat daily and just lower that number by 25% or even 50% and see what happens.

Unfortunately, this whole obesity monster can't be overcome by one thing alone. It's takes the combination of both following a reasonable diet and exercise to successfully meet your goals. After work I'll also be doing my new aerobics video that came in the mail yesterday! Jeanette Jenkins Cardio Kickboxing, which is 86 minutes long, I've never used a work out video with this instructor before so  I'll tell you tomorrow how it goes!

January 5, 2013- Home Stretch!

We're in the Home Stretch now! Just 56 lbs left to lose to reach my goal! I'm wearing size 1x shirts and size 14 pants! I've lost 154 lbs. in total now! This week we're going back to the basics because I am determined to have met my goal of weighing 150 lbs. by the 1 year anniversary of the Gastric Bypass Surgery on April 4th, 2013.

By back to basics I mean the first 6 months of the post-bypass diet. Lately, I realize that I have been eating far to many starchy vegetables and carbohydrates and, dare I admit it, snacking! I've fallen into the trap that a lot of those who have undergone weight loss surgery fall into after a few months, which is far too many times telling yourself, "It's just 3 potato chips. They don't count."

My diet has remained under 1000 calories a day and I still workout 5-7 days a week but the snacking has to stop.

Today I vow to myself and to all those who read this page that enough is enough and there will be no more!

50 lbs. more of eating tasteless and bland food until I can finally reward myself with something great! Now days it's the thought of my celebration dinner that gets me through it...plus the Victoria's Secret catalog and the thought that for the first time in my life I may actually try wearing a bikini to the beach! Wootwoot! But that's another story. What should my celebratory dinner be? So many meals run through my head on a daily basis. It can't be anything too decadent, such as chocolate cake or, going in the other direction, a big 'ole mozzarella and mushroom covered steak with A1 Sauce. No, I can't go that far outside of my diet scope but there are still many possibilities out there. Today, I've settled on 6 oz. of spaghetti and maybe a bite or 2 of garlic bread. Remember I still can't eat much even when I do reach my weigh loss goal. Right now I can only eat about 3 oz. of food at a time but the nutritionist says I should start building up to 6 oz. of food which will be my normal portion amounts from here on out I believe. I still have 1 more doctors appointment on my 1 year anniversary so things could change but that's the information I have right now.  

That's all today! Still keeping the faith that I WILL meet my goals even during the harder weeks when the weight loss isn't what I want it to be. Still working out and I've come to terms with the fact that no matter what they say there are some people who will NEVER love working out and I fall into that category but it doesn't matter because I also understand that it's necessary to fulfill my goals. But just to reiterate, I really really really HATE working out. Don't wanna do it, dread it, and can't wait 'til it's over! ...but I do it.

Today's Meal Plan:

You'll notice on most of my meals when I'm being very strict about following the high protein/low carb diet that unfortunately I can't get very creative with the sauces for the protein because most great sauces are too high in carbohydrates to eat. You have to remember that you only have 60 grams of carbohydrates for the entire day. So unfortunately that's why most of my meals are bland. If I was a better cook and/or willing to spend a lot more time on recipes than I am then things might be different but as it is the most creative I get is a little butter with onion from time to time when I'm cooking the chicken.

Breakfast: Dannon's Light and Fit Strawberry Greek Yogurt (love this stuff and it's low carb!)

Lunch:Chicken boiled in chicken broth- 1 oz.
             Green Beans- 1 oz.
             Fat Free Catalina Dressing on the Chicken- 1 tsp.

Dinner:Chicken boiled in chicken broth- 1 oz.
             Green Beans- 1 oz.
             Fat Free Catalina Dressing on the Chicken- 1 tsp.

Snack: 2 sugar free popsicles
             2 x 8 oz Aria Chocolate Protein Shakes made with regular old H2O
             2 x 8 oz Coffee with Splenda and 2 tsp. non-dairy powder creamer

Between meals I drink water every 15 minutes. I have to be strict about this otherwise I get very hungry between meals so I usually set an alarm on my phone to go off every 15 minutes.

I also take vitamins everyday to make up for the low calorie diet.

As you can see some snacking is allowed but the rules are very specific. The only snacks that are actually ok between meals are either liquid or something like a sugar free popsicle or sugar free jell-o. For instance if I absolutely had to have something and the jell-o or popsicle wouldn't suffice before my next meal then I could also heat up some chicken or beef broth and drink it...but no cheating, clearly hot chocolate would NOT be on the healthy liquids list for between meals! Broths, sugar free popsicles and sugar free jell-o's are all you can have between meals.

My Nutrition Facts: (which I track every day with the app. My Fitness Pal)

Total Calories:454
Total Fat (g): 6
Total Carbs (g): 37
Protein (g): 57

My Fitness Pal is a great app, I use it every day and love it! As you can see from these numbers that while I've almost met my protein goal of 60-75 grams of protein a day which is very important I'm below the carb allowance of 60 grams a day and below the fat allowance of 30 grams a day which I'm ok with. From looking at these numbers I can see that if I want to have a 3rd sugar free popsicle later before bed, then I can and I can just add it into my daily diary. No problem.

Please remember that this is an example of the meal plans for someone who has had weight loss surgery. I'm not saying anyone else should try to each such small amounts at all.

Friday, 12/21/12

Current weight: 208 lbs.

Total Weight Loss: 152 lbs.

It took some time but I'm able to eat more proteins in my diet, it's just a matter of slowly building up to those foods but I can now eat about a cup of soup at a time without getting sick. According to the nutritionist I can now eat up to 6 oz. of food at a time which is actually around a standard meal, maybe a little on the small side, but the proportion on her little fake food plate looked about average for what most people are supposed to eat. You notice I emphasized the supposed to because while we all know the amount of food that is supposed to satisfy us we never seem to stick to that when loading up our plates. 

I'm not pushing myself on the 6 oz. thing though because I still have 60 pounds left to lose to reach my goal so I stick to the smaller 3-4 oz proportions on food. A friend of mine asked me recently when I would be able to go back to eating normally and I told her that I would be able to start eating normally again when I had lost the last 60 lbs. and I don't mean that in the sense that I can return to eating tons of unhealthy food all the time but in the sense that I can eat my 6 oz. of food but the 30-60-60 restriction will become a little more flexible. For instance I think that in celebration of reaching my 150 lb. goal I will treat myself to six ounces of Chinese food! Yep, that's right I will FINALLY be able to have Chinese and Japanese again. I can have a little sushi right now but I really really miss Hibachi and Mixed Vegetables with Rice..Oh, and Chicken Fried Rice, now my mouth is salivating. But as I told my friend, this is a one time surgery for me, I've heard of other people regaining the weight later on and having it again and that is not an option for me. One surgery, that's it, so no matter what from here on out I have to make absolutely certain that I NEVER go back to the way I was with food. I'll have to continue tracking my calories at least twice a week for the foreseeable future (as in years) and working out five days a week FOREVER which I will have to stay particularly vigilant about because over the years I have come to the conclusion that I am NEVER going to be one of those people that misses the gym. I hate working out, always have, always will, but I do it because it's necessary...I was tempted to call it a necessary evil but felt that was exaggerating just a little.

On another note, I'm ashamed to admit that the first thing I ate after my six month marker was mashed potatoes...for two weeks. In my defense I believe I was very honest about my love of the potato early on, =D as I told anyone within hearing on those tough days when I was grumbling about no carbs and no starchy vegetables, "If they would just let me eat mashed potatoes I could live on those alone!" So I went a little overboard when I could finally have them but no worries, I'm ok now, I've restricted my potato consumption to once or twice a week and am trying to concentrate on proteins and non-starchy vegetables once again.

As for exercise, for the last couple of days instead of going to the gym I was babysitting my niece so I put in my Self exercise video, which I haven't done in a couple of months because I've been going to the gym, and am proud to say that I was able to complete the entire 40 minutes doing the high level moves! You know, all those jumping things: jumping jacks, jumping squats, jump rope, bunny hops,  (which is exactly like what it sounds like) etc. and I feel fantastic! I am so proud of myself for finally being in good enough shape to complete all those high energy moves! I'm going to continue going to the gym to run because I really want to build up to running a 5k but I still don't think that any of the machines there can give you as good a workout as aerobics does so I'm going to start doing my aerobics videos again 3 or 4 times a week too.

I've only got 2 weeks left until the police exam and I'm hopeful, but while I've come a long way I don't know if I'm in the physical condition I need to be in to rock the obstacle course portion of the test but I am going to give it my all! It's a timed event so even if I don't have the best time out of everyone who is trying out this time I will definitely try again next time. I know I just need 2 or 3 more months to reach my goal and I'll be stronger than ever when I get there!

LOL, you know there's something else that's been on my mind a lot lately, something that I told myself I would do if I ever got the weight off to celebrate the dedication it took to get there. Getting a tattoo covering my back, I have a little tiger cub on my left shoulder and it's almost time to give her a friend! But what kind of design? I know it will be of a tiger but a lot of thought has to go into the kind of design because when you're going to have something on your body for the rest of your life then it better be something you love!

Anyways, that's enough for now. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

12/4/12- 8 Month Anniversary since the Surgery!

I am so happy today! Today is the 8 month anniversary since I had Gastric Bypass and I am ecstatic to say that I have a total weight loss to date of 150 pounds! How amazing is that!

I have been released to resume all exercise activities since the gallbladder surgery and cannot wait to go to the gym tomorrow and really hit it hard because now I only have 60 pounds left to lose to reach my goal weight!

In these past few weeks since the gallbladder surgery I have strangely been suffering with an even harder time keeping my food to stay down than I was before and I'm not sure if that's because I was eating mainly soft foods before the surgery but changed my diet to include mostly soups once I realized that I had passed the 6 month marker and could begin including starchy vegetables and carbs as long as I stayed within the 30-60-60 guidelines. That is 30 grams of fat or less a day, 60 grams of carbs or less and day and 60-75 grams of protein a day.

I am active and so so happy!