Stepping up on the exercise.

The last week I've been very lazy when it comes to exercise. I did walk twice at the park this week, but not for nearly as long as I should have...I've kind of been taking advantage of the doctor last week telling me to "take it easy" for the next week...

Well, today is a week later, so I guess no more excuses, right?

Goal for the next week with exercise:

2 miles, no matter how long it takes, 4x between now and next Friday. I can do that.

...I need to make a tracking sheet to keep track of my exercise, that way I'll have some kind of accountability to myself. Yes, that's what I'll do!

Cucumber Sandwhiches & a photo of ME :)

Look! It's me :) 37lbs lighter. I'm starting to slowly see results with my stomach shrinking...and I like this picture of me haha.

I still have not had bread (other than the english muffin I tried to eat a few weeks ago and managed to throw it up right away....ugh, not fun!) but I wanted something that sort of resembeled a sandwhich, so I made "Cucumber Sandwhiches."

Two slices of cucumber as the "bread" and a peice of salami and cheese in the middle! I dipped them in spicy mustard, but the second time I had them I used a wedge of Laughing Cow cheese instead of the mustard.

That was the first time I tried that cheese and OH EM GEE. It was so good! :D That can be dangerous LOL

I must stop the obession.

I have to check my weight every day...I've done so since surgery every day once I got out of the hospital, except one day during my short stall.

I'm getting mad at myself when I don't see the scale moving, so I have decided that once I hit 250lbs, I am going to weigh myself twice a week. Saturday and Wednesday, and only track Wednesday's weight.

I've got 5lbs to go to get to 250lbs....

Slow week!

The past 5 days I've been bouncing around a little bit. Went from 256 to 258, then 257, 256 yesterday and today I'm 255 :) Finally downnnnn again :D

1 more pound until my pre-pregnancy weight from 8 years ago! I've only gotten under that mark one other time when I did Weight Watchers the first time about 5 years ago...and then I gained it all back! This will be the last time I see that number on the scale (unless my weight decides to fluctuate a few pounds again haha)

Maybe I should be taking photos of the scale each time I step on it, that way I have the memory of that weight. NAH!! I don't want to remember what it feels like to be this obese ever again!

As much as my eyes are more hungry than my stomach and it makes me frustrated, I would not change this for anything. I am 100% for this surgery. Such a life changer, for the better.

148 Calorie Lasagna Cupcakes

These lasagna cupcakes were such success, not only with how good they were, but how little calories and carbs there were!

Lasagna Cupcakes Recipe:

What you need:

-Cupcake pan (mine makes 12)
-24 won ton wrappers (basically two for each cupcake)
-1 block frozen spinach, cooked and drained
-3/4c ricotta cheese, reduced fat
-1 zucchini sauteed in olive oil (bite size pieces)
-1/2lb cooked ground turkey
-1 1/2c shredded mozzarella cheese
-1/2c shredded Parmesan cheese
 -1 jar of your favorite spagetti sauce
-dried basil

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375.

In a bowl, mix the ricotta cheese and spinach.

In another bowl, mix the turkey, zucchini, and spaghetti sauce. Save about a cup to a cup and a half of sauce for later. 

Spray the cupcake pan with non stick cooking spray. Place a won ton wrapper in each cupcake hole, as if it were a cupcake liner. (It will not cover all of the sides yet). Using a spoon, put the ricotta spinach mixture as the bottom layer, just enough to cover the bottom. Then top with another won ton wrapper.

Place a scoop of the turkey mixture next. Then cover with the reserved sauce.

Top each cupcake with the mozzarella cheese, Parmesan, and sprinkle of basil!

Cook for about 20minutes or until cheese is brown and bubbly.

Use a spoon to take out of the pan, let it cool for 5-7 minutes.

Urgent Care :(

My left ankle has been bugging me for about two weeks now. Yesterday we went to the fair, and we walked for at least 3 hours (if not more!) and it was throbbing when I got home :( This morning I woke up super early to it being just as painful, so I decided I better go to urgent care.

Turns out I have an inflamed Achilles tendon. Dr. says it was probably from when I was exercising. I have to take it easy for the next week and if it doesn't get better, I have to see the podiatrist. All I can do is take ibuprofen for it...glad I can still take that.

I'm down another pound. I'm now at 256lbs. My rings are slipping off of my fingers and it's quite annoying, and I don't want to have them resized right now because I'll more than likely have to resize them again later down the road.

I did give in and buy two new pairs of pants and two tank tops from Lane Bryant today. I got them a size smaller than I am now, so hopefully I'll be able to wear them. They had a really good sale today and I couldn't pass them up.

35lbs!

I don't think I'll be making my goal to weigh 250 by Sept 1...that's just a few days away, but I am down to 257lbs! That's 35lbs gone forever!

My scaled moved two days in a row, woohoo! I do have to admit I have not exercised since I went back to work, with the exception of yesterday. I'm so exhausted when I get home, I need to turn this around.

My clothes are feeling loose! I am able to fit into smaller pants that I previously "grew out of." I see so many cute clothes that are currently too small for me that I want to buy, but I just cannot imagine fitting into them, so I'm scared :(

Carbless Crepes with Cream of mushroom & Chicken!

I came across this recipe on the forum on verticalsleevetalk.com, that redirected me to this site for the crepe recipe.

This is the first time I was able to make a successful crepe! I filled mine with bite size pieces of already cooked chicken thighs, mixed with cream of mushroom soup, and topped with reduced fat shredded cheese (fiesta blend).

I was thinking the cinamon and sugar used in the recipe would make it taste to sweet with the chicken but it was a nice combo.

I even had a small crepe left over that I filled with Ricotta cheese mixed with a splash of Almond Roca Torani sugar free syrup! Ahhhh heaven!!

I also served with a small side of brussel sprouts. I was only able to eat half of my crepe :( Guess I know what I'm brining to work tomorrow for lunch!

Tuna melt without bread!

I really wanted a tuna melt tonight, but of course I cannot have bread or all those carbs--and I didn't want my oven to heat up my entire house in this super hot 110 degree weather...

So I turned on my toaster oven instead and placed some foil on the cookie sheet, and sprayed it really good with olive oil flavored pam, placed down won ton wrappers, sprayed them with pam, and let them get crispy (about 5 minutes), turned them over, put my tuna fish on top (I made it earlier, just normal tuna in water, some light mayo and mustard and diced pickles) and topped with reduced fat cheese, cooked until the cheese was melted!

Just spit it out!

Getting very full from a meal is very uncomfortable. You get that pain in your stomach, and it feels like the food is sitting at the top of your throat, ready to come up (because it probably is!), but you STILL take that one, last, yummy bite....

I ask myself three questions as I'm chewing that last bite.

1. Am I still "starving?" No. 
2. Is my stomach growling? No.
3. Is my stomach full and satisfied? Yes.

 Well, I've been telling my self to just "spit it out." So I walk over to the trash and spit it out.

Now  I just have to convince myself to not even put that last bite in my mouth! I think it's the battle with "head hunger."

I'm so use to eating this large plate of food, even though it's been more than a month since I had a serving like that...I put my food on this small plate and I tend to always put more than I can handle because it's still hard to imagine that I'm going to get full off of that amount.

Anyone else have any tips or advice?

1 month post op check up!

Today was my 4 week post op check up!

The doctor is very happy with my 31lb weight loss. He said I'm right on target, and should be loosing anywhere from 1.5-3lbs a week.

The only thing he suggested was that I step up my exercising to EVERYDAY...and strap on a back pack full of phonebooks and put on ankle weights while I walk to build muscle....I guess it makes sense. He said that with all the intake of protein, your body needs to do something with it,and while some weeks you may not loose pounds, you will loose inches when that protein turns into muscle.

I see him again in one month instead of two weeks since I'm doing so well :) Yay me! haha. Here is a picture I took yesterday.

Fajita Spam Mini Quiches

This recipe is for 16 servings. I use my mini loaf pan for this recipe, which has 8 loaves, and I cut them in half to portion the servings.

Each serving has only 84 calories!

What you need:

• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 3/4c white onion diced
• 3 or 4 garlic cloves, diced
• 1/4c chopped green onion
• 1 can diced green chilies
• 1/2c reduced fat shredded cheese of your choice (I used great value fiesta blend)
• 1 can of turkey spam, diced
• 8 large eggs
• Salt
• Pepper
• Olive oil

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a large frying pan, put a small amount of olive oil. Add in your green & red bell peppers, and onion. Cook until onion is translucent. Add garlic and green onions, cooking for about one minute, not over cooking.

In a large mixing bowl, scramble the eggs, add salt and pepper to taste. Add the diced chilies and cheese, mix. Add the bell pepper and onion mixture to the eggs.

You can then either cook your spam in the same pan, or add it uncooked to your egg mixture. I prefer to brown mine a little, it gives it a better taste, but this is optional.

Spray your pan with non stick cooking spray. If you do not have the same pan as me, you can use a muffin pan or a baking dish, just measure your portions if you want to match my calorie count.

Cook for 30 minutes. Allow it to cool for a few minutes before removing from the pan. Enjoy!

**I save my leftovers in the freezer to bring to work to eat on my break since I do not have time to cook in the mornings that I work!**

Blackened Lemon Pepper Tilapia

This was so good!

What you need:

• Tilapia (depending on your # of servings, adjust the # of tilapia, I usually do one per person, even though that is too much for me, I save my other half for leftovers!)
• Lemon Pepper
• Garlic Powder
• Season Salt
• Fresh Lemons or Lemon juice
• Olive Oil

I do not measure the seasonings, what you want to do is pour a good amount of the lemon pepper and garlic powder (enough to coat at least one side of each fish) and the season salt you do not want to over do it, because it will be extremely salty, so I use about 1/4 of what I used with the other seasonings. Coat the fish in the seasonings.

Using a frying pan, put a small amount of olive oil, and once hot, place the fish in the pan. If you only seasoned one side, put the seasoned side down. Cook for about 3-4 mins on each side.

Garnish with a lemon for extra lemon flavor, or lemon juice on the side. I served mine with a side of creamed spinach from Green Giant, the one in the frozen section!

Buried Chicken & Zucchini

Yesterday I made chicken & zucchini, which I suppose was perfect because I later found out it was national zucchini day!

The recipe is below.

By "burying" the chicken in the zucchini, it keeps the chicken moist! Moist meat is essential to me right now, it makes the food go down easier. I was able to eat the piece of chicken (about 4oz) and a few rings of zucchini.

Ingredients:

2 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (or more, depending on how many you are cooking for)
1 medium zucchini (if you are using a larger pan cooking for more people, cut up enough to cover the entire dish) sliced into to thin rings.
1/3c shredded mozzarella cheese
Seasonings for chicken (I use paprika, Mrs. Dash, and garlic salt)
Garlic salt & dried basil for topping the zucchini

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375.

Using a pyrex or similar dish, spray it with non stick cooking spray. Place the chicken in the pan, top with seasonings.

Lay out the zucchini out to cover the chicken and the rest of the entire pan. This is what keeps the chicken extra moist. Sprinkle with garlic salt, mozzarella cheese, and dried basil.

Cook for 35 minutes.

Sugar free Torani Syrups!

I was very sketchy before I tried this! I like ricotta cheese, but with pasta....not sweet. Well, at least I thought I didn't like it when it tasted sweet!

If you take about 1/4c of ricotta cheese and a small splash of sugar free Torani syrup, it tastes like some kind of pastry like filling.

There are so many flavors to choose from too! I like English Toffee and Salted Caramel.

I've also mixed them with small curd fat free cottage cheese.

Better for you than ice cream, still sweet, and lots of protein.

Week 3 Stall

I'm about to complete week #3...and it's true what they say. This is the most common week for a stall.

I thought I would be prepared for it, but I'm just feeling a little down. I lost about 1lb this week, but I was hoping for 3lbs. I hope this stall will only last this week and not continue into the next.

I took a 2 day break from exercise which could be a contributing factor, but with so little calories, one would expect a loss.

I know the stall will not last forever, it's just disappointing.

99lbs to go!

Shelly's Baked Ricotta

Last night for dinner I made Shelly's Baked Ricotta! Wow it was so good! If my pouch weren't so small I'd be going for seconds! You can find the recipe in her blog.

When calculating one portion of the mixture, (Mine made 4 servings) It came out to 198 calories, 12.2g fat, 6g carbs, 17g protein.

I bought these small containers from Walmart to freeze the left over portions.

I also got this great pan from Walmart as well that made the portions! It was perfect!

This is the pan I bought! It will have many uses and it was only about $10 :)

Preparing for your hospital stay

Preparing for surgery, the days and the night before--especially, can be nerve racking! I was told that my recovery time in the hospital can be anywhere from 1-3 days, depending on my progress.

The night before:

• If you live more than an hour away from the hospital facility, I suggest staying overnight at a hotel that is minutes from the hospital. You never know if you could run in to traffic, detours, etc--plus you get to sleep in a little more! 
• Bring someone with you! Your significant other, a close friend, etc. Someone you want by your side! It's not fun to be in the hospital all alone.
• Buy an antibacterial soap. Shower with it the night before and the morning of your surgery. I found Dial bar soap (I haven't used bar soap in years! I usually use the gels), it was only 97 cents at Walmart for two bars. I used one and saved one for when I got home.
• Don't shave near your incision sites. This can risk an infection, per my nurse's orders. However, I REALLY wish I would have shaved my arm, had I known she was going to put the IV there. She put so much tape it hurt so bad when it was removed...and my hair along with it!
• Bring comfortable clothes to leave the hospital in. I brought a pair of elastic waist capri shorts that were not too tight, and a loose shirt. This way it was easy to get dressed, wasn't tight on my incisions, and most importantly, comfortable on the way home.
• Bring books to read, or crossword/word search books etc to keep you busy. Honestly, I was only in the hospital for a day and a half and I did not use them, I didn't even play around on my phone much either, but if I had been there longer, I know I would have wanted them.
• Bring deodorant, tooth brush, and tooth paste. I was not allowed any make-up or perfumes etc, especially before surgery.

At the hospital:

• BE ON TIME. Even though you will more than likely have to wait for the doctor, be on time! Heck, even be early! I got there 30 minutes early and they took me right away for registration and pre-op. I did sit in preop for about an hour while the doctor was in surgery, but that was fine with me.
• In pre-op, you will usually first meet with a nurse who will take your vitals and ask you basic health questions. You will also be asked several times what procedure you are coming in for.
• In pre-op just before your surgery, your doctor should come and greet you, along with the anesthesiologist and a nurse who will be there during surgery. They will again verify the surgery you are having, and give you a chance to ask any last minute questions.
• You will then be wheeled into the surgical room. (Mine had music playing!) They will more than likely wheel you right next to the surgical bed, which was so narrow! I even told the nurse, "You do realize I'm here for weight loss surgery right? Aren't I going to fall off of the table?!" He assured me I wouldn't....and I took his word. As far as I know, I didn't fall off, haha. 
• Once on the surgical table, they had me lay my arms out on these other tables, and then the anesthesiologist gave me a "mask for oxygen," told me to take 3 deep breaths...and I remember taking two and then I woke up in recovery! (It obviously was not oxygen lol)

Recovery & Stay

•  I woke up in recovery after being there for about 3 hours. I remember waking up and asking for my husband...and then I was in my room. I honestly don't remember being wheeled into my room. I don't even remember when my husband came into my room...
• The nurse will come in and introduce herself, ask how you feel, and take your vitals. She'll also instruct on your medicine, which is usually morphine. It's a button you get to push every 10-15 minutes if you feel pain. I stopped using mine by later that night because it was making me have really bad headaches! The pain itsself wasn't too bad (I actually ended up sitting in one of the chairs in the room for a few hours because my back hurt really, really bad from laying on it flat for hours).
• You will not be allowed any liquids or food for the first day. I was given a cup that had a sponge on a stick to wet my mouth if it was dry.
• You will be asked to walk around to avoid blood clots. I was very nauseous, and made sure to bring one of those pink bucket things they give you.
• Before you get to drink anything, they will take you for an upper GI. This is to check for any signs of leakage. They have you sip on this liquid stuff and watch it as it goes down...
• The next morning they brought me some broth and sugar free jello. I only drank some of the broth, and tried the jello but it was disgusting! And I didn't keep it down for very long.
• If I would have been able to keep it down, I would have been able to go home, but I had to wait until the next day.
• You will not be allowed to leave the hospital if you are the one driving. Make sure you have someone to take you home!

I did a lot of sleeping while at the hospital. Surgery and recovery is so hard on your body. I did not realize how exhausted it would make me.

Be nice to your nurses! They are on your side and want you to be able to go home as soon as you're ready. They are only doing as the doctor has instructed them to do. You will probably get a rotation of nurses every 12 hours. (I had a nurse and a nursing assistant every 12 hours).

Oh, and on the way home...bring that pink bucket with you in the car in case you get sick. I surprisingly didn't on my two hour drive, I did sleep though. 

Sausage, egg, & cheese with hollandaise sauce

Today I added some more flavor to my breakfast!

I'm in the pureed phase of my diet.

I cooked a small scoop of reduced fat ground sausage, and once it was cooked, I added an egg, scrambled it all together with some salt and pepper, then melted a small amount of shredded cheese in it. I then topped it with hollandaise sauce (I use Knorr brand), this way it was extra moist and easier to chew.

I was probably a little bit too full after eating this. Next time I will have to put less sausage!

100lbs to go!

The scale finally moved again! I'm down 27lbs total, current weight is 265. I have exactly 100lbs to loose to reach my goal weight of 165lbs. 100 seems like so much weight to loose...but I can do it! I turn 30 next April and I want to start my 30's off to a GREAT start!

I doubt I will loose all 100 by then, but I hope to be pretty darn close!

One day at a time.....