Thanksgiving was no less enjoyable than it was pre-bypass surgery. Whodathunkit?! First of all, my brother was in town with his family. So it was nice to have everyone present for a change. Second of all, I didn't have any problems sticking to my limits, as my stomach so kindly sees to that for me. I know when I've had one bite too many. Fortunately, I still have some anti nausea pills that they gave me when I was released after surgery. I like to carry them with me just in case. They work like magic. If I go one bite too far, I simply pop one and the nausea subsides in a matter of minutes. Literally! I wasn't able to enjoy mass quantities; but I certainly enjoyed what I had: turkey, dressing, corn and sweet potatoes. I opted out of dinner rolls, choosing to save my capacity for things that were a little more tasty. I wish I hadn't felt full so soon; but that is the name of the game. All in all, it was a breeze.
I'm still doing very well with avoiding carbonated beverages. On rare occasions I may think I want a drink of soda; but I'm able to avoid the temptation. I'm also keeping up the good work with regard to avoiding anything with more than 5g of sugar in one serving. There seems to be more temptation here than with soda. So far so good.
I'm not good at the whole before and after picture taking each month; but I'll post pics to show you my progress. Below is a photo from our family Thanksgiving. We all wore our Abbie's Army shirts to honor my aunt who is fighting ovarian cancer.
The party on the 6th was fun, also. We got to try a new wine from our favorite winery, Noboleis Vineyards. It was called Nobol-ICE. Oh Em Gee......it was very sweet and rich and heavenly. Probably not good for me at all. But I was able to tolerate a couple glasses easily. No dumping syndrome, no nausea, etc. Remember the doctor said it will take much less for me to get drunk with my smaller stomach. And a sweet wine or sugar is a no-no. I've since become very addicted to this wine. It's made from the first or first several frosts of the season and is very rare. So it's considered a limited/reserve wine. They only make so many cases of it. I can't wait to stock up!!!
Every day I'm learning a little more about how to cook and eat sugar free. So for Fox's birthday, I ordered his cake, cookies and cake pops, as usual (full of sugar). But for the diabetics in the family and myself, I decided to try making sugar free cupcakes. I found that Walmart carries Pillsbury SUGAR FREE cake mixes. The varieties are limited to yellow cake mix and devil's food....but I'm okay with that. It beats nothing. They also carry two options for sugar free frosting: chocolate and white. I stocked up on both....as well as the Pillsbury sugar free brownie mix! For some reason (in my head) I think I need to have these things on hand in the event of a sudden craving. Color me silly?!
So I made devils' food sugar free cupcakes for Fox's party. But instead of using one of the store bought sugar free frostings I tried my own concoction, a recipe I'd seen online for sugar free icing.
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/sugar-free-frosting/detail.aspx
Anyway, so I had some sugar-free pudding mix in cheesecake flavor; and I went to town. The results were delicious. However, based on the cream cheese, pudding and cool whip base of the icing, I recommend you only make these when you know the cupcakes will be consumed immediately. The texture gets a little freaky when they are stored overnight. My next attempt will be to test the store bought frosting for taste. I'll be sure to comment here.
I had Kevin stop off at Noboleis as he took Fox home on the 14th and grab 7 bottles of the Ice Wine. I figured 2 for Christmas Eve, 2 for Christmas Day, 2 for New Years Eve and one to bust open immediately. At $40 a bottle, it wasn't cheap!!! But it has made for some good drinking while I'd been prepping for the holidays: baking, cooking, wrapping gifts, etc.
I'm supposed to be counting my protein grams per day; but there is just too much going on right now. So that's not happened. I will have to start in January and February since my next appointment is in February. And I KNOW the dietitian will be asking me for those stats. The goal is still to get 60g of protein in a day.
On good days I can eat near an entire Chick-Fil-A sandwich. That has to be a lot of protein, right?! At home, I tend to eat more veggies than protein. Work in progress.
On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day I had no troubles limiting my food intake. Again, the stomach does most of this for me; but I didn't tempt fate. Something about turning green in the gills and nausea is a turn off!!!
I went back to the winery on the 20th for another 5 bottles of Ice Wine. Fortunately, I cannot sit and drink as much as I'd like to in one sitting or evening. Therefore, I'm hoping it lasts a while. We still have several bottles. But the most I can manage is 2 glasses in a day/night. We didn't come near drinking the 2 bottles per holiday I estimated. That should leave plenty for the future. In fact, all this talk about wine is making me want a glass as I type.
I've been a little under the weather the from Christmas Eve until now. Finally got some antibiotics and an antihistamine from the doctor yesterday. Appetite has dwindled; and I can't breathe very well.
Here's a pic of me (in gray in the center with the buzzed hair and glasses) with the extended family on Christmas Eve.
For New Years Eve I made a host of dips: guacamole, Beau Monde onion dip, etc....and we purchased some dips to enjoy. But I got FULL very fast. In fact I was dry heaving at 2 am. Lesson learned. I simply cannot just pig out on crap food like I used to on the holidays. Couple bites maybe; but I can't finish off an entire dinner plate of it. I did eventually take an anti nausea pill when I got sick. It helped tremendously. I think I have like 5 left. I'm definitely going to ask the doctor at my next follow up for a refill on those. It's become my miracle drug.
Now then, for the REALLY good news. As of today, I am weighing in at 284.6 pounds. That's down almost 18 lbs. in the past 40-ish days. I'll take it. I can remember being excited to cross over from 300s to 200's. My next small goal is to hit 250 and celebrate then celebrate when I drop under 200. It's still so very surreal to me that I can't really articulate it or explain it to anyone. For so long I was CERTAIN that this was IMPOSSIBLE, even with weight loss surgery (due to my failed lap band experience). Now I am forced to see the reality every time I step on the scale.
Mind you, I have a desk job and a sedentary lifestyle. I know this needs to change and that I'd drop more weight if I got off my butt. The point is, this can still happen slowly even if you are in a rut like me with little to no physical activity. The great news is, as each pound drops off, the energy level goes up. So, for example, when I took my aunt around Main Street St. Charles to solicit donations for her upcoming trivia night fundraiser, I was able (FOR THE FIRST TIME IN YEARS) to walk the entire distance without the need to slow down to catch my breath or to take a break and sit for a bit. Those readers who have experienced obesity can relate to what I'm saying. Those who are not, trust me this is a BIG milestone.
I've also flown on business recently without getting winded as I made my way through the airports overloaded with luggage. A beautiful thing since it seems I may be doing it monthly now. I still use a seat belt extender and take advantage of the "person's of size" policies. But one day, soon, this will no longer be an option nor a necessity.
I can now safely and comfortably sit at a sporting venue in a regular seat without feeling like a pretzel when I get up. It's pretty amazing, really. No more jockeying to reserve accessible seats.
One strange thing I have noticed is some hip pain on my left joint area. I wonder what it is and if it could be from years of carrying additional weight and having to adjust my posture/walk. I am hoping it works itself out in time.
All in all, good news to report for the last month of 2014. Four months post-surgery and I'm down a total of 71.6 pounds!!!!! So this New Year's I'm celebrating the SMALL victories and milestones as they are carrying me onward to the BIG one.
Wishing you all a Happy and Healthy New Year.
Lori
