Tasty Tiny Snack

Now that I can eat lowfat crackers and lowfat cheese, I'm enjoying snacks like this....

Yes that's the whole snack. Not enough to tide me over forever, but a satisfying snack. I found these low fat Townhouse PRETZEL crackers yesterday and then found that Laughing Cow makes a blue cheese flavor. Match made in heaven?

The laughing cows are nice because they are exactly one ounce and low fat. They are kind of like cream cheese consistency. Honestly, I've never paid much attention to them simply because they are so tiny. I mean...what was I going to do with one ounce of cream cheese?

But for my current life, they fit quite nicely.

The Switch to Real Food

So last week I started being able to chew my food to a certain extent. The transition is supposed to be a slow one, which hasn't exactly been easy. Personally I want to ditch the purees and celebrate, but I also don't want to make myself sick.

So my current restrictions still are:
--No raw veggies at all, only cooked
--No fruit with skins or seeds
--No rice
--No red meat (for a year)
--No bread (for a year)
--Avoid high fat/high sugar foods
--Avoid caffeine and alcohol

I know to many this may seem like a very restrictive list but it feels to me like I opened a Pandora's box of awesome choices! Pasta, cooked veggies....UNPUREED meats!

One of my favorite meals so far has been 3oz of Tuna Helper with some sautéed mushrooms. Since I eat such small amounts, it's nice when I can get several different textures and flavors in my little bowl. A little tuna, a little pasta, a little veg.

On a bariatric foodie blog that was recommended to me, she explores that concept by making 'bites' in mini cupcake pans so there are many flavors like a real meal. Pizza bites, Greek bites, breakfast bites. I really want to try this idea soon.

The hard part about transitioning to food has of course been temptation. I would say I have been doing pretty well. But I'm not going to lie...not perfectly. I may have snuck a couple of my kids Cheetos or a couple of ounces of wine.

But, honestly, I don't feel too  bad about it. The major reason for having the surgery was so I could DO that, while operating within a very forced parameter of self control. The good news is that the weight keeps coming off, so I must not be sabotaging myself too much. 

I hear that Mamaw is making a baked chicken for Sunday dinner tonight, and man am I excited about that!

4 Week Progress Pics

 2 weeks pre-surgery. March 2013.

4 weeks post-surgery. April 2013. 25lbs lost.

Subtle Changes

I am inching up on the one month mark and am hovering somewhere around 25lb weight loss so far. I feel it in a few places but mostly it's unnoticeable to me. Some of my clothes are a little looser. Not so loose that I need new clothes yet, but just enough so that they fit differently.

I am wearing my owl sweater today and decided to compare with a pic of me wearing the same thing around Christmas time.

Decemeber 2012

April 2013 (3 weeks post-op)

I guess I see a little from this pic...which would probably be more obvious is my whole stomach was exposed. But I'm not going to lie, the second picture still looks pretty fat to me. This is a long process though...just gotta keep on. Maybe next Christmas it'll be too big to wear at all!

Mama's Frappy Recipe

I've been getting a little tired of my cookies and cream protein/soy milk cocktail. It's pretty tasty but like all things that you consume every day for a month...it gets old. Plus I figured I might be consuming too many milk calories per day and needed to limit that a bit more.

So I came up with a really good concoction. I think anyone looking to get an extra shot of protein could do this. Almost like being at Starbucks...almost.

Mama's Protein Frappy
-- 6-8 oz of cold decaf coffee
-- 6-8 oz of vanilla soymilk (or any milk would do but the vanilla adds some flavor)
-- a hefty splash of sugar free caramel coffee syrup
-- one packet of Splenda
-- 2 scoops of unflavored Isopure protein (=50 grams of protein)
Shake vigorously to smooth out the protein globs. Enjoy with ice! I tried blending it up too and that works but the protein powder sometimes has a foamy weirdness with it's blended. I preferred it neat. Enjoy!

My Calcium Friends

I have to have calcium citrate supplements every day. Because of the citrate part, I can't just have those regular chocolate ones you can find in the store. I special order these from Bariatric Advantage and they are the bomb diggity.

They are chewy caramels that taste exactly like candy. And since I can't chew very much of my food right now, I love the sticky texture they have

I get six a day. Six!

At our family Easter gathering I took them along to eat while everyone else was enjoying peeps and chocolate eggs. Then I came back from a walk and learned that my cousin's two year old son had gotten into them and eaten a couple. See they're that good...he thought they were Easter candy!

I wonder if that was a calcium overload for such a little guy. I guess he'll have strong bones.

Obsessive

Last week (week 2-3 post op), I only lost like 1lb the whole week. It makes me nervous that I'm doing something wrong so I've just mildly tweeked my daily intake...a little less juice, no butter in my mashed potatoes, trying not to cheat, etc.

I've still lost about 22 lbs in a month's time so I have no real reason to be upset. I'm just nervous about screwing this up and not following the rules or something else being wrong. I didn't come this far just to be screwed up by a dab of butter.

So I told myself I wouldn't weigh myself at all this week. That's exactly what my doctor had said too. Just follow the plan and do your best and don't weigh yourself. Well...I made it to Wednesday, that's half the week right? Not too much change, maybe a half of a pound.

Since all I eat is baby food, I feel like I should be losing 10lbs a day.

Okay, maybe that's a stretch. 

I know there's a chance that my body is just kind of in shock and figuring out what to do. I also know I need to be exercising more, now that I'm cleared to do so.

So I'm just going to stay the course and TRY not to weigh in again until Sunday. Hopefully I will be pleasantly surprised with myself.

2 Week Selfie

Jeremy says he's starting to see the weight loss in all kinds of places, but I still barely notice. I'm just a little over 20lbs now and this past week my weight loss has been very slow or stalled.

I find that hard to believe since I'm still eating mostly baby food but I guess I can see where I have cheated...some full fat broccoli soup, a tiny glass of wine, two french fries from Tessa's McDonalds.

It sounds silly, but maybe those bites add up in these early stages. Honestly, I think life will be SO much easier when I can eat chewable food. Then I can focus on healthy things that aren't pureed. What I wouldn't give for the crunch of some romaine lettuce.

But that being said, I guess things are still happening. I just need to be more careful. I'm also going to try a little more exercise this week since the doc said it's okay.

I know the lighting and hair on these are different, but I guess I can see a little less cheek-age in these pics.

January 2013 (2 mo before surgery)

April 2013 (2 weeks after surgery)

2 Week Check-Up

Today I saw my surgeon for the first time since the day of surgery. While I was there I also saw the dietician. I guess that's the flow of the appointments from now on. Check in with the nurse to get weighed and measured, wait 40 minutes to see the surgeon, then do a dietary run down q&a with the dietician. Pretty straight forward!

 So here's the highlight reel... 

-My last weigh in at the center was three weeks ago and I am down 18.5lb from then. My scale say more like 20, so I'm sticking with that. 

-I am cleared to submerge in a bathtub and start ramping up to normal exercise. I also started driving yesterday. 

-I turned in my sharps box, no more injections! 

-When I asked the doctor about the expected rate of weight loss he basically told me not to worry about it and not to weigh myself....just follow the diet and let it happen. Hmmm. Hard advice to the person who's been weighing themselves multiple times a day. But I get what he's saying. I will lose weight so I should stick to the plan and not fret. 

-I was called out for chewing gum. I honestly didn't know that I couldn't chew gum. Apparently if I accidentally swallow it I might die or something. Good point. 

-I was cleared by the dietician to move into 'stage 3' of the semi-liquid diet. Now I can puree almost any thing and start to have seasonings and condiments! I can also move from 2oz to 3oz. But still no chewable food. I think it's kind of funny, by the way, that the bariatric bible they gave me reminds me not to puree things like cheeseburgers and fried chicken because it's still high fat. Ew, right?

So for dinner I whipped this bad boy out.

Canned crab meat plus a tablespoon of low fat mayo and a few dashes of Old Bay pureed up in the blender....like eating crab dip with a spoon! If that sounds gross to you it's because you haven't been eating baby food for two weeks. It's freaking delicious.

Unflavored Protein You Say?

I haven't tried very many varieties of protein powder yet. I have my cookies and cream to mix with soy milk (a dash of international delight flavored coffee is nice too) and my tropical flavor to mix with juice.

I was curious about unflavored Isopure and Jeremy ordered me a mega tub of it. I have heard of people mixing into their food...probably further down the road when I can actually eat food. But I did try some today in orange juice. Blended up with ice for a nice slushy.

Verdict: It really WAS surprisingly unflavored. The powder gave my slushy that nice chalky texture of course but I couldn't taste anything else. Hmm....maybe time for some experimentation with this stuff.