Keeping it Real

Hello all my faithful readers!

I know that lately I've been a very bad blogger. In fact, for the past 6 months or so, it's been very hit or miss with blog posts. It's not because I don't love you. Really. I love you all a bunch! I can't express to you how much my WLS family has meant to me during these past 5.5 years that I've been keeping this blog going. You're amazing!

But its time for me to be real and honest with myself and what I'm capable of with my limited time. Things are crazy busy for me -- more so than normal. I don't want to feel guilt for neglecting this blog, so I'm going to take a step back for now and try to focus on what is most pressing in my life. Just a few things going on right now:

• New Job -- I'm just starting my second week of my new job!! Yeah me!! Right after my surgery I decided to go back to school and finish my degree. In September I graduated with an Associate's Degree in graphic communication which then opened up an opportunity for me at work to pursue my dream and become a Graphic Artist. I'm thrilled with the new promotion but I've also been thrown into the deep end of the ocean with a huge project to get me started. 
• New Business -- Just about the time I was graduating from college, an opportunity fell into my lap to join forces with three other amazing graphic designers. Together we formed a design agency called FourEffect and business is booming! We're so excited to be working together and amazed at the awesome things God is doing to help us grow our business so quickly. I'm still working my day job (we WLS folks need insurance, right?!) and putting in around 30 hours a week on client work. But two of the partners are working the business full time already and the third is making plans to transition later this year. So things are going well and I'm excited to see what is in store for us.
• WLS Community -- I'm still active in my local WLS community. I continue to lead the Bay City WLS Support Group and attend two other support meetings each month. My local friends all have my email and phone number and know how to find me. My online friends can hit me up on email or FB. You may not see me online at ObesityHelp.com much anymore, but I'm still around online. Yes, I even visit Facebook once in a while. (And we all know I spend way too much time on Pinterest.) 
• The Book -- I haven't forgotten about my promise to publish my book. Right now I'm a whole year behind schedule based on my original plan. But I still want to finish it. Remember that huge project I mentioned up there with the new job? After that's done, the book is next on my list. Yes, for real!
• Back to School -- I want to continue my schooling. I probably won't go to school for another 3 years to get my Bachelor's Degree in design like I thought a year ago, but there are definitely some classes I want to take - particularly classes in marketing and business and advanced design work to help with the new business venture. That will start again with the Spring term. 
• House Hunting -- For the past 10 years I have endured a 150-mile round trip commute to work. That's nearly 3 hours a day on the road. Do the math. It's crazy! (380,000 miles and what amounts to nearly 1 full year on the road).  It's time to move! So come spring, I'm going to do some serious house shopping. Not sure how I'm going to pull that off and sell my current house and all that goes with it... but it's my goal. 

So it's time to take a break from this blog. I know. I know. I'm sad too. 

I'm too buried with stuff these days and I don't think it's fair to you to just leave you hanging like this. But it's not like I'm leaving forever and moving to Mars. I'll still be here. And you know me... if I have something pressing to say or to share with you, you'll hear from me! There WILL be occasional posts and I will definitely let you know when the book is done and on the market. 

I just want to be fair to you all, my faithful readers. There's nothing that I hate more than an abandoned blog, so I'm trying to avoid that scenario. Everything here will still be here and once in a while I'll be back with something brilliant (ha!) to say. So don't unsubscribe from the email list and don't remove me from your RSS feed and don't delete the bookmarks.... I'm still here, just not "here" here. 

Love you all!

~Pam

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New Crock Pot Love

Guess what I got for Christmas from my brother and sister-in-law? Yep, a new Crock Pot! And I love it!

To the casual Pam observer there may be questions about why I'd need yet another slow cooker. After all, I've already got four slow cookers and use them all regularly. So one would think I'd be disappointed in this gift choice, right? Nope. Not at all! In fact, I've been wanting this particular model for a while now and I'm really glad someone bought it for me.

My daily schedule is pretty crazy. I leave my house around 7:00 a.m. and don't get home until about 12 hours later. So setting a normal slow cooker to cook for 12 hours could be a very bad thing and I'd end up with some overcooked, mushy food. Which means the only time I ever use my Crock Pots are when I'm actually home on the weekends.

This particular model is programmable. I can set the heat to begin hours after I add the ingredients (this would work well if I start with frozen food). Or I can set it to cook straight through and then when the time is expired, it will automatically switch to "warm." So now I can cook during the week and not worry about burning the place down while I'm gone. So excited!

Here's what I got:



So you know what this means, right? It means that YOU will be blessed with some delicious slow cooker recipes very soon. The first one I'm going to try is Beef Barley Mushroom Stew. I bought all the ingredients yesterday and will be putting it together for tomorrow's dinner. Let's see how that turns out and I'll share the recipe soon.

~Pam

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The No-Sweets Holiday Eating Strategy

We all know that the Christmas season often equals Christmas Cookies! Last year at this time I was knee deep in baking cookies for a charity cookie walk fundraiser - and don't forget the adorable snowman cookies for a cookie exchange. It's been three years since I made my all-time favorite variety of Christmas cookies - Creme Sandwich Cookies - that my grandmother would always make when I was a little girl. Yep, lots of cookie action going on in past years for me.

But this year I have a "No Sweets Holiday Eating Strategy!"

The strategy is simple. Don't eat sweets! Don't make sweets. Don't buy sweets. Don't hang out near sweets. Ok... well, it's not exactly that cut-and-dried. I'm allowed to have some sweets, but only at certain times.

At our WLS Support Group meeting in November, I made the commitment that I would not eat any holiday sweets (from Thanksgiving through New Year) unless I was at a party or family gathering. In fact, several of us made that same commitment. And so far it's worked out really well. There have been a few instances where I've indulged and not been at a "party" -- but at least there isn't anything in my house this year. 

I have not done any Christmas baking at all. And whenever I attended a party where a dish-to-pass was required, I would make something healthy like a meat and cheese tray or a crock pot of meatballs or a veggie salad. None of the gifts I've given have been food-based either. The only special request I've received is from my Grandma Brown who wants a batch of my peanut brittle (which I'll make for her after New Year and pack up the entire batch for only her). 

What's interesting is that even when I'm at a party or family gathering and I know I'm allowed to have some sweet treats.... I don't over indulge. In fact, my taste tolerance for ultra sweet stuff is pretty low lately. I have a very high tolerance for sugar and I don't dump, so its not that type of tolerance I'm talking about... it's the actual taste of anything that's too sweet that I don't seem to like much anymore. 

It has been refreshing to not be obsessed over sweets and junk food! Remember when I'd rant every year about over indulging? In fact... remember the year when I got out of bed at midnight with a cookie craving and threw everything into the trash? If the rest of the holiday season goes as good as it has until now, I won't be faced with that again this year. 

Prayer and meditation has helped too. I asked for strength in resisting temptation and for help with some of my impulsive tendencies. Its nice to know that Someone's got your back when you're faced with a cube of peanut butter fudge, ya know!

~Pam

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Peanut Butter Chocolate Fudge Pie

At tonight's support group meeting my dear friend Ruthann brought her now-famous Peanut Butter Chocolate Fudge Pie. Even though she originally got the recipe from me and this blog, I'm officially calling it Ruthann's. Why? Because she makes it for lots of different WLS potluck gatherings and people even ask her to make it (yes Mike, I'm looking at you!).

But I realized tonight that the recipe isn't actually featured in an individual blog post here on this site. The recipe is buried on page 143 of the "Protein Book" that's been downloadable here for the past few years. Yep - that's the book that started it all back in 2009 and will soon be transformed into my newly published book (yes, it's still coming!). So without further ado, I'm passing along this delicious recipe for all to try.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Fudge Pie

Crust Ingredients:
2 eggs
2 cups Splenda
2 cups peanut butter

Other Ingredients:
1 box sugar-free, fat-free Chocolate Fudge Pudding mix (prepare according to directions on box)
Chocolate Protein Powder - optional
Sugar Free Cool Whip


Make the crust first and press the mixture into a baking dish (9x13 pan works great here) and bake for 8-10 minutes (watching it closely so it doesn’t burn) at 350 degrees. Let this cool.

Mix up your pudding. I typically add a scoop or two of chocolate protein powder to boost the protein content overall, but this is optional. Fill cooled crust shell with the pudding mixture. You can also add some additional peanut butter to the pudding mixture if you would like it to be even richer. Refrigerate. Top with SF Cool Whip before serving. Enjoy!

COOKIES TOO!  For those who aren't familiar with no-flour peanut butter cookies, check out the ingredient list for the crust. Cut that recipe in half, add a tablespoon of vanilla and Bam! you have peanut butter cookies! Just roll into balls, press with fork and bake for 8 minutes or until just set.

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4 Year Anniversary

Today is November 13th -- exactly four years since my weight loss surgery.  How time flies!

What I have found interesting in the past year is that life is just moving along and I'm not as focused on WLS as I was in the beginning. Right after you have surgery you think that your entire life is going to revolve around this new lifestyle and all the changes in eating and moving and the mental work ... but then one day you wake up and realize that you're just living your life and WLS isn't the first thing on your mind every day.

As my faithful readers have probably noticed in the past several months - my blog posts aren't always about WLS. It's about food I'm eating or favorite recipes I've invented or just what's happening in my life. But that's okay with me. I like where my life is right now and I'm glad that WLS isn't at the front of every thought I have.

Today I'm actually at a conference and sneaking in a post between sessions so I'll write some more another day. In a few weeks I have a day of doctor appointments lined up for my annual check up and having all my annual lab work drawn. After those appointments would be a good time for a full blown update on my 4 year anniversary, so look for that early next month.

But just a quick overview of my stats:

Weight - I'm still maintaining my initial weight loss of just over 100 pounds. I started at 299lbs and now maintain a constant weight of about 193 to 199. As always my crazy body doesn't let me lose anything more and I don't seem to gain if I'm misbehaving. I'm not normal. I've come to accept that fate. Even though I would love to lose another 40 pounds, I have come to accept that this is the weight my body wants to be.

Eating - It's all routine these days. I don't track my calories regularly but I still have a good sense of the amount I eat (about 1200-1400 calories/day).

Exercise - I probably need to move more and get away from the computer more often. I get most of my exercise from daily activity rather than focused workout times. But in wearing my GoWearFit, I know how many calories I burn and I eat below that that level.

Vitamins - I should do better in getting every one of my vitamin doses in throughout the day. My biggest problem is remembering that final afternoon calcium dose. Everything else is routine.

Thank you to every one of my readers for all your support and encouragement. You all mean so much to me!

~Pam

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