Turkey Veggie Meatloaf

I experimented a bit last night with a meatloaf recipe. I had it for lunch today and it was pretty darned good. Although I think I'd make a slight adjustment for next time (noted below). Turkey Veggie Meatloaf 1 lb ground turkey 1/2 c. shredded carrots 1/2 c. diced zucchini 1/2 c. diced mushrooms 1/2 c. black beans 1/2 c. bread crumbs 1 capful Mrs. Dash seasoning 1 egg 1/2 c. diced tomatoes or fresh salsa (this is the adjustment I'll try next time to add moisture) Mix all ingredients together. Divide into 8 equal portions and pack into mini meatloaf pan. I used this. But you could use a normal loaf pan for one large meatloaf or a muffin tin for smaller individual servings. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until done. I love mine with ketchup.

The Splenda Brown Sugar Haox

When I have oatmeal, I like to have a spoonful of Splenda Brown Sugar in it for that nutty sweet flavor. (Easy Oatmeal Recipe) It's half the sugar content, right? So it's a good choice. Or so I believed until tonight. 


I am almost out of Splenda Brown Sugar and I was at the grocery store, so went to grab a new bag. Out of curiousity, I thought I'd compare labels with the Splenda and normal brown sugar. Surprise! Surprise! Guess what I found out?! 


Splenda Brown Sugar 
Serving size 1/2 tsp (2g) 
Calories 10 
Carbs 2g 
Sugar 2g 


Normal Brown Sugar 
Serving size 1 tsp (4g) 
Calories 17 
Carbs 4g 
Sugar 4g 


What the heck?! How did I get fooled on something so elementary? I'm kind of pissed at myself for falling for the advertising hype. I've been paying $3.59 for 8oz of Splenda BS that I could have been getting 16oz for $1.66. Do you know how many Goodwill bargains I could have bought?! Dang!


EDITED TO ADD:  Yes, I realize that Splenda Brown Sugar is suppose to be "twice as sweet" as normal brown sugar so you are not suppose to need as much for recipe. But seriously... have you ever measured out 1/2 teaspoon of Splenda Brown Sugar and added it to a bowl of oatmeal? Does 1/2 teaspoon even cover the top or is it even able to be spread evenly enough to flavor the whole bowl?  No, not exactly. 


I've switched to back to normal brown sugar.


~Pam

Twitter

OK gang... I'm going to give this Twitter thing a try. I've been a member there for a while now, but never seem to take the time to get into it. So I'm going to try and give it the old college try this time around. LOL! You can follow me at: http://twitter.com/PWSammy ~Pam

Goal Weight Clothing Fund

Just before surgery I started a Goal Weight Clothing Fund. 


Basically just an envelope that I added a few dollars to every week or so. At the end of every pay period, whatever money was left in my wallet got added to the envelope - even if it was only a dollar or two. Or if unexpected money came in or someone paid me back on a loan or I received a gift card for a holiday ... it all got added to the envelope. 


Little by little it grew. I never counted the money, just added to it over time. The intention of the fund was to have a large stash of money to use on a shopping spree for new clothes once I hit my goal weight. How fun would it be to have a few hundred dollars to spend, guilt-free, on myself?! 


 Well.... it doesn't look like I'm going to hit my goal weight anytime soon (it'll happen eventually, but it might take a lot longer than I originally thought it would). I've been in the same clothing size for a year now. So I've started spending it. 


First I counted it. Just over $400!! Holy Moly! 


Honestly, I can't imagine spendnig $400 on clothes at a normal retail store, paying full price. Right after surgery when I was losing weight (and sizes) so rapidly, I became a Goodwill-Addict and bought all my clothes at thrift stores. I was amazed to find out that Goodwill sells so many brand new, with tags, clothes that are obtained for normal retailers (Target, Meijer). And of course, every week Goodwill has a sale on a certain color tag - which means 1/2 price clothes. 


Almost everything in my closet has been purchased for either $3.49 (full price) or $1.75 (half price). And about 60% of everything I buy at Goodwill is new with tags -- the other 40% is clothing in such good condition that it looks like new. So with bargains to be had at thrift stores, it's hard for me to pay $20-$40 for a blouse I know I could get for $1.75 if I looked hard enough. 


In the past 20 months I can count on one hand how many items of clothing I've bought at full retail price (2 pair jeans, a sweater, a blouse). But I took the plunge and bought some clothes at retail. Yes, they were on clearance and super great bargains... but it was a departure for me to do it. Kmart is having their annual clearance event (actually most retailers have huge clearance events in July). I bought 2 pair of sandles, 1 sweater, 1 blouse, 1 swimsuit = all for $45. Not a bad haul, huh? And that $45 came out of my Goal Weight Clothing Fund. 


How fun I don't know if I'll spend the entire $400 on clothes though. I'm seriously contemplating buying a bicycle with part of the funds - but we'll see.


So if you're just starting out in your WLS journey, I highly recommend starting a clothing fund. It's fun to watch it grow and even more fun to start spending it. Keeping yourself in clothes that fit after losing weight can get very expensive -- so you have to plan for it

~Pam

A Bout of Rebellion

Rebellion - (re⋅bel⋅lion) 1) a refusal of obedience 2) resistance to or defiance of any authority, control, or tradition 3) defiance: intentionally contemptuous behavior or attitude, insubordination Sometimes I just get tired of being good, tired of following the rules and having to be perfect all the time. Sometimes I get tired of thinking about WLS, about what I eat and how much I exercise. I get tired of counting everything that passes my lips, following rules with protein first and moderate carbs, exercising religiously, taking two or three handfuls of vitamins, drinking enough water and just in general having to be perfect every day. I literally get tired of listening to myself think about WLS and all that goes with it. For much of July I've been in the mindset of rebellion. I'm sure you noticed that my eating hasn't been the greatest -- the discovery of having reactive hypoglycemia is a direct result of eating wrong. If I'd continued eating protein-forward meals like I should have been, I never would have known that my blood sugar bottoms out when I eat a carb-forward meal. I guess it's good that I know the diagnosis since it forces me to eat properly. I'm just pissed at myself for being so bad with my eating that it ever became an issue for me. I've also been slacking on exercise. I had one race scheduled for July and it got rained out, but I've put no effort into registering for any other races to hit my goal of 2 per month. And now it's July 28th and I have no hope of meeting that goal. I've also skipped out on a couple Tuesday night training sessions with my group. Once because I wanted to go to my photography group meeting instead and once because I just didn't feel like going so I went home and wallowed in my self-pity. I've also been neglecting my mid-week training workouts. Tonight we're scheduled for 8.75 miles and I'm not sure I'm really ready for that since I haven't been keeping up with my training these past few weeks. I continue to wear my GoWear Fit (and I'll do another review of this in the next day or two). So I know how many calories I'm burning and I almost always (95% of the time) hit my daily targets for calories burned, activity and steps. Although I'm not religiously tracking my food intake, I've never eaten more calories than I've burned - so I know I'm still in a calorie deficit every day. You've heard me preach about vitamins until I'm blue in the face. I know how essential they are to our post-op life. Vitamins are not an optional thing for us. I know this. My head knows it. So why do I let my rebellion get in the way and skip vitamins sometimes? Not often - maybe once a week or so - but it's enough that it bothers me. There's no excuse for this. It's stupid and dangerous. It might be an every-once-in-a-while thing right now, but it's too easy to let it become a bad habit and I need to nip this in the bud immediately. Confession is good for the soul, right? It's hard to say all this stuff out loud. Especially to you all. It's hard to realize that I'm not perfect (yeah right, like I ever believed that anyway!) and that it is very easy to fall off the wagon just like anyone else. Folks often come to me with questions or asking for advice about their own journey - which is fine, I'm happy to help. But sometimes it's hard to give support to others when I'm dragging my butt on my own journey. The diagnosis of reactive hypoglycemia was a wake up call for me. And the issues I'm having with ferritin and prealbumin is a concern too. Although none of these is serious at the moment, if I don't stay on top of stuff they can become serious. Thankfully my bout of rebellion hasn't lasted long and it's mostly been in my head and not too serious with the rest of my routines. Yes, eating and exercise has suffered, but it's not as back as it could have been if I'd gone totally off the deep end. It's good that I'm recognizing my behavior now and correcting it before it really got out of hand. I'm still working to get my head on straight today. I'm a lot closer than I was a week ago and it might take a bit more time to "find my religion" again. But I'm determined to get myself fully back on track. I never really strayed that far away from the straight and narrow -- but knowing how easy it is to let rebellion take over is sobering and scares me a bit. And it makes me all the more aware that I need to be vigilant at all times to keep myself on track. When I had WLS I signed up for life - it's not something I can turn on and off on a whim, it's a 24/7 operation and I can't let my guard down. Most of what I've written here is for my own benefit - saying it out loud to make it real and to set the goal of "being-hav." But I also want to make sure newbies and pre-ops understand how difficult this journey is and that it takes constant attention to the rules we all must follow forever. This thing is hard! But the rewards are great. Thanks for listening. ~Pam

Reactive Hypoglycemia

I met with my doctor today about the low blood sugar issues I've been experiencing over the past couple weeks (longer, really). He agreed with me that it's reactive hypoglycemia. Which basically means that after I eat a meal or snack that's basically all carbs with no protein or fat to balance it, I'm going to have a spike in my blood sugar which will then dramatically fall very low within a couple hours of eating.

The cure: stop eating crappy carbs for meals! Duh!

When I eat like I should - protein first, moderate carbs - then my blood sugar remains level and within normal ranges. But if I choose a carb heavy meal (like oatmeal or a Fiber One pop tart or a slice of pizza) - then I'm going to have a hypoglycemia reaction. Which basically means that I need to follow the golden rules of WLS just like I always should have been doing.

Protein first and always.

So if I have a piece of fruit, I need to balance it with some type of protein like cheese or sliced of deli turkey. If I have oatmeal I need to add a scoop of protein powder to it, or have some meat or protein bar with it. Which is what I normally do. Exept that I've been a bit rebellious these past few weeks and I've now paid the price for it. (I'll write about the rebellion later.)

Doc wrote me a Rx for a glucose monitor and test strips. He doesn't think insurance will pay for it because it's not diabetes, but I'm going to try to get it anyway. If I can't, then I'll just pay out of pocket for the supplies so I at least have it on hand in case I need it.

The more I'm reading about reactive hypoglycemia, the more I'm finding that it's a common side effect of gastric bypass surgery. I knew it was a risk before surgery, but it wasn't really a concern back then. I'm glad it's not a total surprise to me, I guess. Its easily controlled and I just need to be prepared in the future if I have an episode while I'm out (carrying glucose tablets or lifesavers with me at all times). Otherwise, I guess it's not that big of a deal -- just something new to live with. :-)

~Pam

Size XL Shirts

I found a great deal on long sleeved, v-neck t-shirts. Love them! But why did I buy XL? Silly Pam... you wear a large! The store I bought them from isn't close by, so guess I'll just have three really cute shirts that are slightly too big for me. LOL!

~Pam

The low blood sugar saga

So remember that low blood sugar thing from the other day? I believe it's definitely linked to high carb meals. I have been paying attention lately and notice that a normal meal of protein-first-moderate-carbs doesn't cause any type symptoms. But if I eat something that's higher in carbs than I should probably be eating, then I pay the price a couple hours later. Yesterday I ate high carb stuff (Fiber One pop tart) on my drive to work instead of a protein drink. At 10:15 my glucose count was 68 and accompanied by shakiness and lightheadedness. I ate my normal breakfast and was better in 15 minutes. Today I had my usual protein hot chai tea on my commute and checked my glocose count at 10:15 and it was 75, no shakiness, feel fine. I have oatmeal scheduled for breakfast today (about to eat it right now), so I'm curious to see what my count is going to be just before lunch. Yeah - I probably shouldn't be playing around with this stuff and just wait to meet with my doctor on Monday, but I'm curious and want to see what the numbers say after different types of meals. I'm keeping a log of what I eat (as usual) and recording the times when I feel like my blood sugar levels are dropping along with glucose readings at those times. At least I'll have some data to present to the doctor on Monday when I see him. I'm being careful not to play around with high carb meals/snacks when I know I'll be driving within a couple hours of eating - which is when I experience the disorientation stuff. So don't worry that I'm doing anything stuipid at this point. And the saga continues... ~Pam

Shopping Wow

When you get further out after WLS, the WOW moments don't come as often. So when you have one, you get really excited. At least I do!

Today on my lunch hour I went shopping at DOTS -- a bargain clothing store. I was on a quest for a blouse or two, but didn't have much hope. I got there and the style wasn't really for me, but I looked around anyway. After some digging I found several blouses, a skirt and a dress to try on.

All four blouses, the skirt and the dress all fit and were all super cute. All of them!? When does that ever happen?

So here I was in the fitting room faced with a huge problem. I didn't want to spend that much money or buy that many things, so I had to decide which ones I liked best and put the rest back. Normally my choices are much more limited -- maybe one item fits or if I'm lucky, maybe two. But all six! LOL!

So I picked a blouse and the super cute skirt and headed for the register. WooHoo! New clothes. (And not thrift store clothes either!) Shopping is fun now!

~Pam

Low Blood Sugar?

Last night I woke up at 1:00 a.m. with the shakes - I was lightheaded and knew I needed food. Not just a "need" for food, but it was a feeling of a "desperate survival need" for food. I had eaten dinner around 9:00 p.m. and it was higher in carbs than it was in protein. (About 2:1 carbs to protein, which is the opposite of what my normal meal would be.) Then I had a late night snack that was also a bit too carby around 11:00 p.m. I went to bed around 11:30 -- so 2 hours after eating I was awake desperately eating grapes and peanuts. Grapes & peanuts? I'm not sure where that combination came from, but it's was I ended up with in my moment of desperation. This is not the first time it's happened. In fact, it happened Sunday afternoon when I ate lunch (another too-carby meal) then laid down for a mid-afternoon nap (isn't that what Sunday afternoons are made for anyway?). About 2 hours after lunch I woke up and needed food because of the shakes and lightedheadedness. I remember at least one other time of this happening but it was a while ago and I don't remember the specifics. It also sometimes happens after a race where I hadn't eaten anything beforehand. It feels like what I imagine low blood sugar issues would feel like. Because within about 15-20 minutes of eating something, the shakes are gone and I feel better. It makes me wish I had a blood glucose monitor so I could test my blood at different times of the day or when this happens. I wonder if my brother has an extra one laying around I could borrow (he's Type 1 Diabetic). I can see in these past two instances that it happens after eating a meal or snack that is too high in carbs and not balanced with enough protein. I usually try to keep my meals balanced so that there is more protein than carbs (2 bites of protein to 1 bite of "something else"). If I keep my meals balanced like they should be, then I shouldn't have this issue, right? But another side of me wants to figure out what's going on and fix it so it doesn't happen again. It's a scary feeling to wake up in the night like that. Growing up with my brother who has had diabetes since he was 10 years old (?) and experiencing low blood sugar issues with him - I know how serious this is and I'm not going to play around with it. And I think the experiences I've had all my life with him has helped me realize that it is probably related to low blood sugar. If I didn't have that knowledge I would probably be brushing this off as nothing. If it continues I'll call my doctor for assistance. ~Pam

Photowalking

One of the amazing things about losting 113 pounds is that I have the ability to walk for long periods of time without getting tired or worn out. Saturday's walk wasn't really very grueling or long and didn't really cover that many miles -- but I'm still so thankful that I have the ability to keep up with the crowd. I was part of the Scott Kelby Worldwide Photowalk this past Saturday. I was just one of over 30,000 photographers in 900 cities all over the world who walked around their own city to take photographs of everyday life. It is amazing to be a part of something so huge. Our group had about 35 photographer ranging from hobbyists like myself to professional photographers. In our group there were pocket point-and-shoot cameras, iPhone cameras, mid-range DSLRs and high end rigs that cost more than I'd like to think about. Here's a link to my top 26 picks from the day. I took over 240 photos, these are my favorites. I need to choose my best two photos to submit to our group's pool. (Votes welcomed!) Then the leader will pick the best from our city and submit that one photo on to be judged on a worldwide scale. There are some pretty amazing prizes. Although I'm happy with how my photos turned out, I have no illusion that I'll be the top pick from 30,000 other photographers - but it's nice to dream, right? Here are some of my favorites. Spent Allium Rusty Fire Hydrant Vintage Window Display Bay City's Riverfront Blue Rust

Tired of Protein

After WLS one of the biggest pushes in our diets is protein, protein, protein. A typical recommendation for intake is around 80-100g per day. Because we have the gastric bypass issue, we tend to malabsorb some nutrients, so we need more protein than a normal person. That's all fine and dandy. 80-100g of protein a day is a doable amount for most WLS folks who are several months post-op. (It takes a little while to work your way up to this amount when your pouch is tiny and you have trouble eating, of course.) So as ya'll know I've had some issues with my lab results showing low prealbumin numbers. Which means my body isn't absorbing the protein and my body needs a boost. I've been instructed to shoot for 150g protein per day. For someone with a small stomach, that's a LOT of protein. And I really can't do it all from just food so I've had to supplement with protein shakes. Now, remember that I've already done a protein shake every morning already. It's just habit now to start my morning with a protein drink of some sort. Either a fruit smoothie shake, a protein hot chai tea or some other form of drink with the base of a scoop of protein powder. But to get up to 150g of protein I've had to do at least two protein drinks per day plus be super conscious of how much protein I'm getting from food. Let's look at the breakdown of what I need to achieve to hit 150g. Morning Shake -- 30g Breakfast -- 25g Lunch -- 25g Dinner -- 25g Snack -- 15g Evening Shake -- 30g That break down looks pretty easy on paper, right? But what if breakfast is only 15g? That means I need to make up an extra 10g somewhere else in the day. Or what if I don't have a snack in the afternoon - that's another 15g I need to figure out how to get in somewhere else. Or what about last night when I had fish for dinner and it was only 20g and I ate late so my tummy didn't want a protein shake before bed - that puts me 35g short at the end of the day. It's a huge balancing act and after nearly two months of focusing so heavily on protein, I'm really getting tired of the whole routine. I am getting tired of the taste of protein drinks.... so tired that I'm skipping that second scheduled shake at night in favor of something I enjoy the taste of more which doesn't necessarily give me that 30g protein boost. I get a redraw on labs on August 1st (which will probably not happen until Aug 3rd due to scheduling). I just need to hold out on the protein push for another 2 weeks to see if it's working. But what will I do if I find out my labs still suck and I need to continue on the 150g routine? That thought bothers me a lot. I don't want to be rebellious or be a rule breaker but I feel myself going in that direction. I'm trying really hard to keep a positive attitude. ~Pam

The RNY Rules

These "rules" are already posted throughout my blog here somewhere ... but I figured I'd put them all together in one post to make it easier to find them. I formatted these as handouts for my support group, so they look all fancy and stuff. A month or so ago I shared these with the director of my bariatric center and I just found out last week that she printed a bunch of copies and has them available in the waiting room at my surgeon's office for other patients to read. What an honor, huh? The RNY Rules

Preparing for Surgery Why We Don't Drink with Meals Understanding the Pouch Where are Nutrients Absorbed? Will I Change After Surgery? Breaking a Stall / Plateau

Ponderings

I'm feeling very cotemplative today. So this post will probably be rambling and all over the map... but I just need to get some stuff out of my brain and down on paper today. This weekend my Grandmother had a small stroke. Doctors are hopeful that's is just a TIA - which means all symptoms will disappear after 24 hours and there is no permenant damage. She lost her speech and ability to walk, but when I saw her last night, she was doing great and talking up a storm, just like normal. This happened about a year ago too. It's a big scare for us because my Grandmother suffered a major stroke when she was 41 years old and suffered permenant damage to her speech and comprehension and some function of her right hand/leg. So anytime we hear mention of "stroke" with her current health condition, we get nervous. But she's doing well and it looks like she'll come home from the hospital today - her birthday is today, by the way. So of course she's been on my mind and this morning I came to the realization that I am very close to the age that she was when she had the stroke. I'm 39 years old. What if life as I knew it were to change completely in just 3 short years - I can't imagine how devestating that must have been emotionally for my grandmother who was still in the process of raising teenagers and was soon to be enjoying an empty nest with my grandfather. So these thoughts are making me rethink how much I appreciate my life, how far I've come and how far I have yet to go in achieving my goals and reaching my aspirations. And of course, these types of thoughts lead me to being single. Most of the time I'm content with my life and enjoy my independence. I like being accountable to only myself and having the ability to do whatever I want to do without having to answer to anyone else. But sometimes I wonder how different my life would be if I had a companion to share it with. A man to love me unconditionally and one I can love back. One day I hope to have that. And some days I wish that "one day" were here. But then I remember how much I hate dating and the headache it always seems to be ... and I begin to appreicate my single-ness again. But today I seem to be wallowing in the "being single blues." It never lasts long and will pass quickly. I've also been trying to figure out what I'm going to do about my weight. Not losing is frustrating and discouraging. Every day is a battle to keep doing the right things because it doesn't seem to make any difference on the scale whether I'm good or bad with my eating - nothing makes the scale move. Which reminds me of the battle I fought pre-op when I couldn't lose any weight no matter how hard I worked because of the PCOS and insulin resistance issues I struggled with. "Quitting" is a word I don't want to think about, but it's entered my thoughts lately and I constantly have to push it away. A month from now will mark the day when I hit the 100-pounds-lost mark. Today the scale shows that I have lost a mere 10 additional pounds since that day. Since the scale plays up and down with about 3 pounds, some days that number is an additional 13 pounds. I'm still wearing the same size clothes as I was a year ago - so I can't even claim that I'm losing inches. The statistics for excess weight loss after RNY show an average of 60% - 80% loss of excess weight. If I use the Met Life ideal body weight of 134 (which is what my surgeon uses) to calculate my percentage, I've lost 68.4%. If I use my goal weight of 160 to calculate my percentage, I've lost 81.2%. So either way I fall within the averages. But why doesn't that make me feel any better about what the scale is telling me these days? Most of the time I can ignore the nagging feeling of the scale and just focus on my life and how far I've come -- but some days it's just hard to ignore it. Today is one of those days. Ok, enough ponderings for now. I'll have to meditate of these things and find peace with my chaotic thoughts. Thanks for listening to me ramble... ~Pam

Race Day Rain Out

Late Friday evening I registered for the 10k race in Flint for Saturday morning. I knew there was suppose to be rain and thunderstorms passing through overnight and the weatherman said they would linger through morning. But I was hoping for good weather anyway. I went to bed last night around midnight and the rain hadn't started yet.

When my alarm went off at 5:45 a.m. this morning I was already awake because of the loud thunder and pounding rain. I had no desire to get up, drive 45 minutes to the race and walk for two hours in the middle of a thunderstorm. So I turned the alarm off and rolled over to go back to sleep.

But mid-morning, when the sun finally came out, I went out for some photowalking. I grabbed my camera and knew I wanted to hit a couple of my favorite spots in Bay City. The Farmer's Market was open on Saturday for the first time so there wasn't much to see or buy. The Flea Market was hopping, but I didn't see anything I couldn't live without. I walked down to the cemetary to see if I could get some interesting photos, then back up Center with all the victorian houses. When I got back downtown I found a car show in full swing so I did my civic duty and support the concession stand run by the Boy Scouts and had a hotdog and a snow cone. I took a bunch of photos all along the way, of course. And when I got home I used www.MapMyWalk.com to figure out how far I walked. 5.09 miles. Not bad for skipping a race today, huh?

~Pam

2009 Goals -- half-year update

So we're halfway through 2009. How are you doing on your goals (or resolutions) for the year? I thought I'd do an update on how I'm doing with my 9 Goals for 2009. 

1. Meditate I go in spurts on this. I'll go several weeks in a row with dedicated "thinking time" and feel great about my mental attitude. But then something disrupts the schedule and I'm back to mental fuzziness again. So I renew this committment often.

2. Declutter I have 8 boxes of clothes and stuff packed up right now and will be dropped off at Goodwill this weekend. This goal also goes in spurts and I have weeks of extreme decluttering and then nothing for a long time. I do feel like I'm making progress though. 

3. Buy less stuff I'm failing miserably on this one! I've made some major purchases in the past 6 months - GoWearFit, Palm Pre, freezer, purse camera, stereo for my car, etc. And I'm about to buy a new lens for my SLR camera. But I still have 6 months to try and get this one accomplished, right? 

4. Take more photos I'm doing great on this one! Only problem is that I'm now running out of hard drive space on my computer because of all the photos (need to do some backups and deletions). I am super excited about the Scott Kelby Worldwide Photowalk that I'm signed up for next weekend.


5. Go to school This one is definitely happening. It's going to be a long road before I get my degree, but I'm committed to finishing this time around. I'm excited to be starting my actual graphics classes in the fall - getting a bit bored with the business and marketing classes and want to get into the creative side of the degree.



6. Knit this afghan Well... I bought the yarn and I tried starting a couple times. But I have determined that I need some help on this one. I'd like to take a knitting class or something. But with school taking up a huge chunk of my time, I don't know how to squeeze this into my schedule. It might have to be put off for now - but I still want to accomplish it. We'll see.
7. Spend more time with friends This is difficult, but I'm doing my best. I've had to scale back on my MeetUp.com group events, but I've ramped up my involvement with the WLS community. I can only do so many things with the hours I'm given, so unfortunately my social life is often the thing that suffers when life gets busy.


8. Renew love of scrapbooking I've tried. Really I have. But I am afraid I'm beyond this phase in my life. I'm working on a scrapbook for my grandmother right now and it's a struggle to get it done. I still have a whole room filled with scrapbooking supplies and plan to keep them for now. When I get more into the graphics classes with school and learn to use Photoshop a bit better, I anticipate moving into the digital scrapbooking arena - but that's a little ways off yet.


9. Continue Holistic Wellness Plan Goals I haven't worked on this specifically very much at all. I do have some goals that I still want to accomplish with this plan and will revisit them again. I don't feel a sense of urgency about these goals right now though, so it's not at the top of my list. I'm working on other goals - big ones are Travel Race Mania and school - so this might need to be put off for a while. We'll see.

Blog Stalking

One of the blogs I stalk ... is stalking me too! Melinda over at Recovering Fatty wrote a very nice and flattering post about me. I'm so humbled by her kind words. Thanks Melinda! ~Pam

7 Steps to Get Back to Basics

We hear it often -- "Back to Basics" -- but what does it really mean? Sometimes folks get off track with eating and exercise after WLS or during any weight loss plan and we need to get ourselves back on track with some basic rules and guidelines. Sometimes we find ourselves just eating poorly, or ignoring exercise or even seeing a slight weight gain... so getting back on track is important when we find ourselves lost a bit.

7 Steps to Get "Back to Basics"

1. Find a good in-person LOCAL SUPPORT GROUP and then … never miss a meeting. Make it a priority, put it on the calendar and don't let other stuff interfere with this important part of being successful. Statistics show that patients who attend in-person support group meetings lost more weight than those who don't attend and also have a higher rate of long term success in maintaining their weight loss.

2. BACK TO BASICS -- you know the rules, you know how to use your tool, so do it.

• Protein first and always (80-100g/day). 
• Moderation with carbs (no white stuff - focus on veggies, fruit and whole grains to get your carbohydrate needs of about 40% of your total daily calories ... and remember to get enough fiber to keep the digestive tract working properly)
• Get enough good fats in your diet.
• Be sure your meals are dense, not sliders. Soft foods will slide straight through your pouch and leave you hungry sooner. Dense food can stay in your pouch for up to 2 hours or until you start drinking water again. Try a meal with 5oz grilled chicken breast and a side salad. 
• Get all your water each day - 64oz min
• No drinking with meals or for 30-90 minutes after meals
• Track every morsel of food that passes your lips. You can't know how to adjust your intake unless you know where you are starting from. Figure out where your calories need to be and stick to it 90% of the time. Studies show that people who track calories lose twice as much as those who don't. 
• Plan your meals and eat on a schedule. I still follow the hour-by-hour schedule that I received in pre-op nutrition class before surgery. 3 meals, 3 snacks pre-planned and eaten at specific times during the day and water intake between to curb hunger and grazing tendencies. 
• Be a religious fanatic about your vitamins and supplements.
• Exercise your butt off. If you're not sweating like a pig, you're not working hard enough.

3. BREAK THE STALL -- If the scale has stopped moving - if you're in the midst of a plateau - make sure you review the list of questions to ask yourself to "Break a Stall".

4. BE SURE YOU'RE HEALTHY -- If you haven't had labs drawn recently then get that done. Here's a list. Some vitamin deficiencies can actually cause weight gain or make the scale stop moving, so eliminating that as a culprit is important.  And most importantly, make sure you're taking your vitamins. If you're not sure what to take, check out page 7 of the ASMBS Bariatric Nutrition report - this is where you need to start with the base vitamins, and adjust your doses once you get your lab results back. Also take a close look at your medications list - might any of those be causing weight problems?

5. LEAN ON OTHERS for support when you're not strong enough to do it on your own. Eventually you will become strong enough and then you can be the support person that someone else relies on down the road. Find inspiration where ever you can and hold onto it as you grow stronger. The Nike "I Can" commercial is a good place to start for inspiration.

6. GET HELP -- if you need to deal with the "mental crap" (as I call it) -- the emotional struggles that we all face of food addiction and disordered eating and figuring out how to create a healthy relationship with food, then make an appointment with a therapist. A psychologist recommended by your surgeon's office is often the best resource - someone trained to work with weight loss surgery patients. You don't have to do it on your own.

7. YOU CAN DO HARD THINGS -- you're worth the effort it takes to be healthy, happy and strong. Believe in yourself.  And remember the words of Winston Churchill:  "Never ever ever give in. Never give up."  You CAN do this. You can do hard things.

~Pam

Carb Coma

For some the term "Carb Coma" might be something new ... but for those who know it, we hate it and avoid it at all costs. Last night I experience a Carb Coma. Ok, let me first explain what a Carb Coma is, for those who might not know. I suppose it probably happens to people with normal guts, but I hear about it mostly in relation to RNY folks. Basically when you eat a bunch of simple carbs your body turns it immediately into glucose - which is used for quick energy and when that glucose is all used up, you have a serious crash of extreme tiredness and fogginess. That's why when you eat surgary stuff you get a huge energy surge then crash an hour later. But with those of us who have altered guts, the crash is much more dramatic than the normal sugar crash. I suppose it's probably related to Dumping Syndrome in some way. I'm sure its different for different people, but I'll tell you how it affects me. First of all, I'll start with what I ate. I had pizza for dinner last night. Not the healthy tortilla pizza I normally have, but regular pizza with bread-based crust. An hour later I had about 4 bites of pudding - the regular sugar-filled kind of pudding. (I know, not the best choices.) I was working on a homework assignment that was due by midnight and was reading from my textbook - it was about 10:00 p.m. Within about 30 minutes of that pudding I was suddenly extremely tired. I literally couldn't keep my eyes open, my body felt heavy and fatigued, I couldn't keep my head upright and I couldn't focus or concentrate mentally. Literally my body crashed and I fell asleep on the couch - not just a normal sleep like I dozzed off... but a hard, coma-like sleep. I don't experience a Carb Coma very often (maybe 3 times since surgery?) -- but normally when it happens I don't wake up for several hours. For some reason I woke up at 1:00 a.m. (only 2.5 hours later). I kind of freaked out because my heart was racing and my thoughts were foggy. I figured out what had happened and got up and went straight to bed and sleep deeply all night. I do not recommend experimenting with this. It's not fun at all. It sucks big time! Plus, you end up losing a bunch of points on homework assignments that don't get turned in. Doh! ~Pam

Update on Lab Results

So I posted about the lab results a couple weeks ago. It was a re-test of a few things after my normal 18-month labs came back with some low readings. Prealbumin, Ferritin and Vitamin D. I finally talked to the PA at my surgeon's office (after calling three times!) about the results and have some new instructions. The Vitamin D wasn't really even discussed since my numbers were so great. She asked what I'd done to bring the number up ... I refreshed her memory about what I did and she said something like, "Good job." Not much else. Prealbumin -- We discussed the fact that I've been eating 150g protein for the past month but that my numbers didn't move at all. I asked her about the Vitamin A issue and how I was told to discontinue it at the same time I was told to increase my protein intake. She agreed that Vitamin A helps to synthesize protein in the body and that I should start taking it again in addition to keeping my protein intake at 150g/day. But she doesn't want me to be at 150g for the full four weeks. I'm to take 5,000IU Vitamin A per day while eating 150g protein for two weeks. Then drop down to 100g protein for the remaining two weeks before the re-test. Ferritin -- apparently the lab "normal range" has changed since the last time I had blood drawn. Instead of the normal range being 30-400 .... the low end is now down at 10. So my result of 23 is "still within normal range and I should be fine." I pressed the issue because my levels dropped by 13 points in just four weeks. She asked if I was feeling tired or fatigued which is a typical sign of anemia. No, I'm not any more tired than I normally am because I'm so dang busy. So she wants to wait another four weeks with no supplementation to see where the ferritin level is going to go because she thinks it will correct itself. She did give me a Rx for Repleva but told me not to start taking it unless I suddenly start to feel very fatigued. So I wait. If the trend continues then my current level of 23 will drop another 13 points by next month and I'll be right on the edge of deficient. I wonder at what point they will decide action needs to be taken to stop the free fall? Can you sense my frustration? ~Pam

Mini-Vacation

Today is the last day of my mini-vacation. A full five days off. It's been relaxing and productive and it makes me want to be independently wealthy so I don't ever have to work again. LOL!

I've also come to realize that I really need to live by the water one day. Preferrably somewhere south so it's warm year round and I can hit the beach regularly.

So the eating situation has been pretty random and unplanned. You all know me... when things get too strict I tend to rebel. Which means I need times like these when I don't have to think or plan or worry about being perfect. I'll be back on the straight and narrow tomorrow morning.

Even though I haven't done any formal exercise these past five days, I have actually been burning a ton of calories. Now that I have the GoWear Fit I know exactly how I'm doing with activity. I have been burning the same number of calories as I would if I'd done a 5 mile walk every day (around 2300-2600 calories). Being active is an amazing thing, huh?

I love vacation time! I need more, more, more! hehehe

~Pam

Picking Cherries in the Rain

My mom and dad's neighbor has a huge cherry tree in her backyard. They are ripe, sweet and delicious so I picked a bunch today. Unfortunately it was raining today so I got a bit drenched while doing my harvesting.

I filled up the container I'm holding in the picture and half of another one the same size. Bought a cherry pitter and plan to work on them tomorrow. I'm planning some cherry protein shakes, protein ice cream and maybe some cherry cobbler too.

Fun stuff!

~Pam