These Are My Confessions*

I'm not going to mince words here. I had to grow a pair of giant lady balls in order to write this particular post. And to put that ticker at the top of my page. But there it is for the world to see. Accountability is a scary thing. Thanks to Lapband Mom  for giving me directions on how to do it. I NEVER would have figured that out on my own.

I've always been very private about my "number". I think a lot of women have a number that they don't like to say out loud...be it their age, their dress size...whatever. But for me it has always been my weight. There are so many emotions attached to that number. You're either "bad" because you've gained or "good" because you've lost. It's a never ending cycle of self-hate and I'll be damned if I'm going to live the rest of my life that way. Plus…I really don't know who I thought I was hiding it from in the first place. It's kind of on display every day. But there is just something about saying the actual number out loud. It's just...difficult. And in order to do this I had to reach deep, deep down and think about why I'm writing this blog. I want this to be a true documentation of my journey and the simple fact is that there is no way around that without revealing my number. I also started to think about all of the amazing women who have inspired me since I began this journey. They certainly aren't hiding their numbers. They are shouting them from the rooftops and celebrating every pound lost along the way. The O.G. has had her weight posted for all to see since October 2009. I also have to say that over the past few days I have gotten so much support from you guys. I appreciate it more than you will ever know. The WLS blogging community is incredible. I know this is a safe place, so I'm just jumping right in.

So now that that's out of the way, let's talk about what I've been eating! :) Yesterday was a really fun day. I met my friend Rachel for an early lunch at Chipotle, so when I got up I drank the rest of my Orange Spice iced coffee from Starbucks. I added a half scoop of Vanilla Unjury powder and a little bit of fat-free half-and-half. I'm working on the Pioneer Woman iced coffee recipe, but it won't be ready until Sunday. It's a lot of steps, y'all.

This was my first visit to Chipotle since surgery and it was a huge success. I love Chipotle. I love their socially responsible policies, the cool design of their restaurants, and the fact that their Super Bowl commercial featured Willie Nelson covering Coldplay. I also love their website's nutrition builder. They have one of the best I've ever seen. They make it super easy to figure out anything you want to eat. I decided to go with the kids' menu two taco kit. I chose the steak because it had a good amount of protein. For my two sides I chose fajita vegetables, and roasted corn salsa. It also came with a tiny kid's size chips. All of this for around 350 calories. It even came on the cutest little mini cardboard cafeteria tray. I was so thrilled with it all that I promptly forgot to take a picture of it. I'm sorry. It seems like whenever I go to restaurants, I'm so focused on making the right choices that I completely zone out. But it was delightful, and I will be returning quite often. It was the perfect amount of food, plus it was $3.95. Dinner was the exact same as the night before. I love that Tilapia. Here are my totals for Friday:

This morning I got up and had my Chocolate Splendor coffee and for some reason I wasn't hungry for quite a while. I can't even call my first meal "brunch". It was more like lunch. I have been excited to try this since I found it at Kroger the other day.

One of the main reasons I got it was that it has 26 g of protein. Check out these stats.

Here is what it looked like after it came out of the microwave.

It was tasty, and super filling, but I have kind of mixed feelings about it. I think this is fine for me because I don't have a fill yet. No matter how much I chewed this and tried to take tiny bites, there was no way I could chomp the spinach and mushrooms to the consistency of applesauce. I think this would be pretty problematic for a lot of people with restriction. I have another one in the freezer and I will definitely try to eat it before I go for my first fill on the 24th. They are kind of pricey too. I got them on sale, but I wouldn't repurchase due to the chewing issue.

Dinner tonight was a treat. I love Sloppy Joes...I always have. I made tonight's version in a pita pocket. It's a little less messy, plus I feel like the pita offers more fiber than your standard hamburger bun. This is another recipe that I recalculate every time I make it. The stats can change with the different brands of bun/pita and the type of ground beef. I really like Laura's 96% Lean Beef.

And my plate:

 My after dinner snack was another Yasso coconut bar. I seriously can't quit these.

Today's totals:

 Thanks for reading!

*Apologies to Usher :)

Back to School

I love iced coffee. Have I mentioned that? It's really something you should know about me. And I had forgotten just how much I loved iced coffee until I was reminded of it this weekend in Dallas. Over dinner last night, my friend Jordan mentioned that she likes to get a Venti iced coffee from Starbucks (with no ice) and keep it in the fridge for a couple of days. Each morning, she adds some ice, a splash of half-and-half, her sweetener, and it's ready to go. She says a Venti lasts her for three days. I should also mention that Jordan is something of a frugal genius. I mean...the girl got married last November and had the cutest wedding invitations I've ever seen. And get this…they cost a whopping total of $30. Postage included.

So last night after dinner I stopped by Starbucks and got a Venti iced coffee. I've been dying to try their new Orange Spice flavor so I got the unsweetened version of that.

This morning I mixed it with half a scoop of vanilla Unjury protein powder and a little bit of fat-free half-and-half. It was deeelicious. I can totally see this becoming an addiction. I think I'm going to investigate the Pioneer Woman Perfect Iced Coffee recipe  and adapt it a little. Although that sweetened condensed milk version looks fabulous, it is way off limits.

I had to put it in my trusty to go cup because I needed to leave the house bright and early. I also packed a Kraft jalapeno cheese stick for the road.

What could possibly be special enough to drive me out of bed this early on a summer morning? Well...let me tell you. I was excited.

In Arkansas, there is a special summer program for about 400 super smart kiddos who are about to be Seniors in high school. It's called Arkansas Governor's School and it takes place at Hendrix College, which also happens to be my alma mater. It is a small, liberal arts college in Conway, Arkansas which is about an hour away from me. The students live there for six weeks, attend classes, and basically just get to be around other like-minded folk. One of my former students selected me to be her visiting teacher for Educator's Day. The kids got to choose one teacher from their past that had a positive impact in their lives. Needless to say, I was thrilled to be chosen. The student who chose me was in my Spanish I and II classes when she was in the eighth and ninth grade. I've taught school for 20 years, and I can easily say she was one of the most talented kids I've ever had. It was a thrill to get to spend the day with her. She loves Governor's School and has really made the most of her time there. I am so proud of the young woman she has become.

Everything wrapped up around noon, and by that time I needed food and quickly. So… I decided to make a run for the border. This was my first post surgery visit to Taco Bell and although I knew I was going to get something off the Fresco menu, I wasn't sure what. The drive thru moved much faster than I thought it would and I was still frantically searching MyFitnessPal for options. When I pulled up to the window I decided to get a Fresco pintos and cheese, a Fresco style crunchy beef taco, and a water.

I definitely didn't want to wait any longer to eat, so I pulled into a shady parking spot. This is where I made a big time rookie mistake. I was so thirsty, but for some reason I started my meal before I drank any of my water. Great. So I had to wait an hour and 15 minutes to drink. While we're on the topic...what is your surgeon's rule about drinking after meals? Dr. Wellborn recommends waiting 60 to 90 minutes before drinking anything, so that's what I do.

After I got back home, I went to Kroger and did a bit of shopping. It was like everywhere I turned there was a new cool product that I had not seen before. Some of which I think could work really well for us. Be on the lookout for some of these in the coming days. One a bit later!

Super excited to tell you about dinner tonight. As you may have guessed, Central Arkansas is not exactly a Mecca  of  international cuisine, and I have a huge love of Caribbean/Puerto Rican/Cuban food. No restaurants of this type really exist around here, so if I want Caribbean food, I have to improvise. Tonight I baked tilapia fillets seasoned with Sazón. Sazón is a seasoning blend that contain several different spices. The orange color is from achiote peppers, but it's not hot at all, just tasty.

I also sautéed some ripe plantains in a non-stick skillet with some water to make them soft and a little bit of brown sugar Splenda. The traditional recipe contains butter, brown sugar, and rum. It's delicious...but not healthy in the least! I rounded out the meal with some perfect, buttery, sliced avocado. I still can't get over how much avocado you get for 90 calories. Black beans would also be great with this meal, but I didn't want to have them because I had the pintos for lunch. I'm not looking to borrow that kind of trouble. :) I have to say that I probably enjoyed this meal more than any I've cooked lately. It was just what I wanted tonight. I hope it's what I want tomorrow night too. Because it is what I'm having!  My plate:

After dinner, I realized that I needed to up my protein just a little bit for the day. I discovered these today at Kroger and they are just the trick. 80 calories and 6 grams of protein. I got the coconut flavor, but they also had raspberry.

And my daily totals:

 

 

Thanks for reading!

Reintroductions and a Big Thanks to the O.G. LBG!

Hello everyone! First off, I'd like to give a quick shout out to Lap Band Gal for telling her followers about my blog. In my mind, Lap Band Gal is the O.G. of the lap band blogging world. When I first began my journey, her blog was one of the first ones I found and I read every single post going back to the beginning. She is an inspiration for sure. I learned more from reading her blog than from just about any other source out there. And LBG...on a clothing note...you need to go GET those size 6 skinny jeans from yesterday's post. Am I right, ladies? :)

So let me reintroduce myself. My name is Julie, I live right outside of Little Rock, Arkansas, and I'll be 41 this September. I was banded on June 7th of this year. My surgery experience was relatively easy, luckily. I have four incisions that have healed up pretty nicely, although I'm about to start using a little bit of Mederma. Or Bio Oil? What is best, do you think?  The only complication I really experienced was severe nausea. For some reason I wasn't expecting that, but it went away after about the fourth day. I was prescribed some transdermal creams for nausea and they simply didn't work for me. Nothing like good old Phenergan. I haven't had my first fill yet, so right now I'm operating on no restriction and willpower. Let me rephrase that...I do think I have some restriction, because otherwise 850 calories a day would feel like torture. And it hasn't. So maybe that 1 cc of fluid in my band is doing more than I think. I go for my first fill on Wednesday, July 24th.

As most of us have learned pretty quickly, every surgeon has their own set of rules, calorie requirements, etc. As per Dr. Wellborn's rules, I got to start soft foods on post op day 15. That is the day I began this blog. The fabulous dietitian at my clinic gave me two main goals: to keep my calories between 850 and 1000, and to get in 60 to 80 g of protein each day. So this is my disclaimer: Please keep in mind that every surgeon's rules and requirements are different. This blog is to discuss my individual experience and to share what I'm eating. And if anyone finds inspiration from it...so much the better! I am a total blogging novice. It is embarrassing how long it took me to figure out how to add the gadgets to the side! If anybody can tell me how to add a weight loss ticker, feel free to chime on in.

So let me catch you up on what I've been doing the past few days. This weekend was unusual for me because I was gone from Friday morning until Sunday afternoon. Me and three of my best friends went to see the Beyoncé concert in Dallas. What can I even say about Queen Bey? It was Fierceness on a whole other level. We are talking 11 costume changes, people. We waited pretty late to get our seats, so we weren't expecting them to be great, but they WERE! We were thrilled when we got there and we saw how close to the stage we were. And there was no one in front of us. Just a waist high glass partition.

 

 

My friends and I...breathless with anticipation. :)

 

 

This was also my first experience with eating outside the home for several meals at a time. I relied on my standard Chick-fil-A chicken nuggets, chicken soft tacos, and breakfasts of eggs, fruit and toast. I feel like I navigated the waters pretty well. There was also a strawberry cupcake from Sprinkles. They are my absolute favorite in the entire world and Dallas is the closest place to get one.

 

 

Honestly it was so sweet I could barely finish it. And how the sugar made me feel later was not worth it at all. I think this was a pretty good lesson to learn so early on in my journey.

Since being back home, I have gotten right back into the groove. Monday, Tuesday, and today I had my normal breakfast of eggs and fresh mozzarella. Lunch has been a hard boiled egg, red pepper hummus, and one of those delicious Johnsonville 50% less fat Turkey sausages. I bought these for the Fourth of July, and I'm really glad I did. They are quite tasty and have a decent amount of protein. I like to eat them plain with a little bit of coarse ground mustard.

Tonight I am meeting my friend Jordan at Chili's for dinner. And can I just say how great my friends have been about letting me pick the dinner places? They are so supportive. We don't have a ton of choices in my town, but we do have Chili's. That Mango Tilapia I had last week was good, y'all. I think I'll order that again.  I still think they are overestimating it at 430 calories, but I will go with it.

 

And my totals for the day.

 

 

Welcome to new readers and thanks for being here! 

Lazy Holiday

You know it has been a lazy holiday when the most strenuous thing you did all day long was self-tan. I absolutely love when holidays fall in the middle of the week. John had a well-deserved day off, and we just stayed around the house and hung out. We both slept in, worked on some projects, and watched some TV.

I had Chocolate Splendor coffee when I woke up and wasn't hungry until quite a while later. I had a scrambled egg with Smoked Tabasco and some fresh mozzarella.

Lunch was the same turkey, hard boiled egg, hummus, Ezekiel bread combo that I've had several days this week. My cat Furry Lewis goes crazy when I get out this particular smoked turkey. I made sure to not sit anywhere near him today as I ate my lunch. Day before yesterday we had what can only be described as Turkey Battle 2013. He won, because ultimately I shared some with him. I cannot resist this face.

Since it is Fourth of July, we had to have a hot dog. I found some Johnsonville 50% less fat Turkey Sausages that were really good. I also had some Baked Ruffles and some of the Oikos Vegetable Herb Dip I talked about the other day. It was a delicious, filling meal and I really felt like I was eating normal "holiday food".

And my total for the day:

I will be leaving tomorrow for Dallas and the Beyoncé concert. I am so excited I can hardly stand it. My plan for while I'm gone food-wise is to enjoy myself and make good, healthy choices. I will talk to you guys soon! Happy 4th of July and thanks for reading!





Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

Today I met two of my best friends for an early lunch at Chili's. We met shortly after 11:00, so when I got up, I just had my Chocolate Splendor  coffee. I like to brew my coffee very strong so that when I add my Unjury powder and my fat free half and half, it just tastes like a rich, strong mocha. And speaking of half and half...I realized yesterday that I have been incorrectly entering it on My Fitness Pal. I have been recording regular, Land O'Lakes half and half instead. I've adjusted it, so now it's correct.

It was so good to see my friends and catch up. Beforehand they asked me what I thought the best restaurant option for me would be and I told them I thought I could do well at Chili's. I'm really lucky to have such a supportive group of friends. I scanned the menu ahead of time and I decided to get the Mango Tilapia. It comes with a side of steamed broccoli and a side of rice, but I asked them to leave it off. Normally I think restaurants have a bad habit of underestimating the calories in their dishes, but I think in this case the opposite may have happened. The tilapia came with about a half cup of mango salsa that consisted of diced tomatoes, red onion,  jalapeños, finely diced mango and small chunks of avocado. The nutritional guide listed it as 430 calories, but that seems a bit high to me. But... there's no telling what the fish was cooked in, so I'll play it safe and go with their count. It was really delicious and it will be my standard Chili's order as long as it's on their menu. As you can see I was several bites into this before I remembered to take the picture! It's hard for me to do at restaurants. I guess I'm just too busy talking. No surprise there.

After I got home I changed clothes and went to the gym. It was so empty today. I had the entire walking track all to myself. It was really nice. I decided that the $10 I spend for Spotify each month is some of the best money I spend. There's nothing that motivates me to work out longer and harder than a good playlist. I also just got some really cool new headphones. The earbuds that come with the iPhone have never been super comfortable for me. In fact, if I leave them in more than 20 minutes they really start to hurt. A couple of weeks ago I found these by Sony and I'm very pleased with them.

 

There is a built-in microphone that allows you to take calls if you want, And of course it has the up-and-down adjustable volume. The thing I like best is that it came with three sizes of earbuds, so you can select your best fit. I found them at Walmart and they were about $28.

Since I had more calories than normal at lunch, My dinner was a little bit lighter. Basically it was a beefed up version of the lunch that I've been having. I had 3 ounces of smoked turkey breast, 2 tablespoons of red bell pepper hummus, a slice of Ezekiel bread, a hard-boiled egg, and a half cup of red bell pepper strips.

And my daily total.

Thanks for reading!

Countdown and a Recipe!

The countdown to Beyoncé, that is. It's only four days away and I am getting so excited. I know I'm getting excited because I'm already thinking about what I want to wear. I tried on several items in my closet last night, and I'm happy to report that some of them were already too big. There is no better feeling than that.

Today was a good day. I'm starting to get the hang of timing my meals according to my activities. I'm also getting better at getting in all my water. It's much easier on workout days though.

This morning I had a hair appointment, so I had Chocolate Splendor coffee and breakfast before I left the house. My appointment was at 11:45, and it usually takes a couple of hours. I wanted to time it so that I could be back home in time for lunch. My stylist Jeanna is a good friend, and we always have the best time while I'm there.

Breakfast and lunch were the same as yesterday, so I won't post those photos again. This particular lunch is the most filling lunch yet. I'm not sure if it's the half slice of Ezekiel bread, but I wasn't hungry again until well into the evening.

Dinner tonight was a real treat. I originally found this recipe on Pinterest about six months ago, and I bet I have made it at least 15 times.  The first time I saw it, it looked so good that I clicked on the link immediately to check it out. That's when I discovered that this delicious chicken has the most unfortunate name ever. Are you ready for this? Man Pleasing Chicken. It sounds like something straight out of Cosmopolitan magazine. But what do you know…it turned out to be one of John's favorite dishes ever. Ever. He would be totally fine eating this three times a week. Good thing it's super easy too. Apparently something magical happens apparently when you combine maple syrup, Dijon mustard, and rice wine vinegar. This sauce is seriously good.

I have made a few modifications to this recipe. It calls for rosemary, but I leave it out. I like rosemary… especially sprinkled on top of focaccia bread, but I didn't feel that this recipe needed it.  I don't use the full amount of maple syrup either. In lieu of the rosemary, I add a small handful of turkey bacon bits to the sauce. I think it adds a little bit of saltiness that this recipe needs. Every time I make this recipe, I recalculate the nutrition info according to the weight of the package of chicken I'm using. I use chicken thighs, but I think boneless, skinless breasts would work just fine too. You might have to adjust the cooking time a bit.

Here's what it looks like when it's comes out of the oven. Whatever you do, be sure and line your baking dish with foil. That sauce bakes on and does NOT scrub off easily.

And here is my portion. To round out the meal I had a half cup of broccoli in low fat cheese sauce.

My totals for the day:

 

 Thanks for reading!

Back to the Gym

I really can't believe that it's already July. Not that you would ever know it by our weather. We are enjoying some of the nicest July weather I can remember. The high today was only around 82. I got up pretty early this morning… well, early for me in the summer. I had my Chocolate Splendor coffee, got dressed, and went straight to the gym. A couple of months ago I joined a fitness center in our area that is super nice. I'm really liking it. It has an elevated walking track that is above three basketball courts. The track is made out of a sort of rubbery material and it's really great for my knees. The fact that it's above three basketball courts mean you always have something to look at too. After my walk I did light weights. And by light, I mean very light. I texted the nurse at my clinic last week to make sure that was okay. The fitness center also has a really awesome Olympic size pool and a therapeutic pool too. I haven't worn a swimsuit since 1989, but I need to get over myself and just go for it. Swimming would be the best exercise of all for my knees.

After I got done at the gym, I came home and had my breakfast. I'm not even going to post a photo of it… You know exactly what it was!

I had breakfast, I got my coupons together and headed to Kroger. Normally I hate grocery shopping with a passion, but since it was midday, it wasn't very crowded at all. I was able to walk around the store and really think about what I was getting. Also made a few new discoveries. And I made one completely non-essential purchase. These just make me happy.

Ok. Maybe there were TWO non-essential purchases. I had a $3.00 coupon for any L'Oreal product, so I picked up one of their Caresse Lip Stains. If you haven't tried these, they're really wonderful. And a complete dupe for these.

Lunch was a mixture of things. I got some really great smoked turkey at the deli, so I had 2 ounces of that. I also had a tablespoon of Sabra Roasted Red Bell Pepper Hummus, some red bell pepper strips, half of a slice of Ezekiel bread, and a chopped up hard-boiled egg.

Dinner was the other half of my bowl from Genghis Grill. I also had half a flour tortilla. Just as delicious as last night.

I've also gotten in the habit of having a cup of Yogi Bedtime tea every evening around 10:00.  I don't know if it's the power of suggestion or what, but it really does relax me.

And today's total.

 I hope everyone has had a great day. Thanks for reading!