Big NSV or Non-Sleeve Victory: Getting 'Belted'

Seat belt fastened April 26, 2012, en route to New York City.

Little things can be big victories. For those of us who have had gastric sleeve surgery, we call those NSVs or non-sleeve victories.

One of those happened last Thursday, April 26, when I flew to New York City for a conference. The last time I'd flown was in October 2011 to Las Vegas, also for a conference, likely at 273 pounds and with my airline seat belt let all the way out.

At right is how my seat belt looked Thursday on Delta 6015, 63 pounds down. And I can't tell you how much more comfortable I was in my seat. No comparison. I had to wonder if my seatmate thought I was nuts taking pictures of my lap.

I held my own while eating out for a week, making good protein-focused, veggie-focused choices. I confess to having a couple of glasses of wine at the cocktail parties Friday and Saturday evenings, which are not on plan.

The second night I was there, I ate at the lovely new restaurant Vitae on 46th Street around the corner from the Roosevelt Hotel in midtown Manhattan and had probably the best diver scallops I've ever eaten. It was just an appetizer and all I really needed that night.  Although I thought I'd found a restaurant on apps Yelp or Urbanspoon, I started out looking for a restaurant that turned out to be closed. It was a serendipitous thing to happen. Vitae was next door to the closed restaurant.

Vitae's Seared Diver Scallops with Cashews and Raisins

The scallops were sweet and perfectly seared, with cashews, golden raisins, Thai curry sauce and a light lime foam.

My whole philosophy of eating since surgery is that you can still eat wonderful things -- just a whole lot less of them. This was the perfect meal for me.

I didn't lose any more weight last week, but considering I ate out all week, I don't feel too badly about it.

I also took my monthly measurements today, which were about the same as last month.

I've decided that I need to ratchet my efforts up a bit and work harder on portion control, weighing my food, journaling on LiveStrong MyPlate and I also need to increase my cardio, strength training and I'll be doing yoga Friday.

Here's my measurements as of today:

May 2, 2012
Bust w/o bra: 41.5", -1.5"
Waist: 39", -4"
Hips: 46", -4.5"
Neck: 15.5, -1.25"
Upper right arm: 14.25", -1.75"
Right Thigh: 28", -2.25"
Right Calf: 17.5", -.25"


April 1, 2012
Bust w/o bra: 42", -1"
Waist: 39", -4"
Hips: 45", -5.5"
Neck: 15", -1.5"
Upper right arm: 15", -1"
Right Thigh: 27", -3.25"
Right Calf: 17", -.75"

Jan. 20, 2012 (The first time I measured after my Dec. 27, 2011, gastric sleeve surgery.)
Bust w/bra: 43"
Waist: 43" (makes me wonder if I'm a tree trunk ... I think getting a waist back will be sublime!)
Hips: 50.5"
Neck: 16.25"
Upper right arm: 16"
Right Thigh: 30.25"
Right Calf: 17.75"

Onward,
Carol

No April Foolin' -- Marvelous Melting Woman

It's "Measuring Up or Down Day" -- the first of the month -- and I was excited to see bigger differences this time -- and that's no April Fools joke. Haven't been losing pounds the past two or three weeks or so, but I've been losing inches like crazy.

I especially love that I've lost 5.5 inches off my rather round backside and 4 inches off my waist. My Size 18 jeans are getting too loose now -- hooray!

April 1, 2012
Bust w/o bra: 42", -1"
Waist: 39", -4"
Hips: 45", -5.5"
Neck: 15", -1.5"
Upper right arm: 15", -1"
Thigh: 27", -3.25"
Right Calf: 17", -.75"

March 1, 2012
Bust: 42.5", - 0.5"
Waist: 41.5", -1.5"
Hips: 49", -1.5"
Upper Right Arm: 15.5", -0.5"
Neck: 15.5", -0.75"
Thigh: 30", -0.25"
Right Calf: 17.5", -0.25"

Jan. 20, 2012 (The first time I measured after my Dec. 27, 2011, gastric sleeve surgery.)
Bust w/bra: 43"
Waist: 43" (makes me wonder if I'm a tree trunk ... I think getting a waist back will be sublime!)
Hips: 50.5"
Neck: 16.25"
Upper right arm: 16"
Thigh: 30.25"
Right Calf: 17.75"

I remember back in the days when I had a 25-inch waist and 35-inch hips. Of course, that was in my 20s and the old lean-and-mean beauty pageant days. I have to wonder if I really want to have a 25-inch waist again. Heck, that's smaller than my thigh is right now. Kind of amazing to think about how small 25 inches is.

I was about to report on how well the MyPlate app was working on my iPhone and then parts of it stopped working: the food and exercise lists won't access and it won't let me re-sync with the server. It will let me add foods, but I'd better know the calorie count, etc., or too bad.

I've e-mailed LiveStrong about it and hopefully it will get fixed soon. I do like the app and I'm not sorry (yet) that I paid $2.99 for it. We'll see.

Onward,
Carol

App-ealing Tracking

My weight loss has slowed a lot and I decided I should start tracking my food and drinks with my iPhone and/or iPad to make sure I'm staying in the parameters of the recommended program.

I decided to try two apps.

One is MyFitnessPal, a free app I heard about on Vertical Sleeve Talk, and the other is LiveStrong MyPlate, which is $2.99 and an app my darlin' daughter has been having good luck in assisting her resolve to lose weight. This week, her weight dipped below 200 -- 198 pounds -- for the first time in a couple of years. I'm so proud of her for sticking with it.

The plan is to try the two apps side-by-side and see how I like them both.

So far, it appears that the Live Strong MyPlate has nicer graphics, but initially they seem very similar in function. MyPlate gave me 1,305 calories daily and MyFitnessPal gave me 1,200 calories daily with exactly the same information about current weight, amount of exercise, age, etc.

We'll see how they both work and I'll report back in a week or so.

Onward,
Carol