Strength in Numbers

At the first of the month, I went back to measuring up or measuring down, depending on how you look at it.

Well, all I can say is THANK GOODNESS, because the weight is still stalled at 197 (a giant aaaarrgh.) I started back strength training twice a week with my new trainer Shannon on Sept. 10, and that plus increasingly turning into a pretzel with my awesome yoga trainer Thomas Thompson twice a week ... drum roll ... my waist went down 3.5 INCHES in the past three months, without losing a pound. In fact, when I started strength training, my weight shot up several pounds and it was pretty upsetting.

Hubby Bob had been telling me my body was reshaping and liking it, but to tell the truth I didn't believe him. He's never complained about my weight, no matter how high it was and hasn't complained while I've been losing weight.




So here is the current tally, friends:

Dec. 2, 2012
Bust w/o bra: 41", -2"
Waist: 35.5", -7.5"
Hips: 44", -6.5"
Upper Right Arm: 14", -2" 
Right Thigh: 27", -3.25"
Right Calf:  16", -1.75"


Aug. 2, 2012
Bust w/o bra: 41", -2"
Waist: 39", -4"
Hips: 45", -5.5"
Neck: 15", -1.5"
Upper right arm: 15", -1"
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"
Thigh: 30.25"
Right Calf: 17.75"

Steph's note still adorns my frig.

One side note, I'm so concerned and my heart and prayers go out to my friend and dietician at WeightWise, Steph Moore. Anyone who thinks you don't get attached to the folks who help you through this transformation would be wrong.

Steph was in a terrible crash on the Turner Turnpike en route from Tulsa back to Oklahoma City the Saturday after Thanksgiving. She and her fiancé were both hurt, but according to the WeightWise Facebook page, she broke numerous bones, had lots of internal injuries and apparently spent several days in ICU. I understand she's improving -- walking and now off her ventilator.

Steph, know that I'm thinking about you. And heck, I know you. At some point, you'll have your laptop or whatever and you'll be checking up on me and my little blog.

Your last note to me continues to be on my frig and will probably stay there for awhile -- until you're better. Not that it says anything profound, but it just makes me send good thoughts your way every time I see it.

Hang in there girl. Can't wait to hear you're home and doing better.

Love ya Steph,
Carol

All 'Eyes' on Halloween

Garlic chives make up the eyelashes on these Deviled Eggy Eyes.

Last Saturday night, I had a dilemma — bring a side dish to our homeowner's association traditional Halloween soirée that typically features a roast pig, pulled beef brisket, ribs and every kind of fattening pot luck side dish you can imagine from an expansive Halloween-themed cupcake display to dozens of salads, mac-and-cheese, baked beans, potato salads and au gratins.

I wanted to bring something I could eat that would be festive, so I decorated some Deviled Eggs with thin slices of pimento-stuffed olives and gave them eyelashes from the garlic chives growing in a pot on our back porch. Not exactly completely original to use the olives to make eyes, but I haven't seen anyone else do the chive eyelashes.

My most-used appliance — the Cuisinart egg cooker.

I hard-boiled a dozen plus eggs in my favorite appliance — the super-cute Cuisinart egg cooker (yes, it trumps my Cuisinart food processor, although it's a close race.) The reason I like my Cuisinart egg cooker, besides looking like it could be a Star Trek pod person, is because the eggs cook perfectly with none of that nasty gray exterior you get on overcooked yolks. The eggshells peel off easily, no matter how fresh your eggs are.

I mashed up the egg yolks in another bowl, mixed them with light mayonnaise to the right consistency, a tablespoon of Dijon mustard, about a teaspoon of Paul Prudhomme's Poultry Magic seasoning and then made them smooth and creamy by hitting them with just a touch of an immersion blender. Then I folded in about three tablespoons of capers for some savory texture. 

Filling eggs with a quart-size plastic bag filled with the creamy caper and egg yolk mixture. Roll the sides of the plastic bag down to make it easier to fill, then squeeze the mixture down to a corner and cut it off.

I put my creamy egg yolk mixture in a quart-size plastic bag, cut off one of the corners and piped the yolks back into my egg yolk whites. I gave the eggs a light sprinkling of some smoked paprika, cut a pimento-stuffed green olive about 1/16-inch thick and my garlic chives. I arranged them so no matter how you approached the platter, they were looking at you.

They were flying off the buffet table and onto partygoers plates when we left to go watch the University of Oklahoma football team lose terribly to our long-time nemesis Notre Dame. Oh well — at least the eggs were good.

I'm in the middle of a diet "reboot," which seems to have gotten me moving downward on the scales again. For most weekday meals, I've been substituting protein shakes or drinks and snacking in between meals on a protein bar or snack. On weekends, I commute to meet my hubby who is working back in the States, and I let my sleeve limit my eating and just try to make good choices.

I'm down to 196, a 77-pound loss. Finally moving again. I'm looking forward to my first-of-the-month Measure Down Day on Thursday.

For Halloween, I plan to buy some puckery Skittles (or another candy I don't like) to give to my spooks and goblins, so I won't have any trouble staying away from it. 

Onward,
Carol

Hairy Dilemma

Bald is beautiful. On Jean-Luc Picard — yes. On Shaquille O'Neal — yes. On LL Cool J — most definitely yes.

Baby hairs growing back now that the hair loss is slowing down.

But usually not on women, although I think my "sisters" battling cancer are all beautiful. I don't have cancer, so that's a whole 'nother deal.

One of the things they don't tell you about before you get weight loss surgery is that many people have trouble with excessive hair loss three or four months after surgery.

My hair loss hit at four months almost to the day and with a vengeance. Every time I brushed it, blow-dried it, touched it, ran my hands through it — out it came. Usually in a handful of four or five long strands. Or more.

Fortunately, I have or had a thick mane of prematurely silver hair and a lot to lose. And I've always shed a lot and gotten teased about it.

This was different. It was coming out fast. It was all over my car, my house, everywhere.

I did a lot of reading on my favorite gastric sleeve surgery website, verticalsleevetalk.com. Apparently it's not uncommon to lose hair after having any kind of anesthesia or major surgery. I don't remember having hair loss after I had a C-Section with my now 26-year-old daughter, but I've slept since then and she was one heckuva distraction. I probably wouldn't have noticed anyway.

Mine is starting to grow back out and I have little baby hairs like crazy around my part. Hubby and I were in San Francisco celebrating our fifth anniversary over the long weekend and those baby hairs frizzed up and I was actually happy about it. Hubby says I'm "regenerating." I understand this is pretty common.

Here are some of the suggestions I've read. Of course, I'm not endorsing any of the products, obviously, because I haven't tried them all. Just throwing them out there:

• Cut your hair shorter. I didn't, because darlin' hubby likes it shoulder length and I like it too. Hasn't made a lot of difference to have it longer. Suit yourself on that one.

• Don't put it in ponytails. I do this a lot when I work out or just around the house or gardening. I hear that if you pull it tight, it can be tough on the roots. I've cut back on pulling it back except for working out or gardening in 100-degree Oklahoma or Texas weather. But I don't pull it back hard.

• Take Biotin. It turns out there is 600 mcg or 200 percent of your daily needs in the Bariatric Advantage multivitamins I take like religion daily, so I don't take any additional Biotin. Read your labels.

• Nioxin shampoo. I haven't tried this and I understand it's expensive. I'm just throwing it out there. I personally use Kiehl's shampoo (also not cheap) and love it. Now if I lost more hair, I might do some experimenting.

• Aveda Invati Scalp Revitalization System shampoo, conditioner and spray. I just learned about this and it has some great reviews online.

• Nutri-ox from Sally's Beauty Supply. I also haven't tried this, but ditto on the good reviews.

• Stay hydrated. I understand that being dehydrated can aggravate hair loss. Who needs aggravated hair loss? Nope. Not me. And staying hydrated has so many other benefits, like making your skin look good, systems function right, etc. My doc recommends no less than 64 ounces a day, which I usually take in via PowerAde Zero, Fuze Slenderize or Sobe Life-energy drinks, which have less than 15 calories per eight-ounce serving.

• Massage your scalp. Hey, that's going to feel good anyway. Or better yet, get your significant other to do that.

• Start early. Make sure your locks are good and healthy before surgery or the dreaded three or four-month hair loss. The more you have, the more you can lose.

Hope that helps if that's an issue you're having.

Onward,
Carol

Traveling and Losing Weight

Pit cooking kabobs at Indigo Indian restaurant in Lagos

 It's our last day in Lagos, Nigeria, for the foreseeable future, and for the first time traveling, I managed to lose weight during my visit thanks to my sleeve. I'm now down 70 pounds to 203 and getting closer to Onederland (being in the 100s vs. the 200s.)

There are so many wonderful restaurants here. The international community is strong and many of our favorite restaurants are various ethnic restaurants — Indian, Chinese, Thai, even Tex-Mex.

Hubby has been working in Lagos for four years and we repatriate together today. 

In our last few days here, we had some wonderful times with old and new friends, often around a great meal.

The biggest thing that was a challenge is that many Lagos restaurants use lard in their cooking and lots of salt. But I figure anything in moderation. My favorite dietician Steph at WeightWise told me when we first started this journey that I could eat a bite of anything and that's kept me from going a little batty watching everyone else eat things I can't.

One friend was determined we would try his favorite Thai restaurant Bangkok and we had possibly the best prawns I've ever had for an appetizer. One member of our party also ordered them with red curry sauce for an entreé. I limited myself to one prawn appetizer and it was worth it. I'm not sure what they did coating or cooking it, but it was magical with just the right crunchiness and not greasy at all.

The prawn appetizer at Bangkok Thai restaurant in Lagos

Hubby and I ordered a duck dish to split with the best name ever — Angry Duck. I think it came by its name because it came out of the kitchen making a huge sizzling sound, sort of like fajitas do in a Tex-Mex restaurant. It was fragrant with spices and so tender. Again, just a couple of bites and I was happy — it was a splurge on my diet, but a modest one.

Other great dishes were Pineapple Rice full of cashews, various veggies, of course, pineapple and served in a half of a carved pineapple. I passed on eating it because of the carbs. But hubby sure liked it, and I mostly posted the picture because it was so pretty and unusual.

And that brings up something else. Many of the dishes at Bangkok had carved edible vegetables adorning them or were served in other beautiful ways. I swear it makes food taste better when it looks incredible.

Pineapple rice at Bangkok

At Indigo Indian restaurant, one of the dishes we ordered was "cottage cheese," prepared in a Tandoor oven. It was not like any cottage cheese I've ever had. It was more like a firm tofu, with miniature potatoes and chunks of corn accompanying it, all in the colorful tandoori style. I ate the cheese only, but with the tandoori method of cooking, it was cooked in a low-fat style I appreciate.

Some other favorites were Bottles, a Tex-Mex restaurant that serves up some excellent salsa and guacamole, fajitas, hubby's oozy, cheesy enchiladas and bean burritos for our vegetarian friend. We also love to go to Pearl Garden Chinese restaurant and Café Royal for an English breakfast or a hearty burger or main-dish salad for lunch. 

Onward,
Carol

The Whine About Wine for Gastric Sleevers

Probably the hardest thing after my Dec. 27 gastric sleeve surgery was not drinking wine. And I've had the occasional glass, usually with hubby, but sometimes in a solitary way just reading a book and kicking back.

My wine-drinking philosophy when my sleeve started feeling healed was to count the calories I'd had that day and see if my calorie count would allow a glass of wine or two.

This is not a terribly good idea, I'm sad to say. There are several reasons why, but the most resounding one came out a couple of weeks ago. Check out this new report:

- Weight Loss Surgery Increases Risk of Alcohol Addiction in Some from ABC News

- For another thing, I don't lose weight if I drink wine. That was the whole goal of the surgery — to give myself this marvelous tool to lose weight — and drinking wine screws that up.

- When you drink wine or alcohol, it hits gastric sleevers hard and you get tipsy right away. And it passes through and almost immediately that wine glow wears off. Instead of feeling mellow, like I felt drinking wine before having the surgery, my body feels differently and the wine is somehow more aggressive towards my body. Having the sleeve definitely changed how I enjoy wine.

- The other thing the psychologist at WeightWise warned about is transfer addiction — that is, transferring a food addiction to an alcohol addiction. 

Plus there has been alcoholism in my family, so I'm going to have to be especially careful about that.

To drink or not to drink? That's the question, if you'll forgive the paraphase. Do I really want it? Yes. Do I really need it? No.

Oh, and by the way, I'm more than halfway toward my weight goal now. 

Onward,
Carol

Tips from the Road: Traveling When You've Had Gastric Sleeve Surgery

The Indian Taco at Tocabe American Indian Eatery in Denver.

In the past few weeks, I've been going, going, going, and haven't been doing a lot of posting, posting, posting.

All that traveling has meant a whole lotta eating out and challenges to stay on track with my six-month-old gastric sleeve surgery. But I did pretty well and managed to get a few more pounds off.

I was in Houston and Galveston Island, Texas in late May, visiting friends and family with hubby; Keystone, Colo., at TBEX12, a travel blogger conference in mid-June; Kerrville in the Texas Hill Country at a family memorial service a couple of weeks ago; and am writing this from Lagos, Nigeria, where I'm helping hubby move back to the States (He worked there the past four years.)

And I confess that while I tried a few things that weren't strictly on the program, I found I could find something workable on just about any restaurant menu even Italian restaurants. Several of the hotels where I/we stayed, particularly Keystone Lodge, had nice kitchens with refrigerators great for stashing the leftovers.

Hubby's Texas waffle. Yikes, I didn't eat this.

Here's a few tips from the road:

Make good choices: Driving to Keystone, I stopped in Denver at Tocabe American Indian Eatery, an Osage Indian-themed restaurant I'd heard about on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives on Food Network. The pic above was actually my neighbor's Indian Taco she kindly allowed me to photograph.

I ordered the equivalent only without the fry bread, a Melting Pot Salad with pulled bison brisket flavored with pungent herbs and spices, black beans, salad, cheese and roasted house-made salsa, romaine lettuce with a squirt of sour cream and chipotle sauce. I should probably mention that I'm not a big believer in fry bread as a Native American food because it came about from the rations of flour and lard Native American tribes received from the U.S. Government on their forced relocations from the East Coast in the 1800s.

I'm a big fan of main-dish salads, grilled proteins and veggies when eating out. I've mentioned before that the grilled chicken at KFC is one of the few fast foods I'll eat.

Assorted Sashimi Plate at Full Moon Café in Norman, Okla.

Stay away from the white food: Eat around the rice, potatoes, grits, pasta — or better yet, tell the wait staff you'd rather have more veggies or fruit instead. As much as I love sushi, I stuck with the beautifully presented Assorted Sashimi Plate (sushi seafood without the rice) recently at the Full Moon Café in Norman, Okla. High quality protein, no fat, no carbs.

Start with the protein: Because I fill up so quickly, I eat my protein first, veggies second and fruit third if I have room.


Hubby and I ate at the wonderful Pearl Garden restaurant on Victoria Island on my birthday a few days ago and I ordered Prawns and Cashews in a Crispy Basket. The prawns didn't have any sauce on them, but were perfectly cooked, tender and succulent. I loved the presentation in the crispy potato basket, but didn't eat that. I snapped a pic, just because the dish was so beautiful. I did have some wine, which brings me to my next point. 

Prawns and Cashews in a Crispy Basket at Pearl Garden

Watch out for the alcohol: I've found if I have wine, I don't lose. And hard liquor knocks me on my butt promptly; I just can't metabolize it very well. More on that in a soon-to-come post. It also breaks the rule about not having liquids with more that 15 calories per 8 ounce serving. Hmmmmm — makes me thirsty just thinking about it.

Stay hydrated: Bring your low-cal sports drinks in a cooler. I like the Fuze Slenderize, PowerAde Zero, Sobe Lifewater. Unfortunately, PowerAde doesn't fit in my drink holder in the car though, which is inconvenient.

On a related note, drink lots of water while waiting for your entreé: Because I can't drink liquids while I'm eating, I drink my water first. Steph, my fantastic WeightWise nutritionist/dietician, says we're supposed to wait an hour before drinking anything after eating — so get your water while you can.

This morning, dry and unpainted, I was down to 204 pounds, which is 69 pounds lost from my all-time high of 273. Weight loss has been slow and I'm still losing hair, so I know my body is still adjusting to changes.

Onward,

Carol

Sunset and Smoked Salmon

Smoked salmon plate 

These are the good ol' days. 

Hubby is home for a couple of weeks from working overseas as a geoscientist, and one of our favorite things is sitting on the back porch sipping something cool and watching the sun go down just past our little urban forest of post oaks.

Nice to have something to nosh on and I've found that using cucumbers as my chips works really well. This is smoked salmon with the appropriate accoutrements of low-fat cream cheese, purple onions, capers, sliced cukes and water crackers for hubby.

My favorite dietician Steph at WeightWise would probably not be overjoyed with me having a bit of cream cheese on my cuke slices to snag a few pieces of onion and capers, but I didn't have much. Then I plop a small piece of salmon on top and voila, I have a lovely bite.

Only key is that I have to sip and then sample. Can't really do both at the same time. 

Some of my other appetizer favorites are homemade hummus and baba ghanoush (recipe is back a couple of months ago,) using dippers of cuke slices or celery sticks.

Imprinting this beautiful summer days on my mind. Lovely! We are lucky people and I'm feeling beautiful!

Still slow, slow, slow weight loss. Frustrating, but I tend to forget about it when hubby is home distracting me. Hooray!!

Onward,
Carol 

Onederland In Sight -- It's Not a Mirage

Lately my weight loss has slowed down to a crawl. I've been trading around two or three pounds since late April, one day I'm 210, another I'm 208, yesterday 211 for no apparent reason, and then this morning was 207.2. Also, no apparent reason. Halfway is coming soon, down from my high of 273 pounds and surgical weight of 256 with Dr. Greg Walton of WeightWise in Edmond. Almost 66 pounds gone.

And it also means I can sorta see Onederland coming soon. Onederland, you see, is when you get down into the 100s vs. the 200s. That will be fantastic. Haven't seen that in a bunch of years, maybe 12 or 13 years?

I know my body is still adjusting to my gastric sleeve, because at four months out, I hit the dreaded hair loss syndrome. I'll hit five months out May 27, also known as Sunday. I've read enough on the Vertical Sleeve Talk forum to know that the hair loss is temporary and I think the popular thought is because your body says, hey wait a minute. You're not going to starve me so I'm going to hold onto whatever resources I can and let go of things that aren't so important. And when it realizes, no you're not going to starve it, it calms down and your hair goes back to normal. Fortunately I had a lot of hair to start with, so it's not noticeable.

It's also common for weight loss to slow down at this time, and that's been frustrating, because I'm careful about making sure good stuff goes into my mouth. Protein and veggies mostly.

The other day I got a "Protein Bistro Box" from Starbucks when I was on the road and paid too much for not that much protein but I was past due on lunch and it seemed like the healthiest option. It was a hard-boiled egg, two small pieces of white cheddar, some apple slices and grapes and a small multigrain roll. I have no clue why they called it a protein box, except for the egg, because it had lots more carb grams than protein grams. On the other hand, it's probably lots better than having the more typical Starbucks fat-loaded scone or piece of coffeecake.

Making It Manageable: Eating Out

Three weeks after my Dec. 27 gastric sleeve surgery, my mother had her 87th birthday and we usually take her to dinner at someplace nice like Legend's Restaurant in Norman, Okla.

But I was just off my two-week liquid diet and on to the next stage, affectionately called "mushies."Those are things like scrambled eggs, cottage cheese and tuna fish salad without veggies.

I never told my mother I was having surgery, just that I had been dieting. I made sure I didn't sit next to her and played with my grilled salmon throughout the meal. It worked.

It took me awhile to get the hang of eating out in restaurants, but it was something I really wanted to get to, partly because I like the social, communal aspect of eating out in good restaurants with people I love. I also have done a bit of food writing, which I really enjoy. Dietician Steph Moore at WeightWise told me eventually I'd be able to take bites of everything and anything, although at three and a half months out, I'm not there yet.

Seared Tuna Salad from Full Moon Sushi, Norman, Okla.

The phase of eating I'm on now is mostly protein and veggies, with occasional fruit. I avoid bread, rice, pasta, etc., although occasionally I've had a bite. And I make sure I always get my oil in, because I know it's so important for my skin, cell walls, hair, regularity, etc.

One of the first times I ate out, I didn't order anything to drink and everybody at the table and the wait staff were puzzled by that. And the more I refused anything to drink, the more my well-meaning family pressed, which I found odd. I learned to order water or whatever and drink it up until the meal comes. I haven't had that problem since.

My favorite thing to order is probably main-dish salads. Today at lunch, I met my daughter Kat and her boyfriend at Full Moon Sushi in Norman, Okla., one of my favorite restaurants -- not just because the food is darn good, but the wait staff and ownership is so warm and welcoming. Trouble is, that I'm not eating my beloved sushi because I'm not eating rice and I'm not up to eating sashimi yet. Sashimi is the raw fish served by itself without rice. I turned to their bistro items they offer usually for people who don't like sushi. Turns out their bistro lunch and dinner menu was a quietly tasty secret hiding on the front of their menu.

I ordered Full Moon's Seared Tuna Salad -- sushi-grade tuna crusted with white-and-black sesame seeds, about a tablespoon of lime créme fraîche which is sort of similar to sour cream, asparagus and the cutest little crunchy wonton nest in the middle. All for $8.99.

My other favorite off the bistro menu is their seared scallops, served with creme fraiche and balsalmic drizzles, veggies and risotto, (which I didn't get), for $12.99. I've also had their beef tenderloin ($12.99,) the best buy on a tender beef dish in town. 

I think if you order carefully, you can eat almost anywhere. Restaurants are generally happy to accommodate your request to not have potatoes or risotto on your plate, and put salad dressing or sauces on the side so you can control how much you get. 

One safe thing to order has been grilled or baked salmon. I've tolerated shrimp including ceviché well, except for a too-buttery scampi that kind of made me gag one time.

I always was a fast eater that I attribute to growing up with two hungry younger brothers. Eat it or you might not get to. My dad used to say, "Eat, eat, eat," loudly at the table urging us not to piddle with our food. He was a dentist who came home for my then-stay-at-home mother's wonderful, hearty lunches and we'd walk home and back from grade school to have lunch together as a family. People don't do that anymore.

But echoes of those great lunches and dinners and my family's cooking (we all turned into pretty decent cooks) can get me in trouble now. I carry nausea medicine, Promethazine, in my purse just in case of emergencies.

Yesterday, I was having lunch on an outdoor patio restaurant in lovely weather with my little mom and think I ate my grilled salmon wedge salad too fast because I was stressing. And the nausea came rushing over me. I stifled it, but was concerned I might get sick in front of my mother and she'd be upset. I went digging through my purse and put the nausea medicine on my wrist under the table and started rubbing my wrists together quickly. My mother just looked at me like I was nuts. But it passed and she let it go. I have to remember -- I had major surgery. I'm still healing.

Go-to items as far as fast food are KFC's grilled chicken and taco salads without sour cream at most restaurants. Main-dish salads are available at most fast-food and sit-down restaurants and they're lifesavers. Like I mentioned before, order the dressing on the side. I should probably note I really try hard not to eat fast food, but sometimes it's tough to avoid it when you're on the road, which I am a lot.

It's all doable if we make good choices.

Hooray, 60 pounds total gone, from my formerly 273-pound frame. Forty-four pounds since Dec. 27 surgery. 

Onward,
Carol

Mars, Venus and Guys On Diets Make Me Crazy

Guys on diets have this reputation of whipping off those pounds like they're on fast forward.

My darlin' 6'2" hubby was in the States a couple of weeks ago for a two-week visit and packed on a few pounds quickly. We have/had this bad habit of treating those visits like vacations -- eating too much, drinking too much, exercising not enough. He edged up back to 219.

I really thought about posting a picture of us, but I'm thinking he probably wouldn't like that. 

And I'd dropped a few more pounds to 214 while he was here, so I mentioned that I was NEVER going to weigh more than he did ever again. To put this in perspective, I'm 5'6", so 214 looks a whole lot different on me than it does on him. But I'm looking a whole lot better, after topping out at 273 pounds.

You know the old never say "never." Sigh.

He went back overseas April 3, and since then has dropped NINE POUNDS in 16 days, and e-mails me that he now weighs 210. I've dropped another couple of pounds, so I'm in at 212.4 -- a total of 60 pounds lost since this adventure started. You can do the math on hubby's weight and mine. I'm still over his weight for the time being.

Well, that's just not right.

But I'm not done yet, and I'm thinking he is, so next time I shoot my mouth off like that I'll be right. I probably jumped the gun a little.

Reminding myself that I'm in it for the long haul.

Onward,
Carol

Disclaimer, Disclaimer on Blog Ads

Just a note to my friends.

Although I added Google AdSense to my blog, I don't pick which ads are shown. I think I can block some of the ones I don't necessarily like and I'm working on going up that learning curve so I can do that.

But in the meantime, I don't endorse any bariatric surgery program except the one I have experience with and that's WeightWise. 

My advice is if you are interested in gastric surgery, go on the various online forums and read the comments. If you want to inquire about certain surgeons, you can join VerticalSleeveTalk.com for free and there's a section of the forum that deals with that. 

Thanks and onward,
Carol

Magnificent Morels and Making a Goal

Morel mushrooms

Fresh and fabulous morel mushrooms are in season for just a couple of weeks a year, and my hubby and I were driving by the Earth organic food store and there was their little chalkboard out by the street with fresh morels scrawled on it. We made it a point to go back and get some.

Morels are expensive, but worth it -- and particularly good with beef. Hubby picked up a couple of ribeyes to throw on the barbee and we were good to go. I sauteed up the morels in a bit of olive oil, red wine and garlic and we served them on the side along with mashed cauliflower. Another hubby-seal-of-approval for the morels. Always good news.

Here's a great website on how to clean them along with a couple of recipes, mushroom-appreciation.com. 

I had a sub-goal of getting down to 215 by Easter and made it a day early, so I'm finally off my horrid three-week plateau. So that's 41 pounds off since my gastric sleeve surgery Dec. 27, 2011, and about 58 total since my all-time high weight of 273.

Morels in garlic, olive oil and red wine reduction

Had a great 3 month checkup with Dr. Gregory Walton's office WeightWise. Was so fun to see everybody and for them to see the new and improved me. I'm thinking watching their patients get healthier has to be a whole lot of fun. Great job if you can get it.

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

Three-Month 'Anniversary'

It's been three months today since my Dec. 27, 2011, gastric sleeve surgery with Dr. Gregory Walton of WeightWise in Edmond, Okla., and I'm feeling great. I've lost 55.2 pounds since last summer's all-time high weight of 273 pounds, and 38.2 pounds since my surgery weight of 256 (right.) I weighed in at 217.8 this morning.

I need to get hubby to snap a pic of my progress, so I can post that too.

There have been several "NSVs" or "Non-Sleeve Victories."
• I'm off one of two blood-pressure meds (HCTZ)
• I'm off my anti-inflammatory med (Meloxicam,) which is also hard on the stomach so good riddance.
• My feet aren't swelling every day
• I have lots more energy
• My knees and feet aren't hurting all the time
• I'm down from a Size 22 or 1x to a Size 16-18

It hasn't been bump-free, but it's getting better all the time.

Onward,
Carol

Bariatric Surgery Effective for Type 2 Diabetes Control

Just ran across this interesting Wall Street Journal article about how bariatric surgery is more effective than medication at controlling blood sugar for obese Type 2 diabetics:

Boost for Surgery in Treating Diabetics

I'm not diabetic, but I figured that was next if I hadn't done something to get my weight under control.

Onward,

Carol

Crunchy, Tasty Kale Chips -- and Fast!

I mentioned my "head hunger" for a snack in my last post and my wonderful friend Cheri almost instantly came to my aid with an idea about low-cal, super-good-for-you kale chips.

I just happend to have organic kale on hand. Found a recipe that turned out great in a regular oven and didn't take hours like an (expensive) dehydrator would take -- and of course, changed it up. Chips were bright green and would have worked to dip -- but not scoop -- into a nice, hummus, baba ghanoush or another slightly thin dip. Nothing too thick or heavy as a dip or you'll leave the whole kale chip in the dip. Cooks in only 20 minutes.

Here's how I made them:

First, heat your oven to 275 degrees.

Ingredients:

Several leaves of kale

Sea or kosher salt

Olive oil cooking spray like PAM®

Directions:

Wash and dry the kale. Tear the leaf part away from the stems and into smallish pieces. Put them in one layer on a baking sheet and spray lightly with cooking spray, then salt lightly. Turn over each chip and repeat.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until crisp.

I found them very satisfying.

Enjoy!

Carol

Smoky Chipotle Turkey Burgers with Cooling Creamy Salsa

Love to recommend good recipes when I find them and this one came from VerticalSleeveTalk.com's recipe forum.

I made this and although the looks of it are a little offputting, it's a tasty, moist take on turkey burgers. I don't know that I'd call the sauce a salsa, but it's good anyway and a nice accompaniment.

It's from the blog savorysweetie.com. It's shared by permission, since she doesn't mind if people link to her blog -- fact, she's hopeful that it might get her some more readers.

Her philosophy is pretty close to mind after my Dec. 27, 2011, gastric sleeve, and her's on Jan. 20, 2012.

"One of my challenges is that I really want to make this a lifestyle, and not make it feel like a diet. So I am trying to eat small portions of sensible food, but not deprive myself. This fits in really well with the fact that I LOVE to cook and also that I cook for my fiancee, who loves to eat!," she writes in the forum.

I was down to 217.4 yesterday.

Onward,
Carol

My Weight Chart:

Dieting is Hard Work -- Period!!

Several friends have recently implied lately that having been [gastric] sleeved Dec 27, that I've taken the easy way out on losing weight.

NO.

I love you guys who are following my progress, but you need to know one thing.

Getting sleeved doesn't eliminate the work to lose weight. What it helps is reducing the hunger. Also, because your "pouch" is so much smaller, you have to stop eating or it's just not pretty.

I'm in a master gardener program right now and the feisty woman I love to sit next to in class offered me red-hot candies several times today. I decided early-on that I was going to be completely "out" about my weight loss surgery, and I told her I couldn't do sugar yet because of the WLS. She was SO supportive, which has been mostly my experience since Dec. 27 (A huge date for me, and one of the more important dates of my life. Just a note. Doesn't even remotely eclipse my wedding to Bob or giving birth to Kat, if either one of you are looking at my blog.)

My post today is to tell any of my friends/family, who are thinking of gastric surgery, that IT'S NOT THE EASY WAY TO WEIGHT LOSS.

That said, it's a fabulous TOOL to help you get a grip on your weight loss. But you still HAVE TO DO THE HARD WORK and discipline of losing weight yourself. You have to follow the program of weight loss or even having surgery will fail.

There are down sides, not a lot, but some fairly significant ones. It takes a while for your innards to figure out regularity. Mine haven't quite yet, but I'm OK with it. I understand things are going to heal. I do miss eating like I used to and some people get depressed with missing "eating."

I have a couple of friends who are having great success working traditional diet programs , i.e. through Weight Watchers or another good, balanced diet program. I AM YOUR BIGGEST CHAMPION! I tried those many multiples of times and just couldn't pull it through. I really, REALLY wish I could have made it work. But that doesn't mean your efforts or my ongoing effort are diminished. ALL efforts to get healthier will be rewarded with better health! You and I deserve it. And we're getting it!

I hate exclamation marks and I find myself using them repeatedly. Really, if you say it right, you shouldn't need exclamation marks. That said, sometimes I don't feel that I've adequately expressed the profound change that I'm going through. I even have resorted to using caps, which of course is like YELLING!!!!!

I'm not sorry about that. I want anybody who is reading my blog to "get it." That's really the whole point of sharing how my life is changing because of my sleeve.

I'm happy to respond to any comments or if you want to e-mail me directly, please contact me at carol.colefrowe@gmail.com.

Love you guys and thanks for reading my blog. CAPS. Exclamation point.

Onward,

Carol

Comfort Food -- A New, Improved Shepherd's Pie

Last weekend, I was craving some kind of comfort food. And my dietician buddy Steph at WeightWise had given me a recipe for a Low-Carb Shepherd's Pie.

The key is replacing the mashed potatoes with mashed cauliflower mixed with ricotta cheese.

Of course, I can't ever leave well enough alone and I worked on elevating the humble Shepherd's Pie a bit. I added onion, garlic and carrot for color. And I infused some more flavor with fresh rosemary from my garden and some dried thyme. I halved the recipe because I was just cooking for me.

I also cooked the cauliflower a little differently than the recipe called for to get some more flavor into the cauliflower. So here 'tis:


Low-Carb Shepherd's Pie
Ingredients
Meat Mixture
1 lb. ground beef, preferably organic
2 oz. fresh green beans, cut in about 1/4" pieces
1/2 zucchini, diced in about 1/4" pieces
1/2 c. carrots, diced in about 1/4" pieces
1/2 c. onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, finely diced
1 T. fresh rosemary, diced finely
1 t. dried thyme
1 t. dried basil
1/2 can (6 oz.) tomato paste
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 egg, beaten

Topping
1/2 head cauliflower
1 c. chicken broth, preferably homemade
3 cloves garlic, smashed
1 T. butter
1/3 c. part-skim ricotta cheese
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Brown the ground beef the beef is no longer pink. Drain the cooked meat in a colander and return to pan.

Chop vegetables and start with carrots. Cook carrots for about 2 minutes, then add zucchini, onion and garlic. Add ground beef mixture, herbs and tomato paste. Mix in egg. Pat mixture into a quart baking dish.

Chop cauliflower and put in deep pan with chicken broth and smashed garlic cloves. Bring broth to boil, lower to a simmer, cover and cook for 20 minutes. Either mash with a potato masher or use a food processor or immersion blender to pureé. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix in ricotta cheese. Spread evenly over meat mixture.

Cook for about 30 minutes.
___________________

And apologies for the pictures going up all katy-wampus. I'm still learning when it comes to figuring out the finer points of blogging.

Onward,
Carol

50 Pounds Gone!!!

Hooray! Hooray!!

Saturday, I notched 50 pounds gone forever since my highest weight of 273 last summer and it feels great. And I've lost 33 pounds since my gastric sleeve surgery weight of 256 on Dec. 27, 2011, with Dr. Gregory Walton of WeightWise.

There are already so many NSVs or Non-Sleeve Victories:
• I've gone from a size 22 to an 18 in jeans and to a size 16 in my stalwart, standard black pants.
• I can do a whole lot more yoga stretches than I could before. In fact, my yoga teacher Thomas said I'm doing the best I've ever done.
• I'm off one of my two blood pressure meds.
• I have a whole lot more energy already and am back to doing cardio and strength training.

I was going to post a my revised recipe for a pretty darn good Low-Carb Shepherd's Pie I made Friday, but I think I'll do that tomorrow.

I guess I'm going to have to break down and post some pictures. Sigh. I hate pictures.

Onward,
Carol