Stress = Comfort Foot

What do you do when you're dealing with holiday stress that's ratcheted up with a family member's critical illness in another state (which means jumping on airplanes and living out of suitcases.)

Why eat, of course.

Making good choices after having my gastric sleeve is the best revenge, even when you want to revert to old urges. And having the sleeve as a tool to limit my good choices is such a good thing. I so could have gone completely off the rails earlier this week.

I was in New York City, trying to deal/help with a sibling's illness and hospitalization. His illness is scary and definitely life-threatening if he's not a good patient (and that's a concern.) He has wonderful friends in NYC, but no family there. It's a complex problem and one of the most incredible stress magnets I've been around since my surgery almost a year ago. 

So far, so good. Going for the protein and secondarily veggies first when eating out. Have had some adult beverages, but won't let that get out of hand.

I'm darn happy if I just stay even through this crisis. Losing more weight would be a bonus.

Stay posted. This is a gigantic challenge and probably the first test of my long-term sleeve weight-loss maintenance.

Onward,
Carol

Comparing Visits to Two Island Prisons, Two Years Later

At Alcatraz Island with San Francisco in the background, September 2012.

Two years ago in September 2010, almost to the day, hubby and I visited Robben Island in Table Bay off Cape Town, South Africa, where legendary SA President and Nobel Peace laureate Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 years (of his total 27-year imprisonment) along with many other political prisoners.

In spite of the shape I was in, I remember it as a fabulous vacation — one of the best ever — and thankfully, I didn't have to walk much. That was a good thing because of my much higher weight at the time. I'm guessing I was probably in the 250s and now I'm in the 190s.

At Robben Island, South Africa, September 2010

My husband snapped lots of pics of me in South Africa and one is to the right. I have no idea how much I weighed at the time, but believe it or not, I thought I was looking pretty good even if I was somewhat self-conscious and wanting him to shoot from the waist up only. I remember how bad my body felt at the time: sluggish, painful knees, painful feet, out-of-breath constantly. Not good. On two blood-pressure meds, one anti-inflammatory, one anti-depressant, size 24 jeans.

Last weekend, hubby and celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary in San Francisco. We did lots of walking, but what struck me was when I saw the picture taken from our tour of Alcatraz Island, where the country's worst criminals were kept.

When the Alcatraz pic was snapped, above, my muscles were sore from having walked up and down about 20 blocks of San Francisco's super steep hills the day before en route from the hotel to Fisherman's Wharf, but it was a different kind of sore. It was soreness from using my muscles in a new way going up and down the hills. A good kind of soreness.

I'm now off all my meds except for one blood pressure med and in size 14 jeans. I wasn't huffing and puffing up the walkways at Alcatraz, and didn't have to take the tram for elderly and/or disabled people to get to the top or down from "The Rock."

What a difference two years make. My journey toward better health has slowed down since my gastric sleeve surgery Dec. 27, 2011, but the progress continues.

Another notch in my belt, so to speak.

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

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.

Rockin' and Rollin' -- not in the weight loss sense

Tonight we had tornadoes skipping across Norman, Okla., my home town and where I was at the moment.

Big circulation over the city and of course, I decided it was a good idea for my curmudgeonly kitty The Viv, rescue dog Lucy and I to hit our modest basement.

It was probably a good idea because as it turns out the tornado skipped across the town, coming down maybe a half-mile away from my beloved renovated airplane bungalow in the old part of town. So far, it appears no one was hurt badly. Hope it stays that way.

OK, I go back to my sleeve. I've hustled down those rickety basement stairs before -- Oklahoma City's meteorologists have a hair trigger for sending you to the hidey hole. But last spring and about 50-60 pounds heavier, let's just say that negotiating those stairs with kitty crate in hand and trying to coerce the shy rescue dog was so much more difficult.

I'm hearing all the helicopters hover overhead looking for all the tornado damage in my neighborhood.

Just one little NSV (non-sleeve victory) to chalk up.

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

Shrimpy is Not Short -- Shrimp Salad Recipe

... on flavor.

Hubby got in Saturday morning from West Africa and I was so glad to see him. He didn't even seem surprised over the weight loss since he was here about three weeks ago, and seemed to embrace it (so to speak.)

Last night, we sat in front of the fire and enjoyed each other's company along with some cocktail shrimp. OK, he had some cocktail shrimp and I held off for the main course -- my maiden voyage back into the world of filet mignon.

The sad part was -- darn it -- because it was windy and cold outside, I chose to panfry those little filet babies and overcooked them a bit. Still, they tasted pretty darn good, even cooked medium instead of medium rare. I made mashed cauliflower with my homemade beef broth for a side and used an immersion blender to puree it. Hubby LOVED them. But reminder to self: if you're going to throw in some chopped chives from your container gardening, don't add them until you've pureed unless you want the mashed cauliflower to have a "lovely" green tint. Fortunately, it didn't bother hubby. Mashed cauliflower basic recipe is in previous post.

Today for lunch, there was about a cup of the cocktail shrimp left, so I decided to make lunch for us with those. I didn't have enough celery, so I added some toasted pine nuts for crunch and that turned out to be a great idea. Even though I ate only about a fourth of it, hubby cleaned the bowl -- always a good recommendation. Here's my concoction:

Shrimp Salad
1 c. cocktail shrimp -- cooked, peeled and cut into about 1/4 to 1/3-inch pieces.
2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
1/3 c. chopped celery
2 T. pine nuts, toasted
4 T. light mayonnaise
1 T. Paul Prudhomme's Magic Seasoning "Seafood Magic"

Directions:
Chop shrimp and egg and put in small bowl. Add chopped celery. Spray skillet with cooking spray and toast pine nuts until golden. Add to bowl with seasoning. Add light mayo to other ingredients and stir until wet. Serve with bread for hubby to make sandwich, large lettuce leaves for the lower calorie version.

Enjoy!!

Onward,
Carol