vjb1952

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I am still drinking green smoothies, usually 1 in the morning...actually I make a big one, and drink it 2 mornings.  I feel like the liquified fruit and greenery is a good way to start the day.  I have been adding a scoop of vanilla protein because I am not getting all my protein in.  My absolute favorite is the one with a white peach in...OMG! So light and fresh tasting...I so miss those white peaches when their season is over!

I am going out on a limb by trying Almond Silk Vanilla instead of milk...going out on limb because I used to be highly allergic to almonds.  I am hoping that if I use only 1/4 c per day instead of nonfat dairy milk in my coffeehouse shake, it won't do too much damage...it tastes GREAT!  Their website says it changes texture when frozen, so am going to freeze a little bit and see how it is when defrosted...in the protein shake, mixed with the blender, I might not notice the texture change...will see.

I have been under alot of stress at work for the past 3 weeks, and I have had a "stall" of about that long, as well.  This morning, I was down 2 pounds, so maybe I have broken the stall...am cautiously optimistic!

Have a great day...more later

I have increased the Food Grade D.E. again, so am up to 1 1/2 teaspoons in my smoothie, with no adverse internal effects.  I absolutely LOVE the Light Vanilla yogurt I've been adding.  I made one with fresh blackberries, but it had way too many seeds to be enjoyable or good for our little stomach...so this morning I made one using fresh blueberries in place of the peach...that was really yummy!  So far I like the white peach flavor the best, and the blueberries are a close 2nd!  My recipe looks like this: 1/2 or 1 banana (depends on size...no more than about a 4 inch piece (save the rest in a baggie in the fridge for the next smoothie); 1 peach, or a cup of blueberries; 1 scoop vanilla protein; 1/2 c light vanilla yogurt; 1 1/2 c baby spinach leaves(very large handfull of leaves); 1 1/2 teaspoons D.E.; 8-10 oz cold water and about 5 ice cubes; smoosh it in the trusty Vitamix for about 30 seconds or so (start at 1 and go to high), and enjoy.

I have read Dr Hollywood's information about how and what the Food Grade D.E. does for our bodies, and I hope it's doing it for mine!  It really reads like an unknown superfood...more later

This morning I made my green smoothie with a large handful of spinach, a 6 inch banana, 1 small oval white peach (think they are named after a planet?), 1/2 c light vanilla yogurt, 8 oz water and 1 teaspoon food grade d.e. and some ice.   I want to decrease the volume just a little bit so it will fit in my cup easier (lol...kind of like my vanity showing!), but not reduce the green goodness!  More later

I have been drinking green smoothies with food grade D.E. added for about 3 days.  I started out with 6 oz pineapple juice, 6 oz water, 1 banana, 1/2 c pineapple, 1 large handful of spinach leaves and 1/2 t D.E....tossed it all in my trusty Vitamix and "POOF" a green drink that tasted GREAT!  Granted, It was a little heavy on the carb count, BUT it was my first attempt, and the recipe remains a work in progress.  I have reduced the 6 oz pineapple juice to 3 oz (I bought a 6 pack of those little cans, so need to use them!) and I cut the banana so that 6 inches of banana is a serving, and put the rest in a baggy in the fridge.  Today I bought some more baby spinach leaves, as well as some hearts of romaine...more bananas, and this time 2 pears, 2 gala apples and 3 white peaches...as well as some light yogurt...am going to broaden my horizons!   The smoothie tonight will finish the last of the fresh pineapple I bought (one of those cube containers in the grocery store produce section...not a whole real pineapple!)...then tomorrow I will use some of the other fruit.  Also I inched up the D.E. from 1/2 t to a whole teaspoon...will use that measurement for a couple of days, and kick it up another 1/2 t...I do not want any bathroom problems at work (too hard to do customer service from the ladies' room!)...will write again in a few days! 

Well, it was a new idea, but didn't really taste as good as I hoped...as a family, we LOVE beer-butt chicken.  I substituted lemon juice & water, with garlic cloves, for the beer in the can shoved inside the chicken's empty body cavity, and placed lemon slices & garlic between the chicken skin and the meat.  I basted the chicken every 30 minutes with lemon juice, grapeseed oil (the bottle says it is good for high temp cooking) and seasonings.  While I was cooking the chicken, I found a recipe that sounded better, and after we ate, I promised Mike I would just stick to beer & bbq sauce, which is how I've made this chicken for several years.  It ALWAYS turns out moist inside, and did this time, too...just didn't taste as yummy as the beer & bbq sauce (I make the sauce from bbq sauce, chunky medium salsa & liquid smoke, and of course, a little part of the beer in the can!).  Next time will make it normal, and then I am trying that new recipe!  (BTW the aluminum cans now are sooo thin, they don't support the chicken as well as in the "olden" days...had to substitute a cleaned empty vegetable can to hold the sauce)

Happy cooking!

 Hi!  Somehow I missed my 3 month/12 week time frame...my life has been pretty crazy for a couple of weeks, but think once July 4th is over, things will settle down (I hope anyway!).  We are planning a quiet 4th of July week-end...just us, a bbq grill, a chicken, and dog tranquilizers...sounds pretty good to me! (Last year, just as I set our dinner plates on the table, the house across the street from us caught fire and we had to evacuate...spent the evening on our nearest major cross street with our dogs waiting for our street to be declared safe by the firefighters....didn't even have time to grab bottles of water for us or the dogs, so it was a long, hot couple of hours).  I did add wine to my list of foods this week-end, splashed over ice & fruit...OMG! Heavenly!

I am down a few more pounds, not quite as far as I had hoped, but I am not feeling deprived or unhappy at all!  I am LOVING my water resistence classes...it consists of walking, marching or doing lunges against the current in a moat that is about 3 1/2 feet deep, while doing arm exercises of various types.  With my questionable co-ordination, I am sure it looks pretty funny, but I figure if I keep moving, somehow I will burn calories and the pounds continue to go down.  MOVE IT!

A friend gave me 2 pairs of size 18 jeans...because they stretch, they really are a little big, but at least they stay up where they belong...when I wear my 20's, I have to pull them up or the crotch works it's way down toward my knees and is quite unconfortable!  I am not buying anything new until I HAVE to...undies will probably be the first thing I change, as tops & bottoms are getting a bit big for me...outer clothes being too loose are not a big problem, as long as the undies are comfy!

Will write more in another month or 6 weeks.  I am still delighted with my sleeve.  Haven't posed for any recent pics...still not my style!

Wow...I cannot believe that 8 weeks ago right now I was still in surgery!  I am feeling GREAT!  I seem to lose a couple pounds, then my body relaxes for a couple days to embrace that change, and then goes down a couple more pounds.  I am not comparing my loss to the losses I have seen other people achieve because I prefer to go slower (maybe my skin will handle the change better, considering my age!).  I know I should be walking more, but my knees are both protesting the extra walking I am incorporating into my daily life.  I am signed up for 3 months of water resistance classes thru the Palmdale Dept of Parks & Recreation at Dry Town Water Park...3 nites per week...(by Labor Day I should resemble a moist but wrinkled prune!)  I am hopeful those classes will help accelerate my weight loss.

My eating right now includes mini-burgers (2 oz lean beef, grilled medium, topped with "queso con salsa mediana"), 1 egg omelets filled with 1 slice of Canadian bacon, diced, and topped with that queso con salsa...love that breakfast!  I still eat thin sliced deli turkey, either with thin slices of colby-jack cheese or spread with a teaspoon of low-fat cream cheese... accompanied by crackers (saltines, Ritz or multi-grain); sometimes I buy pre-cooked rotisseried chicken...I like the chicken shredded with ,once again, the queso con salsa...but I did make a little chicken salad out of it, too!  I haven't really had much bread at all...an occasional slice of sourdough toast or half of an English muffin, but nothing like I used to have.  I still go to brunch on Sunday with my mom.  We split an order of Eggs Benedict, sorta...I eat the slice of ham, a poached egg, a little Hollandaise sauce, and about 4 slices of banana or strawberries with a little whipped cream.  My mom enjoys the extra piece of English muffin, and the rest of my fruit & cream...AND (drum roll please...) I had about 2 oz of steak last night for dinner (it was a small piece cut from the filet side of a porterhouse steak Mike & I shared)...I had most of a tiny (3 oz) baked potato and about 1/3 cup of sauteed zuccini...the dogs each had 1 bite of potato to help me finish!  I do still drink protein shakes to get my protein every day, or almost every day!

All in all, I am not feeling hungry, deprived or uncomfortable in any way.  I am happy because the scale numbers are going down, and so are my clothing sizes.  Thank goodness I have clothes in various sizes down to about a 16.  I have gone from size 24 pants to size 20, (a.k.a. Right Size pants size 6 down to 4...and I think I have a couple 3's somewhere!)  My work shirts are my biggest problem because they were ordered before surgery, and are mostly way too big.  Planning to have them altered, or order a couple extras and pay for them myself.

I added a new avatar here tonight...it looks springier than the one DeeAnne had taken with me wearing my winter jacket.  I will write again when I hit 12 weeks.  Am hoping to be down 45 pounds by then (currently down about 37 pounds)...am trying to remain realistic because I refuse to be deprived...there's no need for that, because I am honestly happy with a bite or two of this or that.

I made it thru the first month...the time has absolutely FLOWN by.  I feel great and am ready to return to work on Monday (May 2nd).  In the past 2 weeks, I made a trip to Las Vegas with my daughter and a friend of hers.  On that trip, I experienced my first episode of dumping ( I forgot the words "suger-free" when ordering a dessert to share with someone-not good!).  For the most part I ate according to program and had all my protein shake ingredients with me...except that one dessert issue (won't be doing that again!)  My second dumping episode came the following week when I went out for lunch to Marie Calender's.  I ordered chicken pot pie with cornbread.  I sliced off a sliver of the corn bread, spread a tiny bit of honey butter on & ate it, and ate a little of the pot pie, and BAM! Dumping hit me like a ton of bricks.  I am not sure what triggered it because I always put honey in my tea (so don't think that was the culprit)...makes me think the cornbread has sugar in it, or the thickening agent in the pot pie wasn't right for me, or the combination.  Will try it again in a month or so and see how that works.  I really miss salad and can't wait for a nice little steak...2 months more to wait for those items, besides my weekly glass of wine!

My total weight loss is 32 pounds, and I am happy with that for now.  My knee still protests when I walk too much, so am hoping the day that changes gets here soon.  Will wait to post again until Memorial Day week-end, which will be close to 2 months post-op. 

Wow!  I can't believe that 2 weeks ago today I was drinking that Magnesium Citrate and anticipating my trip to the hospital the very next day...and now I am almost 2 weeks past surgery.  My food at this time is pretty much protein...I still have about 2 protein shakes per day, made with lowfat milk, lowfat peach or strawberry yogurt and vanilla protein powder.  I am able to eat poached eggs with either a little white gravy or Hollandaise sauce on them.  I also eat thin sliced cheese (colby jack & provalone) with either thin sliced turkey sandwich meat or thin sliced chicken breast.  I can eat a couple of saltine crackers or ritz...don't think I am supposed to yet, but those are among my "comfort foods", and my head needs them...I take very small bites and chew thoroughly, with no problems.  I made a smoothie for the youngest grandsons last night (strawberry banana), and was able to drink that with no problem.  I also tasted the mashed potatoes and chicken mushroom gravy, and it was good, but I didn't take full bites...also had a warm green bean without probelms.  I went to brunch this morning with my mom...we ordered our eggs benedict, split, with banana slices.  I had my 1 egg with a little Hollandaise; tried a little of the ham, and ate about 3 banana slices (my mom enjoyed the rest of those!) and discarded the half English muffin.  To this point I have had no problem with pain or throwing up.  I am kicking the exercise up a notch (for me)...which means I am consciously walking for 2 or 3 songs on my ipod every 2 hours...prior to today, I was walking as needed to shop...should have been more industrious with the walking earlier on, but was concentrating on just feeling better and not sneezing.  Will write again in a week or 2. 

This morning I tried a little cream of rice cereal, fortified with vanilla protein powder.  I also flavored the mixture with a little brown sugar Splenda and s/f syrup...It tasted good, it went down but, although I didn't get sick or anything, I neither felt at my best today.  I was in town doing errands, and bought an  rtd protein shake made by "Oh Yeah" at the vitamin shop.  It tasted really good, but still didn't leave me feeling my best.  When I got home, I had about a tablespoon of the chicken/bean stuff, and felt a little better, but all day felt off my game.  Decided it will be wiser to back-track a little now, back to the land of my own hand-made protein shakes, yogurt with protein powder added, cottage cheese, poached egg and maybe some soup for a few more days before I introduce anything else again.  Thinking maybe I strayed too far into the land of full liquids and soft foods early on. 

My other on-going challenge of the day was water/fluids.  I didn't start drinking early enough, and with this little tummy, there just isn't space enough to play "catch up" at the end of the day...i am only a few ounces down now, and will have another cup of herb tea before bed, so will work out ok.

I did order a Vita Mix machine to make better drinks & soups...should be here within a week...I hope it performs like the company claims.  If it doesn't, it'll be returned, bcuz VERY expensive!

Guess that's all for now!