Wish Trader Joe’s fed me all the time

Trader Joe’s is one of my favorite stores. I’ve shopped there since 1975 when it was more of convenience store. I used to buy my Rolling Stone there in college. Nowadays it’s filled with great WLS-friendly food.

I had to stop there on the way home from work last night because I was out of pistachio nuts. TJ’s has these great roasted, 50% salted pistachios that are just right. I also picked up some heirloom cherry tomatoes for my daughter. One of my favorite aspects of TJ’s is the recent trend—at least for the past few years—of offering samples. Even if it’s a food I normally don’t or can’t eat, the portion is so tiny that it goes down just right. Last night’s sample was meaty spaghetti. I got about a tablespoon that was mostly meatball, plus a thumb-size piece of garlic bread. Hit the spot just right, as I hadn’t had my late-afternoon snack. At the sample station they also had a nice Chianti, but sadly, they weren’t offering any wine samples.  I didn’t buy the spaghetti because I don’t think I could eat much more than what was offered, and it was frozen and would be mush by the time I got home. Another visit I had chicken in a mango chutney sauce. The chicken was precooked and frozen, then simmered in the chutney. I bought a jar of the chutney for future use.

After visiting my husband in his nursing home, I picked up our daughter for shopping, which turned into dinner at Mimi’s Café. I had the fabulous cheddar broccoli soup.  When I got home, I was still a little hungry, so I had some pistachios with a few sips of red wine.

The verdict this morning is that my weight stayed the same. I wasn’t sure what I thought it would do, because I felt like I ate a lot of food. Apparently I’m OK.

This weekend I have a couple of eating events, although lots of walking is involved, so I suspect I’ll be OK.

See you next week.

Old dog can’t forget old tricks

I know I’ve raved here about not eating dinner. I’ve had damn near perfect days undone by an unwise dinner.

Last night I added some no-fat refried beans to a leftover Mexican beef/bean/cheese combo from Trader Joe’s. I had eaten part of it the night before with little problem. I felt really full for a while and thought I might have to make a bathroom dash, but everything stayed down. Last night I added blue tortilla chips for dipping. Chips have become a no-no for me because they tend to get stuck. But did I eat them anyway? Yes! Did they get stuck? Yes! I have no excuse. I guess I thought that this time they wouldn’t get stuck. My band is moody in that it’ll handle something fine one time and get stuck the next. But no need to push it, I just need to push the chips away.

On the bright side, I dropped a couple of pounds this week and am now down 82.5 pounds. I still don’t have an exercise program because I’m pretty much driving, at work, or visiting my husband in the nursing home. I do work on the second floor of a building without an elevator. I even had to run an errand in the next building over, so I went up and down the stairs an extra time today. This weekend I’m taking my daughter and her friend to a bird farm, an antiques mall, and other shopping, so at least I’ll be walking.

See you tomorrow. 

A day with no drama

Today went smoothly. No crises, no revelations, no heroic efforts. In other words, it was just a normal day.

Oh wait, I did try something different at breakfast. I made my usual 50g protein shake, cold, but I also brought along coffee. I have a Tassimo single-cup brewer at home that makes all different types of coffee drinks. One of the coffees I make is a European style, which means strong and small. It brews at about 5 ounces instead of 8 to 12 ounces of the other coffees. I drank with along with my shake, so it almost was a warm shake, and I got that rich coffee flavor I’ve been craving. I figure since the shake is liquid I’m not hurting anything by also drinking coffee. I normally don’t drink during meals.

I think I was helped in my eating today by something I saw late last night. Iron Chef, a really old episode from Japan, featured escargot as the secret ingredient. I’ll eat a lot of things, but after battling snails around our condo complex, I’ll pass on the escargot. I had them once, at a Newport Beach restaurant. Besides the snails, the chefs brought in snail roe and frog legs. One chef put olives on the frog legs where the feet should be, and when he tossed them into the oil, they started spreading. I don’t care if it tastes like chicken, that’s not making it into my mouth.

Now, if I can remember that image when a decadent dessert is calling my name, I’ll stick to plan.

See you tomorrow.

Didn’t eat enough so I ate too much

My eating yesterday wasn’t as good as it could have been. I was rushed in the morning and instead of making my usual 50g protein shake, I made a big latte (sugar free and low fat) for the drive to work. I brought some cheese sticks for breakfast but ended up not eating them. Lunch was my usual cottage cheese with bacon and sunflower seeds.

I had a 28g Chike protein shake for midafternoon, but forgot to bring my cheese sticks for the drive home. Instead I bought some mixed nuts and ate most of the bag before realizing it was a 3-serving bag and the whole mess was 450 calories. Yikes. I figured that would be my dinner, but I was hungry by the time I got home and had some of my Trader Joe’s blueberry goat cheese and crackers. I think my body knows when it hasn’t been kept nourished during the day because the munchies came back later that evening and I reached for some Godiva truffles sitting near the couch. They were good, but not that good. After they were gone, I reached for a big bag of M&Ms I won in a raffle basket. Lucky for me, the bag would not open, so I tossed it aside to take to a party.

Well, my not-on-plan eating didn’t do any damage, but it did me no favors, either. Today I got back on the narrow path with my protein shake for the morning commute, usual lunch, and now I'm having Chobani Greek yogurt for a midafternoon snack. And maybe this time I’ll remember the cheese sticks for the drive home.

I am a work in progress and I need occasional touch-ups.

I read lots of other WLS blogs and get great recipes I want to try on the weekend when I have more time. Reading blogs today compelled me to hop on Amazon and buy PB2, which is powdered peanut butter with most of the fat removed; Atkins all-purpose baking mix; and a 3-pack of Torani sugar-free chocolate syrup. I have not yet tried any WLS-friendly baking recipes, so that should be fun. My daughter bought a countertop doughnut baker, and if I can come up with something high-proteiny and low-carby, I’ll be happy.

See you tomorrow. 

I thought I’d gain and I did

I attended a conference/pajama party with a bunch of romance writers this weekend and expected that I’d gain a little, and I did, about 1.2 pounds. But that’s life. I got back on the wagon right away and will probably lose that really quickly.

In the past, I’d turn that one-day event into a week- or month-long binge-o-rama.  I got back on the wagon right away. I love the freedom that I’m really only accountable to myself and I don’t have to sweat a weigh-in on a particular day. When I had the weekly weigh-in with Weight Watchers, I got into a habit and binging and starving and that’s not good.

My conference/party day started OK. I had a QuestBar for breakfast with lots of coffee. Lunch was rubber chicken, potatoes, veggies, and orange sorbet for dessert. I should have brought a container because when I could only finish a few bites of the chicken, I discovered the hotel wouldn’t let me take the leftovers home. Some of lunch didn’t stay down, but the sorbet did. From then on, it was coffee, cake, red wine, happy hour chips and salsa, more red wine, and Halloween candy with red wine. The bad eating was worth the experience of brainstorming with a pack of authors in various states of inebriation. I got to know people I’ve known superficially for years at a deeper level. It was fun, and the friendships will go on, but the overeating ended that night.

I may attend another party someday like the one Saturday, and I may overdo it. The idea that the party food, not matter how “bad” it was for my eating plan, is available occasionally means I don’t have to eat everything because “my diet is starting tomorrow.”  Luckily, sort of, none of my friends is a big party animal, so the holidays shouldn’t be too dangerous.

When you fall off the wagon, remember: There’s a new wagon coming by every minute.

See you tomorrow.

The day after

After my great day yesterday, today had to be a letdown.

Well, it hasn’t been, so far. Not every day can feel like a holiday, as yesterday did, when I had a larger-than-expected weight loss. But it was just a holiday in my mind. Subconsciously, I believed that once I lost the weight, life would be like red-carpet arrivals every day. Isn’t that what everyone implied when they told you that you should lose weight? You’d be so pretty, if only you could lose the weight. I think back to all the things people promised me if I’d just lose the weight—new wardrobes, trips to Las Vegas, undying love.

And oh how I tried to win those things. My first real diet came when I was about 10. My mom took me to a doctor who put me on a sensible eating plan and I dropped about 10 pounds and was at a good weight. But just being a normal weight wasn’t enough for me and I yo-yo’d the rest of my life. I was a big proponent of low carb for a long time and ate nothing but meat, cheese, eggs and mayonnaise. I yo-yo’d, but never broke 200, so I thought I was OK. Then after hitting my highest at that point, which was maybe 165, my mom paid for me to visit a diet doctor. I ate about 450 calories a day, took little red pills—maybe they were phentermine—and got B12 shots three times a week. My arms and butt were sore from needles. I was their poster girl for success until I just couldn’t handle it anymore. I’d binge after weigh-ins and starve for a week. Finally I just quit going.  And the weight came back. Plus.

Over the next few years I tried Overeaters Anonymous, but I wasn’t as sick as the rest of those people, most of whom had been druggies or drunks that got clean and turned to food. I spent about 20 years doing Weight Watchers. The last time, I became the poster girl for success and dropped more than 50 pounds. But I think I just wasn’t willing to make the lifestyle change for good and kept slipping. And the weight came back. Plus.

So the decision to get a lap-band was the right one. It’s a tool that keeps me on the right road. I’m satisfied with healthy food. I’ll admit that junk food tempts me. I’m acknowledging that and letting it go. No reason to lie to myself and tell me I'm over it. Right now, I’d rather get thin than eat cookies. There’s even a new flavor or Oreos I haven’t tried! But it’s better to not eat cookies, because one is not enough. I just have to remember how great I felt yesterday. Now that was enough.

See you next week.

Oh what a beautiful day

I both anticipated and dreaded today—had an appointment with my bariatric doctor. Well, it turned out to be a great day.

First, I discovered that my home scale registers 1.5 pounds higher than my doctor’s super accurate scale. Therefore, I have entered the fabled and phenomenal world of Onederland! That means I have now lost 80 pounds. Wow. I can’t imagine carrying around 80 pounds. Well, sometimes my laptop case feels that heavy. Today I slipped into size 16 jeans, which I haven’t fit since forever. Anderson Cooper’s mom’s name is emblazoned on my shrinking butt (that’s Gloria Vanderbilt, if you didn’t know).

My nutritionist was happy with my progress, although he’d like me to eat more real food. I didn’t need a fill this time. I’m going to work up to some soft protein in the coming weeks, like quiche. Maybe I’ll slow-cook the *bleep* out of some meat.

Of course, progress doesn’t mean perfection. My appointment was at 10 a.m., and since the possibility of a fill loomed over my day, I couldn’t consume anything for four hours ahead of my appointment. I wasn’t going to get up at 4 a.m. to eat, so by the time I hit work, I had been fasting for more than 12 hours. I had a cup of coffee to get the blood flowing, then saw to lunch. I prepared my usual cottage cheese with low-fat bacon bits and sunflower seeds. Unfortunately, I was so hungry I ate too fast and some of it made a return trip. Crazy! I mean, who eats cottage cheese too fast?

In the past, a visit to the “diet doctor” meant free range eating the rest of the day. Not this time. First of all, I can’t gorge like I used to, secondly, I don’t want to have to work off the damage.

So, yeah, it’s a great day, and here’s to plenty more.

See you tomorrow.