And I’m still sore

I was AWOL yesterday. I spent the weekend in Los Angeles with my sister for my birthday Saturday. I didn’t eat so well—I had several stuck episodes and saw the inside of many public restrooms. But we walked and walked and walked, even in the rare pouring rain (more about that later).

On Saturday, we went to the Los Angeles Zoo, fueled on a couple of sugar-free mochas. We saw every animal that poked its head from its lair. The zoo is adjacent to Griffith Park, which is hilly, so the majority of our walking was either uphill or down. We didn’t eat much during the day, only some seasoned hot almonds sold at the zoo. At the zoo, it was snow weekend, so some of the animals had (trucked-in) snow filling their enclosures. Most of them seemed to like it, except the black bear. He stumbled out of his caved and seemed to be saying “If I wanted snow, I wouldn’t have moved to L.A.!”

After the zoo, we checked into our hotel and cleaned up. We planned dinner at Olive Garden (my sister got a great deal on a gift card, and I love great deals). After a short wait at the Olive Garden, we got our table. I ordered the stuffed rigatoni with Italian sausage. It weighed in at more than 1,000 calories, but since I would eat it over at least 2 meals, I didn’t worry about that. Since it was my birthday, I got a glass of wine recommended by the menu.  The wine wasn’t to my liking, though. I generally like red, but this one was a bit thin and too sweet. Waste of calories. I should have ordered something more familiar.

The next day, we traveled to the Huntington Library in nearby San Marino. The library is in the former mansion of Henry Huntington, who pretty much owned public transportation in L.A.’s early days. His library and dining room likely served as models for movie mansions. Other buildings hold priceless art, including Blue Boy and Pinky, who face each other across the gallery room. The library holds a Guttenberg Bible, ancient manuscripts and typewritten pages from more recent authors, with editor’s notes in the margin. Can you tell I loved the art? But the immense property also has 120 acres of botanical gardens that have plants from every temperate zone. We saw most of it from under umbrellas, but for a couple of desert natives, walking in the rain in a green paradise is a treat. I think my sister and I hiked every trail, then hit the tea room for tea, finger sandwiches, scones and desserts.

Not everything I ate on the trip agreed with me and I spent a lot of time in restrooms. But everything I saw at the zoo and library was worth it. Can’t wait to go back. And spending time with my sister was priceless.

See you next time.

A refreshing day without drama

For once I got up at a decent time today and was able to spend time on the couch with a big cup of coffee while my daughter harassed the animals. For once it was nice to drive to work and not fall asleep at stoplights because you’re not awake yet.

Charlotte and Kevin don't know they're going on a diet.
My daughter shot this picture on her cell phone.

We’ve decided our bigger cat, Kevin, needs to cut back on the eating. When we first got him several months ago, we kept him in the bathroom for a few days to get him acclimated to the scents in the house and our first cat, Charlotte. After we let him roam the house, we kept his bowl in the bathroom so he would know what food was his. He follows whoever goes in there and begs, and if his bowl is empty, we fill it. Well, he was getting his bowl filled a few times a day, and eating all of it. We’ve noticed he can’t climb the cat tree so easily, so now he’s allowed only a half-cup of food per day until he’s back to his climbing weight. And while he’s dieting, perhaps our other cat can lose a little of the chub she developed after being spayed last year.

It’s easy to think that you’re loving someone by feeding them. I love to watch people enjoying what I’ve cooked. Even if I just scoop it from a canister to a cat dish.  

Tonight I’m trying a new recipe for the humans in the house. I have a bag of Atkins All Purpose Baking Mix, a low-carb, high-protein version of Bisquick. I plan to make a pizza crust, and top it with tomato sauce, cheese and light Italian salami. The pizza makes 8 servings, and each serving of crust has 20g of protein and only 5g net carbs. I’ve been hankering for pizza for a while but didn’t want the heavy crust. Well, I want it, but I don’t want to waste the calories on bread that could have gone to protein. If it turns out pretty, I’ll post a picture.

See you tomorrow.

What a difference a day makes

Woke up today feeling 100 percent better than the weekend. It wasn't the big fluffy cat leaning on me. Didn’t get extra sleep or better food. In fact, I ate the last sliver of cheesecake. I think part of my better mood is due to several people posting me encouraging messages here and on my Facebook. I was feeling very alone, and you folks came through. Thanks, everyone.

I have partially solved my morning shake dilemma. I found Hershey’s sugar-free chocolate syrup at the supermarket. I don’t often look at sugar-free sweets because while they doesn’t have sugar, they do have other stuff that has lots of calories, plus they can have a laxative effect. However, this chocolate syrup has only 16 calories in 2 tablespoons. I added that much to my morning vanilla shake and omigod it was finally something I wouldn’t mind drinking. Even thickened it up a bit. It takes me most of my 40-minute morning drive to drink it all. I’m usually not very hungry in the morning, and my band seems tighter so it’s harder to eat. On the weekends, I slack off with sugar-free lattes all morning.

This afternoon at lunch, I actually measured out what I was eating, and my eye-balled amount was 3/4 of a cup of cottage cheese, about what I’d figured. I’ve been eating Alta Dena 2%, and it has 15g of protein per half-cup, so that’s about 22g of protein.

 I have decided to cut back on the pistachios and goat cheese. While they aren’t as fat-laden as a lot of other foods, it’s easy to overdo them. I eat enough cheese as it is, and even the act of shelling the pistachios doesn’t use up the energy their calories generate. So for now, bye-bye!

See you tomorrow.

Running on empty

So some idiot (me) forgot to set the alarm clock last night and woke up late. Not as late as I’ve slept in at times. I can sleep 12 hours if I have nowhere to go. I jumped out of bed, threw on my clothes, grabbed my lunch, and ran to the car. No time to make a shake this morning, but I did grab a sugar-free, fat-free latte. Only later did I realize that if I had time to grab the latte, I had time to make a shake. Duh!

Of course that shoved my day off kilter. To compensate, I had lunch promptly at noon. I finally opened the Trader Joe’s tapas cheese sampler of three Spanish cheeses I can’t pronounce, accompanied by low-fat salami. Quite tasty. The cheese is very bold, and I like a full-flavored cheese. But I only managed 2 triangles of cheese and 2 salami slices before everything got stuck. No need to tell you what happened next.

While my food consumption hasn’t been ideal today, I’m glad that nothing inappropriate to losing weight has passed my lips. I’ll just hold off snack time with lots of coffee.

This weekend has me setting up the coffee for my writers group and putting it all away, including hauling big containers into the garage. That’s always good for burning off calories.

Saturday is also my wedding anniversary, and I’ll be spending that at my husband’s bedside in the nursing home. I had hoped to sneak in some champagne, but lately he’s been having some stomach issues, so I don’t want to risk it. Twenty-three years ago we had a kick-ass honeymoon in San Francisco, and we’ll remember that.

See you next week.

Sometimes weight happens

I’m not sure why, but my weight went up slightly. It’s just 1.8 pounds, but it’s annoying. My eating has been about the same and my exercise has been about the same.

The key word is “about.” I don’t keep strict records of what I eat and what exercise I get. I eat about the same thing every day: a 50g protein shake for breakfast, cottage cheese/bacon/sunflower seeds for lunch, Greek yogurt for afternoon snack, cheese sticks for early evening snack and a variable dinner. Sometimes I have a real meal, other times just soup. Last night I had low-fat goat cheese smeared on flatbread crackers with artichoke/red pepper tapenade dribbled on top (Trader Joe's, I love you). And I often top off dinner with pistachios. But I’m sure I’ve added a little more here and there, enough to add up to 1.8 pounds.

I’ve relied on weekend shopping/walking to take up the slack, but the last couple of weekends I’ve eaten things I shouldn’t. At the mall, anything that comes from Sweet Factory or Godiva shouldn’t go into my mouth.

Sometimes you just stray off the path. Lose a bit of focus. It’s not the end of the world. My goal is to eat like a normal person, except maybe spaced throughout the day since my surgically enhanced stomach is so small. A lot of people without eating/food/weight issues will naturally compensate for overeating by eating less later. That doesn’t mean to do what I did when I went to diet doctors or commercial weight-loss programs, where I paid for failure. I’d often use the weigh-in day as a free pass to binging, then starve myself for the rest of the week to show a loss. The binging periods got longer and the starving periods got shorter and harder until everything went to hell.

These days my body seems to crave protein-packed dishes, for which I’m grateful. Sweets don’t seem to be such a priority, especially when I can whip up a sugar-free chocolate latte on my coffee machine at home and satisfy my sweet tooth.

My lap-band isn’t going to lose the weight for me. I have to work it, and sometimes I need to work a little harder.

See you tomorrow.

Getting used to new flavors

This morning I made a shake with new protein powder I bought: Isopure Zero Carb Protein Creamy Vanilla. It calls for 12 ounces of water, but I used 10 and added an ounce of Torani sugar-free syrup, in French vanilla. I whipped it up with my immersion blender and took a sip.

And realized I’m not a big fan of vanilla.

But that’s OK. I usually get chocolate powder, but I got vanilla because I can use it for a base for other flavors. Tomorrow I may add some frozen fruit and a nut flavoring. My daughter bakes, so we have plenty of extracts around the house. In addition, I have many sugar-free syrup flavors: peach, raspberry, lime, English toffee, caramel, hazelnut, cinnamon-brown sugar, pumpkin spice, plus chocolate and vanilla. I have a regular syrup in blood orange, and using that would add about 70 calories.  

I’ve heard of other people boosting the shake flavor by adding a teaspoon or two of sugar-free pudding powder in a corresponding flavor. I haven’t tried this yet, but it sounds like something that would work well.

I like getting the protein in early. My shake has about 50g of protein, then lunch has 15g-30g and the afternoon snack adds 15g. If I have string cheese on the drive home, that’s at least 12g more. So by dinnertime, I can have 100g of protein eaten. Dinner doesn’t matter as much, so I can have something light, or nothing, if I don’t feel like eating. Or if I want a nice glass of wine for dinner.

On a side note, I just discovered that the insurance company my employer is switching to doesn’t cover my bariatric surgeon, who adjusts my band periodically. So now I’ll probably have to pay for them, and get reimbursed. I’m not looking forward to that. My next appointment is right after the new year, so the new insurance will be in effect. Can’t wait to see what happens.

See you tomorrow.

Half-price candy is twice as dangerous

November 1 used to be a big holiday in my world, as was February 15 and the days after Easter and Mother’s Day. Half-price candy. Twice as much for the same price! Nope, cheaper doesn’t make it better.

I feel fortunate that the only Halloween candy I had this year was at a party in early October and one fun-size bag of M&M’s. Around the office, I saw a few piles of leftover candy, but I made sure to steer clear of those areas. Out of sight will keep me from going out of my mind. Because of a morning dental appointment, I didn’t get my usual shake for breakfast today. Instead I had a grande sugar-free, fat-free triple-espresso latte for the drive to work. Then I had my regular lunch and plenty of coffee and water in between.

November usually is a big party month for me. My 23rd anniversary is on the 12th, birthday on the 19th and hubby’s birthday on the 27th. This year I’m sneaking a champagne split into the nursing home to have with hubby. My sister is taking me to the L.A. Zoo and Huntington Library, so we’ll be walking a LOT. Hubby’s birthday won’t be on Thanksgiving this year, so we’ll have a low-key celebration. And of course, there’s Thanksgiving, but I’m making lots of weight-loss surgery-friendly dishes for that.

I’m sure I’ll be tempted between now and the holidays. If I eat a piece or two of candy, the world won’t end. The important thing is to savor those treats. Don’t just pop a truffle in your mouth. Bite it. Taste it. Savor it. Let it melt in your mouth. Wring all the taste out of that sucker.

If you’re going to eat it, you might as well enjoy it.

See you tomorrow.

And the holidays begin …

I’ve always loved Halloween. Where I grew up, Palm Desert, California, usually would start cooling down for the fall, and it was the start of the holiday season. Back when I would trick-or-treat, some houses would give away little bags of homemade treats. The razor blade hysteria didn’t start until I was older. We walked the dark streets—no streetlights or sidewalks back then—with a parent hovering. When I was in junior high, the first dance of the year was on Halloween, so all those hormone-fueled glances in class could come to fruition or frustration.

Halloween also meant the sale of those single-serving candy bags. I mean those bags of “fun size” candy that I’d eat in one day. In theory, the “fun size” is a good idea in that you can get your candy fix in a small dose. But like the old Lays potato chip ads, betcha can’t eat just one.

This year I didn’t buy any candy until last night, when I picked up a small bag at my daughter’s request. I don’t know why she wanted it because she’ll be out partying with her pals. It’s not open yet, so that’s a good sign for me.

This weekend was a mixed bag. My shopping trips didn’t bring the amount of exercise I’d hoped for. One of those trips was to Costco, so you know how that was. I didn’t eat badly, just lots of tiny bites, so I likely didn’t get near enough protein. And today we had a Halloween party and I ate some cupcakes. It was a one-time thing, so it won’t do much damage. Over the weekend my weight went up slightly, 1.3 pounds, but I expect that to drop quickly. I’m not going to worry unless it lingers longer. Starting this moment, I’m back on track.

Of course, now that the holidays are starting, it’s the season of dietary pitfalls. All I can do is my best, make sure I eat the good food I’m supposed to, and to ward off the things that I probably shouldn’t.

See you tomorrow.

No reason to go AWOL—I just did

I didn’t write a blog entry yesterday and I’m just now getting over the guilt. My goal is to write every weekday so I keep my weight loss efforts in the front of my brain.

No big reason I didn’t write yesterday. My sister called me at the time I normally write and we chatted over an hour. After I got home and tried to eat dinner, I tried to come up with a topic, but my mind was empty. I figured you didn’t want to hear about how my dinner didn’t stay down. I think 3-day old pulled pork isn’t quite soft enough for a third meal. I ended up with pistachios and they stayed down fine. I’ve gotten better at eating at restaurants. I take small bites and set down the fork in between. Still, I’ll occasionally get stuck and have to fast-walk to the restroom. One time, when I thought I was alone, I took care of the stuck stuff and cleaned up. A woman in another stall looked at me all concerned when she came out and asked if I was bulimic. I assured her I wasn’t and explained how the band lets food get stuck sometimes, but I don’t think she believed me.

The upshot of my sister’s phone call is that she and my mom don’t want to brave the Thanksgiving traffic, so they’re staying home and dining with our aunt. That leaves me and the daughter free. Haven’t decided if I’m going to cook a small turkey, cook something else, or just go out to a fancy place for dinner. We did some serious cleaning last night and can actually see the entire dining room table for the first time in years. The daughter even put on a new tablecloth (a plastic one from Walmart) and trimmed it to fit. We bought new red place settings from Target and this year we were going to finally coordinate. Oh well, it’s nice to have a clean table. Plus it gives our cats a new perch from which to stalk the parakeets and canary.

My eating has been great these past few days, except for the stuck episode last night. I accidentally bought the full-fat Greek yogurt—the packages look so similar, and I thought it tasted a bit rich—but that seemed to pose no problem because I’m down another 1.8 pounds, for a total loss of 86.9.  That seems to be my pattern—stay the same weight for a few days, then drop 1.8.

I’ll take it!

See you tomorrow.

I love the weekend

Weekends used to be hell on my weight loss because a week of deprivation would cause an orgy of overindulgence, then I’d have to really cut back to make up for it.

But now, my weekends usually include lots of shopping, which means walking, which means exercise. I walked off 1.4 pounds on Saturday. I actually braved the mall, since I had some stuff to pick up. We started with lunch at Nordstrom. I got a white bean turkey chili that was to die for. Of course I couldn’t finish it, so I had the rest for dinner that night. We walked the hell out of that mall, then went to World Market and walked some more. I found Torani sugar-free syrup in Peppermint to add to my growing library of flavors.

I’ll admit we did stop at Godiva for a piece of chocolate. We got a fruity piece with raspberries and blueberries sitting in a canoe of chocolate. My daughter and I split it the next morning. I find really good chocolate so satisfying that one piece will do—especially when you only buy one piece.

Sunday found us having dinner at a barbecue restaurant. I got the pulled pork platter. The meat was so tender and went down easy. I’ll be having it for dinner the next few nights. I’ve been craving some barbecue and I’m glad I could find some to satisfy me. I’ve purchased premade barbecue before and it wasn’t the same. The barbecue sauce is always too sweet. I don’t have dumping problems, but I want meat, not ketchup.

I’ve happily figured out that I won’t need to buy Halloween candy this year because I won’t be home until late and the daughter is going to a party. We have never gotten more than a couple of trick-or-treaters because we’re a gated complex of mostly young adults. In the past, I’ve tried to buy candy I don’t like, but the problem is that there isn’t any candy I really don’t like. And kids don’t like when you give out liver.

See you tomorrow.

The *slight* downside to losing weight

There’s no downside to losing weight, if you’re doing it because you have excess pounds.

But I have now shrunk down to my last 3 pairs of jeans. I had some size 16s hanging around. Right now they fit just right. One pair’s a little snug, but it stretches so it’s not so bad. I have several 18s in excellent condition that will go to either a friend or Goodwill. Now that I’m a more manageable size, I might even find some thrift shop jeans that fit.

I don’t know what size I wore when I started. I wore lots of skirts with stretchy waists. I saved one to show off when I’m done. I had to “shrink” into some size 22s, and I was happy to get rid of those. Once I fit into jeans, I don’t think I’ve worn a skirt since.

I’ve never been a clothes horse because I was never sure what size I would be. I was always on my way to anther size, either up or down, and I didn’t want to commit to nice clothes. I have a few pieces from the 1970s that I’ll fit someday. I’m fortunate in that I don’t have to dress up for work. Jeans and Converse sneakers every day. I buy new shirts to last through each season. I get the shirts from the tables at Walmart and rarely spend more than $10 on one.

I haven’t been able to find anything just right at Target. Seems like it’s either too small, way too big, or from the maternity rack. So what’s up with Target putting the maternity clothes right next to the plus sizes? And Target doesn’t have any underwear with a size in double-digits. Someday …

This weekend promises good weight loss. The daughter and I plan to hit the mall and a few other big stores, and that means lots of walking. I do have to remember to have a shake before I leave so any mall food won’t destroy my plan.  As long as I can stay away from See’s Candy.

See you next week.

Adventures in walking

I spent Saturday with my daughter and her friend. We started with lunch in a cute café in old town Redlands. While they got sandwiches, I ordered the three-mound salad, with tuna, chicken, and egg salad. I was able to eat about 4 bites of each before my tiny tummy filled. Luckily, we weren’t far from my workplace, so I was able to stash the leftovers in the work refrigerator to have for lunch a couple of days this week. This café also has a bakery with some of the most beautiful food porn I’ve seen in months. I got a sample of the chocolate cake in a piece about the size of a pair of dice, and it was paradise after the hearty lunch.

From there, we went to a bird farm to buy could get specialized items for our birds. It was hard not to acquire another bird or two, but our parakeets are so bitchy, we don’t need to add any more estrogen to their cage. The farm has a large walk-in aviary and lots of other places to see their featured feathered friends. An adjacent area features larger animals, such as goats and turkeys, that will eat corn out of your hand. Lots of walking.

After that, I took the girls to a deli market that’s been in town since the 1930s. This market features high-end cheese and cold cuts. We walked up and down every aisle, sampling the cheeses and salami and scoring house-made guacamole in the produce aisle.

More walking accompanied our trip to Petco for turtle food to take back to my workplace so we could feed the turtles that live in our koi pond that sits between two of our buildings. I miscalculated when I parked and we had to walk halfway across the campus to find the pond.

By then it was late afternoon, which means coffee time. I’ve wanted to sample a local coffeehouse that roasts its own beans. The bold roast didn’t disappoint as we sipped brew in the coffeehouse’s funky back room filled with quiet types hunched over their laptops.

The coffeehouse is adjacent to a shopping area of revitalized old shops repurposed to new uses. We strolled to a former department store converted to an antiques mall and explored all three floors.

Our final shopping destination was a fabric store so we could buy plushy flannel to make blankets for our Chihuahua. And we managed to walk every aisle.

You may have noticed a pattern here. We did LOTS of walking on this Saturday, and I managed to fill up with high-protein food. The next morning when I stepped on the scale, I was down 1.8 pounds from the day before. This shows me that if I were exercising all this time since I got the band, I’d probably be done by now. But I know I can’t work movement into my schedule because of the long hours I spend in my car or at my husband’s bedside. But, I also know that doing it on the weekend is almost as good. I usually have to park in a distant parking lot, and my office is on the second floor of a building with no elevator, so it’s not like I’m sitting ALL the time.

See you tomorrow.