Weekend Cooking, Self Care, and an Oops... Plus... Big Surprise? Not so much.

Happy Monday All!

Did everyone have a good weekend? Mine started out not so great, but finished up ok. :)

So, Thursday, I left work at 9:30am, with a horrible headache, and a low-grade fever (99*F). I basically spent the day in my sweats, hoodie, buried under a blanket in bed. Bad, bad day. Friday was a bit better, but not by much. I still stayed at home, still with the headache, but the fever was gone. Saturday I was better.

Saturday I made steak fajita egg bites out of leftover steak fajitas from a local Mexican restaurant. Egg bites are of course based on The World According to Eggface's Egg Bites.

They are fabulous. I still do them with some salsa on top. :)

Yesterday, I had to bake cupcakes to take to my daughter's sitter today, since today is her birthday. I'm totally proud of myself, because I did not taste the batter or lick the frosting at all. And frosting is a trigger food for me. So, yay for conquering my trigger foods. I did decide to make myself a treat though. I found a recipe on Pinterest for "Cheese crisps." Basically, Cheese-Its but made out of cheese... that's been baked... and that's it. I placed 1/4 slices of pepperjack cheese, and 1/6 slices of provolone cheese on some parchment paper, and stuck it in a 250* oven for 20 minutes.

The pepperjack comes out spicy and a bit chewy, and the provolone comes out crispy and smoky. I'm not a huge fan of the provolone, so, unless I'm using it to dip pesto or bruschetta, I probably won't be making that one again, but the pepperjack is awesome. I did read that it's better if you use the Sargento Ultra Thin slices to get them nice and crispy, or you can pop them under the broiler for a bit to get them to crisp up. They're great straight from the fridge, or, I intend to use them with salsa to dip. :)

I haven't really felt like pampering myself at all since surgery, and that's not a great thing. Self-care is a big part of every day life, and so I decided to give myself an at-home pedicure. Before I could get that far though, my little one saw me looking at my different nail polishes and decided that she wanted some. So, I painted her nails since today is her 2nd birthday.

After hers were done (she LOVED them), I gave myself a pedicure. I don't really do much with my nails, because I hate taking care of them... hate redoing them. Polish seems to stay longer on my toes, and no one sees them anyways, so, if it's a day or two before I can take care of the chipping, ect. it's no biggie.

Even though it looks black, the color is actually a really dark, dark purple.

The husband and I also went to the mall this weekend, and we hit up the Think Geek store. They had t-shirts by one get one free, $15. I got a super cool Jack Skellington shirt

and a Luna from Sailor Moon shirt. The Luna shirt is a Junior's size Large, which I can't quite fit into yet, but since I'm still losing, I'm hoping on getting into. If not, oh well. I also got my final birthday present in the mail over the weekend... I got my Fitbit Charge HR 2!

So, the oops I mentioned above is actually kind of a cool Oops. When I was at my last appointment, the dietitian told me that she found a 380# weight from when I was in pre-op. So, I had started counting at my first dietitan class, and that's still what I count as my starting weight, but, if I go from the 380# weight, I get to see this:

Pretty cool. :D

Finally, the big exciting thing I mentioned in previous posts? Yeah, not happening. It was that I was looking into going back to school to become a registered dietitian, but, because of a few factors, no, it's not happening. It kind of sucks, I was totally excited for it, but, meh. We have other dreams that were going to have to get put on hold while I went back to school, so, we can pursue those instead. :)

So, how was everyone's weekend? Anything exciting happen?

~♥~
Lady D

Bueller... Bueller... Bueller...

Hey guys,

Sorry I've been absent for a bit. Not a whole lot to post right now, and honestly, there's something maybe exciting brewing in my life, but, nothing I can post about right now. And NO, I'm NOT pregnant. I always crack up when you say you have news, or something exciting, that if you're a female, you're automatically pregnant. Or so people assume. Someone else threw me for a loop this time around and guessed that I was becoming a stay-at-home mom. That makes me giggle, because we considered that once... and then realized that with the HUGE amounts of student loans that we have that that's not happening. Oh well. Stay tuned for the exciting news, and I'll post about it when I can... if it ends up happening.

This past weekend, we had my daughter's second birthday party. And there are moments in your life after you've started this journey that you see yourself, and go... WOW. I've changed. I had that moment this weekend... My mother-in-law posted this picture of my daughter and I on facebook, and I was just like... holy cow I've lost weight!

The pic on the right is from her first birthday party last year... so, almost a year apart. I mean, I've seen my comparison pictures, but, I feel like in my "everyday" clothes versus my work clothes, I look so different. :/

It was a good party. I made carb-free pizza, and turkey meatballs in SF BBQ, and we also got Pizza Hut pizza and wings. I bought her a cake, which I of course couldn't eat, but I had a tiny bite of Halo Top Red Velvet Cake ice cream, and a fresh strawberry. It worked. :)

How's your week going?

~♥~
Lady D

Mexican Bacon Turkey Skillet and Saggy Skin :/

So, I kind of made this up on the fly. After last week's success with the Philly Cheesesteak StirFry from The World According to Eggface, my husband asked for more stir-frys or skillet meals. Well, hell. There's a ton on Pinterest and such, but none that are bari-friendly. So, I thought about what we used to eat, many, many, moons ago, and Hamburger Helper came to mind. He and I LOVED the Mexican rice hamburger helpers. So, I made a bari-friendly easy Hamburger Helper-style meal. And he liked it. Honestly, you could fix this up any way you want it, but this is what I did...

Mexican Bacon Turkey Skillet

-1 bag riced cauliflower
-6 slices cooked turkey bacon, chopped (I used some that I had cooked up earlier in the week... just pulled it from the fridge, chopped it, and tossed it in)
-1- 4 oz. can green chilis, drained
-1 lb. ground turkey
-1 packet Taco Bell taco seasoning
-About 1/4 c. Mild Taco Bell Sauce
-About 1/2 tsp. dehydrated onion
-About 1/2 c. 2% Reduced Fat Mexican Blend Cheese
-Toppings

-Thaw and drain your riced cauliflower, being sure to squeeze out all the extra water using a cheesecloth, paper towel, or kitchen towel.
-Put about a tbsp. EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil) in a medium skillet, and begin to saute your cauliflower.
-Pour in your can of chilis, and your dehydrated onion.
-After you have a beginning saute on your chilis and onions, add your ground turkey, turkey bacon, packet of taco seasoning, and taco sauce.
-Cook on medium heat until turkey is cooked through.
-Top with cheese, and put a lid on the pan just to melt the cheese.
-Serve with your choice of taco toppings.

I wanted to add black beans to this, but my husband nixed that idea. I topped mine with salsa, and it would also be good with some plain Greek yogurt or light sour cream. I just ate mine as is in a bowl. To give my husband something extra, I put his on top of some Doritos, and he loved it. Said it was like a walking taco from back in school. :) This warms up very well (I had some for breakfast this morning), and it's just very good. I will warn you, it doesn't look pretty. But it tastes awesome. Plus! If your plan allows it, you could add corn to this for another layer of flavor... maybe a little lime and avocado... yum! I think that this would be best with a shredded meat though... shredded beef, chicken, or pork particularly. Husband liked it though, so, it's being added to our regular dinner menu. :)

Give it a try, let me know what you think! :)

So, the second part of this post is the pictures I promised... the saggy skin. If you don't want to see it, turn away now...

The belly is hard to see still, because I still have a lot to lose there... but as you can see, the arms and Thighs are bad... but, as my aunt pointed out, the alternative is worse... My husband really helps with the self-confidence thing... it really doesn't seem to bother him that I have the saggy skin. But we're getting the arms fixed (at least you can see the definition of them now!!), and the belly once I'm much closer to goal weight.

~♥~
Lady D

Thyroid, and things...

So, I saw my thyroid doctor on Monday. I don't have to go see him for another two years... *sigh* Thyroid problems aren't gone, but they aren't bad enough for medication or surgery... My thyroid is still larger than normal, but not nearly as large as he expected it to be (I've been trying to tell people for years that I have a big neck... now that I've lost all the weight in my neck, I can prove that I really do just have a big neck!), so, he wasn't concerned about that. I have 5+ nodules, but they're all small (My largest was 0.8 cm... 1 cm is when they start considering biopsy), which means there's almost no chance of cancer, and no point in biopsying. He also said that they have a "comet-tail" appearance, which apparently is also an indicator that they're all benign, and there's no point in biopsying. So, as he said, "Chill out, and wait." :) Sounds good to me... one less doctor's appointment I have to worry about.

Monday, while I was walking around at work, I had a co-worker stop me who hadn't seen me full-body in a while (I sit at a desk). She was speechless. She just kept gesturing to my whole body with her hand. Apparently I look much smaller than when she last saw me. Hehe. She and another co-worker who happened to walk up and ask what was so amazing, were FLOORED that I've lost 120# (now 121#! :D)... They said that they couldn't believe how much I had lost, and one of them said that she never would have thought that I had that much to lose. :)

I'm still not where I need to be, and I still need to lose 70-90 more pounds. It's coming off slowly, but slow is good. It's giving my skin time to catch up.

I was talking to my sister this past weekend about that. Apparently the person I mentioned that I thought was jealous had said that part of the reason it's hard to believe that I lost so much weight is that you can't see the saggy skin. Well, trust me... I have it. If I get brave... I'll take some pictures. I won't take any in my undies... I'm not THAT brave. But I might pull up my shirt, and show my belly, and maybe take one in a tank or a super short sleeve so you can see the arms. My thighs aren't too pretty either, but, I'd have to have someone help me take that pic... we'll see. I'm not a fan of my body right now, as I mentioned, but, it's my body. It's healthier than it was before. :)

So, how's your week so far? :)

~♥~
Lady D

Weekend Fun

Hello lovely readers! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend! :)

My mom and sister came in to town to help celebrate my daughter's birthday, and we had a blast. :) I got to cook some yummy and healthy meals for them (orange chicken and cauliflower fried rice, black forest ham and cheese egg bites, cauliflower hash browns, and chicken sausage, and then the carb free pizza with carmalized onions, pepperoni, and banana peppers), which they loved... especially the pizza. My mom and sis each went back for seconds. I think we are for sure doing that this weekend for my daughter's other birthday celebration with my husband's family. :)

I was thinking about my daughter's birthday last year, and wanted to go find a pic for a size comparison this year. I found the perfect one, because while I've given away a TON of clothes, I still had this outfit, and was able to show you guys the size difference IN the outfit. :)

The shirt is a 3XL men's shirt, and the pants are either a 3XL or a 26/28 pants. As you can see, the arms of the shirt were super tight, and the shirt itself, I completely filled. The pants look tight in that pic, at least in the thighs and my upper legs. So... comparison photos???

So... yeah. In the shirt picture, I came to the realization that my husband (6'4", and about 280#) and I could BOTH fit into the shirt. The pants? Heh. I'm standing in ONE leg of them. So... about that. :D

My sister brought me some clothes that don't fit her right, one of which was a pair of Men's sweats, size Large. When she told me size large, I never thought I'd fit into them. :/ I figured my hips and thighs would totally prevent that...

Or not! Yup. I'm in a size men's large in sweats. Now, the fact that they're Toledo Rockets sweats hurts... I went to BGSU for college, and they're mortal enemies. Hence me wearing my Falcons shirt (GO BGSU!!!) with the Rockets sweats. But, they're free, they're comfy, and dammit, I need clothes. Just like if we ever go to Goodwill and they have something cute Colts, even though I'm a Browns fan, I won't say no to buying Colts stuff... besides, as long as the Colts aren't playing the Browns, I have no issues with them. :)

Oh! I'm sure you noticed as well that I'm wearing my hair down in most of these pictures... that's because my sister cut it for me. It really needed it. She ended up taking off about 6". :D

Finally, this morning, when I weighed myself, I have hit another weight-loss milestone. I'm 120# down since April.

So, yay me. It looks like my plateau is over for now. :)

So, I've seen a lot of questions in the weight loss groups/sites I'm in/on lately about where you measure your stats from. I look at a few when I'm measuring.

HW (Heaviest Weight) 393(back around 2009)
Starting Weight (I don't actually list this one in my stats anywhere, but it's where I'm counting from when I do my 120# down, ect.) 363 (My first supervised dietitian weight loss class in April)
SW (Surgery Weight) 278
CW (Current Weight) 243
GW (Goal Weight) 175-150 (I'm not sure what I really want to be at... I just picked a broad spectrum, and will be happy when I'm healthy)

A lot of programs I guess give you a number they want you to be at for "goal weight." My surgeon has never said a number to me, only that I had a lot of weight to lose (she was totally right on that). I still have a good amount of weight to lose to be totally healthy. But I've made a great start so far, and I'm only... holy cow... today is my 2 month Surgiversary! :) So... I'm 35# down in the two months since surgery, and 120# down since April. Awesome. :D

Today I'm seeing my endocrinologist, who has been following my thyroid issues. Hopefully, since I've lost all this weight, my thyroid issues have... gotten better. I won't say resolved, since it runs in my family, I doubt they resolved, but, we'll see. :) I'll let you know.

Have a wonderful week, readers, and stay tuned for more stuffs this week! :)

~♥~
Lady D

No Carb Pizza!!!

OMG. GUYS. SERIOUSLY. THIS. IS. FABULOUS!!!!

No Carb Pizza... the link to the original recipe is on the name... I did change a few things, but not a whole lot. I switched out the regular cream cheese for Fat-Free cream cheese, I used 1% milk instead of heavy cream... used Light Parmesan, used Low-Moisture, Part-Skim Mozzarella instead of full-fat Mozzarella, and turkey pepperoni, I also instead of 1/2 tsp. oregano, did 1/4 tsp. each oregano and basil. For pizza sauce, Contadina Squeeze sauce is actually very good, and only has 3g sugar per serving. So, basically, I cut fat and calories wherever I could. I halved the recipe for this, since we had never tried it before, and I didn't want a ton of food waste if we didn't like it... but... OMG. WE LOVE IT. It will be made again... soon. We've even decided that we're making it for my daughter's second birthday party. We're also going to get some regular pizzas, just because of how many people we're feeding, but this is totally going to be on the table too. :)

The top pic is the crust before I sauced and topped it, and the bottom pic is the pizza after it was done. I also say, follow the recipe, and throw that puppy under the broiler. Baby, baby!!! Fantastic. My husband, who is a non-op, ate two servings, and inhaled them both. I'll let you know how it reheats. I have 3 slices (my portion was 1/16 of my 9x9 pan... which was about 2 oz.) of my own left, and I'll probably try reheating each a different way... skillet, microwave, and oven. I'll let you know what's best. :)

Oh! Pro-tip for eating out. If you go to Chipotle, order a kids' meal. I had a vendor bring in lunch today, and I ordered a kids' meal. I had them hold the tortillas (did I mention I don't like food waste?), ordered barbacoa, fajita veggies, and pico de gallo. I asked for a side of cheese. It comes with either fruit or chips (I took the fruit), and a drink (the vendor got me apple juice, which I gave to my daughter). They give you like, 4 oz. of meat, and 4 oz. of each of the other toppings you pick. I ate two ounces of meat, and 1/4 cheese, and about 1/3 of veggies and pico. So, I literally have a whole second meal. Plus, if you get it to go, they give you your side of cheese and your cutie (or halo, not sure which), in these great 4 oz. portion cups, which make it very easy to take stuff home in! :)

So, go out with people, get two meals for the price of one! And it's WAY cheaper than a regular burrito bowl. :) Do you have any eating out pro-tips?

~♥~
Lady D

Ice, Jealousy, and Cheesesteak...

Well, the end of yesterday could have gone better... for the most part it was a good day, except I slipped on some ice on the sidewalk last night... couldn't even see it. But this right here is yet another affirmation that this journey is totally right for me. If I had done that this time last year, I'd have been in the ER, having X-Rays on my hip, elbow, shoulder, and wrist. When I slipped, I landed pretty hard on my left side. Honestly, I'm just a little sore today... but 117# ago? Yeah... totally different story. Be safe out there guys!

However, my butt is killing me today. Probably a TMI, but, let me explain. So, right after my surgery, we finally got a new mattress. We got a nice firm spring mattress. We had been sleeping on a memory foam, and it was breaking down BAD. So, somehow, last night, my body decided to sleep on my back... I'm not sure if I've mentioned this yet on here, but, I have no butt anymore. Like... it's gone. That was one of the first things to go. So, my poor tailbone is not used to dealing with all this pressure without the extra padding. So, me sleeping on my back last night means I woke up in pretty severe pain this morning. I have no idea what possessed me to sleep on my back last night... I'm usually a belly or side sleeper. O.O Oh well, that'll show me. LOL.

So... I sent a friend the picture I posted on here the other day of me in June, and me last Saturday. I knew that they had been trying to lose weight, and back when I was a size 22 or 20, and said that I'd be an 18 before long, they said that if I got to an 18, they'd have to get the surgery. So, I sent the pic of me in my size Large shirt, and my size 16 misses jeans. They didn't say anything back to me, but apparently said something to another friend of mine. Word is that they were literally in disbelief. Like, said that there's no way that I could be in a size large shirt, because that's what they wore, and that's just not possible, and that I couldn't be in a size 16 misses jeans, because that's what another friend of ours wears (she doesn't... she wears a size 11 American Eagle... whatever that means), and with me having been so big that there's just NO WAY that I'm that small now. The friend they were talking to asked why I would lie about something like that. They had no answer. So, the only thing I can think of is that they're jealous.

This makes me feel really weird. Like, I look at that pic from Saturday, and I honestly don't think that there's ANY WAY that I really look that small. That it's just a good angle. But, my husband took the pic, and he knows that he has to be brutally honest with me right now, and he said that no, I'm really that small. He said something to that effect last night again... that I don't realize just how small I'm getting.... I think we were talking about my ability to fit in some clothes that I hadn't worn in a while... he said he thought they'd be way too big on me... turns out he was right. LOL.

As I kind of mentioned in the previous post, I'm having a lot of body issues right now. Like, I see the number on the scale going down, and I can visually see sometimes, how small I am (last night I was laying in bed on my back, with my knees propped up, and I was astounded at how small my thighs looked), and other times, all I see is fat (like when I look at my belly and arms). Now, I know that some of the "fat" I'm seeing is actually loose skin, and that will be taken care of when I eventually have plastic surgery. Well... some of it. I'm only planning on having two procedures right now, one of which I'm hoping to get covered by insurance. :/

But yeah, this head stuff is no joke, guys. Losing the weight will not make you love your body. Having the surgery will not make you love your body. My husband helps me to love my body, in that he loves it, and tells me how beautiful I am, and such, and honestly, that is HUGE. But, I still don't always see it. :( I guess it will just take time.

So, I made something AWESOME last night. It's another Eggface recipe... Philly Cheesesteak Stirfry. For mine, I just used diced green pepper, diced red onion, diced cold cut roast beef, salt, pepper, garlic powder, chili powder, and because I don't like Worchestershire sauce, I used a little soy sauce instead. We topped it with sliced provolone cheese, and voila. My husband ate his as an open-faced sandwich, and I ate mine in my little bowl. I forgot to take a picture of it in the pan, when it was all nice and pretty, but here is my little 2.5 oz (I went a little bigger because the dietitians want me to have more veggies) portion.

Not too pretty to look at there, but super easy, and yummy. Seriously, if you're looking for recipes, and you haven't checked out The World According to Eggface blog, go check her out! She's awesome. :D Tonight, we're doing a "Pizza Casserole" which is not hers... it's one I found on Pinterest. I'm going to have to edit the recipe, but, we'll see how it turns out. If it's good, I'll share the recipe tomorrow. :D

~♥~
Lady D