End of 2017

So, I've seen a lot of people posting pictures from the beginning of this year, and the end of this year to show their Journey's progress. Here's mine:

The picture on the far left is at my husband's work Christmas party last year. The other two I took this morning. My final weigh in for the year was 254#... which means that I've lost a grand total of 109# since April. Go me. :D

We've had some not so pleasant weather as of late... so this morning I got up and shoveled the driveway.

About 2-3" snow was on the ground, and it was snowing lightly. I was able to shovel the whole driveway plus the sidewalks in front of our house without stopping to take a break. There's no way in hell I could have done that last year. This journey has already been so amazing for me, and honestly, I'm still at the beginning! I can't wait to see where it takes me. :D

So, I tried this new product that someone in my surgeon's Facebook group mentioned... BariWise hot cocoa. I bought a box of the Variety Pack. Since it was so cold last night... 1* outside, I tried a packet at random... I pulled Amaretto. It was ok. I'm not a fan of Amaretto to start with, but, it wasn't bad. Today, after shoveling for around an hour, I still can't get warm (it's 10:55 now, I came back in around 9:30), so, I made another packet... this one is the Cinnamon packet. I've never thought of Cinnamon and Chocolate together, but this is very good! I make it with around 8 oz. boiling water, and it's rich and creamy. It's got a decent amount of protein in it, and it's low cal compared to regular hot cocoa. It's a little on the pricey side... around $14/box, but, it's very good. :D

I don't usually do New Year's resolutions, but I'm going to make some this year...

-To get closer to my goal weight (175-150#) next year
-To continue to pursue exercise
-To maintain my diet
-To be healthy and Happy

Do you do resolutions? I hope you all have a safe and happy New Year's!!! Bring on 2018!!!

~♥~
Lady D

All the fat...

Does any other post-op out there sometimes still look at themselves in the mirror, or even just look down at themselves and see fat? See the person that they used to be? I've lost 107# since April. And 137# overall. That's nothing to be ashamed of. And I'm looking fabulous compared to where I used to be. But I can't always see it...

Take today for example. I was texting a friend on my lunch break (she's the amazing woman from The RNY Journey that I mentioned before), and I came to the realization that if my boobs did not start shrinking, that I would have to have a breast reduction. They're finally starting to get in my way. -.- So, to prove my point, I sent her this pic:

And then I was looking at the pic, and I'm like... there's no way that I look that thin in real life... it's just the angle of the camera... Asked another friend, and she said, nope. Not the camera angle. That's how thin I look. O.O You could have knocked me over with a feather.

Now, don't get me wrong. There are some days that I look at myself, and I think about how good I'm looking, and I feel confident... sexy even. But... yeah. Other days, it's a struggle... I was just curious if this is a common thing, or if it's something unique to me. I'd love to hear from not just post-ops, but anyone with dramatic weight loss. I know that the body part of our transformations is just part of it. There's a lot of head stuff to work on too. :/

~♥~
Lady D

Scramble!

So, my husband found these awesome Chicken Breakfast Sausages at Aldi, and I've been craving sausage since I've been on my liquid Diet, so, I made an egg scramble last night. It actually turned out really good! You could add lots of other things to it to, but my fridge is kind of empty right now, so, this is what I made. :D

Sausage, Egg, & Cheese Scramble

-2 large eggs
-2 Aldi Chicken Breakfast Sausage Links
-About 1/4 c. milk
-About 2 tbsp. LF Sharp Cheddar Cheese
-Salt
-Pepper

-Slice up the two sausage links, set aside.
-Crack eggs in a bowl, mix in milk, salt and pepper.
-Beat eggs.
-Add the sliced sausage links and cheese.
-Mix until well combined.
-Saute in pan over medium heat, stirring continually until eggs are desired consistency.
-Refrigerate leftovers.

When I portioned this out, it made 4- 2 oz. portions, which is perfect for me. I had one last night for dinner, and one this morning for breakfast. Surprisingly, it warms up quite well. :)

So, as I think I said, I made SF Cheesecake Mousse to take to my husband's family Christmas (the big family Christmas, not the one with just his immediate family... that's this weekend). Well, my sister-in-law asked me to bring another dessert this weekend that I'm allowed to eat so that they could all try it. Well, at that Christmas, my brother-in-law had made this pumpkin pie, pudding, Cool Whip dessert. Totally something I couldn't have since it had a graham cracker crust, and asking him about it, it also had sugar AND powdered sugar in it... So, I decided to make my own version. :D

It starts with the low-carb pumpkin cake that I made before... but improved a bit... and then pudding, and then cool whip, garnished with cinnamon. So, here it is:

Pumpkin Pudding Dessert (I know, I come up with the best names xD)

-1 can 15 oz. pure pumpkin
-4 large eggs
-1/2 c. milk
-2 tsp. vanilla
-1 c. Splenda (one of the improvements)
-1/2 tsp. salt
-1-1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (another improvement)
-1 tsp. cinnamon
For the Pudding:
-1 large box SF Vanilla Pudding
-3 c. milk
For the topping:
-1 tub SF or Light Cool Whip

-Preheat the oven to 350*
-Mix the pumpkin, eggs, 1/2 c. milk, vanilla, Splenda, salt, pumpkin pie spice, and cinnamon together in a large bowl until well blended.
-Dump pumpkin mixture into a well-greased baking dish (I really like the oval ones that I have in the picture, but you could really use whatever kind you wanted... however, I don't think this would stretch to a 9x13.
-While the cake is baking, mix the pudding mix and three cups of milk until well blended.
-Put in the refrigerator to set.
-Bake the pumpkin mixture until a knife comes out cleanly. For me, it took an hour in the pan that I used. Depending on the type of pan you use will depend on baking time.
-Let the pumpkin cake cool.
-Once cooled, top the cake with the SF Vanilla pudding.
-Top that with the Cool Whip.
-Sprinkle cinnamon on top for garnish.
-Enjoy.

This is so simple, it's stupid. It looks pretty, and I bet it's going to taste pretty darned good too. I tried a small bite of the cake, and it's much sweeter this time, which is good. The thing I didn't notice about the directions of the last pumpkin cake was that you're supposed to refrigerate the leftovers, so, last night we came home, and I went to toss the old pumpkin cake because it's a week old, and it was moldy, and smelly. Oops. Oh well. Now I know. :)

So, tomorrow, we'll be headed to Ohio to see my brother and sister-in-law, their kids, and my in-laws for Christmas. It will be fun. And then my mother and father-in-law will be taking my daughter home with them until the third because her sitter is closed. She's going to get spoiled rotten again. :) This will be fun for my husband and I, because I have New Year's Day off. He gets a half day that day... so, we're going to do a date night. We're going to go out to eat (Texas Roadhouse I think... they have a Steak and Shrimp combo for $15.50... AND I have a birthday coupon for a free appetizer), and then go see the Jumanji movie. It looks funny. I'll let you know how it is.

I'm interested to see how eating out goes post-op. I went out to eat with my in-laws about two weeks post-op, but the restaurant we went to didn't have any foods I could eat since I was still on the full liquids phase. We'll see how this goes. I'll let you all know. In case I don't write again, have a Safe and Happy New Year's! :)

~♥~
Lady D

Solid Foods... and other strangeness...

So, yay! I called today to see if I could get approved for solid foods by Friday since a- I have family Christmas with my husband's immediate family, and being able to eat normal foods makes life easier, and b- The husband and I are doing date night on Monday, since the baby will be staying with her Grandma and Papa for a few days. Answer: YES! I'm good to move to solid foods at any time, as long as they stick to the plan of no carb, high protein, low sugar, low fat. No problem... and perfect timing too, since last night, I didn't have much to eat in the house, so... I broke the rules a little. I cut up 2 oz. of left over turkey, mixed it with some soy sauce and sesame oil, pepper, and garlic powder, and heated it up in the microwave. It was super moist, and I bit off teeny tiny bites and chewed it really well. Honestly, with how it came out, it was no different than the canned chicken I had been eating...

Plus, it gave me the Asian food flavor I've been craving. It was actually quite good. Now, I'm going to say this in big capital letters, so that you all understand it. DO NOT BREAK THE RULES LIKE I DID. FOLLOW YOUR SURGEON'S/DIETITIAN'S GUIDELINES. There. My PSA is done. :)

Now onto the other strangeness part of this post. So, on Christmas Eve, late... like, 11pm, I was taking a shower, and noticed there was something poking out of one of my incisions. It kind of looked like a thick fishing wire. So, since it was Christmas Eve, and the Surgeon's Office was closed until today, 12/27, and it wasn't bothering me, I let it go. Well, yesterday, when I was at work (remember, I work for a Heart Surgeon's office), I showed it to a co-worker who told me it looked like the non-dissolvable part of a dissolvable stitch.

Sorry the pics are blurry, they're the best I could do since it's so small. But, yeah, the office said this can be normal. It's nothing to worry about. Even though it's coming up through my incision, it doesn't hurt. It just feels funny if I run my hand over it. As long as it doesn't start looking like it's getting infected, we're good.

If something like this happens, even if it seems small, I STRONGLY urge you to call your surgeon's office. Who knows what it could be!

The last bit of strangeness is regarding singing. If you know me in person... you know that I sing. It's what I do. I've always been in choir, my mom has sung my whole life, and I just always sing. Well, shortly before I started my journey, I noticed that it was getting harder for me to sing. Not just with the breathing aspects, but also my voice cracked... a lot... and I couldn't hit notes I used to be able to hit. Well, hey, guess what? After losing 107#, my voice sounds better, doesn't crack, and I have very few breath problems while singing. Go figure. After thinking about it, it makes sense. Being overweight, your body is struggling already. Add in singing, which takes a bit out of you, and yeah. You're going to struggle. So, if any of you are singers, be prepared to change. For me the change was for the better... my range opened back up. :D

Finally, I want to give a big shout out to all my readers. I know that you guys don't comment, but I literally have readers from all over the world (USA, Germany, Poland, Qatar, Ukraine, Israel, France, Canada, Portugal, Peru, Italy, and Russia! [At least that's what shows up on my stats from Blogger]) that read my blog, and you guys are awesome. I never really thought that my journey through this would reach so many people, or even be interesting enough to so many people to keep you all coming back. I hope that you find it interesting, or helpful (this is a scary journey to go through alone!). I'd love to hear from you! Feel free to leave a comment, letting me know where you're from, and how far along in your journey that you are (if you're on the journey!). We can totally do this together! By the way, I don't know that I've ever said, but, I live in Indiana, USA. :)

How's your week going?

~♥~
Lady D

Say What????

So, I've been stealing some of my husband's old shirts (XL's) that are a little too small for him anymore. And I noticed that while they were still fitting well in the bust, they were extremely loose in the belly. So... when we were in Key West on the cruise, I had bought myself a size "Large" shirt, because it was a whole $5, and I knew that post-op, I'd be losing a ton of weight. I had tried it on not too long ago, and it was CRAZY tight. Well, yesterday, after seeing the XL being loose, I decided to try the large on again...

GUYS!!!! OMG. It fit without being AS crazy tight. Don't get me wrong, it's still tight (especially in the bust!). And I'm still not wearing it regularly, but it wasn't crazy tight! I could actually wear it out and about and not be looked at like a circus freak. OMG. A LARGE!!!!! :D

So, how was everyone's Christmas? Did we eat too much (I was a good girl... just a bit of ham, and a tiny bite of the SF pumpkin cake I made), or stay within our plans/diets? The pumpkin cake was very good, btw. My husband complained that it was not as sweet as a normal pumpkin pie, so, I'm going to up the amount of Splenda I put in it to 1/2 c. and see if that helps. :) Hope you all have a wonderful week! Anyone planning resolutions for next year? I'll reveal mine closer to the day. :D

~♥~
Lady D

Christmas Party and Pumpkin Cake

So, last night was my husband's family's Christmas party. There was A LOT of food. Like, a TON. Cheesy hashbrown potatoes, mac-n-cheese, queso dip, chili con queso, Mexican Rice (my mother-in-law had a taco bar), lots of chocolate and desserts, ham baked in brown sugar and pineapple. LOTS AND LOTS of delicious food. And you know what I made for the party? Cheesecake Mousse. So, SF Cool Whip and SF Cheesecake pudding mixed together.

All I ate at the party was my 2 oz. of canned chicken with a bit of taco sauce, LF cheddar cheese, a tiny dollop of queso, and a super small bite of my mousse. Honestly, that's why I made it. So that I COULD have a bite of dessert. I also brought a loaf of Stollen... a German Christmas bread that the dealership gave me when we signed the papers on my new car yesterday. Obviously I couldn't have that.

Tomorrow is Christmas. My daughter is in bed, in her new Christmas jammies. We read her new Christmas book that she opened. Cookies and milk are out for Santa, and there's room under the tree for Santa's presents. My husband and I have to build her toy box that we bought for her, and put a big bow on it... I am NOT wrapping that honking thing. Tomorrow we're having friends over. I'm baking a ham and a turkey breast, making cheesy hash brown potatoes (I would also be making cauliflower hash browns, but I can't have them yet), green beans, and a low-carb pumpkin "cake." The consistency of the cake is something that I should be able to eat. I found the original recipe on Pinterest, but I made a few changes to the recipe... My version is below.

Low-Carb Pumpkin Cake

-1 15 oz. Can Pumpkin
-1/2 c. milk
-4 large eggs
-1/4 c. Splenda
-2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
-1 tsp. Cinnamon
-1/2 tsp. salt
-1 sm. pkg. vanilla SF Jell-O pudding
-1 tub SF or Lite Cool Whip

-Preheat oven to 350*.
-Grease a glass pan.
-Mix all ingredients but the Cool Whip in a big bowl.
-Pour the well-mixed ingredients into the greased pan. I did an oblong oval pan (see picture); the original recipe calls for an 8" square pan.
-Bake for 40 mins or until a knife comes out clean (in the pan that I used, it took an hour).
-Top with Cool Whip, and enjoy.

I haven't tried it yet, but I'll let you know how it is. :D

For any who celebrate, have a Merry Christmas!!!

~♥~
Lady D

Soft Food!!!!

So last night (again, rebel here) I got to move to soft foods. I had canned chicken mixed with Taco Bell store-bought taco sauce, a small amount of LF shredded cheddar cheese, and a small amount of Pace Queso. It is fabulous. My new tummy wasn't too sure of it at first, but, it's not too bad now (I had it again for breakfast).

For lunch today, one of my awesome surgeons had Maggiano's catered for his annual Christmas lunch that he hosts. Of course, it was all pasta... the spaghetti DID have meatballs on it I could've had... if I were advanced to full solids already.... but, since I'm not, and I knew it was coming, I had a great idea... Please, steal this idea and adapt it for yourself. So, if you know in advance what kind of food is coming, bring your lunch, but match the type of food. Since I knew Maggiano's was coming today, I brought leftover Five Cheese Meatball Bake (but without the meatballs). I matched Italian for Italian, and honestly, it helped my craving the garlic that I could smell from the big lunch. It was fabulous! Try and match meals if you can. That way you're still partaking... kind of. ;)

So, I have total permission to share this from my friend. I have a friend, who was actually a large help in me deciding to have my surgery. She had RNY in 2015, and she did really well with it at first. She got pregnant with her son, and like sometimes can happen, she hit a hard spot in her lifestyle. But! I've been talking to her throughout my journey about getting back on track, and she is! She is totally getting back on track with the bariatric lifestyle. I am SOOOO proud of her. If you're a Facebook person, go check out HER weight loss journey Here.

So, tomorrow, I'm going to my in-laws (about 3 hours from here) for their family Christmas party. I haven't been in several years, but it's a BIG party. My mother-in-law is one of 6, and my husband is one of... 12? 14? first cousins? And now, most of them are married, and bringing their spouses, and their kids, and yeah. BIG party. Since my mother-in-law is doing a Taco Bar for the meal, I'm going to make my shredded taco chicken again... minus the queso this time, because I don't know if she has queso... or if she does if it will meet the diet needs. We'll see though. :)

Sunday, I'm driving home with the little one. My husband will still be here in town, since he has to work tomorrow and Christmas Eve. So, once we get home, she'll get to open up her Christmas Eve present (jammies and a book), and we'll read that book before bedtime tomorrow night. We'll put out cookies and milk for Santa, and then she'll go to bed. As soon as daddy comes home, he and I get to start building the toy box that we bought for the little one. Who knows what Santa might fill it with?! :)

What are your plans for this Christmas?

~♥~
Lady D