Off to New York

Leaving early tomorrow morning to go to my 1 month appointment in Utica. I'm excited to see if i've lost any more weight since I weighed myself. Hopefully Dr Graber will be happy with my progress so far.
I'll keep you posted and let you all know how it goes.

I got a recipe from my sisters Bf Farzan last night using Tofu and Thai peanut Satay Sauce, I'm really excited to try making it tonight, i'll post later and let you know how it turned out. I've never in my life tried tofu, so this should be interesting..lol

43 down

My wonderful mother bought me a scale for Christmas and let me have it early so I could start keeping track of my weight loss. So far, i've lost 43 pounds since surgery, and 96 pounds since I started losing weight in May!!!!!
I feel fantastic, I've started going for daily walks with my dogs. Tonight we took a trip to Belleville and went walking at Zwicks.
I found a super alternative to tuna salad with mayo, this one uses cream cheese, its very tasty

1 can tuna
2tbsp fat free cream cheese
1tbsp Mustard
diced veggies (whatever you like, I used carrots and cucumbers)
fresh or dry dill

rinse the tuna under water to get rid of all the extra sodium, mix in the cream cheese and mustard, add the veggies, and some dill, salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup serving
145 calories
28g protein!!!



Start leaving me comments folks, let me know if you try any of the recipes and how they turn out for you

One Down

Tonight I was bored and decided to dig out some of my clothes that I hadn't been able to wear for awhile to see if i've made any progress. Even though I don't know how many pounds I have lost, I do know that i'm down one pant size!!!! One month...One pant size, and they weren't even stretchy pants...lol they were jeans. I am so proud of myself.
I'm noticing that each and every day i'm getting more and more energy, and I want to be out doing things.



I also wanted to mention something new that i've tried that is super tasty. New Triscuit Parmesan Garlic Thin Crisps. They are 100% whole grain. 10 crackers is a serving...I can only eat 3 or 4 of them at a time. so per one serving of 10 crackers there are 90 calories, 3g Fat, 120 mg sodium, 2g Protein. I've used these with my tuna, but they would taste amazing with Hummus

Week 4

So I started week 4 today, time has been flying by. The new foods I can add are Egg salad/hard boiled eggs, flaky fish, soft cooked veggies, soft fruits, soft pasta, soft beans, hummus, quinoa. These are the foods I can eat for weeks 4, 5 and 6, along with all previous foods.
Last night I made homemade mac and cheese for the first time in my life and it turned out amazing, I used low fat cheese, lactose free milk. Meals should be 1/2 cup from now on
I saw 2 healthier options on Rachael Ray show the other day and thought i would share them with you.


Crispy Chicken Sandwich

• 1/3 cup Fiber One bran cereal (original)
• Dash each salt, black pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder, or more to taste
• 1/4 cup fat-free liquid egg substitute (like Egg Beaters Original)
• 3 oz. raw boneless skinless lean chicken breast
• 1 tbsp. fat-free mayonnaise
• 1 small hamburger bun (light, if available)
• 2 slices tomato
• 2 hamburger dill pickle chips
• 1 leaf romaine lettuce

reheat oven to 375 degrees.

Using a blender or food processor, grind Fiber One to a breadcrumb-like consistency. Season the crumbs with as much salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder as you like, and mix well. Place crumbs in one small dish and egg substitute in another.

Sprinkle both sides of the chicken with a dash each of salt and pepper. Then, coat chicken on both sides—first with egg substitute, and then with seasoned crumbs.

Place chicken on a baking sheet sprayed with nonstick spray. Top chicken with a light mist of nonstick spray

Bake in the oven for 10 minutes.

Flip the chicken over, and add another light mist of nonstick spray. Cook for an additional 10–12 minutes, until chicken is fully cooked and coating looks crispy.

Spread half of the mayo on each half of the bun. On the bun bottom, place chicken, tomato, pickles, and lettuce, and then top with the other half of the bun. Enjoy!

Banana Ice Cream Fake out

• 3 bananas, peeled and cut into chunks, frozen
• 1/4 cup milk

n the bowl of a food processor, purée the frozen bananas (adding the milk in small increments as needed to loosen the mixture up) until whipped, about 2 minutes.

Serve the “ice cream” immediately with your favorite toppings.

I can't wait to try both of these recipes, If any of you try them, let me know how they turn out

Week 3

Well its been 3 weeks already, time is flying. I can't really notice if I've lost any weight or not, but everyone else says they can see it in my face, legs and belly. I only notice it on my right leg, I can see my knee again..lol.
I have added some new foods to my menu, now i can have 1/2 a scrambled egg, 1/4 piece of toast, tuna and salmon. The other night I ordered a small chili from Wendy's and it was so yummy. I ate about 1/2 of it and it was only $1.79, I guess I'm gonna be a cheap date from now on.
The swelling in my arm is almost completely gone, and its only a little tender now. I go on Tuesday for my follow up ultrasound and then a Dr's appointment on the 21st.
Darren and I will be heading back to New York on the 30th for my 3 week check up. I'll be able to get weighed then, I can't wait to find out how much I've lost

Update about Yesterday

Ok, so as I said in my earlier post, I thought i had a blood clot because of the swelling..etc in my arm. I went this morning at 11am for an ultrasound. The ultrasound lady said that she wouldn't be able to tell me anything, but once she saw there was a problem she told me because she had to measure a bunch of stuff. I still didn't know if it was a clot or an infection. After my ultra sound they sent me back over to triage to register so i could see the Dr on duty. After waiting for 4 1/2 hours the Dr finally came in and told me what i had been dreading....It is in fact a blood clot. Good news, its in my arm and not my leg, its in a superficial vein and far away from my heart, lungs and brain. For now they have put me back on the Fragmin blood thinner for 2 weeks, after that i have to go for another ultrasound to see if that has helped and then follow up with my family DR. I really hope this round of fragmin will get rid of it, cause the damn stuff is expensive.
I called the surgeon to let them know what was going on, and they didn't seem to concerned, so maybe this is a common thing to happen after surgery. The Dr today said that it was most likely due to my IV being in wrong.
Hmm what else.....OH, I had yogurt today, and it was the best yogurt i have ever had...lol

One Week Out

Hey Guys!! Everyone has been on my butt about updating my blog, so I figured on my one week would be a good time to do it.
The first few days after surgery at the hotel were pretty painful. I had a lot of gas rolling around inside me of me and no way to get it out..lol. But as the days have gone on things have got much more comfortable. I only have a little bit of pain on my left side right now, and its pretty much only when I move around to quickly.
So for the last week I've just been taking it easy. I'm drinking 4 ounces of my Atkins protein shake three times a day (which tastes really good over ice). In between I may have a couple ounces of jello, or a sugar free Popsicle. The first few days if I ate or drank, i would get a really sharp pain between my breasts. I found out that this is where my new stomach (pouch) is located, and that feeling is telling me that i'm FULL..lol I've never experienced a full feeling before. Anyway, after a week i'm not getting that feeling anymore, so maybe my pouch has stretched a bit and is used to the amount of liquids i'm putting in. I wonder if it will come back when i start to add some solid foods.
Tomorrow i get to add Plain yogurt, plain oatmeal, cottage cheese and loose mashed potatoes to my menu. Along with the jello, crystal light, Popsicle...etc..etc. I've never been so excited to have cottage cheese or mashed potatoes in my life. I've been on liquids for going on 11 days now, so having something solid is going to be awesome.
Today my arm was a little bit sore, and then by evening it was really swollen, tender, red, and if you touched it, it was hot. These are symptoms of a blood clot, so I got scared and went to the emergency room. The Dr I saw thinks it may be just an infection from where my iv was, or it possibly could be a blood clot, but he doesn't think so. Anyway, they gave me a prescription for antibiotics. Also for the past 5 days Darren has been giving me injections of a blood thinner called Fragmin, so at the hospital they gave me a bigger dose of it. I am going back in the morning to get a ultrasound of my arm done...I'll let ya know what happens...but for now, i'm tired and cranky, so I'm going to bed..lol