Wednesday Weigh-In but on Thursday

Starting Weight 320
Last Weight 268
Current Weight 264

Weight lost 56...yay.

I was at my doctor's office for my three month check in and I found out my starting weight was actually 320, not 318, so I'm changing it here.  I must have blocked that bit of information when I originally heard it, but now that it's coming off I can now process it.  Sort of. Anyhow, everything is on track, and the doc's office is happy with my progress.

I am so tired right now. You know how E.R. nurses cringe at the full moon? Well I think school clinics get some of that too.  Let's just say, lots and lots of drama.  Crying.  Begging to go home. And me, AKA nurse Ratchett, saying, 'um, no, back to class".

This week's weight roller coaster has been a ride.  My last weight was 268, then I dropped down to 262 then up to 269 and at the end of the week settled on 264.

Did I mention I'm tired?

I'm tired.

Exhausted, really.

Gotta hop in the shower and gird my loins for another crazy day in the clinic.  It doesn't help that it's so darn hot and no one remembers their water bottles.

Drink water people!

Have a great Thursday!

Wednesday weigh in...

Starting weight 318
Last week's weight 271
This week's weight 268

Yay, I'm down into another 10's space AND 50 pounds down. Whoo hoo.  I started C25K last week and it's actually getting a little easier. We changed it to Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday because I need to be at work at 730 in the morning on Wednesdays for a staff meeting each week.  We're also extending the first week's C25K schedule into the second week...because...well baby steps.

This week has been ridiculously busy. We're doing vision and screenings tomorrow and I've been trying to get prepared. It's kind of crazy...There are 820 students and we're going to process half tomorrow.

If I ever hear someone say school nursing is easy again, I may poke them in the eye with a fork :D

Will hopefully catch up on my favorite blogs this weekend.

Or I may be comatose...

Wednesday Weigh In

Starting Weight 318

Last Weight 278

Current Weight 271

What a week! I lost 7 pounds, whoo hoo.

So today has been crazy, We woke up early to do our C24K.  It was actually a little easier than on Monday. It's a really good program I think. Then work. Then come home do the dishes, yell at the kids. Take the older one to batting lessons clear across town, after dropping the younger one off at karate where another mom would pick him up.  Visit a friend and chat for a few minutes since I was already clear across town. Run to Sprouts and pick up stuff to make a dinner for a family at the school (the mom was at the Dark Knight movie in Aurora and was one of the 12 killed, she left a kindergartner and  a 3rd grader -- very sad).  And now I'm blogging before I drag my sorry (but shrinking) arse into bed.

So on Monday I was at the VSG support group and was talking to the nutritionist about what I was eating and I was eating too much....OMG.  She said because my pouch is so new they really want people to stay around 2 OZ.  So starting yesterday I totally curtailed it.  Here's what my eating plan now looks like.  I did decide to 'squeeze' in an extra meal by going every 2.5 hours rather than every 3 hours.

One egg white with tsp of tomatoes and onions.

 Planning is so important in this lifestyle, my two snacks are half a pure protein chocolate peanut butter bar, two slices of apples and my calcium chew.  Lunch was 1.75 oz of tuna salad (light mayo and relish) and four slices of cucumber.  This got me through 3 pm.

 Because I had to drive across town, I needed dinner to be portable. I had 1.5 oz of this at 5:30 and another 1.5 oz at 8:00.  

Not pictured is a treat I allow myself a few times a week and that's two tablespoons of creamy peanut butter!  I'll have it before bed.....One of the nutritionists said to do more than one meal high fat (like nuts) so I always save my high fat protein choice for peanut butter.

Here's the break down

Calories 778 (I asked about the low calories and was told not to worry about it -- yesterday I was at 580 - yikes, but wasn't hungry and felt fine today -- I added the 'extra' meal to try and get my protein at a good number).

Carbohydrates

52 g

Protein

81 g

Fats

27 g

Day 1 - C25K

Okay, I finally took the plunge.  I'm so thankful I've had those few weeks of working up to this first day of C25K and I'm thankful for my wonderful hubby who walked and jogged along side of me and encouraged me to keep moving (because frankly, if I were alone I would have said 'f' it after the first 10 seconds of the jogging part). And a big ol' thank you to my thigh and butt fat for applauding me while I jogged.

After today I may extend the C25K program to two week intervals instead of one week intervals...and ease my way into it.  Jason said to wait until the end of this week before deciding (although, I've pretty much decided).  This isn't a race, it's going to be a way of life for me and so I have time to ease my way into it.

I am proud of myself for getting out of my comfort zone...part of it is the embarrassment of how I must look huffin', puffin', jigglin' and lumberin' around the track. Part of it, is it just hurts.  But I overcame this for this day to try it.  Each time I (or any of us) overcome some fear or physical hurdle it is a victory and I need to remember those small victories when I start the negative self-talk.

Feel free to remind me of this on my next whiney post!

Have a GREAT Monday everyone.

A day in the life of my daily eating plan

I'm not going to say the 'd' word because really this is how I'm going to be eating for the rest of my life -- although with a treat here and there and more calories when I'm in maintenance....I love looking at those WLS blogs that do this because it gives me an idea of not just what people are eating when they have had WLS, but also portion sizes.  So, I thought I'd do the same here.  I hope that some of you new to the game (as am I) get some ideas and those older to the game can give us all some of your own wisdom.

 

 6 am, two Jimmy Dean turkey sausage links and two apple slices.

 Here are all the vitamins I take in the morning and my Synthroid, it's nice to be down to one prescription drug a day (and thyroid isn't one of those things that go away so will be on this the rest of my life).  For some reason I don't absorb vitamin D, I hardly ever use sun block and we're in Colorado which basically has more sun exposure than almost any other state and still I am low on D.  I was on a 50,000 units p/ week loading dose a couple months ago and now take 2000 units a day and if that didn't kick start me the endrocronologist may put me on a prescription strength version...ugh.

 0900 Morning Star 'chicken' patty, a dollop (1 tsp) of light mayonnaise and 1/2 a roma tomato. I got on to the elliptical for 1/2 an hour, which ate up 500 plus calories, so while I was recording all this on caloriecount.com it showed at this point negative calories eaten. I have to say, that's kind of fun to see.

 1215 2-oz of beef jerky, four baby carrots and my calcium chew. Here's the thing about planning. I knew I'd be running errands so before I left the house I packed these up and put them in my purse so that I could have something at the right time.

 1500 (3pm)  morning star black bean burger and a kosher dill pickle.  So the pickle has no value what-so-ever...BUT it's yummy. I love pickles.  It was my little treat to myself. I like having a couple of my protein choices be vegetarian.  I still get plenty of protein and there are the added benefits of fiber.

 Couldn't finish my pickle.  But that's okay, there will always be pickles and I am not deprived.

 Ooops, this is out of order. I packed this in my purse for later and ended up eating this at about 2130 (930 pm) during a movie -- Hope Springs...cute movie. Also another calcium chew.  The nutritionist said to spread our calcium out during the day and not to take it with our multi-vitimens. She said because our bodies can't absorb so much calcium at one time, you'll get more absorption if you eat it throughout the day.  The calcium I bought is, unfortunately, calcium carbonate and the better version is calcium citrate.  But since I paid a hefty amount and have like 500 chews...I'll settle until this is gone and buy the better stuff when I'm done with these.

 1830 (630 pm) I had a third of a Jimmy Johns Beach Club 'unwhich'. OMG I love those things!  I was going to have one of the other thirds left over, but my son got to them while I was at the movies.  He likes them too.

 What I take before bed.

I also make a gallon of decaf green tea with some orange, lime, and lemon slices in them. I drink about half a day along with some water.

So the break down of my day looks like this:

Carbohydrates

77 g

Too Low

Protein

75 g

Good

Fats

35 g

Good

Saturated Fat

9.4 g

Good

Cholesterol

111 mg

Good

Sodium

2,627 mg

Too High

Fiber

11.1 g

Too Low

Vitamin A

13,245+ IU

Good

Vitamin C

25 mg

Too Low

Calcium

299 mg

Too Low

Iron

8.9 mg

Too Low

Potassium

900 mg

Too Low

Total K-cals 902

Exercise K-cals used 504 (love the elliptical, that was for half an hour at low intensity -- walking an hour only gets me 300 K-cals)

AND I WASN'T EVEN HUNGRY.

I have never gotten my sodium in a 'good' range.  But it's much less than before I started doing this.  I'm okay with where it is and my blood pressure is doing well.  

I don't take a fiber supplement because...well I am super regular.  I actually tend to go, hmm the other way (TMI?). When that happens I'll add some pro-biotics which helps me get back into 'regular' mode.

There you have it...a day in the life of what I eat.  

weekly weigh in and I hit 40 baby - woot

Starting Weight 318
Last Weight 280
Current Weight 278

I'll do the math for you...that's 40 pounds, exactly...Woot.

And even better, it didn't look like it was going to happen but it did.

sooooo relieved.

I just walked for an hour (and by the way for living in the Plains (just east of Denver) I live in a hilly neighborhood) and must shower, but I just had share!

Will post my progress pictures later...again, need that shower before I am photographed...for your well-being as well as my own :D

Have a great Wednesday everyone! The weekend is just around the corner.

********

updated my progress and pictures' tabs to show progress -- I decided to take measurements and have lost 12.5 inches.  Not bad.

whew

so, I'm back down to the 280 poundage that I weighed in last Wednesday....so hopefully no other 4 lb weight gain in one day and tomorrow for my official weigh in I can at least be the same as last week....it's probably hoping too much but maybe even 1 lb below?  Whatever, I'm just happy my weight loss is back on track.

Went to the endrocrinologist today...he's going to continue monitoring my Thyroid but has decided to wait until my weight stabilizes before checking out all the PCOS and other hormones...he said I will be totally out of wack (it's a medical term -- I'm a nurse, remember)  for the coming year.

I'm good with that.

And score, my blood pressure 116/78

I LOVE LOVE being off my high blood pressure medications and having readings like that!

And....he called me a rock star, he said almost 40 lbs in three months is awesome.

Okay...will check in tomorrow with my official weigh in

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Damn Scale and Mexican chicken vegetable slow cooker soup recipe

Here's a yummy recipe I adapted from this blog found on pinterest I added extra vegetables. Not only did I like it, my picky nine year old eater liked it.

The recipe:


1 tbs olive oil

1/2 a sweet yellow onion, diced

1 red pepper, diced

7-9 baby carrots thinly sliced

1-2 tbs minced garlic

5 boneless skinless chicken breasts (I put them in frozen)
1 can of kidney beans (drained and rinsed)
1 can of black beans (drained and rinsed)
1 can of corn (drained and rinsed)
2 cans of Ro-tel tomatoes (pick whatever heat you might like)
1 4-oz can of diced green chilis
1/8 C of chili powder
1-2 tbs of cayenne pepper
1 tbs oregeno
16 oz of vegetable stock (low sodium)
16 oz of chicken stock (low sodium)
half a medium zucchini cut into half inch cubes
1 can of green beans (drained and rinsed)
Juice of 5 limes


Toppers (not included in the nutritional info below)
avocado
onions
fresh tomatoes
sour cream/or greek yogurt
grated cheese
fresh cilantro

Saute the onions, garlic, peppers and carrots in the olive oil. Spray a crock pot with Pam and place the chicken on the bottom, when veggies are soft and fragrant, pour on top of chicken.  Add the rest of the ingredient, up to the zucchini. Cook on low 8-10 hours. An hour before serving, shred chicken and return to soup and add the zucchini, green beans and lime.

Makes 15 servings.  Big bowls.

Enjoy.


Here's the nutritional information, which, except for the sodium, is awesome.  Although it doesn't take into consideration I used low sodium stock and rinsed the canned vegetables.

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 1 serving (318.4 g)

Amount Per Serving

Calories 186 Calories from Fat 31

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 3.4g 5%

Saturated Fat 0.9g 4%

Cholesterol 40mg 13%

Sodium 796mg 33%

Total Carbohydrates 21.1g 7%

Dietary Fiber 5.1g 20%

Sugars 4.8g

Protein 19.5g

Vitamin A 31% • Vitamin C 39% Calcium 8% • Iron 13%

* Based on a 2000 calorie diet

So the freakin' scale...UGH.  The day after my last awesome great weigh-in I am up 4 lbs.  Are you KIDDING ME! So since Wednesday I've been diligent about logging in all that I eat, just in case I'm fooling myself about what I've been eating.  And I haven't.  I'm staying around 800-900 Kcals a day.  I'm also exercising three to four times a week.  Granted it's not strenuous exercise, but I am working up a bit of a sweat.

Here's what really makes me mad. Up four pounds for no apparent reason and it happens in one day, but does it come off in one day? Nooooooo.  I have been experience PMS symptoms....like wondering if my friends all secretly hate me (I'd so much rather be bitchy) but nothing has shown up....hopefully soon, but with PCOS, you never know.  But maybe? this is it? Maybe it's just how it is.  But if I hear anyone say, "it's a matter of eating less and exercising more" I may shoot them (oh look at that, I do get bitchy and not just paranoid).

Here's the deal.  I'm not giving up! I'm going to continue plugging through.  I know this will happen. I know this is just how it happens.  It's still frustrating, but it is what it is.