Twas the night before Halloween!!

The night before Halloween and the trick and treaters have a choice to go trick or treating tonight, tomorrow or both nights.  Seems there is a delima between the two.  Now that my boys are older Halloween just isn't the same.  And I'm okay with that, I get to enjoy the excitement of other little boys and girls getting the thrill of what kind of candy they received.  After the event is over they will go home pour out their bags of candy and I hope that ALL parents will inspect it first.  Then let the children pick out a little bit to eat now and later. 

Just remember also, if you don't want your children to have all of that candy to check and see if any of the local dentists are participating in the candy buy back.

Yesterday at work we had a Halloween contest, I dressed as "Julia Childs"  She is one of my favorite cooks.  I used to love to bake, I just don't bake as much as I used to, No one seems to enjoy it as much anymore.  So there are lots of times that I will bake and treat my co-workers.  Even though I can't eat the goodies that I fix. Due to the sugar content.   It gives me a good feeling to let someone else enjoy.  So yesterday I did bake some cupcakes because I needed them as a prop for my costume.  Then I had the bowl that I left some of the cake mix in with the wooden spoon and spatula.  I had fun with it.

Halloween is a day of getting out with the family and enjoying yourselves.  We have a street here in town that is blocked off and all of the residents decorate and about everyone in town visits.  It has a strong legend behind it.  If you aren't familiar with  "Tall Betsy" http://www.tallbetsy.com/ find out about the legend. 

 The Legend of Tall Betsy

She comes out only on Halloween
On Centenary Avenue she can be seen,
Tall Betsy is the Lady in Black,
For scaring "night-owls" she has a knack.

Now if you're good and go home early,
You won't get 'et by this gruesome girlie.
But if you linger 'til after ten,
We want you to know you are a "has been".

Cause Betsy will tuck you under her arm,
and you can bet, that is cause for alarm.
To Fort Hill Cemetery she will go,
To her mausoleum, with YOU in tow!

IF you don't escape before sunrise,
I warn you now you will be her prize.
She will have you for breakfast, I do not jest,
You'll be on the menu but not as her guest.

Your bones, she'll dump in that ole well,
At Arnold School and no one will tell.
Your parents, they'll worry and fret,
They'll search all over for you, I'll bet.

So, Go home early on Halloween night
and November 1st You'll be all right.
Trick or treating is so much fun
But if you see Tall Betsy RUN!

Remember to watch out for all the little trick or treaters when it gets dark, which ever day you choose to celebrate this holiday with them.  Halloween Night Cleveland, Tn will be hosting the Block Party again as well. Visit their website for a break down of local entertainment. http://www.shannonadgroup.com/mainstreet/downtown/blockparty.html

Tah Tah for Now!

Lisa

Spooks are a Coming!!!!

Well its just 4 more days before the spooks and goblins come out.  And all that comes with this little holiday.   Yes this holiday is a beginning of a lot of weight gains. I know this because I lived through them.  Candy is my downfall, I love hard candy, a piece of chocolate occasionally is okay, but give me cinnamon or lemon drops and I'm good to go. But WHOA!!!!!!!!!!!.  Not any more.

So today I would like to touch base on the Effects that Sugar has on Bariatric patients. Since having my surgery 4  1/2 yrs ago.  I have a very low tolerance of sugar.  It gives me the dumping syndrome. 

What is Dumping Syndrome?
Dumping Syndrome is a problem that occurs in some patients after having gastric bypass surgery. It is the result of food passing too quickly into the small intestine. It is typically induced when the patient eats certain foods, such as sweets or certain carbohydrate sources (such as simple carbohydrates like sugar and some starches). It can also occur as a result of eating too much at one time.

Some symptoms of dumping syndrome include:

• nausea or queasiness
• a sense of fullness accompanied by discomfort
• cramping
• diarrhea
• general weakness
• profuse sweating
• vomiting
• heart palpitations (an increase in heart rate)

When do Symptoms Subside?

Once I have eaten some foods that give me some of the symptoms above It usually takes me a good 30 minutes for it to pass through others up to an hour. I get extremely lathargic. I compare it to what a diabetic experiences when their sugar drops.  I have found that lying down will allow these symptoms to pass quicker.

So with the thrills and chills coming into the air.  I say eat your candy in moderation. Or perhaps bypass it all together.  It will save you the after effects as well as a few pounds.  Some of the local dentists have came up with a great idea.  They are buying back candy..... The candy that is purchased is screened throughly and then mailed to our troops for treats.  I love this idea. I'm all about supporting our troops.

God Bless our troops.  May they come home soon, safely.

Happy Early Halloween=Tah Tah for Now,  Spooks........Goblins......

Feeling Extremely Grateful

Sitting here reminishing on the great things that I should be greatful for.  Everyday we should just stop for a fresh of renewed air. Take a breath, I mean a really deep breath.  Now close your eyes and start at the top of your head. BREATH. In your mind move down your entire body taking more deep breaths as you go, until you reach you feet.  Then open your eyes and think about how do you feel?  Do you feel a little refreshed?  Sometimes I do this just to get myself off of thoughts that are negative. 

Why do I start with this subject,  A co-worker of mine was just approved for the gastric bypass and she is so excited.  And I'm excited for her.  Sometimes you forget where you started from. And she just set me back to remind myself of this. I remember the day that I was approved, I wanted to just shout out to the world.  I"VE BEEN APPROVED.........YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Its such a great feeling and know that perhaps by me having this surgery it gave her inspiration as well as others.  I told her that we could support each other and that there are lots of support on the Bariatric weight losses.  I provided her some websites that I visit so she can start preparing herself for her new journey.  Good luck to my co-worker as well as anyone else that is taking the steps to begin this new journey. 

Tah Tah for now
Have a great Saturday, and remember to take in the beautiful day we are having look at the leaves, listen to the sounds outside, enjoy them.  Remember there are those that are having a tougher day than we are.

:)
would you like to listen to some new local music try out the new group that is local in my hometown
http://www.midnitedixie.com/

Day 5 of the 5daypouchtest !!!!!

WoW!!! what a good feeling it is to number 1, having arrived at day #5, feeling pride and accomplishment, and already feeling the tightness of my pouch.  I have eaten protein for most of the day.  Drinking my water and maintaining what I have needed to for the testing period.  Still haven't had any craving for carbs, sugar. So now I know that my pouch is still a working tool in progress. 

With Kay Bailey's "You Can do This!  slogan,  I believe and I prevailed to get back on track.  I'm looking forward to day 6 and beyond.  This day forward it is up to myself and the tool that is still working to continue to make progress.  Anyone that has had the bariatric procedures, I would highly recommend visiting Kay's website http://www.livingafterwls.com  read what everyone is so excited about including myself.  The http://www.5daypouchtest.com/ is a very valuable tool, that she has created to help everyone. 

I'm not getting anything to endorse her website or list it on here, I'm just passing along the website information that I researched and gained valuable strength, motivation, and inspiration from to help me to get back on track.   I had lost focus, now that I have had a week to get back in focus I can revamp and continue.  The kit that I had ordered from her website contained the soups and a 5daypouchtest owners manual full of information, including recipes, and quotes from other participants that took the test.

Some of the things that I have been able to get back to and had forgotten are what we patients need to do to maintain our successful weight loss.

Eat lots of lean protein, avoid or limit our fats, sugars and alcohol. Drink our water and take our necessary vitamins. Avoid snacking, if you feel the need to snack, eat protein.  Or ask your self, am I really hungry? or is it Head Hunger?  Sip you some water first and see if the urge goes away. If it does then you know that it is Head Hunger, or even when you find yourself thinking about eating, get up go for a walk. A little quote from my mother that she used to tell my niece/nephew when they were younger when they would get on a subject they couldn't shut up about.  "wash your brain" I think of this sometimes. 

I weighed in this morning to the tune of 1 1/2 lbs lighter than when I weighed a couple of days ago when I replaced my battery in my scales.  I'll take the weight loss, this gives me incentive to continue as well. One of my worst carbs that I had discovered recently was "kettle chips"  the crunch is what I really liked other than the flavor.  I passed by them in the store last night and thought to myself, I'm so glad I won't be needing them any more let alone it saving me $3.00 bucks. I wasn't interested any longer.  I've moved back on track to continue with my journey. Land of the no bad carbs/sugars. 

I look forward to continuing this day forward, Thank you so much for being a part of my 5daypouchtest.
Allowing me to blog about my experience, has helped me tremendously. May it help someone else.

Have a great evening, and I will post again soon.
Tah Tah for now, lighter than yesterday

:)

Day 4 of the 5daypouch test !!!!

Day 4!
More progress has been made, I'm beginning to really tell the difference,  I started the day off with my soft food, 4 egg whites and 1/2 cup of oatmeal, I didn't eat it all at once. Today was a day of unlimited foods. I had my usual smoothie this morning with my protein powder as well, and a couple more egg whites before lunch. 

For lunch my co-worker and I ventured out to a couple of yardsales and stopped by for something to eat.  Since I have had this surgery, if I stopped by a fast food restaurant, I would order a plain grilled chicken sandwich and ask them to just put the chicken patty in a container.  They look at you like a deer in headlights.  So I have just been selective when eating at fast food joints. Well today when I ordered, the lady that took my order said "oh yeah" we can do that. I was shocked, so I ordered a chicken patty and went back and ordered me a tea to drink for the afternoon. For supper this evening I had rotiserre chicken.

What I have noticed since starting this 5daypouchtest, I'm feeling like I did when I first had my surgery tool put into place.  Feels good.  I'm feeling it in my clothing already.  I'll weigh in tomorrow I weighed in after I replaced my battery on my scales and I'm anxious to see if there is a difference, I'll post. 

Since I have started this blog, I haven't said how much I had actually lost and several people have enquired.  Here it is drum roll........ My weight loss since my surgery was a 147 lbs. Thats a whole person. Still til this day, when looking in the mirror, I still see the before now, me... Its very hard to believe so much of myself has changed.  Disappearred, left the building, etc.  Its a really good feeling of empowerment. 

Going into day 5 is going to be sweet.... Even though I'm not doing sweets, or carbs, I'm not missing them or craving them. Let me tell you a little secret I use when it does cross my mind.  I cook sweets and take them to work. This morning I made cake pops and passed them along.  Good feeling....

I'm getting back on track to where I was 4 years ago when I was trying so desperately to get this surgery performed so that I can be healthier and live longer.  I'm so grateful for the tools that Kay Bailey has developed over at http://www.livingafterwls.com/ and http://www.5daypouchtest.com/ . Looking forward to staying on track.

Tah Tah for now.

Lisa
:)

Day 3 of the 5daypouch Test !!!

Day 3 check in.  As I began my daily routine this morning at 2:15 am. to get my husband up and ready for work.  I began to pack his lunch and make coffee. I was thinking "WOW" day 3 already and I'm beginning to feel a difference.  I put on 4 boiled eggs to cook while finishing up with packing our lunches.  Which usually consists of 2 salads (2) half cups of fruit (2) containers of measured salad dressing (2) half cups cottage cheese. However, due to me doing the 5daypouchtest, I'm only packing 1 regular lunch and then what my guide advises me to pack and eat for the day for myself.

I then begin to put together breakfast (oatmeal). The serving size that is on the back side of the oatmeal box, is actually too much oatmeal per meal for us. So I break it down to 1/4 cup which makes 1/2 cup of oatmeal when cooked.  I package up the entire box of oatmeal into the small snack size baggies based on the same amount that comes in the prepackaged boxes.  For a fraction of what the prepackaged boxes cost. I can't help it, Frugal is in my blood. This is usually our standard lunch.

Being day 3, I was looking forward to introducing soft foods back into my pouch and I was so excited about the eggs that I was about to consume at yes (3am) in the morning, after all it was day 3.  I need the protein and based on some of the research that I have read, the yolk has the highest protein count in it.  I don't eat the yellow.  I eat the whites. 

I had my strawberry smoothie for breakfast, sugarfree jello and for lunch I had tuna fish.  Since I'm not much of a fish fan, other than shrimp I doctored the tuna up with a teaspoon of mayo and lots of pepper.  Now let me explain the mayo that was added.  It's not recommended to add mayo to the soft food due to this is called or creates the food to become what is called slider food. Meaning it won't stay in your pouch long it will slide on through and the purpose of eating protein is to let it remain in your pouch so that you will have the feeling of being full.  However, I can't eat tuna plain.  Just can't go there....

For supper I had 3 boneless chicken wings from Wendy's. Oh, I forgot to mention, Congratulations to me.  I managed to get all of my water in.  No I didn't cheat, and I didn't drink 30 minutes before or after eating.  I did good....

Or my friend would quote from John Wayne. " Ya dun good"! 

Tah Tah! for now.
Have a wonderful and blessed evening.

Until tomorrow......

Day 2 of the 5daypouchtest !!

Good evening everyone,

Completed Day 2 successfully. Not as bad as I had anticipated, so far I'm not missing the carbs not even craving them. So that means that this test is beginning to work.   I was going to weigh myself yesterday before starting but something had been sitting on top of my scales. (battery was dead)  Yes I must confess, haven't been on them, due to me knowing that I had gained weight, this is not good. 

Now that I'm beginning to get back on track, I will begin weighing and holding myself accountable,  thats really what most of us need any way.  Accountability..  If you don't have a support system, then I would suggest journaling your every day intakes, exercise, food, water.  Then you should begin to see the progress.

Right after I woke up from having the surgery during recovery, it was amazing how I felt. Wasn't sure whether it was my imagination or this was how I was supposed to feel.  Waking up thinking that I would be thirsty, most patients usually are since being restricted after midnight the night before.  Food or even drinking was not even on my mind,  didn't even cross it for days. In fact, I had to make my self drink the first 2 wks, and force myself to eat once I was able to.  Had no desire.  The hunger feelings weren't there. 

I was shocked to think, Why didn't I want food or even fluid? That is a part of the tool, that was provided, thats the way that the new system would now be working.  With that being said, if you don't try to test the system, such as sugar, chips, or even an extra bite. You will find yourself doing well.  Don't test it. 

Today's liquid intake consisted of strawberry smoothie for breakfast,  jello for break, broth for lunch, and another smoothie for afternoon break, and this evening for super I enjoyed another bowl of tomato basil soup.  All of the above I mixed my protein powder in to make sure that I was receiving enough protein.  And of course, I conquered my water intake. Yeah for Me!!!!!...  I'm looking forward to tomorrow,  I will begin to reintroduce my pouch to soft foods. 

Until tomorrow evening,
Tah Tah for now.

Lisa
:)