Traveling

We are on the road heading to visit family in Arizona. We left Upstate NY late Friday night, spent the 4th with some friends in Cedar Rapids IA and are currently getting ready to hit the road again from Olathe, KS. As we were driving through Kansas City we hit what can only be described as blinding rain. I had to slow down to 10 miles an hour as that was all the farther I was able to see.

Jim had called a friend of his and we were planning on stopping by for diner. They very graciously offered to let us spend the night and let the storm pass by.

As for eating on the road we've done pretty good, only eating fast food once. That was Maid-Rite in Iowa and that is just a must have since my hubby and son had never tried it yet. For the most part it has been picnic fare that we have carted along with us in our cooler that plugs into the car outlet, or good food that friends have fed us along the way. The boy has had fast food once or twice more than mommy and daddy, but thats okay, it's a treat for him.

Time to get packed up and loaded, two more days of travel left.... Oh Lord give me strength

Long time no post...

Wow, it's been 10 days. I have been busy. We are trying to get ready to leave next week for Arizona. Between travel and time spent there, we will be gone the whole month of July. My dear husband got us a new toy for the trip. An Acer notebook computer. I'll be able to still post on here and not have to do it from my phone. So much easier to type on a smallish keyboard instead of the micro one on the phone.

I've been doing pretty good. I did not succumb to the temptation of the Root Beer. Well, at least not the root beer that was in my house. On Father's Day we took a day trip down to Cortland to go mini golfing and have late lunch/early dinner at the old fashioned A&W. It still has a drive in with car hops and the phones at the tables to place your order. Most importantly, they still make their own root beer. Since it was a special occasion I shared a root bear float with the hubby in between rounds of mini golf and has root beer with my dinner. I still managed to come in right about at 101% daily allotted calories. Not bad.

Other than that one day I usually hover around the 70-80% of my allotted calories. I'm loving my calorie counter and exercise journal on my Droid. It's been a great help. Plus there is an online site that it links to so I can print off my food diary for my nutritionist. It also has a diet calender that lists your calorie intake and your exercise for the day and gives you the difference up or down. And it correlates a monthly average. I think it will be a great help on this journey. I find myself trying to figure out what other exercise I can fit into the day so there is a bigger difference in calories eaten and calories expended.

I have notice that my clothes are all fitting much better. Pants that I could hardly breath in 2 months ago are very comfortable and almost too big now. I love it.

I have my Psyc evaluation in the morning. That should be fun. I had to make several calls to the Dr's office and to my insurance company to get them on the same page. Appearently most insurances don't cover this. Mine says they will, but the Dr's office staff is still a bit sceptical. They gave the standard, "Even though they say they will cover it, if they turn it down for any reason, you are still responcible for the bill." Well, no s*#t Sherlock. Of course I am, but if they say they cover it, lets at least give it a try!

I'll try to be more regular about posting on here and I'm even thinking of starting a recipe blog also. I love to take recipes and tweak them. I wonder at what point a tweaked recipe becomes your own...

Well, off to deal with my son who wants a bath at 3:30 in the afternoon... Oh well, at least he's not one of those that refuses to bathe.

Temptation

There is a bottle of Root Beer in my kitchen, and it's calling my name. I'm ignoring it for now, if it doesn't shut up I'm going to pour it down the drain. Now, normally we do not have soda in the house. If it's not here we don't drink it and I have even been doing really good for over a month now of ordering water or unsweetened tea when we are out. But we bought Root Beer for the kids for Memorial Day and then forgot to open it for them.

So now it is sitting there talking to me.

I figure this is a good test. Right now, to have carbonated soda would just be a disappointment in myself, after surgery carbonated anything could be VERY painful. I'm trying to act just like I will have to after the surgery. I need to know I can stick to this and I need to show Dr. Simon that I have the determination to follow through. Therefore, no soda or carbonated anything from now on.

I need to get better about the exercise thing. I think after dinner I will drag my family out on a walk. I did that last night but we only got around the block before it started to rain. Sky looks alot clearer tonight so we'll try to go the long way around and up on the college campus. We all can use the exercise and The Boy likes to be outside. I need to encourage that and keep exercise fun for him. I want him to grow up liking exercise.

I made a chicken pot pie for dinner with fillo dough for the crust with corn, peas, broccoli, onions, garlic and the left over chicken from the roasted chicken the other night. I'm also trying to get better about using up leftovers instead of just aging them in the fridge before throwing them away. I would love to have a salad to go with it but my mouth just isn't up to that kind of chewing yet (see root canal post).

Next on the eating rules to get in the habit of, stop drinking 30 minutes before a meal and nothing to drink for an hour after. I have mastered eating without something to drink at the table with my meal, now to get used to watching the clock and stop sipping my tea 30 min before dinner. Which now that I mention it is about now. Good thing my glass is almost empty.

The Boy is currently "cleaning" some dishes, I'd better go rescue my kitchen.

Root Canal

So on Thursday I went to the dentist for what I thought was going to be a filling.... Surprise! Root Canal! I'm still in pain. I can't eat anything that requires chewing. And I don't think this is what they had in mind when they told me to try to lose 5% of my weight. I bought some of the high protein shakes that I will need after the surgery and figured now was a good time to try out a few and see which ones I like. Muscle Milk-Chocolate and Pure Protein-Cookies & Cream. They are about the same. I may just go back to my Isagenix. I think I still have a canister of that around.

Saw a picture of C. holding a picture of herself from 2000. WOW! The contrast is amazing. I knew we were heavy, how could you not know, but the difference in her face! I always thought she was beautiful. She's gorgeous now that her face has thinned out.

Thursday, no exercise, lots of pain medication. Friday, I took my son to the zoo. We walked around the whole thing twice and I was good.... no fried food! :) Had a wonderful time just me and The Boy.

Today, I didn't go out and exercise but I did spend about 2 hours rearranging furniture and cleaning. That totally counts toward exercise! I only had help in one room with the really heavy stuff. I did the toy room/living room all by myself. That was a lot of bending over picking up all the toys, sweeping and them moving furniture around.

Hopefully there will be no rain in the morning and we will walk up to The Purple Salamander for our usual Sunday family breakfast.

So excited to finish this month and see Dr. Simon on July 1st. Then off toward Arizona for a month! YEAH! Finally, some hot weather!

Out with the ladies

So last night I went out with some friends of mine from the Curves I worked at. We try to get together every other month or so. I was very good all day so that I could really enjoy dinner last night. The Brewster Inn is a local bed and breakfast that has a very nice restaurant and on Tuesdays you can bring your own bottle of wine for no extra charge. There were 6 of us there last night and 5 bottles of wine. I did try all the wine but probably only actually consumed 1.5 glasses.

For dinner I ordered off the Tavern menu, smaller portions, smaller price. The dish I went with was Truffle encrusted Tuna with wilted spinach and homemade noodles. Really good and just the right amount. The tuna had the added bonus of still tasting good even when cold which is the temp. by the time I finished. I was the last one done. One of the other ladies asked for a dessert menu and the waitress commented that she had been waiting for everyone to be done. I still had 4 bites left.

I did finish before everyone was ready to order dessert. I looked at the dessert menu, so many good things and "tried" to be good. They make their own ice cream and sorbet so the flavor changes daily. Yesterday it was coconut sorbet! So good.

In the end I probably went over my calories for the day, I didn't go for a walk and I'm okay with that. If that only happens once every few months that's okay. It's been allowing that to happen much more often that has lead me to this point. I just have to make sure I get in some exercise today.

What a day

Today was one of those days that in the past would have had me running through a fast food place or worse yet craving, and getting, a donut or some other comfort food. But I resisted and spent some time chatting with a friend and reading to my son instead. :) In the end I couldn't even finish my dinner.

I'm doing much better about slowing down as I eat and even waiting a few minutes between bites. I have to be honest though. It wasn't until the 3rd or 4th bite before my brain kicked in and I put my fork down and concentrated on chewing my food throughly. But, baby steps, baby steps, I'm getting there.

I tried to get up early this morning and maybe go for a quiet walk with some worship music, but, The Boy, was already awake! At 6:15 am! Crazy kid. Did at least get to read my Bible and have a quiet cup of coffee. Maybe tomorrow. If The Boy goes down for bed soon I may take off and have my walk yet tonight. Right now he is up in the bath with Daddy listening for too much splashing.

I called and set up my Psyc. Eval. for the 25th of this month. My sleep study is the 24th. So I will already be in town. Here's hoping I actually sleep at the sleep study or the Psychiatrist may have trouble understanding me.

That just leaves my blood work, which I have to fast for 15 hours for, and an EKG. That's where I'm having the trouble. My primary care doctor no longer has someone in her office who does them. I need to call my OB/GYN to see if they can do one.

I would like to be able to show up to my next appointment with all of the prelim stuff done and ready to show that I am serious about this and able to follow through. I know that this surgery is not a cure, it's a tool. I'm just so ready to begin using that tool.

The biggest challenge will be the month of July. We are taking the month and driving down to Arizona to visit family. Eating on the road may get a bit tricky. I'll have to pack carefully so that we can also take the cooler and pack some of our own food. That way we are not eating out for every meal while traveling.

The Test

Well, tonight was fun. The Boy wanted to go "play with kids" so we went to McD's for dinner. I have thankfully found an app for my Droid that is a food diary, calorie counter that has all these restaurants and their food all programed in. Seems the best tastes good/low cal meal at McD's is the Southwest Chicken Salad. Okay, I like that. I got water! And when I looked at my total cals for the day found out I could have one of the yogurt and fruit parfaits for dessert! WOOHOO!

I am loving this app for the phone. I don't have to worry about keeping a paper journal with me, I have my phone attached to the hip, and it's super easy to use. Especially once you've been using it for a few days. It has a "recently eaten" category that pulls up everything you've eaten the past few days for that meal, then it's just check off all that apply and hit save. Since I have the same thing every morning for breakfast that is the easiest meal to record.

Now that I am in the habit of recording my food, it's time to add another of the behavior modifications in. Chew each bite 20 times. Really? How many actually do that? Try it next time you eat. Better than counting, just chew till all the flavor is out of your food then swallow. :) Oh well, that's what they want me to do so that's what I'll do!

The hardest one I think is going to be the no liquids 30 minutes before meals, with meals or 1 hour after meals. I get the reasoning. After surgery liquid can make the food move to fast through what is left of your stomach and cause MAJOR problems. However, knowing the logic behind something doesn't necessarily make it easier to do.

I actually came in just under 1,850 calories for the day. I think I will have a glass of wine before bed. :)

The Start of My Journey

My decision to pursue bariatric surgery was actually made in January. I have had several friends who have had the surgery, but I wasn't ready to take such drastic measures myself. That is until I found out I'm no longer ovulating. We have one wonderful little boy and want more children, however, even the highest dose of clomid did not force ovulation. Maybe weight loss might. My whole adult life has been a series of diets. Before you ask, yes I have done everything from the small portions with exercise, whole foods only, no wheat, low carb, low fat, low taste, zone, south beach, to many dangerous "fad" type diets. They all work for a while then, even though I'm following them to the T, the pounds slowly creep back on and bring a few friends they found along the way.

So, there I was, sitting in my friend Cs kitchen, as she tells me how much better she is feeling just 2 weeks post surgery. It hits me. I'm wasting time continuing to try what has never worked in the past. I am the definition of insanity, "Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results". After talking with my husband I decide to call the Dr. What the office staff tells me, sends me to tears. I have waited and struggled with this decision for 4 years, watching friend after friend go through this, and when I finally decide I'm ready, I'm told that before I can see the Dr. I must go to an informational meeting and the first one with a open space is 6 weeks away. I know that after the meeting there is paperwork to fill out along with a fee (which I thought was only $50) and after the office reviews the paperwork they will call with a date to see the Dr. which is usually another 6-8 week wait. So I know I am facing minimum 3 months till I can see the Dr and START the whole process. Then you have to begin doing some of the behavior modifications that will be necessary for post op success, lose 5% of your body weight, and start an exercise program. All of which must wait until you see the Dr or it doesn't count!

March comes and I go to the informational meeting. When I get the paper work I find out that the fee has been TRIPLED! Now, I have to figure out how to squeeze $150 out of a very tight budget.... can't be done before August. Again with the tears.

I hear of another surgeon in the area that also does the surgery. I call his office. When I get off the phone I am in shock. I have an appointment for not only their informational meeting but to see the surgeon the very same day! I call my friend C. She's concerned about the surgeon. She of course recommends the one she went to that we had both worked with and know. I explain all that I had gone through to try to get into Dr. Simon and my disappointment. Since I no longer work at the hospital with him, my only way in is through his office staff and the hoops that have been set up to aid them in weeding out the patients who are not really ready for this. She says she'll see what she can do.

Two days later I get a message from C. She talked to Dr Simon and asked his opinion of my new surgeon, not high. He told her I needed to come see him. C told him I had been trying since January and it was now May. C also told him that right now the biggest deterrent was the non refundable fee. He offered to waive the fee! :)

That was on a thursday. On Friday C asked if I had heard from Howie, no. C and her kids came over for Memorial Day that following Monday and she promised she would bug Dr. Simon until he called me. I got a call just after noon on Tuesday. He told me to come in to the office the next day at 2. It's great to have friends in the right places! Now, my journey can actually begin and I get my first choice for a surgeon!