Planning, Plotting and Anticipating

For a few weeks now I have been planning and anticipating my birthday celebration meal. Food used to be a life line for me. It was a life line for boredom, loneliness, excitement, happiness, and so many other emotions and feelings. Well, I have found that food isn’t all that important these days. Part of that may be because I have no hunger urges to speak of. The saying, “I’m hungry for….” is a past phrase at this point in my life. I’m not hungry for anything usually. Last week I wanted hamburger gravy and mom made it for me with mashed potatoes. The only thing missing was the corn, but I can’t eat it yet. The meal was wonderful! I added a scoop of UnJury protein powder to it and that raised the protein by 20g. I put powdered milk in the mashed potatoes and raised it some more. So I felt confident I ate a high protein meal. And I enjoyed it!!

Well, today was the birthday celebration with my parents and my sister. I made a pizza. I found a recipe in my bariatric cookbook. It was wonderful. All diners liked it. Dad thinks it is as good if not better than regular pizza. You take ¾ lb of lean hamburger (I used 1 lb) and add a beaten large egg and ¼ cup of grated parmesan cheese. Mix well and put in a pizza pan (I used a 9” pie plate). Pat it in the bottom of the pan as thin as possible and still have a nice layer. Put it in the oven at 450 for 10 minutes (watch it so it doesn’t get overly done). Drain any grease. Top with anything you desire. I used Classico pasta sauce, mozzarella cheese, turkey pepperoni, turkey pastrami, honey ham, olives and cheddar cheese. Reduce heat to 350 and put it back in the oven until the cheese is melted (5-10 mins). It will make 8 slices. Believe me when I say I am satisfied with 1 slice! Next time (once I am released to eat lettuce) I am going to make a Mexican pizza. I can use refried beans and up the protein content. You bypass the carbs from the crust with this and don’t miss the crust! It’s great warmed up and I hate warmed up pizza.

For my birthday cake I have been having a mouth watering anticipation of orange sponge cake. I found a recipe for it in one of my bariatric books. At Coyote Canyon (buffet steak restaurant) they have an orange cake that I love, but know I can never eat again. Anyway, I found this recipe. Mom made it for me. Well, I’d like to say it was out of this world, but I really don’t know. See, the baking powder we used, unbeknownst to mom, was grossly out of date. She ended up with an orange tile square instead of a cake. I guess we just don’t bake enough in this house means we have such out of date ingredients. So, once I get some more baking powder I will try the cake and let you know how it tastes. This recipe takes almond flour. The only place I found almond flour was at the health food store, in the refrigerator section. Do you hear expensive sneaking up on you? Well, for 10 oz I paid $9.99. Therefore we need new baking powder to try this cake recipe again; which I will.

I have been plotting my plans for exercising for several weeks now. I got released back to the YMCA to lift weights. I started and have seen results. Pants I couldn’t get into last week because of the lower abs, I got into this week. Anyway, I want to stir up the water exercising too. I have been doing 1 hour of organized water aerobics 2-3 times a week. Then I stay after and do about 15 minutes of solo exercising in the water. This last week I went to the library and got several books on water exercising (known as aqua-cising). I found numerous upper arms, abdominal and thigh exercises to do. I am excited about getting to the water to plunge into the routine. I even moved my Monday & Friday chiropractor appointment back 30 minutes so I can exercise 30 minutes more. I also found some exercises focused on those areas for land exercising that I can do at home on Saturday when I don’t go to the “Y”. I don’t like to go and “fight” all the weekend warriors and family fitness fanatics that show up on Saturdays. I know it is tough getting into a habit of exercising, but I have found in the last 2 weeks I don’t dread exercise like I used to. I always feel better after. I think I have more energy now than I have in years. The results are fun too. The more I do the easier it is to do more. I have raised the amount of weight on a couple of my machines. Slow and steady wins the race, so the turtle bragged!

Means my orange sponge cake was a flop dad made a pumpkin cream cheese cake today. I ate a small sliver of it. I fear I have discovered through this and a couple of other non-conscious discoveries that I am probably fairly high sugar tolerant. I have made a promise to myself and actually exercised this promise several times. I promised myself I would not test how much I can eat. I won’t return to the sugar desserts, Wendy’s shakes, candy bars, etc. that I so much loved B.S. (Before Surgery). I will NOT eat it just because I think I might be able to. I know myself well enough to know if I test it and I “pass” (or fail depending on how you look at it) I will continue to test the limits. Therefore, I WILL stick with my sugar-free foods over the sugar variety. As I said I have already exercised that promise to myself. There has been some of my favorite candy at work, some peanut butter cookies at work and chocolate foods at work. I have looked at them and had little inkling of desire. The peanut butter cookies were the hardest. I looked at them and said, “Man those look good! No, I don’t need it and I am not even hungry.” I turned around and walked off. I thank God for that will power and reasoning skills. I will rely on him to continue to give me that strength.

If you will remember my parents started this journey with me from the beginning. When I told them Feb 14th what I planned to do they cleared the house of any foods I did not need to be eating. When I had to go on the Optifast semi-liquid meals 1 month before surgery they did the same thing with protein shakes, protein bars and 1 frozen entrée; just like me. Since surgery they eat a good breakfast (cereal and fruit), a well rounded lunch with appropriate portions and a meal/protein bar for supper. Sometimes in the evening they will have popcorn, fruit, sherbet or low fat ice cream. Mom has lost 19 pounds in 3 months. Dad has lost 14. Both have goals for their weight. Mom has 1 to go and then she thinks she will set a new goal to lose a few more. She is looking slimmer and getting into clothes she hasn’t been able to wear for several years. Dad says he wants to lose 7 more pounds. So this experience has been good for all of us. We get to support each other and watch the results! I am very proud of them for sticking to it even though they don’t have too. They didn‘t have to do it in the 1st place and they certainly don’t have to keep it up for my sake; especially since I have to eat 3 meals a day. Of course my 3 meals probably don’t equal their 2, but the thought is still there.

This week’s weigh-in showered me with a 2 pound blessing. I figured I would gain, but was glad I didn’t. I am now 48 pounds lighter than I was June 21st when this journey began; 33 of those pounds have been in the last 2 months. I am down at least one size in every article of clothing except my socks and shoes. Today I said I celebrated my birthday. Well, I also celebrated my 2 month mark today for post-op . We also celebrated my 2nd great niece being 9 months old today! Too bad that orange cake didn’t rise, huh? I am proud of my progress and determination. A friend I met a couple of months ago gave me a compliment that meant a lot to me. She said my positive attitude was inspiring. That meant so much to me that my positive attitude affects someone else. Some days it is the only thing that keeps me going. It is what keeps me on track and eating healthy.

I hope you will latch onto your positive attitude and pursue whatever goals you may have envisioned for yourself. If you are goal-less, get on the ball and bounce a few ideas off a friend and set up some goals. You will certainly gain more than you bargained for just in the good feelings of attempting and eventually the accomplishment.

Until next time.

DeAnn :0)

Sow a thought; reap an act.
Sow an act; reap a habit.
Sow a habit; reap a character.
Sow a character; reap a destiny.