It's all about the RULES

Remember as kids when we thought, "the hell with rules" or "rules were made to be broken"? Well in the land of WLS rules are given to us for a reason.

1. They Work
2. They Work
3. They Work

I received a nice booklet from Allergan at my preop appointment and there in those pages were Allergan's Rules for Success! Now I know each doctor's office may or may not tweak these rules to their own specifications, but the rules were created for a reason. And that reason is easy, SUCCESS!

1. Eat three small meals a day
2. Eat slowly and chew thoroughly. As my nutrionist told me, cut it up as small as the tip of your pinky and chew it til it is paste like consistency. After you swallow that food, count to fifty before the next bite goes in your mouth. Remember, it takes your brain 20 minutes before it gets the signal from your stomach that you are full. Put your fork down between bites and enjoy the flavors of your meal.
3. Stop eating as soon as you feel full. Do you know your soft stop? If you are eating and being mindful while you eat you will notice that your body responds in certain ways to let you know-NO MORE! Be it a hiccup, watery eyes, sneeze, runny nose or even something simple as a sigh. It's there, pay attention. Mine has changed in the two yrs since being banded. In the beginning it was a hiccup, that progressed to watery eyes and today it is a big sigh!
4. DO NOT drink while eating. Most surgeons recommend you stop drinking 30 minutes prior and don't begin again until 30 minutes after. Set a timer! The timer on my cell phone is one of the most used things on there! Those closest to me all know what the timer means and often yell at me to start drinking up when the little song chimes.
5. Do not eat between meals. Oh how I wish I could report that I follow this rule but it isn't always the case. Mine you, there are days when I can and do, but not often. We are works in progress!
6. Only good quality foods. The most important, PROTEIN FIRST! For each of us I guess this rule can be interrupted a number of other ways too. For me personally it means organic whole foods with little chemical ingrediants. And I try to really watch my sugar intake.
7. Avoid fiberous food. Most fiberous foods are difficult for me. When my band is looser I can eat asparagus. Most of the time no. Sometimes I have issues with certain fruits also. It is just a matter of how well I follow rule #2 I guess.
8. Drink plenty of fluids. And by fluids a big part of that should be WATER. I try to make half of my intake a day strictly water with nothing added. 64 ounces or 8-8oz. glasses is the golden rule. Me, I am between 96-128 a day. I feel better when I'm closer to the 128 and especially in the summer. My intake includes, water, decaffeinated green tea, diet snapple iced tea and vitaminwater zero.
9. Drink only low calorie liquids. Often when we are tight we opt for liquids and most often those liquids are higher in calorie and offer no nutrional value. Be careful of drinking regular vitaminwater or FUZE. Often these drink labels might look acceptable, but if you read serving sizes there are 2 servings in each bottle and what you thought was only 120 calories turns into 240. And for me 240 calories is breakfast!
10. Exercise at least 30 minutes a day. I'm throwing in or 210 minutes a week. Break it up however you need to. For those of you that hit it hard in the gym like myself and many others I know 210 minutes is 2 or 3 days worth. I think the 30 minutes a day rule is to get those who previous led a sedentary lifestyle to get into a routine with exercise. My routine is 5 days a week, usually 60-90 minutes and cardio 3 days and strength training 2 days. Usually I do cardio on my strength days too. It varies!

So why did I choose to write about the rules. Well I belong to various support groups on facebook and throughout the internet and just in the last two weeks I've been reading all these post about people struggling and I always reply with "are you following the rules"? Sometimes I hear a hemming and hawing and sometimes I get a reply of "what rules"? That is the reply that blows my mind! I sit staring at the screen and wondering if they really did the research before they had their surgery and what kind of a surgeon they have. And then I thank my lucky stars for being blessed with the most amazing surgeon and bariatric team at MyNewSelf Bariatrics in St. Louis. There was nothing that wasn't gone over with me prior to my surgery. Sites were suggested to me to read thru and I was encouraged to ask questions. Low and behold a the pre op appointment with my surgeon I was handed the Allergan book called the Lap band system information for patients. It explaines how the surgery would be performed and there were the lovely little rules on page 11. And of course, my nutrionist Jessie sent me home with my surgeon's rules that were the same as Allergans, just expanded upon some.

But let me say this, for all outward appearances, I have been on program and doing great. Here is the truth, I hadn't lost weight in a very long time. Inches yes, but my scale wasn't moving. Well at least in the down direction. I saw it move up poundage too many days to count. In January I was ready to break through and be at my lowest weight ever and then life happened. Slowly but surely the pounds started to creep back on. Those smaller size pants that I enjoyed buying were getting tight in the waist. I told myself I was retaining water. The only thing I was retaining was ice cream and Peanut M&M's. Oh and those new Cadbury chocolate covered cookies I discovered. Whatever you do, don't try them! 11 cookies are 160 calories and 2 protien. But gaurenteed you won't stop at 11! Well, maybe you will, but I'm a binge eater and once I start, there is no stopping til the bag is empty. I justify it by telling myself that I have to eat it all so they aren't in the house to tempt me the next day! Logical? Nope, not in the least! But remember I justify Peanut M&M's by telling myself they aren't so bad because they have 5 protein in that bag! Logical? Again, nope! On the days I wasn't binging on Ben & Jerry's Americone Ice Cream and Peanut M&M's I was on plan and exercising. But soon Ben & Jerry were visiting too often! So what did I do~besides reach out to friends and ask for help? I started following those 10 little rules right up top! You bet and you will never guess what happend!

5 lbs in one week!

I could not even believe the scale myself. I think I got on and off of it 3 or 4 times. I got ready for work and I got on it again just to make sure I wasn't half asleep the first time. It has now been 10 days of being strick with the rules and I'm happy to say down 7.5 lbs. The last time I dropped 5 lbs in a week was probably week 12 of banded life. Certainly not in the last year! So what am I doing? It started with upping my water intake and making more of my fluid intake pure water and less Diet Snapple. Then I kicked the sugar to the curb. And of course when you kick the sugar cravings, your carbs automatically go down. Now I'm not telling you I'm extreme low carbing, but when I eat on plan, my carbs tend to be lower than 100. My carbs mostly come from fruits and vegetables and whole grains. And I'm trying to keep my protein between 75-85 grams a day. Often people ask me how I do that and it really isn't difficult. You need to break it down by meal. I usually take in around 25 for breakfast, 30 for lunch and another 25 or so for dinner. And if I'm eating a snack, it has to have around 10 grams of protein to really be worth it and satisfying.

So if you are struggling, remember THE RULES! They are meant to help you succeed and not to torture you. Follow them and reap the benefits. And as a friend asked one day, "what grade would you give yourself each day on each of the rules?" If you aren't giving yourself an A+, remember that you have the next day and the one after that to improve. Try it, what have you got to lose except pounds : )

Recipe Madnesssssssssss

A lot of people ask me for recipes for the things I make. And let me be honest here, I either get recipes from various sites, or I've taken my mom's old recipes and tweaked them to be wls friendly or frankly, I make a lot of shit up myself! Years of watching my grandma and my mom cook has taught me all about trial and error. Heck if it turns out crappy, feed it to the dog or the men in your house. They'll eat anything! That being said, here are a few of the recipes for items I love to make.

Portabella Pizza

Ingredients
1 large 3oz portabella mushroom cap
1/4 cup of your favorite marinara or pizza sauce
1/4 cup of your favorite cheese (I use an Italian cheese blend)
Fresh garlic or garlic powder
Italian seasoning
Optional ingredients:
Turkey pepperoni
Italian sausage (turkey or other)
Black olives
Veggies


Wipe cap off all dirt and clean out the gills inside. Depending on the thickness of the mushroom cap, I sometimes cook the cap for 5-7 prior to adding toppings. If you do this pre toppings, after taking cap out of the oven, pat dry to remove excess moisture.

Once cap is cleaned and precooked, add your toppings into the hallowed out portion I begin with my favorite marinara. Don't laugh, but mine is a garlic-mushroom blend sauce. Then I add garlic powder and my Italian seasoning and whatever other items I'm going to add. Then on top of all of that is the cheese and it is ready to bake.

Bake in the oven at 350 degrees. If you haven't precooked the cap, do so for 10-12 minutes. If precooked only until your cheese is melted and browned.

When done, enjoy!

This mushroom cap includes ground turkey sausage!

Cheesy Eggs & Turkey

2 eggs or 1/2 cup of liquid eggs
2 oz of ground turkey
Taco seasoning
Laughing cow cheese of choice (or other favorite cheese)
Non stick cooking spray

In a non stick pan sprayed with cooking spray, scrambled your eggs and set aside in a bowl. Next take your ground turkey and crumble and cook up adding taco seasoning while cooking. During this process add your cheese. Transfer to the egg mixture in bowl and stir together. If adding laughing cow cheese wedges, I wait until mixture is together in bowl and throw them in and they melt quickly enough. This breakfast meal is packed with protein. For a full southwestern feel, top with your favorite salsa.

Buffalo Chicken Burgers

2 lbs ground chicken
1/4 cup buffalo wing sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt or Mrs. Dash
1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese

Mix ground chicken, buffalo wing , salt/Mrs. Dash and blue cheese into patties and grill. Yes, it will be a little bit messy. I make mine on the George Foreman grill so the juices flow into the grease container. When finished grilling enjoy on your favorite bagel thins or if you are able, buns. Me, I cut the burgers up in small pieces and mix my buffalo sauce with some Bolthouse Farms blue cheese dressing and dip my chicken in. These are sooo damn good that I made them every damn weekend for a month.

White Chicken Chili
4 skinless chicken breasts (been using canned lately)
2 15oz cans of Great Northern Beans (undrained)
1 onion cut up in small pieces
1 Pkg McCormick White Chicken Chili seasoning Mix
1 1/2 cups of chicken broth
1 tbls minced garlic
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
2 whole cloves
I first browned the garlic and onion while I cooked up the chicken breasts. After the breasts were through cooking I diced the chicken. I added the chicken broth to the onion and garlic mixture and added the spices, undrained cans of beans and cooked chicken and let it simmer.

Can leave out the chili powder and substitute 1/2 teaspoon of paprika instead if needed to not be soo darn hot!

This time I used Brooks Great Northern/Pinto beans mix. It is low sodium too. Trying to take all the sodium out. As I said, I used canned chicken this time, because I didn't get to Aldi today for chicken breasts and its what I had in the house. Works just as well. I usually use two cans and crumble it up and it looks like shredded chicken in there!

I hope you have enjoyed the recipes I've shared I hope to share more in the future as I go along! I did not share calories and protein for each recipe because if you are like me, you are going to tweak this recipe(s) to fit your own need and likes and your numbers what be the same as mine. Rest assured all that I've shared is low in calories and high in protein, because frankly, that's how I roll!

All about Trader Joe's

I absolutely love shopping at Trader Joe's. I can always find new and interesting foods to eat and everything I find is band friendly!

In the store I frequent, which is 1/2 block from my office, as I walk in there is the cheese. Sweet glorious cheese! One of my downfalls. Yes, cheese is high in protein, but you can overdose on too much of a good thing! My new favorite is Blue Cheese. I usually just buy the Trader Joe brand. It is 100 calories for one ounce and 6 protein. I usually eat it in most salads I eat!

Another favorite that I found during lent was Saucy Scallops with mushrooms (150 cals/13 protein). I usually eat this over Trader Joe's Quinoa Duo w/ Vegetable Melange( 110 cals/3 protein - 1/2 cup) 

And when I'm in the mood for chicken, or rather should point out, when banderella let's me enjoy chicken, I've found this to be exceptional. I can get three meals out of this and each serving is 213 cals/21 protein.

Another two favorite chicken dishes are Greek Chicken with Orzo, Spinach & Feta yields 3 servings per container ( 310 cals/ 22 protein) 



Chicken Satay is 190 calories/23 protein for half a package. I use Trader Joe's Spicy Asian Peanut Dressing to dip my chicken satay in. Delicious. 2 Tbsp of dressing is 70 cals/1 protein.

Some other favorites from Trader Joe's include:

Turkey Bolognese

Trader Joe's Cranberry Walnut Gorgonzola Vinaigrette

Potato and Mushroom Medley

Riata dip

Trader Joe's brand Greek Yogurt with Honey

Peanut Flour (which many stores stopped carrying-my local store explained that they are shopping for a new vendor to supply this for them since it is a popular item in St. Louis. For now they have replaced it with Almond for now. But no need to worry, I cleared off the shelves in my local stores and have many bags to tide me over)

These are just a few items that tide me over on a monthly basis! Let me know what yours are!

What are you Eating?

So many times I get asked the question as to what I'm eating or what I ate in the beginning. The beginning is simple! I ate mostly the same things. I don't know if it was fear to try other things or if it was just that those foods worked for me.

Since banderella is tight in the morning and diet coke for breakfast ws no longer an option, I usually started out with a large cup of hot tea. That would be followed by either a protein shake, protein bar or sometimes scrambled eggs & some bacon. Scrambled eggs didn't always go down well so that was only on a good day.

Lunch was always something simple. Since I was working in a hospital the first 9 months I was banded, it was usually something from the cafeteria. And the choices were, turkey burger, black bean burger, tuna fish and soup. Low and behold that is pretty much what I lived on for 9 months. It worked for me!

Dinner was usually the same thing. I lived on fish for the first year of banded life. Chicken and I were not friends during that time period and most other meats stuck big time.So dinner was usually Gorton's tilapia fillets w/ Old El Paso salsa on top and Green Giant Healthy Vision veggies! They were my staples! Oh and Campbell's Healthy Request Chicken Teriyaki soup (which you can't find anymore).

But being two years out, my horizons have expanded far and wide and I'm not afraid to try new food anymore! In fact, I love new foods. Always changing it up!So what are my favorites now? Let me show you in pictures!

 

I love cheese! And I love most flavors of the laughing cow cheese, but Blue Cheese if my favorite! 35 calories & 2 protein. I put cheese in everything!









White Chicken Chili! I love this stuff! It is so quick to make and filling as can be! I'll share the my favorite recipes in the next blog~promise!








Here is what I snack on! 45 cals/4 protein



My absolute favorite fish! 100 cals-40z/20 protien

160 calories/30 protein. I love these! Dip in your favorite dressing



216 calories/43 protein~less fat than ground beef & better for you!



Here are some of my favorites & staples in my diet! Tomorrow I'll share my favorite finds from Trader Joe's and some recipes from the food I eat!

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail!

How important is it to preplan your meals and exercise? In my opinion it should be a priority for you! Statistics show that those who plan what they will eat and schedule exercise into their daily routine are more successful in their journey!

On a weekly basis I decide what I will eat for the coming week and plan my grocery shopping accordingly. On Sunday I will cook up breakfast and lunch items to take with me to work for the week. This way I won't be tempted to eat things that are not on plan.

For breakfast I will scramble some eggs and separate them in 1/2 cup containers for the week. Sometimes I mix the scrambled eggs with ground turkey and plan a protein packed breakfast.

For lunch, I mix up some tuna fish, grill some turkey burgers, mix up some salad or mix up some chicken. My favorite chicken recipe is canned chicken, Budweiser wing sauce, laughing cow blue cheese and throw it in the microwave for a minute. After heated up, I pour a little Bolthouse Farms Blue cheese dressing or Bolthouse Farms Ranch. As always, I usually have a few cans of a protein drink in the frig or a can of soup in my desk drawer. Always be prepared for those moments when you are tight and can't enjoy dense protein.

When it comes to dinner, I plan on paper what I'm going to have and know what back up items are in the frig or freezer in case I don't feel like eating the first item chosen.

As far as exercise goes, I know what time classes are at several gyms in my area. I go where my schedule dictates. And if I'm not feeling a class, I go to the park to run or workout at home or just hit the gym and enjoy some cardio on the treadmill or elliptical.

So are you planning ahead? If not, why not?

Regaining your mojo

Have you ever felt like giving up? Have you ever felt like nothing you ever did was good enough? Have you ever felt like this was just too damn hard?

I've been living in a self induced funk lately with not knowing how to pull myself out. Or rather sitting around waiting for someone else to pull me out I guess. There I was yesterday, sick again! Curled up in bed with my laptop, books, enough movies to last all day and my thoughts! And let me be perfectly honest, yesterday I ate like banderella was never placed around my stomach two years ago! Yesterday's go foods included, ice cream, almonds, jelly beans, chocolate & some popcorn. In between the grazing I squeezed in two actual meals. Not that I needed them. And today I woke up feeling nothing but guilt.

In my early twenties I went thru a bout with bulimia and yesterday was a perfect replica of a binge day. Only difference from then and today, A) no purging and B) quantities are much smaller. This morning many revelations showed up! As I sat with my journal writing out all that I was feeling, I started to list all the reasons I had lapband surgery in the first place. Then I listed all that I had learned. Then I listed all the things I still wanted to accomplish and then I needed to list an action plan of how I'd get there!

So where does it begin? Straight back to square one and the bandster rules we are all given in the beginning!

1. No drinking with meals. Stop 30 minutes before you eat and begin again 30 minutes after you finish eating. This will keep your stomach fuller longer and help you not to graze so soon after eating, I set the timer on my phone to signal when I can start drinking again after a meal.
2. 3 small meals a day. Protein first! And if needed 2 balanced snacks. But remember, if you find yourself eating snacks and your meals aren't keeping you full then you may need a fill.
3. Small bites, eat slowly and chew thoroughly. Remember to chew your food until it is of a paste consistency. Once you swallow your food, put your fork down, count to 50 and then take another bite. Most stuck episodes are caused by too big of bites that are not chewed up enough before being swallowed and then followed by another bite in the same consistency! If you find yourself eating too big of bites, use a toddler spoon & fork. You'd be surprised how much it helps! WalMart has packages or disposable ones!
4. Eat only good nutritious foods. Don't load up on sugar, fat & carb heavy foods. Make sure you are eating a balanced diet.
5. Drink enough fluids throughout the day. 64oz minimum, more if you can. I try to drink a liter on the way to work, a liter at work and a liter on the way home or while I'm at the gym. If you are working out, you need to consume more to replace what you lose during sweating.
6. EXERCISE~30 minutes a day 210/week. If you can't get 30 minutes in at once, break it up into three 10 minute session or two 15 minutes sessions. As you go on, you will be able to increase what you do. Set a goal and stick with it! Rule of thumb, always have your gym bag packed and ready to go and any time.

It felt good to type all that out and remind myself all the steps I need to take to get back to where I belong. Today I did a jog/walk for 30 minutes. Getting ready to go do some strength training for 30 minutes.

The best part of living banded life is that you can start over every time you fall because we have the rules of success at our finger tips. We just need to follow them! To those of you struggling, you are not alone! Each day is a new beginning and never be afraid to start again!

Are you getting your zzzzzzzz's

In this fast paced world today so many of us walk around sleep deprived. But what does that have to do with losing weight? Oh you would be surprised! Little did you know that how much sleep you get and even the quality of the sleep that it is, plays a significant part of your weight loss journey.  Ask yourself, have you ever had a day that no matter what you ate, you never felt full? Then ask yourself how many hours of sleep you had the night before and whether it was restorative sleep (i.e., sleep like a baby) or it was a restless night!

There are two pesky little hormones that create all the havoc. Leptin and Gherlin! Leptin is produced by the fat cells and sends a message to your brain signaling that you are full and thereby helping you loss weight. Gherlin on the other hand is a hormone secreted in your gastrointestinal tract that stimulates your appetite. These two hormones work together to balance your feelings of hunger and fullness. Studies have shown that when you are sleep deprived your levels of leptin decrease and your gherlin levels increase. And if you continually are not getting enough sleep for a longer period of time, you may find yourself craving more high carbohydrate rich foods. Just think, when you are feeling sluggish at work, what do you grab? Most people I know grab a cup of coffee (or several) or soda and what always comes with that? COMFORT FOOD! What is in that comfort food? CARBS & SUGAR! Those things may help you fight sleep, but they will not help you lose weight or keep the pounds off. And the cycle goes round and round!

So what can you do about it?

1. Don't go to bed hungry! But at the same time, don't eat a big meal before going to bed.
2. Exercise regularly! Most WLS patients know the rule, 30 minutes a day, 210 a week! But remember that some people are sensitive to working out too close to bedtime. Try to space your workout at least 2 hours prior to bed or it may disrupt your sleep. Always remember, no two people are alike so what works for one person doesn't work for the other. If it doesn't bother you working out close to bed, keep doing it. Those having issues, evaluate!
3. Avoid caffeine, nicotine and alcohol in the late afternoon and evening. I know, ha ha ha right. Try switching to decaf at around 2pm in the afternoon, it may help! 
4. Create a relaxing environment in your bedroom! Make it as dark & quiet as possible. My sleep specialist says no TVs in the bedroom. He says it robs you of restorative sleep~but that is your call!
5. And if you go to bed and can't sleep for 30 minutes or more, get up and leave the bedroom and involve yourself in an activity until you feel sleepy.

So why do I bring this up? In my quest to figure out why I'm stalled I started researching the correlation of sleep and weight gain. And there is all was in black and white for me! I was diagnosed with Narcolepsy in 2007 and put on medication to control things and initially it helped me start to lose weight because I was getting better sleep. But lately, I've been lucky if I get 4 hours a night and then it is waking up every hour. As a Narcoleptic, I am constantly in REM sleep and very seldom go in NREM which is the restorative phase of sleep. And that little monster gherlin has been wreaking havoc in my life lately! Today was an especially hard day where you wouldn't know that I even had a lapband around my stomach. You name it, I ate it with no issues! So tonight I am making it a point to get 8 hours of sleep and I'm going to see if there is a difference in my day tomorrow!

To those of you struggling in your journey, ask yourself, Am I getting more than 6 hours of sleep a night? And if so, is it a peaceful nights sleep?