Monthly Archives: August 2013

Learning a New Routine and First Fitness Goals

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Today’s food choices, from upper right: DaBecca maple honey ham with melted mozzarella; Trader Joe’s turkey meatballs with 1 T. Rufus Teague’s Touch of Heat barbecue sauce; chipotle lime chicken drummettes; Sargento reduced fat cheese stick; mini turkey sausage omelet and Applegate Farms pork sausage links (I only ate half my omelet–I wasn’t feelin’ it this morning); calcium and multivitamin x2. I forgot to snap a photo of the green chile chicken stew I ate at lunch.

One week of school down, 35 more to go!  This week definitely presented its challenges, as I tried to learn to adjust to fitting my new lifestyle into my workday.  I knew ahead of time it would not be easy, but I didn’t realize just how difficult it would actually be until I had to live it.

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Nuts Were a Bad Choice…

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Today’s food choices, from upper right: mini turkey sausage and egg omelet with Applegate Farms pork sausage links; baked chipotle lime marinated drummettes; DaBecca maple honey ham with Tillamook cheddar cheese snack; Isopure Zero Carb; multivitamin x2. I totally failed at snapping my lunch (crockpot chicken fajitas) and the walnuts I ate that made me ill.

I’d packed my lunch and snacks for today last night before I went to bed so that I could just grab my lunch bag on the way out the door this morning.  I’d bought a container of walnut halves last week at the store thinking that now I’d been cleared to eat “anything I wanted” (the PA’s words), I could have some nuts as a snack.
Boy was I wrong.  I didn’t realize just how wrong I would be until this morning.  Continue reading

I Like to Move It, Move It

Today’s foods:

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Today’s food choices, from upper right: mini turkey sausage and egg omelet; chili (what you see is what was left over); 40 cloves of garlic turkey breast (I ate this for lunch and dinner); Sargento reduced fat cheese stick; DaBecca maple honey uncured ham; multivitamin and calcium supplements x2.

Today was another really good day. Continue reading

Tuesday’s Little Things

I kind of failed at snapping photos of my meals today, but here is what I did manage to snap:

Today's food choices, from upper right:  multivitamin and calcium supplement x2; 40 cloves of garlic turkey breast x2 (I ate it for lunch and dinner); Sargento reduced fat cheese stick; sugar-free Blue Bell popsicle; turkey sausage, broccoli and cheese mini frittatas.

Today’s food choices, from upper right: multivitamin and calcium supplement x2; 40 cloves of garlic turkey breast x2 (I ate it for lunch and dinner); Sargento reduced fat cheese stick; sugar-free Blue Bell popsicle; turkey sausage, broccoli and cheese mini frittatas.  I didn’t get a picture of the crockpot chicken fajitas (FAIL) or the strawberry I ate.  And yes, it was A strawberry.  A very large one.

I have a few things to celebrate today:

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First Day of School

Today was my first day of school. I decided Saturday that I wanted to look totally FIERCE. I figured, new body, new clothes for a new school year–one in which I will undergo continuous transformation. I had this dress packed away in the closet–it was one I’d bought pre-op because I knew I’d be able to wear it eventually; I just didn’t know when.

Well, I found out Saturday afternoon, and decided I’d wear it to school today.

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Post-Op Week 7 Progress Report and other goodies

wpid-IMG_20130825_121508.jpgI finally had to change the shirt I wear in my progress pictures.  It simply got to be too large, and it didn’t hang correctly on me and looked sloppy.  So I decided to use this one instead, which fits much, much better.  The funny thing is though, now these shorts are getting a little loose in the waist!

I think what helped this week’s loss was returning to work.  I walked a lot more than I had been, butt-numbing meetings notwithstanding.  Thus, I burned more calories than I had been before just being here at home being lightly active.  I also increased my number of calories to try and get my calorie intake closer to 800 calories.  I am finding this difficult because of the balance between eating and drinking that I’m trying to strike.  I will eventually figure it out so that I can get in the calories my doctor wants me to (800-1000) on a daily basis.  I am finding though that even when I am home, this is tough because I sometimes forget to eat.  I’m just not hungry.  And sometimes I get so busy that I lose track of time and forget to use the clock as my cue to eat too, so by the time I look at the clock, it’s later than I anticipated.

I’ll have to work on it this week because now there will be students to contend with and no real time for breaks.  If I expect to see good things next Sunday, I have to find a way to make this work for me.

I have had a few incredible realizations this weekend.  It seems that every week now when I step on the scale, I do not believe what I see.

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Getting Ready for School

My classroom is ready.  I have been working like a fiend for the past two days to make it so–this is why I haven’t posted here for two days!  I still need to make a few copies for Monday, but I’m going to arrive early so I can run off the few that I have to make.

My outfit and accessories have been chosen.  I just need to put them all in the same place so I can dress quickly after I eat breakfast.  Also?  My outfit is totally FIERCE.  The best part of this fierce outfit?  It’s a size I haven’t worn since I graduated high school.

Mind. Blown.  For real.

This week more than ever, planning for my eating and activity is going to be critical since school is about to be in full swing.

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Shopping My Closet: White Pants

Today marks an important event in my fashion history:  I wore a pair of white pants.

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It should be noted that I have not worn a pair of white pants in over 20 years.

The last time I wore white pants, I was a nurse’s aide in a nursing home, and my uniform was a pair of white elastic-waisted pants with a white t-shirt.  I was 18 years old and had no real fashion sense whatsoever.  Nor did I have any body confidence.  This was not helped by the fact that one of the last times I wore those awful white pants, I was on my way to work at the home, and had to stop to fill up my gas tank.  The tank’s opening was behind the license plate (I drove a ’65 Impala) and so I had to bend over to get to it.  Some jackass driving by leaned out of his car and said, “You really shouldn’t wear those pants” and the other guys in his car laughed as they drove off.

Now I am 40, and have a much, much improved fashion sense.  I actually manage to look good most days of the week during the school year–I hate looking anything less than put together.  I also find that I have more body confidence as my body shrinks.  It’s a really great, empowering feeling.

So today when I was getting dressed, I knew what shirt I wanted to wear but wasn’t sure what pants I was going to pair with it.  I thought I might take a look in the closet to see if the white crop pants I’d bought last spring might fit.  I knew that they would go with the top, but I wasn’t sure they would fit.

I sat on the edge of the bed, slid them on, tugged them over my butt, and voila!  They buttoned perfectly.  I sat down to make sure they wouldn’t split when I sat, and thankfully, no such thing happened.

After I got over the initial shock and surprise, I asked my husband to take this picture.  I felt the day needed remembering.

Now I know Labor Day is not far off, but you know what?  Summer lasts until late October here in Texas, so I plan to continue to rock my white crop pants until it actually gets too damn cold outside to wear them.  That should happen about February.

Six Week Follow Up

Today’s food choices:

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From upper left: mini ham, egg and cheese frittatas x2; 3 tablespoons of this bowl of chili; Pei Wei lettuce wrap filling; Boar’s Head Maple Glazed turkey; the guts of a club sandwich from Jason’s Deli (school provided lunch today–I ate most of the turkey, a slice of cheese and the bacon); multivitamin x2.

I had my six week follow up appointment today at my surgeon’s office.  I knew I was going in today, so this morning I weighed myself to see if I’d had any scale movement since Sunday morning.

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Daily Bites: Monday and Tuesday

Second day back at school, and more sitting than I really wanted to do–it can’t be helped when all you do is have meetings All. Day. LONG.

Not much to write about today other than the back and hip pain I’m currently experiencing, but once I go to my six week check up tomorrow, I’ll write more about that.  For now…daily bites.

Today’s food choices:

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Food choices, from upper left: multivitamin x2; Pei Wei lettuce wrap filling (I ate my portion out of a ramekin and boxed the rest); stewed chicken breast in marinara with a sprinkle of mozzarella; Boars Head Maple Glazed turkey breast; Isopure Zero Carb; mini ham, egg and cheese frittatas x2. I forgot to include a photo of the half container of unsweetened organic applesauce I ate. I was craving fiber and I thought it would be a good snack. It was!

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