Nearly as fast as I put on the weight I gained over the holidays, I lost it. Then regained it. Then lost it again. This rollercoaster ride my body’s taking me on is frustrating at most, but is what I suppose maintenance is at best. What I need to grapple with is this: am I ready to be here?
Posted in challenges, cooking, fighting biology, frustrated fat, goals, la guerra, oh behave!, planning, post-op, post-op life, progreso, progress report, recipes, the sleeve, vsg, weight loss surgery, what's up doc?
Tagged being authentic, being average, bigger than my body, challenges, cooking, cooking is NOT hard, excess skin, fighting the fat girl, frustrated fat, goals, head trip, la guerra, love thyself, meal planning, oh behave!, post-op life, progreso, progress report, recipes, reflections, shit is hard, sleeve gastrectomy, stupid hormones, the body is a funny thing, the sleeve, VSG, vsg realness, what's up doc?, WLS
This bird is pretty much the best bird you will ever eat. For reals. And it’s easy to make.
My Christmas gift to you, my readers: a recipe!
I decided that for our Christmas meal, we would eat something high in protein and flavor. We’d already done turkey and beef tenderloin at Thanksgiving, so those were out. Fish didn’t seem Christmasy enough, and pork just doesn’t have enough protein bang for the calorie buck, so chicken it was. I decided to buy a roasting chicken (larger than your average bird at about 5-6 pounds instead of 2-3) so that we could eat on it the rest of the week, and have the carcass left over for me to make stock/soup out of later on.
This was seriously the best chicken I have ever made in my entire young life. It turned out so moist and flavorful that I am pretty sure I will not roast chicken any other way ever again. I mean, I’ll still make barbecue chicken legs, but this…for a whole bird? It’s a great way to make it.
The secret to the moist meat? The brine. Brining a chicken is one of the best ways to ensure that it stays moist through the roasting process. Since you’re roasting at a high temperature, the brine will help break down the muscle fibers in the meat, loosening them up so they trap water inside. This helps keep the meat moist despite the high cooking temperature.
So here’s how I did it.
Posted in cooking, daily bites, eating, meal planning, planning, post-op, recipes, vsg, weight loss surgery
Tagged cooking, cooking is NOT hard, daily bites, eating, healthy eating, meal planning, post-op eating, post-op life, protein, recipes, VSG, vsg realness, WLS
As we are currently encased in ice, today was a snow day from school. I slept in, and have had a pretty leisurely day lounging about here at home. The roads are covered in ice, we can’t get out of our driveway, and it’s projected to be 16 degrees F tonight. More ice is coming tomorrow night, and we’re not getting above freezing until Monday afternoon. Fun times!
So I’ve cooked today and read a lot today. I really should be grading work, but my brain needed both the rest and the intellectual stimulation of reading things that were not student work.
I noticed something awesome today. For the first time in my adult life, when I look down, I can see my toes.
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Posted in celebrations, cooking, daily bites, eating, head trips, post-op, recipes, self-image, success, vsg, weight loss surgery
Tagged benefits of wls, cooking, cooking is NOT hard, daily bites, dr. nicholson, eating, head trip, healthy eating, little celebrations, NSVs, post-op eating, post-op life, recipes, self-image, sleeve gastrectomy, things of win and awesome, VSG, vsg realness, what's up doc?, WLS, work that head game
This week’s loss was a good one. It would have been greater had I not been retaining water (thanks, Nature, you suck sometimes)–I was a little puffy in the ankles this morning when I got up. But hey, a kilo lost is a kilo lost and I’ll take it! I am finally starting to see my belly flatten out (about time!) and when I look in the mirror in the mornings as I am getting dressed, I can actually see the obliques on my right side. I can see my upper abdomen flattening out some. This is encouraging. I’m closing in on 3 months post-op, and feeling better and better about hitting my goal of -100 pounds by Thanksgiving. I am hopeful that by New Year’s, I will have lost a total of around 115 pounds or thereabouts. I want my surgeon to be impressed and proud of my progress.
I spent a little time cooking this afternoon, but not as much as I normally do only because I had to work today so that took 3 hours of time I would usually spend cooking. So I prepped some things to eat for the week, but also prepped some things to put in the freezer for times like next weekend when I know I am not going to have the time to cook since we will be out and about all day Saturday and unable to shop for groceries.
La Guerra de La Gorda 