Tag Archives: eating mindfully

Post-Op Week 68 Progress Report: Disappointed

Posted on October 26, 2014 | Leave a comment

A little frustrated by my progress as of late but glad to see the scale is still trending downward. Not being able to be as active as I’d like has really thrown a wrench into my plans to exercise 5 days a week. I still go 5 days a week, but I feel like I can’t put in as hard a workout as I could before since my knee injury. I did go early Friday morning and swim, so that may be something I continue to do: get up at the asscrack of dawn and go swimming. There is something soothing about swimming back and forth for 40 laps. All I do is concentrate on breathing, and propelling myself forward. I don’t have to think about anything else. It’s very Zen.

I have an MRI scheduled for this coming Saturday morning to see what’s going on in my right knee. If I have torn meniscus cartilage, I will have to have the knee scoped. When, I have no idea. I will have to find the time between now and EVER to be out of commission for about two weeks. I am NOT jazzed about this. At. ALL.

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Posted in challenges, frustrated fat, goals, la guerra, post-op, progreso, progress report, reflections, the sleeve, vsg, weight loss surgery

Tagged bitterness is a hard pill to swallow, challenges, eating mindfully, exercise, fighting the fat girl, goals, grazing, I work out, knee surgery?, meal planning, mindless eating, oh behave!, planning for success, post-op life, progreso, progress report, reflections, self-loathing, shit is hard, sleeve gastrectomy, so angry, stress, stress eating, stress management, stupid hormones, the body is a funny thing, the sleeve, VSG, vsg realness, what's up doc?, WLS, work that head game, workin' on my fitness

Post-Op Week 33 Progress Report

Posted on February 23, 2014 | Leave a comment

No change this week. I’ll take it. It’s not a gain.

Sorry for the picture quality. It’s a bit blurry and I had to lighten it a little because the original shot was dark.

I let myself get derailed slightly last week. I know this. And I own it. I am not perfect and have never claimed to be.

But I also know what I need to do to get ‘er done.

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Posted in challenges, cooking, eating, exercise, la guerra, oh behave!, planning, post-op, progreso, the sleeve, vsg, weight loss surgery

Tagged accountability, challenges, daily bites, eating, eating mindfully, exercise, I'm not perfect, la guerra, meal planning, mindfulness, oh behave!, planning for success, post-op eating, post-op life, progreso, progress report, she's got skillz, sleeve gastrectomy, stupid hormones, the body is a funny thing, VSG, vsg realness, WLS

My Mindful Valentine

Posted on February 14, 2014 | 1 comment

Valentine’s Day is a day that for most folks is filled with sweet treats, flowers, and declarations of love. Some folks feel like the day is simply a conspiracy by the candy and greeting card companies to get people to buy stuff in an attempt to woo or keep a lover. Today, Valentine’s Day for me was just another Friday–nothing out of the ordinary, really. My Valentine’s Day went down a little like this:

Got to school this morning to discover my classroom door’s window covered in Valentines.
One of my students gave me a Valentine that said, “Yoda one for me” with a picture of Yoda on it.
Came home to a handmade book by my hubby detailing some of the reasons he loves me. It made me cry.
Went to dinner and had a tasty fish dish that I am going to source the ingredients for this weekend so I can replicate it here at home.
Registered myself for the Firefly Run on March 29. I don’t care if I walk the whole way; I am going to finish, no matter how long it takes me.
Spent some quality time on the treadmill and bike at the gym even though I wasn’t feelin’ it.

I don’t need a contrived holiday to tell my husband that I love him. I do this every day, as it should be. I couldn’t be more blessed to have him along for this adventure we call a life together. I’m mindful every day of the fact that I am lucky to call him my husband, and that this life we share together is one of the most precious gifts I have.

So for me, today was really all about mindfulness in many ways.

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Posted in challenges, choices, daily bites, eating, exercise, habits, la guerra, oh behave!, post-op, the sleeve, vsg, weight loss surgery, werk!

Tagged aspiring runner, dining out, eating, eating mindfully, exercise, habits, let me teach you, mindfulness, oh behave!, omg I eat carbs!, post-op eating, post-op life, runner wannabe, she's got skillz, sleeve gastrectomy, sorry for sleeve rocking, VSG, vsg realness, workin' on my fitness

In All These Things, I Give Thanks

Posted on November 28, 2013 | Leave a comment

I have much to be thankful for this year:

My health, which has improved greatly since June. I am hopeful it will continue to do so.
My doctors and other health professionals, without whom I would not have been able to return to the healthy state I’m currently in.
My work, without which I am pretty sure I would not have purpose. I am fortunate in that I love what I do, and I love where I do it.
My friends, without whom my life would be far less rich and a hell of a lot less fun.
My family, whose support of my decision to have WLS has meant so much, and without whom I would be truly lost.
Most of all, I am thankful for the unconditional love and support of my husband as we go through this path to better health hand in hand.

Even though I spent the better part of the day in bed feeling unwell (thanks, nature, you suck), I’ll call today a success. Continue reading →

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Posted in being thankful, challenges, choices, daily bites, eating, exercise, la guerra, oh behave!, post-op, the sleeve, vsg, weight loss surgery

Tagged being thankful, challenges, choices, daily bites, eating, eating mindfully, exercise, little celebrations, map my walk, meal planning, oh behave!, omg I eat carbs!, planning for success, positive self-talk, post-op eating, post-op life, she's got skillz, sleeve gastrectomy, sorry for sleeve rocking, success, Thanksgiving, VSG, vsg realness, WLS

Knocking Down Milestones at the Speed of Light

Posted on October 19, 2013 | Leave a comment

Today is one for the books. Today I woke up and achieved more than I ever thought possible, and really, I didn’t do much!

This morning, my Rotary Club had our annual fundraiser out at a local shopping center. It was an Amazing Race type competition, and racers had to figure out clues to be able to move from station to station, where they had to complete certain tasks. I arrived at our home base this morning to receive instructions about what my task for the day was and to see if anything else needed to be done there. I saw that everyone in my club had on t-shirts that indicated they were volunteers and I thought, well I should probably get one. So I approached the table where they all were and scanned the offerings: medium, large and extra-large. The guy who was in charge of ordering the shirts came over and immediately began apologizing, saying that because the shirt order had gone in late, that a XXL would have cost extra, and the budget was only so much, the biggest size available was an XL. I said, “Well a couple of weeks ago my husband bought me a t-shirt in XXL and it fit baggy then, so I bet this will fit. No worries.” Then I grabbed a shirt, took off my jacket and put it on over the shirt I was wearing at the time.

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Posted in big things, celebrations, daily bites, eating, goals, NSV's, post-op, success, vsg, weight loss surgery, werk!

Tagged challenges, daily bites, eating, eating mindfully, little celebrations, milestones, NSVs, photo post, post-op eating, post-op life, sorry for sleeve rocking, VSG, vsg realness, WLS

Dining Out Mindfully and The Daily Bite

Posted on August 6, 2013 | Leave a comment

Today’s food:

Today’s food choices, clockwise from upper right: multivitamin and calcium supplements x2; Panera Power Breakfast Egg White and Roasted Turkey bowl with pesto; homemade lettuce wrap filling; baked mozzarella and ham (a riff on Macaroni Grill’s Baked Mozzarella and Prosciutto appetizer from their Italian tapas menu); Syntrax Matrix Mint Cookie protein powder; grilled shrimp.

Today was a relatively busy day as I was on the go for a good chunk of it, which meant eating meals away from home. Continue reading →

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Posted in challenges, choices, daily bites, meal planning, post-op, vsg, weight loss surgery

Tagged challenges, choices, daily bites, dining out, eating mindfully, life must go on, meal planning, mindfulness, oh behave!, post-op eating, post-op life, social eating, VSG, WLS

First Day of Soft Foods and a Recipe

Posted on July 30, 2013 | 11 comments

Today I graduated to soft foods. I can’t begin to describe how excited I was for today to get here. Today meant that I got to resume my vitamin regimen, which I had missed for the past 3 weeks while on full liquids–before surgery, I took a multivitamin, B12, vitamin D and calcium supplement every day without fail. So to go without them for 3 weeks was tough because it threw me out of my routine, plus I had really low energy levels, I think because I wasn’t taking my usual battery of supplements. Thankfully, post-op, they’re all the same ones just in a different form so getting back to my old habits vitamin-wise hasn’t been difficult.

But the most important part of today is that. I. Graduated. To. Soft. FOOD!

For the past two weeks, I have wanted to bite into food so badly I could taste it. That first week after surgery, I couldn’t even think about eating–I was so focused on drinking and avoiding dehydration that food was the last thing on my mind. But the more protein drinks I had to drink, and the sweeter they seemed to become, I could hardly wait until I was cleared to have soft foods.

So what did I choose as my first soft foods?

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Posted in eating, post-op, the sleeve, vsg, weight loss surgery

Tagged celebrate vitamins, daily bites, eating mindfully, mindfulness, photo post, post-op eating, post-op life, recipes, sleeve gastrectomy, soft foods, vitamin supplements, VSG, vsg realness, WLS