Thursday, December 30, 2010

Off topic..... can you help?

Hey all!

I've been doing fine in band-land, and considering it's month-end/year-end, I'm so slammed with work, that I barely have enough time to breathe. Add to that, 3 restless 10 year olds, and their daddy - who are all home on vacation this week. Since I work from home, that puts a little snag in my work/home balance :)

ANYWAY.....

One of my clients is the MTOA (Michigan Tactical Officers Association) and they are in desperate need of a website rebuild. The economy has been especially tough here in Michigan, and this non-profit has suffered as much as any. They've run out of funds, and can't function without a good website (for membership information, and intel sharing)

They have been nominated to win $3300 of website services from a Virtual Assistance company called The Virtual Difference. This would get their site up and running properly, and have membership areas, and a working shopping cart.

Can you please share this with your other blog friends, and see if we can't help them win? There are 2 other companies/individuals competing for this prize, and it's been a VERY tight race between the MTOA and another woman.

Here's the link....... to vote, just be logged into your FB account, and click the "like" button. Easy peasy.

Thank you SO much for helping :)

http://thevirtualdifference.com/bgb-1st-nominee-mtoa/

Monday, December 20, 2010

Official Sunday Weight... and... Going Green?

204

That's down 7 pounds from that 211 **LAST** Sunday.

Still need to lose 6 to get back to where I was..... but I know I'm eating right, and it will happen.

BTW....... I've tweaked my morning smoothie routine. I was reading FIRST magazine, with Dr. Oz on the cover, and he was talking about green smoothies.

One of my client's client's...... Olga Aura has a 21 day detox, which also speaks about Green Smoothies.

My husband is a juicer..... not steroids.... but fruits/vegetables. I've never liked it, and think it tastes caca.

But..... I love my blueberry smoothie (just about) every morning.

So...... after reading again about how good this stuff is, I decided that I'd make it a LITTLE green. I added 1/4 cup frozen chopped spinach to my smoothie!

So..... the recipe has been tweaked to this:

1 cup frozen blueberries
1 cup Diet V8 Splash
2 heaped TBSP ground flax
1.5 scoops protein powder
1/4 C frozen spinach

Blend.

This smoothie, currently clocks in at almost 40 protein! Tastes wonderful, and there wasn't anything weird or GREEN about it. It was still a lovely purpleish color, with just a few flecks of green.

Tomorrow, perhaps I'll try 1/2 cup spinach?

Wow........ living life on the edge!

Friday, December 17, 2010

coming back down

204.4 today...... better than the 211 on Sunday!

Come back to me, 198!

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Book Club.... Cards with Friends...... Birthday Dinner...... Oh MY!

I knew that this past weekend was going to be a small problem.

However....... it turned into a BIG problem.

Starting with: that crazy loss of restriction. WTF? I've never experienced it before. I know some others have mentioned that it's happened to them, but I haven't had that issue. Until last week, when my restriction magically went away. (note: it came back yesterday morning...... bless my band)

I have to wonder if it wasn't Kris Kringle, telling me, that I'd been good so far, but honestly.... how could I possibly get through THREE events that have always been big noshing events, in one weekend??

First off: Book Club

We meet monthly. The name is MDRS: Michigan Drinking and Reading Society. (Heidi.... I've also read Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, and loved, loved, LOVED that book! We read "Naked" by David Sedaris for December, in case you're interested) We should probably be called MDRES..... the Michigan Drinking, Reading and EATING society. Whoever is hosting always puts out a nice spread, including a veggie platter with dip, something sweet (m&m's, hershey's kisses...... these evil little pretzel things with a hershey's kiss melted to the middle, and then an m&m pressed into it...... OMG)

Anyway.... I actually had to ask for the crab rangoons to be moved, because I was starting to make a dent on that plate! Normally, at book club, I park my ass next to the veggie platter, and start with the carrots, since they always seem to get stuck. I purposefully eat these, because I can get a "little" stuck.... I call it a "warning" it's slightly uncomfortable, but there's no major sliming, no squeezing sensation, no pain.... just a suddenly full feeling that fills to my throat. Sometimes it can stay that way for 20-30 minutes, which helps me keep my snacking at bay. BUT..... with no restriction, I ate right through the carrots, right over to the bell peppers. I wasn't doing a lot of dipping though :) I did eat a few of those pretzel thingies, a couple of cookies, 1 glass of wine..... and more crab rangoons than I should have.

The next night, we had neighbors over for cards. We haven't had them over in quite a while, however, it's always a food/drink fest. These neighbors are also my BFF, and my husband is tight with that husband too (not sure if hubby has a BFF.... he just has a few select buds) My BFF and I have been known to kill a case of beer by ourselves on a night of cards. AND a pizza.

Anyway, we got the kids some pizza, and we were drinking pomegranate martinis at 75 calories/drink. However, the kids didn't eat the pizza, and the parents started in. I ate THREE pieces of pizza. THREE! Now this is Michigan pizza, not east coast pizza, so it's not huge slices, but still! Add to that at least 4 pomegranate martinis, and then a munch fest on hershey's kisses, jingles cookies, etc. The next morning, I woke up BLOATED.

That afternoon, we went to a restaurant for my husband's birthday...... my parents took us all out. I had a nice dish of chicken vodka (ordered without pasta..... knew I was already bloated up from the pizza..... remember, I have a gluten intolerance, so me + wheat = bloating, potty problems) so I ordered potatoes on the side instead. They were roasted reds, and actually looked kinda oily, so I ignored them. Ate a small piece of bread with dipping oil.... got a warning. I thanked god that my restriction was starting to make a comeback.

We went back to my parent's house, and I had 1-1/2 pieces of ice cream birthday cake. Went home and noshed a bowl of Doritos.... and promptly PB'd those for 1-1/2 hours. NOW the restriction kicks in. OK.... I deserved it.

I went all the way back up to 211 from 198 in 2-1/2 measly days.

I know it's a bloat..... not a true gain. On Sunday, I was weighing every few hours, and it went something like 203, 205, 207, 209, 211. All in the same day!

I was back down to 208 yesterday, and I expect to get back to my 198 within the next week and 1/2.

I had made an appointment for a fill for this past Wednesday, but everthing I ate on Tuesday got stuck (either warnings, or PB's) so  I called and cancelled.

It was a weekend filled with bad choices..... but I let myself make them, and I suffered the wrath of the scale. The only positive (?) thing is that on Monday morning, I finally went to  the bathroom without having to have a long discussion with my colon. Usually, I have to start threatening Milk of Magnesia when it gets to day 4-5-6 of no action on the potty. Because I have that gluten intolerance, I actually went without any problems. Not sure it's worth that 13 pound bloat though......

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Suddenly....... no restriction?

My band has always, always, always let me know it was there. I have to chew, chew, chew, otherwise, PB city.

On Friday, I was taking this combination of medications:

3 TBSP Milk of mag (cuz someone didn't poop for 5 days)
3 TBSP Vicodin (that abcess is on my front tooth..... between my tooth and my nose..... it feels like I got punched in the face!)

After I took this combo on Friday, my throat felt tight. I was a bit concerned, because I felt that the Vicodin didn't taste right..... I always have a flask of liq. vicodin around, for when I have problems with teeth/period/etc., and this just tasted different.

That tight feeling in my throat subsided, and I figured it was just a fluke.

I made a delicious dinner of crab stuffed chicken over rice. I expected to at least get a warning when eating, cuz sometimes even when I do chew, chew, chew, things like chicken and rice get stuck. Nope. Not stuck. At all. It all went down fine.

The next day, I had my typical blueberry protein smoothie for breakfast, and it went right down. Sometimes in the morning, I'm extra tight. Nope. Not tight at all.

For dinner on Saturday, I had a big salad...... which usually takes me about 2 hours to eat, since I need to chew, chew chew...... and many times I'll get a warning (as opposed to a PB) but no problems at all. I ate the whole salad without breaks.

On Sunday, I started getting concerned, because I still didn't have my restriction back. I started my Amoxicillin on Sunday as well (having that abcess taken care of on Thursday, and need to be on antibiotics for 5 days)

I warmed up some of that chicken/crab, and decided to go ahead and shovel it down, and see what happens. I purposely tried to get stuck, and I actually did get stuck. But that was because I was throwing the food down there. I got GOOD and stuck, and hung over the sink for 30 minutes until it subsided (note: because I also had fundoplication with my band, I cannot vomit at all. Anything that gets stuck only has one way to go.... down the gullet. I would not purposefully try to make myself vomit)  OK.... so the band is still where it belongs, and is still working, but somehow, my restriction has changed.

Monday, no restriction again. Monday evening, I haven't pooped since I took Milk of Mag on Friday.... take 3 TBSP....... there's that tight feeling in my throat again? Dinner went right down, no problems.

Tuesday morning, instead of my smoothie, I made oatmeal. Fairly lumpy. Went right down.

I like my band tight. Where did my restriction go?!!?!?!!

Gonna call the doctor today to see what the deal is.

And Aunt Flow..... you're 2 days late. I have FOUR pimples that told me you're coming. I am definitely not preggo...... unless it's immaculate conception. We had too much going on during my last cycle to even think about doing the naughty :) So...... what's going on with THAT? No AF? No Restriction?

Anyone have any idea what happened?!?

Monday, December 6, 2010

Tried on size 14......

and they are TOO BIG!!!!!

Tried these on at JCPenney, and was shocked to see that they were too big! Never mind those pesky blobs of fat in the front...... hopefully will see those go with TT in June!



God, I look old!

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Measurements

I've been a honest to goodness hard ass about measurements. I measure every Sunday afternoon, as close to 2:00pm as possible (I know I've mentioned that I have a touch of OCD, yes?)

I have been a member of lowcarb.ca since 2002. I had put my measurements on there in years past, and this may or may not reflect 375.5 (my highest weight)

I thought I would share these now:

                  THEN      NOW
Neck            16.5"        13.5"             -3"
Bust               54"           40"              -14" (was a 48H, currently a 36DDD)
Bra Band       44"           32"               -12" 
Waist             44"           34.25"          -9.75"
Hip                56"           42"               -14"
Thigh            31"            20"               -11"
Calf              20"             15"              -5"
Ankle            10"            8.25"           -1.75"
Bicep             17"           11.75"          - 5.25"
Wrist              6.75"         6"                -.75"

Total weight lost: 177.5
Total inches lost: 76.5"
Size then: 30/32
Size now: 12/14

Wow...... I'm nearly at 180 pounds lost!

I know my official goal is 175.5...... but I wonder if I'm doing myself a dis-service? I wonder if I shouldn't have a "size" as a goal instead?

I'd LOVE to be a size 8.

I can't believe I even said that...... I can't believe I actually CAN say that.

I think I have a pair of jeans in the garage that are a size 28. I remember when they were too tight........

I have a picture here....... of me trying on a size 14 at JCPenney yesterday....... too BIG!!!!!!! Will share when I can get it to upload!