Late Night Cravings...

It's SOOO HARD!!  For now, when we're hungry it's SO tempting to go wherever and get something!! Anything!! Sweet, salty, savory, something of substance! However reality is that we can't!  We went to a high school football game tonight that didn't get over until 10:15 or so. By then, dinner was gone. So on the drive home, Brian said, what are you thinking about?  You guessed it! FOOD!!  All of the billboards were just tempting me like crazy...Ice Cream..SubWay...Steak 'n Sheak...Sonic!! Ahhh!! It's so hard! But instead I came home and had some celery with ranch dressing! Oh yeah... wouldn't you just kill for that snack at 11:00 at night!  Well, the hard work always pay off!  If surgery was not in our immediate future cheating would be a whole lot easier...of course only until we stepped back on the scale.  When losing weight it's like 2 lbs off....5 lbs on.  At least for me it always takes longer to "re-lose" what I gain back after losing it the first time. Hope that makes sense.  Well, the football team lost by 3 points.  Hopefully the boiled peanuts I had won't make me gain 3 lbs!!  Lots of water tomorrow to flush the salt out for sure!  Good Night everyone! I shall sleep while my celery digests!

Grocery Shopping

As I was putting away our groceries today, I was noticing the differences in my refrigerator.  For instance, the drawer where there used to be Dr. Pepper and Coke now contains Sugar Free Jell-0 and Sugar Free Pudding!  Instead of potato chips we have almonds.  Chicken Broth and Beef Broth, Whey Protein for smoothies etc.  Lots of changes.  Brian will be on clear liquids all next week for 4-5 days after surgery.  Each phase of re introducing foods and  re learning swallowing will last 4-5 days.  2nd Phase is what they call Full or Thick Liquids.  For now, Breakfast on Wednesday will be 1-2 oz of Jello...any flavor he wants! Haha...no more bacon and eggs...well he can have eggs in 3 weeks! Wonder how good they'll taste the first time he has scrambled eggs again!  Long road ahead with exciting outcomes!!

I'm back

Sorry that I haven't written in a while!  We've had a busy week or so.  Last weekend was our birthdays so we had company and celebrated!  We had hamburgers, green beans and sweet potato fries!  It was delicious but certainly not like any other birthday meal we've ever had.  We didn't deprive ourselves completely so we did have a very small piece of cake that a friend of ours brought and we enjoyed it!  Back on track on Monday.  We have had something every night this week so eating out or eating at the functions has been challenging but we just try to stick to grilled chicken salads or fish if it's offered.  I've lost 12 lbs and Brian's down 21 lbs. He gained a couple last weekend but he's down again this morning. So, we're T minus 5 days.  Surgery is on Tuesday morning. We'll find out the exact time on Monday.  We watched the DVD our surgeon gave us today as well as an information session that they enrolled us in online.  Both were very enlightening and informative regarding pre and post surgery instructions, risks, benefits etc.  They gave us a little more piece of mind.  Discipline, Discipline Discipline is going to be the key! We're going to have to be patient and focused and attentive to everything we put between our lips.  We went to GNC today and got the Whey Protein for our smoothies.  I have a feeling we'll be going there frequently.  I'll post as we taste them and discuss which flavors we like best!

I had my final visit with my general physician today and they were supposed fax everything to Dr. Bagnato's office so that they can go ahead and get my pre approval from our insurance company so I hope to know my surgery date sometime next week! We're so excited!!  Stay tuned.... We'll have our before pictures up next week before Brian's surgery!

Sunday Lunch

While we longed to have fried chicken and mashed potatoes, we instead had baked chicken, steamed broccoli, sautéed zucchini, squash and onions and a salad.  Neither one of us finished our salad and we were both full. One thing to point out is I was able to get 5 pieces of chicken from 2 breasts! They were very thick and so I sliced through them long ways so they'd cook faster and be a smaller serving. Portions are KEY to our success! They say that meat in general, chicken etc should be 3 oz / serving, in other words the size of a deck of cards or should be able to fit in the palm of your hand.  So it's a big switch for my man who's always ordered the biggest sirloin at Longhorn's!  I've always ordered the smallest steak which is usually 6 oz which is twice as much as I should have. So, we're getting closer. If i had to guess I'd say today our chicken was about 5 oz each.  Our salads were delicious with a little boiled egg, green pepper, green onion and toasted almond slivers.  They zucchini, squash, onions and mushrooms were sautéed in a little EVOO (olive oil) and garlic cloves.  Delicious and healthy! I marinated the chicken in a little light Italian dressing...quite tasty! I cooked the broccoli with a little water ( I don't have a steamer pan) seasoned it with a little Mrs. Dash seasoning, strained it and then sprinkled it with some low fat shredded cheese. We both had water to drink as well. So, I think all in all, we could've done without the salad but it was a good lunch. I gave Emma a small piece of chicken with a few pieces of broccoli with no cheese and a small bowl of applesauce. Everybody cleaned their plates!  Well, she's the only one that finished everything but for her to eat all of her broccoli was a miracle!  We've really been watching her portions and it's getting easier to tell her no.  Hopefully this life change NOW will prevent her from struggling with her weight as her father and I have our entire lives and ultimately prevent her from ever needing a surgery like this!

Another test...

Well, we had a busy Saturday. Started the day at the breakfast where we could enjoy none of the food and ended the day at a cookout where we could have sausage, hamburgers and or pork chops! None of the sides were suitable for us but that's ok.  So we managed with the meat and then went to some friends house. On the way, I suggested we go see if our local yogurt/health food store sold sugar free yogurt and Brian agreed to go.  They were CLOSED!!! Brian's next comment was "Would one milk shake hurt us?" Well, no not really but is it worth it?  We can cheat as much as we want to but we're only hurting ourselves.  So he then said, "if I'm going to cheat, I'm going to enjoy a piece of Kelly's Strawberry Cake w/Cream Cheese icing!"  So, we fell off the wagon for just a brief moment and enjoyed a piece of cake with a glass of milk! Guilty!!!  Surprisingly, Brian even got a coke out of the fridge and drank about 3/4 of it. He said it wasn't even that good! It's too carbonated and definitely doesn't quench my thirst like water does now!!! I couldn't believe it! The man who has loved coke and loathed it this week probably won't even miss it!! Miracles do happen :-)  Well, back on track today...baked chicken and broccoli for lunch! Yummo!!

A true test!!

Wow, what a hard morning! For anyone who loves food and I mean really loves food, you'll truly appreciate this blog.  This morning we attended our church's annual Acteen's Breakfast. They served Breakfast casserole, potato casserole, huge cinnamon rolls and fruit slushy that's to die for!  Everything casserole had potato's in it! I originally asked for our plates to not have cinnamon rolls but then was informed that everything else had potato's in it so...we couldn't eat any of it.  So hard!! We shared a very small glass of Orange Juice which is not really allowed and drank water.  All of the teenagers kept trying to give us a plate and we had to continuously graciously say no thank you.  We succeeded!  We had a great time and enjoyed the fellowship. They made all of the ministers participate in the Northside's Got Talent show and then I even had to get up and sing "I'll Fly Away" in opera style! It was a good time had by all. We left there VERY hungry and went to Cracker Barrel. I had a grilled chicken salad, no croutons, dressing on the side and Brian had Trout with green beans and carrots.  I know the carrots are not allowed but he had no carbs in the Trout so he still did good.  We of course drank water as well. Shew, we made it but it was definitely not easy!

Current Weight after starting sugar busters on Monday...6 days...

Brian: 358 lbs
Leslie: 252 lbs

Week 1

We started the mandatory sugar busters diet this week.  http://www.sugarbusters.com/ is a great resource for anyone who's looking for new dietary habits. Even if you're not wanting to diet, this really is a healthy way to eat.  Brian's lost 9 lbs so far and I've lost 8 lbs this week with no exercise. NOW, this is probably a lot of water weight etc but none the less it's combined 17 lbs in one week. For the skeptics out there, some have suggested that if we can be successful doing this diet why have the surgery? Well, it's a good question. The surgery is not a quick fix. In fact it's not a fix at all. We have to continue being disciplined and eating right. The lapband surgery is a tool to help us stop eating but we are still in control of what we eat. The biggest difference is that we will have immediate consequences if we eat more than we should or eat something that we shouldn't.  The consequences will be painful and miserable; more so than the disappointment of stepping on the scale and gaining a pound!  Cheating can be very detrimental!  Therefore, unless we want to be sick we will not touch it and we will stop as soon as we're satisfied, not full and not stuffed.

So here's an idea of a day of food for us:

Breakfast:  Eggs and Canadian Bacon and Whole Wheat toast with sugar free Strawberry jam

Snack: String Cheese and an apple

Lunch: Pork Chop with Asparagus, Squash and Zucchini

Snack: Almonds

Dinner:  Shrimp in butter and garlic and Asparagus Frittata

Desert: A Sugar Free Popsicle

And water, water, WATER!!