Tagged

I got tagged by Miss A:, and I am probably a bit late to do the onwards tag......but will try. So thank you Miss A.

The Rules:

Thank the person who nominated you for this award.- done

Copy the award and place it in your blog.- done

Link the person who nominated you for this award.- done

Tell us 7 interesting things about you.- oh - the hard part....

Nominate 7 bloggers. - Ummm, well okay.....as many as I can think of....that haven't been nominated.

Post the links to the 7 bloggers you nominate.- some are private blogs so out of respect to them, I will not link those ones.

So here goes....

1. I used to do Highland dancing as a child, and bagpipes still make my feet want to dance.....

2. I count the steps of stairways in my head as I walk them.....but only up to 13, then I start over from 1.

3. Although people say I am confident and outgoing, I think I am very insecure and shy. The talking is just a cover.

4.I don't have a go to girl......actually I don't have a best friend, and I wonder why?

5. Most of the scars I have from accidents are from coming off my pushbike.......so why have I bought a scooter?

6.As I get older I feel like I become more useless at everything I do......nothing seems as easy as what it did when I was 18.

7.I want to me a mummy - but have a huge fear that I will somehow screw that up.

Hmm, well, looking back over that I think I might have some issues to work through....sorry that ended up being such a negative list, but honestly is how I am feeling about now. I am a bit down about my low carb thing this week, have been so good with it, exactly the same as last week, but my weight is up by 300 gms......I know that because my hours have changed I am eating later for all meals and maybe my body is just getting used to that, but man it is frustrating.

Now to the bloggers who get the award:

Jackie
Anne - Private
Chris H
Laurie
Janene
Jenny - Private
Lee-Anne


OH - and if you are still here - can ya post a comment to tell me what you think of the new look!!!!!!!!!!

What a sweetie....

I told you all yesterday that Simon & I didn't do Valentines day, however my lovely husband surprised me with dinner out lat night. He had made bookings at Valentines. I know that might seem like a dangerous place to go for someone who has had a gastric bypass but his thinking has always been that it has plenty of variety in protein and that as long as I enjoy the little I can eat then it has been worth every dollar spent.

We had a lovely meal and I did have a little in the way of carbs, but not as much as I thought I would as non of it really looked appealing.......apart from the brandy snap that I had for dessert....LOL.

So then we came home and checked the movie schedule at the local cinema, as it has been such a long time since we went to the movies, and Si LOVES movies. So we went to see Percy Jackson and the lightening thief. It is a kiddish movie I guess but very very good. Si mentioned on the way home that my nephew in Christchurch is going to love it if he hasn't already seen it, as it is based on some of the Greek mythology.

While at the movies I did allow myself to have some popcorn, but limited the amount I had and both Si and I still ended up with sore tums last night and this morning. Not sure if was something at Valentines or the popcorn.

So, did those carbs have a negative effect on my weight loss efforts....it doesn't appear so. Since last Monday morning I have lost 2.5 kgs, so I am now sitting at 102.1 kgs, which I am really happy about as it is back to just under 75 kgs lost. Now to get under the magic 99.9 kgs mark and stay there.

Today is the first day of my new schedule for work and I am changing things around foodwise a bit. I am going to get up at the same time as I always have so I stay in a similar bedtime routine to Si. I will have breakfast around 8am and then before leaving to go to work I will have some cheese/hummus and crackers to see me through till lunchtime, which for me will be around 3pm. I will continue to salad then with some sort of protein....today it will be Moroccan Lamb.
Then when I get home just after 8pm I will have whatever the family had. Once it is just back to Simon & myself we will eat together, but at the moment I don't expect others to wait for me.

Anyway, must get on with the day and get in the shower and get ready to take the dog to the vet.....she has been extremely itchy since we last gave her a bath and she has got some sort of infection/rash on her right shoulder blade, which is weird as she can't reach it to lick at it, or to scratch at it and we have not seen her rub up against anything........so off to the vets. .....expensive week this week!!!

Valentines

Happy Valentines Day all. Si and I do not do anything special for Valentines as each day we have together is a blessing.

So what's been happening, well I had my hours for my job confirmed on Friday, and I have been lucky enough to get full time hours for the time being.....still late shift, but still full time.
So my hours are going to be 11:55 am till 8pm Mon - Thurs and then on a Friday I am working 11:55 am till 3:30 pm. I will then be on permanent Saturday morning from 9am till 1pm, but overall I am really happy with the hours as I will still get some me time in the mornings, and because we are living 5 mins from work, it will not too late to eat together, especially if I have started the preparation in the morning. I can see my slow cooker getting lots of use....LOL.

Oh - I bought a little second hand scooter to take me to work and back, and after I buy a helmet I will start using that daily to get too and from work as the parking is really bad in our area of town. Simon called it a bumblebee as it is yellow and black........it is old....like 22 years old, but it was cheap and seems to be running fine.

Last night we headed out to a friends birthday bbq....it is actually his Birthday today. It was such a fantastic night meeting new people and we had such a great time. I managed to cope with the low carb situation really well and actually apart from the potato salad there were very little in the way of carbs. I did have a little birthday cake and dessert, but I was very happy with the choices I made.

The meals we are having at the moment are so scrummy, and I am really appreciating the flavours of food. Everything seems so much fresher and of course everything is far less processed.

Oh, Si has also changed his website around for his music, so if you want to take a listen go here.

I will update in the morning as to what my weightloss for this week is, but lets just say, it is looking like by actually following what the surgeon recommends I am going to have a great loss for being over 2 years post op!!

Loving it

I am absolutely loving this getting back on track and having low carbs...I am really enjoying the taste of the fresh whole foods that I am eating and not stressing about my weight at all. The scales look to be being kind and Si is losing as well, so it is great.

I should have my new hours confirmed sometime this week and it is most likely that I will be working afternoons/evenings and a Saturday morning. I am not sure how many hours I will have or what the exact hours will be, but I am happy with that as it means that I can go back to curves and get my fitness up as well.

Ultimately I would like to try to do the Couch 2 5KM program, and hopefully with continued losses on the scales I will be in a better position to start running but for now, it means more gym and walking Porsche, and it will be great to have some time during the day to do that.

I am enjoying only being 5 mins from work (driving) and although we haven't gone out and done much when we are more financially free we will do that more often.

Day 1 of being back on track.

Weighed in this morning at 104.6 kgs which is down on what it has been, but also have just finished TOM, so was not surprised. We went shopping last night and stocked up on great healthy whole food, and yes I will be going low carb and for the first couple of weeks I would say virtually no carb and then I will re-introduce whole foods back into the diet but only say max a couple of times a week and see how I respond.

I spent Saturday morning and into the afternoon trawling through WLS websites that have recipes, and I have made my own recipe book of about 100 recipes that we will use as the base to our meals and then add sides such as veges or salads. As we use them I will post them on here especially if they are scrummy.

So today, what's on the menu.

Breakfast: - Well, to start it is a protein shake, which I make with vanilla yoghurt and milk, as well as the protein powder, so it is definitely protein packed.

Lunch - today we are having a shared lunch at work, but I have packed a salad and tuna for the if there is nothing I can eat situation, which is what I think will happen.

Dinner - is a meatloaf from one of the recipes I gathered over the weekend, with I think salad.

If I do get hungry in between meals then I bought some ryvita wholegrain crackers and I will have cottage cheese on them. But for this week, I would prefer not to have them.

Let's see how I do.....oh and where are the comments guys....I see the numbers ticking over but no comments.

Low Carb???

I know that a few people have been talking about low carb or even no carb diets helping in reducing weight and generally having better health and I have just this week gotten a newsletter from my surgeon reiterating the benefits of the low carb/no carb lifestyle for post gastric bypass patients.

It is something that I definately have let back into my diet in quite a big way considering how much I can eat so I have to do something about that. If I look back as to when my weightloss pretty much came to a crashing halt, it was right when I discovered I could eat bread and pasta and rice etc again, and that I did not have a huge dumping session on sugar..........could this be why I am still sitting at 106 kgs (coupled with the steroids)???? Well only one way to find out.

I have also been super impressed with how Lynda is doing with her low carb lifestyle change and how her IBS symptoms have all but gone away. SO, we talked about it as a family and starting Monday we will be adopting the low carb/no carb approach and although I know that I have to make this a permanent change, the others in the family are going to give it two weeks to see how they feel and if they will continue.

I have cut the section out from the newsletter and added it as a picture, to read it, just click on it to make it bigger.

Another Specialist

Off this morning to see the Rheumatoid Specialist at Palmerston North hospital and the timing probably could not have been better. I have had a pretty rough weekend, and although last week has gone really well with not drinking with my meals and upping my water intake I am still hovering around 106 kgs. This morning it was 105.9 but then 10 mins later 106.5.......maybe my scales need to be looked at!!!

So this weekend, I have been for some reason really really tired. Yes I still mowed the lawns and got all the washing done etc, but just simple things around the house made me really tired and I had to have nana naps both days. I keep getting bad cramps in both my right hand and in both my legs. It can get so bad in my legs that I just can't move, but I know that I have to otherwise the pain is unbearable. My sacroilitis is also playing up, so as I said good timing for the specialist.

I really don't think all of this is related to me working full time though and I really don't want it to mean that I don't work. I am really looking to do 30 hours a week minimum to make to comfortable at the moment, especially as Si's parents house build starts today, so that means that we are on the countdown to having the house to ourselves......which means all the bills to ourselves as well.

Anyway, must run and get to the blood lab and to the hospital. Will update when I know what they have said.

UPDATE: Well not alot to say really - yes I have a very mild case of sacro-iliac pain but apparently nothing to worry about. He did say that I am hypermobile in some of my joints, which basically just means very flexible.....and I kinda already knew that as even at 177 kgs I was able to palm the floor from a standing position.

It seems that no one really wants to take ownership of the rashes that I get or the cramping........which are both annoying. Actually this Dr said ' us medical types haven't quite figured out cramping yet.....' hmmmmm does that give you faith in him????????

Oh well, back to my regular specialist on the 10th March. Oh and I didn't do my bloods today as I was far too tired and grumpy after not being able to sleep last night.....so might go in the morning.