Had my consultation with the surgeon today and, as expected, I am going to have to have my gallbladder out. My surgery has been scheduled for next Friday. Sometime between now and then (they're supposed to call me to schedule it) I have to go in for an EKG. Don't really know what that entails, will have to look it up online today.

On the whole I'm kind of nervous and scared. I haven't had surgery since I was about 5 years old and I've watched way too many medical drama shows on TV as an adult. The doctor started explaining how if there is a complication during the surgery and they have to convert from a laparscopic procedure to an open one they'll just do it. So... I won't know until I wake up whether I am looking at a 1-2 week recovery or a 6-8 week recovery. He was quick to assure me that he feels that is extremely unlikely and only happens 1-3 times a year. Luckily, I'm not a nail biter.

So, in preparation for my surgery my doctor wants me on a low fat diet. So between my surgeon's low fat request and my regular doctor's low carb request I guess that leaves me eating chicken, fish, shellfish and low carb veggies for the next week. Kind of sad, as I had been enjoying my cheese the last few days. Also, I have a (growing) addiction to peanut butter. Have limited myself to one serving a day so far but.. might have to give it up for a week. So sad!

Anyway, that's pretty much how my day is going today. It's freezing cold in my office and someone just knocked our entire phone system offline. Whee! At least I still have the internet.

Had my second workout at Curves today. I have read some pretty harsh criticism of Curves on this forum, but I think it is going to be good for me for a bit. I don't harbor any delusions that it's a top notch workout, but getting into exercise after 13 years of being pretty sedentary is hard. After my first session I thought I was going to pass out (yeah, I overdid it a bit but I didn't realize it until I stopped) and all sorts of muscles I haven't used in years were protesting loudly. Today it didn't hit me quite as hard, but it did take me a while (about 45 mins) to cool down. I'm sure that in a few months I will want to adjust my exercise plan, but for now I just need to get from 'fat lazy sow' to 'can keep heart rate up for 30 mins without wanting to die'.

Anyway... food!

Breakfast: 2 eggs, scrambled, with mushrooms & sausage
Lunch: 1 medium tomato 'bowl' with salmon salad
Snack: 1/2 lg grapefruit
Dinner: TBD

Net Carbs so far: 28 (of 60)

Well, the weekend is pretty much over so let's see what I can do about an update.

Saturday was really busy, but I managed to get 3 meals in around errands and frantic house cleaning:

Breakfast: 1/2 lg grapefruit
Lunch: Salad.
Dinner: "Taco Pie" (Some recipe the hubby found online. Ground turkey, onion, tomatoes & taco seasoning with a bisquick topping. The topping didn't come out very good so I pretty much just ate the insides.
Snack: 5 chocolate chip cookies (yeah, I know... I'm weak. Not going to make excuses, hubby made them and I just wanted some.)

Nutritionally the day wasn't that great and I'm pretty sure I overshot my carb goal because of the cookies. But that's ok. Just don't do it every day, right? I did get my kitchen spectacularly clean, which was awesome. Unfortunately, all that hard work I put in backfired on Sunday when I totally lost steam and didn't get all the cleaning done that I had planned.

Sunday's menu:

Breakfast: "Mega muffin" (1 egg, low fat sausage, onion, green pepper, mushrooms & parmesan cheese) & fresh strawberries
Lunch: Chicken 'roll up'. (Deli sliced chicken breast & provolone wrapped around lettuce, onion & a dab of ranch dressing... if I did it again I'd probably pick mustard over the ranch.)
Dinner: Shrimp & veggie kabobs (zucchini, onion, green pepper & mushrooms) w/ awesome salad.
Snack: 90kcal granola bar.

Carb count was super low today. I didn't enter anything into Fitday so I don't have exact totals but I'd guess that breakfast was around 5, lunch... 2... dinner 2? And 18 for the snack? Way under my net 60 goal, which I'm still not sure if I should be worried about. I may call the doctor's office this week to ask the nurse. In order to hit 60 I might have to actually eat a slice of bread here and there...

My weigh-in this morning was disappointing. Between the prescribed diet and the exercise, I had really been hoping to get under 300 this week but I barely lost half a pound. I'm hoping it's just my body adjusting to the newness of it all with some water retention. Otherwise, I was getting much better results from my calorie-counting carb-friendly nutrition plan. Then again, it's always possible I'm doing something wrong.

I have to leave early tomorrow morning (7:30, ugh) to go get an EKG done before work, so I got my breakfast & lunch all packed up and ready to go before I sat down to write. Breakfast tomorrow is a mega muffin + grapefruit, and for lunch I packed shrimp cocktail (I boiled up some shrimp today to refrigerate/use this week) and a small salad. I will probably throw a single serving pack of yogurt for a snack, and maybe a serving of sun chips for multi-grain carbness.

Planning to work out again tomorrow, hopefully my feet will have finished being sore from all the standing I did on Saturday!

Was in a rush this morning to get out for my doctor's appointment so forgot my workout clothes. I really need to invest in a gym bag, so I think I'll make put a shopping trip on my list of things to do when I'm recovering from surgery next week. I could use some new tennis shoes but I'm not sure if I'll be able to put them on. That requires a lot more abdominal bending than just getting in/out of the car. I guess it'll depend on how I'm feeling.

On the whole, today has started out well. Had breakfast when I got to work, now am puttering about and making a list in the back of my mind of things I need to get done before Friday. Not sure if I will weigh early this week, but I've been thinking about doing it Thursday or Friday morning because I will probably not be up for it on Sunday. Really hoping there has been more progress than yesterday's weigh-in indicated.

First off, I'd like to say how absolutely DELICIOUS all of your meals sound! Everytime I read your nutritional intakes of the day, I'm salivating. And I'm always thinking to myself "See? Who said being on a diet doesn't taste good?" You put my cereal/toast/veggies food plan to shame, Squeak. I'm coming over to your house for dinner...lol

I'm really sorry to hear about your impending surgery. My mother had her gallbladder removed a couple years back. Thankfully it really is a relatively simple procedure and one of the most recoverable. I'll definately be praying for you!

Given I don't frequent the exercise and diet threads, I don't know why some around here diss Curves, but I know for certian that if it helps you move about and gets you going for that much needed workout, I have nothing but respect for them. What's great, is the more your workout, the more stammina you'll have everyday and the more energy you'll burn.

Perhaps you should voice to the hubby your desire of a gym bag. Tell him to consider it as a 'welcome out of surgery' present!

I hope the rest of your Monday goes as well as this morning, Squeak!! ((Big Hugs))

Wow, good luck with your surgery. My mom had her gall bladder removed in December after having major attacks for the last 3 years. She has had laproscopic procedures before and was afraid there would be too much scar tissue to do the procedure this way, but all turned out fine. Scar tissue wasn't bad, and she is feeling much better.

Looks like you are doing well, and I commend you on joining the curves gym for now. I hope your recovery goes well and you can get back into the gym quickly.

Best of luck.

Tasha

Thanks for stopping by, Rach and Tasha!

I don't know how you manage to eat the same thing all the time Rach, I go a little bonkers without variety. That's one of the things I've struggled with when it comes to menus, finding ways to make the same or similar ingredients into new things so that I'm not eating exactly the same meal all the time. It's soo easy to fall into a sandwich rut when it comes to lunches, and I know that if I eat a ham (or whatever) sandwich every day that by the end of the week I'm eyeing my lunch bag with a distinct lack of enthusiasm and daydreaming about cheeseburgers.

But hey... different strokes for different folks. If you've got something that works for you and you're happy with it, that's great!

Tasha, thanks for sharing your grandmother's story with me. As I prepare for my surgery, it seems like everyone I mention it to knows someone who has had the procedure done and had no problems. It's such a comfort to me, because while I am trying not to think too much about it I *am* nervous.

Ahhhh, I feel good. I got my workout done today, then came back to the office and had some celery w/ peanut butter & raisins. Tried to go light on carbs for breakfast/lunch because hubby and I will probably be eating out tonight due to a slight miscalculation in meal planning this week. Let's see how I did:

Breakfast: 'mega muffin' with egg, sausage, onion, green pepper & mushroom. 1 apple.
Lunch: Salmon salad tomato bowl.
Snack: Celery & peanut butter w/ raisins.

Hmm.. because of the apple & raisins that's probably about half my net carb count so I still have to watch dinner but I should be able to find *something* tasty wherever we end up. Just have to be careful what I order. Did you know that restaurants commonly sprinkle steaks with sugar before searing to get better color from the caramelization? The things I learn when researching how to cook a steak.

I made awesome steaks last night, btw. Hubby and I love steak, but we rarely make it at home because we have no grill (it's against the rules of our apartment complex), are too lazy to use the community grill and haven't mastered the art of cooking steak with a conventional stove. Well. Until now! I've got it all figured out. Because I'm feeling generous, I'll even share:

Grab a nice thick cut steak with minimal marbling (assuming you're watching your fat). Get steak as close to room temperature as you can. You can pop it in the microwave on a low setting to speed this up if needed, but if it's still a little cool don't sweat it. You don't want to COOK it in the microwave, just warm it up. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Pat the steak down with a paper towel to remove any water that might be on it (rinsing steak is not necessary, just eyeball it and if you see any bone chips pick them off) and rub both sides with a small amount of olive oil. Season with salt & pepper. Sear both sides in a HOT skillet, long enough that they get some good color. Shouldn't be more than a minute or two for each side, but be careful not to move the steak around in the pan too much because this will make it take longer to brown. If you're using an oven-safe skillet, you can put the whole thing directly in the oven. Otherwise, transfer to a baking pan (a broiler pan is ideal if you have one) and put it in the oven. Cooking time will vary depending on the size/thickness of the steak. My steaks were about 1" thick and 15 mins was about medium rare. You can poke the top of the steak to estimate how done it is. The firmer it is when you poke it, the more done it is. (Use a meat thermometer if you want to be absolutely certain, but remember that poking holes just means juice leaks out... for this reason, be sure you use tongs to handl your steaks rather than a fork.) Once you take the steaks out of the oven, move them to a plate and let them rest for at least 5 minutes. While resting, they'll cook a little bit more and the juices inside will redistribute so that they don't all come pouring out when you cut into them.

That's it. Voila. From my kitchen to yours.

Well, I didn't really intend to go two weeks without posting anything but.. so it goes. Surgery went flawlessly. It took me a little longer than I expected to get back on my feet. By the 5th day after my surgery I was completely off of pain meds but if I sat upright in a chair (as opposed to reclining or lying down) for more than a couple hours at a stretch the incision closest to my belly button would get tender and start to sting. I think it was due to gravity tugging at my belly fat. Anyway, I tried not to overdo it and now am able to sit up for long periods without any issues. Also, my itchy bandages are starting to come off, which is lovely in my book.

As for how I'm feeling... wow, I feel so great. I just didn't realize how much pain/discomfort I was in daily. I feel wonderful now. I haven't had a stomach ache for two weeks and I can drink orange juice again. While I am sure there was a time when I was able to drink orange juice without getting heartburn, I can't really pinpoint when that was. It was so long ago that I thought it was just a quirk of my physiology and didn't even consider that it might be related to gallstones. But I tried a serving one day on a lark and... nothing, not even a faint twinge. So I had it 2-3 more times during that week and every time I was fine. It was actually fairly exciting to me, and yet a bittersweet sort of discovery.. my reduced carb diet doesn't allow me to have much fruit juice. Too much sugar!

Anyway, I've been mostly off work for the last two weeks (I did some half days last week) and tomorrow I'm going in for my first 8 hour day since 2/28. I'm still under some lifting restrictions (nothing over 10 lbs for another week) so I won't be doing the circuit at Curves this week but I'm at least going to make an effort to get back on my nutrition plan. I fell off it pretty hardcore while I was recovering, craving those 'comfort foods'. It didn't help that my Mom stayed for a week and made yummy chocolate chip cookies at my hubby's behest.

Tonight I attempted to make lettuce wraps. The filling came out really good but the lettuce didn't work so well. The grocery store sells packaged 'lettuce scoops' but they were all expired when we went there on Saturday. So I bought some romaine... yeah, don't try to make lettuce wraps with romaine. It didn't work very well! But the filling was yummy. I used a pre-packaged 'ginger soy marinade', just a local 'oraganic' brand that was fairly low carb. Cut up some zucchini & mushrooms into small cubes and sautee'd it along with some shrimp (marinated with the ginger soy marinade) with a drizzle of olive oil. It came out really well.

I'll try to read some journals tomorrow and catch up with folks. Hope everyone has been doing well in my absence.

Not much to say, I've been doing really really bad with my reduced carb diet. It's been so hard to get back on the wagon, I just have had a terrible time with ridiculous cravings for pasta, bread (bagels, specifically) and sweets. I'd say I'm trying, but I really haven't been trying very hard. Mostly I've been giving in and feeling generally depressed that I wasn't able to be stronger--and oh, since I failed I might as well have some ice cream. *grumble*

So, yeah. Doing some poking around on the web today looking for something to get me motivated and excited again. Unfortunately, I think I need to be looking more within myself for answers. I just don't have any right now.

Logged in here today for the first time in months. Last year didn't go quite as I wanted it to. I think I stuck with my nutrition plan for about 4 months (two at the beginning of the year, two at the end) and lost about 20 pounds. I'm slowly but surely firming my resolve as I head into 2009. Right now I'm thinking about exercise and how I really need to get off my butt and start doing it. If anyone happens to stumble across this and has some non-cheeky suggestions I would welcome them.

Intellectually, I know that any exercise is better than none. My problem tends to be that I overdo it early on and then have trouble motivating myself to keep going. I need to ease into it, I guess. For some reason, recently, I've felt like running. I don't know why. I know that I'd probably not be able to run/jog for more than two minutes (if that) without getting totally winded. But for some reason.. I just want to run. That probably says something about my life right now, but I'm not going to analyze it.

I tend to forget to update my diary here because I have a weight loss blog that I keep elsewhere and share with select friends. I've found it to be a great way to motivate myself, because most of the time what I post here seems to go unnoticed... probably because I'm not very active in the community.

Anyway, some thoughts about my current status:

Finally hit 299 for real. I had a digital scale that was weighing me about 10 pounds heavier than the doctor's office (and my new non-digital scale). When I replaced it, it was a little troubling to go back up over the 300 mark, but I kept reminding myself that I really had lost the same amount of weight, I just had a different starting weight than I recorded. I spent some time and adjusted all the weights on my ticker so that my chart is accurate. At any rate... woohoo, 299!

The diet is going reasonably well, though there have been some recent slip-ups. I am still doing the reduced carb plan that my doctor recommended. It's not as aggressive about carbs as Atkins/South Beach.. I think that's why I've been able to (for the most part) stick with it as long as I have. I'm allowed 65 net carbs per day (that's total carbs minus fiber) and that's actually quite a bit of leeway. I can even eat bread... when I do, I stick with whole wheat because it's better for me (and lower carb). I think what my diet mostly boils down to right now is eating less bread/pasta, eating more meat/veggies, avoiding things like doritos and pretzels (I've never been a potato chip eater, but I do like doritos and pretzels!) and cutting as much sugar as possible. When I do eat sugar, I try to stick with fruit as opposed to cookies/candy. I'm not always successful, but I think indulging myself from time to time in moderation is okay.

What I really need to do right now is get on the exercise bandwagon. A bandwagon is a good metaphor in this case, because I can easily imagine myself huffing along behind it, trying to climb up but not quite having the arm strength to haul my bulk all the way up there. I suppose that alone would be good exercise, anyone have any bandwagons I could chase?

Today has been kind of an up and down day. Breakfast and lunch were nutritious and healthy. The donuts were not. At least I limited myself to three, spread out during the day/morning. It counts as exercise if I have to walk all the way down the hall each time to get one right? Haha, ok, I do know better.

In other news, I totally called the apartment office and got the code for the fitness center today. I wonder what my next excuse will be now that I've negated that one... I hate that I have not been able to motivate myself to work out. I know nutrition will only get me so far!

In one of the worlds most bizarre coincidences, I am pretty sure I bumped into someone on the forum today that I know from years ago but fell out of touch with. I guess it really is a small world.

Today's menu:

Breakfast: Eggs w/ turkey sausage, mushrooms, onions, bell peppers & cheese.

Lunch: Chicken salad sandwich on whole wheat w/ cheddar cheese & sm. apple.

Dinner: Steak w/ steamed broccoli.

It is shaping up to be a good day, I just need to avoid snacks later in the evening. Have been having popcorn too much lately.

I'm focusing on exercise this week, something that is long overdue. On Monday I steeled myself for my first trip to the fitness center at my apartment complex (hereafter to be referred to as 'the gym') and spent 15 minutes on the bike. It had a couple of different programs so I picked 'fat burning' which wasn't too difficult. It started out with no resistance and then stepped up a level, then up again, then gradually back down again. It was harder going from high to low than the other direction... my legs just wanted to go super fast when that resistance was gone. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be keeping a consistent pace up or if I'm supposed to let myself pump faster at lower resistance levels. Going to look into that.

Last night I followed along with a beginner's yoga video podcast for my strength training. I expected it to be difficult because I am so out of shape and some of the poses certainly were. By the time I was finished I was sweating, which I found surprising. Yoga instructors always look so serene and peaceful when they're posing, it really belies the amount of physical strength/balance it takes.

Today I feel good because I am meeting my exercise goals, but a few muscles are a bit sore from the yoga last night. It's mostly that one right between the small of my back and my bum, slightly off-center to the right. I feel the overwhelming desire to stretch... I've already gotten up from my desk once this morning to stretch my back/hips.

Tonight I'm going back to the gym for another 15 minute workout. I want to try the elliptical machine if there is one (I didn't look around too much while I was there on Monday), but not sure I'll be able to put in a full 15 minutes on it. If not, I'll swap to the bike to finish out. If there isn't an elliptical, I may start on the treadmill and finish on the bike. We'll see.

I'm not sure if I should do yoga again on Thursday or vary my routine with other forms of strength training.

I'm also interested in trying some bellydancing, so need to find a (cheap/free) beginner video for that...