Vacation Eating....Yikes

Sooooo my first day in Disney...not so good on the meals. Lol. I had a good breakfast but it pretty much went downhill from there. As soon as we got our rental car Cody was starving and the only stuff around was either fast food or a sit down restaurant (which at the time I didn't think we have time for as I was planning on going to the shuttle launch). So I did not eat well for lunch and had a lot of sugar at dinner thanks to my drink.

I did however walk over 12,000 steps and swam for an hour so I got quite a bit of activity in! Today we are going to Magic Kingdom and you can bring food in. I have a lunch bag with an ice pack, Lunchables for Cody and salad for me. I am also bringing almonds and string cheese for snacks as well as a bottle of water. So hopefully today will be a little better!

Breakfast: Yoplait lite Strawberry and Banana yogurt, 1 scrambled egg

Snack: Airplane peanuts and Ritz Baked Chips

Lunch: Taco Bell Crunchwrap and crunchy taco (but little victory I got water to drink instead of soda)

Dinner: Half of a chicken quesedilla, requested light on the cheese. Cotton Candy-tini...oh so good but full of sugar I am sure!

Double Digits Club

It feels really nice to see the number 10 in front of Pounds Lost on my MyFitnessPal tracker. I have never been able to actually lose weight and keep it off for even a day or two so it is nice to see something is working. I know that the drops will slow down soon but as long as the numbers continue to fall I am alright with it. I didn't lose anything today but I also didn't gain anything so that is a big plus.

Now comes the hard part....Disney. I am going to have to do a lot of planning but I think that I can make it work. I know what snacks I will be bringing with me, I know that I will have a good breakfast, the worst part will be dinner. We can bring lunches into the park along with bottled water so I am not worried about at least 2 meals of the day!

Today I did well and even drank a lot more water than I usually do. We fly out in the morning and then it's no scale for over a week. Should be interesting to see if that last 5 pounds disappears while we are in Florida. I can do it if I manage my diet right!

Breakfast: Chobani Flips Greek Coco Loco Yogurt

Snack: Old Wisconsin Turkey Bites & Cocoa Roasted Almonds

Lunch: Subway Turkey Sub, Lays Baked Chips

Dinner: Chicken thigh meat, 2 salads with red peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, low fat cheese, and spring mix.

Snack: Old Wisconsin Turkey Bites


Now it's off to bed, big day tomorrow!!! Florida here we come!!!

Slipped But Still Lost

So yesterday was pretty good but I slipped a little bit. Yet I somehow managed to lose weight still. Lol.

Yesterday morning I hadn't lost any weight but didn't want to let that discourage me. I did however slip during the day and had some Pop Tarts but did a super hard aerobic workout to help burn some of it off. Today is going to involve a lot of walking and some healthy eating at a Mexican restaurant. I have done research and found a meal that with a few tweaks is semi-low calorie and has protein in it with veggies.

Tomorrow we leave for vacation. I have made a list of healthy snacks and breakfast foods to pick up for Cody and I to carry around while we are walking around Disney. I will have almonds and cheesesticks and turkey pepperoni on hand at all times. They are all low calorie, no sugar, and plenty of protein. Dinners are going to be my biggest worry but I am sure if I am careful I can figure out how to eat sensibly in the parks.

I am going to return the fitness tracker band that I bought at Walmart the other day and get a Fitbit Flex. I didn't realize that the one I got was not water resistant at all and I want something I can wear while I am swimming or going on water rides. There is one in Nashua for $60 that I am going to pick up this morning. I like having the fitness tracker on me though, it's nice to know how many steps I am actually taking per day as opposed to having to guess because of the phone pedometer which is wildly inaccurate.


Breakfast: Chobani Greek Yogurt - Indulgent Raspberry and Dark Chocolate

Snack: Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop Tarts....BAD

Lunch: Double Chicken Chopped Salad from Subway. No dressing, loaded with veggies + avocado. Edy's No Sugar Added Ice Cream (I have managed to keep my servings to the actual serving size!)

Snack: Emerald Almonds Cinnamon Roasted 100 Calorie Pack

Dinner: I wasn't really hungry by the time I got home so I had turkey pepperoni and a string cheese.

Hard To Believe...

This is actually working...hard to believe it!

I haven't even put in heavy duty exercise and I am dropping a pound per day. I do aerobics in the morning and try to get some walking in during the day but I don't try to overdo it. I signed myself up for my first ever road race, the Mother's Day 3K. I signed Cody up with me, I want to try and get him to be more active as well. I am fortunate to have a great support group of friends that will be in the race as well.

I did well yesterday with my calorie intake even though I went out and had drinks at the bar. I controlled myself though and made sure that I lessened the amount of sugar that I drank and I drank a full glass of water with every drink.

Another pound gone. I am only 6 pounds away from my first mini goal. I feel like if I set small goals it will help me to continue to be motivated. If I look at the bigger picture I may start to get discouraged so right now it's little steps. I was hoping to hit the mini goal before I went to Disney but even if I don't, I have still done well so far.


Breakfast: Chobani Greek Yogurt w/ Steel cut Oats - Banana Maple

Snack: Hard boiled egg & cinnamon roasted almonds

Lunch: Turkey bacon, rotisserie chicken, and half an avocado on a wheat wrap with baby carrots on the side.

Snack: Hormel turkey pepperoni and a mozzarella/cheddar twist string cheese

Dinner: The other half of my Friendly's Asian chicken salad

Drinks: 9 cups of water through the day, 1 shot of McGillicudy's root beer, Absolut Citron and Stoli blueberry in club soda, Malibu and Diet Coke, and a Bud Light Lime.

Third Time's a Charm?

I know, I know. Yet again, saying I am back at it. This time I'm really going to do it. Blah blah blah. Well so far I have been on a newer and healthier diet, I have been exercising a little bit (aerobics at home and walking more) and I have already dropped 7 pounds in the last week. Not too shabby. Seeing results is a good motivation!

Today I picked up a fitness tracker band so that I can track all of my steps when I am walking around Disney next week. I can't wait to see how much we walk!

I have been logging my food for the last six days and it has really been keeping me accountable for what I am putting into my body. I think that I stress out a little too much about how much protein I am getting vs. carbs and such but I am starting to get the hang of it. The pounds have been melting off and I am not starving at any point in the day so I must be doing something right.

I am hoping to get down another 5 pounds by the time we leave for Disney on Sunday so we will see! Lots of exercise and healthy eating for the rest of the week.

Breakfast: Chobani Flip Greek Yogurt Chocolate Haze Craze

Snack: Mozzarella String Cheese

Lunch: Whole wheat wrap with three strips of turkey bacon, half an avocado, 2 ounces of rotisserie chicken (and it was DELICIOUS). Baby carrots on the side.

Snack: 100 calorie Emerald Cinnamon Roasted Almonds

Eating dinner out win: I brought the munchkin to dinner tonight and we went to Friendly's. I combed over the menu and only looked at the foods that had a green heart next to them which indicated that they were 565 calories or less. I had the Asian Chicken Salad with no dressing and only ate half of it which came out to 235 calories and 14g of protein. It had 10g of fat, most of which was from the almonds on the salad, only 1.5g saturated fat. I allowed myself to have a kid's dish of ice cream as well because I know that completely depriving myself is not good either. I am still under my calories for the day!

I call today a win.

Is This the Right One?

I did a bunch of research today on different weight loss surgeries. I looked at case studies, before and afters, complications, requirements, and recovery times. I think I have narrowed it down to the Vertical Sleeve Gastronomy. It is a safer option than the full on gastric bypass as it does not reroute any of your intestines or anything like that. It has very few complications unlike the Lap Band which is definitely out for me as I have seen some horror stories about that one. The sleeve is laproscopic, 2 day hospital stay at the most, and a short recovery time.

The process is that they go in and remove a good portion of your stomach. What you are left with is a pouch that can hold just under a cup of food at a time. They remove the portion and then staple the rest closed. There is no messing around with the esophagus, the duodenum, or the intestines. Sometimes they recommend having your gallbladder removed at the same time as the sleeve can give you a higher risk for gall stones but it is not required.

Out of all of the "reviews" that I read on forums and such, only one person said that they regret having the sleeve done but that is because they didn't follow the rules after and ended up stretching the stomach to the point where they tore the staples out.

It is recommended that you see a therapist before thinking about surgery to make sure that you are mentally stable enough for it and are ready for it and all the challenges it could bring so I am going to set something up tomorrow to speak with someone. The only thing that I am afraid of is that some surgeons require you to lose 10 to 20 pounds before they will allow you to have the surgery. If I could lose weight I wouldn't be trying to do this in the first place. But not all surgeons require this so we will see.

I am still going to be doing research, nothing has been finalized in my head, and I am not going to rush into this or take this lightly. This is something that I need to take my time with and make sure it is the right thing for me as it is not something you can have reversed after it has been done.

Thank you to those of you who have sent me messages of support. I truly appreciate it. It is nice to know that people are there if I need them to be!

Last Resort

I was thinking today as I was getting dressed and feeling my jeans were tighter yet again that I just can't do this on my own. I done the working out and eating right thing. I have done the yoga thing. I have done fad diets and juicing. Pretty much the only thing that I have not resorted to is starving myself or bulimia (I would rather be fat the rest of my life than attempt either of those). The only time that I have lost weight and not gained it in the last few years is a few pounds here and there with Weight Watchers but then began gaining instead of losing again, and then when I had my tonsils out (but that was not healthy or pleasant).

I know that there are some people who are going to look down on me for this. They are going to think that I am trying to take the easy way out and that I don't want to accept responsibility. I am only fat because of me right? Because secretly I don't want to change who I am because I don't care? Wrong. I wish I could be healthier (well, thinner really because I am actually pretty darn healthy other than the weight issue). I am not depressed, I don't have high blood pressure or cholesterol, my blood sugar is always within normal ranges. I am just fat. No matter what I do the weight comes back on. Insane weight gain is part of having PCOS but I am not going to use that as an excuse because there are plenty of women who have PCOS and are perfectly thin. I am sure that if I killed myself at the gym and ate nothing but veggies for good that I would probably drop some of the weight, but I would be miserable. I would have even less time than I have now with Cody and for myself, I would end up going on a junk food binge because I am not fond of green veggies for the most part and if I ate nothing but that I would be craving fatty foods.

I have known a few people who have taken the route that I am seriously contemplating taking and they have never been happier or thinner. I don't know what it's like to be thin. I never have been. I would love to be able to walk into a room and not feel like people are judging me instantly because I look the way I do. I would love to not have a lingering fear that I am not going to be able to get the seatbelt on the airplane done up. I want to go swimming without feeling like a beached whale in a bathing suit. My life would be so much better and happier if I were thin. Sorry if that sounds shallow, but I know that I would see a huge change in the way my life would be if I actually felt good about how I looked. I will avoid going out to places that I am not familiar with because I don't want to be seen by new people. This is an artificial world and people put a label on you the second they see you, before getting to know who you truly are. That is just the way we operate. I would like nothing more than to not have to worry about that judgement. I want to be able to take up running so I can do 5Ks with my friends. I would like to be able to exercise without my ACL feeling like it's about to tear away from my body because there is so much pressure on my knee. I would like to be able to run around with Cody and not feel so winded after just a few minutes.

So I guess that was my long-winded intro into why I am seriously considering gastric bypass. Think of it what you will, think I am lazy or like I am taking the easy way out. If that is what you think and you are entitled to your opinions. I know a few people who have been able to discipline themselves, do extreme workouts, eat healthy, and now look and feel aamzing, but that is not me. That is not who I am nor who I ever could be. I don't want to spend hours of the day that I already do not have in the gym. I do not want to deny myself of the foods that I am used to eating only to go on a food overdose later because I have quit cold turkey. If you are supportive of this decision, thank you. If not, please don't try and tell me that I am doing the wrong thing or that I am taking the easy way out. I have already thought that and if I am, I am, but at this point I am feeling like it is my only option to become healthy and happy at this point.