salsa1877

Karla - calories in the nighttime are no different than calories before 6PM...it is a complete myth that you will gain more if you eat at night. If you are calorie deficit for the day/week you will lose weight. If it was true that night time eating didn't allow you to lose weight than my wonderful mommy would be no where near where she is today. She eats most of her calories at night. Her and I are about as opposite as you can get. I am starving in the morning and eat most of my calories by 2PM, and she is hungry at night and doesn't eat most of her calories until around 9. We still both lost over 100 pounds. It truly is all about the calories in and calories out. So if you still have calories to eat at night then don't feel guilty about eating. I swear guilt weighs 10 pounds! As for the port, you are probably okay. Sometimes scar tissue grows around the port and it feels different. I always said at the beginning that I wish I had a little window into my belly to peek in and see that everything is okay. My fills are done under fluoro so I see my port every time I get a fill/unfill and those suckers are strapped in there. Yes...they can turn and twist, but I think if you look at the percentages it is pretty low. Just keep your chin up... you are doing just fine!

I CERTAINLY DON'T:sneaky:

After typing HTML code for the last 48 hours, I think I could read anything. Or at least I would try and decipher it to figure out how to put it in my moodle! OMG...my brain is FRIED!! DH and I are going to go play board games with the group of people that we met last week. It was so much fun and something that I desperately need. I sit at my computer for 10-12 hours a day typing code. I feel like a computer programmer. The only good thing is that I am totally front loading...the school year should be so much easier (I just keep telling myself that because if it is harder...I am done...Pharmacy school here I come!) The other nice thing about the current project is that I actually can see the progress. The lady (math teacher) that I have been working with said that she felt like she needed to go paint a house so that she could see that she was actually making progress on something. Well this is my house painting. I am going to have to take screen shots or something so that I can show everyone my hard work! Well I needed to take a break and make sure that my mommy made it home safe and sound. I am now on Book 2 for typing in the multiple choice questions! There are a total of 4 books...ugh.

Okay Karla...Maybe I shouldn't say this, but why are you still paying medical for your children? I had to manage on my own after I was 18 and I did just fine. Perhaps this is why I don't have children, but I honestly think that your children would rather have you keep you house than keep their medical coverage. I am not sure how many you have on your insurance but even one can be very expensive. There are programs that they can be on through most states thhat will get them low cost insurance. I don't mean to sound harsh, but if you are constantly worrying about money it is not going to help with taking care of you.

Happy 4th to everyone.

I eat the orowheat buns all the time. 2/3rds of the calories of a regular bun! Yeah...I really am on odd bandster. I can eat the whole one with a burger. That is all I can eat though. nothign else to go with it. I had a horrible pb'ing incident yesterday and I have no idea why. I had halibut and red potaotoes for dinner and then about an hour later I felt like I was majorly stuck. I hadn't had anything between dinner and then. After agonizing in pain for an hour I decided to take a big gulp of water to either get it out or get it down. It decided to come out. TMI WARNING....It came up so violently (and with all the water) that it came out my nose. NOT FUN! Needless to say, I am on very soft foods today. The scales are being very kind to me after my birthday. I had to do a day of carb detox (pretty much only eat meat) for one day. Boy do I pee like crazy that day!!! BUt I am at my lowest weight in months. Phyl congrats on your knee surgery. I can't imagine the pain you must be in. My plastic surgery consult/year check up is on Monday. My principal said to schedule it whenever...and not to wait until Dec. if I didn't want to. However, I have to because I have 2 runs scheduled between now and then. So I am really hoping to squeeze my surgery in between December 15th and Christmas so that I don't have to miss too much work. I will go later on the surgery but I am NOT missing my half marathon in Dallas. I get to meet two fellow bandsters and I have been looking forward to it for months. Alright well I am off to lounge by the pool while going through AP chemistry study guides. I have decided that for the month of July that there is no differentiation between weekdays and weekends. I have one LONG week that ENDS at the end of the month! I will try and check back later.

Yep...I said a pound. I actually looked up the exact calories and it is 136 calories per pound of watermelon. I think cantaloupe is less so it averages out when I get the mixed melon. Sorry I didn't get to this sooner. Been working.:smile2:

I was in meetings all day. Today was the first day of work. My principal was sweet and they had a birthday cake for me. I ate it, but I am not having cake at home. We are having sugar free short cake and strawberries. I ALWAYS wanted strawberry shortcake for my birthday cake when I was growing up, but I wasn't allowed to have it because it wasn't traditional enough I guess. So it only took me 30 years but I finally go my favorite treat. I am VERY overwhelmed with the job right now. I will be putting in 16-20 hours a day for the next 6 weeks but I just keep telling myself that I am front loading this and that the school year is going to be MUCH easier, and it will be. Just right now I feel like I am fumbling around in the dark trying to find the light at the end of the tunnel which MUST be located and exited by August 15th. 10 classes to develop by August 15 (except AP chem which has to be done by August 1). So what I guess I am saying is that you probably won't be hearing from me much. I will pop in to let you know that I am still living and on the bandwagon. Well DH is not letting me work the rest of the evening. We are going to go see Ice Age 3 (if my principal gets my printer to me on time...he had to run into Bend to buy it and drop it off at my house so that the math teacher and I can use it) and then play a few games of Arkham Horror (my favoritest game in the whole world). We are having tacos for dinner. Okay. Steph I hope everything gets better for you. I will be thinking about you.

The sugar free margarita mix is actually pretty good. I would make mine virgin because I dont' like the alcohol, but when I was on Atkins I actually drank it quite often. They also have diet cranberry juice that you could mix with vodka. I dont' know how carbonated Mike's hard lemonade is, but they do make a light version of that as well. Hey look at that...I CAN make alcoholic drinks healthy!!!

Okay I wanted to post this before everyone goes out and starts making plans for their 4th of July BBQ/Picnics. These are some calorie saving tips for the holiday. Please note that ALL servings are my sized servings so yours may be considerably less depending on your restriction. I attached the recipes to anything that I mention. 1. First and foremost...if you are going somewhere with people who don't eat healthy...TAKE YOUR OWN FOOD. 2. Salad Options a. Green salad - be careful of the dressings. Try Bolthouse Yougurt dressings (80 calories per serving and you really only need one serving. Or try the spritzers (good if you like sweeter salad dressings). They are found in the salad dressing aisle. b. Potato Salad - Try Fauxtato salad. I just ate some for lunch and it is pretty good. NO, it does not taste exactly like potato salad, but it is still pretty good. The entire bowl has 280 calories. c. Macaroni salad - I can't really think of a way to make pasta healthy, so this ight be something you want to avoid. If this is a MUST have, make the dressing healthier with FF stuff instead of the full fat stuff. d. Fruit salad is good if it is not made with real whipping cream. Also, be careful of the FF or SF cool whip...yes it is only 20 calores but there are 25 servings in the container so it is actually a pretty high calorie food. Meat: a. Hot dogs - Hebrew National makes a 97%FF hot dog that is pretty dang good and only 40 calories per dog. b. Hamburgers -Go with the leanest you can find. If you have a store where you can buy it out of the butcher's case that is going to be your cheapest option. If you are just buying it for you, then you can specify the amount of hamburger that you want. I just got 10 pounds of 7% hamburger for 2.99$ at Albertsons so it is on sale. We have a local store that sells 4% fat ground beef. Yes...it is more expensive but if you don't have to buy much of it, then it is worth it. c. Steak - Obviously find the one that is least fatty and trim off all fat that you can find. d. Chicken - This isn't a calorie suggestion but a cooking suggestion. Pound the chicken breast flat and cook SLOWLY. This will keep it more tender and by pounding it flat you don't have to cook it as long and therefore it won't dry out as much. Side Items - a. Buns - If you need to eat your burger on a bun, Oroweat has a new bun out that is 100 calories. It is pretty thin and they are pretty good. Don't fall for the WHOLE WHEAT, EXTRA FIBER, WHOLE GRAIN trap...check the calories. Another good bun to use is the Double Fiber English muffins (only 110 calores compared to 160 calories for buns). These extra fiber ones did have the least calories. b. Chips - If you need something crunchy, you have 2 really good options. Quaker rice crisps are only 70 calories per serving and are really good and come in a variety of flavors. Or soy crisps are 110 calories (but the serving size is twice that of the quaker cakes so they are pretty much equal). These again come in different flavors. The soy crisps are harder to find but check the health food section of your grocery store. c. Cheese - Use the 2% cheese if you can't bear to use the FF. However, I can't tell the difference so I save the extra 30 calories. Fruits and veggies - a. Veggies are good...DIP is bad. Ranch dressing averages about 150 per 2 TBSP and I read an article that when you dip your veggies in it you consume that serving size in about 6 dips. b. Melon is your best bet! Though be careful because I have gotten stuck several times. Watermelon is the best, but cantaloup and honeydew aren't much worse. It is about 100 calories per pound (and yes...I eat watermelon by the pound...but I can eat WAY more than the typical bandster). c. Strawberries are VERY good. I think 1 pound of strawberries is 140 calories. Dessert - a. A GREAT dessert is to take mixed berries (1 cup my serving size) and mix them with Dannon Fit and Lite yogurt. You dont need the entire small container, but you could use it if you would like. b. If you NEED cake, then try the SF Angel Food cake and put your berries over it. Drinks: a. There is nothing I can do about the calories in alcoholic beverages. I just am thankful that I don't drink!! b. The obvious is crystal light. c. Tea - Use Splenda or Truvia or other sweetner to sweeten. Alright I think that is about it. I know that most of you already know this, but we have a LOT of lurkers and some new folks so I thought this could be helpful for them and a good reminder for us! Fauxtato Salad.doc

Feel free to send me any recipes you want and I can remake ALMOST anything! As for mother issues...I am glad that mine is dead (biological...not my good mommy) because I dont' have to worry about pleasing her anymore. I know that sounds cold hearted but Janet can attest to the fact that she was a REALLY rotten person. Fortunately for me it happened when I was young so I can live the rest of my life free from her. Okay I have a bunch to do today so I will be back later.

Here is a document that contains a lot of the recipes that I use. I have a few more that I am putting together, but I haven't had time between moving and working. This will get you started however. Recipes.doc

Well i just want to check in and let you know that I haven't fallen off the planet or the wagon. We have been moving and been without internet for the last few days. I am incredibly sore today. DH couldn't get the day off of work so I packed the ENTIRE moving truck myself with the exception of our dresser, our bed and the couch. I cleaned out the entire storage shed, and most of our apartment. Some of my former students came over and helped us move the stuff into our new place (Which I LOVE!). But today I am paying the price. Yesterday was NO good for food and the scale is up because I had WAY to freaking many carbs. So I am "meat"ing it up today and tomorrow. I can't run because my knees and legs are so sore from the moving, climbing (stairs at both places) so I don't need the carbs right now. I am retaining so much water from the carbs that I can't wear my ring today. The "carb detox" as I call it helps me reduce the water. In fact I have already lost 3 pounds today (scale was up 5). Well I need to go...hope everyone is doing well I haven't had a chance to read posts. I want to get my office set up so that I can work.

I eat scrambled eggs, lunch meat and cheese quite often. I usually use the FF cheese though. For many people they can't get down scrambled eggs or lunch meat. What is a slider for one person may not be a slider for another. Janet and I can easily eat popcorn, while other people can't tolerate it at all. Some people can't do crackers and for me they are a HUGE slider food. If a food goes down and keeps you full then it is NOT a slider food. If it goes down and you are hungry in an hour (oatmeal for me!) then it is a slider. Everytime you eat something you should really think about how it makes you feel. Having a meaningful time for eating is important because not only will you eat slower and get fuller, but you will be able to focus on how you feel. This helps you make better choices in the future. I will get those recipes to you tonight. I have to get ready to go to work with DH so that I can work on school stuff. If I stay home to work...I do nothing. The math teacher came out yesterday so that we could work together and I think she is coming out today as well. WHEW...I am TIGHT TIGHT TIGHT this morning. My lean sausage/english muffing sandwich WILL NOT GO DOWN! However, I lost another pound yesterday. I have not eaten below 2000 calories over the last 5 days and have lost 3 pounds. Do any of you wonderful nurse ladies know if this is common when first on synthroid? Okay gotta run!

I agree with Janet. For the most part I eat the same things now that I did when I was losing. If I didn't run/train to the intensity that I do, I would probably be eating the same amount too. This is why I have made the offer to help you trim down some of your favorite recipes. I still eat chicken alfredo, enchiladas (dinner tonight), chicken cordon bleu, pizza, spaghetti, meatloaf, etc...but they have all been altered so that they are healthier. There was no point living on protein drinks and "diet"foods if I couldn't eat like that forever. I needed to change my lifestyle to the point that I could sustain 99% of the ways for life. Even at maintenance, I STILL count calories and eat healthy 98% of the time. Sure I might get to have a FEW more endulgances than I did during the losing phase, but I usually make up for them in increased exercise or choose healthy endulgances such as fruit and truvia! Janet is completely right that you can't think of this as a diet...Diets end...lifestyles do not.

1170 isn't bad. When I was in my losing phase I would be between 800-1200 depending on the day. If you want a good protein bar that is only 200 calories, you can try the Pure Protein (I get them at Wal Mart). If you put them in the fridge they get REALLY chewy and last a while. I would eat one of those at 2:30 every afternoon.

Cold morning...uh...I mean good morning. WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH THE WEATHER???? Seriously, we got down to below freezing last night. NOT COOL! So it is the second day of summer and I am wearing a long sleeve shirt and pants. I WANT MY SHORTS! Well the scale for me is doing interesting things. I am down 2 pounds in 2 days. I don't think I mentioned here, but when I went in for my annual exam the doc put me on thyroid meds because I have hypothyroidism. I have been tested every year since I was 9 for thyroid problems and my levels have always been fine. Well apparently they were slightly elevated (thyroid levels are opposite...the higher the number the LESS your thyroid works) last year when I had my blood work done for my plastic surgery but since I wasn't complaining of any of the symptoms she didn't put me on meds. Well when I went in the last time, I was complaining. I am CONSTANTLY cold, have pretty low blood pressure, tired a lot, very dizzy, and have thinning hair. So she put me on meds that are supposed to eliminate my symptoms before she even gets the test results back. It is a good thing too, because I passed out 3 times on Saturday. After running I came home and took a shower drank some gatorade and ate breakfast. Over the next 4 hours I passed out 3 times. DH was scared and wanted to take me to urgent care, but I resisted. I told him that if it happened again we could go in. Fortunately I didn't have to go in! It has gotten better and I wasn't nearly as dizzy yesterday and today no symptoms. She told me it would be just a few days before I started feeling some relief. Now if only the pills would make me feel warmer. One of the effects of the meds though is an increased metabolism. I was convinced that it wouldn't do anything to my scale, but I have eaten maintenance levels and still lost two pounds and TOM is rapidly approaching. I am supposed to keep an eye on the scale and if it starts dropping too rapidly I am supposed to increase my calories. That might freak me out a bit!! I will of course follow her directions to increase calories, but I am having her contact my Lap Band doc so that he understands the situation and if I do lose weight he won't hold up my plastic surgery. I am not going to start upping calories though unless I lose 5+ pounds without trying. I have read a lot of stories of people taking Synthroid and gaining weight because they figured their metabolism would increase so they could eat whatever they wanted. They can't fool me THAT easily. Well I have my first training for my new job today at noon and I have some rubrics and tests that I want to get written so I had best get busy!

Karla, There are some things that you can do to help ensure success and in reality they are very easy. But you have to commit to them. You can't do them here and there. At the beginning you MUST follow EVERY rule. It is later on when you get to maintenance that you can slack off a little on the following things. The following is what I did when I was in the losing phase. I was incredibly rigid (and so was Janet). I am not as rigid now...but I learned the tools so that if I needed to go back to them I could. It takes 28 days of constant use to create a habit. If you haven't been doing something consistently for 28 days it is not going to be a habit. A new lifestyle is changing the habits of the past. 1. Made a menu of all the food I was going to eat for the day and stuck to it. (If it wasn't on my menu...I didn't eat it. This allowed me to know what foods I needed in the house and made shopping and dinner planning easier). 2. Ate my protein first, followed by veggies. I didn't eat a whole lot of carbs. I was an Atkins girl so this was very easy. However, I didn't cut out carbs in total. I would have a VERY small serving of them so that I didn't feel like I was being deprived. 3. Ate 1 cup of food (most of that was protein). If I couldn't eat a cup of food or I couldn't eat much protein I knew I needed an unfill. I lost 85% of my weight completely unfilled. That doesn't mean that you can, but I think my sweet spot would probably have been right above an unfill (like 0.5) but my fill nurse kept overfilling me. If YOU CAN'T EAT YOU WILL PROBABLY NOT LOSE WEIGHT! Your body will revolt and you risk MAJOR damage to your band if you try to eat and are too filled. Even being tight when you drink protein drinks you are still going to be hungry because it goes right through...so you end up drinking more. Even the Atkins shakes have 150 calories and I have seen protein drinks upwards of 450 calories if you count all the servings that are in there. 4. You have to have a plan when you go out. Anticipate your calories. Everyone under the sun knew that I had the band so they didn't think twice when I would bring my own food with me. I am more self conscious about doing it now, but when I was losing, I didn't care. If we went to a party I would take my own food and my own drinks. My weight loss was more important to me than people thinking I was weird. I don't drink alcohol so that was never a problem for me. But if I had, I would have calculated it into my calories. I think that if you plan for that you might realize that the calories in there just aren't worth it...but then again, maybe not. 5. Exercise. Good for you on the 13.5 miles of walking...but if that isn't regular, then it isn't going to do anything. You need to do 30-60 minutes of consistent exercise 5-6 days per week. You don't need to run...walking will do just fine. Janet's main exercise is walking but as you progress you are going to have to either increase the distance, intensity (speed or incline) to keep up with the weight loss. You burn less calories as you get smaller. I think that I read earlier that you had last 45 or so pounds. My doc said that the band will usually cause you to lose 30-40% of the weight without you doing much. But if you want to lose MORE, then it is all up to you. Yeah...it is tough. Not being able to eat foods that you want, exercising when you are tired and sore, and feeling like it is a never ending battle is a BITCH. IT IS F'ING HARD. But it is worth it. The phrase...nothing tastes as good as thin feels probably means very little to you because it didn't to me. I didn't know what thin felt like. But now I do and believe me...there is no feeling quite like it. My feeling that I can do ANYTHING now is great. I don't ever have to worry about not being able to keep up or fitting in. I can just roll out of bed and face any challenge that might come my way. As for the holding pattern...it could be that you had gained and then lost. I weighed daily so I would always know. I am not saying you should be as obsessed with the scale as I was, but the scale is a tool and while you are losing it will help you make adjustments. As for the challenge, we could most certainly start one, but you also need to be able to do it on your own. Make your own challenge. We don't like to let other people down so we tend to perform better on challenges with other people, but it is very important to not let ourselves down. So I can't guarantee that what I told you will cause you to lose weight, but I didn't have a single week that I didn't lose something. My lowest week was a 1 pound loss and that was when I was overfilled. I averaged 3 pounds per week. One last piece of advice, tinker with recipes that you like. I could usually get a 500+ calorie per serving recipe down to below 300. I would be willing to look at some of your recipes and try to help you. Well I need to get going. I have an 8 mile run to get in today.

I guess I could just get a 7 added somewhere to my turtle. I am getting my running turtle in Dec and then when I complete a half marathon in each state I am going to get one with a shoe looking like it is running across the US. I think that will be my limit on tattoos (MAYBE one when I finish the Goofy run in Orlando...Run a half marathon on Saturday and a full marathon on Sunday). But I could definetly get a 7 added to my turtle.

Phyl - I loved my zero gravity recliner. It is what I used after my plastic surgery. Karla - I don't believe people NEED to get married. The only reason me and my DH are married are because we needed the tax break and the insurance. So if your daughter doesn't want to get married... more power to her. I didn't need a piece of paper to tell me that I loved my DH. Good for you on the tattoo. I was going to get mine right after the marathon but now I am waiting and getting it with some friends after a run in Dallas in December. So I am very glad that we are are moving soon...our neighbors are SO loud and annoying. At the new place we don't have neigbors on one side and the other side will be empty for months as it was destroyed by the last tenents. Ahhh...peace and quiet. Plus it is in a residential area so there will be no damn street sweeper at 4AM.

This is a test post with my iTouch. So far I like it. Just need to get used to it. This is dangerous...facebook and lbt at my fingertips!

My day is busy. I have to go to Best Buy in Bend because someone stole my ipod out of my car (I guess I forgot to lock it when I got home from vacation) and I NEED that ipod. However, I am going to take my birthday money and upgrade to the i-touch. I would LOVE an iphone but we don't have the 3G network here and we pay nearly nothing for phone service because of a mistake by T-mobile which they apparently have forgotten to fix. So the i-touch will give me what I want...internet access when I don't have my laptop, kindle application so I can read at the gym without taking a book, and my nike + system. So I have to 1. Go to the bank 2. Get a new drivers license 3. Go to Best Buy 4. Go to the mall to pick something up for DH 5. Go to the doc for my annual exam 6. Go to the gym or run outside depending on weather. Whew...that is more than I normally do! Got some work done yesterday but I won't be getting much done today. Well gotta run. The bank just opened.

Mommy - I wanna come back!!! R&R is WAAAAAAY better than curriculum development. Plus...I am freezing. I went to work with DH so that I would stay more focused (not so certain it worked!!) but the A/C in here is so cold that I wan to cry. It is like 84 degrees outside and I am sitting in the office with a long sleeve shirt and a coat. I think it is 64 in here according to the thermostat. Karla - Responding to your post from facebook, I have started my new job. Officially I don't start until July 1 (my birthday) but I have 12 classes that I need to have completed (EVERYTHING...assessments, projects, readings, labs...you name it) by August 1. So I figured that it was better to get started early. This is my favorite part of teaching so it doesn't bother me much. I have taught Earth Science twice (once to VERY low level students in Vegas and once to not so bright students in college). This is just a totally different system than what most people teach from so it pretty much all has to come from my brain. I am excited though...just a little overwhelmed by the amount of work there is to do. I did get the assessment and project (both with rubrics) completed for the first standard of this integrated science class, so I definetly made a dent today. Okay...back to work.

I am so glad that she found a suit to wear. I can personally attest to the horror of being so big and wanting modesty! DH like ALMOST all of the clothes. There is one shirt (the pink/black/white shirt) with the ruffly neck line that he can't stand. I forgot he doesn't like ruffles. No we didn't eat at Madelines. I wanted to walk to dinner and that isn't within walking distance. So we went to a chinese restaurant and I had chow mein. Today was an okay food day considering that I was traveling all day. I HATE the drive back from my brothers. It is so boring. Well I am heading off to bed as soon as I reset my body bugg for maintenance. I dont' think I posted here, but my LB doc has put me on complete maintenance (and Janet concurred that I don't need to lose more weight). He said that he would not sign off on my PS (which I hope to have in Dec) if I lost more weight. So I am officially on maintenance. :blushing: Gotta sleep soon!

Well I made it home this afternoon. Who knew that sitting on your ass for so long (airport/car) could be so tiring. I had to pull over in portland and sleep for an hour! We went to dinner and managed to lock ourselves out of our apartment. We were walking to dinner and when we got downstairs DH looked at me and said "Do you have keys". I said "No...don't you." We both laughed and called the property management company. So we had to walk to the property mgmt place, then walk to dinner, and then walk home. It was nice because the weather was gorgeous and it was good to stretch my legs. Well I am going to spend some time with DH...I think we are going to clear our front room and play a board game. Chat later. Oh - and being in Indio was good medicine for me too. I slept like crap last night!