AngieBear

It’s hiking season. I’m currently in love with these for trips. Once I can add snacks back in, I‘m sure I’ll be chowing down on them at work.

Right now I’m an 8, chillin’. But, I’m trying to work myself into a 12 and get some stuff done today. It’s, uuuh, not working well. So much chill!

The first week was rough, I won’t lie. However, I knew that it could be, and that it would be temporary. Since then I’ve had a moment here and there where I miss going out to eat donuts with friends, etc. But, we’ve found other activities to do and are reframing our go-to activities. When I went backpacking, I got a bit frustrated with my hydration issues, etc. But, again, I have to remind myself that it’s temporary discomfort, and that it will get better. This was a measured decision, and one that I knew would be tough here and there. But if it can get me down to a healthier body weight, I’ll take it. No regrets.

I went on a walk on campus and found this treasure. I’ve seen the blueberries before, but never the sign. Let’s just say that I will now be incorporating this little spot on my daily walk every day this month, which is blueberry month out here in the PNW.

OMG, why have I never thought of making falafels in my airfryer? That sounds GREAT!

Air fryers are AWESOME! We use ours constantly. I might have a weakness for gadgets, especially kitchen ones!

This is lots of meals. I did food prep today. The veggies are just roasted broccolini, brussel sprouts, and some chestnut mushrooms. I coated them in olive oil, garlic, and salt. The meats are dry scallops, pan seared, prawns pan fried with cayenne, garlic, and chili powder, the salmon I cooked with my Sous vide and then VERY quickly pan seared it. The brown meat is duck. I made it a bit ago with my Sous vide, I just pan seared it and pulled it apart. OMG it is delectable. It and the salmon are very very tender and moist. The sauces I will put on whenever I feel like I want a smidge more flavor. I’m freezing them flat and then putting them in ziplocks in the freezer so that I can grab a bit at a time for my lunches/dinners. I also have some frozen cauliflower risotto, etc. to mix things up. This should last me a couple of weeks.

This looks WONDERFUL.

Lovely!

AWESOME! When we lived in CA, I was not fit enough to do much hiking/exploring. I’m wanting to go back and see some of the things I missed. I know I won’t be able to really scratch the surface of what there is to see there, it’s huge. But I’d love a week long backpacking trip. It’s so gorgeous. I’m glad you are getting out and enjoying it.

I went backpacking this weekend (I put a real post about it in the fitness/exercise forum). I put more pictures in there but I can’t resist putting a couple in here as well. The first picture is of our campsite, the second is right next to it. There were pika in there! We heard them meeping and saw them a couple of times. They are freaking adorable. It made us giggle each time we heard them. This was a chick trip (TBH, most of my backpacking trips are). My cousin, SIL, and niece went together. It was a blast.

Gorgeous! Is this in the Sierras?

I had my first post-surgery backpacking trip this week. It was GORGEOUS, and only 3.5 miles in. There were some interesting elevation changes, though. For food I mostly ate salmon jerky, cheese sticks, salmon pouches, and almonds here and there. That part was fine. Getting enough fluids in was a real challenge, though. The day before my trip I paid very close attention to my intake, I do struggle to get in my water. On the trail I stopped to get down water mixed with nuun tabs (electolytes). As long as I did that prior to having an issue, it was fine. The trouble I had was on day 3. My ability to stay adequately hydrated for my activity level in those circumstances was problematic. I did it. Nothing bad happened. But it became clear that I HAVE to do a better job hydrating in general, and that I need to be patient with myself as my body continues to change. Now, about the trip. It was GORGEOUS. Serene lake, out near Mt. Hood. The wildflowers were in full bloom. The terrain was varied and interesting. On Friday it was warm enough that we were able to play in the lake. The picture of my yellow tarp tent is from the first night’s camp spot. The first photo and the last two are from night #2’s spot. The rocky terrain looked like the perfect spot for pika, but we thought the elevation was too low for them. We were wrong! There were pika right next to our camp spot, meeping their little hearts out. It was wonderful. Some of the things that I enjoyed about it, after having lost weight: clambering over logs and rocks was MUCH easier, going uphill was way easier (even with the added pack weight), my feet didn’t hurt at all afterwards, and I felt more balanced in general. I’m REALLY excited to keep seeing improvements. Now if I could just get my stomach to be less fussy about getting water in, it would be perfect.

That looks delicious!

This. Being super morbidly obese alone was a medical condition. That I didn’t have any comorbidities was just luck, and as I aged it would become riskier that those conditions would show up. I decided to take care of it now, so that surgery would be less risky, recovery would (hopefully) be easier, and so that I could improve my quality of life NOW, before I started to have issues.

Your bariatric surgery team. Mine has follow up, for years, and if I need to talk to a dietician or psych about stress eating or whatever, I can.

Can you go back to your team for help/support?

I did my food prep. Well, most of it. I sautéed fava beans (no Chianti), chard, and roasted some carrots. All had some garlic, a bit of butter, salt, and pepper. My dad gave me some brook trout that he’d caught, so I cooked them in my Sous vide with thyme, butter, salt, and peppercorns in their cavities. The meat tuned out amazing, so soft! It just pulled away from the bones. The good part about eating very little is that the two little trout will go a very long way. Still to come is duck cooked with my Sous vide. I vaccuum sealed it with thyme, basil, garlic, salt, and peppercorns. It will stay in the fridge tonight, then cook at 155 degrees for 36 hours. I’ve never done this before, so I will report back!

Have you been checked for hyperthyroidism?

At one month I felt pretty good. Now at 7 weeks I’m feeling pretty much myself.

Though if you go with gallbladder now you may need to make something else up in the entirely possible event you might need gallbladder surgery in the somewhat near future. You can always vague it up and go with something like “surgery to address gastrointestinal issues”

Nope, not just you. One of the reasons I’ve been pretty open at work and whatnot about what I had done is that they knew I was going on medical leave for a bit, then I was going to come back and lose weight quickly? They’d either assume I had WLS or they’d think I had some terminal disease. When I said surgery my student workers got all freaked out and assumed there was something majorly wrong. So instead we had the conversation about WLS and obesity while trying to make sure that everything stays body positive. It was way better than having everyone fuss over me because they think I’m dying.

Yep, it’s happening to me as well. I’m no longer as invisible. It’s not that I’m happier or holding myself more confidently, I was prior to weight loss. It’s a thing, and it sucks. Don’t let it mess around in your head too much. People are weird. And no, it’s not right that we are suddenly treated nicer due to our appearance. Everyone has value, and should be treated as such. Im starting therapy next week, and this will be one of the things we discuss, for sure.

I love the row houses! Your spilled ice coffee is sadness incarnate. I would like to see a closer image of your outfit, it looks awesome. So many stripes! Are your shoes allbirds? They look cute and comfy.

Mine was the same. It will kick back in. Look up 3 week stall, it’s a thing.