KidaandRoux

On the metro

Had a great brunch with the Mr. yesterday. didn't get a picture with shoes, but thought they deserved to be acknowledged. @ms.sss Dress from Venus. Then went swimming. My friend too the one picture.

As you all know i'm from the south. I have a pretty good selection of Castiron cookware that's been handed down for generations. (black pot with shrimp spaghetti in it is from my Great-grandma)..., I would guess the age to be between 75-100 years old. My husband loves cooking in them all. So i decided to help start his own collection... Father's day 12qt roaster w/reversible lid, 13" pan for cooking his lasagna, 2.5qt sauce pot and a 1qt. He loved them.

I still wear mostly black but today I added a pop of color (mainly because I’m cold)

New summer dress. I love being able to walk in to a boutique and know the clothes will fit me!

So, I got to wear my first romper today! I’ve never worn one before because I was too self conscious. Today I actually wore it out with wedges. When I bought it, it was too tight. :)

Out on my first date post separation and pending divorce. We’re getting drinks and visiting a farmer’s market. Probably should have picked a dress, but the sidewalks in the area are known to be real ankle breakers.

One of my kids had a friend over so I was gonna order pizza buuuut, the pizza place wasn’t delivering because they were short on staff SO I did what I do and made pizza, crust and all. I also made brownies loaded with butterscotch, milk chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate and white chocolate confetti chips mixed in. Boy were they sugary. I think next time I’ll just mix in a few chocolate chips and some pretzel pieces. ?‍♀️ Who knows, I haven’t made a plain brownie in years.
Anyway, this was the first bite into 2 of the same size slices of pizza and boom, full.

I was craving pizza and had some necessary ingredients in the kitchen. This is by no means “healthy” but it did satisfy the craving with much fewer calories.
1 low carb tortilla, 3 tbsp pizza sauce, a handful of shredded mozzarella (I like the tumaros tortillas)

I finally showed my before and after photos on facebook. I was very, very scared. I had told a lot of people - but some didn't know. I had never EVER showed a full body picture like that. From the side at that! Anyways, on the left: I was a miserable 369lbs. SUPER unhealthy, probably headed to death. I doubt very seriously I could make it past 400. My body would probably just give out. I was already struggling to breathe doing simple tasks/walking up stairs. ANYWHO, the right was a shot taken by my beautiful momsicle on Mother's Day just last weekend. Ignore my "suns in the eyes" face. I am over 120lbs lost from February 27th, 2020 to now. I finally am under 250lbs and I am just floored. Of course, I won't lie. It's been a struggle.
Currently, my biggest challenge has and still is - dumping. In the beginning, for the first 8 months, I threw up every. single. day. I realized ice cream, fried foods, steak - out of the question. Buffets were a waste. Most every meal I got out, was a waste. It made people feel bad at first because I would stop eating after 3 bites. I had to constantly remind people that I didn't mind if they ate! I got accepted into nursing school and reverted back to some old habits. Sugary coffees (which made me dump like HELL), chicken nuggets, fries...Anything I could stuff in my mouth "on the go". I would pay the price, but I wasn't puking after every single meal. So I thought I was in the clear. Earlier this year, I started to have tremendous abdominal pain. Spasms that took my breath away. After numerous tests, it was concluded that I had severe IBS with constipation and diarrhea. After talking to my NP at the weight loss place, we decided to try more plant-based alternatives. I'll admit, I was skeptical and very upset because this girl LOVES a nice juicy steak! But, I have noticed my symptoms are near non-existence when I eat beans, (wild) rice, whole grains, some fruits, and almost any veggie. I take it light with caffeine as that is a trigger, but I do still consume some.
Suffice to say, this has been the hardest battle I have ever fought in my entire life. I continue to fight it. I continue to struggle with choices about food. I've learned to not limit myself completely. If I want a cookie, I'll eat half. I don't starve myself. I just don't overindulge like I used to. It seems to be working as I have lost a ton of weight. I plateau, but it's going. I just want to be an advocate for anyone considering the surgery and will answer ANY questions! I want to also be your cheerleader if you have already had the surgery. I can't promise it won't be hard, but I will promise it will be worth it to look at yourself in the mirror and have self-esteem again! I am actually OK with people taking full body pictures now! Insane! I am waiting for my weight to be stable to get skin surgery, but baby steps!
#AMA

Coming up on 2 years post op and life has never been better. The gastric sleeve opened up a world to me that i thought would never exist. Ive learned so much about health, nutrition and exercise, that i wouldnt have if i didnt take the first step with the sleeve. I have a healthy relationship with foods now. I try to keep myself to the 80/20 rule. But i probably am closer to 90/10. Make good choices 80% of the time, and enjoy some of my favorite things the other times. Its funny tho, a lot of my favorites have no become healthy choices. So that makes life easier. I started this journey first just focusing on losing the weight. So for the first year i ran a lot and set a goal to run a half marathon. i completed that last may and then began to switch my focus to putting on muscle. This was hard because it meant i had to up my calories which for anyone in our situation, is a scary thing. So i bought a WHOOP strap and really dialed in how many calories i was burning and spoke with my nutritionist about a plan to get where i wanted to go. (whoop strap is apparently the most accurate fitness tracker out right now and ive found that my apple watch says i burn 800 more calories then the whoop says. just a heads up. IT wasnt easy but ive been doing it and got on a great routine. My lowest weight was 208. i now hover between 225-230. i weigh every few weeks but dont get too obsessed with the scale anymore. i know that if i stay within my calories that im fine. Its been a process and i had to learn a lot. it wasnt all easy but 110% worth it. This surgery opened a whole new life for me. I am extremely greatful.

Trying to fall in love with protein shakes again (It’s too hot to eat ?) It tasted like a Starbucks Frappuccino
*not shown was 2 oz of water, 4 oz of almond milk & 4 oz of ice

Ok if y’all don’t have an H‑E‑B grocery store then I wish y’all did. It has amazing store brand items.
Their cauliflower crust pepperoni pizza-I added mushrooms. I ❤️mushrooms!!
This is so good. I’m not a huge pizza person but when we do pizzas I don’t eat the ones the rest of my fam does so I get this for myself. So good!!
Plus in a paper plate-NO DISHES AFTERWARDS! Win win!!

Because today I’m apparently eating like a hobbit, I present second breakfast!
2 eggs, a cup shredded fresh spinach, 1/4 cup onions, 1/4 cup tomatoes, 1/4 cup snow peas, 2tbsp roasted red peppers, 1tsp garlic, topped with 2tbsp cheddar cheese and black truffle salt.
Total comes to 248 calories and 19g of protein for the whole thing. I’ll maybe eat the rest later.

The amount I can eat (four years out) varies hugely. I fast 22/24 three days a week and 16/8 or 18/6 the other four days and I’m v low carb/Keto and absolutely no damn sugar at all! Sugar been gone about six weeks this time. Lowest weight 8 stone 2, highest 10 stone 10 about 6 weeks ago! Dropped 12lbs so now 9 stone 12 (137llbs)
feel so good! Sugar is the devil for me!
food pics are air fried thighs and aubergine/courgette mix and a chaffles (pancake made from egg and cheese) with fried pek (Keto friendly chopped pork) and mushroom and a slice of emmenthal.
I have a ninja foodi 9 in one - pressure, air, steam, bake, sauté, grill etc! And I use it most days. In love with ma foodi!

Nothing exciting. Same ole same ole salad. Added spinach which is at the bottom. It’s the same ole but it’s my absolute fav! Lounging in my recliner w this (blanket the bowl is laying on)
I have a cold ? so I’m kinda nibbling at it.

110 lbs lost. Sitting at 184.

Did you roast your radishes? I love them roasted and they look similar to how I’d roast mine.

Oh. Cool. Somehow I got these pictures to post.. Now I took the first pic to see if I liked that color lip gloss on me lol. That's why I have no other makeup on. As you can see, I have some bags under my eyes (they run in my family), and they are more prominent since I lost weight. I can also see lines under my eyes that weren't there before, but overall, I don't think it's too bad considering I've lost almost 150 pounds. I don't know how it will look when I get to goal though..that's another 60 or so. It's hard to see my loose neck skin here, but it's there. The other 2 pics are from last month. I try to take a picture of my progress every month. With clothes on, it's not really obvious that I have loose skin on my thighs or stomach.

Sent from my Nokia 7.2 using BariatricPal mobile app

OMG yay you!!!! [emoji471]

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Asian style tofu with string beans and rice (BFs plate vs my plate as I despise rice ?)

I DO TWIRL! And, you are right... a woman of any status, race or creed are to be celebrated. I am married, but do not have children. You can also be diminished if you aren't like most couples with children. That's okay, though - Bobby, Mr. and Mrs. Sophie make a happy fun family! As does MISS. Fab and fantastic Arabesque, our down under BEAUTY!
I think I'd love just the cake with no frosting,
cream or sauce.

I think this will be the last of the charcuterie boards I will be making for a while as this is the last of the cheese and meats from last week's delivery.
Grilled up some shrimp on the BBQ and made up a plate of "caprese salad" sans basil as the grocery was out of it (but is it really caprese without basil??? lol)
Anyhoo, I ate one skewer of shrimp, one tomato-cheese slice, some blue cheese, some asiago cheese, 7 crackers & bit of fig jam: 508 calories (and 6oz of rosé before hand, +125 calories)

I needed a dish to take to a party and wanted something that I could have too. I found this recipe for a 7 layer Greek Dip... not really 7 layers but oh well... It was really yummy! I served it with cucumber slices for me and pita chips for whomever.
https://www.thelazydish.com/easy-greek-hummus-dip/

Tofu Korma w/ rice and spinach (this is my BFs plate, I don’t eat rice) I found the sauce at Aldi and it’s good but not spicy enough for me

Hey December surgery people! Our group hasn't posted much lately, I'm hoping it's because of all the success and lifestyle changes. I've made a few friends and one that I text with regularly that we continue to push each other and to hold ourselves accountable. My story has been met with highs, lows, weight loss walls and amazing success. I'm -122.2 lbs since I started the journey 1/1/20 and -73.1 lbs since surgery 12/2/20. My weight loss has certainly slowed in the recent month or 2, but overall it's trending in the right direction. I'm still not able to eat solid red meat (steak) and regular milk without severe stomach aches, but overall the experience has been life changing and worth every second of effort I've made. Does anyone else have some stories to share from our surgery month of December 2020?
Jason