dole dippers...yum!

Lately I've been craving cold things:  ice cream, Italian ice, ice water, etc.  Ice cream is something I haven't had since surgery, mainly because of the sugar content.  Plus, I just don't really crave sweets anymore.  I've been wanting something frozen, though.

When I went grocery shopping last week I saw something in the freezer isle that seemed to be a good compromise:  Dole Dippers.  It's frozen chocolate covered bananas or strawberries.  The sugar content is doable for me (all post-ops are different) and since it's fruit, it's not completely in junk food territory. They were on sale for $3.50 a box (not a sale in my book!) so I bought one of each.  There are six packs with four pieces per pack in each box.

I tried the strawberries first.  Just gotta say, these things are tiny!  I don't know what I was expecting considering my past experience with diet foods and serving sizes, but I was surprised nonetheless.  The strawberries are halves, not whole berries, so that was a little disappointing.  And there's only four of them in a single serve package.  BUT there's only 60 calories, 4g fat, 6g carbs, 4g sugar, and a tiny bit of protein. (That won't break the calorie bank.)  I put them in my tiny little bowl so I don't get chocolate all over my fingers. Putting them in the tiny bowl made me sad to see how small the serving was.

So, how do they taste?  Yummy!  Just like you'd expect a frozen chocolate covered strawberry to taste.  Chocolate-y, sweet, refreshing, and very cold.  I really enjoyed these and it completely satisfied my craving for a frozen treat.

Would I buy them again?  If I was feeling lazy and didn't want to make my own, yes.  Or if they were on sale for $3.00 or less per box.  Otherwise, I think they're a bit pricey for what you get.

getting back on track

It’s been about eight months since surgery and I’m down a total of 120 pounds!  I wasn’t even expecting that.  With the move going on, and all the chaos that ensues afterwards, I haven’t been weighing myself or watching my diet too closely.  I was shocked when I got on the scale this morning and I was down 7 pounds since I weighed myself a few weeks ago.  I weighed myself three times in a row, because I thought maybe the scale was wrong.  I live in an old house and the floors are uneven.  Uneven floors can cause a scale to read incorrectly.

I decided to go back and review my blog posts to see what I said my next goal would be and when I’m supposed to reach it.  I said that I would lose 43 pounds, which would bring my weight to 200 pounds, by October 1.  Since I only have a little over a month until the deadline, I’m thinking I won’t make it.  Although if I closely monitor my diet and exercise, I might be able to do it.  I need to stop eating all the crap that coworkers bring in to work.  Seems like a never-ending stream of food coming into this place.  Between birthdays (3 in the last two weeks!); celebrations for Cinco de Mayo, Memorial Day, Labor Day, etc.; coworkers bringing in food they don’t want or didn’t like; and people treating the office to bagels, it seems like there’s outside food at least twice a week.  Given that I’m unhappy and bored at my job, all I want to do is eat.  I find myself wandering into the break room and eating things I wouldn’t normally eat because I’m bored and I want a distraction.  That’s getting me into trouble, because it’s making me crave other things.  And it also caused me to have my first dumping episode, which I save for another post.

So, over the next five weeks I am going to make a big effort to get myself back on track.  Yes, I’m still losing weight, but I’m falling into bad habits and that’s not a good thing for the long term.  Who knows?  Maybe I’ll lose 23 pounds in that time.  Wish me luck!

today's breakfast and lunch

My weight has been holding steady lately.  Not a bad thing, but I'm missing the fast weight loss.  It's mainly due to the move, lack of preparation, and not keeping a food journal.  So, I am going to change that this week.  I spent some time on Sunday cutting up cheese, measuring out peanuts, and just getting back into the post-op frame of mind.

One of the most important things to do is to measure my food.  That's something I've been getting cocky about lately.  Lazy, too.  I figure, "I've lost 115 pounds so I must be doing something right!  I know how much I'm supposed to eat and I know what a portion looks like!"  Not really.  I'm better at guesstimating than I was pre-op, but I still find myself thinking that 1 ounce of peanuts fills a sandwich bag.  Uh, no. Not even close.  Then I think, "But I don't want to pull the scale out and measure!  I'm too busy watching TV/sitting on the patio/staring at the wall!"  That's getting me into trouble.

The other issue is preparing ahead of time, which I've been really bad about since moving.  Probably because I don't feel fully settled yet and have some kitchen storage issues.  I know.  Excuses, excuses.  Having to eat Walmart egg rolls for breakfast twice in one week clued me in to the fact that I've been lazy.

So here's today's breakfast and lunch, which I measured AND entered in my food journal.

Upper left, pink square:  1 ounce dill Havarti cheese

Upper right, purple rectangle:  3 ounces grilled chicken (Perdue Short Cuts) with Borsari seasoned salt (LOVE this stuff!)

Lower right, pink square:  1 ounce of dry roasted peanuts (definitely doesn't fill a sandwich bag)

Lower left, pink rectangle:  1/2 cup lowfat cottage cheese, 1/2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 TB unsweetened coconut

i'm famous!

Not really, but I like to think I am.

My bariatric surgeon's office recently requested patient pictures and post-op stories, so I submitted mine.  It got published on Facebook and their website a couple weeks ago.

Here's the link if anyone is interested:  August Patient of the Month

Oh, I'm down about 115 pounds as of today. :)  Holding steady, which means I have to kick it up a notch now.

KIND bar: dark chocolate chili almond

Last weekend I went up to my dad's house for our annual picnic.  I had to run to the store to get some chips and soda (not for me!) so I decided to see if there were any diet-friendly snacks for me.  I'm always on the lookout for something new and/or different, so I always talk a walk down the isles that contain organic or natural foods, protein bars and shakes, and snacks.

I recently discovered KIND bars, so I usually look for those first.  They're pretty good.  I make sure I buy the ones that are lower in sugar and higher in protein. I want to snack, but I don't want to eat "junk."  I found a display of KIND bars at the store.  I bought one called Dark Chocolate Chili Almond.  I love dark chocolate and almonds, I like the flavor of chili powder, and I love the idea of combining sweet and savory. Also, it had only 5g sugar and 6g of protein.

I really enjoyed this bar.  It was slightly sweet due to the dark chocolate and had some heat from the chili powder.  At first I thought, "This is pretty wimpy."  I didn't feel any heat or taste any chili powder.  But as I ate another bite and then another, the heat crept up on me and my mouth was burning a little.  Not an awful burn, but a pleasant heat that let you know it's there.  I didn't really taste chili powder, which I was happy about.  I think it was enough to have to heat of it without the flavor.

Bottom line:  I would buy this again.  Definitely.

I checked the KIND website and apparently they have other bars that combine sweetness with spices.  I'll have to check the store next time I go in.

the week(s) in review

Wow!  I didn't realize it's been so long since I posted.  It's been a pretty hectic two weeks with trying to unpack, get the house into order, figure out the well water situation, get the dryer installed, figure out the power situation, etc.  The list goes on.

***Holy cow!  Louise is racing around like a maniac!  That means she pooped in the litter box.***

It's amazing how quickly I've started to feel like this is "home."  In my last house I was there 18 years and it was only the last few years that I felt it was home.  (I was still attached to the town I grew up in.)  But it's been only two weeks and this just feels like home.

I've been sitting out on the patio a lot; I love the property and just want to look at it all the time.  And it's like National Geographic here.  We've got a hawk in the trees, we found a family of newborn mice in the barn, there was a bat in the house one night (yes, a bat!), we've heard coyotes in the distance, lots of birds and crickets, frogs in the pond, ducks in the neighbor's yard, deer, and something raced across the lawn the other night.  Not sure what that was and I probably don't want to know.

My eating has improved now that I'm back to work.  I'm no longer living off cold pizza, although I have yet to cook a meal.  Still feeling a bit unorganized in the kitchen.  I have limited storage in the kitchen and I'm trying to figure out how to fit all my baking pans and other items so I don't have to toss them.  I'm thinking shelving.

Good news:  I lost a couple pounds over vacation, which brings my total to 114 pounds. :)