WLS enables you to break into your house. No, really!

Don't get me wrong: I'm not advocating for weight loss surgery so you can break into a house or otherwise break the law. I'm saying that it helped ME break into MY house last night.

Last night after work I dropped a book off at the library, went to Home Depot to buy some garden soil for my new raised bed, which my husband built for me (thank you!), then to Stop & Shop for a rotisserie chicken--I was craving it for some reason--and a few cold items.

When I got home I drove up on the lawn so I wouldn't have to carry five 50 lb. bags of soil across the lawn to the bed. I took all the soil out of the car, but in the process I heard my keys drop into the trunk. (Not sure why, but I was trying to hold onto them while wrestling with these 50 lb. bags, rather than just putting them down.) Forgetting that I heard my keys drop, I closed my trunk...and then realized my mistake when I heard the trunk hit the keys (they dropped in the well between the trunk and the trunk lid near the trunk hinge). And of course, my trunk release, which is on my car door, doesn't work anymore and hasn't in a couple years.

I tried texting my friend, who has my spare key, but no answer back. I then texted Bob just as an FYI. I thought about breaking into the house through a window, which Bob has had to do it few times. He mentioned trying the seat release (my back seats fold down), but the release is in the trunk, which I couldn't open. I was going to call AAA to have them break into my trunk, but then I figured I'd try the window.

Up until recently, it was difficult to get this window closed 100% (very old house with old windows), so Bob was always able to get in easily. Well, this window wouldn't budge because it's suddenly closing all the way like it should. I got the screen open, but not the window. I had the garden tools out, trying to pry it up, but no luck.

Bob then suggested a different window. It's near the back door and my desk is in front of it. By this time, the cats were gathering at the window, wondering what's going on and why mom isn't using the door. One in particular, Bailey, I knew would be a problem: he's an indoor cat, but once got a taste of the outside and now runs for the door when we come in or go out. My plan was to open the window enough to grab ahold of Bailey and then put him in the car, which I did. But then I realized the hot rotisserie chicken was in there. With a hungry cat. Alone. I promptly grabbed it out of the car and put it on the car roof. Bailey had his paws on the window and looked like he was trying to break out. I then popped open the screen, raised the window (it's old and doesn't lock), and climbed in over my desk. Within five minutes I was in, door unlocked, kitty and chicken safe in the house. It was very easy. A little too easy: it's a bit scary that I was able to break in that easily.

I had to wait until Bob got home to get my keys. He has the spare set and because he works an hour away and was on a double shift, he couldn't come home. But at least I got into the house.

Had this happened before my weight loss surgery, I'm not sure I would've been able to get into the window and climb over everything. I would've had a hard time getting myself up into the window, which was less that waist-high; been in pain from kneeling on the hard surface; and would have worried about the weight-bearing capability of my desk. Last night I was able to move easily, get into the window, kneel on my desk, and not knock anything over. Plus I didn't worry that my weight would break my desk (it's more of a table than a traditional desk). So, yeah, weight loss surgery enabled me to break into my house. 😁 (I wonder how many Google hits I'll get from people searching "how to break into a house"??)

what kind of plants are these?

Due to the surgery, I really haven't gotten outside to do any weeding in the garden so it looks like a jungle out there. Some of the weeds come up without any difficulty, but some of them are hard to pull up, and the pulling motion irritates my healing abdominal muscles. As a result, I have a few plants that I don't recognize, because I normally pull them out before they grow into anything.

Any gardeners out there who can help me identify these plants? I have flowers that came up at the edge of my garden this year and I have no idea that they are. I also have a bush in my garden that produces beautiful magenta flowers every year.

These are about two feet tall right now, maybe a little taller, and they have purple flowers on top of long stems with long, skinny leaves. I think last year I pulled them up before they got this big, thinking they're a weed. I've been Googling, but I haven't had any luck yet.

Here's a closeup, in case the other pic is hard to see.

This is the bush. It's probably about six feet tall and produces these gorgeous flowers in clusters. I'm thinking it's some sort of azalea. It's part of another bush, which I was able to identify:  scentless mock orange. They look very pretty when they're in bloom, as they bloom at the same time.

So, does anyone know what these might be?  I'm keeping a log of the plants and shrubs as I've been able to identify them, either by myself or with help from readers or friends.

small victories

As I've mentioned in other posts, I'm having a very hard time getting back to eating right after the tummy tuck surgery. For some reason, I've been buying a lot of candy the last month or two. Pretty much any chance I get, I buy it. Typically Peanut M&Ms or Justin's Peanut Butter Cups (dark chocolate). Yes, I've had gastric bypass and that usually means sugar affects me. But, as with anything else, I found a way around it:  I eat it in small portions over an hour or so, since I know how many grams of sugar I can handle at once. Not good, since that keeps me in the mindset that eating all this candy is manageable and no big deal. So, I decided to stop buying it. I have other things to work on, too, but I figure one small step with get the momentum going. After all these years I've learned that I can do All The Things at once. It's too much and I get overwhelmed and then just stop altogether.

I'm happy to report that it's been one week and I haven't bought ANY candy! Has it been tough? Most definitely.  Every time I was in the store this week I was browsing the candy rack. But I didn't give in.

Next step?  Possibly moving to grocery delivery so I can't make any impulse food buys. This is another thing that's a big problem for me and always has been.

weekly cookbook project: blueberry muffins

Surprisingly, I've never baked a blueberry muffin in my whole life. Not sure why, since it's probably the most common muffin out there.  I'm thinking it's the high price of blueberries, or maybe always opting to make something with chocolate. That changed this week, though, when I made my first blueberry muffin ever.

I dipped into my King Arthur Flour cookbook again and made their Classic Blueberry Muffin recipe. (I tried to find it online so I could post it, but couldn't.) They have an all-purpose basic muffin recipe that calls for sour cream and a classic recipe that doesn't. Since I didn't have sour cream--no surprise there--I went with the classic recipe.

It was really very easy. Just a matter of rinsing the blueberries and then mashing some of them, then mixing all the ingredients together. These are made like a cake batter, where you cream the butter and sugar first, then add eggs, then alternate flour and milk. I topped each with a little table sugar. The other option was cinnamon sugar, but I didn't feel like making it. I opted for cupcake liners for the pan so I wouldn't have as much cleanup. I was thwarted, though, by all the runny blueberry juice. Oh well. I tried. Actually, the mess isn't that bad--I'm just being lazy. I'm thinking next time I'll spray the whole pan with Bake Easy spray and then put the cupcake liners in. Double protection.

I have to say, it was insanely hard to not grab a hot muffin right from the pan. They were quite delicate because they were so hot and I didn't want to damage them, so I put them on the cooling rack without grabbing even a crumb. I was strong--I made it a whole five minutes before I gave in and grabbed one, which I promptly slathered in butter. They were absolutely delicious and so soft! And they were jam-packed with blueberries.

The sugar content in these was about 16g of sugar according to the recipe. I don't know if that's supposed to include the optional sugar topping, but I thinking not. One whole muffin was a bit much in the sugar department, as I felt a bit queasy for about 20 minutes afterwards (fellow WLS post-ops know what I mean...) But oh man, it was SO worth it! I took another one later on; however, I cut it in half and took about a 10 minute break in between halves. That helped me to not feel queasy.

Just a note:  I realize that I can alter recipes to include more protein, less sugar and carbs, etc., and as a gastric bypass post-op I probably should.  But I'm not super creative when it comes to that. (Kudos to those that are--there are some great websites out there!) I also don't like buying a bunch of alternative ingredients that I may use only once.  Plus, I want to feel that I'm like everyone else. That I can eat regular foods, just in smaller portions. I don't want to alter something that's going to trick my mind into thinking I can eat double because it has half the sugar. Kind of like those 100 calories snacks. They make you feel like you're being virtuous because they're only 100 calories, but then you eat two portions because, really, is one usually enough? Not for me.  

today's breakfast: fried egg on grain toast

As I've mentioned in a couple other posts, I'm really struggling with eating right and not overeating lately. Mostly due to my mindset after surgery, but also due to several losses and other things going on. I've made up my mind that I have to just suck it up and do it, and stop whining about it.  I'm an adult, I can do this.

So, today's breakfast, which is basically my favorite and is very quick and easy, is a fried egg plus one egg white on buttered grain toast. The grocery store had Arnold bread buy-one-get-free, so I grabbed a loaf of Extra Grainy. It makes great toast and grilled cheese, although I try to not make grilled cheese very often--it's very caloric and full of carbs.

As part of getting myself back in the "eating right" mindset, I made a promise to myself that I would not buy any candy while out shopping today. Lately I've been buying peanut M&Ms or Justin's Peanut Butter Cups (these are much better than Reese's--you can get them in dark chocolate, they have a lot less sugar and they just taste better) just about every time I go to a store that has a candy rack.  Not a good thing. I'm happy to say that I went out today and didn't buy any candy AT ALL! I did, however, make a few impulse purchases, but it wasn't junk food.

I'll probably take it easy most of the day, as I'm recovering from some awful lower back pain. I had multiple muscle spasms last Monday and my back is still hurting. But today I can actually walk around without much pain. Most of the week it was a struggle just to carry myself upright. I couldn't work out, because I couldn't walk on the treadmill for more than 10 minutes, and even that was a big struggle. Muscle relaxers, Tylenol, Advil, and even dilaudid (narcotic) didn't help the pain. Dilaudid took the edge off, but that was really it. Last night I pulled out the heating pad. Maybe that's why I feel a little better today. Hopefully I can get back to working out this week.

Thelma: the newest Rainbow Bridge resident

I'm getting really drained having to write these sad posts; this is the third one in eight months. Actually four if you count my dad's passing in March.

After having some recent health issues, which were ultimately diagnosed as kidney failure, we made the decision to say goodbye to Thelma, sister and bookend to Louise.

We adopted Thelma, along with her sister Louise, from the Stratford Cat Project in 2011. SCP had rescued the two of them, along with a few others, from a hoarding situation several years prior. They were about six years old when we adopted them.  (I remember feeling like a rock star when we went to the first SCP event after we adopted them; everyone was thrilled.) The two of them were always together and were very bonded. They slept together, groomed each other, and when we pet one, we had to pet the other one, as they typically came over to us as a pair.

Thelma recently had major dental work, as did Louise. Up until that point--maybe it's just a coincidence--the two of them were still very bonded. After that, however, the bond was broken. They no longer slept together or rubbed on each other. And no longer did they both, together, run up to the back of the sofa to greet us. Thelma retreated to the kitchen, usually hanging out on the counter next to the sink. This is where she spent nearly all of her time, even to eat. Pretty much every morning we would walk into the kitchen to find she had peed on the floor. We're not entirely sure if it was related to her dental issues, or if it started back when we moved into the new house, as we had several cats with behavioral issues the last few years. (With multiple cats, it's sometimes very hard to track down the culprit; I've since discovered that a wireless security camera is great for this.)

The dental work led to a diagnosis of Bartonella, which required 21 days of antibiotics, followed by testing six months after the last antibiotic dose. About one week into the antibiotic cycle, Thelma started acting mopey, didn't seem to want to eat, and started losing weight again. I brought her back to the vet, where they gave her subcutaneous fluids to re-hydrate her.  The vet felt that it was likely related to the antibiotics. When she went for her re-check, she again had to be re-hydrated. At that point, the vet thought she may have kidney issues, as her urine was very diluted, but wanted to wait until Thelma was done with the antibiotics before doing further testing. Thelma went home again and started to improve, but then last week she stopped eating, became very skinny, and was very lethargic. We isolated her in an upstairs bedroom, where she hid under the bed most of the time. I noticed, also, that she hadn't used the litter at all during her time in the bedroom. Unfortunately, she was doing her business under the bed. But that's not her fault.

I took her to the vet again and got the call a couple hours later that her kidney panel showed she was in kidney failure; there's no cure for that. I was given the choice to do immediate treatment, followed by lifelong home treatment, or euthanasia. After taking into account her age, anemia, and current condition, as well as all the information and odds provided by the vet, we decided to euthanize her. Not because we didn't want to deal with lifelong home treatment, or the cost, but because the odds were not good that immediate treatment would even help. And if it did, her home treatment would only prolong her life a bit. We didn't want to put her through that.

It was really heartbreaking, as usual. Everyone at the vet's office was great. We took her home with us and she's buried out in the garden next to Thomas. I'm now looking for a nice little cat statue or memorial stone to place on her grave.

Thelma (AKA Daddy's Big Girl) was a wonderful cat. Although she came from a rough background and never warmed up to being held, she was quite the affectionate kitty. And so, so soft! Every time Louise comes over to visit, I keep looking to see where Thelma is, since two used to be inseparable. She will be greatly missed. I'm glad she got a chance at a normal life and I'm glad that life was with us.

tummy tuck update: three-month anniverary

(Note:  Ignore the funky spacing and off-center pics. Not sure what Blogger is trying to do to me today, but it's being a PITA.)

It's been three months since my tummy tuck. Three long months. Or three short months, depending on how I feel on a particular day.

I went for my almost-three-month checkup with the surgeon on May 19. That went well. She was happy with the results and said it had healed "beautifully."  She took pictures for the file and asked how my workouts were going. She noted that on each hip where the incision ends, I have little puckers of skin. This gets annoying, as they can be sensitive. I'm always on edge when Bob goes to hug me or run has hand down my hip. It bothers me when I wear certain pants, too. It's pretty common for this to happen, though, and she will be able to fix it quickly in an office visit. She told me to come back at the end of the summer and she'll fix it. If it bothers me a lot, I can come earlier, but later in the summer would be best since my healing will be complete by then.

As for my workouts, I'm working out. I went back to my trainer several weeks ago. He took it easy on me, but he's ramping it up now. I started working out on my own also. I started at two days per week on my own, plus one with the trainer. I'm now doing three days on my own.  Soon I'll be back to four days on my own. It's getting easier, although I find I'm winded faster these days. But that will improve as I build up my endurance more.

Weight. Hmmm..my weight.  My weight has gone up about 10 pounds since surgery. There are a few reasons for that.  Most of all it's because I'm just having a difficult time reigning my eating in after pushing so hard prior to surgery. Afterwards it was basically a free-for-all and it's hard to break that mindset.  And some personal things going on have made that harder than usual.  But I'm working on it. If I can stick to somewhere around 1,700 calories a day, I'll lose the extra pounds and get under 200. Although I don't visibly look like I gained weight, the scale doesn't lie and I can feel the difference a few pounds makes.

Clothing has been a bit of a pain. After surgery the only things I could wear comfortably were pajama pants and leggings, provided the elastic waist was loose, stretchy elastic. For a long time I couldn't wear much else because part of my incision was still open and very sensitive, but I can now wear some of my button-and-zipper pants. Jeans are kind of iffy, as they feel scratchy and tight to me. I still wear my compression garment when I wear certain pants, as it helps to eliminate the irritation pants cause my belly button and the ends of my incision on my hips. I really don't need it for anything else. I still swell a bit from time to time, but not so much that I really need the garment. As far as my pants size, I'm still a 16. My waist measurement didn't change; however, with all the extra abdominal skin gone, my pants look and fit better. Do I wish I'd lost a couple sizes? Sometimes. But I'm OK with the fact that I didn't.

Here's the new belly button. It's weird looking to me still, but everyone tells me, "It looks like a belly button." I guess because it's not frowning anymore, it seems like it's weird looking. I've started using scar gel, so it should start looking less red pretty soon.

How do I feel about my new body? I love it. For the first time in my life, I feel confident and not self-conscious. I feel like it looks like a plus-sized model's body looks (although, I think it's pretty stupid that a size 16 is considered plus-sized, and I'm not saying I actually look like a model). I like my shape and my flat belly. I love that I can actually see my feet for the first time. And I can see my whole body when I look down, not just my huge belly. I find, though, that I still act as if my extra skin is there. When I'm washing dishes, I'm usually a little farther away from the sink. When Bob hugs me, I tend to lean in with my upper body only. When I bend over to get something, I tend to spread and bend my legs as though I need to accommodate my extra skin, kind of like a squat. It's weird, and it's taking my mind a little while to catch up.

And as for how I feel physically, I'm almost 100%. It's a long process. I feel like I was over-prepared for the pain during the first week, as it wasn't quite as bad as I thought, whereas I feel I was under-prepared mentally and physically for the long haul.  I feel as though I shouldn't be feeling any weird sensations in my abs, or certain areas shouldn't be sensitive anymore. My trainer keeps telling me, "You're still healing!" I know he's trying to manage my expectations and wants me to go slowly so I don't hurt myself, but it's tough. I want to stop feeling the pulling sensation I get in the same spot in my abs all the time when I turn over in bed, or when I sneeze or cough. I don't want to get tired out so easily when I workout. I'd like for the surface of my skin to not feel so sensitive all the time. But I'm getting there. Before long, I'll start to feel like me again. I just have to remember that I'm only three months out from surgery. In another few months, it will all be just a blip on the radar.

the cost of a rescue cat

Today I want to talk about cat adoption fees. The reason being, people often ask me about the fee charged by the rescue with which I volunteer. The reaction is usually shock. Then they sometimes say that they can get a kitten for free off the street, from a friend, etc. So, I want to explain why, in general, adoption fees exist.

This is going to be long and soapbox-y, so bear with me...

I volunteer with the Stratford Cat Project ("SCP"), a volunteer-run no-kill cat rescue. It's not a shelter, but rather a network of foster homes that care for rescued cats and kittens until they can be adopted. I don't volunteer as much as I used to since I've moved to another part of the state, but I try to help out when I can. People often ask me cat questions, which I try to answer; however, the most often-asked question is, "how much is the adoption fee?" I always inwardly cringe, because I always get the same reaction--shock. I then quickly explain why the fee is what it is, usually in a defensive manner because it frustrates me so much that people don't realize there's work and money that goes into taking in, caring for, and adopting out a cat.

Our rescue charges $150.00 for a kitten, and $125.00 for a cat (one year old or older). This is less than what it costs the rescue for each animal, which totals more than $200.00 per kitten and a bit less for a cat. However, this does not take into account any newly discovered, pre-existing or developing health issues, any catastrophic occurrences that require more vet care (such as being hit by a car, having a broken limb, etc.; many animals come to us in really rough shape and the stories are very sad). As you can see, the rescue makes no money off the adoption fee. And the cost I just mentioned is WITH a discount from the rescue's vet. If you were to take a kitten off the street and go to your vet, the cost would be at least double what the rescue pays.

Can you get free kittens or cats? Of course you can. They're all over the place: ads are on Craigslist or posted on community boards in pet stores; Facebook friends have kittens they need to offload, because they didn't spay their female cat (don't even get me started on that one...), or they have a friend who has a box of kittens that was dumped off on their doorstep; sometimes they're just walking along the street or they show up on your doorstep and "adopt" you. If you're lucky you'll end up with a kitten that is a little bundle of joy, is social, and doesn't have any illnesses or behavioral issues. If you're unlucky, you'll get one that's anti-social or even feral; one that's scared of its own shadow; has feline leukemia or any other illness that gives the appearance of normal; might be flee- or tick-infested; might be sick with an upper respiratory infection or conjunctivitis; might have some serious behavioral issues; or may have the dreaded ringworm fungus. While ringworm is not life-threatening, it is labor intensive to get this fungus cleared up and then disinfect your home. This is how many cats and kittens end up at rescues and shelters, as people generally don't have the patience and/or money to deal with these things.

By adopting a cat or kitten from a rescue, you're typically getting an animal that is up to date on all its vaccinations; has had testing to ensure its disease-free; has had its health issues addressed, if necessary; has been loved and cared for by many volunteers, thus it had typically been socialized well (although there will always be ones that are more timid by nature); and has been spayed or neutered (SCP does not allow the cat or kitten to be adopted out until it has been spayed or neutered).

I'm not saying that all cats and kittens don't deserve to be rescued or that you shouldn't rescue them--they do and you should. What I'm saying is that if you are looking to adopt a cat from a rescue, don't gripe about the adoption fee. The money you pay to the rescue helps to offset--not completely cover--the high cost of vaccinations, testing for disease, spaying or neutering, feeding and housing that cat/kitten until it's time to adopt it out, any necessary medications, and the time that goes into evaluating, monitoring, caring for, and socializing that little ball of fur.   

One other thing I want to say: if you adopt a cat or kitten, give it time to acclimate to your house, family and other pets. This doesn't happen in one day! I see so many people post online that they brought the cat back to the rescue because it was hiding under the bed all day after being in the new home for only a day. (One day! That's not even enough time for ME to adjust to the cat, left alone the cat to adjust to us and our house.) Sure, some will adjust very quickly, usually kittens. Others take a little longer. And still others, even longer. One of my cats took a full three weeks to feel comfortable enough to venture into other parts of the house by herself, and another week or two to fully acclimate to my house. Was it frustrating? Yes. Did I occasionally feel like it would never happen? Yes. But that's how it goes sometimes. And keep in mind, the cat or kitten you're seeing in those first weeks isn't always the cat it will end up being; those first weeks are tough not only for you, but for her, too. If you don't have the patience to deal with this, or don't want to deal with this, then you might want to skip getting a cat.

Hopefully I've helped you (the general "you") understand why rescues charge what they charge for adopting a cat or kitten. In general, this fee is not even covering the most basic vet expenses associated with each animal, let alone the more complex vet services, medicines, food and their time. In other words, they're not "making money by selling cats."

These are the kitties I adopted from SCP over the last few years.

This is Marty. He loves belly rubs and is very affectionate. I wouldn't have guessed he would turn out like this when we first got him, as he took a little while to acclimate. Even today, six months later, he still runs as we approach him sometimes. But then he comes right back; he's a little weird. LOL

Tiffany took no time at all to acclimate. She took the stance that she's the new queen bee of the house and just went with it.

Leia took the longest of them all to get used to us and the house. Although she was in a busy foster home with people in and out all the time, she was a little freaked out by the new surroundings. It took her a good three weeks before she would come out of her bedroom and down the stairs, and then another couple weeks to really feel at-home. There were times when I was ready to call SCP and say it wasn't working out. But I stuck with it because I knew what she was like before. Today, she's a pretty social kitty and loves chest rubs--chest rubs make her coo like a pigeon. As you can see, she's not exactly a lady...

This is Louise (above) and her sister Thelma (below). They are sisters. They came from a hoarding situation and were two of the few cats (out of more than 80) that were able to be saved. They were in SCP for several years before we adopted them. Strangely enough, they had no problems acclimating to the house. It's been about five years and, to this day, they really don't care for the other cats in the house. They're social with us, but not the cats. Although there are a couple they will tolerate.

weekly cookbook project: oatmeal raisin muffins

I'd said at the beginning of the year that I was going to commit to making one recipe per week from one of my cookbooks; I have a bunch of them and I never really use them.  I was going fine up until my tummy tuck surgery at the end of February. I knew there would be a few weeks where I was out of commission, but I didn't think it would take me almost three months to get back into the swing of things. To be fair, my incision opened up a bit and was quite sensitive for many weeks, my dad died, and then I was sick for over two weeks. So, here I am. It's almost the end of May and I haven't cooked much at all in the last few months.

I was aiming for a recipe for which I had all the ingredients, or nearly all of them. And I wanted a recipe that would make use of a few ingredients that I've had on hand for awhile and just haven't used. In this case it was rolled oats and raisins. I flipped through my King Arthur Flour's Baker's Companion book and found a recipe for oatmeal muffins--raisins optional. It looked really easy and the only thing I needed to buy was buttermilk. And I HATE buying buttermilk. It always seems way overpriced and the carton is way bigger than what I need and will use. But I went for it anyway. Luckily I found a quart container for $1.69, which was a bargain compared to some others I've seen. And if I had to dump the rest, I wouldn't feel like I'd wasted a bunch of money. Worse comes to worse, I can make banana cupcakes or buttermilk pancakes and freeze them.

So, this recipe was super simple. You just put the rolled oats and buttermilk in a container to soak overnight and then the next day you dump in all the other ingredients, stir, fill the muffin pan and bake for 18-20 minutes.  The recipe stated a yield of "12 generous-sized muffins." That tells me nothing. My muffin pans are all standard size, but they certainly didn't look like they would yield a "generous-sized muffin," So, I checked the back of the book, which has a "Tools" chapter. It mentioned the depth of the wells in the muffin pan and according to what it said, the recipe would be too much for my pans. No big deal--I simply got 17 smaller muffins instead of 12 bigger ones. And, actually, that worked out better for me. The smaller size meant I could eat a whole muffin without making me feel stuffed or overloading me with sugar.

I like these muffins. The texture is a little on the chewier side, which I actually like. I can taste the buttermilk and the raisins are very plump, although they pretty much settled at the bottom for the most part.  My only complaint is that I couldn't detect the pieces of oatmeal. I tasted it, but the oats themselves disappeared. If I make these again, I plan to soak the oatmeal for a shorter period of time. Maybe I'll put them in to soak in the morning and then cook them in the early afternoon.

The nutritional content is as follows based on the number of muffins I got out of it (17):  112 calories, 13g sugar, 4g fat, 19g carbs, and 2g protein. Bigger muffins would have been about 160 calories. Obviously these will be tough to eat for someone who can't have a lot of sugar, but they fall right in the sweet spot (no pun intended!) for me. No, I shouldn't be eating them, but this is how I live post-WLS life--in moderation and including treats now and then.

back to the trainer i go!

Thursday night was my first session with my personal trainer since my surgery in February.

I worked out Tuesday and Wednesday, despite the sore muscles. Same routine as Monday:  20 minutes of walking on the treadmill, followed by three sets of 20 squats, 20 lunges, and 10 dumbbell presses with 10 pound dumbbells. It was a tiny bit easier this time around, but I was pretty tired when I was done. As expected, Monday's post-workout muscle soreness had fully set in by Wednesday and I was VERY sore!  My legs were sore in general, but my quads were really sore. So much so that it was a project to use the toilet. I made sure to use the handicapped stall, because it has railings I could use to lower myself down.  I am SO glad that I started working out on my own earlier in the week. I got the worst of the soreness over with and it got me back into the mindset to workout.

When I went to the trainer Thursday night, he had a ton of questions about how the surgery went, what they did, how I felt afterwards, how I feel now, my range of movement, etc.  He started me off with a warm-up:  three sets of jogging in place, jumping jacks, and very slow mountain climbers. Mountains climbers weren't hard, but I definitely wasn't able to do them the proper way. He then had me do four sets of lunges, with each set being three complete round trips across the studio.  Next were three sets of 10 squats holding a 5 pound weight. I then did three sets of 10 sumo squats with a 15 pound kettle bell. Finally, it was three sets of lateral pull-downs with a very light weight (not sure what it was). I honestly didn't feel anything in my abs until it was time to do the lateral pull-downs. My squads and thighs were killing me, but that's it. The pull-downs weren't difficult, but they tired me out and my abs were sore. Actually, it wasn't pain, really. It felt like a punching when I pulled down on the bar, and like I was being stretched out when bringing the bar back up. After that I was done for the night. He gave me A LOT of rest periods, but I was still pretty beat.

Basically, I'm pretty much starting from almost the beginning again. He estimates it will take me at least a month or more to get back to where I was before surgery. For now, he wants me to work out only three days a week. It will give me plenty of recovery time and will help me to slowly get back up to speed. He didn't make me do any squat jumps (thank you!!), since those bother me right now. It's the combination of jumping up and reaching up with my arms at the same time, I think. And no push-ups. (Darn....)  He said we'll try a push-up in a few weeks once I've gotten back into the swing of things and my ab muscles are healed a bit more. Knowing how I felt last week doing that one push-up, I'm already pretty nervous for the day when he has me try again. Logically, I know I'm not a fragile flower and I'm pretty well healed, but I can't help but worry that doing a push-up will tear apart my surgically repaired ab muscles. It won't--it's just me being a big ol' baby.  And I have to get over it if I want to move forward.