Sunday, February 28, 2010

OMG~~~>muscles

OUCH MY GROANING ~~~> muscles. This morning i did the complete Strength Training workout on my wii fit, and every muscle in my body is burning...... especial my core center. I also did15 minutes of Cardio. it is a great workout for me right now, and it is also great entertainment for Katie as she sits on the couch and laughs at me trying my damnest to balance on one leg, Graceful i am not :-P, but who cares:::

I had a wonderful time at McKeever, and i was able to make my own shakes in the AM, reheat my own prepared lunches, and both Dinners worked for me. i must admit i did end up bring back up my last lunch, i just assumed i could eat it, so i didn't prepare for that meal.. it was tomato soup and grilled cheese, i tore the sandwich up and put it in my soup...but i didn't wait long enough for it to soften as much as it should have, and we actually ate 90 minutes earlier than normal. ( i seem to tolerate foods better from Noon on). As the Nurse i didn't do as much hiking/walking as i could have because i have to stay in one place while several groups go out on the trails, they also did an afternoon hike, but i couldn't do that either. :(, i did manage to keep myself moving and did my squats and lunges in the Nursing Office. on Friday i walked over 4 miles according to my pedometer. I took my own snacks, of Prunes and Sunflower seeds, and I even shared my prunes with my buddy Dave one of the teachers. I so love that place, i plan on going for many more years if they'll take me.

have i mentioned SNOW yet? well we are having snow, and snow and more snow........ it doesn't bother me, and it is so beautiful......... but even i a die hard WINTER lover, is ready to see, hear, and smell signs of Spring...... not long now
Tomorrow i have Carley, and i also have plans to hopefully get a tooth pulled out. it is the tooth farthest back in my mouth, on the top left side.... the filling came out a year ago........ but honestly i didn't want to take the funds to fix it, first off Bill was on strike and second every available dollar went to get Andrews mouth fixed.... i don't want a root canal, i have a very tiny mouth, and plenty of teeth....... hey i didn't say i had a quiet mouth, just a small one....... ;0).
Christina offered to take me just in case I have bleeding issues or light headiness issues...... never even thought about that.
well i think i am going to go and read a while..... my tooth is really bothering me..........

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

TWO POUNDS

I'd like you to meet my trainer "Georgie", I started my Wii fit + on Feb 16 which was last Tuesday. so i guess i'll post my weight Tuesday mornings on the blog, to help me stay accountable, if i don't then ask me why i didn't post....... so i dropped 2 lbs this week. :0) I am more than happy with that...... i mean if i continued to drop 7 and 8 lbs a week like when i first had my last adjustment...... well then that would not be healthy! my doctor said once i get used to the adjustment i should realistically lose 1 to 2 lbs a week, and that is what i plan to do.
I must say the workout can be very difficult, for instance they have a hula hoop cardio game, and you think you are playing....... and playing,... and playing......... and then all the sudden your lateral abs, are screaming......... hey this isn't play. and they have a boxing game, and a bird flying game,......... and and and...... OUCH!!! my muscles are feeling it :)
I go to work today at 4 pm....... so this morning i am cooking, packing, washing laundry and getting ready to go to McKeever with our school district http://www.mckeever.org/ I already read the menu, and know every meal we will be eating ~ i am not even going to pretend that i can eat pizza, chicken nuggets, french fries, grilled cheese........ breakfast's are out of the question too..... i have my shakes, my frozen berries, and my Flaxseed cold pressed oil.... i'll prob pre make them, and just grab the shake in the morning. I plan on making my fish for two lunches, and maybe chicken for one of them....... dinners i may be able to work with to an extent.... one meal is a turkey dinner..... one meal is baked chicken......
I won't be able to do my wii, but i may take my bands, and heck Johnny taught me i can take squats and lunges and push ups with me where ever i go. i also started wearing my Pedometer again.........for this week i am not "trying" to add steps, i am just doing what i normally do, and see how many steps i do in my "normal routine"......... then next week i'll try to increase a little!!
Well i really should get my butt moving....... gotta drink 24 oz of water before my watch goes off again for my next meal, and i haven't even started yet. have a Chicken in the rotisserie, ....
I doubt that i will get on again as there is no service at camp, and i leave so early tomorrow morning........ i'll touch base when i get back.
Have a great week

Friday, February 19, 2010

my Greatest Accomplishment~

No doubt my greatest accomplishment in life happen to be these three Kids, Sammy, Andrew and Katie. Tonight was the sweater hop dance, and the classes pick freshmen to escort the seniors.... both Sammy and Andrew were selected to be on the court..... They are growing up so fast, and i am enjoying the adults they are becoming. Katie of course picked out the sweaters for both brothers....... i think she did a good job. I am blessed...... i am blessed !!!!

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

My plan / my menu / my stats

things are going well for me, and I am finding that i am starting to get more consistant writing down everything in my "Dietminder". this week i've also decided to try something different for me, instead of the end of the day writing everything down that i eat..... i plan my menu the night before or during my breakfast "shake". This way i can look in advance see how my protein numbers are and my calorie number, and i can add or subtract as i need. AND if i stray off my meal plan, i can erase and add.......but i find the last couple days it is nice not thinking about what i should eat, i just look in my dietminder and know what i need to eat. for instance this morning i precooked everything..... and have my lunch packed and ready to go for this evening.
today:
Breakfast:
1% milk 6 ounces
protein powder
raspberries 1 cup
Cold packed Flaxseed oil 1 TBS
added fiber 10grams

set watch for 3 hours:

Lunch:
Gilled Tilapia 4 ounces
Broccoli Cheese Soup 3/4 cup *Christina's soup
2 Tbs of light shredded cheddar * added to soup on top
Dark Chocolate Pomegranit 1/2 serving

set watch for 3 hours.

Dinner:
Grilled Lemon Rosemary Chicken 4 ounces * Patti's recipe
Lettuce/ Tomatoes/ Spinich leaves/Arugula
LF individual cheese 3/4 oz.
Red wine/Olive oil Drsg * meme Glady's recipe

set watch for 3 hours

Snack:
Prunes 1/4 cup
Choc Mouse sugar free 2 ounces

I weigh and measure everything

Calories are approx :1155
Protein is approx: 107 grams

and if you all promise not to laugh...... i started using the Wii fit + to increase my activity level until i can regularly get out on the trails. again don't laugh unless you've tried it.... my muscles feel like i've worked out with johnny, or when i tried the Firm video's a few times years ago. Yesterday i did Cardio and Strength Training, and Abdominal. Today i did 45 minutes of steady Cardio activities. it's cool how most of the strength exercises are Lunges and Squats, something that Johnny incorporates with every workout. The balance board scale is right on track with the doctors scale in regards to my weight...... and it will keep track if i want it to as my weight drops or goes up. i picked the boy trainer for the exercises........cause Jillian has just annoyed me lately. besides my little wii guy reminds me of my brother Johnny :0).
Well i am going to get a bath, get dressed and head to work..... that is if i can talk this very sore body into moving..... have a great day today

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Baby Paige

With this baby's mama's permission, a crop, and a blackout around the face, i am able to post this picture of this very precious baby. I LOVE BABY FEET! I love this baby...... please understand i love my many many babies, i just happen to see this little peanut more. After all, this is Christina's beautiful granddaughter.
Paige is such a joy to be around, there is something about this little girl. she dances, sings and talks all the time. she is so happy and so much fun, haven't seen her in a while so today knowing she was at grandma's ....... i had to go down and see her.... so when i get there, get her out of her high chair, she gives me this huge hug, says in her sweet baby voice..... " hi Sandi". and pats my back..... my heart just melts., she'll be playing and she'll just look at her mama, or her meme, and just again in her sweet voice say....... hi mama, hi meme. This baby is so much like her Mama.... if she loves you..........she loves with all that she has, and if she is pissed........ well you know that too ;0). Next to my three children, Christina's kids follow..... how could they not. Chris has been my dearest friend for two + decades...... And Chris will be the first to tell you, she lucked out with the son in law and daughter in law she has. Okay now back to my little "title" girl. If you tell Paige something one time.......... she remembers it even weeks later........ gee the girl will be 17 months in March, and sometimes she acts like she is 13. I wish i can explain how sweet this baby is, ...... but i just can't get the words out..... i just know, when you've been with her, you smile more, laugh more, and love more!!. Thank you Christina for sharing this baby with me, and i promise to share my grandchildren with you someday...... no hurry Katie, Drew or Sam...... i can wait and enjoy Christina's grandchildren as they come :0)

Friday, February 12, 2010

i know i already posted today but i just had to show you....

isn't this the cutest little plate..... it is much smaller than a salad plate. 4 maybe 5 inches in diameter. i actually take it with me to work..... today i had 3 0z of grilled tilapia with 2 TBS of Alfredo sauce (not the 1/4 cup serving size suggested) with old bay seasoning. on top of the mixed greens.... no dressing. and with this i had 4 oz of Greek yogurt with 1/4 cup of Red Raspberries. and that was MORE than enough for me, and i did not get hungry even after my watches alarm went off after 3 hours. the plate has gray letters all over, no order. and as you see in Red, I "love" you!! what a better way to remind myself to be good to ME, gotta love Me first before i can love others right???.
Okay folks enough plates for a while, i promise ~ i think everyone knows how i am eating since my last adjustment.... so i think i'll move on to bigger and better things.
I had a wonderful chat with my dear dear friend Patti today, i sure miss her :(, i am looking forward to figure out when i am going to get out there.... i will make arrangements before i lose the next 15 pounds... that is a goal of mine, to at least figure it all out before then........ even if it is several months away ....... and i gotta start looking for that Bike too.... oh so much to do.....
love and blessings

"forced" to eat healthy

okay i haven't posted in a day or so, but Christina was aware that i was wondering if my lapband was okay.... because as i've blogged lately, i eat very little, i can't even think about trying white bread, pizza, steak, heavy pasta. So i was a good girl and contacted my surgeons office~ spoke with the wonderful physicians asst. who informed me that NOW my lapband is doing exactly what it is supposed to. although 10 lb weight loss in two weeks is high, it is normal considering i hadn't had an adjustment in so long. Now that it is leveling off, i should lose 1-2 lbs a week. like i've said i drink more than fine, can chug a cold glass of water like before. and if i am in pain at all it is after i've eaten something wrong or too fast, once that part gets resolved, i am fine and feel no pain what so ever. i am sure that i have readers thinking............ not enough calories, too drastic,..... not healthy...... actually what everyone is thinking doesn't really affect me, it is what i am thinking, and what my doctors are thinking that impacts my thoughts and decisions. I am eating a healthier 1000-1200 calories than someone eating an unhealthy 3000 calories. It is like this. I knew what i was getting in to, and with God's Grace, i will continue to have success with my Lapband surgery. notice i didn't say speedy results, i said SUCCESS!!! :0).
So this is where the "forced" to eating healthy comes in right now.. so right now my tummy holds about 4 to 6 oz of food, every 3 hrs. i could fill it with 4 oz of ice cream and 4 oz of Pecan Pie, or i could fill it with 3 oz of grilled fish, and 3 oz of Greek yogurt with a few berries and maybe a few greens. If i want to get healthy there really isn't an option. Oh the Doc office also said it is perfectly normal to be tighter in the morning, and looser in the evening..... so she thought a high protein, high fiber (20g), 1/2 cup of berries, 1 TBS of cold packed flax seed oil, and 6 oz of skim milk....... is a worthy breakfast, that nobody could really argue with.
So i am doing fine,........ and my labband is doing what it is supposed to be doing..... and for the record the weight has slowed down....... i lost 2 pounds this week....... i think that makes a 12 lb weight loss since my last adjustment which was 2 weeks ago ........
Have a great weekend folks.........and enjoy the moment!!!

Tuesday, February 09, 2010

presentation

okay, let me explain before i show you the pictures.... I always make a point to put my food on my dessert size plates, make it look all pretty, and then i take a picture, to put on my blog. i just bought several new tiny plates, a few salad plates, and a few what they call desert plates. i even put my sugar free jello in a little dessert dish. if i am eating 1/2 oz of cheese and 3 whole grain crackers, they go on a plate.... right now i have to really focus on how i eat, so i sit down and enjoy the food slowly, it makes it easier when i have something pretty to look at. So be patient with me for the next few days while i show off all my new little plates.

this photo is my lunch, it is 1/2 of a burger, with 2 TBS of cheddar cheese, Arugula, Spinach and Romaine lettuce, with cherry tomatoes and one tsp of Italian dressing. with 1/2 cup of organic low fat yogurt and a few raspberries.


sadly though i found out that i can't do beef as easily, this came back up, but the yogurt went down well.

this photo is my dinner. it is a homemade crab cake with minimal bread crumbs (1/2 cup in the entire recipe (made 8) each cake weighed approx 3 ounces. Bill had surf and turf, so he had a grilled steak with his crab cake. I didn't even try the beef this time.

I had to eat this slowly, but it stayed down.

Now i can't resist putting this last picture up, Katie and Bill were making fun of me...... so they "Vanna Whited" my plate........ silly silly family i live with, but I love them tons


this morning i had my high fiber shake 20grams of fiber, with 1/2 cup of berries and 6oz of skim milk, and 1 TBS of cold pressed flax seed oil.
snack tonight will be Greek yogurt and maybe a sugar free jello pudding.....
and that is my day of eating with a lap band

about 1000-1200 calories

My last lapband adjustment has been considered a success~ I feel good. I am able to drink without any difficulty, and i am able to eat about 60z of food at every meal. I am trying to eat 4 meals a day. after i eat a meal, I set my alarm on my watch to beep 3 hrs later, to remind me to eat again, and to not eat between meals . I eat until I am full, as soon as i get that "full" feeling...... I STOP!!! This is how the Lapband is supposed to work :) , i must admit i was a little worried last week, that i'd need to go back to the doctor and have the adjustment........ re-adjusted. i have been forced to eat more mindfully yet again. and i am choosy as to what foods I eat. i mean i'm not going to fill my little tummy with a cupcake, no nutritional value there..... but i will fill it with grilled fish and veggies and greek yogurt. :0). i am so ready to head outdoors again for my daily hikes........ i am loving the snow i truly am, but i think when Spring pushes through...... i'll be happy.

My life is going well, And the kids are doing great. Katie has jumped into school again head on. She goes to class mon through fri. but she is forever doing homework. Andrew's senior year is half way over. he does both, the dual enrollment, high school and college classes. he also works at our local grocery store. Sammy is in 9th grade, and loving being a kid.

Getting ready for the second wave of Snow, School has already been closed for Saltsburg yet again. . . . i always enjoyed snow days, i loved having the kids home when the weather was in question. and that hasn't changed.

Have a great day today.........stay warm and safe

Sunday, February 07, 2010

Sunday Morning at Seclairer

for my regular blog readers i posted these photos for my co workers to view, i'll blog later!




















the first picture is the walk way for our patients, there are two and three foot drifts- not sure what is going to happen........ do we have a snow shovel anywhere????
the last picture is of my yard....... early this morning..... i have 4 and 5 foot drifts...






Saturday, February 06, 2010

it has been years......


it has been years since i remember snow like this. the last time i can remember something like this, was January 4,1994. The day my Dad died, it was such a hard time figuring out how to get to my mom..... I almost ended up going with Larry on a snow mobile... however, i got a ride from my home to Saltsburg then from Saltsburg to Apollo, and then Apollo to Brownstown.
Because i live on top of a hill, there was a lot of wind and drifting~ some of the drifts went mid waist if not deeper. Thank goodness for Christina's husband Larry, he came up with his big farm tractor and plow, and got us dug out! He is such a wonderful guy. Chris and I are such lucky women having husbands like we do :) Even though there are days i don't want to even look in Bill's direction........guess i'll keep him.
This morning when Izzy first went out, she did a leap off the porch..... maybe thinking like Patti does, that one can walk on the snow...... however she went into a snow drift way over her head, she panicked and high tailed it back to the porch.... ( just what Patti did too) but after a little while, as noted in the picture above.........she was lovin it. :)
I think i am going to head back into my room, put in a movie, or curl up with a book. I've got supper in the crock pot...... it is going to be a nice day!

Thursday, February 04, 2010

~~> honestly

not that i am not honest in my blog anyhow, But i guess i've had the lapband for ten months, and just now am understanding how it really works. Pizza at this point isn't even possible, not even a bite. I am not having problems with drinking fluids, or taking soft foods at all, so there isn't an issue there. They have told me all along that when the lapband is working, at least for a while, the stomach usually holds 1/2 to 1 cup of food.... this morning i made an omelet, using one egg, one egg white, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes and 0.5 oz of Havarti cheese. i am weighing my food now, and my eggs weighed in at 5 oz., I ate 3 ozs. and had the "full feeling". lunch I ate 4 oz light yogurt, 1/4 cup of raspberries, and one Jello mousse pudding ( 2 oz). and i tolerated this quite well. IF I EAT TOO FAST, IF I DON'T CHEW MY FOOD WELL.... I THROW IT UP! and that is how it is. I told Christina that i am not going to exercise this week, as i let my body adjust to the decrease in calories, and i also told her that if i start dropping weight too fast... that i will go get a small adjustment (removal of fluid) my goal isn't and never has been to drop weight at high speed. Sometimes after an adjustment, if it is too tight, it is difficult to swallow liquids, that is obviously not a problem as i am taking in 8 to 10 glasses of water a day. i plan on taking an extra protein shake while i am adjusting too........ we shall see.
Well i am at work now, i brought my rotisserie in, Jeff one of my co workers brought in a duck, and i brought in a chicken. the duck was first..... don't know how Jeff talked me into trying this, but i tasted the heart, the gizzards and a bite of the duck....... not bad, Jeff said Duck is usually greasy, but by cooking it on the rotisserie, it seems to drain the grease as it cooks. my bites were the size of the finger nail on my pinky... and i chewed and chewed. the Chicken is cooking now, i'll eat about 2 oz of this, and i will eat my Greek yogurt. and when i get home, i'll make my protein shake......
We are supposed to get several inches of snow this weekend......... so i may not go anywhere :0) and that is okay by me.
Oh and Patti, in regards to your comment on my last blog entry, if you ever watched the movie Ground hog day........... that is what is Happening to Christina, she must be reliving New Years Eve...... over and over again,.. i know we are neighbors, but i've moved into February...honest

Tuesday, February 02, 2010

~> 4 to 6 ounces <~

This is a photo of my lunch, just to illustrate how much i am actually eating. This is a desert plate. and i have 4 oz of Whole wheat, Fire roasted vegetable lasagna with about 1/2 cup of salad using 3 cherry tomatoes and 1 tsp of Italian dressing. As soon as i finish my meal, i set my 3 hour timer on my watch, and i will not eat again until it goes off. And i am FULL!! i am not miserable and i am not having that "stuck", mouth filling up with saliva, feeling that i usually get. I must also eat very very slowly too. This morning i had one scrambled egg. couldn't even eat my yogurt with breakfast. Drinking fluids is NO PROBLEM, I had 5 glasses of water before noon. i also snuck on the scale and have dropped two more pounds, making a total of 9lbs since Thursday night when i weighed myself before my next day appointment. I figure i'll wait to exercise next week when my weight loss stabilizes, and maybe i'll be able to eat a little more. IF for some strange reason, i can't drink, or the amount of food i can digest decreases. I will call the office and make sure this is all cool. i am feeling good though.... speaking of which, I am heading to work soon, so i better get my butt in gear. dinner is going to be 4 oz of grilled fish and if i can 40z of mixed steamed veggies, or carrots and hummus...... maybe i should try carrots and hummus, because it has more calories and protein. and my 4 th meal will be 1/2 serving of my protein shake, with 1/2 cup of berries and 1 TBS of cold pressed flaxseed oil... .sounds good to me.