Verbal Explosions

Oh my gracious goodness I feel like it has been forever since I have blogged and my wee little brain is running over!

Random Thoughts For Wednesday Are:

-Whenever I read the term "Food Porn" on somone's blog, I immediately have visions of a banana dry humping an apple...or something juicy like that. Imagine my disappointment when I only find pictures of meals. *sigh*

-I went to a bridal expo this week, and besides leaving with the pressing urge to get rich immediately, I found this photographer who has an all female staff and does pin-up shoots. Oh man this got the exhibitionist in my so exicited! I think I will wait until I am closer to goal...but I am pretty excited. I wouldnt be naked...because then I couldn't show the pictures to everyone...but think 50's glam.

-Some of you have asked and yes...I am STILL clean and sober. No Sunkist now for 13 days. Funny enough, last night my parents came over and my mom brought a bunch of stuff she had at the condo (they are going home on Friday). This stuff included my 2-Litter bottle of Sunkist from New Years Eve...which must be BEYOND flat. I was telling her to throw it away bc it was old and she poured a glass and told me to take a sip. Without thinking I almost did! Then I startled my mom by saying NO! I CAN'T (she didnt know about my rehab). It was all very slow motion though and as I reached for the cup, I could see Tracey getting ready to do a mission impossible tuck 'n' roll dive towards me to stop what was about to happen...

-Guess what else I have forgot to blog about! I met Lacey! We could only meet briefly but it was so worth it! She had a big bag of clothes for me. The contents of big bag included a winter jacket, several fleece jackets, and two pairs of shoes! I have worn these shoes 3 days straight (cute peep toe black pumps) and have worn at least one other item every day since I met her! Thank you so much Lacey! She is cute, and short, and tiny. When I grow up I want to be just like her (although technically she is younger than me).

-My doctor was featured in a newsletter and I wanted to share it with you guys!

Baptist Bariatric Center is leading in quality care receiving multiple Center of Excellence designations. Last month, Jeffrey Friedman, M.D., bariatric surgeon, was recognized as a Center of Excellence surgeon for providing high quality bariatric patient care and proven surgical outcomes.

In 2007, the Baptist Bariatric Center was the first weight-loss surgery program in northwest
Florida to be recognized by the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric surgery as a Center of Excellence. In addition, J. David Nye, M.D., bariatric surgeon, was granted the same honor.

A Center of Excellence designation further recognizes that Baptist Health Care is meeting the
highest standards in bariatric patient care – a key factor in the patient decision process.
To learn more about the benefits of weight-loss surgery and what a Center of Excellence means
for patients, visit www.eBaptistHealthCare.org/ bariatrics.

-Just a reminder that my one year bandiversary is two weeks from today. My goal is to be at 120 pounds lost by then. And I will do it! I go for my 1 year follow up appointment a week from today, so not so secretly, I want to be at 120 pounds down by then. That is my stretch goal!

-I know some of you are struggling with water consumption. I like to make a little game out of my water drinking, and aim for 120 ounces a day. I buy the 20 ounce bottles from Walmart...and this makes it easier for my math challenged brain. I bring just one to work with me and refill it at the fountain. Once I finish one bottle, I get my little sharpie out and make a tick mark. I like to have 5 tick marks by the time I go home, which leaves only water bottle left to drink when I get there. Here is my bottle so far for today.

I think I will save my shameless product placements for the next post! Hope everyone is having a wonderful hump day!

And HELLO to all my new followers! Followers are the blog equivalent to...no...I can't post it. Everything I was thinking of involved the word climax....and as a lady...I must refrain.

LOL..but you get the point! Thank you for reading, and commenting, and emailing. It means more to me than you know!

xoxo-

Amy

The 16's Heard Around The World

Here is a picture friends, hot off the presses. I do NOT fit into all 16's yet, but this is a start. They are 16W's, so they are a little more roomy than say 16's from Old Navy. Angie sent me some 16's a while ago, so I have them in my door for comparison.

Thank you again for all your comments yesterday!

Slim-Fast recall

Good Sunday bloggers! A fellow reader suggested on facebook that I post some info about the Slim-Fast recall. From what I can gather Slim-Fast issued the statement at the beginning of December and it was for all flavors in cans. Here is a link to their website with more information!

Here is an additional article if you want it.

Can You See What I See?

You might have to get really close to your screen...but they are there!

Sizing Things Up

I have come to the conclusion that I am a terrible judge of someones pant size. For example, I meet Mary and Bandita, and I would think they are a size 10, and really don't need to lose anymore weight bc they look good to me! Seriously. And I don't think I am revealing any secrets, bc they share on their blog...but they are more around a size 12-14.


Mary is in the 180's and while we were talking at dinner, she mentioned that her doctor has set her goal in the 130's. I was like WHHHAAAAT? I haven't looked at a BMI chart lately, but I think for her height that would make her close to underweight.


My doc on the other hand didn't even set a goal weight for me. So if Mary and Bandita look smokin hot at a size 14, hurry up and get me there! lol Because my goal of 170 would still be in the overweight category for my 5'4" frame.

I really promise that when I started this post I had a point, but now I forget.


So, on to a different subject. The Biggest Loser. I am not a die hard BL fan, and only started watching again last season. But I think there is something I don't like about the biggest loser. We had discussed this topic before, but let us broach it again shall we.


A) The Biggest Loser is a reality show. The contestants work out all day, with Bob and my girl crush Jillian, and have supervised healthy meals. This is not reality.


and it leads to


B) What they lose each week is not a reality either. I mean they lost it yes...but for the average person, you are not losing 30 pounds in one week. Seriously, that's happened the other night. And because we are getting used to this massive weight loss with this show, as our the people ON the show, they are disappointed when they lose "only" 21 pounds, or 10 pounds in a week!

And I want to kick them in the gut, because they have got wrapped up in the "unreality".


But do you know who they kinda remind me of? Me.

Again, this is a topic we have discussed many times....but to hell with not repeating it! To the outsider when they ask me "Wow, how much have you lost", and I say "Oh, you know...112 pounds"...I usually minimize the importance of that number.

And do you know what just dawned on me? I think I minimize it because deep down inside I might actually feel like it isn't as fantastic as if I lost it without the band. Oooh, this is getting deep. It's possibly similar to the reason I make "big girl" jokes about myself...because I am trying to beat people to the punch line! I am trying to downplay the weight lost now, because I am preparing for the downplay of how great that is once I tell someone I had weight loss surgery.

Hmmm....

Put it this way. You don't see people on the cover of People magazine with the headline "She lost 112 pounds WITH surgery". Instead, it always reads "She lost 112 pounds...WITHOUT surgery".

But the point is, I should be proud and so should you! It was and is hard work! We must be present in our weight loss journey. It's not like we can just continue life as normal (if preband could be considered normal). We make changes. We learn. We struggle. And we fight for the weight loss.

HOLLLLAAA!

Woo, I feel better now!

Happy Friday friends!

What A Wonderful Question

I was perusing Lapband Talk today and found a great question being posed by a potential bandster. The question was:

What is the one thing you wish someone had told you BEFORE you got your LAP-BAND?

Good question right?

I am interested to hear your answers.

For me, as I have stated many times...I was under the assumption (and remember I did my research and took my required nutrition classes from the doctors office) that after surgery, I would only be able to eat about one ounce of food or broth, and that would satisfy me. They even give us little one ounce cups to take home.

No one told me that after I healed I would be as hungry as a horse and be able to eat like a cow. No one told me that until restriction, I would have to rely on willpower!

If someone did tell me, perhaps I didn't hear them. But I was surprised and I think it is important for bandbabies or potential bandsters to expect bandster hell.

So what you? What do you wish you knew or had been told?

Tomato Soup

Here in the south we have a chain of grocery stores called Publix. They make a delicious Tomato Bisque that is on their salad bar almost every day of the week. I have decided to try and recreate this soup...and my first attempt wasn't bad. It doesn't taste like Publix, but hey...IT WAS MY FIRST TRY. I have never made tomato soup before, I am a buy it in the can kind of gal. But I have a new handheld blender (thank you mother) that I was dying to use! So here is the recipe if you want to try it yourself. Enjoy!


2 cans (28 ounces each) of diced tomatoes
3 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped carrots
1 yellow onion chopped
2 cloves diced garlic
Olive Oil
Hot sauce
Pepper and salt

Open and drain both cans of tomatoes, reserving the juice for later. Spread tomatoes out on cookie sheet and season with salt and pepper (don't be afraid to be generous). Place in preheated oven (375) for 20 minutes.

During that time, put a little olive oil, the onion, and the garlic in a dutch oven/big pot and sauté onions and garlic until tender (5-7 minutes). Add celery and carrots and continue to cook and sauté until they are tender (about 5-7 minutes). Add chicken broth and tomatoes (from the oven) and the tomato juice you set aside into pot. Add pepper and salt to taste. You can add a little garlic salt if you want. The recipe called for 4 drops of hot sauce, but I added a little more. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for 20 minutes.

Use your hand held blender stick (immersion blender) to puree soup (you could transfer to a blender but that's no fun!) You will need to do this for sure, or your soup will not be the correct consistency.

Taste and season with salt, pepper, or hot sauce until you like it.

Once I put the soup in the bowls, I added some feta cheese and a little colby Monterey jack cheese. Yum!

Makes about 6-8 servings, at around 150 calories a serving (before the cheese).