New Clothes & Closet Space

First order of business I would just like to report that I lost 6 more pounds! I've been doing a protein shake for breakfast every day for a little over a week now and it must really be helping. My tummy really likes it in the morning anyway because it doesn't seem to want food right away.... and adding the extra 30 grams of protein into my day seems to be very beneficial to the weight loss. My current weight is...

254 lbs. Awesome. I am now a mere 16 lbs away from my lowest ever adult weight - 238 - which I weighed in February 2007. I remember the date because buying my car was my reward to myself for making it to the lowest weight ever. Unfortunately it did not last and instead I gained over 75 lbs in the past 3 years... I have to keep reminding myself that this time is different!

What this post is really about though is... clothes! I got a chance to go shopping with my sister in law the other day at a store called Cato's. I found some cute things!! The most exciting thing though is that I went shopping there before surgery and nothing would really fit. This time, I needed mostly their smallest plus-size, some in the second smallest. That just felt so good! And I also got some AWESOME accessories! I am so in love with earrings, and necklaces are growing on me now, too.

Here are a couple of my ensembles!

Pink tank top and an awesome necklace... which I love because I can wear it with pink, green, blue, or purple!

And these fun pink earrings! Love them. All of their jewelry was so CHEAP!

And one of my favorite new outfits...

I never knew I could wear yellow! I guess with the extra tan lately, I can. :) The necklace is so awesome too with yellow, grey, silver and black. It will also go perfectly with my size 12 dress ~ someday, when it fits ;)

Also got this very lightweight, short sleeve grey sweater that I just love... and it goes great with this outfit as well as many other things!

I like this because I've been getting cold a lot. With the rapid weight loss I just never know when I'm going to be chilled. It was 96 today but I was so cold in the movie theater that even when I left and walked outside, I kept this sweater on. Crazy.


I got a couple other things too but don't have any more pictures. When I get around to wearing them I will take some. Mostly just more earrings and necklaces... but also a grey pair of capris SIZE 20!!!!! That must be a fluke because everything else I'm wearing is a size 22. But it still feels awesome anyway :)

Now for my closet! Here is my current wardrobe...

Everything that was deemed too small the last time I tried everything on... now fits!!! And I added in just a couple more things that are too small now, hanging all the way on the left.

I also took over another section of the closet... it's only fair right? The man should not have 3/4 of the closet!!! :) The reason I did this is... I now have PANTS!!!!! Before surgery I only had one pair of jeans that fit. Now that I am able to wear size 22 again, I pulled out my storage bin in the garage and tried them all on.... they all fit except for one that ran small. So now I have tons of jeans and even some brown pants, dress pants, khakis, and capris! Oh and a couple skirts too!

It is so great to have these all fitting now! I am also fitting into some other cute skirts not shown here. I will have to do another clothing post soon!!

July 3rd Family BBQ

Super late in writing about this, oops! Our 4th of July celebration this year was a family barbeque and my aunt Carla's house. We love hanging out on her nice deck with its fabulous mountain view. As soon as we got there we had my dad take these photos of us which you might recognize from the weight loss surgery blog post.

I thought these pictures came out really cute and that's when I realized how much weight we had been losing, thus the comparison pictures I created out of them.

How about that mountain view!!! Pretty nice huh?

There was plenty of delicious food to enjoy including some fresh corn on the cob. Oh yum, had to have some of that! Well... one bite... but it was delicious. It was nice spending time with family and also getting a chance to meet my aunt's good friend Carol.

After dinner we got to enjoy an amazing sunset over the mountains AND saw a double rainbow in the pink clouds!

We hung around until late in the evening to watch fireworks from her deck. We thought it had turned out to be a poor view as all the ones we saw were small, far away, or blocked by houses. After an hour, we all decided to go home. As Ian and I were leaving my aunt's neighborhood, Ian noticed fireworks. We pulled over and had a fantastic view of the fireworks... our own private viewing!! It was lovely.

Here is a video of part of the finale...loved it!!

We did find out later that my aunt and grandma saw the whole thing from the deck and had a great view... so at least next year we know to stick it out! They started them a whole hour later than the announced time so we just assumed the ones we were (barely) seeing were them. It's so nice to have a good spot to see fireworks without being in a crowd of people.

We enjoyed our 4th of July. We had planned to also see fireworks on the 4th itself, but the weather was so bad here... and we ended up hiking instead, which you will hear about in the next post! Tata for now.

I'm on YouTube

While I love the higher quality video available on Vimeo, I recognize that way more people use YouTube and if I wanted to be a part of the community of surgery "vloggers", I had to get my videos up on YouTube!

I created a whole new account there and will only be using it for surgery-related video. The bonus to this is I don't have to password-protect them like I do on my Vimeo account. When I post here on the blog in the future, I'll include both videos so you can choose which to watch!

So here you go...


Check me out on YouTube!

PS ~ I really wish you could choose the video still they show for the video. Why am I always making a stupid face in them?

Ian's Boston Eats

Ian had to go to Boston for business this week for 3 days. He got a fridge in his room so he could try to eat right, but with coworkers he spent all day with at the office, he had to eat most of his meals out. Since he was only 7 weeks post-op this was a little bit challenging, but I think he made some pretty good choices. He texted me photos of some of the things he ate and I wanted to share them here.

Philly Cheesesteak with pickles. He was able to eat 1/2 of the sandwich filling (no bread) and some pickles...

This is the stuff he bought for his hotel room:

Water, flatbread crackers, deli slices of chicken breast and reduced fat provalone, laughing cow cheese spread, cherries, and ice cream. Unfortunately since his coworkers went out for almost every meal, he didn't get the opportunity to eat much of this.

Garlic shrimp served with broccoli & cheese sauce (and that other thing is a grilled lemon I think.) He was able to eat all the shrimp and a little bit of the broccoli.

Personal size 10" pizza, which he was able to eat just one slice of! They had a huge gift card to spend and had lots of food at the table, and everybody was sharing... so this was an interesting experience for him but he did great.

Most of his other meals were leftovers of these meals, or some of the things in his room. Thanks for sharing your experience honey!!

One nice perk as a post-op is that since his company pays for his food expenses on these trips, he didn't have to feel bad about not being able to eat much of his meals.

Two Month Update

Today is my official two month 'surgaversary' :) Things have definitely slowed down this month but I've made some progress. During this 2nd month I lost 13 pounds.... bringing my total loss to 50 pounds in 2 months :) I have also updated My Stats Page to include my newest measurements.

I can see a LITTLE bit in the photos, not too much... I had a few changes in measurements... not too much lol.

Now for new progress pics!

In an effort to see all the positives, here are the things I DO notice :)
- My face is still getting smaller
- My waist is indented a little more
- Lost a little more off hips and stomach
- From the back I can tell my stance is less wide
- The shorts I am wearing this month are a size smaller than the shorts I wore in last month's photo :)

This month most of my inches lost came from the hips, lower stomach, and waist. Interesting how it caught up since I lost so much on top the first month (very little change this month up top.) That explains though why all my shorts got too big! If you want to see all of the detailed measurements for this month, check out my stats page. Most of my measurements were a lot less change than the first one... BUT... there was ONE that was more! Can you guess which one? It was my upper arm! The first month I lost 1 inch, this month an inch and a half. Whoo hoo... I think swimming is helping ;)

And now for my 2 Month VIDEO UPDATE!!!! Hope you enjoy... as usual the PASSWORD is healthupdate

2 Months Post Op Video Update from Christie Stearns on Vimeo.

If you want to catch up on my previous videos, check out  my Videos page!!

New At Starbucks: Artisian Snack Plates

Pulled through Starbucks the other day for my free ice water and saw these advertised. What a great thing! Healthy snacks on the go. Our society could use a lot more of these!! They are called Artisian Snack Plates and (at least here at my sbux) come in three varieties: Fruit, Nut & Cheese Plate, Protein Plate, and Chicken on Flatbread with Hummus Plate.

Any of these would be fine for me to eat, but since I'm still eating such small amounts I went for the Protein Plate. Wanted to give it a try so I would know if it was a good on-the-go option for me. I picked it up when it wasn't really meal time so I actually ended up eating it at home. :)

I thought this was a great option for a (relatively) healthy meal on the go. At 8 weeks post op, this still made two full meals for me. At the first sitting I had one of the 2 cheese slices, 1/2 the hard boiled egg, 1 apple slice and some grapes. At the 2nd meal I had the other piece of cheese, the rest of the egg, the rest of the apple and grapes, and about 1/4 of the bread with the peanut butter & honey spread on it. Threw the rest of the bread away. It is nice to know options like these are out there - along with ALWAYS FREE ICE WATER - great options for road trips, travel, on-the-go, etc since you can find Starbucks almost everywhere now.

Full Nutrition Info Available Here

They do make this look so much prettier on their website, don't they?

I plan to eventually try the other two snack plates also. This one was right in the middle as far as calories. The fruit, nut, cheese is higher (but would also pack more protein) and the chicken and hummus one is lower in cals (also with more protein!)... I'm excited to try them sometime.

If you are interested you can read about the content and nutrition of all three offerings here:

Fruit, Nut and Cheese Snack Plate

Chicken and Hummus Snack Plate

Protein Snack Plate 

Interestingly enough, the Protein Plate has less protein than the other two. Lesson learned.
Hope this has been helpful! I was so delighted to find out about these!

Chicken Alfredo Flatbread Pizza

I've been meaning to share this for quite some time! I made up this little "recipe" for making flatbread pizza at home in one of my favorite varieties - chicken alfredo :)

All ingredients were purchased at Super Target:

1. Flat-out brand Artisian Fold-It Flatbread (splits nicely into two circles.)
2. Sargento Reduced Fat 4 Cheese Italian 2% milk shredded cheese
3. Buitoni Light Alfredo Sauce
4. Hormel Natural Choice 100% Natural (No Preservatives) Carved Chicken Breast - Grilled
5. Garlic Powder, Italian or Pizza Seasonings, Garlic Pepper

The first step is to put the sauce on the flatbread. I used 1/8 cup per pizza.

Add garlic powder, italian seasonings and garlic pepper on top of the sauce, to your personal taste. I personally like LOTS of garlic, and a little of the others :)

Add 1/4 cup of the 2% milk italian shredded cheese blend to each one. Top with about 1.5 oz chicken breast. Important for WLS people -spritz a small amount of olive oil on top of the chicken to keep it moist during cooking. It stays tender this way!
Sprinkle a little more garlic powder, garlic pepper and pizza seasonings on top.

Bake in toaster oven (or conventional oven) at 325 degrees. In the toaster oven this takes 8-10mins.

Voila!!

These are a great size for post-ops. We love them. Sometimes can't finish them, sometimes can. I will add on the nutritional info I calculated as soon as I can but I do know it is 26grams protein!!! And 220 calories.

Classes & Support

I have been meaning for quite some time to thoroughly investigate all of the classes and support groups available to me... the bariatric program at the hospital puts out a really good newsletter with this information but I just haven't gotten into it for a while. I was particularly interested in these monthly menu planning classes they offer... I was waiting on a friend who wanted to go with me, but she flakes out on everything so I am going to just start worrying about ME and start signing up for things!

Since we had our last nutrition class last night, I learned about more of these things and really got into my newsletter and looked at everything I'm interested in.


Firstly, there is a monthly support group meeting in my area on the 1st Tuesday of every month. This is free. Definitely going to check that out in August.

Then, there's the menu planning classes! Each month is something different. In August it's a grocery store tour with lots of great information. These classes are on the 2nd Monday of each month and cost $20.

A seminar I've been interested in since the beginning is: Pregnancy After Bariatric Surgery. Don't need to go right away but definitely want to go. This one is free and it the 4th Monday of each month.

Finally, I am most excited to learn about bariatric exercise classes near me. Not even 5 mins away. He has 2 regular weeknight classes each week. One included Zumba, low impact aerobics, and strength training. The other is low impact aerobics, "core & more", stretching and conditioning. These are $15 per class. He also offers Nordic Walking on Sunday mornings, and in the summer he offers Walks in the Mountains!! It would be so much fun to do these things with other bariatric patients and not feel like the only unfit person in the room.

Here are a few pics from their website that have me excited...

I can't do those classes all the time since they do cost money and I already pay for a pretty expensive gym membership.... but it would be great to get in something different 1-2 times a month and meet people.

Excited!! Time to RSVP to some of these events and get them on my calendar!

8 Weeks Post Op

I am now 8 weeks post op and I weigh 262. This is a total loss of 48 pounds. I am thrilled with that! The scale wasn't budging but suddenly it did and here I am. I just have to keep hanging in there and know that it will go. :) My official 2 months will be coming up on the 20th so I still have 6 more days and I'm hoping I'll hit -50! At the 2 month mark is when I will have more official photos and measurements to share. For now though, here's an unofficial photo of what I look like today:

Okay okay.. I still have white legs!! But I think they are getting a LITTLE bit better from all the pool-going :)

Those are the smaller Wal-Mart shorts by the way.

In other news - my blood pressure is in a good range. Today it was 122/70. I don't know what it was when I started, but I know it has improved. Ian's used to be dangerously high before surgery (150/120) and now it's 110/70!! Wow isn't that great?? Ian's stats today at his 6 week appointment was that he has lost 37 pounds. So proud of him!!

We had some really good experiences there today. Kim, the director of the bariatric program at the hospital, was who our appointment was with today. She asked us questions and wanted our opinions because they are trying to make the program better for Sleeve patients. Same thing with our nutrition class today... we spent 30 mins afterward talking to the nutritionist and she took down lots of notes about what we had to say because they are totally revising everything in relation to sleevers. It sucks we had to go through it ahead of the curve, but I'm glad that our insights may help those that come behind us.

Also ~ something really interesting! They told us today that one of the news channels wants to do a little spot on us. I don't know any more than that but I said they could give the lady my phone number and so hopefully soon I will know more.

One more thing. I love crock pots and especially post-op they are great because it helps keep the meat so much more moist. We were using a tiny one meant for sauces because our regular one is just WAY too big. The sauces one though was tooooo small, and also had a crack in it. We picked up this little beauty which is 1.5 quarts (our sauce one was 1/2 a quart, my big one is 6 quarts!)... this size is perfect. I got some chicken breasts cooking in it with broccoli cheese soup pretty much immediately:

If you're interested, it's only $15 on Amazon! :) We love it.

Asian-Style BBQ Beef Skewers

A quick addition of "Things I've Been Eating" because these were so tasty I really wanted to share them! I found them at Super Target.

I grilled up two skewers tonight (there are six in the package) on our George Foreman grill. They were ready in under 5 mins. I could tell they were lean because there were not even any drippings in the grill tray. They tasted AWESOME!!! At 8 weeks post op for me, and 6 for my husband, we each ate one skewer. I think I might have been able to eat more than that, but I was satisfied enough. They came out juicy and tender and we had no problems eating or digesting them.

DELICIOUS. Seriously. And here's the nutritional info:

1 Skewer

100 Calories
2.5 grams fat
6 carbs
12 grams protein

Awesome! I am supposed to get as much red meat as possible for iron and this is a great, lean, and delicious way for me to do so. We will definitely be buying these again.

A Comparison

I've posted this on our other blog and Facebook but forgot to post it here! I really like this comparison of my husband and I. The photos on the left were taken in April at his grandfather's 80th birthday party. We looked just like this if not a little worse when our surgeries took place. On the right, a couple photos taken of us at a family BBQ on July 3rd.

At that time it was 1 month post-op for my husband and 6 weeks for me. Coming up tomorrow is his 6 week appointment and will be 8 weeks for me. Coming up on 2 months on the 20th for me... can't wait to do new comparisons :)

The typical weight loss shots are great but these more "lifestyle" like shots really hit me even more. I can see our lives, our life together, changing right before my eyes! :) We've been on lots of hikes too lately... feels so good.

Catching Up

I haven't posted on here in a while! To be honest not a lot has changed lately - eating most of the same things - doing most of the same exercise - and the scale has not been budging a whole lot lately. For the most part I'm okay with being patient, but it has definitely bugged me a liiiiittle bit. ;)

Coming up on Wednesday will be another follow-up appolintment - 6 weeks for Ian and 8 weeks for me. Although my 2 months is still not until the 20th so that's when I'll be doing new photos and measurements :) But this Wednesday I will do another official weigh-in.

So now to catch up on some of the things I've missed on posting! First of all, clothes are continuing to get bigger, so I must be getting smaller.  :) I think I mentioned I bought shorts at Wal-mart and since they were cheap, I also bought the next size down. Well already, the original ones are too big and I'm wearing the next size down. Also the pair of shorts I wore in my before pics - and also in the 1 month pics - are falling off of me now too. My bathing suit got too big on top... so I busted out my smaller one!

Even since I started wearing my smaller suit, I also feel like it is getting looser. Yay! I now have a pile of stuff to take to an alterations place. I want to try to take in my shorts, and take up the straps on my bathing suit and a couple tank tops. I'm not ready to spend money on new stuff at the moment, because I have so many things in this size and the next size down - except shorts, tank tops, and bathing suits lol. So if I can save those and keep using them, that will be great.

I also wanted to talk about going to BBQ's. We have been to 3 BBQ's in the past couple of weeks. What is a post-op to do when you can only eat so little, and you see a spread like this:

They had so many things I normally would have eaten. But I'll show you what ended up on my plate:

What you see there is 1/2 a bratwurst, 1/2 a slider-sized steak burger and 3 rainier cherries. However - I only ended up eating the piece of burger, one cherry, and 1/2 of my 1/2 of bratwurst :) A while later my aunt brought out mini-sized ice cream containers (those teeny ones you can buy - ben and jerry's has them, haagen-daz, and apparently starbucks now too.) I had the Starbucks java chip... but I only ate about 3 bites.

At this particular BBQ, I had an easy time. Chips and other things that I normally would want, I passed right over them. No gazing longingly or thinking about it or wanted to have one. Interesting!!! However the previous weekend at my aunt's I had 1/2 a bratwurst and ONE bite of fresh corn on the cob (soooo delicious), as well as one small bite of watermelon. That time was a little harder because I LOVE fresh corn on the cob and I really wanted to eat a whole one.

Overall I think a BBQ is one of the easiest family/eating out/party events for a post op, because the focus is meat! As long as that remains true on your plate, you are good to go. Get your protein, a little fruit - done! When you're full, it's pretty easy not to want anything else that is around you.

Also when I posted about cleaning out my closet, I mentioned buying some clothes from ebay. They were a little too snug at the time but now most of them fit. Yesterday I wore this red one with a white tank underneath and I think it looked pretty cute.

That's all for now! Back with more soon :)