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 :)

Ian's 1 Month Progress

Yesterday (July 3rd) was my husband's 1 month "surgaversary" :) We took his new photos and measurements as well. He has lost 26 pounds in his first month! He also lost a total of 22 3/4" off his body!! This was impressive. Almost as many inches and I lost in my first month even though he didn't lose as much weight... so it's quite obvious his body is changing! With his permission I am sharing the progress pics. :)

Similar to me, he did one set in a shirt he wore frequently at his starting weight and another set in a shirt that was way too tight on him at the time and is now fitting much better.

I found it interesting that he lost most of his inches in the chest/waist area just like me, and very little below the waist, just like me. Huh. I guess that is just where it comes off first!

Great progress for the 1st month. I can't even imagine where both of us will be in a year.

Additionally, we had a couple pictures taken of us last night at a BBQ. The last time we had a closeup shot taken of us before surgery was at his grandpa's 80th birthday party. You can see a HUGE difference in both of us I think.

More Things I've Been Eating

I've still been eating a lot of the same things featured in previous "Things I've Been Eating" posts, but I've tried a lot of new things as well.

Hormel White Chicken Chili

This stuff is seriously, SERIOUSLY yummy. Seriously. So tasty. Ian loves it too. Try it. So good! I eat about 2oz with about 1oz shredded cheese.

Wheat Thins Flatbread Crackers

Ignore the tuna salad in this pic - it was horrible and super fattening/oily - yuck yuck yuck. I bought it because the chicken salad was good and reasonable, but this was awful. However the Wheat Thins flatbread crackers are AWESOME. Very thin, and one cracker is enough for my meal with chicken or tuna salad on it (which I am now making at home!) I really love these crackers. I have usually one each day.

Archer Farms Shrimp Skewers

These come frozen, already seasoned and already on a skewer. You just toss them on the grill (in our case the George Forman) for a few minutes until cooked. We have had these garlic ones a couple of times now - really delicious. I do add a little garlic pepper.

They also come in other flavors. We purchased this teriyaki one but haven't tried it yet:

Here is a time when I cooked one skewer, with a small chicken tenderloin on the grill:

It was awesome! I purchased these chicken tenderloins in a big bag. They are frozen and they are small pieces which is perfect for us. I was also happy that when cooked on the george forman grill it stayed moist and tender (a must for WLS patients!)

Kraft 100 Calorie Cheese Bites

These are really handy for grabbing something quick for on-the-go, and for tossing into Ian's lunch box for work. They come in 2 flavor varieties - the 3rd one which I didn't buy is mozzarella with herbs.

Speaking of Ian's lunches, I have been packing his lunch box most days. I usually have to pack 4 meals for him for his 9 hour day at work. This is usually about how it looks:

Small containers of food and an ice pack. Anything that doesn't need to be cold gets put in the separate compartment on top of his lunch box. Another good thing for the lunch box that is very convenient is...

Planters Go-Paks

Ian really likes these and they make a great snack. Also a great grab-and-go.

Peppridge Farm Mini-Bagels

Even with as small as these are, we can only eat half of one, either with some cream cheese or peanut butter on it. Not the most high protein meal, but sometimes you just need something different, and we don't have them every day.

Homemade Flatbread Pepperoni Pizza

This is the very first one we made :) We use the flat-out fold-it breads that I have mentioned in a previous post. This one had Archer Farms marinara pizza sauce but I didn't really like it that much. We used a finely shredded cheese mix (later on started using 2% to cut down on the fat) and Hormel turkey pepperoni, which is actually really yummy. Here's that:

Hormel Turkey Pepperoni

Besides using this on pizza as pictured above (they are under the cheese of the pizza), we also eat them plain along with a string cheese or something. They are pretty low cal and low fat, high proten, so they make a good snack or meal.

Roasted Soy Nuts

These have been a good stand by for me. Higher in protein and lower in fat & cals than a lot of other nuts. They taste good and are nice and crunchy.

Mini Oreos

This is another thing I don't have very often... but when I crave chocolate or am feeling that sweet tooth, I grab just one (and they are really small!) It does wonders. I've had these at least a week and I've maybe had 3 tiny oreos... just knowing they are there makes me need them less, if that makes sense.

First Eating Out Experiences

Now for some eating out!! When we went to Steamboat Springs weekend before last, we tried some new things out for the first time. The very first thing was a stop at Subway on our way up there.

Firstly - they have flatbread now. Score! So we ordered a 6" meatball sub on flatbread. It had provolone cheese as well. It was strange to say no to chips, drinks, and cookies. Not to mention to be splitting a 6" (I remember eating footlongs by myself at one point, although not in the last couple years.)

We opened it up planning to eat 2 meatballs each and when we saw how small they were, we didn't think it would be enough. But it WAS. We each at the two cheesy meatballs and just the tiniest bit of the flatbread.

Also on that trip we tried Wendy's. We split a 5 piece nugget and had 2 1/2 each. We also bought jr size frostys but couldn't eat them because the nuggets made us too full! So we took the frostys back to our condo and had them at a later time.

The jr frosty is small, no doubt. But I can't express to you how BIG they look to me now!! I have to eat it in 2 sittings.

Speaking of the jr frosty, we have pretty much decided that is our ice cream choice for whenever we are out and about and really craving ice cream. It has the lowest cals and fat of any ice cream stuff available fast-food wise.


JR FROSTY NUTRITION INFO
Chocolate - Calories: 150 // Fat: 4g // Carbs: 26 // Protein: 4g
Vanilla - Calories: 160 // Fat: 4g // Carbs: 26 // Protein: 4g

Now with those carbs, I can't have them all the time. But as far as ice cream goes, that is really reasonable. Plus it's available basically everywhere when we get that ice cream craving. So far we have had these twice.

Can I also mention how CHEAP this stuff is?!?! A 5 piece nugget is 99 cents and that was a meal for two. A jr frosty is 49 cents so we can each get one for under a dollar.

Now onto a different kind of eating out - a BBQ at my parents house! Going to BBQ's and summer parties is something we all do. I wasn't sure how it would be. But Ian and I each ate 1/2 a bratwurst with no bun.

For size reference, here it is next to my thumb:

Pretty small - but big satisfaction :) I wanted to have fruit - they had cantaloupe, pineapple, and watermelon.. all of my faves!! All I managed was a tiny 1/2 cube of fresh pineapple and I was done. This sure is different. In the past I would have eaten 2 whole bratwurst with buns (or 1 bratwurst and 1 burger), corn on the cob, chips, fruit, and dessert.

That's it for this edition of Things I've Been Eating :) I have another pizza to share but I will do a whole post on it since I took pics of making it and I guess you could call it a recipe!

Hiking Fish Creek Falls

Continuing with our weekend in Steamboat Springs... on Saturday after the car show and a short nap, we decided to go hiking to Fish Creek Falls! Our friends told us it was a pretty easy hike and really awesome, so off we went.

We first went up on the Overlook Trail (green line) so we could look at the falls from up above. On the way back down we cut through on the Picnic Trail (dark blue) to meet up with the National Recreation Trail (pink) which then took us over to the falls. This was really such a fun and beautiful hike! Firstly here are some photos from the top.

We asked another couple to take our picture.... and hoped for the best. As we feared - waterfall in the head. Everyone who ever takes our photo has something coming out of one of our heads... or they miss the background entirely lol. Oh well at least we have some photos together :) This did prompt Ian to buy a bigger gorilla pod though so that we can hopefully set up some shots where we take our own photos together... as long as there is something around to set it on or attach it to! The couple did take a shot of us with the waterfall to the side, but the shadow on me (from Ian) was even worse and I couldn't edit it very well.

We took some of our own shots of each other and together up close :)

We continued our hike down to the base of the falls, enjoying beautiful scenery along the way. When we made it there, the view was just spectacular!!

We hung around the falls for quite a long time, taking tons of photos of the falls and of each other :) It was so cool and refreshing near the water too. Such a pleasant place to spend time.

We really enjoyed ourselves and it was nice to get out hiking and really enjoy Steamboat Springs. When we went in 2007 Ian was so busy with his club's registration booth that we didn't get to do very much exploring. Thank you to the Richardsons for telling us about this hike! And speaking of the Richardsons, we hiked again with them the next day! Pictures coming in the next installment!

Before we left, we got treated to a rainbow! Do you see it at the base of the falls? Ahhh... just beautiful.

Here's a video of the falls for you to enjoy. You can pretend you were there with us! :)

You can view the ENTIRE PHOTO ALBUM HERE.

6 Weeks Post Op

Today was my 6-week post op appointment at the surgeon's office. It was with the main nurse again, which is fine.. she actually asked us a lot more questions this time and seemed a lot more interested in how things were going for us. What's funny is after my little freak out on Monday, something must have happened because today I weighed 3 pounds less at the gym. And when I got to the dr... their scale weighed me slightly less, even. So my official 6 week weight is...

Yay for 269! That's more like it! Take THAT 273! Bahahahahaha. OK I'm done now :) I guess my swim monday and walk yesterday (plus getting all my water and protein) got things moving again. In case I haven't already said this, those are not my feet. Mine are way wider. But curiously, the toes on her right foot look exactly like mine as far as the directions they curve in. Ha.

I am happy to say that at six weeks I've now lost 41 lbs!!

I'm happy with this. It feels good to be back in the 260's. A place very familiar to me.  I don't think I ever really came to terms with being 310 pounds. I still kept seeing myself as the 260-270lb version of me. So in a way I feel like being 310 lbs never happened. But it did and I have photographic evidence lol so it's really good to see how far I've come.

I don't want to set too many goals and end up being diappointed like I was on Monday... but I will be going back to the Dr in two weeks for my hubby's 6 week appointment and getting weighed. I would like to have lost 9 more pounds by then to be at 260 - which would be 50 lbs lost total. I think that's doable with the exercise I'm getting so here's hoping :)

As for my hubby, today was 4 weeks for him and he's down 26 pounds. He started at 339 and is now 313. We both thought he'd be around 300 by now, since he was heavier than me, and men lose faster too. But he doesn't watch his sugars and carbs as much as I do and he also doesn't exercise as much as I do, so it makes sense. He is fine with it though and I am too. He is still a few days from his official 1 month (it will be July 3rd) and that's when we will take his 1 month progress photo and measurements. I will definitely post his measurement results - and his photo if he gives me permission but it depends if he feels comfortable or not.

At six weeks I am feeling great. I feel healthier and stronger. I have more energy. I work out and I like it. :) I am LOVING swimming!!! AND WHO WOULDN'T with this pool to go to?