Progress

Last week was interesting in many ways.  First, I had my next follow-up with the bariatric surgery.  I have now officially lost 76.3 pounds.  The bariatric nurse came into the room exclaiming that I was now at a 6 month weight loss only three and a half months after surgery.  She also told me that I am still very restricted in stomach capacity compared to most at this stage (which probably explains the weight loss).  I started to get concerned that I was doing something wrong, but she said that as long as I am meeting my nutritional needs and getting exercise in, there was nothing wrong with my current status. 

I also would like to point out that I lost 27.3 pounds before the surgery and that is included in the total weight loss.  So if you take what I have lost since surgery and divide it by the number of weeks, it comes out to a 3.5lbs/week rate of loss. I think that is very reasonable.  I am glad that things continue to go in the right direction.  I got worried for a while as I was trying to get past the 300lb mark.  I only managed to lose about 2 lbs in 3 weeks while my body fought against breaking that barrier.  The rapid weight-loss after I finally broke it was simply my body catching up.  It has slowed back down to what appears to be 2-3.5 lbs a week now.  I am happy with that.

I just wanted to share a picture I took this weekend because I finally have a pair of pants that basically fit.  I am quite please with how my body is starting to look and I am hopeful that I might actually be able to have a reasonable ratio between my hips and waist at some point in time (I am very pear shaped).

For those of you who follow my blog for my recipes, I am hoping to get back to cooking this week.  Last week was unbearably hot and I could not convince myself to fire up my stove or oven.  Living in an apartment with no a/c makes it very difficult to be on top of cooking.  We have some great produce that I desperately need to cook, so look for some food entries this week!

Pancakes

I was searching online last night for low carb ideas for breakfast using Pinterest.  It's been a while since I have spent any time on Pinterest and I forgot how addicting it can be.  I had clicked on an egg muffin picture that I have seen many times before, but that wasn't quite what I wanted.  So, I went back and looked again.  I found a recipe that sounded interesting, so I went to the page and left it open for this morning. When you've had bariatric surgery, you eventually have to come to the realization that you just cannot eat cabs the way you used to.  There are several reasons for this, but the biggest reason is because when you eat carbs (breads, etc), they expand in your stomach taking up much needed space for proteins and other nutrients.  This recipe offered a way to have pancakes without the carbs.  Made of high protein ingredients (which, by the way, I get frequently from my CSA), these pancakes taste similar to the "real" thing, but without the carbs.  To give myself an extra protein punch (and a little bit of probiotics), I chose to top the pancakes with lemon yogurt.  You can serve them any way you like, with syrup or sugar or any way you enjoy your pancakes (even splurge a little with fruit and whipped cream since you aren't getting carbs with these pancakes).

Cream Cheese Pancakes
Adapted from: http://www.ibreatheimhungry.com/2012/01/cream-cheese-pancakes.html

• 2 oz cream cheese*
• 2 large eggs*
• 1 pkt Splenda (or other no-calorie) sweetener
• cinnamon (optional)

Place all ingredients into blender.  Blend until smooth.  Heat skillet until water skitters.  Pour 1/4 cup mixture onto skillet.  Cook until edges are dry, turn and cook until browned.  Enjoy pancakes as you normally would.  If you are looking for an added protein punch, serve with flavored Greek yogurt.

*CSA ingredients

Big Day!

I have been patiently awaiting a certain number on my scale to announce something so very exciting.  For about 2 weeks, the hot weather and other things have been taunting me, and I suspect my body fighting me just a smidge, but I can now announce that 1) I have broken the 300 lb mark (actually that occurred several days ago), 2) I have broken the 60 lb mark (the most I have lost in the last 2 decades) and 3) I have now lost more weight than I have ever managed to lose at any one time since I started gaining weight when I was 19 years old (I weighed 128 lbs when I graduated from high school).  The total, according to my scale this morning is 66.3 lbs!!!!!  The most I had ever managed to lose in one program was 65 lbs.  Lots to celebrate today!

To make this victory even sweeter, I FINALLY found a pair of pants that fits (okay, they need to be hemmed)!  Every pair of pants that I have tried since losing a majority of this weight has either been too big in the waist (like 4-6" too big) or looked like a balloon on me.  This pair, a pair of convertable painter's pants (they can be rolled up into capris) actually fit me everywhere.  So, I get to celebrate my victory in a pair of comfortable pants that actually look good.

Next weekend (a week from tomorrow), I get to see a group of friends that I grew up with.  Some of them, I haven't seen in almost 30 years.  I am so looking forward to catching up with all of them!  For now, however, I need to get back to work!

Lasagna after Bariatric Surgery

After bariatric surgery, you have to educate your stomach again.  You also have to reeducate your mind when it comes to eating.  While I would love to believe that I could continue to eat my beloved Italian pasta, I am now realizing that I just won't be able to indulge in that ever again.  I can have a few strands of spaghetti or a couple pieces of shaped pasta, but it will never be a "meal" for me again.  That said, I still love the flavor of lasagna.  When I was on blended foods, my favorite dish was deconstructed lasagna (basically ricotta cheese topped with spaghetti sauce and mozzarella).  Yesterday, when I was at the Murray Hill Market, I found some beautiful early zucchini's and decided to make a noodle-less lasagna.  To make it even easier and not heat up my apartment, I decided to make it in my crockpot.

Crockpot Noodle-less Meatball Lasagna

• 2 medium zucchini
• salt
• 1 small bunch beet greens*
• 16 oz ricotta cheese (part-skim)
• 2 cups mozzarella, split
• 1 egg*
• 1/4 cup shredded parmesan
• 6 small meatballs
• 2 cups homemade marinara

Slice zucchini 1/8 inch thick and lay out on paper towels.  Sprinkle with salt and let sweat for 30 minutes.  blot zucchini slices with paper towels. Wash and tear beet greens into bite-size pieces.

In a large bowl, mix ricotta, egg, 1 cup of mozzarella and parmesan.

Cover bottom of crock with marinara.  Layer zucchini slices over sauce.  Break up 2 meatballs over zucchini and spoon sauce over meatballs.  Layer ricotta over meatballs and sauce, followed by beet greens.  Repeat layers 2 times ending with a layer of zucchini and sauce.  Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella.  Cover and cook 3 hours on HIGH.  Reduce heat to LOW until vegetables are soft.

*CSA ingredients

Kale and Quinoa

Well, here it is, the first blog entry of the summer.  Actually, this is the second thing that I’ve made from the CSA, but this is an eaiser entry as I have made this salad before.  Tomorrow night my women’s choir (all 11 of us) will be having a picnic to discuss the future of the choir.  After a really great first year, we have decided that we really would like to strike out on our own.  When Jenny started the choir, it seemed easier to affiliate with the YMCA/SELREC programs that the old choir was involved in.  In the end, we decided that maybe we would be better off on our own.  Given that I have so many greens from the first two shares, I decided to make this bright summer salad again. 

Basalmic Summer Quinoa Salad

• 1/2 large cucumber*
• 1/4 cup basalmic vinegar
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp dried basil (may use fresh)
• 1/2 tsp garlic and herbs (may use fresh)
• 2 1/2 cups chicken broth*
• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 cups kale*
• 1 medium tomato*
• 1/4 cup feta (optional)
• 2 Tbsp chopped walnuts, almonds or toasted pignolias (optional)

Wash cucumber, cut into a 1/4 inch dice.  In a small bowl, mix vinegar, oil, basil and garlic.  Pour vinegar mixture over cucumbers and marinate overnight.

In a medium saucepan, bring broth to a boil.  Add quinoa and reduce heat to a simmer.  Cover and cook 10 minutes.  In the meantime, wash kale and remove stems.  Chop into bite-sized pieces.  After 10 minutes cooking, add kale to top of quinoa.  Cover and simmer another 5 minutes.  Turn off heat and allow to steam an additional 5 minutes.

Wash and dice the tomatoes.  In a large bowl, combine quinoa, cucumbers with marinade and tomatoes.  Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving.  Salad may be served this way, or if you prefer, you may add crumbled feta cheese and/or nuts or pignolias.

*CSA ingredients

Where to Begin?

I just got back from picking up my first summer share.  Lots and lots of beautiful greens: collard greens, Red Russian kale, green leaf lettuce, pea tendrils, garlic scapes, radish greens, kohlrabi.  The sad part is that for the next month, I am still limited in the amount of these things I am allowed to eat each week.  Thankfully, I have someone to share them with.  Renee will pick up her portion tomorrow.  But I do believe that I will have to cook some of them and freeze them.

The first disappointment occurred today too: a very small batch of garlic scapes.  Since I have had them before and we are bound to get more (unless the early hot weather affected this crop too), I am going to give them to Renee this week.  So, I think the first thing that I am going to do is make a quinoa salad with steamed kale.  It's been a while since I have done that and quinoa has protein, so it will fit in my diet pretty well.  Rest assured, once I have made it, I will post a recipe and pictures.  So happy to be back to the CSA!!!!!!

Things To Look Forward To!

So the "fun" things included in our share this week will include garlic scapes, Russian Red Kale and pea tendrils.  I have missed the garlic scapes since I used up the pesto I made last year.  I remember that we got scapes for several weeks last year, so I will take the first batch to make another batch of pesto.  I used it in eggs and to roast a chicken last year.  I am thinking it might be good on salmon and other meaty fish as well.  I can't wait to be able to test these theories out.

My coumadin levels were high this week when I checked in with the anticoagulation clinic, which was a little disconcerting.  I am wondering if the Russian Red kale has as high of levels of Vitamin K as the green variety.  I will have to check that out.  I have missed kale all winter.  Buying winter kale that is imported just isn't the same as the fresh tender kale we get from the CSA.  I am going to make myself a quinoa salad with the kale since that seems the perfect way to cook it and gives me a fairly good protein source. The pea tendrils will serve as garnish.

I haven't reported much on my gastric sleeve stuff and I am truly contrite about that.  Not much has happened other than losing weight and getting stronger.  As I mentioned above, my coumadin levels were high this week.  They seemed surprised, but it was creeping up the last time I went in (up to 2.7 from two meetings at 2.5).  Since it had been 3 weeks since I had had it checked, I have to wonder if the dose is too high.  I cannot eat a full serving of greens in one sitting, so I can't be very sure that I am eating 2 full servings in a week.  They told me that they would leave the dosage for another week and have me come back to check again.  We are coming into the home stretch anyway, so I hope we keep it under enough control that I don't have a problem before then.  I make the appointment for a second ultrasound at the beginning of July.  I am excited that this has gone so quickly and look forward to being off the coumadin so I can have my chamomile and grapefruit again!

Now to the update.  I am now officially 60 pounds down.  I have had an ongoing frustration that most of this weight has come off the upper part of my body.  However, I am seeing things that indicate that I am losing down below.  For instance: when I went to a movie this weekend, I not only didn't touch the sides of the seat  when seated straight.  But even better, when I turned in the seat to give my legs more room (I hate stadium seating), I still had room in the seat.  It was a great feeling.  Below is a picture of my progress.  I find I have to do this because I, personally, don't see the changes.  It's very validating!