» Chocolate

Got Band Loosened!

Julie The Wanderer — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 04:29:11 +0000

So, I made an appointment with my doc and went into the office this morning – yeah, my band was definitely too tight! I told them how difficult it had been for me to eat + how uncomfortable it was! They weighed me in and it seems I had lost 6 pounds in 2 weeks. On one hand – that’s awesome, but I also know I lost it because I wasn’t eating, haha. So – I think in this case the con outweighed the pro! Dr. Champion took out 1/2 a cc of fluid and I can tell such a difference. I was able to eat my shrimp curry dinner without any awful uncomfortableness. It’s funny how strong I want to remain, and for some reason I kept telling myself to “fight through” the pain – like, just be tough and eventually it will be fine and won’t bother me. But after these two weeks, eating was making me really, really depressed. I honestly don’t think I ever realized how great it is to be able to eat. I mean, I still feel restriction and everything, but it’s not like it was. I think I started to get really down because I’d be eating with friends and co-workers and instead of just enjoying the convo I was sitting there not feeling well at all. Anyway, I think my learning here was A) Listen to your body B) Eating should = joy! C) It’s okay to ask for help, aka, go back to your doctor and say you can’t handle this tight of a band!

I hope this is encouraging to you in some way! It’s kind of like feeling sick and not wanting to go to the doctor or saying you can fix your car yourself and you keep getting stranded on the side of the road. I’m glad I went in today! I’m a little nervous that I’ll be eating more again (which I am…) and won’t lose weight, or it’ll be slower, but I also know that I was so unhappy these past 2 weeks. Like I said, it’s an amazing realization to understand how enjoyable eating should be, especially when you have to do it 3 times per day

After work today I went to the grocery store and bought some low carb tortillas so that I could make some healthy wraps for lunch. I was starting to get tired of my lunches, and a lot of those frozen meals are SO carb-centric (pasta, chicken with rice). My doctor seemed to suggest that a wrap is a pretty good option if you fill it with high protein. I didn’t make it to the gym today, nor did I walk to work because I had my Dr’s appt this morning, and met a friend for dinner after work. But I did cut up some pineapple, strawberries and mixed them with red grapes and put them in a container in my fridge for the weekend and next week. I figured this is as much an important part to my well being as working out!

I also bought some fat free “No Pudge” brownies from Trader Joe’s to make for work. I am leading a workshop tomorrow and wanted to make something for the folks who are coming to it. I tasted a brownie tonight and it was pretty good seeing that it’s fat free. Well, I did put in some dark chocolate chips in there – but dark chocolate is good for you, right? ;-) I made them a few weeks ago for friends and they were a little dry, so I think the chocolate chips will jazz them up a little.

I hope you had a great day! I’ll be back soon.

Paula Deen – The Most Frightening Thing Ever … And That’s Not All!

Julie The Wanderer — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 18:35:07 +0000

When I was at the beach with Katie, we were watching Paula’s Party on Food Network. Have you seen her? I’m telling you right now – she is FRIGHTENING! I’m not sure if it’s her blue hair, her hyena cackle, her over-exaggerated southern drawl – or the fact that she took a huge bite out of Mozzarella cheese as if it was a Golden Delicious Apple.

Golden Delicious she is not. The woman is a pioneer on Food Network. I get that. But people always give her the benefit of the doubt, “But did you know she used to be agoraphobic and never left her house?” Really? I don’t care. She scares me!

The episode we watched was all about CHEESE. And I do *LOVE* cheese, myself. But it’s frightening what she cooks. How does she still have a pulse? Has she not had a cardiac arrest? Are her arteries not clogged with fat and resentment?

The best was the “Fried White Chocolate Cheesecake” she made. As if cheesecake (which is my FAVORITE dessert) isn’t fattening enough, why make it white chocolate? AND WHY FRY IT? How are you still alive, woman? It was funny to watch because the audience was in glutton shock. Every time you thought she was done with the damn thing, she’d continue in her southern drawl by going, “And that’s not all!” … “Now we’re gonna drizzle it with chocolate…and that’s not all … now we’re gonna wrap it in a crepe … and that’s not ALL, y’all … now we’re gonna fry it. And that’s not all … now we’re gonna top it off with real whipping cream … and that’s not all … now we’re gonna drizzle it with chocolate and powdered sugar … don’t forget the fresh mint on top!…”

Katie and I were in such horrific shock we were screaming at the television set as if Paula could here us, “Please Paula! Make it stop!” We added up all the calories on Katie’s calorie counter on her computer and I think it came to about 2500 calories for just the cheesecake. I’m supposed to have 1200 calories a day on my Lap band. Most women are supposed to have 1700-2000 calories a day for a healthy metabolism. WTF Paula! One piece of your cheesecake is over double what I’m supposed to have in a day. You are evil and I think your teeth are too sharp and pointed for you to be a human being with a heart (that’s not clogged).

I’m telling you that this charade of “And that’s not all’s…” went on for what seemed like my entire 26th year of life. I could feel my heart clogging just watching this. Her overly bleached teeth and blue hair and that scary smile revel with delight that she is an evil monster that hides beneath fat people’s beds at night. She is Paula Deen, dammit. And this is her party.

Happy Easter…He Has Risen

Julie The Wanderer — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 23:35:00 +0000

Feeling a little blue today. But that cartoon above made me laugh! Ha-ha. Not really sure why I’ve been feeling a little down. No real reason. It’s Easter Sunday. Maybe I’m sad because I can’t eat Cadberry Eggs? Hmmmmmm. Those are so good!

I haven’t been sleeping very well and have been feeling really nauseous lately. Not sure if it’s my band or if I have a little bug? I’m still doing really well exercise wise and have lost about 35 pounds in 2.5 months! Overall, I should feel very proud of myself!

Today was probably the first time since my band I feel like I emotionally ate. Just feeling down about who knows what caused me to eat this little chocolate bunny (and I mean little…it was on a stick). My mom gave it to me this morning. She didn’t want to sabotage my success, but she didn’t want me to feel deprived either. I did really awesome this morning at Brunch. My family went to this really nice restaurant called Eugene’s. Their Easter menu didn’t have anything on it that seemed healthy for me, so I asked the chef if he could just make me an egg white omelet with veggies. And he did! He said it was top secret (little did he know I write a Blog), but it just showed that if you ask, usually folks are willing to accommodate. And I didn’t eat the dessert.

Anyway, back to the feeling blue thing. I’m sure it’ll pass. Maybe it’s the time of the season. Spring time. All the bunnies running around for mating season. Or, in my case, all the tornadoes running around. So, I just want to keep myself in check and not emotionally eat. It was not like I was thinking, “Oh, I am feeling down and thinking about stuff, I’m going to eat this chocolate bunny and a few wheat thins with hummus for lunch” – but I knew while I was eating it that this totally was not a healthy lunch. It was an old habit of “snacking” and “grazing” because it was convenient. So what’s the difference this time? I guess the difference is since I feel like I fell off the horse for one meal, I won’t make it 2 meals. Then three. Then a week’s worth. That’s it. Just this one meal. And I am writing about it (in public, mind you) so this shows me that I am holding myself accountable, as are you.

Thanks for listening. I’m really glad my mom gave me the little chocolate bunny. Happy Easter! He has risen, and so has my accountability factor.