A Smaller Target

Fitday & Hostess: WTF?

Weight: 195

Log into Fitday to record food / protein.

Cue ghostly fading in of cream-filled cakes both below and to the right of the journal feature.  Have them repeat at every new screen.

3 cakes = 100 calories. 

Wonderful.

This new relationship is not helping my carb issues.  What's next Fitday?  Ads for diet Snicker bars? 

Thoughts anyone?

Added 7/17/08: Alison is right in her second reply.  Below is a screen shot of my journal entry page as of this morning (you can click on it for a larger version).  The words "not really helpful" do leap to mind. 

For anyone about to helpfully suggest I consider paying for Fitday's software so I don't have to put up with any ads, let me just say I'd love to and have twice tried to do so.  Unfortunately, as they told me 3 years ago, Fitday doesn't think writing a version of their software for the macintosh is worthwhile as "such a small number of people" use them.  I think I know all of you.  Much as I like Fitday, I don't think they're worth breaking off my 22 year relationship with my macs.

Okay, enough.  Grumpy is going to get some iced coffee and a walk.

The First Day of Lent

Okay, this entry probably isn't going to convince my newest "fan" that I'm not a "Carb Nazi."  The background to that new nickname is an email I got Monday from someone on one of the probably too many boards I read and post to.  She wrote saying that I was a carb and fat Nazi, that I was giving people the wrong impression of the sort of diet one must follow after duodenal switch surgery, that she'd also been successful with her weight loss (!!), didn't have weight loss surgery so she could spend the rest of her life on a diet and basically that I should shutthefuckup and take my negative attitude toward the "magic duodenal switch" (her words, not mine) elsewhere.  All this prompted by my reply a while back to another poster who was about to have surgery and asked for advice on making she lost the 200+ pounds she wanted lose during her window.

What did I tell the poster?  "Don't waste your window on carbs -- try and stay between 50 - 100 a day until you hit goal and avoid all white (simple) carbohydrates."

Radical stuff, clearly meriting being called a nazi. 

My response to my new fan was that better women then her have tried to close my mouth.   And that I did have weight loss surgery knowing that I was going to live the rest of my life following a specifically low carb, high protein diet.  If she wants to spend her days going to the toilet ten to twenty times, having fissure issues, moaning about the last twenty pounds she can't seem lose, taking antibiotics / anti-fungals to control her gas while having a carb count of 200 plus grams a day*, that's her choice (though I do worry that she and others are going to breed some super-resistant intestinal flora that I'm going to end up with). 

Anyway, on to happier things.  Over on Deluzy's blog, she wrote yesterday about Lent and giving up sugar.  I must have read it right after she posted it, but didn't reply until this morning? 

As I've probably mentioned, I was brought up and educated as a Catholic.  Clearly my politics, feminism, opinion on gay marriage, divorce and secular remarriage to an atheist indicates that a certain amount didn't take.  Except that I do consider myself a Catholic and think the opinions I hold reflect the morality and ethics taught at my rather wonderful** Catholic girls' school in the 1980s. 

So my point is I haven't given anything up for Lent in years.  But I'm going to this Lent, following Alison's example on sugar.  Further, I'm not going to follow my grandmother's*** Lenten rules, that Sunday and St. Patrick's Day aren't part of Lent.  Forty days, counting today, without sugar, partly as a meditation on the good things I've taken from my semi-lapsed religion.   And I'm going to post here, good or bad, on whether I'm able do this or not.

Let's see how Lent goes, shall we?

---
* Please note: I realize that that there are DS patients who have all these side effects and more through no fault of their own -- it's just the way their body has responded to the digestive changes.  But there's a big difference (for me) between something that can't be controlled and something that could be controlled via diet if the person was simply willing to make the changes needed.  Personally I can't imagine taking the risk of being permanently on antibiotics and fungals when I know I can control my gas and bowel movements via diet.  The same goes for my allergies -- I could be on steroids for life to control eczema or I can and do opt to avoid eating the things that make my rashes go from moderate to severe only using the drugs when the eczema slips out of control.

** Notre Dame Academy in West Los Angeles.  It was wonderful then, but the current administration has made some choices, specifically with regard to the firing of gays and lesbians in response to archdiocesan pressure that are, in a word, horrific.  Just for the record, there were gay and lesbian teachers when I was there 15+ years ago, when my godmother was there 35 years ago and when my mother was a student there 45 years ago.  We all knew it and no one I knew thought anything negative about it.  Yeah, I was / am really disappointed in my alma mater and hope they reclaim their former sense of social justice before it's too late.

*** She always gave up candy and alcohol for Lent and Advent.  This stopped, however, 10 years ago, the year she turned 90.  Her reasoning was she might not live long enough to see the end of Lent / Advent.

Pavlova Dreams

So this past week my beloved turned 39.  Yeah, he's a younger man. 

Anyway, one of the great things about him is that his favorite dessert is one that I had to learn how to make.  It's called a Pavlova after the ballarina.  This dessert, invented by either Australia or New Zealand (it's so good they both claim it) is a basic meringue topped with whipped cream and fresh fruit. 

Because I taught myself how to make it via recipe without pictures, I made an improvement to it.  Traditionally there's just a layer of cream and then one of fruit.  Mine has cream, fruit, more cream, more fruit and so on.  I thought this was the way they were supposed to be made and by the time I worked it out, well, this seemed both more attractive and tastier.  Because who doesn't like extra cream?

Because of Paul's fruit loves, the Pavlovas I make tend to be raspberry (his favorite) and strawberry (because who can afford more than a pint of raspberries in February?).    This is a lot more fun to make in the summer because the berries are much easier to come by -- getting the strawberries and raspberries for this Pavlova took trips to two different supermarkets and the Santa Monica Saturday farmer's market.  This meant that it was served Sunday rather than on Friday (his actual birthday) but hey, ya do what ya can.

Everyone is supposed to have a signature dish.  I suspect the Pavlova has becomes mine.   This isn't my best effort ever, but the first time I've gotten a picture to put up before the thing has been devoured.  So here it is.  :)

Happy Birthday Paul!

What Mama Says OR Entitlement Anyone?

Weight 168

The other day over on her blog Melting Mama, Beth wrote about the belief by some weight loss surgery patients that they shouldn't have to pay full price for meals anymore when they eat out.  How do they get out of paying, you ask?  They ask /demand that their doctor's offices offer a card they can use to explain to restaurants that they should be able to get a half or child's price for their meal because they now have a really small stomach. 

Wanna know what I think of this?  Oh please, gag me.

I've watched this discussion happen a few times on weight loss surgery boards and it always, ALWAYS strikes me way more as about people wanting attention (see everyone, look at me, I can't eat very much) then being about saving money.  Trust me, if it was about saving money, I'd be all over these cards  -- I'm totally thrifty and we're pretty broke.  But that's not the issue of course.  Because pre-op they would have paid without question. 

This is the way it works for me.  If I can't afford the cost of a meal out, I don't go.  Or I go and just have coffee or a cup of soup.  There's honestly no law, even here in America, requiring us to dine out.  I have asked a few times to order something off the child's or senior's menu, explaining that I'm not very hungry, but always offering to pay an adult price.  Why you ask?  Because I'm a grown up. 

The fact is, going out to eat isn't and shouldn't be about the food.  If it was, we could all save a bundle and just stay home and cook. The quality and selection would be a lot better too.  Going out to eat is about being served, about -- well, going out. 

If you're really feeling like you're being taken at an "all you can eat" buffet (hint: perhaps not the best post-op choice), why not just take some 16 or 17 year old boy with you?  They can eat twice your and their weight and everything will even out.

Seriously, I've got a better and fairer idea for those who think that not being able to eat as much as they used to entitles them to a ticket to ride.  How about if the restaurants / buffets just weigh them going in and then coming out and charge based on the difference? 

No?  Then how about we who've been fortunate enough to have our lives saved by RnY or DS or LapBand surgery pay our money like everyone else.

Go To Foods

A list of some post-op favorite low carb (and sometimes high protein) favorite treats (the links will take you to product reviews ).

Splenda
Stevia (in lots of things, but NOT coffee)
Mrs. May's Pumkin Crunch ( 9 grams of protein, 8 carbs, 1 fiber)
Dove SF Chocolates (especially the mint flavor)
Protein drinks (Jay Robb Vanilla Whey, IDS in every flavor)
Protein bars (Power Crunch and Rockin' Roll)
Feta cheese
Sun Du Bu (Korean tofu soup)
Crab meat
Small curd cottage cheese (but only Knudsen)
My pancakes (::grin:)
Soy and skim lattes
Apple slices with peanut butter
Miso soup

Further thoughts and suggestions are WELCOME!

So, anyone for a sushi lunch? 

Yummy High Protein / Low Carb Pancakes!

Pancakes are a total favorite of mine, but were always a problem (even as a DS pre-op) because I have an allergy to wheat flour in large quantities.  This is a recipe my mom and I came up with that works really well, especially post-op because, as you can see, there's hardly any flour in them.  The cottage cheese sounds gross, but they really do taste great -- I've served them for brunches lots of times and everyone eats them without guessing there's any cottage cheese in them or that they're somehow diet.  They taste like sourdough pancakes.

Ezpy's Cottage Cheese Pancakes:

Ingredients:
1 cup of cottage cheese (any kind -- I like Knudsen small curd)
4 eggs (3 if they're really jumbo)
1/4 cup of flour (this can be almond, but is best with wheat)
2 tbsps of butter melted (can be salted)
Cinnamon and salt to taste  (I like LOTS of cinnamon)
Milk to thin (optional)

Scoop the cottage cheese into a blender.  Add 2 eggs and blend for like 30 seconds.  Scrape the sides of the blender.  Add flour and 2 more eggs, blend for another 30 secs or so until pretty smooth.  Add cinnamon and salt to taste.  If batter is too thick and thinner is preferred, or to use as crepes, blend in milk to thin.

They cook just like regular pancakes on a oiled skillet.  I use real maple syrup heated very hot so as to make it very thin and use less.  That way I don't add too much sugar but to get the taste.  Besides, ain't nothin' like the real thing. 

Hope you like them.  Extras freeze pretty well and reheat in the microwave. 

Fat and Friendship

Weight 175

"Fat is your friend." 

This is the saying of a lot of DS patients and doctors.  And it's true, to a point.  After DS surgery we don't absorb fat at anywhere near the normal rate --I've seen estimates of 65-80%-- and my own cholesterol numbers prove that.  It's gone from 270 down to 135.

However, when I start charting my food, I realize I still don't eat very much fat and I wonder how common that is.  You see, I grew up eating a low fat diet.  Not because of my weight, but because un-medicated my dad's cholesterol is up over 400 (a major clue as to why, at 55, he was the oldest male in his family).  So we definitely had skim everything and I think it may have left an impact on my taste.

Because of this, my palate just doen't enjoy the taste of most fatty stuff.  Even the nicest Italian tuna packed in olive oil tastes terrible to me compared to Bumblebee water-packed albacore.  I like slim ricotta better than the regular kind.  When I have real milk (I'm allergic so it's not something I can have much of), skim is my choice far ahead of whole.

Things I do like the full fat versions of:

• mayo (though before Paul moved in, I only ever bought the smallest containers and generally ended up throwing away half -- love the taste of it, but don't use very much.).
• butter
• cottage cheese
• yogurt
• avocados

Anyway, there's no real point of this except maybe to explain why I'm such a weirdly constipated DS patient.  It's just something I was thinking about today. 

Thanksgiving Cooking

Weight: 182 (parents' scale)

For a lot of people, Thanksgiving is about cooking.  For me, it's about baking.  It's the one time of year I really bake a lot.  And once I start, I have a hard time stopping.  Last night was the start.  I baked cookies.  First some semi-healthy oatmeal date (lots of oatmeal, light on the sugar and butter) and then some traditional not-so-healthy chocolate chip with walnut, my variations on the Tollhouse cookie recipe.

And just now I pulled a pecan pie out of the oven -- it looks so great if I do say so myself.  By tomorrow, with the help of one of the guests, there will be two more: an apple and (of course) a pumpkin. 

Making sweets hasn't made me eat them -- much.  The two cookies I ate yesterday weren't agreeing with me this morning. 

Happy Thanksgiving!  :)

Good Things

Weight: 187 at the campus pharmacy (I nearly typed 387 -- guess I'm feeling fat today)

Paul was suggesting the other night that I focus a bit on things that I can have -- guilt-free or even good for me treats I enjoy rather than moaning about what I can't have. The links are to previous posts by me about different products.

Treats:

• sugar free popsicles (I especially like the tropicals)
• Mrs May's Pumpkin Crunch (lowish in carbs and highish in protein!)
• honey roasted peanuts
• Dove SF chocolates
• skim lattes (especially from Caffe Luxxe on Montana)
• apple slices with peanut butter
• Crystal Light Raspberry Ice

Proteins I really like:

• IDS Vanilla Cinnamon (with coffee, blended with frozen berries... all kinds of good)
• Power Crunch Bars (even better now that I can get them at Costco)
• Knudsen Cottage Cheese

I'm sure there's more stuff and I'll be adding to this list.  What good stuff do you reach for?

The Supervised Diet

Weight 184.4

One of the things that people in the pre-op stage complain about is the requirement by many insurance companies (and/or employers) that we undergo a period of medically supervised diet and exercise before we can have weight loss surgery.   This requirement is generally viewed as just one more pain-in-the-backside insurance hoop we have to go through.  Because my pre-op process was very smooth and relatively fast (six months from my primary care referral to my surgery day), I've been reluctant to weigh in on this issue.  But reading this (damn, I lost the bloody link -- you're pre-op, you're in San Diego, you're blog is cool and green and linked to this one... please comment so I can take this lame part out and put your site in) entry about finding out about the medically supervised diet and her great attitude made me decide to weigh in on this.

I think it's a good idea.  A very good ideal.  Even though we've mostly all done a thousand diets and tried every eating and exercise plan under the sun. 

Okay before you rightly scream "Hey, I've read this blog from the start and YOU didn't do one," let me tell you that I did.  I was in USC's Lifestyle Redesign program for 18 months a year before my surgery.   This is the 6 month program that USC employees are required to complete before they're authorized for weight loss surgery.  I didn't go into it planning to have surgery, but I did see a number of pre-op patients in my group.  Including one who lost 160 pounds in a year and opted not to have duodenal switch surgery.  More the power to her, say I.

I thought I had had an okay experience with the program.  I did lose weight -- though not very much -- getting down from 340 to 270 (and then regaining, as we do, up to 367 pre-op).  I felt like a failure, but then 6 months after surgery someone commented to me that I seemed to be doing especially well avoiding carbs post-op (ha!).  Honestly, I have good days and bad, but one thing I had learned in this program was that for a number of us, carbs trigger hunger.  I knew I could give up sugar for a period of time and that once I did it was going to get easier within a week or so. I also had learned that even at my high weight I could still exercise and pushed myself to start as soon as I was released from the hospital.  I also knew that to make this change and be successful wasn't going to be all about my body losing fat or even just changing how I eat.  It was going to involve looking at my life and making changes in how I do things.

Post-op, I would say that the Redesign program is one of the big reasons for my success.  My wish, if I could have one, would be that patients would be encouraged into it for 6 months post-op as well (maybe months 3-9 which I think are especially hard).  Meeting weekly to discuss how not having food for comfort or activity was feeling.  How losing weight was bringing up other issues in ones family and relationships.  Help figuring out where and how to fit exercise into a busy schedule.  These are all HUGE post-op issues that can either derail someone's loss entirely, or at least make it even harder then it already is.  And a post-op, unlike our pre-op dieting experiences, can't take a break for a day or two from their food restrictions without consequences.  This is not a minor things we did or are doing.  This isn't just the "next new diet." 

I know not everyone has access to USC's sort of program.  But if you know that you have six months where you need to prepare for surgery, I'd really suggest looking at these issues.  Imagine what you're going to do 3 months or however long it is after surgery when something happens and you can't have ice cream or chocolate except (maybe) to taste.  Imagine how you're going to work and take care of your family and also add 5 - 10 hours of exercise to your week.  And then start making the changes now.  Stop smoking, start walking, give up carbonated drinks.  Plan how to give yourself time and space to recover.

Reading this over sounds like a lecture and I suppose it is.   For that I'm sorry.  But I really start worrying when someone writes that they're having DS or RnY surgery within a month or two of their first appointment.  And what I'm seeing is that these people generally (not all, but a number) are struggling more post-op and are more freaked by their complications and side effects.   Eloise, who had RnY surgery, has seem that to an even greater degree in her wls community. 

Maybe think of the waiting period as like the engagement in a marriage.  Time to plan, bring the family on board, make arrangements, imagine what it'll be like to live with the after effects.  Get ready and all that.  I mean, planning a great recovery, like a great wedding does take time.