Yummy Food Finds

When I was at Costco last weekend, they had a demo for these Turkey Burgers. I'd always wanted to try them, but have always been hesitant because I'm a devoted beef girl. It's a lifestyle choice. But I decided I may as well try one from the demo without committing to an entire pack.

YUM! I was really surprised how good it was (and check out the protein!!). And the sweet little old demo lady was just pan frying them and serving them w/o anything on them. So I got a pack.
My first attempt was a turkey burger with melted mozzarella cheese on top on a whole wheat bun. DO NOT TRY THAT. Mozzarella and turkey are not a good flavor combination at all. That was gross.

So I decided to stick with the classics and just pretend it was a beef patty and try my luck that way. SCORE.

My first experiment was just a good ol' fashioned hamburger. I had already overloaded on carbs for the day, so I wanted to try something less carby and found these:

They're Flatout brand flat breads. These specific kind are the Fold its, they're two smaller circles connected in the middle, great for making sandwich style foods instead of the typical wrap. And they just happened to be prefect size to fit the very generous turkey burger patty on.

A tad high on the sodium side, but the fiber and protein are pretty great. And the low carbs are even better!

So I pan fried my turkey patty, put some light mayo, low sugar ketchup, and a bit of yellow mustard on my flat bread, and then I melted a low fat cheddar cheese stick on top of the patty. Viola!! A healthy cheese burger!!

I am still training my taste buds to like that healthy grain-y taste that comes w/all stone ground healthy carb type foods. But with the cheese and mustard and ketchup, you really don't taste the grain-y taste. And coming from a devoted beef eater, I could not really tell that I was eating a healthy turkey burger over a fatty beef burger.



My entire lunch was so good! I had my turkey cheese burger, a cup of cooked spinach w/a tiny bit of light butter, a 1/2 cup of unsweetened apple sauce w/cinnamon sprinkled on top, and a bag of cheddar bunnies (organic wheat crackers equivalent to gold fish crackers). I did not eat the almonds because I ran out of time. Only 20 minutes to eat...NO LONGER! :)

Now keep in mind the portions shown above are PRE-BAND and will NOT be typical once I have had surgery. I'd say maybe 1/3 of that.

Enjoy! :)

Pre-Op Class

As I struggled to drag my butt out of bed at 5 am today, I decided I really didn't need to go to the pre-op class. But, as I would not be allowed to have my surgery if I did not go...I went against my will.

About 30 minutes into the class, I realized that I could teach this class better than any of the speakers. Since I am in the behavior modification therapy I've been learning these things in serious depth and I know it all like the back of my hand. The different speakers were just going over the bare minimum and were setting a lot of RULES but not explaining the logic behind the rules or WHY you have to follow them. If I had been hearing those things for the very first time I'd have no motivation to follow them either.

If anyone has any questions about ANYTHING, like WHY you should only eat every 5 hours, and WHY you shouldn't drink 30 minutes before, during, or 30 minutes after you eat. And these are all great nutritional values for anyone trying to lose weight, not just surgery patients. If anyone reading this is pre-surgery and was told that they may need to do the behavior modification, I know that sounds sucky at first, but it really is the BEST thing I could have done, really!

Anyway, so I spent 6 hours and 15 minutes listening to things I already knew, but I still sort of had fun. The best part was the GOODY BAGS!!!


We got big totes from Realize (that's a brand of band):


And a REALLY NICE binder full of all our paperwork and things we'll need to know. I love stuff like this :)



This is called an incentive spirometer...you take a deep breath and then exhale all the air out of your lungs, and then you put that hose thingy in your mouth and inhale until the big blue disk goes up as high as it can. I got it all the way to the top!! The nurse called me an over achiever :)


This pic shows some vitamin pack samples at the top (hard to see), then a certificate for their health shop for a discount on vitamins, supplements, etc., then I got a purple Scottsdale Bariatric pen, and the BEST part of the goody bag is a gift certificate to the SPA for a FREE one hour treatment, my choice!

And I got this really nice water bottle :)

Not a bad haul for one day's work :) I love getting "stuff" for free.

Now I'm all set until next week on Tuesday for my pre-op appointment with the surgeon herself :)

14 DAYS AND COUNTING....

Weight Tracker:

Oh, I forgot to add this to the last post. This is just a ticker that allows you to see how much weight I've lost in comparison to what I'm trying to lose :) Looks pretty pathetic now, but give it a couple months and watch that shoe go!!

Last Meal

From the day I decided to have lap band surgery, I was already thinking about my "last meal." In the weight loss community, a last meal is the BIG meal you have before surgery where you can eat ANYTHING you want, and AS MUCH of it as you want. Usually people pick their absolute favorite foods and just gorge the entire day (so mealS...not meal).

I had been thinking about mine from day 1. I was going to start the day out with breakfast at IHOP and get endless pancakes, sausages, bacon, hash browns, waffles, etc. Then I would snack on ice cream and movie theater pop corn. Then for lunch I wanted Chili's baby back ribs...a full rack! With LOTS of french fries, and potato skins. I was also going to drink about 20 Shirley temples. Then I would snack on other various types of things...milkshakes, cream cheese stuffed pretzels, and the like. For dinner I wanted my FAVORITE prime rib dip sandwich from Charleston's w/a bowl of the potato soup, croissants, and french fries. For dessert I wanted Cheesecake Factory cheesecake...not sure what flavor yet. Then later on a large blizzard from dairy queen.
Yeah...that's IF I could have eaten all that. And you know, I really would have tried. But now that I'm getting so close, the desire to have a last meal has faded.

For one, by eating all of that, I will have un-done all the hard work I've put in to lose my pre-op weight. If I don't lose an acceptable amount of weight before surgery, they can cancel the whole thing on me and make me start over from scratch and I'd have to pay for all the pre-stuff again! One days worth of eating however I want is not worth all the time, effort, and money I've put into this. Not to mention I'm sure my bosses would kill me if I told them I'm not having surgery after all the schedule re-arranging they did to make this work for me!

For two, by having a last meal, I'm telling myself that I can NEVER eat those foods again, so this is my last chance. And that's not true. I will most likely still be able to eat most of those foods. Some foods may physically not work just because they would get stuck in my stomach opening and not go down, so I would give those up willingly. But for the most part, I can still have everything I want, I just have to be more sensible. I can't have them frequently, in fact most I should hardly ever have. But that doesn't mean I can NEVER have them. And I may only be able to have like 3 or 4 ribs and not an entire rack, but the point is that I can have them on occasion.

So while I was really looking forward to eating myself silly with all of my favorite foods, I realize now that I'm MORE looking forward to being healthy and being proud of myself when I look in a mirror. Like the saying goes...nothing tastes as good as thin (or healthy) feels.

Testing...

Well this morning I woke up bright and early to go have all my tests done. Thankfully I was able to have them all done at the Casa Grande hospital (15 min away) instead of the Scottsdale Shea hospital (1 1/2 hours away).

I was worried because when we got there, there was a 30 minute wait JUST TO REGISTER. So after sitting in a waiting room for 30 minutes, I was taken to a separate room to fill out paperwork and sign stuff and have a lady put everything into her computer. It just seemed like un-necessary process. That took an additional 15 minutes. Then I finally got to go do the testing I was there for. That didn't take long.

I had a chest x-ray. That was odd. I had to press my chest up against a lighted box. I just felt kind of stupid, lol.

Then I went and had blood taken. My veins weren't cooperating so they had to take it from my hand (OUCH!!!!!!) and I have poke holes in my arms from where they were trying to find the blood. It hurts :(

I had to give a urine sample, which was annoying because I hadn't had anything to drink all day so it was a bit of a waiting game.

Lastly I had to do an EKG. They put the stickers all over my body then hooked me up to a million cords and wires and plugged me in. That only lasted a second. That's to make sure that my heart is strong enough to undergo surgery.

So now all I have to do is wait for them to fax all the information over to the surgeon! I'll call tomorrow to check up on that, make sure they're on top of things.

And the happy ending is that I made it home before work! YAY!!

Checklist:
*Make sure ob-gyn records are faxed --CHECK
*Have tests done--CHECK
*Call S. B. to confirm all faxes received--will do tomorrow

It's Official...

My surgery date is officially on June 18th, 2009! YAY!!!

Here is my VERY busy upcoming schedule:
TODAY 5/28 - Got work approval for all time off, confirmed dates w/surgeon's office
5/29- HOPEFULLY get surgeon's packet w/the paperwork needed for the tests I have to have done before the 3rd (yikes...that's really pushing it) & Behavior Mod. session w/psychiatrist Dr. Garcia
5/30-Find a fax machine if I still haven't gotten packet
6/1-Go have all tests done in AM before work (still not even sure where to do that!)
6/3-Go to Pre-Op class and pay the fees that the hospital will be charging (Yikes, have no idea how much that is going to be!)
6/5- Behavior Mod. session w/Dr. Garcia
6/9- Pre-Op appointment where I meet with the actual surgeon Dr. Blackstone (She's the ONLY female bariatric surgeon in the state and one of the few in the country) I also have to pay the surgeon's fees at this appt...$1500! Seriously that's a GREAT price!
6/12- My LAST behavior mod. session w/Dr. Garcia :) YAY!
6/18-THE BIG DAY! SURGERY DAY! Surgery will be at 11am, I have to be there 2 hours early at 9am. Surgery is only about 45 minutes, I'll be passed out and drugged the rest of the day...woo hoo! lol, jk. I will be staying overnight and released home after testing on Friday.
6/25- Post-Op class, not really sure why I have to do this, but I'm sure it's important as it's mandatory.
6/26- Post-Op appointment to get my first fill. That will be exciting because the real weight loss comes after getting a fill :) Then I'll go back in one month to check my fill and maybe get another!

So...busy, busy, busy! I am not scared yet so don't try to freak me out.
The day before surgery I will post all of my pre-op photos so that we have something to compare to :) That should be fun.

Stay tuned!

Hello!

I've decided to start this public blog for everyone to see, if they want. I am just about to begin my new life and wanted to share my experiences with everyone!

Having been obese most of my life, I decided to have Lap-Band surgery. For those of you who don't know what that is:


So I started this whole process almost a year ago. First I was just doing research and learning EVERYTHING that I could about the procedure and everything involved with it. I strongly advise that anyone who is looking into this procedure spend MANY hours really researching this. Some of the best sites to do so are:
* http://www.obesityhelp.com/
* http://www.lapbandtalk.com/
* http://www.lapband.com/

I started a journal to write down everything I needed to know and wrote down every single question I could think of. Next I researched surgeons. I origianlly decided on Dr. Schlesinger. But after a series of un-fortunate events with their office (including me driving over an HOUR to his office for a seminar that I had scheduled with them, and they confirmed, only to find that no one was in the office, it was closed. Then the receptionist said that he wasn't doing seminars anymore and that must have been a mistake.) I decided to look for a different surgeon. I am sure that Dr. Schlesinger is a very capable surgeon, I've heard wonderful things about him. But his staff doesn't seem to be on top of things. And when I'm trusing someone to take care of my life, I have to trust that they're on top of everything. At the recomendation of my very good friend, Victoria, I decided to look into Scottsdale Bariatric w/ Dr. Blackstone. Wow. I have to say I LOVE Scottsdale Bariatric. Because they are so wonderful, you can expect to wait a little bit to get everything going, but it is more than worth it. They have the highest success rate in the state of AZ and it's because they are so thurough.

Here is the timeline of how everything went:

*July 2008- started looking into lap-band and seriously researching everything about it

*August 2008- found out if husband's new job offers insurance that covers the surgery (VERY IMPORTANT) ...found out it does and I just had to wait for his 90 day waiting period.

*September 2008- Joined support boards to start hearing people's stories and experiences

*October 2008- Insurance started. Called to confirm bennifits and was mailed a packet that went over requirements.

*November 2008- Started setting up primary care doctor's appointments since I needed an official referral from him. That's the very first step for the insurance approval. I also attended the required seminar from Scottsdale Bariatric (I did mine online, soo thankful they offer that option!)

*December 2008- Waited...not really much that I could do, just waited for appointments.

*January 2009- Signed up for Weight Watchers on-line so I could start working on loosing weight and also prove to the insurance that I was trying. My insurance required SOME form of medically supervised diet, so I told my PCP that I was doing this, he notated it...and it became medically supervised :)

*February 2009- Got my New Patient Packet from Scottsdale Bariatric! Oh gee, it was only a good 14 pages!

*March 2009- Got official Dr's referral :) YAY! Then I had my Pre-Op appointment. O....M....G!!! That was the LONGEST appointment of my life! It was literally 5 hours long! I'm not embellishing, it really was that long. But it was great.

April 2009- I had to work on getting my things done so that my insurance paper work could be submitted. Blood work, H-Pylori testing, PAP, etc.

May 2009- FINALLY got insurance approval!!!! Also got surgery date scheduled!! But as of right this second, I can't announce it yet since it's not 100% official, it's only 99% official yet.

SO! That's it so far! :) If you want to know more, please let me know. I'd be more than happy to tell you ANYTHING, I'm not shy, lol.