From today’s Two Lumps:
Originally here; I did ask for permission before I put the comic up on my webspace.
So, what does lap-band mean to you? :)
Monthly Archives: October 2009
Recipe: Creamy Italian Chicken
Before I went to work this morning, I started dinner in the slow cooker. You’ll probably discover that I’m a big fan of such foods! I really like doing most of the work in the morning before I go to work, since I have more energy then than when I get home at night.
I’m not sure where I found this recipe, to be honest. I’ve looked at so many different sources for meal ideas! The Boy’s best friend came over for dinner and all three of us loved it muchly.
Creamy Italian Chicken
2 chicken breasts, cubed
2 cans cream of chicken soup
8 oz cream cheese
1 packet dry Italian dressing mix
- In microwave, soften cream cheese. (It took about 90 seconds for mine to soften. Stir regularly!)
- In bowl, combine both cans of soup and softened cream cheese; mix well.
- Spray crockery with nonstick cooking spray.
- Placed cubed chicken on the bottom of the crock.
- Cover chicken with Italian dressing mix.
- Pour soup/cream cheese mixture on top.
- Cook on low for 8-10 hours.
The original recipe called for several pounds of chicken; I considered using half of the soup, cream cheese, and Italian dressing mix since I was using far less meat. I’m so glad I stuck with the original amount of those ingredients! Really, use all of the Italian dressing mix, even though it looks like a lot. I had doubts, too.
I used one can of regular cream of chicken soup and one can of the low-sodium, lower-fat kind. I think it would also be great with one can of cream of chicken and one can of cream of mushroom. I also used full-fat cream cheese, but lower-fat substitutions can be made, I’m sure.
I served the chicken and sauce over whole wheat pasta with steamed veggies in bowls. Yum!
This recipe can be used starting at the pureed stage of post-op eating, at least for LAP-BAND patients. Put some chicken, sauce, and milk in a blender and puree away. While I didn’t try it like that, I think it would be pretty darn good.
Now, I must do the dishes. Goodnight all!
Thursday Weigh-In and Exercise Report
Starting Weight: 298.2 pounds
Last Week’s Weight: 268.8 pounds
Today’s Weight: 270.0 pounds
1.2 pounds gained. I’m really not shocked to see the number because I feel really bloated and constipated today (and yesterday).
As for exercise–today was supposed to be my third morning in a row going to the gym. I’m sitting here in my official gym garb, but I don’t know if I’ll go since I feel kinda crappy and it’s getting a little late to both make the gym and get to work in a timely fashion.
Anyway, Tuesady I did 20 minutes on the elliptical and yesterday I worked with a trainer for 30 minutes. My thighs and arms are so sore today and I’m really discouraged by how little I can do, but I realize that the only way I’ll be able to do more is by doing this stuff regularly. I’m not going to give up, and I’m counting on you guys to help keep me motivated when I’m down, okay?
I have another training appointment for tomorrow, so I’ll make the gym then for sure.
Banded Bloggers: Once Upon A Time…In the Land of Cheese and Sunkist
Seriously, go read Once Upon A Time…In the Land of Cheese and Sunkist, bandster Amy W.’s blog.
She’s awesome. And cute. And honest. She posts pictures and vlogs and recipes. She’s honest and tells about her journey with the band–both the good and the bad. She’s working it well and has lost almost 100 pounds since she was banded in January!
Amy, thanks for the blog, the information, and the awesome. I always look forward to your posts :)
Readers, do you have a blog you’d like me to tell others about? Leave a comment so I can check it out!
Morning Exercise
This morning I woke up at 7:00, half an hour before my alarm went off. I thought about trying to go back to sleep, but realized that I wouldn’t feel any better for that extra 30 minutes of snoozing. So I thought about it. And thought about it. And decided to go to the gym.
I took a shower and almost talked myself out of the trek. Almost.
It’s true that I only made it 20 minutes. But the point is I did it, and I’m going back tomorrow. I have a training session early in the morning. Go me!
(Over the period of two years, I slowly built up 24 training sessions–two a month. That’s eight solid weeks of help setting up a strength training routine. I’m upset with myself for not using the sessions as I paid for them, but I’m going to put them to good use now!)
Here’s a picture of my elliptical after I finished today. You try taking a picture as you’re pedaling!!
Are you going to the gym? Link or post to photos of your machine in the comments when you’re done. Exercising outside? Tell us about what you’ve been doing!
Reader Question: Cosmetic Surgery
Hey, didja notice that I now have a contact form? One reader did; I woke up this morning to a question she sent to me!
This reader reports that she had her LapBand surgery four years ago and that she’s lost over 100 pounds (congratulations!). She was wondering if I knew anyone who’s recently had a tummy tuck.
Unfortunately, I don’t know anybody personally. I would recommend checking the Cosmetic and Reconstructive Surgery forum over at LapBandTalk and the Plastic Surgery forum at ObesityHelp. I haven’t been there much yet, since I’m nowhere near needing additional surgery right now. I don’t even know where I’m going to get the money for it when I have lost the weight!
Sorry I couldn’t provide more information to you, but I hope these resources help.
Recipe: Chicken and Spinach Adobo
I’m tired of looking at cookbooks and through various cooking sites to find stuff to eat, especially since my hours of labor have yielded under a dozen recipes the Boy and I will both eat.
I do recommend that WLS peeps check out Shelly’s blog, The World According to Eggface. She’s a very successful post gastric bypass patient who posts tons of recipes. While I haven’t had a chance to try any of them yet, her Carmel Apple Oatmeal is on the menu for breakfast tomorrow and we’ll have Shelly’s Beef Fiesta Bites for dinner one night this week.
I tried a recipe from Eating Well After Weight Loss Surgery by Patt Levine and Michele Bontempo-Saray last night:
Chicken and Spinach Adobo
1/4 cup cider vinegar (I used 3/8 cup)
1/4 cup soy sauce (I used 3/8 cup of the kind with reduced sodium)
1 clove minced garlic (I used 2)
1 bay leaf (I used 2)
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs (I used two breasts)
cooking spray
1 10-ounce pkg chopped frozen spinach, thawed
- Mix first five ingredients together in a large zipper bag, then add chicken. Make sure you shake the bag a bit with the chicken in it so that the meat gets coated.
- Refrigerate chicken and marinade for two hours; turn the bag every once in a while to distribute the marinade.
- Remove the chicken from the bag (save the marinade!) and saute in a large skillet coated with cooking spray. Cook on medium-high heat for seven minutes.
- While chicken is sauteing, squeeze excess moisture out of the thawed spinach.
- Remove chicken from the pan; pour reserved marinade in and bring it to a boil. Add the spinach and stir.
- Place chicken on top of spinach/marinade mixture, cover the pan, lower the heat, and cook for 10 minutes
- Remove the chicken and keep it warm. Raise the heat on the pan to medium-high and reduce the liquid in the pan by half.
They boy and I gave the dish 2-3 stars. I tried to use a quick-marinating attachment that came with our Foodsaver vacuum sealer. Don’t make the same mistake I did, marinate the old-fashioned way! The breasts we got were really thick, too. They needed to be pounded flat to further infuse flavor.
The Boy didn’t like the spinach, but he’s a pretty picky veggie eater. It reminded me vaguely of the withered greens my grandfather used to make (I don’t know if that’s really what they’re called, but it was a veggie in vinegar left in the fridge to soak for a while), so I loved them for the nostalgia factor alone.
I’ll make it again with the above modifications and see if we like it more; it’s worth another shot!
If you’re on your pureed/soft food stage after surgery, I’d recommend making more marinade and pureeing a bit of chicken with the sauce–it’s supposed to be a meal that’s friendly to patients at this stage.
Food Journaling and Other Random Thoughts
As the title of this post indicates, this post is going to be a bit random, but I want to address my food journaling.
It’s hard, guys. I forget. Then I feel bad. When I remember to write things down I feel bad because I know I should be doing better. There’s also no accountability; I write in a little Ecosystem notebook and nobody ever sees it (look into the Ecosystem journals, by the way–they’re 100% recycled!). I can lie all I want.
So here’s my thought: I am the proud owner of an iPhone. I always have my iPhone with me. My iPhone has a camera.
I can take pictures of what I eat. I’m thinking a shot before and a shot after to illustrate how much I’ve consumed; at the end of the day, I can do a roundup of my day’s eats. The problem is that I’m embarrassed. God only knows how I’ve managed to lose almost 30 pounds when all I eat is crap. I don’t want you all to see how awful my diet is, and I definitely don’t want you all to see that I eat out TWICE A DAY. Please don’t judge me, I’m trying to change my horrible ways :(
What do you all think? Would this be helpful to all of you or not? I know it would help me, for several reasons. Firstly, I would have a record of my food intake. Still no calorie counting, though! Secondly, you all could give me input about what I’m eating and maybe ideas on how to increase the variety in my diet. Thirdly, you could learn what to do (or what not to do) by looking at what I’m eating.
Also, tell me what you’re eating, post-ops! Post links to recipes! If you’re not post-op and have a band-friendly food, tell me about it! The Boy and I eat out way too much and we’re trying to kick that habit to the curb. The reasons we eat out are compelling for us, though. Cooking requires energy. Meal planning’s difficult when your tastes differ and eating out lets us each get what we want. But eating out is expensive AND who knows what’s actually going into the food you get (besides salt)?
Also again, I’m going to start going through my old posts and tagging/categorizing them to help make things easier to find. That way you’ll be able to click on the weigh-in tag and see all of my Thursday Weigh-Ins without any other posts.
Thursday Weigh-In
Starting Weight: 298.2 pounds
Last Week’s Weight: 270.8 pounds
Today’s Weight: 268.8 pounds
TWO POUNDS, BABY! AND I’m officially in the 260s for the first time in over a year. AND I’m almost 30 pounds down since the end of May.
It’s taking forever, it seems; I’m working with the therapist I saw when I was at ASU (who is now in private practice) to figure out what my food issues are and how to combat them. I’ve been reluctant to keep a food log and count calories because I’m very afraid of slipping into some obsessive, unhealthy habits. On her recommendation, I started logging what I’m eating and how I’m feeling when I eat. No quantities, no calories, just the food and how I feel. Hopefully I’ll gain some insight as to why I’m not shedding pounds like a crazy person, like so many of my fellow bandsters do :)
Good Restriction at Last?
So I had my last fill on September 15 and was thinking about going back to get another top-off. It was close, but not quite right. I could still eat quite a bit of food comfortably, though I did have to chew a lot and concentrate on the consistency of my food.
Last week, I had my first period after a fill (maybe too much information, but it’s pertinent). I’d read on message boards like LapBandTalk that many women experience more restriction right before and during their periods, which I experienced. I had a hard time with Greek yogurt going down in the mornings, though I had less restriction by supper.
The thing is, the restriction is still there for me. I don’t know how long it lasts for other women, but breakfast was a no-go this morning. For lunch, I had a chicken taco and thought I was going to burst. A week ago, I was eating two chicken tacos for lunch with no problems whatsoever.
Don’t get me wrong, I like the increased restriction and think that breakfast would have worked if I’d had some hot tea first, like many bandsters have to do. I’m just wondering if I should expect it to last, because many people often have delays of several weeks before their fills really kick in.
I guess only time will tell. Do any of you have similar stories you can tell?
(my brain is foggy right now; sorry if there are any errors and parts that don’t make sense)