Dating and the Band. . .

Tonight, I went out on a date with someone who I met through an on-line dating site. He was a really nice guy -- smart, personable and well-traveled, but I just felt absolutely zero chemistry there.

The dining room at Artisanal

We had dinner at Artisanal, which is a restaurant here that I really love which specializes in amazing cheeses. I will say that this is the first time I've felt a bit conspicuous dining out with the band. Before we sat down, he asked me what my position was on the fondue (they have an outrageous fondue, but it's only for 2 or more people). After the tasting menu this weekend, I just was not in the market for a calorie-laden dinner, so I told him that I love the fondue, but was trying to be good. So, I'm guessing he may have been disappointed.

Sorry, Date! No fondue for you-oo!

Then, we talked about what we were going to order, and he was having a starter and an entree. I know from experience that there is no way I can do both at this restaurant. So, I (kind of jokingly & definitely nicely) said that I know it's presumptious on a first date, but that I wasn't super hungry and would love to share the beet and goat cheese salad he picked if he was up for it. So, we did that, and I ordered the tile fish.

Only thing is. . . I couldn't finish my 1/2 portion of the salad, and I barely made a dent in the tile fish. I feel like I was making a lot of excuses for not eating more, and that he thought I might have an eating disorder or something. I guess the salad-sharing thing called attention to it, and then me not eating that much made it worse. He also seemed disappointed that I didn't want to get dessert or a cheese plate. I encouraged him to go for it (seriously guy, go for it! Just don't drag me down with you!), but he didn't.

Anyway, all in all, not the best date ever. I felt really self-conscious about the whole food thing (thank God I didn't get stuck on top of it all), wasn't particularly interested in him, and was just really happy to be able to go home when it was over!

Funny thing . . when I was out with the chef from the other weekend, this was a non-issue. I just ate what I wanted and it was no big deal -- and it's not like my band was tighter tonight. It's more that this guy was putting on a little pressure to overeat/make bad choices, and I didn't know him well enough to be honest with him.

The learning curve continues! :) Still, I am glad that got out there and went on a date and that I stuck with what I wanted to eat and did not give in to pressure!

NS Victoryyyyyy!

OK, so I love the show Entourage! But, I did have a really good NSV at Boot Camp tonight. There are these three walls that we have to hurl ourselves over. One is about chest-height (not too hard). . the other is about my height (hard!) and the third is an arm's reach above my head.

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If you go over the walls backwards, there is a metal bar across the back that you can step on and use to leverage yourself over -- that makes it a ton easier. But, if you go front-wards, you just have to hang on with your hands, walk your legs up, hurl a leg over and pull yourself up. Trust me . . it's not as easy as it sounds (and I'm pretty sure it doesn't sound easy!).

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I've been fine on the first wall for a while now, and every time, I try to get over the second. Up to tonight, I've always needed help to get over (generally an instructor bracing my foot so that I can get over the wall). BUT, tonight, I got over the 2nd wall all by myself!!

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Third wall, watch your back!! (Well, front. . but whatever!)

Yoga-tta Be Kidding Me!

I went to my yoga class on Saturday. This is the class I used to go to (relatively) faithfully pre-band, and I thought it was a decently difficult class. On Saturday, I went and I didn't even break a sweat. In fact, I was thinking . . . wow, this is such a BS workout after Boot Camp -- and I wanted to go running afterwards, but didn't have enough time because of my brunch plans.

Wellll. . . . cut to Sunday morning. Apparently, my workout was a LOT better than I thought! I was SO SORE!!! Guess that's what I get for understimating the power of yoga! I'm going to try to get to that class more often -- based on how sore I was, I must really need that kind of stretching with all of the Boot Camp I'm doing!

Underground Supper Club

A few months ago, I read an article about all of these underground supper clubs that are cropping up all over the place. One in particular, which is hosted out in Brooklyn, looked great to me. There wasn't that much information available . . just an article or two and some photos from past events. The food looked incredible, and the people looked decent, so I convinced Marjorie to come with me.


This is, of course, a bit of an adventure because it required us to actually leave the island of Manhattan and take 2 subway lines to get out to the appropriate part of Brooklyn . . to have dinner with a bunch of people we've never met! Fortunately, it was a risk worth taking -- we had a fantastic time!

Here is the menu. . .

So, you may be wondering. . . how exactly does a bandster get by at a seven course dinner (counting the amuse bouche and mignardises)? I considered telling the chef in advance that I am banded, but decided that I'd just wing it and see how it went. And, it was totally fine. I just ate a bit of each course and pushed my food around so that it looked like I'd had more than I actually did.


This was the first real course. . . the heirloom tomato salad with peaches, chevre, sweet basil and mint. It was delicious! My second favorite dish of the night. Everything in this dish is band-appropriate and easy to chew. The plate is actually quite small, so it wasn't as huge of a portion as it looks to be here. I ate about half and did the push-to-edges-of-plate trick.

Another thing that I do at restaurants (and did here) is to say how much I enjoyed the dish. That stops people from asking whether you didn't finish because you didn't like it. It's one of the more valuable tricks up my banster sleeve!

The chef came out and told us about each dish as it was served. I felt like I was a judge on Top Chef! :) In a good way!

The second dish was really exquisite . . . sweet corn velouté. This dish was definitely not calorie-appropriate for the band. BUT, it was exactly the perfect consistency, since it was pureed. . . Apologies in advance for the food porn. . . :)

The presentation started out as shown below. . . Oh. My. Goodness. Yes, that IS a piece of honeycomb underneath the blue cheese.

And, then the chef came around and poured the velouté on top. I wish I'd photographed this better. Just imagine -- this hot, sweet corn creamy wonderfulness is poured over the croutons, blue cheese and honeycomb. The blue cheese and honeycomb melt and merge with the velouté.

That dish went down like a charm and was really incredibly delicious. I had to restrain myself so that I wouldn't finish it!

I won't post all of the other dishes, since I don't want to give everyone head hunger! I will say though that I had trouble with the one shown below -- the duck breast. This was made using ducks grown for foie gras production . . it actually tasted like foie gras. Unfortunately, the texture was just not working for me -- it was too dense and difficult to fully chew apart.

I had to get rid of my first bite because I'd cut too big of a piece given that I couldn't chew it well enough. In case anyone is wondering how to do this politely without leaving the table, let me tell you. You have two options. . .


1. Pretend you are using your napkin and spit it into your napkin . . . but here we had linen napkins and were at someone's home, so that was not going to fly (how gross for our host. . .); or

2. Put your empty fork in your mouth (preferably while someone on the other side of the table is telling an engaging story), put the bite on the fork with your tongue, and put the bite on your plate (hiding it under something else). People seriously do not notice this -- and, if anyone ever does, at least you are being as un-gross and polite as possible while taking care of the situation!


I chose option no. 2. And no one noticed at all. After that, I took a few more cautious bites. . . cutting each the size of a wee pencil eraser. There wasn't going to be any amount of pushing the food around that could hide that I barely ate anything, though. So, when they came to clear, I took Marjorie's plate and stacked it on top of mine. At least by the time they saw the dish in the kitchen, no one necessarily knew it was mine! :)

Here is a photo of Marjorie, me and our wonderful chef and host. I know there is a spot on my shirt but (are you sitting down??) I did not crop the photo to remove it because (can I get a drum roll?!?) -- LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER -- I wanted to leave my hips in the picture!!

Thank you for sharing this landbreaking, non-hip-cropping moment with me! :)

Fun Saturday

Today really has been a great day, and it looks to keep going in that direction! I went to yoga, met my friend Nadia for brunch at our favorite spot, then we shopped a little bit and went for mani/pedis (I got a crazy dark blue color from OPI called "Yoga-toget this blue". . too funny)!

I took the above shot of myself before I left the apartment because I haven't posted any photos lately. This is me in my new (size 12. . woo-hoo!) Gap jeans, a gray shirt from H&M (ahem. . size medium . . er . . 'cuz they were oversized) and a long sweater that I've had forever (no idea where I got it).

I'm heading out now to go to an (!!) underground supper club in Brooklyn with Marjorie. The chef (no. . not the one from last weekend. . who is no longer around and surely out of the picture, unfortunately!) trained with Gordon Ramsay, and I'm excited to see what the whole underground supper club thing is like!

Recognizing my old self & NSV!

(That is not me in the photo, just in case you were wondering!)

A good friend of mine who I've known since 1990 was visiting last night on the tail-end of a business trip. Her name is Candace, and we met in college. Afterwards, we both wound up living in D.C. at the same time, and she moved into my apartment building. We were good friends and spent a lot of time together, but lost touch during the past six or so years -- minus a long phone call every year or so and holiday cards. (She was living in Italy, then moved back to TX to run her company from there, life got in the way, etc.)

Anyway, I hadn't seen Candace since around October of 2003 -- just about six years exactly. I had been wondering whether I was heavier now then when I last saw her. She looked pretty much exactly the same -- not older or anything -- just with longer hair. And, we completely picked up where we left off in that way that old friends do. So, my NSV? She said "You look exactly the same!! Except you're thinner." YES!!!! (Thank you, Boot Camp! I probably am 5 lbs higher on the scale, but I have more lean muscle now!)

I didn't tell my friend about me being banded -- I just didn't feel like having some conversation where I'd say "By the way, I totally let myself gain 10 pounds a year every year since I saw you last and was in an unhealthy BMI range . . . then had WLS!"

It felt great to hear her say that I look just the same (but thinner. . don't forget that part!) :) as I did before. It really reinforced that feeling I've been having of "getting myself back" through this process. I'm not sure if this will 100% make sense, but I actually recognize the version of myself that I see in the mirror these days. That's the person I remember . . not the heavier, puffy, more middle-aged-looking version of myself that I saw over the past several years. It still surprises me sometimes not to see the puffy person looking back at me, but I certainly don't miss that!!

I wonder if this experience will be different for bandsters who were very heavy for their entire adult lives and are now going to be thin. I can imagine that it might be even harder to get around to thinking of yourself as being that thinner version of yourself if you had never seen yourself that way before. I now look more like the 30s version of my the person I looked like through my teens and 20s, but I still don't always remember what I look like now and sometimes get surprised when I catch a glimpse.

(Oh, to be so young again! I was 26 years old, on a trip to Santa Fe with Candace, my mom and Candace's mother when this was taken. We were there for Indian Market Weekend.)

Thank you! (And some advice for new bandsters)

You guys make me feel so great with all of your nice comments! I got completely choked up reading the messages everyone posted in response to my post yesterday. We are definitely all in this together, and all of your encouragement, support and sharing of your own experiences has really helped me to stay strong and focused over the past 11 months.

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For anyone who is starting this process, my advice is to:

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1. Take your measurements right away;

2. Take a bunch of full-length "before" photos;

3. Give serious thought to who you are going to tell about your surgery (and who is going to turn out to be the "food police" or otherwise be a source of negativity that you don't want);

4. Get active on lapbandtalk.com (so much great advice and support on that site); and

5. Start your own blog or journal and/or start following all the bandster blogs that you like. It is so encouraging and helpful to know that you are not in this alone, and to have a network of other bandster friends.

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One more thing . . . my mother pointed out to me yesterday that I have lost over a YARD in inches!!! WOW!! (And that's just from the points that I measure!) A yard people. . . THREE FEET. That is so crazy! :)

11 Month Bandiversary and . . .SIXTYYYYYYY!!!!!!

YES!!!! I hit 60 down this morning!!! In fact, I'm down 60.6!! This is a 10-pound range where I felt pretty good in my 20s and early 30s. This also means that I only have 14.4 pounds to go to get to my goal!!

You know. . . I wonder if those figures about most people only losing about 70% of their extra weight with the band aren't wrong -- or at least outdated. Based on what I see on other bandsters' blogs and on lapbandtalk.com, it looks like most of us get to goal.

Also, today is my 11 month bandiversary!! So, I'm especially happy to get to this landmark today. This past year has really flown by, and I feel like I've really spent much of it focused on improving myself. I am very happy with the results.

At the outset, I thought I might be at goal at the one-year mark, but I'll probably still have around 10-12 pounds to go by then. If you would have told me a year ago that I'd only be 15 pounds overweight today, it would have been hard for me to really comprehend that. But. . lo & behold. . . that is the case!!

So, how has my life changed in the last 11 months?
Some of these things you already know from prior posts, but it's good for me to remind myself of them anyway, so I'll list them here.

1. I am down SIXTY pounds!

2. I feel good about my appearance.

3. I don't berate myself every single day about my weight -- in fact, I don't do that at all anymore.

4. I put more effort into planning what I am going to eat.

5. I no longer have compartmental syndrome, and am able to run!

6. I did a 5K race, running nearly 100% 0f the time!

7. I now look forward to seeing old friends and colleagues, instead of dreading it because of how much weight I'd gained.

8. I am really enjoying shopping again.

9. I am in the best physical shape of my life.

10. I feel very good about myself for working my band and making this work for me.

11. I don't overeat anymore.

12. I know how to eat so that I won't get stuck, so dining out is not a problem.

13. I am comfortable on airplanes, on the subway, etc.

14. My shoe size has gone down a 1/2 size (back to the size I wore about 2 years ago).

15. I have lost 36.1 inches -- and I counted both of my legs and arms here (though I didn't the first several times I posted inches lost). That includes a whopping EIGHT inches from my waist and 8.25 from my hips!

Lots of good news today, people!! I hope all of you are having a great day, too!

FIFTY NINE!!

About time!! It took a while for me to get off the 2.6 lbs that I gained while I was on vacation in Palm Springs! But, it's off now. Only one pound to go to the big six-oh!

I had a great weekend -- on Saturday night, I went to see God of Carnage on Broadway with Erika. The play was great, and one of the best things about it was the cast! There were only four actors in it -- James Gandolfini, Hope Davis, Marcia Gay Harden and Jeff Daniels -- all of whom I really like. Erika and I were in the 5th row center (we actually were a row up and in a better seat than Al Roker, who was there too!) so we were in a great spot for it!

After dinner, we went to the bar at The Royalton Hotel, and I actually met a very nice, very cute guy named Christoph. He is a private chef, in town visiting from Aspen to cook dinner for some very high-ups who are in town for the United Nations. We wound up meeting up for brunch the next day, and spent most of the afternoon together, walking around, which was a lot of fun. I had a dinner that night, but we also met up for a drink afterwards. Very fun, and just the kind of day I had been missing! Unfortunately, he lives in Aspen, but such is life! I had a great Sunday, and my mind was definitely not on PP! :)

Serene Stomach

I'm going to go out on a limb today and blog about a topic that everyone is familiar with. . . poop. That's right, you heard me. :) If that's TMI for you, just enjoy the lovely picture and stop reading right now!

Before I got banded, I would get upset stomachs all of the time -- at least once or twice a week. I don't know if that was due to what I was eating, or the amount I was eating, but I'm guessing it may have been the latter, since I still eat most of the same things. Since I've been banded, however, I noticed that this almost never happens. My stomach is serene, the formerly "delicate balance" is fine and, well, things are running like clockwork.

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I'd been hesitating about posting about this personal topic, but it's such a positive side-effect about being banded for me that I thought it was important to include!

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I will say that I worry about getting food poisoning or a bad stomach flu while I'm at restriction. I know that if this happens, I need to get to a doctor immediately for an un-fill. I'm thinking about asking my doctor to give me a syringe to keep at home, just in case I ever have an emergency. I don't expect that un-filling myself would be that difficult, and I'd rather do that than have to rush to the hospital while I'm in dire need of throwing up and other things. . .

Cooking with Catherine, Part VI

This is a recipe that Marjorie's lovely (and trés French) mother, Monique made for us while we were in Palm Springs. It was amazing -- so incredibly delicious, and I am dying to have it again! Happily, she was nice enough to send me the recipe, and I wanted to share it with you. It went down like a charm (though sometimes I have trouble with shrimp . . I just chewed them as well as possible, and all was fine).

This is 2x the recipe.

MONIQUE’S SAFFRON PAELLA SALAD
(serves 2-3)

RICE
5 oz. Mahatma saffron rice – cook according to instructions on package and cool off

VINAIGRETTE
3 tbs. white wine vinegar
6 tbs. olive oil or a little less
2 cloves chopped garlic (good size)
Salt and pepper to taste


OTHER INGREDIENTS
1/2 lb. cooked and deveined shrimp (medium without tails)
2 diced tomatoes
1/2 cup cooked small green peas
1/2 cup whole imported olives (Greek, Italian or French)
3 sliced green onions for garnish


ADD VINAIGRETTE AND OTHER INGREDIENTS TO COOLED RICE
For flavor, mix all ingredients 1 hour before serving. Double the recipe for 4 to 6 people, except for the olive oil for fear it will get soggy.

Hopefully the size of the kitchen doesn't impact flavor. . . my great-for-NYC kitchen is substantially more wee than this one!

Bon appetit!

Nobody puts baby in a corner!!

R.I.P., Patrick Swayze! You will be sorely missed!

I DID IT!!!!!!!

Here I am at the 1 mile mark! Adam and Erica came out with a camera AND gold pom poms (love it!) to cheer me on! So nice!

I did it! I ran my first 5K! It felt SO GREAT to be able to do this! When I crossed the finish line, I had to fight the urge to cry out of happiness and being so grateful that I was able to do this. I can't believe how far I have come in improving my health and fitness in the past year.

Exactly a year ago (just over a month before the day I was banded), I had to walk this race because I was so heavy that I developed compartmental syndrome and was not able to run for more than 15 minutes without being in a great deal of pain. Once I hit the 45 pound down mark, I tried running again (as part of Boot Camp) and found out that I no longer had any problem at all.

This time last year, it would have been hard for me to imagine that I would weigh almost 60 pounds less and be able to run a 5K today. I feel so incredibly grateful.

Here is me zooming on by! The girl who is turned around with the pink jacket around her waist is my friend Erika (not the same person as Erica with a "c"), who ran the race with me today!

Race Day!!!

Well, it's here! The morning of my first 5K ever!!! I am really excited about it. I bought a cute black running top with silver stripes from Lululemon yesterday (OMG, things in that store fit me now!) and am going to be sporting it with some black running capris. I thought a good outfit might give me some added edge! :)

I'm heading to Central Park now. . . wish me luck!! :)

More about privacy. . .

I posted a while ago about a woman at work who I really like, and who has a significant amount of weight that she wants to lose. I'd wanted to tell her about my band, but didn't want to sacrifice my privacy at work. I met up recently with my friend Debbie, who is the first person I spoke with about getting banded (she was banded by my doctor 3 years ago and has lost and kept off 90 pounds). Debbie suggested that I tell my friend at work about her experience and offered to speak with her for me!

So, yesterday, I gave my friend Debbie's contact information and put the two of them in touch. I really hope that this will help her move toward getting banded, if she decides that's what she wants. I know all too well how depressed, hopeless and frustrated she feels about the prospect of losing 70-90 pounds, and I also know very well that getting banded let me put all of those bad feelings behind me and start feeling good about my weight, health, etc. I hope it will do the same for her.

I'm sure that she'll probably figure out that I am banded if she learns more about it (or goes on LapBandTalk.com and sees me on there), but hopefully by that point, she'll have even more understanding for my feelings about privacy at work and will respect them. Anyway, I thought this was a good solution and am happy that Debbie helped me find a way to get the information about banding to my friend from work.

Palm Springs Eternal . . .

Really, I love Palm Springs! And, it's not just because Marjorie's parents catered to our every need . . . bringing us mimosas in the pool (see photo below) and making gorgeous, healthy meals multiple times a day!

No, I could see past that to also appreciating our day at La Quinta resort and spa. . and the great massage that I got there! And, also -- even deeper -- to the day we spent at God's gift to outlet malls. People, I am SERIOUS. That mall was CRAZY!

Trunk full of loot from the world's best outlet mall. M found an insanely flattering, gorgeous black satin dress at Dior for $280.
(It was an EMERGENCY.)

Two weeks ago, at the Elie Tahari store in Soho, I found a really amazing dress that I loved. BUT, it was too expensive for what it was. . . a leopard print dress in a transition size that I may not be able to wear for more than 3-4 months. However, it is clear that GOD really wanted me to have that dress (apparently, despite all of the other stuff going on in this world, HE still has time to get involved when there is a really good outfit at stake)! ;)

So, I get to the Elie Tahari outlet in Palm Springs, and MY DRESS IS THERE!! And, despite that it's still being sold at full price at Saks (dress is knee length -- not sure why it looks so short in the photo), it was being sold at a significant discount! And, on top of all of that, due to a special Labor Day weekend promotion, I was able to buy it at a discount of more than 40% off the normal price!! Hello, pretty!!! It was meant to be!!! I'll post a photo of me in it soon.

My outlet purchases. . . a transition suit from Banana Republic, a cute vest sweater also from BR -- size MEDIUM, a multi-strand necklace from Saks, and my gorgeous Mandy dress from Elie Tahari that I can not wait to wear!

What a great weekend. . . sun, spa, shopping and lounging at the pool. Just what I needed!

Crud!

Crud. . . I managed to put on 2.6 lbs during my trip to Palm Springs!! Oh well -- easy come, easy go. But that means I am probably not hitting the 60 down mark for an extra week!

Oh well. I really enjoyed it! Check out that pool and golf course view! Will post more about the trip soon. I really had a great time.

If we took a holiday . .

I won't be posting for a few days because I am heading to hot, sunny Palm Springs tomorrow! I am really looking forward to relaxing and soaking up some sun (wearing SPF 50 . . )! :)

I am going with my friend Marjorie, and we are going to be staying at her parents' beautiful home (in the guest house. . .). I like her parents and am really looking forward to it -- we're just planning to lounge by the pool, do a bit of shopping and not much else. My only concern is that her parents don't know about my surgery. I asked M if I should tell them, and her thought was that I shouldn't (not sure if that was due to concern for my privacy or concern about how many questions I might be asked). :)

Honestly, I'd rather not say anything, because I don't want to risk that they may be of the Food Police persuasion. So, I'm taking some risk that there may be meals I can't eat and that I might get stuck a few times. At this point, I'm experienced enough to know what I can and can't do (not that I don't ever mess up), so I'm going to wing it. Will let you know how it goes!

Have a great Labor Day weekend, everyone!

Fifty-eight!

Wow! Nothing like the end of TOM to get the scale moving! As of this morning, I am down 58.6 pounds. Holy mother of goodness!! I was not expecting that at all today!

I did go to boot camp last night and had a small dinner, but was really surprised to see that number on the scale. I'm sure I'll bounce around a bit before I hit 59 (as usual), but I AM 1.4 POUNDS AWAY FROM 60 DOWN!! WOW. I am stunned, amazed and thrilled!