Full pool!

I said something about having empty pool syndrome before and realized that I never explained what I was talking about. This comes from a post that I read on LapBandTalk.com -- someone analogized the time between surgery & the first fill to having a great new swimming pool, but no water in it. Well, I'm very happy to say that there is water in my pool! :)

(Catherine & Sharon - Greve, Italy - 2005)

Above is a photo of me in one of my favorite pools ever -- it's at an old castle in Tuscany that is now a hotel (Castello Vicchiomaggio in Greve). The first time I went there was in 2005, when I went to Italy with two of my best girl friends (Sharon & Nadia), and we met up with five other friends there and rented a farmhouse on the property. What a blast! The summer before last, two of the friends from the earlier trip (Sharon & Scott) got married at the castle, so I went back with my (now-ex) boyfriend and a bunch of our other friends for the ceremony. It was really a fantastic trip. (at dinner in Greve - 2005)

Anyway, the pool at Vicchiomaggio is spectacular -- it's an infinity pool that looks over the Tuscan countryside. That's how I am picturing my band, now that I've got a bit of a fill going on! Here is another shot of that pool. I'm practically drooling -- there is snow on the ground here in NYC, and its' been raining on & off all morning!
The scale is still down 15.2 as of this morning. I'm happy to stay at that weight for a few days before it moves again, since it tells me that the loss wasn't a fluke!


(And, just for fun, here is a photo of us in the town square in Greve for Sharon & Scott's wedding in the summer of 2007!)

Down another 1.2 lbs!

Man, this restriction stuff is great! I had to go to my office's Christmas party last night, and it was a bit hard to find "mushy" hors d'oeuvres. I wound up just having mainly cheese without crackers, but it was fine and I don't think anyone noticed that I was eating a bit strangely. I like the restriction -- it's making things so much easier.

BTW, this is a landmark day because I'm officially down 15 lbs! In fact, I'm down 15.2! Woo-hoo! :)

Restricted Area!

I'm still on liquids today, following fill no. 2, but I did have a thicker soup (pureed turkey chili) for dinner, and I noticed that it was not going down the same way as before. As of right now, swallowing a thicker soup feels a little bit like when you drink something when you have a sore throat. Not the hurting-your-throat part -- it's more that I just am more aware of it going down. Also, the sensation isn't in my throat, it's more inside my stomach at the site where my band is.

It's definitely interesting and a little weird, but not bad. I'm noticing that I'm getting full a lot faster and that I can get a little stuck. The stuck feeling I've had is really mild -- so maybe it's not a "stuck" feeling, but more of a theres-food-waiting-to-go-down kind of feeling. It's a little uncomfortable, but nothing all that bad.

After this morning's scale victory, I'm feeling excited and motivated about my future with the band, and like things are finally on their way. Everything pretty much had stalled, in terms of weight-loss, from the point when I got on solids until my first fill, so it feels very good to know that I'm back on track.

I'm back in the game, people!!!

Yesterday I went for fill no. 2. Strangely, when my doctor looked at how much saline was in my band, there were only .7 ccs in it -- instead of 1.7 ccs. She told me not to worry -- and that saline could be stuck in the tube due to the band being at low pressure after the operation. Honestly, given that it was exactly 1 cc missing, it sounds more to me that she may have accidentally only put .7 in the first time. What are the chances that I'd have low pressure (or a leak - yikes!) that would take out exactly 1 cc to the dot?

In any event, we'll monitor this next time I go to the doctor. Right now, I have a 2cc fill in my 5 cc band. I'm on liquids until tomorrow, then have 2 days of mushies, so I won't know for a few days what the fill is really like. However, I can tell that there is at least some more restriction.

I've been really focusing on my diet lately and (!!) finally!! The guilty five are all off and a bit of one of their friends is gone too! As of this morning . . . . I am at my all-time lowest post-op weight and am down 14 lbs in total. Woo-hoo! :) It's working!!

Season's Fillings!

I've been MIA for a few days, mainly because I haven't really had anything to report. My first fill of 1.7 ccs was definitely not enough to get me to good restriction -- not even close. I'm going back for my second fill today and am ready to get going already!

I'm happy to report that I've been pretty good on my diet lately, despite that I've been running on nothing but will power for about 3 weeks. Almost all of the "guilty five" from Thanksgiving are off -- I have just one pound left before I'm back to my lowest post-op weight. I'm really hoping to take that one off this week!

Above is a photo of my current-favorite ornament on my tree! I grew up living all over the place (London, Holland, France, New Jersey, Saudi Arabia and Texas -- and Texas is the place I lived the longest . . before I moved to NYC! Since college, I've lived in D.C., NYC and even spent a year in the Bahamas working on-site for a client. Anyway, I love this Texas boot -- it's so festive and colorful, and it looks great on the tree! I got it at a store in Houston called Events -- GREAT store!

The Empty Swimming Pool Effect . . .

Yesterday, I was back on mushies for the first time after my fill. Unfortunately, it seems like 1.7 ccs isn't going to take me to good restriction, so I'm going to go back to my doctor as soon as I can for another fill. I really couldn't tell a difference between 1.7 ccs and no ccs in the band -- though I was certainly chewing very carefully.

Will let you know if it's any different after the next day or two!

Congratulations to April & her husband on getting banded!

Finally! My First Fill!

At long last, I had my first fill today! I was going crazy in Bandster Inferno, so I'm happy to finally be on my way on the real weight loss part of this journey!

Before my appointment with Dr. Ren this afternoon, she had me get an esophogram on another floor at the NYU Hospital. It's very cool -- they uploaded the images onto the NYU intranet, so Dr. Ren was able to pull up the images from my esophogram on her computer during my appointment. I was able to see my band inside me on the picture. She said that the placement is just where it should be, which I expected -- but it was nice to hear!

Before she did the fill, I asked her not to be too conservative & told her I was ready to get going already! So, she gave me 1.7 cc, whereas she usually starts people off with 1 cc. BTW, I have a 9.75 cm Inamed Lap-Band, which has a 5 cc balloon. I'm now on 2 days of full liquids, followed by 2 days of mushies.

I had lunch after my fill -- a medium soup -- and couldn't tell any difference. BUT, when I got home tonight, I pureed some of the turkey chili I made over the weekend (sorry I didn't take photos!) and had it for dinner. It was a little thicker than the soup I had for lunch, and I could feel that I have more restriction (unless I'm totally imagining things!). Interesting!

BTW, I am very proud of myself for using my leftover Thanksgiving turkey (which I'd frozen) in two soups that I made over the weekend. I made the soup with green chiles and low fat cheese that I posted about before, substituting turkey for chicken, and also made a chili with turkey, & chipotle peppers. Both turned out nicely, and I feel good about not wasting any of that organic, free-range turkey!

'Tis the season!

Let me start this day by giving mad props to my mother, who is an extremely talented present-wrapper! I received these two presents this morning and they were so beautifully wrapped that I had to take a photo! The picture doesn't really do them justice, but I'll post it nonetheless. :)

Also, I am now going to enter the territory of bloggers-who-put-photos-up-of-their-cats. I can't help it. How freaking cute is Max? Does anyone else think he might benefit from lap band surgery? j/k

An observation I made this morning is that, six-weeks post-band, I've completely changed my approach to breakfast. Pre-band, I would usually pick up a bagel with butter and a large coffee with skim milk on my way into the office every day. Now, I consistently have -- and enjoy just as much -- either a vanilla SlimFast (yum) or (like this morning) some cottage cheese, or yogurt. Seems to have become a habit, and one that I hope will be life-long!

Bandster Inferno!!

One of the things that, somehow, I managed to overlook before getting banded is that most people go through a phase -- commonly known as "bandster hell" -- during the time between their operation and their first fill. Personally, I prefer Bandster Inferno because, while evocative of the hell experience, it still conveys optimism that the whole thing could turn out to be as fun as a disco -- The Studio 54 of WLS!

All disco festiveness aside, this is a period -- that I had no idea would exist -- when I can eat whatever the heck I want (steak, bread, turkey, stuffing, rutabegas!), as long as I don't try to do so without chewing like a civilized person. So, after four disciplined weeks of liquids and mushies, at some point during weeks 4 and 5, there is time when most bandsters are on normal foods but have no restriction. This is still during the "healing" phase, so you're not supposed to be too tough on yourself. Nonetheless, it's six weeks after you let your body be cut open for WLS and not a whole lot of WL (weight loss) is happening -- or, if it is, it's with some serious struggle!

Anyway, in the interest of full disclosure, I just wanted to get this out in the open. Also, I still occasionally (maybe 3% of the time, if that) have some shoulder pain. Very annoying. I hope it's 100% cleared up shortly. Currently, it's nothing like it was after surgery, but it's still a bit painful and irksome.

Not to be a bummer with this post, but I'm hoping that I'll later feel like bandster inferno was the awkward adolescence of my post-band period. Here's to Tuesday's fill! :)

As an aside, I saw some very helpful posts about bandster inferno on lapbandtalk.com tonight -- from people who experienced this at first, but who are now near their goal weight. Oh, how I hope to be posting like that next year and helping other newbies!!

Positive development. . .

The scale may be my friend again! Today 2.4 lbs of my "guilty five" are off. WHEW! Hopefully the other 2.6 will come right off as well. That freaked me out to see the number so high again!! I'm just back on my normal band diet -- not doing anything extreme.

Here is what I ate yesterday:

Breakfast: Slimfast shake
Lunch: A little risotto with butternut squash and asparagus
Dinner: Salmon & rutabega (OK, maybe I do like them after all!)
Snack: A lowfat yogurt

Um, Yikes.

Well, I braved the scale this morning and the results were not pretty. The scale jumped up five pounds from my lowest post-op weight (and 3 lbs since my last weigh-in). I'm not surprised by this, but it was a good wake-up call for me. I have 9 more days of this unrestricted, pre-fill, period to go, and this should keep me on the straight and narrow.

Funny -- this is probably longer than I've stayed on most diets in recent years. In the past, getting derailed on Thanksgiving probably would have been my excuse for giving up on a diet. Not this time, though!! Fingers crossed that the "guilty 5" will come off as quickly as they came on. . .

Post Thanksgiving Confessions . . .

I have good news and bad news to report. . . The good news is that I ate less during Thanksgiving weekend this year than I have in years past. The bad news is that I did not follow my 1000 calorie diet at all throughout the weekend. Having no restriction in my band, there was nothing but will power standing between me and food & wine a'plenty . . . and will power was there in low grade supply. . .

I may wait a few days before getting on the scale, and I'm bracing myself for a number I'm not going to like. Nonetheless, I'm back on the wagon as of this morning and any pounds I put back on during the past few days will be off again before long.

On the bright side, I had a really great holiday. My sister was in town with my adorable 2 1/2 year old nephew, and we had a blast together. With respect to food, my favorite thing that I made was a pumpkin and brown sugar creme brulee (recipe was from the November Bon Appetit -- it's definitely not diet friendly). It was even better than I'd hoped -- to the point that my home made apple pie went largely untouched and no one ate any ice cream. (I strategically decided to dump the remainder of the pie in the trash after I packed up the last leftover box and had one of my friends take the container of ice cream home with her -- definitely wasn't going to blow it big time by eating that stuff!)

Speaking of leftover boxes, here is a photo of the ones I made for my guests -- it was a great size for holding a bit of everything! I "cut" my last name out of the label before posting this photo, which is why there is a big blank spot.

This year was the first time I ever made an entire turkey all by myself. I splurged and got an organic, free range turkey through Williams Sonoma, and I brined it in a bath of buttermilk and spices for about 30 hours before cooking. It was very flavorful and not at all dry (whew!). I put a photo at the beginning of this post.

I also ultimately decided to do an appetizer and served some of that yummy butternut & acorn squash soup that I blogged about a while ago (I made a new batch). I didn't want to stuff everyone, so I served just a taste, in cute little shot glasses that I picked up at Crate & Barrel. This is how the table looked before we sat down:

I won't put pictures of everything up, since I'm really trying to focus on band-appropriate food in this blog. Plus, I don't want to make people crave things they aren't supposed to have! However, I will put up a photo of (what else?!) the rutabegas!! I only made 2 of the 5 that I bought, and we still had leftovers! Here they are just before they were cooked & mashed!

I hope everyone had a very happy, healthy Thanksgiving!

Some Rutabega Silliness

Growing up in my house, every year, my dad had one big job on Thanksgiving and Christmas. He'd start by going to the store and buying up basically every rutabega they had. (Generally, that was not that many, since they don't really taste that great and aren't big sellers!) :)

On the day of the holiday, my dad spends most of the morning laboring over the rutabegas. He painstakingly & meticulously peels them (nightmare task -- they are really hard!). . . then chops them (also not easy) . . . then puts them in a giant pot to boil away for 20-30 minutes under his keen supervision, and then he mashes them up like the rutabega-loving connaisseur he is!

After all that Herculean effort, we generally have enough rutabega to feed a small army. Once Dad's masterpiece is put on the table, everyone in my family eats roughly 25% of a teaspoon full, and after the dinner, we bag and freeze the leftovers. They really are a delightful orange and give some much-needed color to the freezer, where they remain, largely untouched! Just before Christmas each year, we have the ritual Throwing-Out-of-the-Thanksgiving-Rutabega-Left-Overs. And then, some time into the new year, the same happens to the Christmas ones. I know this is wasteful and may not sound as funny as it is to us, but trust me -- the family rutabega rituals are one of the best parts of the season! We pretty much tease my dad about it all year long, which is a lot of fun.

So, this year, since my sister will be with me, I clearly must have rutabegas! However, in the spirit of not being wasteful, I figured that I'd just get a small number of them -- say, 4 or 5 -- so that we wouldn't have a lot of left overs. Since I live in NYC, I do a lot of my grocery shopping on-line and have it delivered. So, I put in my order and . . lo & behold. . . 5 rutabegas were in my order. Five MASSIVE freaking mutant rutabegas!! They are the biggest ones I've ever seen in my life!!

That's a NORMAL SIZED apple. . . !!

I took the above photo and sent it around to my whole family, which resulted in everyone basically laughing their heads off and sending me suggestions about what to do with the surplus! I got a few alternative ideas as well . . and sent the following around to the family on Monday . .

Who knew?! Rutabegas make an attractive and SUBSTANTIAL holiday centerpiece
Their surprising weight also makes them excellent doorstops!

. . . And paperweights

Not to mention that they really are fantastic posture-Improvement Devices! (Tough to get good photo when fearful of ginormous root vegetable falling and smashing toes. . ) :)

Um, anyone need any rutabegas? :)

Preparing for Thanksgiving

As you might have guessed, I love to cook. So, this year, I'm very excited to be preparing my first complete Thanksgiving meal totally on my own! My sister and cutie-pie nephew (2 1/2 years old) are coming in from D.C., and my friend Marjorie is going to join us as well. Being that it's Thanksgiving, I'm going to make all of our family favorites and will focus on portion control during the day.

I did decide not to get too crazy with appetizers and hors d'oeuvres -- we are three women at dinner this year, and none of us wants to be totally stuffed before we even sit down to dinner. So, here is what I'm planning to make:

Hors d'oeuvres (to be put out in little bowls for grazing)

Goat cheese-stuffed medjool dates (warm)
Olives, artichoke hearts and roasted red peppers
(I'm not trying to starve everyone -- I swear -- just didn't want to stuff them!)

Main course
Turkey
Stuffing
Cranberry sauce (the recipe on the Oceanspray package is amazing -- will never buy it pre-made again!)
Rutabegas (like a turnip -- it's a family tradition -- more on that next time!)
Mashed potatoes
Green beans
[I think that's it -- I think sweet potatoes and/or squash on top of all this would be too much -- we're only 3 people!]

Dessert
Home made apple pie
Pumpkin creme brulee

What do you think? Did I forget anything important? Is this enough? I purpously am not making rolls this year. Anything else I should consider making?

Fill 'er up!!

I'm now just over a month post-op! I'm feeling really good, have lost almost 14 lbs (I'm ignoring my scale this week -- no change since my last count) and made it through my post-op 2 weeks of full liquids and 2 weeks of mushies.

So! Now I'm on a "normal" diet and feel no restriction at all. I've been doing my best to really watch what I'm eating and to keep the calories down. By and large, I've been doing a decent job of that. HOWEVER, I'm eager to get into the real weight loss phase! Bring on the fill!


My doctor's instructions are to wait until 6 weeks after surgery before your first fill, so I have to wait a bit longer. My first fill date is 6 weeks & 4 days after my surgery date, and I am really looking forward to it. I know that it will be another big adjustment, but I'm ready.

Before surgery, I printed out a calendar from October through May and marked down different milestones on it. My band date is there, my full liquids phase, the mushies, Thanksgiving (which is about a week into "regular diet" for me -- "regular" meaning as close to 1000 calories as I can manage), my 2 month anniversary, etc.

When I was deciding which date to have my surgery, I hesitated at the October date. I thought -- oh no! What will I do on my birthday!? And how will I get through Thanksgiving?! I was so worried that I'd feel really deprived and that everyone would notice how I was eating and that I'd feel very conspicuous. In retrospect, none of these things were that big of a deal. As you probably saw from my b-day post, the band didn't hold me back from enjoying my friends & the celebration. As for Thanksgiving, the only challenge will be to hold myself back so that I don't overdo it on the fixings!

In retrospect, what I should have focused planning on was what I was going to do during the several post-op weeks when I have no restriction and an appetite! Still, I am managing well and feel like I'm doing a respectable job of it.

Also -- I managed to get in the bike on Saturday & Sunday, so I'm feeling good about that! I'm going to try to do more this week in preparation for Thanksgiving!

Jane Fonda would not be impressed. . .

OK, confession time. I'm not sure what my problem is, but I've been really bad about exercising post-op. This morning, I skipped my yoga class (the first of a new series), despite that I was awake and - um - it's in the gym in my building. . WTH? I love yoga!

If I'm being totally honest (and why bother blogging if I'm not going to do that. . ), I was a little worried that after several weeks of not going, that I wouldn't be as good at keeping up & doing the various poses. But that's no reason not to go! Not sure what is wrong with me -- I need to just force myself to go (I can do a make-up class any morning this week) and get back in the swing of things.

In the meantime, I'm going to sign off now and do 30 minutes on my stationary bicycle. At least that way I will get something in today!

Sorry Jane. . .

The Mederma Challenge . . .

I finally got my act together and bought some Mederma scar fade cream at the drugstore yesterday. I'd love for my two surgery incisions (thank you, Dr. Rumbaut!!) to fade to nothing, if at all possible. Mederma was a bit expensive -- around $24 or so for a little tube -- but I've heard from a few people that it's the best product to use. And, let's face it -- if I can fade those scars for only $24, that sounds like a bargain.

So, here' s a photo of my incisions as of yesterday (remember -- Dr. Rumbaut did my surgery with only two incisions -- I love that man -- which is why you're only seeing two here.) There's another shot of them, avec belly button, in an earlier post, just in case you want some context.

I'll post another photo alongside this one in a month or so, for comparison purposes. Fingers crossed that this stuff really works!

SMALL SV!! (But I'll take what I can get!!)

We have a breakthrough! After a week or two of struggling with the same 2 lbs, I'm finally .4 down below my lowest post-op weight. YAY! This means I'm down a total of 13.6 since I started my pre-op diet -- which translates into 3 lbs a week since I started my pre-op diet. I'm feeling really good about this. Must remember not to get so disappointed when I stall, especially since I have no restriction right now.

There's no place like Ohm. . There's no place like Ohm!

I really had a great birthday yesterday. I went with a few close friends to Ohm Spa, which is one of my very favorite day spas in NYC. We all had luxury mani/pedis so that we could be together during our treatments, and I brought in champagne and wine for us! It felt very decadent and wonderful!

Interestingly, I thought I wouldn't be able to have champagne because of the bubbles, but decided to try it out, since they poured me a glass of Veuve Clicot before I could say that I wanted wine instead. As it turned out, it was completely fine. I expect that once I have my first fill, that situation will change, but for now it was a non-issue. I'm glad. I don't mind giving up bread, but champagne is another story! :)

Suffice it to say that after the champagne and my dinner last night (not too crazy, but definitely went well over 1K calories yesterday), I'm planning to avoid the scale for a few days. I'm going to be on the straight & narrow this week and hope that that -- plus increased exercise -- will help me get rid of some more of those pesky pounds!

Cooking with Catherine #2

The last two soups I made were so yummy and band-appropriate that I thought I'd make another one! I wound up putting both of the soups I made last week into individual serving sized Tupperware and freezing most of them. Then, each day, I've been taking one of the containers to work and having soup for lunch -- with a yogurt for a snack and a SlimFast shake for breakfast. Between taking my breakfast and lunch to work every day, not only did I have good food choices available, but I also saved around $20 a day! (Appalling that a bowl of soup and a drink in NYC can easily run you $15!)

The soup I made today is a Curried Zucchini Soup from the Smith & Hawken "The Gardener's Community Cookbook." I got the recipe from the site of my grocery delivery service (link at end of post). This recipe was really easy and, if I hadn't wanted to stage the ingredients, I could have done it without dirtying much more than my cutting board, nonstick wok, blender and a big bowl.

Here are the ingredients (minus the salt . . will I ever learn to put everything out at once?!) . . .

First, I sauteed the zucchini, onion and garlic in 2 tbs of butter for 10 minutes. . .

Then I added in 1/2 of the chicken stock, pepper and curry powder. . . Then, I pureed all of that in my trusty blender, remembering to take the top of the lid off & cover it with a towel so that I didn't get splashed with boiling soup!
Check out that manicure -- the color I have on is called "Bastille My Heart" -- loving it!!

And then, I added in the milk and the rest of the chicken stock, heated it all up & was done! Took me about 25-30 minutes, all told!

Here is a link to the recipe -- http://www.freshdirect.com/recipe.jsp?recipeId=rec_wk_curry_zucch_soup&trk=srch

It' s tasty and worth making, but honestly, the other two were even better. I think that's because I like zucchini, but it's not one of those foods that I get excited about, unlike butternut squash and a spicy chicken soup.

Happy B-day to me! :)

Today is my birthday (yay!), so I've been having a very nice morning of phone calls and opening some presents! I also managed to get in 30 minutes on my stationary bike, which is good. I'm going to try to make this year one in which I work out more days than not.

Right now, I'm laughing out loud because I just opened this card from one of my best friends -- we've been friends for more than 20 years (and, I should add have done more than our fair share of karaoke and attending Madonna concerts during that time). Too, too funny! :)

(Not sure how clear this will be on the computer -- it says
"Damn it! I wanted to sing 'Like a Virgin'!")

I have a fun day in store -- heading to my favorite local spa to meet a few girlfriends at 1:45 for an afternoon of pampering! Then, I'm having dinner with another friend later tonight. I had been worried that I wouldn't be able to do a dinner out this year (I'm still on soft foods now), which is why we arranged for the spa plan. But, in retrospect, I see that it really would have been fine and that there are plenty of things I could have ordered. Good to know!

In other band-news, I'm still struggling with the same 2 lbs -- they have come back & gone off twice now. That's partly behind my motivation to get back to working out. I want them gone for good! And to take plenty of their friends with them!! :) :)

Stuck!!

Cocky me . . . I got home from work a little while ago (it's 9:30) and was super hungry! So, I decided to have a few bites of a turkey meatball right when I got in and practically wolfed them down. A second or two later and I got the "golf ball" feeling I've been hearing so much about. . . and then the "sliming" effect I've also heard so much about . . . and then eventually, my first PB (well, a gently coerced PB anyway -- I just wanted it OUT).

I'm sure this would have been so much worse if I actually had saline in my band. I guess that's what I get for thinking I could just do whatever I wanted (within reason). Funny thing is, as I was eating the meatball, I KNEW that I needed to go more slowly and chew carefully, but I didn't. Lesson learned!!

Hi!

I have to admit that I'm really curious about who has been reading this blog and what everyone's story is! I know that readers from all over the U.S., Australia, parts of Europe and even Israel have logged on, which is amazing and wonderful to me! Would love to hear from anyone who is interested in posting. If you want to post, I'd love to hear. . .
- where you're from
- what your band date is (if you have one), and
- how things are going!

Hope all is well! Shout out to Cindy, who I hope is doing very well after her first fill!

BTW, I think my shoulder pain is finally gone for good!

YAY!

Finally . . some more movement on the scale front! As of this morning, I'm down 13 lbs from the point I began the pre-op diet. Glad I didn't sledgehammer the scale the other day after all!

(Note -- I had to edit the amount in this post -- originally, I wrote that I was 13.7 down from pre-op. However, it was only 13 from that point. The other .7 was part of the figure for my post-op loss, which is probably what I was thinking at that time)

Cooking with Catherine. . .

I am making soup no. 2 right now -- the Winter Squash Soup! Yum! I was channeling Martha Stewart when I did the prep, so I thought I'd take a few photos. Check out these gorgeous fresh herbs (sage and thyme)! The ingredients looked so pretty that I took a photo of them as well. . .

Martha would NEVER have forgotten to include the broth and 2 tsp sugar . . . (Oh the shame!!) :)

I took a few action shots too (I DO have a life. . I swear!) :) :)

Melting the butter. .

Adding in the garlic and onions (and sauteeing for 10 minutes . . )

Adding in the butternut & acorn squash. . .

Bringing everything to a boil, then simmering for 20 minutes. . .

Once that is done, you have to puree the soup in batches in a blender. Here is my now-most-used appliance in the entire kitchen . . my trusty blender! BTW, if you blend something hot, you have to leave the lid top off and put a towel over the opening. Otherwise, the whole thing will explode . . and it's no fun to get splashed with boiling hot soup . . believe me!

Done just in time for lunch! :)

Here is a link to the recipe I used . . . http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Winter-Squash-Soup-with-Gruyere-Croutons-2997

What's Cooking . . .

Hey there! Well, tonight I made one of the soups I mentioned a few days ago -- the chicken and cheese soup with green chiles. I basically followed the recipe, except that I used low fat cheese (half the amount in the recipe) and skim milk, and I added a bunch of tabasco at the end because it wasn't spicy enough for me (I probably should have left in more of the seeds from the peppers). It is YUMMY!

Will let you know how the winter squash one goes -- I should cook that this weekend too while everything is all nice & fresh!

If anyone is interested, here is a link to the recipe for the soup I made tonight -- http://www.freshdirect.com/recipe.jsp?recipeId=rec_wk_chx_grnchls_sp&trk=eau)

This has not been a good week for weight loss. . .

OK . . don't get me wrong, I'm still down 12 lbs from where I started (before my pre-op diet), but this week of socializing has not done anything for my weight loss. I asked Dr. Ren about it, and she said that I should just make sure I'm not taking in too many calories, and that this time isn't really about weight loss -- that time will come after my first fill. I know. . I know. . but still!

Is it so wrong that I kind of want to . . .

Oh, just kidding. . . I know it's not the scale's fault! I renewed my efforts to keep my daily calories down yesterday (not that I haven't been trying that all along) and only had ONE drink while I was at the cocktail party last night. Maybe the numbers will move the right way tomorrow.

Will start exercising again this weekend (since I didn't get with the program between all the other stuff I had going on this week), so hopefully that will help!

First Follow-up Doctor's Appointment Went Well!

Dr. Rumbaut's office helped me to arrange for my follow-up appointments and fills to be done through Dr. Ren at NYU. Yesterday was my first appointment there. I just went in, primarily to meet the people and to have them take a look at my incisions. I saw Dr. Ren (she and her husband, Dr. Fielding, are the doctors who co-wrote Khalia Ali's book about banding). Here is her photo and a link to the NYU Web site -- http://thinforlife.med.nyu.edu/aboutus/surgeons/

It seems that my incisions look good, and Dr. Ren cleared me to go on mushies! So, this morning, I had some cottage cheese with some sliced peaches (canned in lite syrup -- I never usually eat canned fruit, but it was good after 2 1/2 weeks of liquids). Not too shabby!

This morning, my grocery delivery of mushy-friendly ingredients came in. I got ingredients so that I can make two soups -- a winter squash soup with butternut and acorn squash and a chicken and cheese soup with green chiles. Will let you know how they turn out!

Here are links to the recipes I'm planning to use (will modify a tiny bit, e.g. no croutons & low fat cheese):

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Winter-Squash-Soup-with-Gruyere-Croutons-2997; and

http://www.freshdirect.com/recipe.jsp?recipeId=rec_wk_chx_grnchls_sp&trk=eau)

NSV!

Well, I've never been so happy to have someone tell me my outfit isn't working as I was this afternoon! I was talking to our receptionist (who I am friendly with and who I let know that I was dieting a few weeks ago -- I am not telling people at work about the band), and she said that she could really see that I've lost weight. AND, she said that the dress I wore today (mind you . . it's one of my favorites, a grey wool wrap-around that is as comfy as my bathrobe, but looks (er, better make that "used to look") polished enough for work) is now too big and doesn't fit me properly. She said that I might be able to get away with wearing it ONE more time, but that it's time to retire the dress!! She is a total sweetheart, so all of this was delivered really nicely. Anyway, while this definitely meant that I wasn't looking all that great today, it was really nice to hear!

Election Day! And a little whine about wine.

Given that I live in NYC, it's probably no surprise that I'm voting for Obama (odds are. . ). My firm gave us the day off of work to celebrate an award we won recently, which is a really nice treat. I just showered and thought I'd hit the polls before the lunch rush -- I've heard the lines are really long. One of my friends voted uptown and said that the lines went out the door and down three blocks!

In band-related news, the scale finally (!) moved in the right direction this morning -- down .4 lbs. Not a lot, but at least it's in the right direction! I'm trying to be very mindful of my food choices and am now avoiding the lovely lobster bisque that seems to have stalled me the first time around! I'm still trying to figure out a way to avoid the diet killer that I enjoy even more. . . here's a photo of the culprit:

Am finding wine a tough thing to avoid (moderation isn't an issue), because (a) I really enjoy it; and (b) a big part of my social life involves meeting friends for drinks and/or dinner. For example, here is my week:

Monday: Turned down dinner invite because I really wanted to be sure I could have a low-cal dinner. Stayed home with my cat and watched Gossip Girl and caught up on the latest episodes of Dexter and Californiacation! Not a bad night, all told!

Tuesday: Day off! Lunch with friends (called ahead -- they will puree the soup for me!) Tonight, I'm meeting a few people at a big election party being held. . . at a bar.

Wedesday: Going to my friends Adam & Erica's apartment for dinner to celebrate their recent engagement. So sad. . no champagne for the banded! Erica knows about my surgery, so a nice soup is on the menu for dinner.

Thursday: All of our friends are getting together to see Sharon & her husband (the ones visiting from London). . . at a bar.

And after that, it's the weekend, which is sure to involve more of the same -- or me staying home and missing out on the fun.

So, I need an action plan. I need something healthy to drink that I will like, that has low calories, and that won't make me feel like I'm totally depriving myself. Anyone have any good suggestions? It stinks that I have to avoid carbonation b/c I really love sparkling water with lime, and that's a good alternative. I also can't have cranberry juicy & seltzer because of the carbonation, darn it! My thought is that I can have one glass or even two of wine when I go out, but not when I'm out every night (which isn't the norm -- this week is more busy than usual). It's clear that -- GASP! -- I'm going to have to learn to change my usual behavior. I'll let you know how it goes this week.

12 Days Post Op. . (2 days to mushies!)

Quick check-in on how I'm feeling . . . I:

* Still have shoulder pain, darn it! It kept me up a little bit last night and hurts this morning as well, though at this point, it's a duller pain than I had after surgery;

* Am doing fine on the liquid diet. I keep mixing up what I'm eating (mainly different types of soups, cottage cheese and smoothies made with fruit & skim milk), and that has done wonders to keep this from getting boring.

* Am really disappointed that my weight loss has stalled, even though I know that this is supposed to be the healing phase (blah, blah blah. . .). Is just that everyone else I see on the Lap Band Talk site seems to be losing a ton during their liquids phase. Will try to make better choices -- am guessing that the lobster bisque and the few glasses of wine I had over the weekend are messing up the weight loss -- but I'm having so many fewer calories than normal that this just doesn't seem right!! Will be able to start exercising this week, so hopefully that will help as well.

* Am finding that burping isn't as big of a problem for some reason -- was very painful a few days ago, but I haven't had any issues with it for a day or two.

* Am learning how to deal with going to restaurants and am finding that it's not that hard as long as I prepare in advance.

* Seem to be getting a cold, which is not so festive. Fortunately, sneezing isn't painful for me (I've heard other people say it is for them after surgery), so hopefully it won't be too big of a deal.

11 Days Post-Op

Hi! I had a really nice weekend and hope everyone else did, too! I'm gradually learning how to incorporate the band into my usual lifestyle, which involves a whole lot of restaurant-hopping and cocktails. So, this weekend was what I'm sure is the first of many more lessons on how to enjoy life in NYC as a band-it. . .

Post-band restaurant outings #2 & 3 went very well on, respectively, Saturday night and Sunday brunch! As I mentioned before, one of my very best friends (of 20+ years) was in town from London and stayed over on Sat. night. I had told her about my surgery in advance, which was helpful. We wound up calling 3-4 restaurants before we found one that had soup & was somewhere we wanted to go. Ultimately, we wound up at long-time NYC favorite and ever-fab Balthazar (last time I was there, Kirsten Dunst was 2 tables over, but I didn't see anyone this time). I had the lobster bisque, which was heavenly. But seriously . . I'm sure there is a lot of cream in that one . . doesn't anyone have any healthy non-chunky soups?!? Here is a shot of Balthazar . . a timeless classic!
Before I get to brunch (and start talking about food again), I thought it worth noting that I took the steri-strips off of my big incision today. Both incisions look like they are healing really well, thankfully! I'm going to start using Mederma on the cuts pretty soon to help to fade the scars.

OK, back to the food stuff -- today (Sunday), we went to our all-time favorite brunch spot, Dos Caminos (the one in SoHo -- for the celeb-minded, some of our best sightings there were Paris Hilton & Tinkerbell and Brooke Shields & family). When I made the reservation, I arranged for them to make the tortilla soup (in all liquid form -- it's not on the brunch menu, but they couldn't have been nicer about it) available to me. I also had a little bit of guacamole as well (which I mushed & extracted cilantro from to make it more liquid . . did not make for the prettiest plate, but it was scrumptious!)!


Later in the day, I got my first post-op mani/pedi (was getting urgent. . ) and then met my friend Giles at Murray's Bagels -- I had a peppermint tea, and he had one of their amazing bagels (thank goodness I was full from brunch still & didn't have major food envy)!


That's pretty much my weekend in a nutshell. Unfortunately, the scale (which, weirdly, is suddenly working again) isn't moving all that quickly. It actually was up 2 lbs toward the end of last week, then was down 1 lb today. I'm hoping to get to 15-20 lbs down by mid-November. I really hope that will happen. Clearly, the lobster bisque must go! :)

Survived my first post-band party!

OK. . so, tonight I went to the masque ball that I mentioned earlier. It was actually a lot of fun, and I managed to keep it very low key and moderate my alcohol intake to just two glasses of wine because (a) of the band and (b) because one of my very best friends is coming in from London tomorrow and I don't want to be tired!

Anyway, I took a few photos and thought people might get a kick out of them. I did take a full-length photo of me in the dress before I left the apartment, but I'm not really sure it shows the dress as well as it deserves to be shown. Oh well . .it's the best one I've got!

I hope everyone had a great Halloween!! I did let myself have a little candy today -- a few sugar free Werther's caramels . . I am such a freaking martyr! :) :)

Fingers crossed that my scale works tomorrow . . otherwise, I'm returning it for a new one!