Food? What Food? I Have to Eat food?

I am not sure I would qualify as a Bariatric Bad Girl or not but since the ones I know best are asking us long timers to blog a typical day of eating I thought why not?

I should not be held up as an example of what is proper in the eating department I am not excited by food. I don’t experiment with recipes and I am not creative in the kitchen. Other than watching Alton Brown I hate cooking shows on TV.

My day starts at around 5:30 to 6 am. I have 12 ounces of a warm protein drink I make every morning before I eat or drink anything else. I also have my supplements at this time. This drink is the only creation in the kitchen I have ever come up with and I have tweaked it to perfection for my taste. I heat up 12 ounces of nonfat milk with a splash of SF vanilla syrup in the microwave. This has 12 grams of protein. After getting it to around 125 degrees, I stir in 3 or 4 packets of PurVia and two tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa. I stir in one scoop of Unjury unflavored protein (20 grams protein). I top this off with canned whipped cream. This comes to under 250 calories. I am good to go with this for about 2 to 2.5 hours.

Between 7:30 and 8:30, I have breakfast and I make sure it is solid food even if I don’t feel like it. I always have one egg either scrambled or boiled. With this, I will have a piece of sausage or two slices of bacon. If that’s not available then the egg has to do.

Between 10 and 11 am, I will have a piece of fruit such as a cup of grapefruit or a banana. With it I will have either a RTD Isopure plus zero carb drink or a piece of cheese.

Around 1:30 or 2:00 I have another cocoa drink.

Around 4 pm I will have a V8 juice or an avocado. I may also have some cheese.

More often than not, I do not really eat any dinner. But, when I can I will have a piece of steak, as much as I can comfortably eat at around 6 to 7 pm. I may have a little veggie and rice with it. Or, maybe I have some chili if I have it available. But, I have to cook that and I don’t cook much. However, usually I just have another protein drink (yep the cocoa again). I make sure I have a minimum of 100 grams of protein a day.

Now to keep this honest and real, I have to let you know I am not compliant with all the rules. I will eat candy but pay for it so I don’t do it often. I will eat all kinds of treats but only small amounts lest there be a crash in my blood sugars. I drink those 5 hour energy drink things several times a week but no more than one in a day. I will buy a coke from time to time and sip from it a few ounces at a time over a week until it’s gone. (That would be a 20 ounce size and not diet.) I have given up biscuits completely because they aren’t worth the crappy feeling I get from them and other bread. I will eat crackers with cheese from time to time and I keep an emergency stash of peanut butter crackers around at all times but don’t snack on them because they are boring. They do serve a purpose though when my blood sugar tanks below 60. I am a total sucker for birthday cake and cupcakes with the piled up frosting and will eat them if they are around. I do have to deal with the consequences though and just accept it and eat it anyway. I will eat a little bit of brownie when my husband or kids make them but I don’t get too excited by them and find I can ignore them usually after a small square.

I do not choose to revolve my life around food and try to just eat what I have too to stay alive. Sugar was always my downfall and now still is but in a different way. Like many others, I have gone from being a Type II diabetic to being somewhat hypoglycemic. I eat to prevent to hypoglycemic feeling. If that didn’t happen I would not care to eat that much. As long as sugary foods are out of sight, I don’t think about having them. If they are around I will want to eat at least a little of it. My day is full of school, my dogs and homework. Food has become something I need but don’t really think about until I need it for the most part. It’s just the way I am. I don’t know what normal is but it is my new normal.

Walking for a Cause With My Dog and Friends and Other Rambling Thoughts

Yesterday I walked a 3.1 mile stretch of streets in a circuitous route here in Greensboro to raise money for The March of Dimes. This organization has been around all of my life. Its original mission was to overcome polio. Somehow that miracle happened and they took on an even more challenging mission of ending birth defects. Of course prevention is part of the solution and then treatment when they still happen is also necessary. This organization helps with research and in other areas. It was a great reason to walk.

I am a member of my school's Spanish club and some of the other members made up the team I was a part of. So the walk went very quickly since we were chatting all the way with one another. This is a good way to say goodbye to each other since it was technically our last meeting for the school year as well. They all were very nice to Loki my dog that joined me on my hike. She started out a little shy but once we got going her tail waved high behind her and she smiled all the way. She is a little thing. She weighs about 15 pounds and is half Chihuahua and half something else, possibly Italian Greyhound. Her vet calls her a 'fiest' or a squirrel dog which is a breed of dog common in the mountains of the Carolinas and West Virginia for hunting small game such as well, squirrels. It is not a breed recognized by the AKC. But when I adopted her I was led to believe she is a Chihuahua but it is clear she is not pure bred. So my youngest daughter dubbed her a 'Faux'huahua. Whatever she actually is doesn't really matter because she is my gentle little energetic Loki. When I get to do another walk of some kind I think she will be my companion from now on.

After the walk I dropped Loki off at home and then met my group at a Mexican restaurant. I enjoy the atmosphere of being in a restaurant with a group of friends and or family, however, I don't enjoy trying to figure out what to order and eat. I got lucky because the young man to my left had already gotten his plate (I was late because of getting mixed up in the directions) and his plate was filled with exactly the kind of food I can and like to eat so I ordered it as well. When my food arrived I had a sizzling plate of enough food to feed a small country. Then the second part of the dinner arrived with it. Oh well I ate what I could of it and packed up about 85 to 90% percent of it and took it home. My hubby of course was delighted to get a whole meal brought home for him. He got to it while I was in the shower before I could portion a bit more out to save for today. No biggie. What I did eat was delish and maybe I will order it again sometime with the hubby and just eat some and have him eat the rest. That doesn't usually work though because he likes to order different foods than I so he can have more later. So much for my being a cheap date. We don't go out to eat together much anymore anyway since I finally convinced him I don't enjoy eating out.

On this week's agenda, I am finishing up my semester. I have finals and final projects to turn in. Then I can turn my attention to planning my summer. I did decide to not attend school during this summer. I hope to get a job through the temp agency and work through the summer and then get back to classes in the fall. Another plan percolating in my head is to drive across country and stop at various relatives places for a couple of days at a time and then move to the next. I even mapped out a route and figured out the gas cost and everything. I just don't know if it is possible. I know it would be fun for me. I am not sure how much my family would enjoy me just dropping in and spending a couple of days with my three little dogs in tow. Still an adventure for the summer would be fun and it would give me stuff to write about. Hmmmmmm.............

Restless and waiting for Someday to Get Here.

I find myself to be restless these days. School is almost done for this session. I am not getting anywhere in the weight-loss department again. I am putting a lot of irons in my fire and find myself at times not knowing which one i should pick up first. What is a woman to do about this? Right now I will just have to remain a bit restless and pick an iron up one at a time and address it as it comes. Someday, I will find time to do something exhilarating. I am not sure what that will be just yet but I have a list in my mind of things I want to do before I leave this world. It is a long list and I can't be sure I will get to everything. Surely I will get to many of them though. For now I am in a bit of a rut and am bored. I like my life. Its not a bad one. I am not hungry or cold. I can go where I want to go around town and around school. But I know there is a lot more to this world than this little corner. I want to experience it sometime. I know, patience will get me there eventually. Getting my diploma will help tremendously. Its just that I feel tired of putting it off. I guess I am the one that has to make something happen. Things don't just happen by themselves. I will keep blogging and I will keep reading. Most of all I will keep learning and studying. It can be put to good use someday I am sure.