piercedqt78

Those are lovely! From Halloween to Chirstmas is my favorite time of year. I love the fact that I can get pumpkin flavored everything, the way the leaves change color, the sights and smells of the Holidays. I get overexcited like a little kid for the Holidays. My husband says it's one of the many things that makes him fall in love with me over and over again. I really like to do different things each year for the holidays. This year our theme is lights, and I am taking my 12 year old daughter and her friends to several light shows/decoration events. We live in Northeast Florida so we are going to do St. Augustine (oldest city in the USA) they have 3 million tiny white lights up and twinkling. Then we are doing a charity event for our local zoo, also all wrapped in millions of lights. and finally we will attend a local boat parade, it passes under a bridge about 2 miles from my house, so we will each make a mug of hot cocoa, and walk down to enjoy all the decorated boats. And as you can see in my pictures, we love Nightmare Before Christmas, (there are several ornaments and even a nightmare stocking under my tree, it's hubby's favorite movie), so I am making the wreath from the movie today. I bought the stuff during the black friday sales, so now I just need to assemble it. I think we are replacing all the holiday baking with holiday crafting. My family is a bit disappointed, but we won't gain the 8-10 pounds most people do this season.

Also NEVER be afraid to inject rather than just marinade. The deeper the acid absorbs the more tender and more flavorful the meat will be. I also love adobo sauce, mole sauce, coffee makes a fantastic marinade, as well as wine, oddly enough yogurt works well too. With the amount of meat you have, you get a unique chance to play with flavors, and seasonings. If nothing else, try cutting the roasts into several smaller pieces and do a different marinade on each of them. I know they add some extra sugar, but I love orange juice concentrate, and the acid from coffee is amazing, don't underestimate the value of instant coffee. You can mix the instant coffee powder with olive oil and use it as a rub. Also remember that cooking meat in butter helps to make it tender, it adds fat, but the tiny amount that we consume means that I will eat things made to their best flavor, and texture. You can soften a few sticks of butter add several herbs and then roll them into wax paper and allow them to re-solidify and use them to flavor and help tenderize the meat. I'm a huge fan of using garlic, thyme, black pepper, parsley, and either a bit of dried lemon (I use a product called tru-lemon, it's just dried lemon crystals and nothing else),and I have been known to save out a bit of the butter before I let it get hard in the fridge, I add a few spoons of white wine and then use that butter to cook with the same day. Land o' Lakes makes several pre-made flavored butters, they are really good, and not too pricey for what you get. I use them in mashed potatoes, and have used them on chicken, and steak. http://www.landolakes.com/product/sauteexpress I have only found 3 of the 5 flavors so far, but they are all really good. http://www.theblackpeppercorn.com/2012/06/cafe-mocha-rub/ http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/molasses-coffee-marinated-pork-chops-recipe/index.html http://www.members.tripod.com/rrgclub/marinades.htm Just remember, play with your mixtures, I take some basic notes just in case it comes out perfect, so that I can re-create it later if needed. I can't tell you how many times I have made something yummy, and then not had the ingredients to remake it, or I completely forgot what/how I did it. LOL

Moose Marinade 1 c pineapple juice 1/2 c honey 1/2 tsp allspice Combine the ingredients in a medium bowl; mix well. Brush on meat to fried or roasted. The longer the meat is left to marinate, the better it will taste. Marinate in refrigerator for one or two days. Apple-Sage Marinade 3/4 c apple juice 1/3 c canola oil 1/4 c sage cider vinegar 2 TBS fresh sage, minced 1 tsp salt In a medium bowl, combine all the ingredients and mix well. This marinade is excellent for bear, elk, moose and deer venison. Coffee-Molasses Marinade 1 c strong coffee 1/2 c garlic red wine vinegar 1/4 c unsulfured molasses 1/4 c Dijon mustard 1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce Combine all ingredients in a heavy, nonreactive sauce pan, bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer for five minutes.

These are available in the freezer section now too, for those of us not lucky enough to have a Boston Market near us. The closest one to my house is 2.5 hours away. I'm in north Florida and it's in Orlando. We ALWAYS have dinner there when we do a day in the theme parks.

I either pick off my family's plate, or order an item ala cart. We are going on a cruise and I plan on ordering a few Entrees, having a bite or 2 of each, and letting my family have what I don't eat. I will order a cheese plate for dessert each night. I'm not a sweets person to begin with, so I don't miss Desserts. When we do seafood places, I usually get a shrimp cocktail, or an appetizer or just order a piece of fish, no sides. I usually have a bite of my hubby's baked potato, or I will eat the tiny cup of slaw that comes with my daughter's plate. Another option is if my hubby orders a steak most places have the option to upgrade it with a skewer of shrimp, scallops or a lobster tail. (you can tell I live in a coastal region) That upgrade is easily enough to be my dinner. Sometimes I add a steamed or grilled veggies side, sometimes I don't. I go with the thought of quality over quantity now. We even do fast food, burger king has the low carb option. I get a whopper jr, low carb. The basically put the lettuce, tomato, onion and pickle with the grilled meat into a side salad container. I add some ketchup, and mayo on top and eat it with a knife and fork. I can't even finish a whopper jr. My dogs love meal time now. I have also been known to ask for them to make me a salad with no lettuce, and every place is happy to do it. It ends up being the grilled chicken, and the toppings. My favorite is from Wendy's, I get a half sized grilled apple salad, no lettuce. The container is 1/2 a grilled chicken breast, a few small chunks of apple, some blue cheese, a few cherry tomatoes, and a side packet of walnuts. It comes with a rasberry balsamic dressing on the side. It's the perfect lunch or dinner, and I can eat almost all of it, at one sitting. I save the walnuts for a snack later in the day. As long as you really look at your options you can usually find something to eat just about anywhere you go.

http://voices.yahoo.com/how-papaya-as-meat-tenderizer-3470371.html?cat=22 http://www.farawayfoods.com/wildeats-seasoning-rubs.html http://www.bbqbackyard.com/profiles/blogs/papaya-the-natural-meat I use this method, and freeze the meat in the brine, or just in some seasonings with the grated papaya. It's really good, and all I have to do is cut the bag away, and pop it into the crock pot, it continues to tenderize as it thaws and cooks. If you season it properly you don't taste the papaya at all. I use a really good redwine, or bourbon with some grated garlic, thyme, fresh ground black pepper, and I add olive oil before putting it in the crock. Just don't put it in the oven with olive oil, it will go rancid over 325. I have a few marinades, that are made with orange juice concentrate, or that have lemon juice, or balsamic vinegar. All of these are acid based, and help to make the meat tender, and also help to mask the game flavor. I also love venison made into chili, stew, meat pies, or even a shepherds pie. You can always get creative, and use it like really lean beef, just make sure to season it a little more than a beef recipe calls for, since the meat is a stronger flavor. I would check pintrest, and cooks.com both are great places to get recipes. Or if you want my marinade recipes just let me know. I married into a hunting family, and my daughter says that beef chili tastes funny to her, since she has always had it with wild game.

It was explained to me that fat stores estrogen, and as we lose fat our bodies start using the estrogen sometimes the body knows how to handle it, and sometimes it doesn't. I know that when I was first banded it took me about 6 months to get straightened out.It might be worth talking to your ob-gyn and see if they have any suggestions. Mine put me on Depo, and after 6 weeks of spotting I didn't have another TOM until I stopped the shot 3 years later.

I would hate to see things being deleted. I know there is a ton of great info mixed in with some of those threads. And just because the posters have gone off topic, or broken a few rules, that doesn't make the info less valuable. And when you start deleting threads, it can make a topic really jumbled and hard to follow. Not to mention when you start giving mods the ability to just delete posts, sometimes that ends in an abuse of power.

I had a lapbnad 8 years ago, but it had to be removed, do to my stomach prolapsing into my band. I was converted to a sleeve on May 8th. I went from 206 the monring of surgery in May, to 133 as of today. I am now 2 pounds under goal, not only for the challenge but for MY permanent goal.

I have a few pics in my gallery. And once I'm off my stupid knee walker I will take some goal pics. The only think I can say that I do, is I eat ONLY when hungry, and I don't get overly nuts on counting calories, or carbs, or fat. I make healthy choices, and drinks tons of liquids. And until I had to have foot surgery on Friday, I walked 3 dogs daily, and swam everyday that the pool Water was warm enough to not freeze to death.

I am 6 months and 8 days post-op and I am officially at goal!! I had to have foot surgery, yesterday and when they weighed me at the hospital (same scale as my sleeve surgery) and I weighted 133. My goal was 135. I have gone from a size 22 to a 10/12. And now I have to figure out how to maintain where I am now. I talked to the intake person at the plastic surgery place that I am considering next spring and she told me if I am underweight they will NOT do a lower body lift on me. I have to be about 140ish for the doctor to be comfortable doing surgery. She explained that since I have 12-16 pounds of skin to be removed, that will make my underweight according to my BMI. I would only weigh about 120, and I'm 5'5. I couldn't be happier with my weight loss, and my surgeon is just ecstatic with my progress. I was a lapband revision, and was told I would be a slow loser, because of the revision, but that was not the cast at all. I lost 71 pounds in 6 months, and even had a 6 week stall in that time frame. I will be calling my surgeon on monday and giving him the awesome news! The nurses all came around in pre-op and congratulated me. They were all super impressed at how quickly I managed to lose the weight, and how in their words, how AMAZING I looked. I just moved the last of the gems from in my motivation jar. I swear even though my foot is hurting (I had to have a tendon repair with a graft, and a bone broken and reset) but moving those gems made all the pain go away. Today is the third best day of my life, after the birth of my child, and the day I married my hubby!!

Other than at meal times, I drink as much as I want without issue. I just can't chug liquids. I almost always have a glass of iced tea, or a Water bottle with me, and I drink from it all throughout the day. I was told that getting my fluids in was vital. I don't drink for 30 mins before a meal, and then again 30 mins after a meal. I will sip if needed for spicy foods, and the doctor was ok with that. He told me that the fluids would fill me up too quickly, and I wouldn't get my nutrients in at my meals. But I don't have to wait between drinks, but if I feel full then I just wait a bit longer before starting my next bottle of water or drink.

If I click new content it shows me ALL the new content. I'm looking to get only my surgery related content.

Is there a way to go into the specific surgery type and then search for new content?

I'm 6 months post-op and get about 1000 a day. Really between 800-1200 depending on my day, and if I get breakfast in or not.

I was taking ppi pillson day 2 post-op. And I took regular vitamins, and medicines with small sips of water without issue. I was just told no NSAIDS or asprin.

I'm down to 138.

Are you on soft solids? Where are you in the post-op diiet? I know that if I eat something with too many carbs, or just a bite or two too many I feel the same way. I have only had to vomit a few times in my 6 months since surgery. Are you eating something with dairy? I know some of us are lactose intolerant for a while after surgery.

I bet you happy danced all the way back to the car. I know I would have. Congrats!!!

let it be known I said that the craigslist ad was a bad idea. For a few reasons, 1. you can get something much better than a chip for your child. 2. trading children to strangers is a bad idea. 3. you will need said child's help post-op, better keep them around for a while longer. Seriously, you can do this, and it is soooo worth it. I just posted in another thread, but will share here too, call your doc and ask if you can thicken some broth with corn starch, it makes it like egg drop Soup without the egg pieces. Some docs will ok this. If they do use a bowl and spoon to eat it, that helps to trick your body into feeling like it is getting actual food.