ms.sss

gobble gobble! *raises hand* member of the turkey neck club here! im 4 yrs post..i've tried lots of things to minimize my turkey neck: massage, facial/jaw exercises, creams/lotions, micro-needling, IPL, botox...all of which made little to no lasting difference (at least none that i could see). i figure i have a neck lift or face lift sometime in my future, but ill get to that when i get to it. im not really keen on doing any more surgery and i can live with it for now. i mean, i am getting up in years so even if the weight loss didn't do a number on my skin, age will. i will echo the sentiments mentioned above about things shifting around a little as time goes on. my neck (in my opinion) was way worse looking immediately after weight loss phase than it does now (not to say its so great now, but at least its "better" looking...see pic below...i have these 2 vertical lines always there, which become more prominent when i laugh or grimace). i do have an appointment for a series of "morpheous 8" sessions in the upcoming months as a last ditch effort to improve the look of my neck skin, so we'll see. also, re: hair: i chopped it all off at around 3-4 months-post into a pixie cut cuz i was sick of vacuuming the CARPETS of hair accumulating on my bathroom floor. not sure if it made me look any less old though...my gauntness at the time did all that for me lol. but if my experience or the experiences of others i've read on here can attest, with time, we all stop looking like dead man/woman walking EVENTUALLY. Good luck!

OOTD: Nails Edition! was talking about nails in the Food B&A thread, which motivated me to lug myself to the salon and address my nails, finally (after 2+ months) am glad i did! typing on my laptop and phone is so much easier now! plus i got my toes done for good measure...(who else loves those massage chairs during pedicures?!??)

ive been (not-so) patiently waiting for this to show up on my streaming service! ive read many good things about it (plus i ADORE the Queen's Gambit girl)

the offending cake: btw, i am a piping bag amateur so...yeah. lol Mr. says my cakes look like a grandma made them 😂 (it was yum though!)

so yesterday while i was cooking dinner, i cut myself a (smallish) slice of cake i made and got about halfway though when i started feeling sick. i think it was a combination of dumping and lactose intolerance (didn't take my lactose pill cuz i somehow forgot that there was a whole lotta cream and mascarpone in there!!) anyhoo, barfed a little, pooped alot, and promptly passed out; then woke up starving this morning cuz i slept through dinner and my insides have been throughly cleaned out from the barfing and the pooping. so my breakfast of champions (of sorts): crackers, pate, cheese and figs (and like 3 glasses of water beforehand): 311 calories. almost ate it all.

i used to be a bare/clear polish nail kinda girl...only had my nails "done" for extra special occasions cuz i hate how grown out /chipped/etc colour polish looks on my fingers. ....until i discovered french ombre bio gel last year! (the kid told me about it, im very out of loop in nail trends) it looks pretty natural and when it grows out its much less noticeable...and the gel process make my nails virtually indestructible! i have yet to chip or break a nail when its on! (which is why my nails are so crazy long right now...its been about 2 months since my last application) (sorry, i realize im gushing lol) ...though the downside is that it gets expensive to keep up *rave over*

large in one store and an 0 in another? how's a girl to know what to know what size to get??? a couple years ago, i ordered a pair of ski/snow pants online. i normally would have just ordered a small, but upon checking the sizing chart, my measurements suited an XL (probably should have ordered an XXL though cuz the calves were a little snug when i got them). And no they were NOT kids ski/snow pants, i checked! 😂

(very) late breakfast/lunch. everytime we go to Costco, we pick up a bucket of chicken wings from the snack bar (so cheap and so good!) Ate 3 with hot and bbq sauces, and an espresso martini beforehand (not shown). 314 cals for the wings and the drink (i would've had a salad, but there was no romaine in stock at my local Costco. romaine has been low on supply for the past several months, and like 50% more expensive than normal, man. geez) p.s. i am looooong overdue for a manicure! my nails are like crazy long talons these days!! 😂

food bank? soup kitchen? shelter? i am sure there is an organization out there that would love to be the recipients of all your goodies! if i lived closer to you i could be your organization **shucks** 😂

i've never tried marmite, but have had vegemite (and really, really, really, tried hard to like it!, i swear') when we spent time in brisbane. if marmite is anything like vegemite, its gonna be a hard pass from me. though i feel like i could like it if used in like stews or gravies or marinades or something. anyone try that?

Panzanella salad with a generous helping of burrata, yum! i feel like i may have over calculated the cals on this one, but looking at the breakdown the majority of the cals came from the burrata and the olive oil, so i guess that makes sense. Anyhoo, 402 calories for the bowl, ate it all! I also had 3 chicken wings i heated up to eat but ended up handing it over the the Kid cuz panzanella salads are effing filling, man.

i wasn't sure if u were just using a term of endearment for your poultry so i googled it. well, im calling frenched drumsticks as "lovely legs" to mess with people from now on.

another resto dinner. ordered 2 apps (braised pork belly and grilled octopus cuz i couldn't decide), and dessert (gold leaf bourbon chocolate truffle skulls...so cute right??) ate one piece of the pork (i didnt like the kimchi it was sitting in...too much sauce, not enough cabbage), and all the cracklin pieces (3 of em) the octopus was Dee-Lish-ous, omg...ate a tentacle and a half and all the greens. ate 1 of those super cute skulls. no after pics cuz its all in mr.'s stomach, ha! didnt bother tying to figure out the cals..am just gonna log something later that has 600 calories. ...and i didn't drink any alcohol (shocker!) cuz me and mr. and i are going dry for the rest of the month for a bet lol.

tablecloths, silverware, cloth napkins, and "glass" glasses. premium airline cabins for the win! lol (that midnight cheese plate has me heading into the kitchen for some at-home charcuterie...)

i beg to differ! any and all food pics are greatly appreciated (by me!) 😂 for good measure, here's a shot of my kettle chips and chocolate covered pretzels snack for earlier this afternoon 197 calories, at it all 💪🏼

i purposefully limited carbs the first two years (fist year-ish, <25g a day, second year-ish, <50-70 a day). my team did not tell me to do this, it came about first by necessity (i had very little stomach real estate and needed to prioritize other foods, and sugar was my enemy number one back then cuz i was in the height of my dumping abilities), ...then i noticed that limiting it seemed to positively affect weight loss for me, so i continued, then it just became habit, then later it became a low-level fear of mine to get back to. ...slowly me and carbs got back together again and we hang out probably just as much as "normal" people do. though breads, rice, pasta, etc still tend to sit heavily in me so its still in smaller quantities. but me and sugar are def in a much better place now lol. i'm 4 years out.

why yes, yes i did! (but i had coffee lol). when i was a teenager, i worked in a british-themed bakery/cafe in an amusement park. they had a "tea time hour" and sold these babies by the truckload. i fell in love with them then. (that and steak & kidney pie! lol) and here you go!: Ingredients 3 cups all-purpose flour 3 tbsp sugar 1/2 tsp salt 4 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp cream of tartar 3/4 cup FROZEN butter (grated) 1 egg, beaten 1.25 cup whole milk Instructions Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix in the grated butter into flour mixture. Don't go too crazy here - you want to see small, pea-sized pieces of butter throughout the dough. Add in the milk and egg and mix just until the ingredients are combined. The dough will be sticky but don't keep working it. Turn the dough out onto a generously floured surface. Sprinkle some flour on to the top of dough so it won't stick to your fingers and knead 10-15 times. If the dough is super sticky just sprinkle on some additional flour. Pat the dough out to 3/4 - 1 inch thickness and cut with a biscuit cutter or glass (alternatively you can just drop large spoonfuls on the baking sheet) Place the biscuits on a lightly greased baking sheet or parchment lined baking sheet or silicone baking sheet and bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown on top. For extra yumminess, brush the tops of the biscuits with melted butter immediately after taking out of oven. Serve warm, its better!; or let cool and serve with fresh whipped cream and your choice of jam.

yeah, what @sillykitty said lol. These biscuits where crispy-ish on the outside and were supposed to be light and fluffy-ish on the inside (they normally are, i swear!)... but a combination of over-working the dough (i kneaded maybe 20-25 times instead of my normal 10-15), AND an over-floured surface i kneaded on contributed to its unintended dense-ness and lack of height. oopsies. but they were still delicious!!

between the two of us, we would have finished that sandwich...i prefer the harder outer crusts of bread than the squishy middle!

and now for todays breakfast/brunch. The Kid asked me to bake a batch of my (self-proclaimed) fabulous biscuits so whipped up a batch this AM. 1 biscuit with whipped cream and strawberry jam (tray of virgin biscuits in the background) 307 calories, ate it all.

last nights take-out dinner: assorted sushi & sashimi. 415 calories, ate it all. fun fact: my hands down fave sashimi is saba (mackerel) with an abundance of roe, yummmm! this is the one at the top of the plate with the yellow fish eggs attached. mr. and the kid find this type among the more "challenging" of the sashimis so it always ends up more for me! lol.

thank you!!!! lol. so of course i studied each picture up close. the 2nd row, centre plate is the prettiest! what is that whipped/moussey item? i see it present in other plates as well. bottom row, what is that breakfast-sausage looking thing with what looks like a straw going down the middle of it? ...and most importantly, which one was ur fave??? (before you tapped out lol)

ok. first i NEED to see pics to satiate my food porn addiction. second, the one collateral damage i suffer from wls is my inability to have wine pairings with meals (tasting or regular). if i drink while i eat i wont be able to see thru to the end of the presentation. boo. ....which is why i am often drunk during these types of outings because i always make sure to get my drink on BEFORE the food comes. so brilliant, right?? lolzzzzzz

EXACTLY! 100%! Totally agree! Which is why i love tasting menus, tapas, izakaya, dim sum. All perfect venues for us limited-stomach-real-estate folk, to get a chance to taste a whole lotta stuff without stuffing ourselves. Honourable mention to cocktail parties w/ passed hors d'ourves and large group restaurant reservations (so i can taste everyone's entrees 😂)