Starwarsandcupcakes

Tonight’s dinner was really just cleaning out the fridge. 😂 Bulgur made with flax milk, water, maple and vanilla extracts, and a smidge of maple syrup. I topped mine with lactose free Fage vanilla yogurt (has vanilla beans in it!!), dried cranberries, sliced almonds, and a drizzle of honey. JUST egg vegan egg substitute with melted cheese with sour cream and salsa. Turkey bacon that I obviously didn’t eat. 🤷‍♀️ Kids also had canned cinnamon rolls that I scrounged a tiny piece from. Not worth a whole roll. I’d rather have more of the bulgur if I had more room! I’ll pack the leftovers for lunch tomorrow night though. Came out to about 380 calories (not including the turkey bacon).

I work 12hr night shifts so it’s food the entire day as I’m usually never hungry when I first get up and I’m usually not hungry after 3-4am. There are days when I pack about the same things and don’t eat it all. Lots of times I bring stuff home and say I’ll try again the next day.

This is my meals for work and the total nutrition information aside from the sipping soup (will eat tomorrow instead) Thermos of zuppa toscana, coconut vanilla Greek yogurt, beef bouillon protein soup, coffee with 2tbsp chobani creamer, thin mint protein shake, 3 mini pitas cut in half, sweet and spicy radishes, lean protein bar (a let down as it tastes like protein powder), protein pretzels, 1/2 cup frozen mixed berries, and Spanish rice with riced cauliflower, carrots, edamame, onions, garlic, hoisin sauce, and JUST egg vegan egg substitute.

Sometimes I really miss bananas (allergic). But those liners are bee-utiful.

This is about halfway through. It was a mix of red and diamonds radish slices (1lb each) with a sweet and spicy sauce (2T gochujang, 1T honey, 1/3 apple cider vinegar, 1/3 apple juice, and 1-2T Korean soy sauce). It reminds radish kimchi but cooked. Also, I’m eating them all and might have more when I get home from work. They’re SO good!

I don’t know what to call it and it looks terrible but it’s basically lentil congee with onions, celery, zucchini, garlic, tomato paste, and flax seed milk with vegetable bouillon cubes, water, star anise, cinnamon sticks a little cumin and garlic and onion powder. I topped it with a Parmesan turkey and Italian sausage meatball. I don’t have an after picture but I only ate about 4-5 tablespoons of it and a bite of the meatball (had a half of one to sample with the kids as they had them with bow tie pasta and some of the roasted red pepper soup as the sauce.)

Venti iced latte made with nonfat milk and either sugar free vanilla or cinnamon dolce syrup. Can order blended for a frappe. Quad shot over ice in a venti cup (use protein shake) Venti iced shaken espresso, sub nonfat milk and stevia in the raw.

My 4 kids (ages 6-15) know I’ve had surgery(ies) for weight loss and other things. I started changing things pretty slowly. Picking a new vegetable to try once a month, making a healthier version of their favorite foods. Buying healthier versions of their favorite condiments (sugar free ketchup, light or fat free dressings, light Mayo, etc.). Having them help cook meals made them more likely to enjoy them with me. Sure they still eat Mac and cheese, instant ramen, and chicken nuggets but those are the nights I’m glad I have leftovers from a healthy meal I made earlier in the week or can make a salad. Its all about balance and kids get that if you talk to them about it and reassure any fears or answer any questions they might have. I think teaching them that healthy doesn’t have to mean boring has also been a huge plus (for me at least).

Found some clearance red peppers 3/$1! So naturally I made roasted red pepper bisque. Recipe- (makes 2+quarts) 4tbsp butter, 11 red bell peppers cored liberally salted and roasted at 450F for 20-25mins until mostly soft then chopped into pieces (pour any liquid from roasting into the soup), 1 red onion diced, 1 white one diced, one shallot finely diced, garlic measured by the love in your heart (or like 4cloves) minced, 3 stalks celery finely sliced, 1tbsp smoked paprika, 1tsp white pepper, 4 cups chicken broth, 1 cup heavy cream and 1 cup milk. Over medium heat melt butter then add onions, garlic, shallot, and celery. Cook until onions turn translucent, about 5-7 minutes. Add paprika and white pepper. Stir until fragrant making sure to scrape bottom of pan (about 2 minutes). Add chicken broth and scrape bottom of pan for any brown bits. Add peppers and any liquid from roasting. Cook 3-5 minutes. Using immersion blend, blend the snot outta that soup then turn heat to low and add cream and milk and blend one more time for good measure. You can serve it with some cheese or cilantro or basil whatever your heat desires. You can also totally switch the chicken broth for veggie broth and change out the milk for a non dairy option.

A friend gifted me some lettuce and basil plants she started! Perfect for a yummy salad and can’t get much fresher than just picked off the plant! 😍 Topped with 2 slices strawberries, a handful of blueberries, feta because I couldn’t find my blue cheese, balsamic dressing and some sliced almonds and dried cranberries. Ended up eating it all.

Hang in there. I didn’t eat a whole lot of veggies at first either. I didn’t eat raw veggies until almost 3 months post op the first time. Even now I still focus more on protein but try to have a more well-rounded diet. Some days are better than others. You’ll get there!

Ended up drinking a Starbucks doubleshot and leaving behind some other stuff after deciding I wasn’t in the mood for citrus fruit. I updated the nutrition info as well.

Woah, woah! Who said you had to eat those things “bland”? Depending on your plan use spices, add a little cheese to your eggs. Blend your cottage cheese with 1tbsp sugar free preserves to make an almost dessert. Add root beer flavored packets to vanilla protein shakes and freeze until it’s a slushy for a root beer float! Make a ricotta bake, is practically lasagna without the noodles or meat!!! So good! Make curried salmon salad using Greek yogurt as the base instead of Mayo. Do the same with tuna. Make some bisque soups! Creamy, filling and full of flavor. It’s not about sacrifice, it’s about using your tool to get the best results possible. You WILL get to where you need to be in time but it won’t happen overnight. I completely get the frustration of not losing when you want to. I’ve also had feeling of anger that I wouldn’t lost the weight and I’d be obese forever. Then again, I’ve had to do the post-op progression stages 3 separate times just last year but GI surgeries follow the same post-op diet. You will get there. Just have patience.

My day’s worth of food at work. I had already drank a protein soup and ate about a 1/3 of the rice dish I packed. The rice dish is made of- duxelles, ground beef, way too much kale, a bag of frozen mix vegetables, a random jar of chicken gravy, half a stick of butter and the remnants of a box of instant rice from the back of the cupboard. The kids and my sister topped theirs with cheese but I wasn’t brave enough to try. I probably won’t the rest of the cucumbers I packed (have eaten 3-4 so far) because one got stuck and gave me the foamies. 😞 Ill post a picture when I get home of what I have left/ate instead as an update. Edit- added a copy of the total count for everything for the day.

Yeah. I saw it on Amazon but I wasn’t paying $8 for 2oz of vanilla salt when I’m going to make my own vanilla extract and have the pods anyway. I’d much rather pay $60 for 48oz of vanilla extract and 8oz of vanilla salt than $180 for all of it. 🤷‍♀️

It’s one of the very few ways I’ll eat kale. Although, some recipes call for spinach, kale is what’s used in the Olive Garden soup so I wanted to stay close to that. I love soup and it’s one of my favorites by far.

I made a version of zuppa toscana for dinner last night. I skipped the bacon and added mushrooms, celery, and red bell peppers. It was so good! I ate all of what I packed for lunch and I’m having leftovers for dinner tonight.

I bought sari wrap skirts from Darn Good Yarn. They come in multiple sizings and are easily traded on their Facebook group. My old xl/plus wrap around me twice now (my highest size was a 24/26 and they fit). My current is the regular as I’m verging on a size 10 and they’re perfect for wearing as dresses and shirts, too (depending on if you get a mini or ankle). Plus, they’re 2 sided so you can wear one side one day and the other the next! These are 3 from my recent purchase.

The only time I get pumpkin seeds is when gutting pumpkins. Im excited for this pumpkin season because I am dying to roast some with the mesquite smoked salt I bought and maybe some chili lime ones with lime fresco salt... In case anyone is wondering about my salt obsession it includes 18 different salts🧂🧂- black truffle salt wild porcini salt vintage merlot salt espresso brava salt lime fresco salt Spanish rosemary salt coarse sea salt pink Himalayan salt Celtic sea salt Hawaiian black lava salt black garlic salt alderwood smoked salt mesquite smoked salt coarse kosher salt maldon sea salt flakes (for cookies!) regular iodized salt Larry’s seasoned salt and accent (which is technically a salt but most people call MSG). If I don’t add salt to just about everything (even bouillon granules) my blood sodium levels end up low so, yay yummy salt for me. 😂 Also, in case that wasn’t enough salt in planning on taking some of the fine pink Himalayan salt and mixing some vanilla beans in with it to use for some baking.

My sister gifted (more like cursed) me with a 2lb bag of sunflower seeds and I already had a stash (like 25+) of 1oz size snack bags! I’ve already made nut free Nutella with some of it. Usually I just eat them as is for a work snack but couldn’t resist the crunchy goodness on salad.

Jumping on the salad train. 🚂 Spinach, Campari tomatoes, black pepper smoked salmon, feta cheese, sunflower seeds, and what you can’t really see is the balsamic vinegar or the Hawaiian black lava salt. The Hawaiian black lava salt smells of floral pineapple and vanilla but has a smoky taste. What I managed to eat was around 195 calories. The salmon sat pretty heavy but man was it tasty. Also, someone remind me next time that a tbsp of sunflower seeds is more than enough. 😂 Also, I was gonna save the rest for later but my daughter’s cat sat on it before I could put it away. 😒

I have literally posted egg McMuffins and donuts from a local bakery on here. 😂 I can cook fancy if I want to but lately I’m mostly just lazy about it.

The first time I noticed mine I actually made an appointment with my doctor because I felt a “lump” that hadn’t been there before. 🤦‍♀️ I hadn’t ever had a protruding collarbone so I had NO clue.

I’m gonna sound like a terrible WLS patient with this but- ice cream, baked lays chips, rye chip gardettos, or everything pretzels dipped in cream cheese. However, I’ve had 3 intestinal surgeries in a year (dec 2019-dec 2020; VSG, RNY for GERD, and a small bowel resection losing 3ft of small intestines) and I find that some days I’m pretty short on calories to keep me in maintenance and I’ve usually already hit protein goals (100g+ daily) so good quality ice cream it is.

Campbell’s well yes sipping soups (no chunks to strain!) thinned a bit were lifesavers for me even though I like broth. Also, try a no sugar added sorbet or frozen yogurt. FYI- pudding and jello are on the full liquid diet (along with things like milkshakes for non-WLS patients) because they have a tendency to become liquid if left out at room temperature which makes them easier to digest and swallow (important for those with dysphagia [trouble swallowing]).