Good Trip!

My trip to Baltimore went pretty damn good food-wise. We ended up not ordering pizza at all, so I had a lot more flexibility with my food options. I even lost 3.5 pounds! I was very very proud of myself for stopping every time I felt too full, even though I knew some of it would be thrown out eventually (I hate wasting food). I did have some soda, but still not much, and only a fraction of what I would have drank pre-band. Here is what I ate while I was gone:

Thursday:
Breakfast - 2 pieces of buttered toast (before we left)
Lunch - 2 pieces of battered fish, 2 hush puppies, and a few onion rings
Dinner - half of a Subway footlong

Friday:
Breakfast - 2 mini muffins, 3 mini donuts, and 1 mini pastry (sounds like a lot, but really wasn't with how small they were)
Lunch - turkey wrap
Dinner - 6 small Asian dumplings and 2 chicken tostadas (there was another tostada that I didn't finish)

Saturday:
Same breakfast as Friday
Lunch - 9-inch sub and small bag of Sun Chips
Dinner - leftover half of my Subway sandwich from Thursday, small piece of leftover pizza someone else had, some tortilla chips and spinach dip

Sunday:
No breakfast (continental breakfast was closed when we got up)
Lunch - 9-inch sub and 1 sugar cookie
Dinner - tortilla chips and spinach dip

So overall, not bad at all with continental breakfast, eating at restaurants, rest stops, food stands at the convention, etc. Plus we had to walk all over creation since Wednesday (we probably walked over 5 miles down in Manhattan on Wednesday, before we even went to Baltimore). My feet and legs are still recovering, but I feel good about all the exercise I got, and so does the scale :)

Next Fill!

Wednesday, July 29. Woot!

Also, I probably won't be posting much (or at all) until next Sunday or Monday--when I divulge just how badly I've eaten in Baltimore.

Doctor Visit

We had a REALLY bad storm Tuesday and our internet was flaky most of the week, so I couldn't stay connected long enough to write a long post. I went to my appointment Tuesday. My surgeon was called away for an emergency, and usually they would have canceled my appt. but they just hired a new nurse practitioner to help out. Eventually she will be doing fills as well, so that it won't be such a long wait to get a fill appointment. She's very nice and she didn't mind talking to me for awhile about what I've been going through.

She was also the first one in that office to tell me that the band just might not be working for me. I've thought about that several times, but I can't give up on my band. She actually did some research for me and she's pretty sure that my band is 14cc, which sucks because it might take awhile yet before I hit my sweet spot. I have to give fills a chance though before saying that it just won't work for me. DH is also VERY against me having any revision surgery. I would do the sleeve if I had to do something else. He said that he only agreed to the band because it didn't seem as risky and nothing was really physically changed inside me, he thinks the other surgeries are too drastic.

She told me that I should stop eating the diet frozen dinners though (Lean Cuisine, Smart Ones, Healthy Choice) because they are too high in sugar and sodium. The only problem with that though is that I don't know what I can take to work instead that is under 400 calories, and I like that my portions are controlled with them. I don't know what to do about that. She did get a fill scheduled for me though, I have to call Monday to find out when it is. I'm in a strange position right now; I still get stuck on food, but I can still eat quite a bit. Sucks.

I haven't went walking since last Sunday because of support group, work, and just didn't feel like it because of work. It's been a very stressful week at work for me, but good at the same time since my boss was only in the office for about 4 hours the entire week. I skipped my walk this morning because I had lots of stuff to do; my niece is coming up to stay with us for awhile, then going to a convention with us. I haven't had a houseguest other than DH's friends that are here every week, so I haven't had a reason to do a thorough house cleaning until now. But, even though I skipped my walk, I was sweating like crazy while cleaning the floors!

It's going to be bad food galore this week: Wednesday - barbeque, then Thursday - Sunday is nothing but take out and restaurants. I've been trying to figure out non-perishable healthier snacks I could take with me, but I couldn't think of anything that actually fills me up. I WILL be drinking Crystal Light the whole time though.

Back On Track

I walked 2 miles today with DH. No weights yet. I jogged for maybe a minute at the very end of our walk, and DH started freaking out, he's so afraid I'll get hurt again. I was okay, no pain. My legs are feeling less wobbly and weak. I think if I keep it up every day, I'll be back to my regular routine in the next few days. My legs felt pretty tired and weak a few hours AFTER the walk, but that doesn't bother me so much, since my body is readjusting to exercise.

We went to The Cheesecake Factory tonight, which negated any walking I did yesterday and today, but it was SO good. I had a "small" appetizer of stuffed mushrooms and I ate about half of my Chicken Madeira and mashed potatoes. Everything was a little mushy so I ate more than I could have otherwise, but I'm not too torn up about it.

Getting Back Into It

How did I get so out of shape in 2 weeks? It's crazy, the first time I ever went walking months ago, I was able to do 2 miles and all that hurt was my feet. Now, I walked 1 mile today and I felt so sluggish. No pain in my leg or ankle though, so that's a good thing. My hips ached a little bit...if it's not one thing, it's another! Geez. Now to get back on track and work back up to running/walking 2 miles again, and being able to walk 3.

One thing I'm grateful to my body for is that my sweet tooth is picky. A lot of things are TOO sweet for me and I can't eat/drink them after a few sips/bites. Prime example: Vanilla Bean Coolatta from Dunkin Donuts. I used to love this drink last summer, it tasted like a thinned out Bailey's ice cream shake from Haagen Daaz. They took it off the menu shortly after I discovered it last year. Today, DH wanted to get something from Dunkin Donuts and I just happened to check the menu. It wasn't on it, but I saw a poster that showed the Vanilla Bean flavor. I asked, and they did indeed have it. Now, I wasn't hungry, wasn't really thirsty, I had some Crystal Light in the car, but since I was so happy that they had it, I ordered a medium. I took one sip, it was good, then the second sip, I declared it too sweet and decided I didn't really want it. I KNEW it was an impulse buy. I drank maybe 1/4 of it before just giving it to DH to finish.

Went To The Doctor

I finally went to see a doctor today about my leg. I tried going to a clinic first, but a guy told me it was closed, so I went to the ER instead. After a nice hour and a half wait, they took some xrays and the doctor said there are no fractures and he thought it was probably shin splints. I've had shin splints before, they happen on the outsides of my ankles/lower legs, not where my pain is this time. Also, if I had to run/walk 3 miles in order to trigger it, why would just walking around the mall set it off again?

He told me to rest it a few more days, then I can get back to work. However, he gave me the name of an orthopedic doc and told me that if it still bothers me, to go see him and they can give me a bone scan, since xrays can't pick up microfractures. Uhm...why didn't you just give me the bone scan while I was there then? I went to the ER because I didn't want to have to go all over the place to get this figured out. If I went to my primary doctor, she would have sent me to the hospital for xrays anyway, then have to make another appointment with her to get the results. Sigh.

I think he was wrong, there is something else going on besides shin splints, but I pray that he's right.

Leg Issues

Because of the pain I've been experiencing in my left leg and ankle, I haven't been walking since Sunday. I need to get a medical opinion before I hurt myself even worse. Last night, I had some time to kill so I was walking around the mall a bit. I don't think I even walked a mile and my leg and ankle were hurting, very sharp pain in two particular spots. The more I research, the more I'm afraid I have two stress fractures. I'm going to see a doctor Friday, since I have off work. I'm so upset that because I pushed myself to exercise more and harder just that ONE day, I may possibly have to avoid my walks for a month or two. I'm really hoping it's not stress fractures, because I enjoy my walks and I want to get the most out of the nice weather (even though it's still raining most days of the week lately). Plus, we're going to a convention in a few weeks and I'll be walking all day long.

Which brings me to my next topic: goals. I had set a goal to get under 400 by this convention coming up in 2 weeks. I haven't weighed myself in a week and a half, and when I did last, I was 409. I was also hoping to be under 400 by my appointment with my surgeon Tuesday, but that goal was based on my 9 pound loss right after my fill. I don't know if I'll make it to my goal in 2 weeks. I really have to dedicate myself to this or I won't lose weight. I'm too happy with eating and being full that it's hard for me to say no to myself. Especially if I get a bad diagnosis Friday, I'm going to have to concentrate on my eating and cut my portions. I can't rely on my band to do that since I still haven't found lasting restriction.