Category Archives: WLS

Don’t Look Back

Posted on February 2, 2018 by | Leave a comment

A lot of people assume things when they hear you’ve had weight loss surgery. They assume you’ve taken the easy way out. They assume all of your weight loss issues magically disappear. Well guess what?  The weight issues don’t magically disappear. It takes work. Lots of work. It’s a mental, physical and emotional journey that I don’t think will ever really end. As a person that spent most of her life being obese and morbidly obese I still have struggles. Some days my struggles are mental, as in I wake up being thinking I am fat Rachelle that still looks and feels terrible. Sometimes I wake up and I am consumed by the thought of what I can and cannot eat, which is another pattern of the old Rachelle. And then there are days when everything in the world is right and I am just me. I’m not fat or skinny, I’m not thinking about food or what to eat and everything is just calm and peaceful.

 

However everyday I do have to work at being the best possible me. Weather it’s a mini pep talk of you’ve got this or making sure I have my meal plan in place so I don’t have to worry about calories, protein, fat and carbs that day. I have to actively work at my health, my surgery was not a cure all but rather a tool that I am grateful to have. I have to remind myself not to look back at how life use to be but to keep moving forward.

 

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Posted in reality, sleeve, weight loss surgery, WLS, worth it

What did we find in the kitchen and Harry Potter

Posted on January 14, 2018 by | Leave a comment

Well I’ve been busy living life and I haven’t updated you all in a few days. So here’s what’s been going on.

 

I previously mentioned that I signed up for Beach Body On Demand. I am making good use of this program this time around. My son loves martial arts but they are expensive and with three kids it just wasn’t going to fit in the budget. But thanks to Beach Body me and the littles are doing the Core De Force program and loving it. I love that we can do this workout in our pj’s and all of us together.

 

The other really cool thing I did with the family this weekend was have a Harry Potter day. We are currently reading thru the books with the kids and watching the movies as we got. But this weekend we took it to a whole new level. We decide to to watch the third movie but also make our own wands and theme all our food after magic/ Harry Potter. For breakfast the kids had Cheri Owl( Cheerios) Pixie Puffs ( corn pops) and oatmeal. I had a banana bread breakfast bake since sugary cereal doesn’t agree with me and I wasn’t feeling in the mood for oatmeal. Lunch we had deconstructed pizza casserole. Then supper was suppose to be roast beef, Yorkshire puddings, roasted veggies and gravy but we ran out of time. So instead the kids had ham crackers and cheese and I had some donair chicken meat. We also made some Butter Beer and Rock Cakes!

On the other days here’s a list of foods we ate

yogurt

berries

double chocolate breakfast bakes

chicken parmesan wrap

chicken cordon blue wraps

chicken nuggets

home made pizza bagels and pigs in a blanket

roast beef with Yorkshire pudding and roasted potatoes and carrots and Gravy ( this is a small side plate by the way and I made the Yorkshire puddings mini)

and lots more that I can’t remember at the moment.

We are working our way slowly but surely thru the food that we have in our freezers. But I can tell you for sure that you can eat healthy and have fun themed days without worrying about it. I tried a sip of the butter beer on Saturday which wasn’t good for me since it had carbonation and I did have a rock cake.

 

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Posted in Amazing workout, back in the game, balance, banana, Breakfast, breakfast bakes, cooking, dinner, kids, lunch, protein, treats, weight loss surgery, What have you been eating, WLS, working out

Pasta

Posted on December 1, 2017 by | Leave a comment

Tonight was a special night out with the family. And the kids really wanted to go to The Old Spaghetti Factory. Now I love their food as much as the next but having had weight loss surgery it’s not the best choice for me.

I went into this night out with a plan. I brought my plastic containers to be able to put my salad in and some of my main dish as well. I do this for two reasons to avoid being asked 20 thousand times if the food was ok and so I don’t have to explain to some stranger that I’ve had weight loss surgery. I’m usually pretty open on the topic but sometimes I just want to go out to dinner without going into a whole explanation. I had pre planned what I was going to order and then when I got there I was intrigued by a dish that wasn’t on their menu online but was now calling my name at the restaurant.

I chose to order a salad which went straight into my container as soon as the waitress left. And for my main I order Chicken Alfredo served with bacon, mushrooms and mascarpone stuffed ravioli. Keep in ming that I am almost two years post op and would never have imagined ordering this dish before being this far out. What did I learn from ordering this delicious pasta dish? Pasta to a weight loss surgery patient is like a Chinese food meal to everyone else. You always think you can eat more then you actually can and after a few bites your so full it hurts. Then 30 minutes later your ravenous again. I don’t regret the food choices I made tonight because it has taught me something I already knew. Stick to protein and avoid pasta. That one meal I ate over the course of several hours in four different sitting. I am currently typing this feeling stuffed and satisfied but will probably wait quite a while before having pasta again. There are so many alternatives i have found to pasta now that I don’t ever feel like I am missing you. Here’s a few ideas for pasta substitutes: quinoa, zucchini noodles, sweet potatoes or sweet potato noodles, shiritake noodles ( I have to admit the texture of these just isn’t for me), Chicken Alfredo can be served of broccoli or cauliflower. You can make egg wraps and use those as your pasta sheets in lasagna honestly the list goes on and on.

What are some of your favourite pasta substitutes? Is there any foods that you use to love that when you try to eat you no longer enjoy?

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Posted in Eating Out, pasta, substitutes, weight loss surgery, WLS, yummy

Holiday Cooking part 1

Posted on November 24, 2017 by | Leave a comment

As I mentioned in my last post I want to arm you with some recipes that are healthy and tasty this holiday season. I know I really should start with the main course or the veggies but I’m going to break the rules and go straight to dessert.

A few months after my weight loss surgery I rediscovered protein balls. These delicious little balls packed with flavour and meeting my nutritional requirements while allowing me to feel like I was have a treat. So today I am going to share with you a recipe for Cherry Cheesecake protein balls. I made these ones cherry but you can you a mixture of dried fruit of mango if you prefer.

This recipe will make 8 servings of 2 protein balls per guest. I didn’t fancy these ones up as I really like the flavour of them as they are.

Here’s what you need

1 cup quick oats

1/4 cup dried cherries ( I used unsweetened)

3 tbsp ground flaxseed

1.5 scoops of vanilla  protein powder ( I used GNC Iso burst French Vanilla)

3 tbsp light cream cheese

1 tbsp all natural almond butter

3 tbsp of milk

In a food processor add oats, cherries, protein powder and flax seed. Process by pulsing until it’s crumbly. In a small bowl combine the cream cheese and the almond butter once combined add to the food processor along with the milk and pulse till it starts to come together in clumps. Using a 1 tbsp measuring spoon, scoop out the mixture into your hand and roll. Refrigerate or freeze and pull out when needed to entertain or just a quick snack while shopping for the holidays.

Here’s a little secret with these delicious Cherry Cheesecake balls you can eat them year round! you can have them for breakfast, snack or a dessert that doesn’t require ustencils.

Just in case you were curious here’s the nutritional information for two protein balls(1 serving) I used MFP to calculate the nutrition.

Calories 134

Carbs 14 g

Sugar 11g

Fiber 1 g

Protein 8 g

I hope you enjoy this recipe and I look forward to sharing some more tasty ideas with all of you.

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Posted in Breakfast, Holidays, oatmeal, on track, protein, snacks, treats, weight loss surgery, WLS, yummy

My Thoughts on Everything In Moderation

Posted on November 24, 2017 by | 1 comment

Since having my gastric sleeve almost two years ago(it will be two years in January) I have joined many Facebook support groups. Although these support groups can sometimes be very helpful in not making you feel lonely there is tons of misinformation you have to sift thru. I know that we don’t all get a great program like the one that I had the privilege of being a part of and all our dieticians etc give us different guidelines. However with the holidays coming up I am finding these groups are giving us almost permission to slip up on our eating habits. I have scrolled past many post and not left comments but I feel like I have this platform that I want to use here to voice my concerns which I hope don’t come across as judgemental to some of you. And this is my point of view based on my life and I can’t say it will be true in your life. Anyways here we go….

With the holidays approaching us I have seen tons of Facebook posts  about can I eat this or can I eat that  and there is always a few people that say this surgery isn’t about deprivation it’s about everything in moderation. These comments really get to me. Why? Because 1. You shouldn’t be feeling deprived and if you are maybe it’s time to evaluate your relationship with food, I have found tons of bariatric friendly recipes that are delicious treats and desserts and that meet our nutritional requirements. 2. If everything in moderation really worked for us would we really have needed the surgery in the first place?  Wouldn’t the countless diets we have put ourselves thru have worked?  The fact is for some reason certain foods do trigger us. The sooner we accept that the sooner we can enjoy having food freedom.

With all of these people feeling deprived I kind of want to start a blog series on the Holidays. I don’t want to do the typical posts about how to avoid food pushers and eat before you go to the party etc type blogs but blogs with recipes to help all of us see that we are not missing out on anything by not going back to bad food habits. I know that high fat pumpkin pie is your favourite and it’s only once a year but what if you could eat a pumpkin pie that didn’t make you dump or feel terrible after you ate it? And let’s be honest it starts with one holiday and then there’s birthdays and a night out and a friend is getting married and before we know it we are back in the same traps we were before surgery.

So here’s the thing I can scroll past the posts but let’s help each other in a constructive way instead of enabling ourselves to self destruct.

 

 

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Posted in healthy living, Holidays, weight loss surgery, WLS, worth it

One Year Post OP

Posted on January 31, 2017 by | Leave a comment

This year has been full of ups and downs. I got away from blogging for a while not because I wanted to but because life became a little overwhelming. I am ready to come back now that I’ve landed back on my feet.

A year ago today I was a completely different person. I was always sore, tired and I was extremely overweight. I was battling my food and weight issues and trying everything I could to lose the weight and be healthy. I had been trying to lose the weight for years and just couldn’t shed all the weight I wanted to lose. Then I had my sleeve gastrectomy and my whole world changed.

I went from being someone that was consumed with thinking about how to lose weight, what I could eat, what I couldn’t eat, when I could eat and how much I could eat to not being hungry at all. This was so freeing to me it was like the shackles had been unlocked and taken off I was no longer a prisoner of my mind and body. The hunger is now starting to come back at 1 year post op but I am in control of the hunger the hunger is no longer in control of me. On top of that I changed as a person, I went from wanting to sit and watch tv to wanting to hike, camp, kayak and enjoy all the scenery around me. I went from having trouble walking around the block to walking and running 5K’s.

Something I learned through this process is there is a lot of misinformation out there about weight loss surgery so this year I want to get this blog up and running again. I want to show all of you how I live. I want to share with you how I eat to maintain my weight. What my favourite workouts are. How I am beating cravings and dealing with things like trips. Speaking of trips I am going to Mexico in a few weeks. I am going to be conquering some new adventures while I am there. I’m going to go snorkling for the first time and I can’t wait to share the pictures with all of you but for now I want to leave you with a picture of me a year ago and a picture of me today 🙂

IMG_8159 IMG_2890

 

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Posted in back in the game, before and after, happy, hard work, healthy living, on track, Uncategorized, WLS

9 Weeks post op

Posted on April 2, 2016 by | Leave a comment

Oh my goodness. I am 9 weeks post I can’t believe how fast time has gone by.  These past 9 weeks have been full of ups and downs and everything in between. But let’s address the questions I get asked the most.

What can you eat now?

I can pretty much eat everything with a few exceptions. I can’t have any rice or pasta for another 3 weeks. But honestly I’m not missing it at all. I do have to limit sugar and it’s not recommended I eat fried foods but that ok with me as well since these types of food got me in trouble in the first place.

How much weight have you lost?

From my highest weight I am down 50 lbs!!!! Some of this was lost prior to surgery but I have lost a majority of it after surgery.

How many clothing sizes are you down?

The day of my surgery I was wearing size 22 clothing and today I am in a size 18 but their starting to get lose so going to have to get more clothing soon 🙂

Would you do it again knowing everything you do now?

I would have the surgery again in a heartbeat. I am not going to lie to you it’s work some days are better then others but in the end I still think it was the best choice for me.

What advice would you give someone that had decided to have surgery?

My advice would be to make sure to surround yourself with people that will support you. Don’t be surprised to lose some friends and gain some new ones, not everyone is ready to accept the changes we are making.

Be prepared for a new normal. Our portion sizes are dramatically different then what we are use to.

If you love to workout be prepared to not be able to for a while. I went from working out a lot to not being able to do anything to just a couple weeks ago being able to partially return back to my workout routine.

Journal. Journal your food, your emotions, your hopes, your dreams, your goals. Journal everything. Sometimes we don’t always want to say things out loud but putting them to pen and paper makes us feel better.

You still need to work at your weight loss. Our surgery is a tool but we still need to do the work. And if you start eating like you use to and stretch your stomach you will be in the same boat as when you started.

Find support groups online, in person whatever you can find. I’m part of both in person and online groups and it’s helped me a lot. Sometimes we just need to know we aren’t the only ones experiencing what we are going thru.

 

I’m hoping to post a video soon but I’m still trying to figure the life blog balance 🙂

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Posted in balance, Update, weight loss surgery, WLS