What's on your menu Wednesday, RNYers?

Good morning lovelies! What a day I had yesterday - I was so bummed not to be able to interact with the post throughout the day, I find it so helpful in keeping on track - but I went from meeting to program to interviews to meeting to more programs!

I'm feeling REALLY off track and I can't quite seem to shake it. I'm hoping my early morning gym trip to help keep me feeling righteous and good throughout the day today, we'll see. 

Excited to report that tonight I'll be meeting HL1524 (aka Heather) for dinner in the city. Last time we got together was ages ago so I can't wait to see her progress and hear all about how things are going. I feel so lucky to be able to meet some of you OH folks IRL too! 

Time since surgery: just shy of 10 months

B: coffee with cream, loaded Greek yogurt 

S: deli ham and a Babybel Light

L: crockpot salsa chicken and sweetened ricotta (which I'll hopefully actually get to eat instead of having no time and swapping it for a protein bar like yesterday which set off a chain reaction of poor choices)

This is where my plan ends since Heather and I haven't picked for sure where we're going - but we have two place in mind and both are super WLS-friendly so I know I'll be able to have lots of good options.

TOTALS: going to skip this for now

V/W: started

E: 20 minutes of "Glute Camp" on the Arc Trainer, 10 minutes on the rowing machine (and man do my abs feel it, thanks for turning me onto this exercise Shannon!)

In other news, my trusty Fitbit Flex died last week, so I've moved to a One. I had been considering switching anyway - I wanted to see how many stairs I climb AND not have to wear it on my wrist. Yesterday was my first day with it and I'm totally in love!

Make good choices, all!

Good morning all!  So, the temperature gauge on my car this morning read -16.  Huh.  That's...distressing.  I keep asking my husband if it's time to become snowbirds yet.  I met with my surgeon's PA yesterday for my 6 month follow up and I'm right on track!  However, my iron is even lower than it was 3 months ago even though I'm taking two ferro-sequels a day.  She wants me to now take 4 a day along with vitamin C and have my labs done again in 3 months.  She said, "well, the good news is you aren't anemic yet".  LOL  Well, I guess that IS good news.  And don't you know I forgot (already!) to take my morning vitamins today?  I'm the worst.

B:  coffee (2) with 1/2 & 1/2 and a Friendship Fit to Go with 2 TB of SF + fiber Polaner jelly.  Oh 1/2 & 1/2; I wish I knew how to quit you.

S:  a hard boiled egg and a punnet from my graze box this week:  cheese and chive oatbakes with caramelized onion marmalade.  I haven't tried this one yet, but it sounds yum!

L:  3 oz. shrimp with ****tail sauce

D:  Buffalo chicken salad on a piece of Sara Lee Delightful whole grain bread

S:  TBD but I'm sure I'll have one later since my calories are on the low side today

TOTALS:  Cals:  748  Protein:  78  Carbs:  56  Fat:  28

Stay warm everyone!

Glad to hear you're visit with the PA was good. That's interesting about your iron going down. Are yu feeling any effects of the low iron like tiredness?

Also, don't sweat the half and half - having some fat in your diet is GOOD for you - especially for pooping LOL.

I don't really know if I can tell my iron is low.  I mean, I def have more energy now than I did 6 months ago.  But any increase in energy would have been an improvement so I don't know if I'm actually tired but just don't know it.  LOL 

Good morning all!  Yesterday was really crappy for me too.  Have you ever taken a new job and regretted it almost immediately?  I did.  I knew something was off the first week and it has just gotten worse.  The sad thing is that I know I did it to myself by taking the position.  Argh...  anyway, last night for dinner I ended up having a Bailey's with milk, a chicken spring roll, Karee chicken curry and some of my daughter's nachos from Taco Bell.  It was pity eating at its finest.  I need a new strategy.  Any thoughts?

Also, I have been stalled for a couple of weeks now.  The scale is insistent on staying at 173.0 - 175.2.  I'm sure my spectacular eating habits are helping.  Anyway, enough of my *****ing.

Time since surgery: 6.5 months

B: SF Latte and Quest Bar

S: Coffee with Girl Scout Creamer 

L: Pepperoni, string cheese, cheese crisp crackers and cashews

D: Tuna with crackers

S: EAS Carb Control Shake

W/V: Started

E: Spin class and a 20 min run

Make the best choices you can!

Yikes, it sounds like it was a rough day. Unfortunately I don't have any great strategies to share with you - I battle the same demon regularly. When I feel like emotional eating I try to redirect - make a cup of tea instead, go do some kind of exercise - it doesn't always work - but when I can redirect myself for a few minutes I usually realize that I don't actually need or want that food and I'm able to move on.

This is corny and I haven't used it in ages, but I actually have a mug on my desk with these little slips of paper in it that have things to do (this was a suggestion of my old therapist) and when I was going to stress eat or started obsessing I would pick a slip out of the mug and do it, no matter what basically. Stuff like "walk up and down the steps 2 times" or "read a chapter of your book" or "knit 5 rows." But if you're finding yourself emotional eating a lot, it might be a way to kick start the new habit of redirecting your energy.

I do my nails when I get that "old familiar feeling".  It's hard to shove your hand into a box of crackers when your nails are wet.

Thank you ladies, I definitely need to redirect and my nails could always use a new coat of polish :)  I also think I need to see a doctor or therapist.  My husband mentioned that I seem to be getting very anxious and depressed (I have a history, but I thought surgery might fix that), maybe it was triggered by the new job, but it is beginning to spiral. 

I also noticed your menu has lots of crackers in it, maybe you could add more protein and less carbs to redirect your eating?  When I'm struggling the best thing I can do is to focus protein protein and protein!

Hi Mamata,

Sorry to hear the new job isn't going as well as you'd hoped.  I still deal with stress eating too, I was always one of those people before surgery who thought I wasn't an emotional eater, but since surgery I have realized that was total BS...and nothing sends me over the edge like stress at work.

I always read, and I read something that's a total guilty pleasure, lol!  Nothing too complex or thought provoking to say the least :)  But I find if it's a decent enough story it'll draw me in and by the time I look up a few hours have passed and I'm over the desire to consume everything in my house.  I also really like Anny's idea about the activities in the mug (I think I'll be using that too)!  For the times when reading just isn't going to cut it.  Good luck and hang in there!