Wedneday Roll Call

Hello everyone

First I have to complain about the snow...grrrr.  I don't like it.  I should move somewhere warm all year around. 

Greg is still gone today.  I will be going to do groceries and pick up something to eat.

I finished all Greg's Christmas shopping and I only went $20 over budget.  Not bad if I do say so myself.  I would have stayed under budget but I bought one more gift and that bumped me up.  Oh well. 

Amanda and Charles are bought but I need to bake before I send their gift off.  Amanda wants yummies in her box.  I have to bake for two Christmas dinners and our Christmas party at work.  I think I will keep it to a minimum this year. 

So how is day going?

Well batter get back to work...have a good day all.   

Good afternoon Crystal and the rest of Illinois!

I am with you!  Let's MOVE!!!!!  I spent last week in the sun with temps between 70-75.  Coming home to 30's and snow/ice was rough.

I am really tired from traveling for two days at a time.  BUT.....no rest for the wicked.  I have Todd's 50th Birthday shindig to put on this Saturday.  Then....Christmas.  Um.....I guess I'll sleep next year.

Things here are going well though.  No real issues.  I DO need to get back into compliance with my eating/exercise.  Hopefully, that will fall into place soon.

Days is going well. I'm in the last week of this semester's class, which means there's a lot of work to be done before classes are over. On the bright side, that means I can start vacation soon and focus my winter on building up stamina and getting used to the gym. Prior to my VSG surgery (will be two weeks on Friday!) I was walking up to 7 miles a day! Unfortunately school and life got in the way and I could no longer dedicate the mornings to my exercise. So you can imagine I'm out of sync with that now. It's gonna hurt, I can already feel my legs protesting at the thought of starting up again, but I also know that it will pass and as the weight comes off I'll be able to do so much more!

I just got my protein powder in today. I'm a vegetarian, have been for many years, so it's hard for me to get enough daily protein on a good day. Now with the liquid diet it's that much harder. Since I've eaten my oatmeal (it's a very liquidy, strained version mind you) for today I couldn't think of where else to add the powder. Thus I've decided to just mix it with water and drink it up...Except it tastes slightly of milk and, unless it's in my cereal or as a side to pancakes, I've never been a milk drinker. I'm sipping it, but it's definitely going to take me a couple of hours to get this down since I can't just take it in a couple of shots... I added a splenda for taste, and that's helped it a little, and I'm wondering if I should just add cinnamon and try to make it as Horchata... Anyone have any thoughts on how I can figuratively spice up my protein drinks without it getting too thick? Flavored protein tastes too sweet for me and makes me sick for the rest of the day.

Anyway, I'm so happy with the decision to have this surgery! It's definitely a life changer and made me face a lot of demons, food ones and others, which made me become a much happier and less angry-at-the-world person.

It's nice talking to y'all! 

~¡Mucho amor y paz!~

Good morning Elena!

If you are using unflavored protein, you can add it to anything!  

You could add cocoa powder and Splenda and cinnamon for a Mexican chocolate.  I add protein to my morning coffee (decaf), but it needs to be "proofed" before adding any hot liquid.  Proofing is just mixing it with cold water or milk (unsweetened almond/coconut blend is my favorite) thoroughly and then adding the hot liquid slowly while stirring.  By proofing in this way, you can also slowly stir the proofed protein into any hot food like oatmeal.

There is also powdered peanut butter that would add flavor to a home made shake.  You can get it now at almost any store in the peanut butter aisle.

Hope this helps!

Thanks so much! That all sounds really good. I never had much of a sweet tooth and from what I've seen so far with the liquids, doesn't look like that'll change anytime soon. Any thoughts on non-sweet recipes?

Unflavored protein can be added to anything!  I like to stir it into Greek yogurt, you could add cinnamon.  You can proof it and add to soups, etc. also.