Whatcha Eating Today VSGers? Tuesday 10/3/17

Good Morning, VSGers! What does everyone have planned for Tuesday? Tuesday is a busy day for me. I have meetings first thing in the morning, then back to my office for awhile. I have Kettlebell class at 11 and then my academic class at 4. It looks like my daughter is feeling better and I should be able to send her off to school today.

QOTD: If you could have your dream job, what would it be? I'd get a degree in meteorology and be a storm chaser. That, of course, would require me to A) not care as much about my safety (hello, I have kids) and B) be willing to travel all the time. But, I'd do it in a heartbeat if my life were different. The weather has fascinated me since I was in 6th-grade science class!

8 months post-op/Maintenance/134.7lbs

M1: Coffee, PP, Miralax, HC

M2: Fage Total w/ SF Pudding Mix & Almonds

M3: Chili w/ Cheese and Sour Cream

M4: Turkey Sausage Link w/ Broccoli

S: P3 Protein Pack, Pepitas, and Yogurt w/ Pecans

E: Kettlebell class

Beware! OH seems to be going up and down this morning. It ate my post!

Good morning! It would have been my eldest daughter's 45th birthday today so I'll be thinking about her all day.

QOTD: My dream job right now would be retirement of course! My current job was close to a dream job perhaps 8 years ago, but a lot changed recently.

1.5 years post-op (maintenance). 28 work days to retirement (11/13).

B: eggbeaters, cottage cheese and Canadian bacon

L: Emiepie's egg salad

D: Shrimp

S: protein chips, Baked apple (made one last night - yumm...)

Thinking of you Liz x

Good morning! I have a busy day today. I have a church meeting at 5:30, and it doesn't make sense to go home and then back to the city again, so I'm going to try to catch up on some grading. We belong to a historic Episcopal church, and were the first same sex couple to get married there. Our pastor is retiring, and I joined the search committee to make sure that the next pastor is just as open to diversity. It's been a lot more work than I expected!

QOTD - my dream job is to write while also maintaining a small farm or homestead. I've thought about renting an acre or two and planting lavender or other herbs, but at this point in my life (with a toddler and plans to adopt a couple more through foster care), it may have to wait.

B - 2% Fairlife latte, cottage cheese

L - leftover skirt steak and chicken (had less than 2 oz left of each, so I mixed them and topped it all with a little chimichurri)

S - protein shake, string cheese

D - 1/2 a protein bar

E - will try to get a walk in at some point

Water and vitamins on track

Since you had surgery at Jefferson, I'm assuming you in the Diocese of Pennsylvania - best wishes with your parish's discernment process. (I'm at Saint Mark's in Center City but have served on search committee and vestry during searches at prior parishes.) The new bishop is great and I think you can count on his staff to provide some good guidance.

Yes! I'm at Gloria Dei. We've been there for almost three years. We've been working on this for several months now, and the diocesan staff has been really helpful.

Today I'm going to the podiatrist and I'm super excited. I hope I get answers! Then I'll be making chili because Lance is having a chili cookoff at work on Thursday and thinks my chili is good enough that he wants to take it. (Of course, he probably just wants my chili in case there's nothing else that looks good for him to eat. Heh.)

My sous vide is arriving today, but I need to make chili, so I think I'll just try to hard boil some eggs.

I'm also going to copy/paste what I wrote on FB after the support group I went to last night:

So... tonight I went to a support group meeting and it was very strange. It was for weight loss surgery, but there was a guy there who had chosen to have WLS but then changed his mind and decided to do it "the hard way." His wife was with him. And it was like they were there to be evangelical about doing it "the hard way." The wife was being super judgmental too. She actually said, "and people should just learn to love themselves and be happy the way they are."

WTF.

So I spoke up, since the facilitator was trying to call her on it, but he's a normal weighted guy and it clearly wasn't having any impact. I explained how painful it was to exist in the world as an SMO person. How I wouldn't have come to this support group because all the chairs have arms. How I would have been in agonizing physical pain after sitting in these chairs for an hour. I explained that the world is not built for the SMO person - literally. You are always wondering if you'll be able to fit into a physical space or if you can squeeze yourself and then dealing with actual REAL pain afterward.

She shut up.

It was a strange experience.

But the facilitator asked if I'd be okay with the other attendees quizzing me about my experience, which is part of the reason I'm going, so of course I'm fine with that. I got a lot of thank yous and it felt good. I felt useful.

One of the questions was "do you get hungry?" And I said, well.. I never got hungry pre-op because that would have required me to stop eating long enough to experience hunger. Which didn't happen. So I actually get hungry more often now. But I get hungry when I SHOULD get hungry. I said, I'm hungry right now, for example, because I didn't eat dinner before I left (it was 8:30pm by then) and I ate lunch at 2pm. So I do get hungry, but it's when a normal person should be getting hungry - and that's cool with me :)

Anyway.. interesting experience. Both great and not great. I'll miss next month due to surgery and, hopefully, be recovered enough to attend in December.

QOTD: Your answer amuses me since I come from a family of meteorologists. Lots of family members employed by NOAA over the years. :) My ultimate dream job would be working with Hospice to design and implement activity programs for family members of the patient. Hospice is big on "the entire support network is our patient," and I think that, when you're dealing with a loved one in Hospice, it can be hard to take time for yourself to maintain your mental and physical health - especially if it's an inpatient Hospice program. So, ultimately, that's what I'd like to help with.

1: protein shake
2: pork and cucumber salad maybe? It's the oldest thing in the fridge I think.
3: chili, cornbread for the guys

liquid and vites: will be on track! I was on track yesterday. Woo!
exercise: nope - yay podiatrist!!

Hi Gwen,

I'm so glad you spoke up in that support group. I can't believe how people who have no understanding of obesity and the challenges of it can be so judgmental.

Thank goodness that we have WLS as a treatment for obesity.

Carol

Thanks, Carol. I was really surprised that these people were at the WLS support group and it seems like their sole reason for being there was to talk people out of surgery.

And the guy said that he had changed his mind because of going to support groups and seeing how hard it was to change your lifestyle... yet he then said that he was changing his lifestyle without the surgery. And apparently seeing people in the support groups who had gained weight turned him off surgery and I'm thinking, "As if that won't happen to you because you did it the 'hard way'?!"

It was a very strange experience. I felt super judged as the only post-op there and I felt really bad for the people who are in the pre-op pipeline.

So creepy for them to go there and do that. Sadly, he'll learn eventually there is no hard or easy way. There are only successful and unsuccessful individuals. And one's chances of being successful long term are a lot higher with WLS. They just are. It's absolutely no guarantee of success, but it's as close as you'll get today.