Solstice

It was lovely to have The Divine Miss E and her delightful and talented paramour over, however briefly.

Morning:
slausage and cheese on an english muffin
tea

Afternoon:
water, diet coke
chips and salsa
Milano cookies

My god, woman! Don't go exposing those around me!

That's what the network admin said when I took off my cardigan, revealing my new, not *that* low cut, dress. He has the same taste in women as spouse so it wasn't particularly surprising (and always flattering).

Morning:
tea with soy milk
black coffee
Special K (dry)
water

Snack:
Oreo brownie (half of one)

Lunch:
Swiss on rye with mustard, lettuce, tomato, onion
water
coffee

Evening:
raw veggies
a few cubes of cheese
a bit of spicy dip
salad (I think it was Caesar)
rice and green beans (the main course was beef or seafood Newburg)
Chocolate pudding
water, coffee and 1 glass of wine that I drank even more slowly than MO drank his VERY strong rum and Coke

A bottle of wine and I can't have it

But it, a Christmas pressie from Boss Lady, will be saved for later consumption.

Morning:
coffee with soy milk
Special K, dry
1 banana
water

Snack:
home-made biscotti
coffee w/ soy milk

Lunch:
roasted vegetable salad with half of the mustard dressing
water

Dinner:
veggie Bolognese (spouse made!)
spaghetti
4 chocolates
water
diet Sprite

I was very stressed after a horrible cab ride from Central. The driver had no idea where I wanted to go and kept trying to get me to tell him how I wanted to go rather than just say he didn't know where South Boston was. And then he rode his breaks the whole way. I actually smelled them at one point. MO made me go take a bath while he made dinner though, so that melted the stress away. I even managed to get my hair in pin curls for tomorrow!

Short term goals

So while my long-term goal is the same, I've decided on something for the short term, just to have something tangible to strive for. Losing all the weight is a huge thing, and it seems so daunting right now, but I think I can focus on something small much easier. I've decided I want to weigh 180 by my birthday, which is more than doable. This morning my weight was 183.5, but I've still got Christmas and New Year's to get through.

Three and a half pounds in a month isn't much, but I don't want to hurry with this if I want to keep it off. If I manage a pound a week it will take me a year to get down to where I want to be, and that's just fine. It took four years to gain 50 pounds (I'm sure I could have done it faster if I'd be trying), so taking it off in a year seems like a good pace to me!

Morning:
tea w/ soy milk
coffee w/ soy milk
crumpet w/ 1t honey
water

Snack:
1 cookie

Lunch:
veggie sushi
water

Snack:
mini candy cane
2 chocolates

Dinner:
1 veggie spring roll w/ peanut sauce
#92 (tofu and veg with wide rice noodles)
green tea bubble tea
hot tea
water
(we all went to Le's after class)

Non-alcoholic wine

sucks.

I found two reds in Superior Liquors in Central: Sutter Home Fre Premium Red and Inglenook St Regis Cabernet. Okay, I should have know from the wineries alone that this would be shit, but my GOD! I opened the Fre I started looking for a Best By date after the smell hit me. It tastes spoiled (and there is no date on it). And the Inglenook tastes like sweet grape juice with a hint of something chemically, kind of like wood varnish.

These are not drinkable beverages unless Ripple is your tipple. Gack!

Another blood test today

I wish she'd let me know that she put the order in to the lab when she left me a message last week. I'd have gotten it done yesterday.

Morning:
tea with soy milk
crumpet with 1t honey
coffee with soy milk

Snack:
pecan pie (not really a "snack", but there were two whole pies right outside my office!)

Lunch:
roasted vegetable salad with half of the mustard dressing it comes with
water

I made the woman at the lab smile when I checked in by telling her I'd come to see the vampires :)

Dinner:
Replay of last night

I spoke with the doctor tonight too and she's going to do the referral to a surgeon once I decide which hospital I want. I can do Beth Isreal or Mount Auburn. Any advice?

Yesterday and today

Yesterday's food:
Breakfast sandwich of Gimme Lean sausage and vegan cheddar (kind of gross, I might toss it) on English muffin
Chilli made with Boca grounds with >1oz shredded real cheddar
mini corn muffins (too many!)
2 Jammie Dodgers
tea
water
diet Sprite

Today's food:
Breakfast sandwich
tea with soy milk
coffee with soy milk

Morning snacks:
last 2 chocolates from the x-mass cup and a peppermint swirlie hard candy thing
water

Lunch:
chilli with corn muffins
water
Mood: grumpy

Evening:
Roasted Garlic and Potato soup
bread
broccoli
diet soda
water

It's hard to work for the weekend when you're working then too

Just a workshop this weekend, but it's on JavaScript, and neither of us knows enough about it.

Morning:
tea with soy milk
2 slices dry toast
orange juice
pear

Afternoon:
veggie sushi
Clearly Canadian soda

Evening
Baked potato with beans (tomato-y English beans)
broccoli
chocolate

Yes, I've been indulging a bit.

Howdy Campers

Most of the snow was cleared on the sidewalks, amazingly.

Morning:
coffee
Greek yoghurt with raspberries

Snack:
Hershey things in the coffee cup given as a holiday gift by the dean (a nice one, with a ceramic spoon that fits in the handle!)

Mood:
Swingin'!


Lunch:
Staff holiday lunch
Appetisers:
1 wild mushroom and risotto purse
2 figs with blue cheese
1 roasted tomato and basil cheese on foccaccia
ginger ale

Spinach, endive and chevre salad, no dressing
Eggplant stuffed with risotto, green beans, Hollendaise
water
coffee

Evening:
hot pot (Boca grounds and veg with gravy, topped with sliced potatoes and baked)
diet soda
blueberry gingerbread (my indulgence since I couldn't drink at the holiday party)

Food Log

Morning:
plain tea
fat free Greek yoghurt with raspberries
1 pear (ripe!)
coffee with soy milk
water
baby carrots

Mood: Grumpy (and menstrual crampy)

Lunch:
Brown rice, tofu and veg bowl
baby carrots
grape tomatoes
pear
water

Snack:
popcorn
a chocolate

Evening:
spaghetti with veggie Bolognese
a chocolate
water
diet soda

Fuck

My doctor left a message at home sometime today after she read most of the hospital records. While things are moving back to normal, the initial liver tests were so bad that she wasts the surgery just to remove the problem altogether. I'm not saying yes until I've had a chance to talk to her in person. There are just too many other problems that can occur once it's out and the digestive issues don't go away (I'd like to keep storing some bile, thanks). We'll see.

Back at work

My doctor said there was no reason for me not to go to work, so I'm back.

I was thinking about what my final goal on this should be. I'm not sure if I want to pick a number on a scale. My doctor would probably do a variation of that by choosing BMI, but those are so arbitrary, being based on weight, not body fat or fitness. The one goal I've chosen so far is waist size. It's slightly arbitrary, but I know that for my frame size a 30" waist is perfectly acceptable, and I could probably go smaller, so that's my final goal (for now).

Currently I have a 41" waist, but that might be a little inflated due to some bloating this morning. Unfortunately, it sounds about right. A ten inch loss seems unattainable right now, but I know it's something that will take time. It took time to put that 10 inches on, and it will take even longer to get rid of it.

Morning:
plain tea
2 slices plain toasted wheat bread, not whole wheat (what they call brown bread in the UK and Ireland)
coffee with soy milk
water

Lunch:
Vietnamese veggie spring rolls with peanut sauce
garden salad, plain, no dressing
pear
water

Evening:
The fucking cafeteria in the science center closed off the salad, sandwich and grab and go things (yogurt, sushi, etc) two hours before they closed down so I couldn't get anything but a pear (not ripe) and a 16oz carton of juice. I had no intention of risking a burrito or pizza.

I think I'll have some toast now.

Today's Food

Morning:
garlic bread (before the thought occurred that I shouldn't be eating butter)
tea with soy milk and sweetener
water

Afternoon:
more tea
Quorn naked cutlet, plain
2 Lake Champlain chocolates
more water

Dinner:
Beans on toast (spouse cooked), which I actually liked, although I had to have the toast on the side and spoon beans on to it because the idea of having the beans on top of the toast on a plate just didn't appeal
water
Sprite Zero

Begining Again (again)

This is the third time I've started this blog. I deleted over 400 old posts to begin fresh (hence the new blog title as well), although it might have been nice to keep some of them around. Some were actually funny (I do occasionally have a sense of humor). When I last started, I weighed almost 20 pounds less than I do now. It was odd to see how much I was stressing when I had gained a pound or two and had gone back up to something like 140.

I'm at 185.5 now and my poor diet (well, a large contributing factor) landed me in the hospital this weekend. I had three gallstone attacks in three days, one lasting seven hours. At the beginning of the third one, when I still didn't know what it was, but was beginning to suspect, I called my health center and they suggested the ER. Once in, they ran some blood tests and stopped looking at my gallbladder: it was my liver that was more of a concern.

Long story short, there was jaundice and liver inflammation, which at this point looks most likely to have been obstruction jaundice caused by the gallstones. I feel fine and have had one, hopefully last, blood test today to check things out, but I really need to make a change. My doctor was asking me to think about surgery today and I just don't want to go that route unless I absolutely have to. So, the Divine Miss E suggested we get back to doing our food blogs, and here I am.

I don't think I'm going to go back on something like Weight Watchers, at least not right away. I need to start by just being mindful of what I'm putting in my body and try to shift closer to a vegan diet. I've been joking that the gallbladder is a PETA plot to turn everyone vegan (just kidding, I like you guys, really!), but it's better than being back in the hospital, feeding the nest of vampires twice a day.

Wish me luck.