4 Weeks

I can't believe it's been 4 weeks since my surgery. This weekend has been very eventful. Friday night, I decided I wanted to eat dinner out for the first time in over a month. It was sort of spur of the moment. Anthony and I went to TGIFriday's. We don't normally eat at a lot of chain restaurants and their new menu was a huge eye opener for me. I realize now why I've gained so much weight eating out. What I thought was healthy, was not usually. Now that menus have calories listed for each meal, it was very difficult for me to choose something to eat. I also had thought that they had a Weight Watchers section, but that is no more. I ended up choosing parmesan-crusted chicken with cheese tortellini in spinach alfredo sauce and tomatoes and fresh mozzarella. It was just under 900 calories and was a 'right portion' option. It happened to be one of the few meals lowest in calories. It was the perfect amount of food for me since I don't eat the fresh mozzarella and tomatoes. The chicken went down fine and so did the pasta. I will definitely be more mindful when I choose to eat out now.

Saturday night we went out to the movies and I'm still nervous about having popcorn, so I brought an individual size bag of M&Ms with me. I didn't finish the whole bag and ate one at a time, letting them melt in my mouth. It was a yummy treat and not terrible, if done every once in a while.

Sunday, I decided that I REALLY missed having pizza. Aside from having the diet pizza after the Renassaince Faire back in the beginning of August, I haven't had PIZZA since before July 6. Since we are still so confused about the 'rules' between all the conflicting information we have received, Anthony decided to go to the old Web and look it up himself. He found on several websites that I am behind in some areas and ahead in others. I started the ground meat earlier, but still hadn't had any sharp foods like crackers, toast, etc. That should have all started last week. So, we decided I should be OK having a slice of pizza. No, I did not want to microwave it and make it softer for me. If I'm going to have pizza, I want pizza. If I couldn't have it that way, I would wait until I could. For dinner, we ventured to a great neighborhood pizza place down the road from my house. I ordered one slice of heaven, aka sicilian and Anthony ordered some chicken fingers in addition to his dinner. I had a finger and half for some protein, even though they were fried. All went down fine. I ate small bites and slowly. Now, for the pizza test. It just looked and smelled so good. I cut pieces, probably a little bigger then I should have, but the first bite was just amazing. Yes, I moaned as I ate. I got through about 3/4 of it and did not eat any crust. I started feeling it slip through the band, which is a really weird feeling. It's almost like a suction feeling, but not as strong. I decided this was probably my cue to stop and I was completely satisfied. If I could have a slice of pizza every other week for the rest of my life or even once every week, I would be very happy.

During Anthony's research, he also discovered that I was able to go in the hot tub so, after dinner, it was a dip in the hot tub for us. It felt wonderful!!

Monday night was my first night back at the gym. I was going to take it easy and see how I felt. I started on the elliptical trainer (my favorite workout machine). I was going to do it for 10 minutes, but it was tiring, so I lasted only 5. I still felt that was a good accomplishment and it really is only meant as a warm up. Next came the circuit training. I lasted a half hour using the same amount of weight I had ended with. I tried it easier and it just didn't feel good, so I kept increasing it. I felt so great afterwards. I'm so glad I'm back at the gym, only to repeat it at least 2 more times this week. I may have fallen asleep at 9:30 after the gym, but so what.

So, here are the new numbers. Check this out!!! HW 317, PSW 306.4, SW 284 CW 277.2

I guess eliminating the egg/banana was the way to go for me. I'm back on the losing side!! I still find this whole losing weight thing to be confusing because now I ate out twice this past weekend AND lost weight, when all along I've been eating healthy and choosing the right foods and gaining weight. UGH!!! So confusing, but taking things day by day.