Whole9 30 Day Challenge Day 19

Ahhh Saturday - not just any normal Saturday, but today marks a year since I had Lap Band surgery!  And what a year it has been!

At this point since the beginning of my journey in late 2010 - I have now lost 46.5 kilos (101.9lbs) - I've lost over 100lbs!!! My weight is at 124.4 kilos (273.7lbs) - still a way to go but at least it is in the right direction.

My clothes size is down to 18-20 on the bottom and 2XL (20-22ish) on the top.  At the beginning I was up near the 30-32 mark and at least 4XL.

Comparison picture:

                       

Food wise: 

Brunch was bacon and eggs - yum!

Lunch was Turkish Vege Salad platter at the mall - some parts couldn't eat as not lap band friendly and not paleo but what I could eat was good..

Had a fabulous shopping trip with Kate at the mall.  Clothes, shoes, nail polish, cosmetics, stationary amongst other things were bought - love to shop!

Avoided chocolate temptation at Butlers cafe where they always give you a free chocolate with a hot drink purchase - I kept for hubby when I got home :)  I get coffee - he got chocolate - win win!

Dinner was at the Working Mens Club where I had an appetiser seafood basket - yum!  And water of course!

No actual excercise today - just walking around the mall for 4 hours :)

Oh and what is about 101 pounds?

About 400 bananas

This pile of human fat

This fish

This pile of meat fat

This great dane



And this pile of books!



Whole9 30 Day Challenge Day 14

My last Sunday of holidays - :(  Oh well been a good break!

Today we had a friends engagement party/bbq with rather onimous weather.

Breakfast was an omlette made by hubby - he has the knack being a trained chef, mine always ends up being scrambled eggs. Anyway, it was very good!

Have bought some Moccona french (mild) instant coffee to drink black - actually quite good.  Every day, I feel I am less likely to go back to drinking coffee with milk (although the odd mocha will probably appear).  Also got Cafe L'Affaire coffee which we grind - also good!

The engagement party was good, and I was impressed I avoided, chippies, dip, cheese boards, wine, etc.  How?  I sat well away from the food table - it actually works for me - out of sight, out of mind.  And I only drank water as well - lots of it

BBQ's are good on this challenge - grilled meat and vege = awesome!  The weather turned to crap but lucky they had a deck with cover to still do the BBQ

On my plate - lamb, a small bit of steak, chicken, salads, and roast onion/beetroot.  - was delicious!!!!

The salad I made was from a girl at the gym's recipe.  It is Fabulous!!!  So the recipe is below - EASY!  I will be making this for lunches this year - a big quantity so enough for a few days.  Was the best salad at the bbq!

Kumara Coriander Salad

Ingredients:

• 4 med kumara
• 2 avocados (chopped into bite size pieces)
• 1/2 cup almonds – roughly chopped
• 3 spring onions
• Grated lemon rind of 1 lemon
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup oil (I used Avocado but you can use olive also)
• 1/4 cup coriander leaves
• Fresh Spinach
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Chop kumara into small cubes and roast. (I tossed the kumara in some coconut oil, about half a teaspoon of red curry paste, salt and rosemary before roasting, but you can do what you want)
2. While the kumara is cooking, lightly toast the almonds in a fry pan then set aside to cool.
3. Mix the lemon rind, lemon juice, oil, avocado, spring onion, coriander, salt and pepper in a bowl and leave to sit so the flavours can combine.
4. When the kumara is cooked and cooled mix ALL ingredients together. I put the spinach on the bottom then the kumara and avocado mix and sprinkled the almonds on top of it all. Yum.

Happy clean eating.

Needless to say - after the BBQ - not hungry at all.

Exercise was a small walk with the dogs - only about 10-15 mins.

Something to think about when trying to eat properly and what the crap stuff actually does to you.

Whole9 30 Day Challenge Day 11

Today I returned home to Windy, windy (did I mention windy) Wellington.  Hubby had told me about the previous weekend where he had to batten down everything as wind speeds were around 160km/hr.  Not a fan of that type of wind!

The plane ride was a little bumpy but reasonably uneventful.  Last night I finished my book Sugar - the Sweet Poison. - a very good read and says in lay mans terms how bad sugar - especially fructose is for you.  The guy that wrote it lost 40kg over 2 years by merely not eating foods/drinks that contained fructose.  He used the rule of thumb - if it tastes sweet - then it will probably contain fructose and don't eat it. I recommend it :)

Anyway - After a breakfast of eggs, bacon and mushrooms, I had a long black at the airport along with the inner meat part of a sausage roll - I was really hungry at this point - was the best I could do.  There was lots of veges in it though - was good.  Long black was alright - just average - not the best one I have had.  I tried a black coffee on the plane - still tastes pretty crap, but I had to try it!

Lunch I had when back in Wellington and caught up with Kate.  We went to Elements and I ordered a salad with greens, a sprinkle of feta, roasted grapes and figs oh and walnuts.  After not eating sugar in the last 11 days - I couldn't eat the figs - too sweet.  My tastebuds must be a little more sensitive or something?  The rest was alright along with the long black :)

Dinner and a movie was in order to catch up with hubby.  Went out to Two Black Sheep in Lower Hutt.  I had a calamari salad.  It was pretty good.  It was nice to have a salad with iceberg lettuce and ingrediants I would use at home.  Calamari was pretty good too, although the Customhouse still wins first place.  Just had water with it - made for a cheaper dinner in all :)

For the movie, saw Tin Tin - wasn't sure what to expect but was pleasantly surprised!  A good movie :)  Had a long black which was gross, and bottled water to wash it down.

Off to the clinic to get a fill tomorrow and have a consult with the nurse.  Other thing is I have to get organised to make sure I can last the distance with food preparation.

Whole9 30 Day Challenge Day 10

My last full day in Dunedin with the family before I return to Wellington to my other family :)  The visit seems to have gone quickly but I also miss my husband and fur-babies, and my so called 'normal' life.  

Today involved a lot of socialising and eating out.  It's tough, but someone has to do it.

I always look forward to catching up with my friend Julie and her girls - Charlotte and Madeline with Frances.  Today another school friend Rachael also joined- so was good times.  I first met Julie when I was at Uni doing my Anthropology degree and her, Frances and I did a couple of papers together, then also graduated with out BA's together as well :)  I have seen her daughters grow up.  Madeline now 14 was only a baby when I first met her, and Charlotte now 16 was only 2!  While that is very cool - I'm starting to feel old! :)

Anyway - met for Brunch at Starfish in St Clair right beside the Esplanade - on a truly beautiful Summers morning - absolutely stunning!

I started today's food with a Thai Beef Salad - nothing on the breakfast menu appealed - either too much bread, too bigger meals or things I can't digest like pancakes.  It - along with the now common long black were delicious!

A lot of catch ups and comments on how much I have changed since I last saw Julie and the girls 9 months ago.  I suppose it is true - I just am with myself everyday so don't see it much.  It was lovely and slowly Im learning to take compliments.  Amusing compliments included:  

Your boobs look bigger and more pointy (he he he).  

You sit more flatter than you used to - you used to be rounder.  

Your eyes have opened up a lot more - those eyelashes need some mascara now :)

You have collar bones now (I think I always have just quietly - just more hidden)

Look at your feet - they have shrunk too!

Your face is way more narrow than it used to be.

I found some older photos of me and Frances with the girls - just for comparison (and I know Julie you read the blog so just to see how we have all changed through the last few years)

 2006

 2006

 2007

 2007

2007

 Mid 2010 

April 2011 - Post-op

 January 2012 - Post Op

And a few other photos.....

 Me and Rachael 

 Otis enjoying his fluffy!

Also caught up with little bro and his girlfriend again - and had lunch consisting of smoked salmon on a salad with a kumara cake - quite nice, but kumara cake a little dry so took that one slowly with a sauce they had on it (not creamy) - didn't get a pic - would have explained it better - plus water and a long black (of course) - pretty good.

From there a little shopping then home to spend time with the parents.  A lovely salmon dinner was had (salmon - twice in one day - score!)  The salmon was grilled with lemon and lime on it and serve with salad - soooo good!

Had a few walnuts for a snack but that was my food - lots of yummy things - can tell Im still on holiday!

Exercise - none - too much else to do today.

Whole9 30 Day Challenge Day 6

Right today was the day to make a Paleo meal for the parents.  Luckily, most of the ingredients I needed, they actually had so just a couple of things to pick up from the Supermarket.

First off I made a snack = Cauliflower Popcorn (recipe can be found here )

First thing - you don't need the salt - although really really tasty - could definitely taste the salt.  Will try again without salt but they were still YUM!  Trust me they are so much tastier than they look!

Next I made Paleo Shepherds Pie (recipe can be found here ) - WINNER!

Not too bad to make - about 3/4 hour prep then 30 mins to cook. I swapped turnips for kumara and put a little almond meal on the top. Mum and Dad loved it and Dad went back for more.  Very tasty  :)

Other parts to the day included a decent dog walk with the parents dogs around the bays, and did a crossfit workout using the playground equipment at the local primary school.  Did 3 rounds of 10 step ups, 10 pushups, 10 body rows and 10 squats.  Good times.

Also went for a drive around the peninsula - fantastic scenary.  I now appreciate it more since I don't live here anymore.

Dunedin in the background

Macandrew Bay where I grew up seen in the background close to the water

Glad I got the exercise in early as the rest of the day was rain, rain, rain!

On the food front:

Breakfast:  Banana, then after workout - grilled ham off the bone, scrambled eggs and mushrooms

Snack - Mixed nuts

Lunch - Nothing - full from breakfast - a couple of small peaches.

Dinner - Cauliflower popcorn, and Paleo Shepherds Pie.

Lots of water, and a couple of Mocconas!


Hope for sun tomorrow - starting to wonder where Summer has got to!

Whole9 30 Day Challenge Day 5

Today not a lot going on really initially.  Had a cruisy morning - savouring these while I can before I'm rushed off my feet at work in a couple of weeks, especially with my new job as Dean.

Caught up with my little bro this afternoon and later on his girlfriend as well.  Lovely time and good to see the changes to the place since Colleen moved in a couple of months ago.  Very trendy (well since they are both form of designers) but homely too.  Finally got a bit of exercise in with going for a walk with Castro and Scott and then playing a form of frisbee with doggy in the middle.  Unfortunately it ended with Scott going into the bushes to find the frisbee (I had thrown...) and came up covered in thorns in his arms from the bush.  All good though - he's tough.

Scott and Colleen - awwww cute!

Went out for dinner - always a little concerning for me hoping that there will be something that I can eat - but we went Turkish and I got a mixed (Chicken and Lamb) Iskender.  Had a little garlic yoghurt and hummus with it to prevent any band sticking but very little of it, and avoided the rice.  Even came with a little green salad, and had water.  I felt proud of this choice.

Also went out for coffee.  The two lovebirds got dessert while I tried another brand of long black - this time made by Allpress - not too bad but strong - needed a little water to soften it somewhat.  Also tried Jed's at my bro's place and that was great!  This long black business is getting better all the time.  May not go back to having milk in my coffee at all and don't miss the sugar either!

Something that is nice down here - all the compliments.  Everyone I have caught up with so far has said Im looking good.  I must have changed a bit since I was last down in September - I will have to compare pics.

One thing I need to remember though - don't drink coffee too late - I don't sleep!

Breakfast:  Banana

Lunch:  Subway Club Salad - with lime and coriander dressing - Ma and Pa got it for me and I assumed wrongly that the dressing would be a vinegarette - it wasnt.  So scraped what I could off.  I do find though doesn't matter what subway salad you get, they all taste the same.

Dinner:  Turkish (as outlined above)

A couple of coffees, some walnuts, and a couple of plums and cherries and a piece of fresh pineapple - need to cut down the fruit a bit I think - not going to help with the weight loss!

Exercise:  40 minute dog walk and frisbee.

Whole9 30 Day Challenge Day 4

Such a wonderful sleep! Where my Mum and Dad live it is so quiet.  There were no dogs to jump on me at 630am and no noise.  I slept until 930am - unheard of normally!

I'm finding since being on holiday, I'm starting the day with a banana, and then having more of a brunch at lunchtime then dinner.  The banana is easy to digest first thing as my band tends to feel tight and gives me a bit of a boost to get going.  From what I understand on the challenge I can have a little fruit but have to really limit it if I want to achieve weight loss.  So I will still have my banana, however will limit fruit to a maximum of 2 pieces per day.

So good start to the day.  Sleep is an amazing thing!  I caught up with my bestie Frances and her kids Otis and Isla today.  Great to see her.  The kids a growing so fast - times like that I wish I lived closer.  A cute pic of Isla and Sam (my parents dog) below.  Not much else to the day, a lot of chilling out and caught up more with the parents in the evening.

Food lowdown:

Breakfast:  Banana

Brunch:  Scrambled eggs with onion, grilled chicken, capsicum, mushroom and garlic

Dinner:  Beef Bolar roast with salad - To get this meat down, I had to put a little gravy on it to keep it moist.  Dry reach runs the risk of sticking - speaking here from prior experience, and Im not going there again!

Snack:  Small handful of raw walnuts (yum)

Discovered that in the world of instant coffee - Moccona medium roast tastes pretty good black.  Weird as when I tried it in the past with milk and sweetner, I hated it.  Perhaps it is best served black!

Still drinking the lemon water - loving that!

Exercise:  None - yeah I know lazy - well yep pretty much!  Waiting to the detox lethargy to turn into energy!  Maybe tomorrow :)

Whole9 Challenge - Day 2

Today - felt a lot better.  Had a lot of sleep yesterday so what ever was wrong with me - sleep pretty much cured it!

Started the day with my first coffee without sweetner or milk.  It was okay.  I could get used to it. Takes a lot longer to drink but at the moment it's okay.

Breakfast - 3 scrambled eggs with mushrooms, capsicum, and onion.

Lunch - Thai beef salad from Cafiend in Petone with my first long black and water.  Had the dressing on side so had a taste but that was it.  Avoided the crispy noodles putting them to the side too.  Salad was delicious!  Long black is far better at a cafe than instant!

Had another long black at Go Bang Cafe in Petone - a lot stronger than Cafiend but they gave us hot water with it as well.  Cafiend gets my top vote though.

Dinner - after a workout at the gym, had garlic steak and salad - yum!  Had a few strawberries after - love Summer fruit.

Exercise - Beach walk with the dogs, then crossfit - today it was Press 3 x 5, and then a 10 min 1/2 Cindy amrap - 5 body rows, 10 push ups, and 15 squats - managed 7 + 13.  A hot session - a lot of sweat!

Off to Dunedin tomorrow.