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I had my appointment today with Dr. Jawad (Orlando). 

No advice today on vitamins/nutritional info. We spoke for a bit and he looked at the results of my UGI and it has been determined that I need a revision. 

So for now, I am waiting for his office to contact my insurance company. They said we should know whether or not the procedure will be covered by the end of next week. 

If Blue Cross Blue Shield will cover the procedure, Dr. Jawad will want me to have some blood work done as well as an EKG. I told him that I had blood work done a couple of weeks ago, and he said to have my physician fax the results to him. If it includes everything he is looking for then I won't have to do it again. His office will also set up an appointment for me to speak with their nutritionist (not sure if that is a one on one thing, or a group thing). 

I'm really hoping this is a quicker process than it was for the initial surgery... and really hoping insurance covers it. I won't be doing it otherwise. Just trying to be mellow right now. I'm a little afraid to hope, or get excited.

(Also, they weighed me at the office, and according to their scale I'm 266 lbs.).

***263.8*** 

I've been having "scale strangeness" for the last few weeks. I haven't posted weight updates every week, because some of them seemed nonsensical to me. I'm posting today anyway just so I don't forget or lose track in the midst of scale crazy.

The week before last I ate really well. I was on top of my portion sizes and had low calorie meals while managing to get all of my protein. When I weighed, the scale said 268 (up 4 lbs. from my previous 264). I got on 3 times... then 4... the fourth time it said 269! (So I stopped LoL). I had my husband change the batteries in the scale and weighed again the next morning only to get the same results.

Last week I didn't do nearly as well with my eating, weighed this morning and now I'm down to 263.8? This has happened a few times. I'm wondering if any of my numbers are correct at all. 

I did however, FINALLY get an appointment with my surgeon! ::trumpets sounding:: So I will get to ask my questions, and I'm sure they will weigh me. Maybe then I will have more of an accurate number to go from. 

I am not someone who is very focused on the scale. Most of the time my family has to remind me to do it. But even so, when the numbers are not what I expect, it's a bit of a drag.

(My) Philly Cheese Steak Stuffed Peppers

3 green bell peppers, halved and seeded

Olive oil

1 small yellow onion, chopped

1 cup sliced baby bella mushrooms

1 tsp minced garlic

1/8 cup pimentos, chopped

8 slices of low fat deli roast beef, rough chopped

1 Tbsp worcestershire sauce

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place halved peppers on a baking sheet and bake for about 20 minutes. Softened but still mainting their shape.

In a large frying pan, cook onions, garlic, and mushrooms in a small bit of oil till softened. Add the roast beef, pimentos, worcestershire, salt and pepper. Stir to combine and heat through. 

Fill each pepper half with 1/4 cup of beef filling. Place a slice of provolone on top of each stuffed pepper. Move your oven rack up and return the peppers to the oven untill cheese has melted and lightly browned.

Serves 6

My husband seemed to like them. We had ours with a slaw that I picked up from Whole Foods Market. I'm not sure what it's called. It has a very light, sweet (clear) dressing and sliced, toasted almonds. Simple and good.

***264.8***

Yessss... we are liking that number! 

When I had my surgery in 2005, the lowest weight I had achieved was 265 lbs. I am now below that and feel like this is my "official starting point". I am no longer losing re-gained weight! This makes me feel that I am absolutely BACK ON TRACK!

My next goal is to get to 250 lbs. and go down from there in 25 lb intervals. It makes getting below 200 feel do-able.

I bought a new shaker cup. I like it much better. My old one had like a "mesh" thing that sat inside the rim of the cup. Not so awesome. The new one has a big plastic thing like "jacks" that tumbles around when you shake it up. It mixes much faster/easier and does a better job at breaking up the chunks.

Found a couple of recipes that my family and I ended up really liking. I tweaked each of them a little, nothing major.

Ultra Easy Pesto Lemon Chicken Kabobs This recipe calls for chicken breasts and says to cut them into 1 inch cubes. Rather than doing this, I used chicken tenders and skewered them whole.

I also cooked them under the broiler rather than on the grill. We really liked the flavors of this one. I didn't change anything there. Delish!

Healthy Chipotle Chicken Sweet Potato Skins This one calls for canned chipotle in adobo sauce. These have quite a bit of zing. Remove the seeds from your peppers, and use an amount that works for you. I think the recipe called for three and I ended up using 2 (and that was kicky for me). But very good. I also replaced the fresh spinach leaves for frozen spinach. Just as good. Use what you have.

Also, the recipe wants you to scoop out most of the flesh (it is a recipe for "skins"), but I kept mine in and used the chicken and spinach as a topping. LOVED it!

Grilled Tilapia Bowls with Chipotle Avocado Crema Omgosh... I think this one was my favorite. Not so much the whole thing, but the seasoning on the fish, and the sauce were SO.... GOOD!! And simple. You could eat this the way they share it in the recipe (as a bowl), or make fish tacos with it. You could also use the seasoning and the sauce for chicken instead. SO GOOD. (Some things are worth reiterating).

***271.0*** This weight is from Monday. I tried to post but was having technical difficulties.

I just waited a month for an appointment for the wrong thing. So frustrated right now.

Had my first appointment last Thursday with my new pcp. The appointment was basically just a consultation, but I did get the prescription for the upper GI that my surgeon's office wanted. I also got an order for blood-work, and one for a mammogram. Once I get all of those things completed, I have to go back in for a check-up.

Unfortunately, the earliest I can get in for the upper GI is August 28th.

So. A month at least before I can get in to the surgeon's office to ask my questions. ::sigh::

 ***272.6*** 

Kind of not believing the scale this morning... I didn't have the most "stellar" food week. It wasn't completely horrible, but, we did kind of pig out at Whole Foods last night. But according to the scale (weighed 4 times in a row to be sure), I'm down 5 lbs. 

I'll take it!! 

Before my decision to jump back into my healthier lifestyle, I had managed to accumulate some really bad habits. 

1. I found these "butter pretzels" and was going through them in record numbers. 
2. I was chewing ice like crazy.
3. I had begun smoking again (after I had quit 11 years before... I know... I agree).
4. I was drinking NO water.
5. I was taking NO vitamins. 
6. I was drinking coffee, everyday... all day...
7. I was certainly not in the gym anymore.
8. I was enrolled in school and had managed to get into this crazy routine where I was staying up (studying) super late, and only sleeping approx 4 hrs a night. 

Since making my food changes a little over a month ago, I have...

1. Kicked the pretzel habit: resulting in leg swelling to go down, leg tingling to stop.
2. Begun taking my vitamins again: resulting in ice chewing to stop within a few days (iron deficiency).
3. Quit caffeine. I will on rare occasions have a cup of decaf (Starbucks with a friend): headaches were not too bad. I did a weening process for a week (only 1 sm. cup in the a.m.) and then quit the following week.
4. Drinking my water again: getting rid of the caffeine seemed to make drinking water better. Oddly, when I would drink water before, it would GIVE me cotton mouth and also "sloshy tummy". After quitting caffeine, taking my vitamins, and drinking cool water, not ice cold... this no longer happens. Thank God!
5. Changed my sleeping patterns: Set the alarm for 6:30 a.m. My neice lives here now, so it was easier to stay awake with someone in the house. This was way more difficult to try and do when I was alone. We go to bed around 11 pm now and I get a full nights sleep.
6. This week I quit smoking: FOR GOOD! We now know that there is no such thing as... "I'll just have one".

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, my surgeon's office got back to me. They needed me to get a prescription from my PCP for an upper GI before I can make an appointment with them. I was between doctors at that time and needed to find a new one, which I now have. My first appointment with her is this Thursday. Will have a physical and request the prescription. Once I get the upper GI done, I will call Dr. Jawad's office again and schedule the appointment with them. 

Have a great week!

 I recently contacted my surgeon's office in order to incorporate regular office visits back into my renewed life-plan. They sent me an email with "new patient" paperwork (yes, it has been that long). I filled it out, sent it back, and yesterday I received a call from them. Before they called to schedule an appointment, they spoke with our insurance company (Blue Cross Blue Sheild). From what they say, we are ok in that department. But before I can come in, they need my physician to give me a prescription for an upper GI (and for me to have it done and bring in or fax the results).

At this time, I do not have a regular physician... so, I need to find one.

The ball is rolling!

***277***

Ok so... it wasn't so easy to do my food thing there LoL.

But... at least it was only one pound, and I am back home and back on track!

***277.2*** 

Yay! Down 3 pounds! My body must be understanding what we are trying to do a little better now. (It's always good to be on the same page). 

My husband and I went to Sam's this weekend. (Should have planned THAT a little better)! It wasn't until got there that we realized it was the day before the 4th. Trying to move through the store was like standing in line at Disney! Especially by the meat cases. We worked out a pretty good system between the two of us though. He would park the cart "out of the way", and I would slip in and out of the crowds, nabbing this and that. He would watch me and zoom in with the cart wherever there was a clearing so that I could unload. ::High-five, chest bump::

Last night, (the 4th) we grilled out. I took some marinated chicken breasts that I found at Trader Joe's and cut them into chunks and skewered them. I also skewered some veggies (grape tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, chunks of onion... was wishing I had mushrooms) that I had marinated in Italian dressing. We also had some left over Chopped Caprese salad, so we had some of that as well. 

After dinner we walked down to the end of our street to watch the fireworks. There is a lake behind us where they do displays each year. Our trees have grown quite a bit over the last few years (as well as the construction of some towering condos which now block our view from the backyard... boo-hiss), but we were able to see from the corner just fine. The best part is not having to sit in grid lock traffic for an hour when the show is over LoL. 

I need to get my menu planned for this weeks meals. Didn't get to it this weekend. Let's see what Pinterest has to offer....