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Basic Quiche Recipe

• 8oz Cream Cheese (fat free)
• 2 whole eggs
• 1 egg white
• 2 tbs milk
• 1/2 cup shredded or grated cheese

Put cream cheese (or cottage cheese) and eggs in a blender or food processor and mix until incorporated.

In a bowl add all your fillings for your quiche.  You can add anything in your fridge!  Meats like ham, bacon, sausage - even "faux" meats would work here.  Any veggie and cheese you can think of would work too.  Pour egg mixture into bowl and fold ingredients together before pouring into your baking dish.  It's possible you could even add some protein powder as long as it was unflavored.  I just don't know how much it would change the texture.  I may give it a try though!

Crust options can vary too.  You can go for just a regular frozen pie shell, or you can use a non-stick spray for a crustless version.  Another option is to add a crumb bottom to the "greased" pan using bread crumbs, crushed crackers or even ground up fiber cereals.  It all depends on what you like and what you want to put in your body for nutrition.

Bake at 375 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

Here are some options I made this weekend for Mother's Day Brunch:

• Spinach, Feta, Garlic, Onion with Parm and Romano Cheese
• Black Pepper Bacon (crumbled), Asparagus, and Swiss Cheese
• Chopped Apples with Camelized Onions and Brie

Ingredient	calories	fat	protein
ff cream cheese	218	3	33
shredded cheese	200	16	12
milk	11	0	1
egg white	16	0	3
2 eggs	143	10	13
Total	588	29	62
1/8th of the pie	73.5	3.625	7.75

***Note that these nutritional counts do NOT include whatever additional fillings you put into your quiche or your crust options should you choose not to go crustless.

So I just got back from my first real vacation in ten years.  Well, maybe "vacation" is the wrong word to use since I spent ten days at Disney World...it was more like an exhausting adventure!

In ten days I walked a little shy of 27 miles and lost 9.9 pounds.  I ate well, meaning I found foods I could eat, some of which I enjoyed a lot!  I doubt some of those food choices were healthy but they were "good", if you catch my meaning...lol  I had been really apprehensive about eating while I was away.  I feared that I would get sick or have difficulty finding things I could tolerate, both these things were non-issues though.

My trip was filled with epiphanies...

I now fit very comfortably in an airline seat, and the belt was nowhere near the end of the length!

I can cross my legs easily now and I was even able to do this in the cramped airline seat.

As I looked around at the thousands of people at Disney, it became very obvious how completely overweight our society has become.  In contrast to the masses, I am now smaller than more than half the people I saw.  This was a huge WOW for me since I often viewed myself as one of the larger people within my surroundings.

Not one but two people who looked at my photos from my trip called me "tiny"...ME?!?!?  TINY?!?!?  Impossible, but true, the photos proved it.

When I went to buy a couple of t-shirts for myself, I instinctively went for the 1x, heck no.  XL - nope, still too big.  Large, okay.
It's hard to believe that only 5 months ago I was wearing a 1-2x.

Another thing this trip showed me is that I haven't been eating enough.  600-800 calories was keeping my loss at a standstill, but 1000-1100 kicks up my metabolism just enough to drop weight more effectively.  It's so weird to comprehend you must eat more to lose weight, but its the truth, at least for me.

So there are lots of changes.  Changes in how I view food, changes in how I feel both mentally and physically.  Change is good!

Food is fuel now, not fun.  I eat to live, not live to eat.  This is not always fun, but what gratification I used to find in food has been replaced with the gratification I feel when I look in the mirror or try on clothes in smaller sizes.  It's a trade I would make a million times over.

For the first time since elementary school, my waist is less than 40"!  It's an unbelievable thing to me, one I can barely wrap my head around.  I look so much better but even more importantly I feel utterly amazing compared to a few months ago.  No more diabetes, no more joint pain, normal blood pressure and heart rate and falling cholesterol.  This surgery has truly saved my life and at the very least extended it.

I am happier and more content with myself too.  That's a huge change from the days of beating myself up for being fat and feeling gross.

...and the journey continues.

It's hard to believe, but today I am 98 days post-op.  What a journey! 

During the past three-plus months, I have had a total re-education in eating and nutrition.  I plan my meals carefully and thoughtfully now.  I do not eat as a pass time or for enjoyment.  I am sure someday I will enjoy food again, but for now I eat to live, not live to eat.  Food is fuel, not fun.

My protein consumption exceeds my doctors requests nearly every day, thanks to the Magic Mocha Latte!  I start my morning off with a shot of espresso, 10 oz of milk and two scoops of chocolate protein powder...now THAT is a power drink of epic proportion... 50 plus grams of protein is darn good!

Vitamins, calcium and iron are all remembered and taken with respect everyday.  I know I need them and it's now ingrained in my daily routine.

Exercise is going well, great actually.  I am lighter on my feet with the weight loss, so it's easier of course to move!

Water (and other liquid) consumption is the the real bain of my existence.  I try and try but I simply HATE to drink, which is odd since I was once a serious guzzle girl!   I am working on it though and since I am in control of just about everything else, I have faith that this too shall be mastered.

Somtimes I see the changes, like when I walk past a mirror and I am like "WHOA, is that me?!?"  Then there are other cool revelations like the fact that I can no longer fit into Queen Size pantyhose anymore or I look like an old granny with them bunched up around my ankles.  My shoes are even getting too big if you can believe it and my wedding ring is now huge.  I notice changes daily.  Most of the changes are good, some - not so much.

I am now shedding more hair than my German Shepherd does in July!  So NOT good.  I am teetering on the decision of cutting it all off and going for a pixie cut.  Ugh...I don't know.  Sure it's a transient problem but it is freaking me out still. 

Then there is the hanging skin.   OMG the inside of my thighs and my upper arms look hideous.  The skin doesn't just sag, it folds unto itself...and reminds me of elephant skin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  EEEkkkk.  It is what it is for the moment though, since I am not done loosing weight and I have not completely done with the idea that working out "may" help some.  If all else fails I will get a second job or play the Lotto so I can pay for plastics. 

...and so it goes.

This journey has its uphill and downhill paths, that's for certain.  This past week it was all uphill for me and frankly, I was getting exhausted.  I was working out every day, eating healthy, taking in all the nutrients and supplements I was told I needed and I was drinking all of the water required of me...but the scale never budged.  In fact it fluctuated higher.  My anxiousness turned into depression and I began to question if RNY had been the right choice for me.  What if I was the one it would not work for?  I had lots of questions and doubts. 

At that point I must have reached the top of that proverbial hill.  My husband suggested I take some pictures to compare how I look now to how I looked before surgery.  When I saw the changes I was in awe. 

In November 2009, my stomach was so big it looked like I was on the verge of giving birth!  My face was bloated and my upper arms looked like the balloons clowns make those twisty animals out of...No joke, it was not attractive at all!!!  Then there was the new photo, taken on the first day of February 2010.  The contrast was obvious and startling.

I now had a defined waist and my stomach was much, much flatter.  Everything was in proportion, not thin yet, but it was the first time I could see a somewhat normal physique.  My face was even different.  The skin was more taute, my jaw more defined and I appeared more youthful.  It looked like a characature of myself, or like someone had photoshopped a picture of me so I could see what I would look like as a thinner woman....weird, very weird.

But like so many pointed out to me when I shared the two photos, the progress was there.  Pictures don't lie.

Still there was that darn scale, mocking me.  The numbers refused to go down.  Then this morning I decided to see how much more the brat would tell me I had gained.  The number surprised me...it was down.

I had to double check though, so I ran downstairs and turned on my Wii.  Could it be true?  Could I have lost weight again finally?  Would I break the 200 pound barrier that had been so elusive?

The answers to all my questions were YES!  198.5!!!! 

So let this note on my blog serve as a reminder to myself and others, that for every uphill climb you travel, their is a peek you will reach at some point and then there is that journey down.

 

A huge milestone is about to occur for me.   I am on the verge of entering into ONEDERLAND!  I have not been below 200 pounds since I was 14 years old...sad, huh? 

It's quite a feeling.  Seeing the metamorphosis, hearing compliments, realizing sucess.  It has been a long time coming.

Anyhow, just a quick blurb, so I will never forget....not that it's even possible! lol

...but it is. 

Because of the fact that I can consume so little at a time, I am WAY more cognizant of what I put in my mouth.  I want everything to be as healthful as possible.  If you had told me a year ago that I would be baking with soy flour, adding wheat germ to just aout everything or eating (and GASP...enjoying) tofu, I would have thought you were nuts.  Yet here I am doing these things and more.

It's been an enlightening experience, almost educational.  Since I am a lover of learning, I am actually enjoying this part of the  journey.  For me knowledge is power and I want to be very powerful in my battle to regain my health.

I have had fun taking my old recipes and adapting them to healthier versions.  I have yet to fail in making the fat lower, the protein higher and the taste equal to the decadent foods of old.

It's all good...even the tofu!

I got over-confident this weekend.  After sampling quite a few foods sucessfully...chicken, eggs, a few veggies, even a little toasted bread, I decided to try a recipe I had been working on.  WLS Friendly Beef Stroganoff.  I made it in the crock pot so it was very tender.  The sauce was made with greek yogurt even...a virtual protein festival!  Well, it sounded like a great idea, but my pouch thought differently!

Two bites and I thought I was destined for the ER.  I was in P-A-I-N.  I felt like I had something stuck, or at least that was what I thought.  I walked, heck I jumped around, hoping I could dislodge it, burp maybe, anything!  I was a little desperate.  Then I thought, maybe I was going to be sick.  After wretching for a minute, I let out the mother of all burps...sweet relief!  Unfortunately that was not the end of the story.

Later that night, I felt ill again, and I spent the better parts of the wee morning hours living in the loo.  When morning broke, I felt better thank goodness.

I may need some therapy before I get up the nerve to try beef again too....lol  That was not something I ever want to repeat.  From now on, I will respect the pouch!   Lesson learned. 

No pain.  Eating new foods.  Exercising daily.  That about sums it up!

Today I saw my surgeon for my 2 week follow-up appointment.  It really could not have gone any better.  I am down 17 pounds from my pre-op weight!  Could anything possibly be better than that????  HECK YEAH!  I am officially no longer diabetic or hypertensive.  Reversing those conditions was why I had this surgery, so already just 14 days post-op I have realized sucess.

I am now free to try soft foods at my leisure, although I must admit I have been experimenting a bit already.  I have done lots of research on nutrition over the past two weeks and I have come up with some great high protein recipes that are both low in carbs and calories.

For the first time in my life, I am hopeful that I can truly beat obesity.  I am armed with all the weapons I need to win this war, and by God I will win!

I have virtually no pain, and I haven't taken so much as a tylenol since coming home from the hospital.  I have been walking a pretty good amount as well.  All in all the start to this journey has been much more simple than I had envisioned.  If I push myself too much,  I find myself feeling weak, and yesterday I almost fainted at one point.  I am sure its the lack of food and water, so I have been trying to improve my intake of both.

Drinking all my fluids remains my biggest challenge.  I was a "gulper" in my past life and this sip-sip-sip thing is tough for me to get used to.  Drinking too fast is not fun though, so it's a constant reminder.

I am eating soft foods in small amounts and experimenting with good sources of protein.  Tonight I bought some Soyrizo which I am looking forward to trying tomorrow and tonight I made a greek flavored chicken salad that was absolutely fabulous!  I still don't have a sense of being full because I stop eating after a small amount, mostly out of fear.  I am afraid to feel sick or get anything stuck.

I return to work day after tomorrow, so that will be a new test in my stamina.  Let's hope I pass that with flying colors!

Until next time...

M