Follow up with the Dr.

I had a follow up visit with my Dr. yesterday.  Normally these will take place on a monthly basis.  In the ten days since I last saw him I am down 3 pounds.  I know this doesn't sound like much but he is happy with it.  He wants me down about 1-2 pounds a week because he says that is sustainable.  Most of that weight is going to be water weight because of the water pill I am on to reduce the swelling in my leg.  I will see him again the 20th of March and if all goes well I should be down about another six pounds.  that follow up is scheduled for three weeks because I have a Hernia repair surgery scheduled the following week.  I need to get on the stick with the swimming.  Dr. Hardman is going to chew me out when I see her in April, so better get busy.

We are trying to eat better and do the things we know we should.  We will see over time how it pays off.

Smoothie Recipe 1

There will probably be a lot of smoothie recipes on this blog because I have grown fond of them and because I bought a Blendtech blender and my good wife wants me to use it. Along with my wife, my grand kids like smoothies too.  Hopefully by mid April I will be off the Coumadin and go back to my green smoothies.  I wasn't drinking them regularly last fall when I developed a blood clot and was put on the drug and my Dr.'s have asked that not start drinking green smoothies again until I get off the medication in mid April.  I told them if I don't get off in April then we will have play with my numbers because the green smoothies are coming back into my life.  As strange as it sounds they did satisfy my hunger all morning.  I did drink a number of them before the clot, but I could not get my wife to try them, due to the color.  Those recipes will be included here too in the future.

The first recipe is for a smoothie I made this morning.  It is for a Strawberry Banana Smoothie. It comes from the GIMME SOME OVEN blog.  Check out Ali's blog at http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/strawberry-banana-smoothie-recipe/

Strawberry Banana Smoothie

Ingredients:
 2 cups frozen Strawberries
 1 fresh banana, peeled
 1 cup milk ( I used unsweetened almond)
 1 cup ice
 1 Tablespoon honey, if needed (I did not use any)

Directions:
 Add all ingredients to a blender, and pulse until combined.  Serve immediately.
(if the smoothie is too thick, add more milk.  If it is too thin, add more fruit and/or ice.)

Sugar.......................

It begins for real.............................

Just a thought...............................................

Visit With My Doctor

Earlier this week I visited with my Dr. about the swelling in my legs and as always talk came around to my weight.  After much discussion about things like the four letter word diet and even bariatric surgery, it was decided that at this time surgery is not the answer for me.  Instead I have to start with another visit with Tyler this week, with my food journal in hand.  Then visits will be once a month. He wants to look at my journal and see what and how much I am eating, along with steps take and how much exercising I am doing.  So the journal starts in earnest tomorrow.  He also wants to check my blog once in a while to see what I am posting.  I know he will be looking at both my recipe blog and this one.  I do have a number of healthy recipes I want to try and if they are good they will be posted here.  I told him I will never quit cooking because it is in y genes and I have been cooking since I was about 12 years old.  And that was a long time ago.  I also told Tyler my 40th wedding anniversary is coming up and the entry for that day will probably be I ate to much and nothing else.

I will probably post recipes in the middle of the week and Sunday night will be a wrap up of the progress I made that week along with cartoons about weight loss.  The reason for this is I have a number of other blogs that need my attention and once a week or so is all I will be posting on those sites.

Hopefully in mid April I will be off the Warfrin and I can go back to my green smoothies every morning.  I wasn't doing them when I first started the Warfrin and so it would have screwed my numbers up to badly I didn't want to try and adjust them, I just wanted to get through this little adventure.  I have been told first blot clot is 6 months on Warfrin and the second one will mean Warfrin for life.  If that becomes the case I will make the necessary adjustments because I miss the green smoothies.  They gave me energy and I usually wasn't hungry.  I have been saving a lot of recipes that I want to try.  So mid April please hurry and get here.

With that being said, I think I will close tonight.

The Journey Starts Again.................

If you looked at my other page it now says that I am going back to my individual blog pages.  That page was not going to turn out like I wanted so we are back to individual pages.  I hope you will follow me on this journey and if needed hold me feet to the fire.

A couple of years ago I spent a lot of money to work with Dr. Scott.  He taught me a lot and I taught myself a lot during that journey.  I have talked with Dr. Scott a couple of times since than and his comment as to why I succeeded then was because of where I was at that point in my life.  He said I am at a better place now and thus it is hard for me to get my head in the weight control game.  I have gained back a little over half the weight I lost then.  That being said I am going to work at doing what I know and prove to myself that I can do as my sister says anything I put my mind too.

My friend Blake and I attended an informational presentation put on by St. Mark's Hospital for Bariatric Surgery last week.  Blake is seriously considering it but I don't get a warm fuzzy about it.  I guess that is because I know what to do and just need to get my head back in the game and do it. Having looked at a lot of options I think I will be following the plan put out by the Mayo Clinic.  It ranks number three on Web MD's list of top 15 Diets.  It doesn't  count calories but concentrates on portions.  My goal is to lose between 1-2 pounds a week.  I a a membership to a local athletic club with a pool.  I love to swim so I need to make use of my membership.  Dr. Hardman wants me working less and spending more time in the gym.  I go to see her in April and I want my weight down and my gym time up.  I will probably add walking into this exercise plan.  Part of my goal is to show myself I can lose the weight without the surgery.  

I will have at least 3 people I report to on a daily basis, 1. My good wife, Vickie, 2. my friend Blake and 3. my boss, Carri.  Carri is very concerned and wants me to succeed as do all of these people plus a bunch that are not on this list.  I may add my my daughter and sister to my reporting list as they are both nurses and aware of what this fat guy should be doing for a healthy lifestyle.

The journey begins tomorrow, January 12th.  I will be adding healthy recipes to this blog as well as regular recipes to my Favorite recipe blog.  I will also be adding healthy information to this site. These blogs are therapeutic for me even if no one reads them.

I will be posting a before picture in the next couple of days and hope to post to this blog at least three to four times a week.  With all that being said, I am signing off for the night. And the journey begins.....................