5 Days Until My Gastric Sleeve

Wow where to start with this posting. So much is going on. 5 days until my surgery. I am on a liquid diet. We are on vacation. My son leaves for college in a month. What doe all this equal? STRESS!!!!! The old me when stressed reached out for one thing. No not BOOZE!!! Geez people!! Its FOOD!!!! In the past stress brought on massive amounts of food.
Having this surgery is really starting to worry me. I mean they are going to remove 75% of my freaking stomach right?  My rational mind tells me everything will be fine. But my irrational side is full of images not so fine.
This liquid protein diet is kicking my ass!!! No other way to put it. Funny thing is for the past 5 weeks I have been on a 5 protein drink/ 1 lean green meal a day. So no biggie to get rid of meal and add another protein shake right??? Hell no!!!! 6 70 to 90 calorie shakes a day. Just barely over 500 calories a day. less than 20 carbs. I am hungry all the time. My stomach hurts. I am sure if I was at work it wold not be as bad. A work I am so busy that there is no time to think about food. But on vacation.... Food is everywhere. Family is eating all sorts of great stuff. Sitting in restaurants watching them eat is the pits!!!

500 calories has stopped my workouts... My cardio was my eating replacement to combat stress.

But through it all I have stayed on plan. I am not going to give up the boat yet. 5 more days of this crap.

Ya I will survive!!!!

"Cincinnati" style Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Well I am less than 2 weeks from surgery. Today I got all of my pre admission testing done. Nutrition class is now complete.

Tonight I wanted to whip up a good and fast meal. I love lettuce wraps. Asian style, mexican style it does not matter. Tonight I made them "Cincinnati" style. The main spices are from a seasoning packet of Cincinnati style chili. Gold Star brand to be exact!!!

"Cincinnati" Style Chicken Lettuce Wraps

6 ounces skinless chicken breast. Chopped super fine
1/2 cup mushrooms. Chopped
3/4 cup shredded cole slaw mix
1.5 tablespoon Cincinnati chili spice mix
1 heaping tablespoon tomato paste
chicken broth
1teaspoon olive oil
5 or 6 lettuce leaves

Heat olive oil in skillet. Add fine chopped chicken breast. Brown until cooked. Add cabbage and mushrooms. Sautee a few minutes. Add chicken broth as needed to keep moist. Add spices and mix well. Add more chicken stock as needed. Cook 2 or 3 minutes. Add tomato paste. Work it into the mixture adding chicken stock as needed. Let cook 3 or 4 minutes.  I added a few dashes of Tabasco sauce just like I do when I used to eat at Goldstar... Serve with lettuce leaves.

For those not on my crazy diet serve with Low fat sour cream, low fat cheese

16 Days Until My Gastric Sleeve Surgery

16 days and counting until my surgery date. So how is the 5/1 diet going for me? This week its slow, slow, slow.  Lots of hunger today. Not so bad I would ever cheat but pretty strong. I am still doing cardio 6 days a week. Today I did 3 miles plus in 30 minutes on the cross trainer. I love my workouts. I love that my workouts take me to the very edge of exhaustion.

So how am I feeling about the surgery??? Getting very nervous!!! Not bad enough to cancel but its starting to hit home that its coming real fast!!! I am sure its normal to be so geeked out about it. Lots of people see the changes in my weight and I get asked at least 10 times a day why I would still think about doing it when I am doing so great. Well the answer is I could not do this diet I am on for a super long time. While the liquid protein taste great its still just liquid protein 5 times a day.

Starting Friday I loose my 1 lean and green meal and am on nothing but liquid until surgery. This is so the fat around my liver and stomach can shrink even further to make the surgery easier to perform. That plus its proven that even a 15lb loss can low risk of complications after the surgery.

So I hang in there 2 more weeks...

Bison Sirloin Steak and Mushrooms

Can you imagine being able to eat red meat again without any guilt? Imagine that this red meat is lower in fat than beef, turkey, chicken, fish, and even ostrich. Imagine that this red meat is higher in protein than beef. Imagine that this red meat tastes wonderful.

You have imagined Buffalo, more appropriately called Bison - the red meat of the new millennium. Bison is a delicious, healthy alternative to beef, pork, chicken, and fish. This healthy meat is a great-tasting lean red meat, that is perfect for all the low carb dieters.

Loving red meat is not a sin - not eating healthy red meat is. As the nutritional chart below shows, you can now satisfy that craving without guilt.

Bison Nutritional Information Comparison Chart * * Taken from Feb/Mar 2003 Edition of "The Bison Connection" Per serving of 100 grams (3.5 ounces)
Species	Fat	Calories	Cholesterol	Iron	Vitamin B-12
	Grams	K CAL	MG	MG	MCG
Buffalo	2.42	143	82	3.42	2.86
Beef (choice)	10.15	219	86	2.99	2.65
Pork	9.66	212	86	1.1	0.75
Chicken (skinless)	7.41	190	89	1.21	0.33
Lamb	9.64	200	87	not listed	not listed
Veal	6.94	176	106	not listed	not listed
Venison	3.20	158	112	not listed	not listed
Ostrich	3.00	140	83	not listed	not listed
Sockeye Salmon	10.97	216	87	0.55	5.8

So tonight I had a awesome 5 ounce Bison Sirloin steak!!!  32 calories a ounce. 6 grams protein a ounce!!! I pan cooked it rare. Served sautéed mushrooms with it. Man it was so good!!!! 

Weekend Away From It All

After a trying week with my diet and my work my wife and I decided to take off alone. So after my cardio at Fast Track we took off. Oh I forgot to talk about the cardio. Today ROCKED!!! 10 minute first mile, 21 minute for 2 miles, and just 25 steps from 3 miles in 30 minutes!!! Oh the burn. Burn of almost 350 calories that is!!


I was really concerned about staying on plan. I got a great suite at Easton Town Center in Columbus, Ohio. The hotel was on property so we just parked the car and walked. The weather was awesome. Being alone with my wife was amazing. Walking was amazing. No wheezing, no needing to sit down. Since I have lost 50 pound I have no shirts that fit. Shopping spree it is!!!! I bought shirts at Macy's and JC Penny!!! I cant remember when I could just go shopping!!! Did I spend a fortune no way. I bought 6 Izod and Van Hussen button up shirts for under 100 total.. One more size down and I can buy shirts almost anywhere!!!

At dinner we decided to go to Smith & Wollensky. Its a amazing steak house. 2 months  ago I would have got 24 oz ribeye, mashed tatters, veggies, appetizer, and all the bread and butter I could cram down. The great thing about eating in a swanky steak house is the awesome fresh seafood. I started with 6 raw oysters, and 6 clams. Yummy and under 120 calories!!! For my entree I got the Asparagus and Crab salad. So YUMMY!!! As you can see below it looked awesome. Instead of my usual cocktails or bottle of wine I selected a nice large bottle of Pelligrino and a few twist of lime. The waiter even brought a wine bucket to keep my "Bottle" cold.

Sunday brunch was just as amazing. My favorite Japanese/sushi place is Restaurant Hama. Hama is one of the oldest Sushi bars in the country in L.A. When Easton Town Center opened Hama Columbus became the second location in the U.S. Never have had a bad meal here!!! Since Sushi is my favorite food of all time, and since my diet is low carb, I cant have the rice. Oh but what I had was great!! I started with a Tofu and Wakame salad. Tofu, Wakame (black seaweed), thin sliced tomatoes, Japanese cucumber pickles, and a great light sesame dressing just drizzled on top. I thought it was great.

For my main course it had to be Sashimi!!!! Expertly cut and so fresh. Salmon, Octopus, Flounder (so delicate), Tuna, Yellowtail, Albecore tuna, and seared Yellowtail. All served with yummy crunchy Diakon radish.

  So see dieting and changing ones lifestyle does not have to mean the end of good food. It means making food choices that go along with whatever plan you are on. It means enjoying the company you are with. Funny even though this was all lower calorie the favors were immense. Taking your time eating and having great conversation means being filled up. My belly could not have been happier with these 2 meals.
I look at it this way. I have not ate fast food in a month. Used to do it almost everyday. I would rather save the money and go out to eat like this once in a blue moon any day!!!!

After lunch we walked back to get the car and we went to Polaris Mall. Its the largest mall in the state of Ohio. This place is huge. We walked and walked and walked some more. I even was able to get a great 30 minute chair accu pressure massage.

Tonight after walking the malls all day we decided to go to McCormick & Schmick's. The restaurant is about 1 mile from our hotel. We walked it. It feels so good to walk again. After a lite dinner of Grouper we walked to the theater to see "Green Lantern". After the movie we walked about 3/4 mile back to our hotel. To be honest I feel ready to go some more. All that walking today my ancles are not swollen at all...

Week 4 Update and Progress Photos

Well week 4 is over. I started doing cardio 6 days a week 2 weeks ago. 30 minutes a day. My first workout was 24 minutes for my first mile. Yesterday my first mile was 12.01. 2 miles in 23.01. 5700 steps in 30 minutes. I am loving the workouts. I can see my calf muscles again. I forgot how huge my calves were!!! Even my wife said wow!!! My biceps are back too!!! My workouts are now fast furious and fun!!!

On the diet front this week sucked. Tons of food cravings. Lots of hunger. 1 pound weight loss. But, I stayed on plan!!! Did not slip one time!!! Erin my most awesome dietitian says I am building muscle faster than I am loosing fat. This makes it look as if I am stalling.  She says trust how your clothes look not the scale... I am trusting but not real happy...

On a side note... I had to run about 100 yards yesterday to support my guys at work. I could not freaking believe that run. No asthma attack after. No sweating. No dizziness. Damn it felt good. Not a jog. It was a freaking run!!!

Rib fest labor day 2010

May 27 2011 My sons graduation 401 pounds

Week 2 379

Week 3

Week 3 side

Week 4 front

Week 4 side