5DPT: Days 4 & 5

Oops, I forgot to post days 4 & 5. Time tends to get away from me. Well, here we go.

Day 4:

Breakfast
Two scrambled eggs with cheese & salsa

Snack
protein shake

Lunch
1 cup ham & lentil soup (the last of it, thank goodness!)

Snack
1/2 orange

Dinner
Salisbury steak, green beans

Snack

1/2 cup chocolate pudding

Day 5:

Breakfast
1/2 cup cottage cheese & 1/2 apple

Lunch
Leftover salmon patty

Snack
1 piece string cheese

Dinner
Baked tilapia & broccoli

Snack
protein shake

I'm still doing pretty good. I've added back in some carbs, but in small quantities and whole grains as much as possible. I had gotten into this bad habit of eating two slices of toast ("white wheat") with lots of peanut butter, washing it down with coffee, for breakfast. Big no-nos there. So if I want toast, I have one slice of very thin 12-grain bread with just the barest smidge of peanut butter, and eating that is secondary to getting down my egg or cottage cheese. I have to remember to put protein first! And if I want coffee I'll have to wait 30 minutes. Typically I end up not drinking it at all, which is probably best for me anyway.

I am doing without the "obligatory" starch (rice, potatoes, etc) at dinner often now and Beau is having to get used to that. But it's good for him too as he's a type II diabetic. We just have our protein, salad and another vegetable. No need for the starch.

5DPT: Day 3

Note: Instead of just saying "the baby", I'm going to call her "Baybum" here. Just like my husband has a nickname (Beau). I feel all super secret. :)

Anyway...I've actually lost a couple of pounds, which is pretty cool and an incentive to keep eating like I'm supposed to. Here's yesterday's menu:

Breakfast
two scrambled eggs with green onions & cheddar cheese

Snack
1/2 orange

Lunch
tuna with lemon pepper

Snack
protein shake

Dinner
salmon patty

Snack
1/2 apple

I actually cook the eggs in a coffee mug in the microwave and it works out really well. Just a minute or so (stirring after 30 seconds). This is much faster and easier, especially with a baby. I usually give her breakfast first and she hangs out in her high chair and plays while I make and eat my breakfast.

I got in some good exercise yesterday also. We went to a local park that I hadn't been to in ages and walked the shortest of the trails, for a total of one mile. It's not a loop and there was another 1/2 mile left, but is very rocky and steep -- too steep for me to do with my baby in a front carrier without feeling uncomfortable.

Hiking with an extra 20 pounds or so (baby on the front, plus diaper bag on the back) made that one-mile trek, which I used to do easily pre-pregnancy, a real workout. I had to stop and rest several times and I'm a little sore today. Of course, part of that is also due to the fact that I haven't exercised regularly since I was about eight months pregnant. It's really time to change that.

5DPT: Day 2

Wow, am I glad I'm into soft proteins today. The first two days are so rough! But I made it! Here's yesterday's menu:

Breakfast
protein shake

Snack
1/2 banana

Lunch
1 cup Split Pea & Ham Soup

Snack
1/2 cup raspberry Jello

Dinner
1 cup Split Pea & Ham Soup

Snack
1 cup chocolate protein pudding

5DPT: Day 1

Yesterday was day 1 of the Five Day Pouch Test for me. I hate the first two days, ugh. Carb withdrawal headache galore. It was a rough day for me anyway as my baby has been on the cranky side. Anyway, here's what I ate:

Breakfast
Vanilla Protein Shake

Snack
1/2 apple

Lunch
1 cup Split Pea & Ham Soup

Snack
1/2 cup chocolate protein pudding

Dinner
1 cup Split Pea & Ham Soup

Snack
1/2 cup sugar free raspberry Jello
1/2 orange

The soup is yummy but I'm going to be ready for the soft proteins tomorrow -- eggs, tuna & salmon. The book/site has several good soup recipes, but since I'm the only one eating it, it doesn't make sense for me to make more than one for the first two days. So I'll manage.

I'm having a tough time getting in all of the water -- 64 ounces is a lot, especially when keeping up with an active baby. But I'm doing the best that I can. No problem following the drinking rules though -- 30 minutes before and after meals.

Oh hai.

Yeah, I should've updated this long ago. Like maybe after my baby was born...not when she's six months old. You know how it is. Life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans, as the great John Lennon once said.

I don't know if anybody would even be reading this anymore, but for what it's worth, here's an update.

My daughter was born on March 5, induced a few days prior to her due date because after a healthy pregnancy, I developed high blood pressure in the last few weeks of it. Given that pre-eclampsia is a scary thing, induction was the way to go. So I didn't get the birth I wanted -- I had planned for a natural birth -- but the outcome was that we were both healthy. Ultimately that's the most important thing.

Then...I couldn't breastfeed. It's a long sad tale but essentially I did everything I could to make it work and still couldn't supply enough milk for my baby to gain weight. Heartbreaking to me, but I've moved on (for the most part, I'm still jealous of nursing mothers).

The real focus of this blog is the band, eating, exercise, etc., so to that. Well, I lost all of my "baby weight", about 25 pounds, within six weeks of having my daughter. Plus an extra five pounds for good measure, probably because I was a nervous wreck. Over the past five months I've gained back about 7 of those. I can easily attribute this to two things: bad eating habits and lack of exercise.

Eating when you want and what you want is tough with a baby. But that's just an excuse, I've been eating slider foods, drinking with meals, all those no nos. It's just so easy to get back into that. Exercising is also really challenging. I am still working part-time so finding the time is tough. We have an exercise class together but that's about it for exercise these days.

I don't really like the direction I'm headed in. I'm not sure if I need a fill or what. I haven't had one since...November 2008. I haven't even seen or spoken to my fill doc since I got that unfill in March 2009 due to reflux. I spoke to him then about getting pregnant and that was it.

What I really need to do is try the five day pouch test and see how that goes. One issue is that money is very tight and I have to pay for my fills, so coming up with the cash to do that would be a challenge. I am still eating small amounts, just not of the right things, so maybe if I do the pouch test and get back to eating like a bandster I'll be OK. At least most of the pouch test recipes are things I can make ahead, so I should do that this weekend and try to get back on track.

Eating better is easy compared to fitting in exercise, but I need to find a way. I know it'll help with my energy level. Given that my baby is learning to crawl, I need all the energy I can get!

C'mon, this is sooner than you thought I'd post again.

I'm 35 weeks pregnant (well, 35 weeks and four days, to be technical) and now my appetite is it was in the early band days. Not immediately post-banding, but not too long after that. Huh, this is different. I don't know how much of that is the band fluctuating due to hormones and how much of it is just feeling puffy and bloated from being this pregnant. I have heard that some women lose the ability to eat much near the end because there's just not a lot of abdominal room.

It's honestly not that big of a deal. I am not worried about the baby taking what it needs --I had my biggest two-week gain ever at my last appointment and the baby is right on track, size-wise.

I am eating "slider foods," though, which is good and bad. Good that I'm getting in something (maybe I am a teensy bit worried about eating so much less, OK). So far not really that bad, actually, because I'm still feeling like I want to eat mass quantities. Last night I had a milkshake for dinner. I honestly could not think of anything else that sounded even remotely appealing. So far today I have had 2 cups of hot chocolate (made with skim milk) and I'm halfway through a cup of nonfat Greek yogurt.

I am going to actually attempt to eat something solid for lunch but I doubt I'll eat the whole Lean Cuisine. No matter.

In the home stretch now...I wonder what'll happen after I give birth, appetite wise. It's all a mystery!

Look, Another January Post!

I started to write this in my response to Jennifer's comment, and then realized that I should post it here.

Pregnancy has most assuredly confused me with the changes it has caused in the signals I was so used to from my body. Lately it seems that the band has reversed -- I start out the day tighter and then get looser as the day goes on. I had almost gotten used to the opposite, so hey, thanks hormones. :) But I have adapted. It's easier to eat smaller breakfasts anyway.

Beau asked me the other day if (and when) I thought I'd get a fill after the baby is born. I honestly have no idea because I don't know what the band will do afterward. I am also going to breastfeed, so getting a fill probably isn't the best idea unless I feel super-loose. I want to make sure I get enough to eat. It seems more likely to me that I'll stay the same until I finish breastfeeding and then assess, unless something wacky happens.

It would be great if I didn't need another fill. But it all depends...on how I feel, how much I'm eating, how my weight loss is going. Of course I hope that since I'm not gaining a massive amount, I'll lose it relatively quickly post-partum, especially with the breastfeeding. However, I still had another 25-30 pounds that I wanted to lose beyond that. So it's all up in the air!