Thursday, January 29, 2009

Another Amazing Salad!

So remember how I told you about that lush salad I had on the plane last friday? Well I tried to recreate it yesterday for lunch. While it wasn't the exact replica, it still tasted bloody delicious...

Tuna Bean Salad
Baby Cos Lettuce (3 leaves shredded)
1/2 Chopped Avocado
1 can tuna in spring water
1/3 can 4 bean mix
1 tsp chopped dill herb
1 tbsp chopped spring onion
Juice from 1/2 a lemon

Add all of it to a bowl and mix - then squeeze the lemon over the top of the salad and enjoy! Salt and Pepper to taste. 300 calories for this little beauty, with most of it coming from the avocado! Just to mix it up a bit today I'm adding 1/8 cup of cous cous. It did take me a while to eat. I was munching on it at my desk.. so probably around 1.5 hours... but boy was I full for the rest of the afternoon! Infact, when it came round for birthday cake at 3:30pm, I didn't actually have any because I wasn't hungry and didn't feel like it... COOL!

3 sleeps until I leave for my big trip. Getting excited now. Going to buy some more shakes at priceline and a plastic shaker. I also need some more toiletries as the things I have at home are too big for travel (you know, the economy bulk size of everything!!). I guess I'm also a bit nervous about my trip. For me, i love trying new exotic foods from overseas places and it gives me great enjoyment to try new things. Knowing that I will have difficulties with eating while I am there makes me nervous. And of course I will definitely miss my husband!!

In other news, I'm obsessed with Crunchy Nut CornFlakes at the moment. 2/3 cup with milk in the morning fills me up until lunch. I'm loving the cereal thing at the moment because I'm definitely feeling the fullness factor after a bowl.

Happy Thursday Peoples!

LBG xx

Monday, January 26, 2009

Happy Australia Day!!

Just coming home from my short trip away. Waiting at the airport for my flight. have had 2 mouthfuls of cereal and am full, which is awesome!

I flew up on Friday afternoon, and I had the most freaking yummiest salad I've had in a long time! I made sure I ate it really slowly, but it was actually quite a bandit friendly salad. I want to ring Qantas and ask them for the recipe!! hehe

Here is what I think it in the Salad:
Tuna (in spring water)
some sort of white bean mix - I could see Chick Peas, white beans and butter beans - I'm sure you can get them all canned
Chopped dill and some lemon dressing that was mixed into the tuna - this is what made it so freaking delicious!!
Baby Cos
Baby Spinach
Finely chopped Tomato
Finely chopped spanish onion
And this gorgeous lemon dressing - again adding to the deliciousness of it

I was in tastebud heaven... I'm definitely going to make it sometime this week.. I'll let you know how my version goes!!

Anyhoo, today is Australia Day... I'm going to a picnic this afternoon with some friends.. but other than that, just making my way home today.

Oh, I did get approval for my trip to Taipei and Seoul, so looks like I'll be leaving next Sunday for 3 weeks. I am really excited, but nervous as well. I'm excited because it's a bit of an adventure, I've never been to either place, so very excited about that. Nervous because I've never been to either place, so it will all be new to me... also nervous because I don't have much control over what food is on offer - my only saving grace will be that because it is winter over there, I have a feeling there will be alot of soups available... I can't do noodles or dumplings or anything like that, and sometimes I can eat rice... so I think I'll be living mostly off soups. I will pack some optifast shakes and my shaker so I have another option. Actually, it's funny - when I travel like this I mostly lose weight because I don't eat - I don't have a routine or access to many of the foods I like (and can get down). On the flip side, I don't have my exercise routine going.. must remember to take my gym stuff on this trip and try and get to the hotel gym a few times during the weeks I am there.

OK, my flight has been called. Happy Aussie Day!!!

LBG xx

Friday, January 23, 2009

No appointment on Tuesday..

Well I had to cancel my appointment anyway, and it was outside my control. My husband and I have a personal appointment we have to attend which is kind of important and mandatory. Well, I don't have to go, but I want to be there to support my husband so I kind of have to go.. so I just rang and cancelled.

Yesterday I got up at 5:30am and went to the gym for a cardio session. I didn't have alot of time there as I had a TC with the UK at 8am, so I was only there for 45 mins. I did 20 mins on the crosstrainer and 20 mins on the treadmill. I've always been conscious of my back and so when it comes to jogging I find that when I get the slighted hint of lower back pain I stop jogging and start walking. Yesterday I jogged for 1 min and walked for 1 min... then I decided to push myself and before I knew it I'd jogged for 5 mins straight! I then walked for another 2 minutes and jogged for another 5 mins straight again! HR up to 170 bpm, felt great!

Of to QLD this weekend for a bit of R&R and to see a bandit girlfriend of mine who I haven't seen since my wedding back in June. Looking forward to that!

Happy Australia day long weekend peoples!!!

LBG xx

Thursday, January 22, 2009

By popular demand...

My Risotto Recipe!
(serves 2 normal or 4 bandits!)
1/2 cup alborio rice
1 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup white wine
1-2 tsp butter
1 onion (chopped)
2 rashers bacon (middle only, no fat - sliced)
3 mushrooms (sliced)
1 cup baby spinach
1/2 cup grated cheese

Have chicken stock simmering in a saucepan. Sautee Onions in butter for 2-3 minutes until soft and slightly coloured. Add bacon and mushroon and cook for 5 minutes. Add rice, coating rice in bacon mixture for 5 minutes, stirring regularly. On a medium heat add white wine and stir until no more liquid remains. The add the stock 1/2 a cup at a time, stirring until the liquid has evapourated. Continue like this until all the stock is added. On a low heat add the spinach and cover the mixture. Cook for 5 minutes or until spinach is wilted. Then add the cheese and stir until melted. Salt and pepper to taste.

Enjoy!

LBG xx

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

All is well

Managed to get down some Risotto last night. I made it myself - delish and healthy. It had bacon, spinach, mushrooms and onion in it with white wine and chicken stock. Nice and wet and easy to eat. Took me 30 mins to get through a cup full. I concentrated on getting the spoon filled with approximately 1 thumbnail bite size on it. Chewed it at least 20 times and make sure I took a break between each spoonful. It was great, and no problems with PB's or getting stuck or anything. I felt pleasantly full and didn't want for anything else. At around 8:30pm I had an icey pole which was delish as well.

Funny how when you follow the rules the band works!

Decided not to go to my follow-up appointment. I'm going to reschedule for 3 months time. It's also a $$$ issue as I didn't budget for it this month..

My trip approval is not approved yet. I had to change my itinerary which unfortunately this added approx $1500 onto the total amount... which now needs to be approved. So while I got original approval for the original trip, because of the changes I have to wait for re-approval.

For those who don't know, I work in Clinical Research as a Project Manager. I manage a regional project that feeds up into a global team, and as such I am responsible for the quality that comes out of the region and conduct of the study. Therefore I need to visit with my associates in the region and ensure that the doctors running the projects at various hospitals are working towards the proper guidelines, the data quality is good and they are following our protocols. I have sites in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Philippines, Taiwan and Korea. I get to travel out to the region around 2-3 times a year. Fingers are firmly crossed that I get this trip approved!! I've never been to Taiwan or Korea!

Have a good hump day!

LBG xx

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Definitely do NOT need a fill!

After 2 days away at a conference, I really had a chance to test the band with some "harder foods" and well... test it I did! I pretty much haven't been able to keep anything much down. The choices weren't all that great - sandwiches for lunch was what was on offer and then dinner last night was a 3 course meal with loads of prawns (off the list), steak (off the list), uncooked vege (off the list). In fact the only thing I've been able to keep down is a spoonful of scrambled eggs this morning and a moussy dessert last night. And I think because I've been having to PB after each try it has made my stomach a little sore. So I'm sticking to liquids for the rest of the day. I'm just now sipping on a cup a soup and it's taking me 20 mins to have half a cup!

I definitely DO NOT need a fill...

Funny isn't it... my 2 year bandiversary is coming up and I'm still learning about my band...

LBG xx

P.S. Korea/Taiwan trip still not approved by management, but it's close - I should find out tomorrow *fingers are firmly crossed*!!!

Friday, January 16, 2009

Getting there!

Yesterday was my first day of eating foods that would truely "test" my band.. and it definitely worked! I had cereal for breakky - took me an hour to get through and by the end it was nothing but mush anyway!! Morning tea was a yoghurt with blueberries - only got through half of that, the other half is in the fridge waiting for today's morning tea. Lunch was a cape seed roll with avocado, tuna and philly cream cheese. Took me a couple of hours to eat (which was norti of me because I ended up taking it back to my work desk and nibbling on it. I got through around 3/4 of it but I definitely could eat it. Afternoon tea was a couple of lindt balls and a 25g packet of salt and vinegar chips. And dinner was a vegetable korma which I ended up PB'ing. Then a small pot of custard for dessert. Loads of liquids throughout the day too..

Today I've had cereal for breakky which took me round an hour to eat. I've got blueberries and yoghurt for morning tea, not sure what to have for lunch yet... will go down to Woollies and find something, afternoon tea is some watermelon which is sooo gorgeous to eat at the moment. Friday night is take away night and I'm in the mood for Thai - so I might get a stirfry and rice..

Right now I have a stinking headache. I'm trying to get past it without drugs, but I'm afraid I might have to take some panadol just so that I can function for the rest of the day.. I also want to get to the gym tonight for a workout so I want to be feeling better.

Have a good day peoples!

LBG xx

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Being Lazy..

So I've got an appointment with my wonderful fill doctor on 27th January and I'm actually starting to wonder if I should go. My weight has pretty much been the same since my last appointment back in October and I know my doctor will be a little disappointed. I know why my weight hasn't moved. Mostly to do with Christmas and Holidays, but I really haven't been doing all that well with my food intake.

At the moment I really couldn't be bothered. I think that I'm being a bit lazy with my food choices because I couldn't be bothered "working the band". I'd prefer to have a "slider food" rather than something that I have to work at eating and I know will fill me up at a smaller portion. I would have a protein shake for breakfast and be hungry by 10:30am and looking for food. I'd have crackers with cheese instead of cut up vegetables or fruit for snacks because I worry about whether or not I will be able to handle the skins on the fruit or fiberous veges. I wouldn't have much for lunch because I can't eat quickly while I'm arround my colleagues so it would be a few crackers and a can of tuna or some other lunch meat and so then would be hungry by mid afternoon and be raiding the biscuit barrel. By the time I get home from work I'm hungry so I tuck into the cheese and crackers which keep me full for around an hour until dinner is ready. Couple that with a glass of wine while making dinner. Dinner consisted of mostly easy to eat carbs with loads of sauce like curry with rice, risotto, mashed potatos with mince, lots of mince based dinners like shepherds pie, nachos and chili con carne. So you can see that I was never really testing the band.. just eating easy foods but then getting hungry and eating easy (aka junk) foods to get me through to the next meal. I've also noticed that my portion sizes of these easy foods are creeping up. I am able to eat 2 cups of mashed potato or 1.5 cups of rice. And another thing, I would eat the carbs first with the meat (which was usually mince or fish or something easy to eat) and then if I was "full" I wouldn't finish the veges.

Instead of an optifast/optislim shake for breakky today I'm having 30g of saltana bran with skim milk... I've had 4 small mouthfuls and I am soooooo full. I have half a punnet of blueberries and a yoghurt as a snack and half an avocado and a can of tuna for lunch - and I'm going to get a bakers delight cape seed roll to have with it and see how I go. I have a packet of vitawheat snacks for a snack incase I get hungry in the afternoon.

Anyway, I have an appointment with fill doctor on 27th Jan and I'm wondering if I should go. I know what I'm doing wrong and definitely don't need a fill at the moment... I'm thinking I might change my appointment to later on in the year to give me a chance to give it a good go.

What does everyone think?

LBG xx

P.S. Thank goodness I've kept up my exercise during this time otherwise I'd be screwed!!!

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Boxing Madness!!

I just did my first boxing session in about 9 years! It was absolutely fabulous! I'd forgotten just how much fun boxing with a partner can be. My good friend K e-mailed me yesterday asking if I was up for it... and I immediately said yes! Then realised that I was going to have to get up at 5:30am in order to make the class on time... but I did it. It was 55mins long and it wasn't just pure boxing which was great. We swapped who would be the boxer and who would hold the pads after each 5 mins there would be a change over. Then we did some sit ups where we boxed and did sit ups for 30 seconds and then rolled over and held the plank for 30 seconds and then situps for 30 seconds etc etc for 3 minutes. I was really chuffed that I could hold the plank position for each 30 seconds without going onto my knees... even though I really wanted to. After each 5 minute boxing session we would jog or side step around the gym for 30 seconds to get the pad holders heart rate up. So it was a mixed workout, heaps of different exercises and worked not just the upper body but the core and cardio as well. Burnt 618 cals in the process! Definitely going to be adding this class to my exercise reportoire!

LBG xx

Monday, January 12, 2009

2008 - Year in Review

A little more about me:

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before? Got Married, Saw my first dead body
2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I don’t make NY Resolutions.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? No
4. Did anyone close to you die? My mother in law
5. What countries did you visit? Philippines, Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, Thailand and Malaysia
6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008? Less Stress
7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
6th June 2008 – My wedding day, the most amazing day of my life. I felt like a princess and I was marrying my best friend and soulmate and all my amazing family and friends were with us.
3rd August 2008 – the death of my mother-in-law from a 18 month battle with lung cancer
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Getting Married
9. What was your biggest failure? Not making more of an effort
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Nothing Major – just my ongoing back pain..
11. What was the best thing you bought? my wedding band
12. Whose behaviour merited celebration? mine! For not turning into Bridezilla!!!
13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed? My sister…who thinks it’s cool to do lines of coke and brag about it..
14. Where did most of your money go? The wedding and my mortgage..
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? My honeymoon and trip to Thailand!!
16. What song will always remind you of 2008? Moonlight serenade (my wedding song!)
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? Happier
b) thinner or fatter? Thinner.
c) richer or poorer? Richer.
18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Taken more photos!
19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Worried.
20. How did you spend Christmas? Eating and Drinking with friends and family… just the way it should be
21. Did you fall in love in 2008? All over again with my amazing husband.
22. What was your favorite TV program? Big Medicine
23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? Hate is such a strong word… dislike is better…
24. What was the best book you read? The Persimmons Tree
25. What was your greatest musical discovery? Workout Cardio Tunes that you can download on your IPOD
26. What did you want and get? A perfect wedding day
27. What did you want and not get? Reaching my goal weight
28. What was your favourite film of this year? WALL-E
29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? It was a Sunday, I went out for dinner with my friends and family… I turned 28
30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Winning Lotto!
31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008? Confused – I am getting into size 16 and a few size 14 clothes yet fat me was still picking up the size 18 clothes…
32. What kept you sane? Exercise and my husband
33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Daniel Craig
34. What political issue stirred you the most? Probably the US election.
35. Who did you miss? My friends and relatives overseas
36. Who was the best new person you met? A friend at work…
37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008. What other people think of you is none of your business
38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

"Now I had the time of my life, and I owe it all to you... "

LBG xx

Friday, January 9, 2009

Delish Salad Discovery

I made a fabulous salad discovery last night at Sumo Salad. It's the pumkin and pinenut combo. It's got mixed lettuce, cucumber, walnuts, feta, pinenuts and pumpkin. I also added some avocado and had a light french dressing... YUM. I ordered a small and only got through half of it. Chewed really well and got full full full without wanting to PB. Bloody beautiful.

Did have ice cream last night. 2 bowls... what's with that?!?! Rest of the day was good though. Had an optifast for breakky, piece of cheese mid morning, some cucumber and carrots sticks and a can of tuna for lunch and around 30g peanuts for afternoon tea.

Gym tonight and tomorrow will be 8:30am spin class.

Have a great weekend all!

LBG xx

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Blueberries - bloody beautiful!

Blueberries in Australia are just gorgeous at the moment and really really cheap at around $3.98 a punnett. They're great for those with lap bands as they are in perfect bite size pieces, filled with juice and a skin that is easy to eat. A great snacks on their own or in a lovely fruit salad or with some yoghurt.

Blueberries are phytonutrient superstars. These fruits contain significant amounts of anthocyanadins, antioxidant compounds that give blue, purple and red colors to fruits and vegetables. In addition, blueberries also contain ellagic acid, another phytochemical that has been shown to prevent cell damage.

So pick up a punnet today! Your body will thank you :)

LBG xx

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Optifast Coffee Flavour - DELISH!!

Yes people, you heard it right here... the optifast coffee flavour tastes like a freaking iced coffee... I blended it with some ice this morning and it is absolutely devine.

I'm looking forward to my first Pilates session at the gym tomorrow evening. I've done Pilates before but I stopped doing it for some strange reason. I've decided to get back into it for 2 reasons:
1. Mainly for my back. My core strength is good now, I want it to be even stronger..
2. Something new! Exercise shouldn't just be about how much I can sweat or how high I can get my heart rate - so I'm mixing it up a bit with some low impact strength work.

Looks like I might be taking a bit of a work trip to Korea and Taiwan next month! It hasn't been approved yet but fingers are firmly crossed that I get to go! I've never been to either of these places and I'll be away for 3 whole weeks! it will be a bit of a whirlwind trip but I will get to actually see some of the sites and play tourist on the weekends as I've got 2 weekends to enjoy while I am travelling... Must admit, am a bit worried about the food intake. I can't do alot of the breads and rice meals that they have... but I can have the soupy type meals and will probably take some optifast sachets with me to have while I am away... Cross your fingers for me that this trip gets approved!!! probably a 50/50 chance at the moment.

Enjoy your day peoples!

LBG xx

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Off to a great start!

January is going to be my month for detoxing... and no, that doesn't mean that I'm going to go on some sort of liver cleansing journey and drink only Lemon Water for the next week. It means that I'm going to concentrate on eating whole foods and limiting things like Alcohol and sweeteners and processed crap in my diet. I'm also going to focus on drinking heaps of water, and try to get into green tea a bit more. Goal weight loss for this month is 2kg.

So far so good. I went and did an hour spin class this morning as well as 15 mins on the cross trainer, so I am well and truely exercised out for the day. Actually I had quite a bit of energy after the class and wasn't feeling wiped which was great! Burnt 875 cals with an average HR of 147bpm. Excellent!

I also did a big shop at the fruit and vege shop and picked up some fabulous foods such as roasted pepitas, mixed baby salad leaves, lemons, a seed mix to sprinkle on salads, good quality parmesan, adhuki beans and lentils. I'm going to make a vegetable and lentil bake tomorrow night for dinner... I've made it before and it was fucking awesome... my husband even liked it!!

Yesterday for lunch we went to Many Beach, to a lovely cafe on the beach side. I had an entree sized sashimi of salmon and swordfish and a small side salad full of herbs. OMG the tastes were amazing. The Sashimi had this seasame sour dressing with a tiny amount of whole egg mayo for dipping and the salad had this devine subtle vinigarette on it. I ate 3/4 of the sashimi (as it's pretty slippery so pretty easy to get down as long as I chewed) and around 4 mouthfuls of the salad. FUCKING AMAZING!! I made a very conscious effort to chew small bites until it was liquid before swallowing. Lettuce takes on a different flavour when it is chewed to a pulp.. it almost tastes peppery! Interesting!

Hope your 2009 has started off as well as mine!

LBG xx

P.S Weight on 1st Jan was 88.6kg, Weight today is 88.0kg. so down 600g already. Excellent!