Wednesday, June 15, 2011

CD46 - Ugh!

Cycle Day 46 and still no sign of Aunt Flo. So frustrated that my body doesn't do what it's supposed to do.. Yet, I carried a baby to term. Why did my body work when pregnant but doesn't work now?

and No, I'm not pregnant..

So what now? Visit to my doctor next week to get a hormone panel taken so we can see what my hormone levels are doing. Maybe another ultrasound to see if I have cysts on my ovaries and then we'll discuss the next steps... Metformin? Fertility Specialist for Clomid/Provera etc.

In other news, my baby boy turns 1 next week. OMG, seriously... he is going to be 1!!! I can't believe how time has flown. He is so close to walking it's not funny. He cruises all over the furniture but when he stands by himself he isn't confident enough to take any steps forward and just plonks on his butt. Super cute. He'll be walking in the next few weeks, I just know it!

He babbles and squeals... I wish I could bottle his giggles and laughter because they ALWAYS make me smile.

I am so lucky to be this little boy's mama. I am truely blessed.

Speaking of blessings - my very very good friend has found out she's having TWINS after thinking she'd miscarried. So so thrilled for her, and looking forward to seeing her belly and excitement grow. I would LOVE to have twins... that would be AMAZING.

LBG xx

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Liver Rocks!

Tried makeing this Chicken Liver Pate Recipe from Balanced Bites website today and it turned out AWESOME. The thought of eating any organ meat turns my stomach, but I pushed past it and gave it a go. OMG, so good. AND... PERFECT bandit food! It is so rich in nutrition it is AMAZING to think what this little organ has in it. Folate through the roof.. important for all your trying or already pregnant ladies!

Seriously, have it on crackers, dipped in with veges or as your "meat" part of your meal if you're having a particularly hard lapband day.

I substituted the wine for balsamic vinegar and it turned out just fine - sweet and sour... such a richness to it.

And the best part... 500g of chicken livers cost me $2... yep... SO CHEAP. I made probably 10 times the amount of pate that I would get if I store bought some for $5 and I swear it tastes a million times better. It took me 30mins to make..

I'm even gonna give it to my one year old for dinner tonight with some smooshed up broccoli.

I will never buy store bought pate again...

LBG x

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Struggling..

Howdy peeps!

So from the title of this blog post you might have guessed that that I have been struggling the past few weeks. Well, awesome guess.. you are correct! I'm struggling with a number of things at the moment:

1. My lapband is playing up. I can't even drink coffee in the morning most days... I struggle all day with food and then miraculously I'm fine for dinner. As a result, I snack during the day.. not bad stuff, but carby stuff cos it seems to be the only foods that will go down with a minimal amount of stuckage... so crackers, cheese, dip, eggs, cup-a-soups, biscuits etc. I know I'm not eating any more than 1500 cals per day, so my head is saying that I surely should be losing weight, but I'm not. it just does my head in!
2. I haven't exercised in around 2 months. So terrible. I am so ashamed about this. I can't use my baby, the move, work, winter etc as an excuse.. Now that I'm settled with the move, I've figured out where my closest gym is and I'm gonna start going more regularly.
3. My PCOS is still here - on cycle day 34 with no sign of AF at the moment. I know, CD 34 isn't an abnormal cycle, but if I want to start trying for number two I'd really like my cycles to be more regular.

I need to have an action plan to address my above "struggles"

1. Should I have more fill out? No, I need to make better food choices, eat slower, take smaller mouthfuls and when i'm full, stop eating. Basic bandit stuff here.

2. I'm gonna start going to the gym early in the morning again. Now that L is sleeping from 7pm-7am I have no excuse to get my work-out over and done with before he wakes so that DH doesn't get stuck with him in the morning with no help from me. Also, my travel for work has calmed down, so I have no excuse with work..

3. I'm going to visit my doctor at the end of this month to discuss an action plan regarding my PCOS. I've been researching the effect of metformin on PCOS and insulin resistance and the more I read the more I think this might be an option for me. I want to discuss this with my lovely GP and see what he says, if he thinks I should be managed by an Endocrinologist or by at fertility specialist (even though technically I'm not infertile I still have a fertility issue that could prevent another pregnancy) or just by him. I also need to discuss my ongoing heartburn issues. I'm popping zantac like they are tic tacs so going to ask if I need to go onto a prescription drug or something stronger. Also, I've started getting gall bladder pain during the night again. It gets super painful and I'm always afraid it's going to get to the stage that i'm going to end up in emergency. At the moment the pain wakes me up and keeps me away for around an hour then it fades and I go back to sleep, but each episode is a little more painful than the last.. it happens once every couple of weeks. I really need to get my gallbladder out - both my parents and both sets of grandparents had their GB out, so gall stones are hereidary in my family. It's only a matter of time and I'd prefer to have it out electively rather than wait until I end up in emergency, or worse, having a full blow GB attack while I'm away from home for work.

Other than that, things are going fine. My baby boy is turning 1 in 3 weeks time. I can't believe the time is going so fast and he will be one soon! I miss my squishy newborn but I am loving this stage of his life... he's my stubborn cheeky happy little explorer !

Peace out

LBG xx

Saturday, May 14, 2011

I hate my scales

My scales and I have never had a good relationship. We did.. once.. when I was 16kg lighter.. but my scales now taunt me by flashing the same number (or close to) every time I hop on. Sadly, my scales are dying.. I have the upper hand. Batteries! I was going to let my scales die (good riddance) but I like to know how my little monkey man is measuring each month, so the scales must stay (damn you scales!). I am, however, going to take a stand and NOT weigh myself. I'm so sick of my mood being determined by a little (or not so little) number. I don't weigh daily for that very reason.

I've been low carbing since 30th April, so now 2 weeks later. I feel really great, less bloated, more energetic, I don't get those spikes of extreme - I have to eat right now or I'm going to kill someone - hunger attacks and I am sure my body is loving all the protein I am having right now. I must admit, I do miss the sweet stuff, but I am getting used to splenda (hardly ever use it) and those sugar free lollies when I must have something sweet. I am still succumbing to the "mouthful of chips" here, and .. "a couple of easter eggs" there habit.. but that junk is all out of the house now, so I don't have that temptation any more!

PCOS update: thanks to my anonymous commenter who suggested that Endocrinologist in Sydney. I'm going to keep up this low carb high protein thing for a few months and see what happens with my cycles before I go down the medical route. Will be interesting to see if my cycle is 26 days as it was the last time. If it is, that will be 2 months in a row with a NORMAL cycle. Completely unheard of with me, fingers firmly crossed. If I do get another normal cycle I'm going to start temperature charting again to see if I can work out when I ovulate.

So, what am I eating? On a typical day, breakfast is general 2 boiled eggs, mashed with some full fat mayo, with a coffee (full cream milk, no sugar or sweetener). I'm totally full til lunch. Lunch is generally some vegetables of some kind (raw, roasted etc), with a low sugar high fat dressing (cue ceasar or ranch.. nom nom) and around 100g of protein (in the form of ham, turkey, chicken from the deli, or chicken breast). Mid afternoon snack will be a couple of slices of cheese, or half an avocado or some more veg with low sugar dressing to dip in or some nuts. Dinner is a 120g portion of protein and either a salad or some steamed or baked vegetables. I use a generous serving of olive oil on my pasta, or put a nob of butter on my vegetables. Dessert (after dinner is when I feel like something sweet) has been a low joule jelly with a generous dollop of heavy thick cream. I also enjoy low joule cordial or Coke Zero to curb those sweet cravings

My nutrient ratio has been around 60% fat (mostly mono and polyunsaturated fats), 35% protein and 5% carbohydrates. Perfect Atkins Induction ratios. However, there have been a few sneaky carbs that have worked there way in...

Exercise.. I'm working on it, really I am. I have a tonne of reason as to why I haven't been able to get to the gym... none of them mention the word "dying" "dead" "broken" or "hospital" so I really don't have an excuse..

Thanks for reading!

LBG xx

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Long time no post!

I am such a slack blogger... !



Life, it gets in the way sometimes and you get busy... and, as I'm sure I've said before, my lapband isn't a huge part of my life anymore... it's just there.



So I'm going to take my blog in a slightly new direction.


I have PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome). I didn't think I could conceive without help. I was wrong (thankfully... so thankfully..)



The research on diets for PCOS I've done so far suggests that the low carbohydrate and whole food diet is the way to go. PCOS is associated with insulin resistance. I had gestational diabetes during my pregnancy so I naturally am assuming that I have PCOS/obesity related insulin resistance.



So my blog will start to focus on my PCOS, following a low-carb, whole food life style, exercise (of course) and my journey to hopefully falling pregnant with baby number 2 by the end of the year.


I would love to be able to refresh my blog and make it look cool, but I don't know how to do that... any tips would be greatly appreciated.



And a little update on my monkey boy... he is now 10.5 months and has his first birthday next month!! OMG the time has just flown. He is a little cutie patootie.. and I love love love being his mama. My DH is an awesome daddy... he amazes me with the love he has for our son.




A photo of my monkey boy for your viewing pleasure!





LBG xx

Friday, February 18, 2011

The BIG picture..

A few of my WLS blogging buddies are struggling with their lack of weight loss at the moment. I am hearing you loud and clear. I GAINED a kilo this week... WTF.. I got a fill and I gained? I didn't eat alot, I exercised 4 times during the week... and I gained.. fuckety fuck fuck.. I had chocolate tonight after dinner cos I was just thinking fuck the world, I might as well eat some fucking chocolate..

But I gotta keep reminding myself that there is a bigger picture. Yes, I would LOVE to be a size 12... but I'm not... Yes, I would love to be able to look at myself naked in the mirror and not cringe at what I see... but I don't...

The bigger picture for me:

1. I have an awesome loving husband, that doens't see me as fat.. he loves me for me.
2. I am a mummy to a wonderful little boy who continues to amaze me and melt my heart at every little thing he does.
3. I am still 20kg lighter than my heaviest weight
4. I exercise, and I exercise HARD. I love to sweat... I'm so glad exercise isn't a chore for me. because I exercise, I know I am improving how my body functions.
5. I eat well... I am slowing down or even stopping the chance of getting heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis. I will be around to see my grand babies grow up!

So yeah, big picture... when the scales aren't moving... look at the big picture. Sometimes it's the only thing that keeps me focused.

Thanks for reading!

LBG xx

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Fill Drama

I went to get a fill on 4th February. My wonderful Dr put on 0.5ml as it had been over 18 months since my previous fill. Drank water with no problems. Actually, I did have a feeling that I probably should have asked for a little out there and then, but stubborn old me didn't, and I left the clinic with 0.5mL extra...

That night I had dinner with my bestie who was in town. I stuck to soup, which is what my Dr recommends for the first 24-48 hours after a fill. But, even that was not going through as easily as I would have liked. I had the short and sour soup from a chinese resteraunt... it was DELICIOUS, but I probably had 2 tablespoons over the whole 2 hours we were there! Not to mention the cocktail that I probably had 2 sips of and my bestie ended up finishing it off! She knows about the band, so she was cool with my lack of eating (thank goodness). I knew in my heart that I was overfilled. I bought a powerade on the way home and probably sipped about 50mLs total.

The next day the thermometer hit 46 degrees. I couldn't get fluid down by this stage, I think my stomach had swollen overnight. On the way home from mum and dad's my husband and I picked up a frozen coke each... that came back up and I made the executive decision to head on over to the emergency room and have them call my fill doctor.

I arrived at the ER at around 7:15pm.. my fill doctor was called but unfortunately he was at a bariatric surgery conference in the city. He asked if I was distressed (which I wasn't, just very thirsty!) and that if I was he would leave immediately. Bless.. I told him I was just fine, and was happy to wait. The nurse got me some ice chips of which I had about 5 and that was all I could have. I was so very thirsty!

He arrived at the hospital at 10:00pm that evening. I was tired, my iPhone was down to 10% battery and I was so thirsty.. I think the fact that it was a really really effing hot day just made it 100 times worse for me as well. I felt sorry for the other people in ER.. They had been waiting longer than me and I went in before them... and I didn't have to pay for it as my private health insurance covered me for hospital visits. YAY!

He took all the 0.5mL out.. and asked me to rebook for the following week to have more put in.

The sweet relief of being able to drink water... I was so thirsty I drank too fast and my Dr was telling me to slow down... liquids for the next 24 hours.

On the way home I polished off a 600mL bottle of powerade and bought myself some ice cream... what? Ice cream is a liquid!

The next Friday I was refilled with 0.2mL and that was a perfect fill amount. And I had lost 800g from the previous week!

Other than that everything is going fine. getting used to more restriction has had it's challenges. I forgot I can't eat sushi now and I bought some for lunch and it's all ended up in the toilet. So sad. Have made much more of an effort at the gym... and I'm really enjoying going too.

And my little boy, he amazes me every day. :)

Have an awesome day :)

LBG xx

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Mummies Group BBQ today!

Perfect day for a BBQ! Aussie summers are the best for a yummy BBQ and a swim in the pool and today we've been blessed with 30 degrees and sunny! Having around 5 mummies, their husbands and of course, our babies! Should be fun! Will post some pics soon!

Tomorrow is the start of the JFDI campaign... my legs aren't nearly as sore today, so I will be waking at 5:30am and hauling my butt to the gym for a pump class. JFDI JFDI JFDI!!!

Food wise, my aim for this week is to eat salad for lunch every day. They make great salads at work, a bit pricey, but if I get desparate I can always get a salad there... also there is a shopping centre down the road from work and I'm in desparate need of a leg wax, so might pop over there at lunch tomorrow and grab this amazing salad from sumo salad (pumpkin, feta and pinenut salad!! Y.U.M).

Also, drink more water!

Finally to breastfeeding. I have managed to exclusively BF my little boy for 4.5 months. With starting back at work and travelling, I had no choice but to supplement with formula when I was away. I had a small freezer stash from when I was on maternity leave, but that only lasted a little while. In hindsight I would probably have done some more pumping sessions while at home on Mat leave (god knows I had enough milk!!), and frozen more of it so that there was plenty on hand for when I returned to work... Now, I am nursing once a day (if that..). He's just not interested in the boob anymore... I'm going to continue my ad hoc nursing until he's 8 months then stop I think... I'm OK with that! :)

Peace Out

LBG xx

Friday, January 28, 2011

Sore.. so sore!

Farken Pump Class making me Farken sore! I feel like a little old lady hobbling around today. Everytime I have to get up I grunt in pain and I can barely lift my 9kg little boy!

Really really really want to do spin and pump tomorrow morning, but I really don't think I'm going to be able to, my legs are still so sore! I know, my previous post was titled JFDI, but I would prefer to do something lighter tomorrow just to get everything moving.. so I *will* still go to the gym, but it will be a light workout..

I've had a few people who I know both IRL and through blogs give Birth over the past couple of weeks. One blogger was pregnant through IVF and just had her first baby on 18th January. Those kind of stories makes me so happy! My heart breaks for those people who I know who are trying to fall pregnant through IVF and I see it fail month after month.

I thank my lucky stars every day that I am a mummy to a beautiful baby boy. I know how lucky I am... I was up at 1:45am this morning nursing my little man because he was all snotty and blocked up from cold and I thought to myself, this is exactly where I want to be and I was so happy to be awake nursing my child.

OK, random blog post over! Have an awesome day!

LBG xx

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Just Fucken Do It!

Hi all,

Feeling much better today so I went to a pump class followed by a Zumba class today. I know I'm gonna hurt tomorrow.. I can feel it now. The class itself wasn't too bad, fun even, but I knew that with that first class back comes a huge amount of pain. There is no "good" day to take the class... I just had to suck it up and JFDI!

JFDI has become my mantra for exercising. Suck it up sunshine, it ain't gonna be a walk in the park. Yes, it's gonna hurt, yes you gonna get sweaty, yes you may possibly cry... but it will get you results.

So I went to pump and zumba today. Let me tell you, if you haven't done a zumba class, get your butt to one! It is one of the most funnest classes at the gym. All you do is dance and sweat for an hour. You shake your booty, shake your boobies have a laugh and come out burning 400 cals! I am doing it twice a week at the moment (as in, I've done it twice over the past week).

I've been thinking more about my exercise committments now that we are well and truely into the new year.

Monday: 6am Pump
Tuesday: 11:30am Body Jam
Wednesday: Probably pump but I need to check the timetable
Thursday: 6am Pump and 6:30am Zumba
Friday: Not sure but someting with cardio
Saturday: Depends... either 8:30 Spin and 9:30 Pump, or.. 4:00 Zumba and 5:00 pump
Sunday: Rest day or something cardio..

Anyhoo, baby is awake so best go see what he wants.

Ciao for now!

LBG xx