Question: Did I have Gastric Bypass Surgery?

Since my weight loss, I have had a lot of random questions from people.  So today I am going to answer one of them.

Question:  ShrinkaDink, did you have the gastric bypass?

Answer:  No! 

I desperately wanted to have the lap-band surgery.  I even visited the surgeon and had everything verbally approved by my insurance company.  When the surgeon's office went to get written approval from my insurance company so they could schedule my surgery, the insurance company did not approve it.  They stated that although Blue Cross Blue Shield normally covers the surgery, the particular policy that my husband's work had purchased excluded weight-loss surgeries.

The news completely devastated me.  I thought it was the end.  I would be a Fat Lady forever. Not to mention I was out a lot of money from visiting the doctor and getting tests done.

 

This is a photo of what the lap band surgery is.  That little tube is accessible from you skin, so the doctor can tighten it as needed.  I am so glad I didn't do it.  Crazy how something that devastated me turned out later to be a blessing.

Fat Friday....

It is time for another Fat Friday..  Here it is...

This is me exactly 2 years ago.  I must admit it is nice to have my chin back.

Sometimes You Just Need to Cool Off!

Lookie, lookie what I found today!

Guess how many Big W Points +?  1 tiny little point.  Are they good you ask?  Well I tried them and.....

YES, they are delicious and made me feel happy! Go to my Good Finds link below my header to find out where I found these puppies.

My Momma Loves Elvis, I love to EAT!

My Mom is in love, I mean IN LOVE with Elvis.  Growing up she always told me about Elvis's favorite sandwich.  Peanut butter with banannas.  Sounded sick to me, but now that I am dieting and banannas are 0 points on the Big W plan I decided to give it a try using low point peanut butter (click on the great find tab under my header to find out where to buy it)

Take a slice (or two for the fat lady in me) of 1 point bread toasted.  Spread a tablespoon of 1 point peanut butter (I use 1 tablespoon for 2 slices) on the warm bread and top it with sliced banannas.  This is a yummy, fulfilling breakfast for only 3 points for both slices.  Elvis tended to eat 12 to 15 sandwiches a sitting! So belly up! haha

I know presentation is everything, but who the H ever eats on a fancy plate when they are trying to get kids off to school?  You'll never see my food desplayed properly, I'm just going to keep it real!

ShrinkaDink eats a pretzel...

Did you know that today is national pretzel day?  Yeah baby (in my Austin Power's voice)!  I think everyone should eat some pretzels today, whether it be some of these 3 points + for a whopping 20 pretzels...

Or one of my favorite boy's favorites (4 points + for one)...

Or you could make your own pretzels like we often do.  What better way to teach your kids about National Pretzel Day?  Click on my recipe tab to try out my super-yummy recipe.  These pretzels weigh in at 5 points + each.  The kids have a blast shaping them into whatever they want.

You could also go to the mall and get one of those 8 point + pretzels.  I hear Pretzelmaker is giving away a free pretzel just for saying "National Pretzel Day"  http://www.nationalpretzelday.com/.



HAPPY PRETZEL DAY!!!

Easter Weekend... How did it really go?

To think I could get through Easter on 22 points was a joke.  I am proud to say I didn't go over my 29, but it was much harder then I thought.  Who knew my FIL (father-in-law) would put Reese's Peanut Butter Cup eggs in the kids Easter eggs?  Who knew that my favorite boy would offer them to me every 2 seconds?!  I had to have a few, right?  Who knew that the party I went to with Momma and Pappy would have my favorite chocolate doughnuts?  Pappy and I shared 1/2 a doughnut and he made sure my 1/4 was bigger than his.  Who knew that the Easter bunny would hand out chocolate Easter bunnies?  I just had to say NO on that one (Nancy Regan taught me how to do that).

This is me dreaming of shoving these two chocolate bunnies in my mouth.  Good thing the plastic was still on them.  On the way home, my smart girl informed me that the entire bunny was only 3 points and I could eat it.  I had the smart girl hand it to me and looked...  Guess what?  6 points just for the dang ear. 

How did you do Easter weekend?  If you totally blew it, dust yourself off and start anew!

Sunday (not so fun day)

I will not be doing blog posts on Sunday.  I set aside Sundays for family, church and resting.  That said, have a beautiful day!

Easter Dinner - How I Will Survive It

This Easter I am hosting a family party for about 20 to 25 people.  We will be serving funeral potatoes, homemade bread, green beans and ham.  My Mom is bringing coconut cream pies.  How will I survive following the Weight Watchers program?  I refuse to screw up a good recipe with fat free junk when serving it to other people.  My family thinks of me as an excellent cook and I don't want to ruin my reputation.  So here is how I survive.

For breakfast I will have a grapefruit ( 0 points).  For lunch I will have carrots and a banana (0 points).
For dinner I will carefully eat only 29 points (remember I am only doing my 19 points/day experiment due to not losing weight).  I will fill my plate up one time only.  The plate will have A LOT of green beans with spray butter (0 points), a 1/2 cup of the delicious potatoes (6 points), a large slice of ham (1 point per oz), so I will be counting 6 points, and a slice of my bread with spray butter (2 points).  Total points for dinner... 14 points!  For dessert I will be eating a slice of my Momma's pie (8 points).  Total Easter enjoyment is 22 points!

Remember dieting is a life style for me.  I have to be in control of my eating for the rest of my life.  That means I must always plan ahead and leave room for my pie.  To think I could never have pie ever, ever, EVER... would just kill me!

Are you living outside of Utah and wondering what funeral potatoes are?

They are often called cheesy potatoes or potatoes au gratin.  Here in Utah we call them funeral potatoes because after someone dies, our church always hosts a dinner for the family of the deceased.  You can always find ham, these type of potatoes, corn and green jello at such a dinner.  So the potatoes got their nickname from funerals.  Do you want the recipe?  Go to the recipe tab under my header and enjoy!

PS I love Jesus!

Fat Friday...

Let me introduce you to my Fat Friday.  I will post one photo of me Fat (I am still considered fat by the way).  It is brave of me to do because I HATE seeing my "old' self".  It reminds me of the way I used to be treated and it surely reminds me of the way I used to feel.  Here you go...  Have fun laughing, feeling bad, or being proud of me.  I am going to choose to be proud!  Just know you can do it too!  You just have to try. You just have to start.  Go ahead and DO IT!  Start today!  Even if it is something small like parking far away from the door in the parking lot at Wally World.

Video of My Wife Exercising

Shhhhh.... Karolynn doesn't know I'm doing this, but...  My wife is really cute exercising and you can tell she loves the attention in front of the camera!  She has been really persistent with excercising.  It was hard for her at first, but it's been a little easier each and every day.  I don't think she ever skips a day.  I could be wrong.  If the video appears dark, don't bother turning on the light.  I didn't have good lighting when I took it.  I hope she doesn't get mad...

Wiener Roast

One of my biggest problems dieting is learning how to incorporate the way I eat with feeding my family of six. I packed up the little people and went to a wooded area near our home (aka a place where teenagers smoke pot, drink and have sex). We had hot dogs and smores. It was a blast! I had a fat free hot dog and a tiny (I mean small) smore. It was soo yummy! We ended up staying for over three hours but had to leave when my favorite little boy fell in the water (he needed new pants).

Check out my link above to see the hot dogs I used under my great finds. My hot dog was 1 point, bread was 1 point, and mustard was 0 points.   My smore consisted of half a graham cracker (1 point), One little square of chocolate (1 point), and 2 large marshmallows (1 point). MMmmm MMmmm good!! Now off to take a shower because I smell like smoke.

Me getting ready to roast my 1 point.  Yummy!

Plateau Buster

Folks, I have been months with out loosing weight. No one can tell me why. I don't even eat all that I am allowed to following on the Weight Watcher's program.  I also exercise very diligently. So this week I decided to step it up a notch. I dropped my 29 big W points down to 19.  Drum roll please... Da da da da da da da da ching! I lost 2.8lbs! Weeeee haw cowboy! So hopefully I have busted the plateau. If you want to know other ways for a quick plateau buster, please see the links right below my header and click on Plateau buster. And remember losing weight can be a slow and frustrating journey, but every bit counts! Check out this photo of some fat. The big one is 5lbs of fat and the little one is 1lb. Sick! Happy Shrinking!

Food Funeral

I have recently heard the term "Food funeral".  People all around the world are having funerals for their food before they start dieting.  I really don't think this is a great idea.  Because to tell yourself that you will never, ever, EVER have a slice of cake or eat at your favorite restaurant again is just setting yourself up for failure.  That is what I love about Weight Watchers.  With The big W you can still eat the foods you enjoy, but you enjoy them in a controlled way.

Instead, go ahead and have a funeral... for the overeating of food.  While you are at it, you can start planning the funeral for your big clothes.  I am currently planning the funeral for my boobs.  Yep, I am a blunt and open person. My boobs are gone.  It is like the 130lbs came off my chest!  No worries.  I am currently taking money donations for my boob job.  If you would like to donate, please comment and I will send you my account information.  Yes I am totally serious!