Hot, Hot, Heat

Anyone else feeling the cold since they have lost weight? 


I was overweight my entire childhood and I grew up in a very hot area of Australia, so I always hated the heat. I would dread the summer because the heat was just overwhelming and I never understood how anyone could enjoy feeling hot. Not to mention that summer means going to the beach, wearing bathers or flimsy little dresses that are not fun for fat people, but mostly it was the heat that bothered me.


Ever since I had the lap band and lost 40 kilos (88 lbs) I have been freezing. All the time. I wore thick tights and leggings all through last summer and even had to run my little fan heater in my office at work and no one could understand why I was so cold when it was sweltering outside. Even during this road trip in the US I had to buy a sleeping bag to keep in the car to keep me warm because AJ (understandably) wanted the air conditioner on and I couldn't take it. I am painfully cold everywhere we go, the movies, restaurants, the car, planes, everything is air conditioned and I am freezing.


A couple of weeks ago I was hanging out with a good friend from Australia who happened to be in LA the same day as me and she noticed that I had changed into jeans and a jacket because I was freezing. This friend had the lap band about 10 years ago (one of the first in Australia) and she lost (and kept off) about 60 kilos and she immediately knew what I was talking about when I mentioned being cold all the time. She mentioned that when she lost her weight with the band she was badly affected by the cold, but that it is only temporary due to changes in your cells.


So I consulted google and found this link that relates to the gastric bypass, but the principal is the same for lap banders or anyone that has lost weight. I know, I never read links either, so the general gist of the article is as follows:


People who experience the massive weight loss associated with weight loss surgery experience feeling cold for two reasons: loss of insulation and less energy generation.


I guess it is obvious, but it is good to know that I am not going crazy and this won't go on forever! In the mean time, I have been soaking up every drop of sun in California. We were meant to leave Palm Springs a couple of days ago, but I couldn't bring myself to leave the 100 degree heat (38 celsius) and go back to cold(er) LA, so we have stayed an extra few days until we head to Cancun on Monday.


*** Edit *** Upon reading this post back, I hope it doesn't sound like I am complaining about a good thing, like one of those people that complains about being too rich, too smart or too attractive... Trust me, I know I would rather have lost weight and be cold, than have the weight back and be warm, so I don't want to sound ungrateful!


Here's some pictures of us enjoying the sun in the desert. God only knows how I am going to handle going back to a Melbourne winter in a couple of weeks!

Bandaversary

I don't like to make a big carry on about things normally, I barely even celebrate my birthday because attention makes me uncomfortable, but the universe came together to make the anniversary of my lap band an awesome day.

I am travelling around North America at the moment and the place I was looking forward to going the most is the Napa Valley. I love visiting wineries, it is pretty much my favourite thing to do, I mean what beats drinking wine and eating cheese in a gorgeous setting? So it just happened that I would be in the Napa Valley in California on the 22nd May, the one year anniversary of getting my lap band.

It also worked out that my all time favourite singer, Lisa Loeb, was playing in Napa that night. I literally nearly wet pants with excitement when I got the email alert that she was playing in Napa last week and I couldn't believe it was the night of the 22nd May.

So I was lucky enough to spend my day touring around the Chandon winery in Napa, drinking champagne and eating delectable food, and then listening to my favourite singer in concert that night (I even got to meet her, see the photo below, oh she is tinsy tiny too!).

Best day ever. 

How am I going to top this next year?

Being happy and healthy is enough, the rest is gravy!

A Year Ago Today...

I wanted to spend some time reflecting on the one year anniversary of my lap band, but life is too busy right now, so I am just going to let the pictures speak for themselves.

More later.


2009


Taken a few weeks before surgery...

2010


Taken in the past month...

2011


Fingers crossed...

Update From San Fran

Just a quick entry to let you know that I'm still here and still having fun travelling in the US. I'm only here for about another week and then heading to Mexico and then Vancouver and then... home!

This Saturday 22nd May is a very special day for me... it is the 1 year anniversary of my lap band. I have a lot to say about that so stay tuned for a big rant on Saturday.

A quick photo to keep you amused in the mean time...

Me at Alcatraz in San Francisco...

It is getting harder and harder to find photos of myself to post where I don't look like a complete gimp...

Yes, I do only post flattering photos of myself, I am vain like that.

However, AJ seems to go out of his way to intentionally look like a dick...

He doesn't read my blog, so I can put ridiculous photos of him up without him knowing.

This is him making use of the chocolate sauce that came with our churros at a Spanish restaurant.

Having Your Cake

I went to San Diego Zoo the other day and weighed myself on the novelty scales that show you how your weight compares with a polar bear (yes, I weighed myself in public!)... Anyway, I am pleased to say that I am still mostly maintaining my weight from when I left Australia (and I weigh the same as a 3 month old polar bear).

What I love about the lap band is that you really can have your cake and eat it too (or red velvet cheesecake)...

Just not too much or you'll feel like this after...

Yes, I Want Fries With That!

I've mentioned that I am trying to be a little careful with my eating while I am travelling. One thing that helped a lot is some of the restaurants and fast food joints that post the calorie count of the food on the menu. Most places don’t do it, I found it more common in New York, but it is so handy. I know I shouldn’t need the calories listed to make me realise getting fries is a bad thing, but it does make it hit home. I really changed the way I ordered when I was faced with the calorie listing because a lot of the food just wasn’t worth the extreme amount of calories.

We were in Starbucks one day and AJ was getting a latte and I start looking at the food and thinking of getting a hot chocolate and a piece of cake as a snack, just because it was there. Then I saw the calories in those suckers were more than I should be eating in a day and they didn’t even look that good, so I just got my tea and left. I didn’t feel deprived because I just don’t think it is worth it. Another day we were in Central Park and it was hot, so I wanted an ice cream (because I am like a child) and the creamy cookie dough ice cream I was looking at getting had about 400 calories and a snow cone had 30 calories, I really didn’t care which I got because I just wanted something cool and so obviously I got the snow cone and saved myself a heap of calories.

The other day AJ bought an American fast food and restaurant calorie counter book and it has really helped us a lot. We just went to Red Robin for lunch and we saw a huge onion ring tower being brought out to another table. We both looked at each other and got excited because we just love onion rings. So we pulled out the little calorie counter book to see what the damage was and we were shocked to see that one serving was 1837 calories and 124 grams of fat. In one tiny serving. Now I am not a complete party pooper, there is nothing wrong with indulging in these things if you are doing it once a week, but we are eating out for every meal of every day and so we have to be a bit careful.

After years of dieting, I thought I was pretty good at guessing what the healthier items on the menu are. Clearly the onion rings are never going to be good and anything with the word creamy, fried or mayo is best to avoid as well, but I have still been surprised when looking up meals in this calorie counter book. Foods I would have ordered because they seemed ‘clean’ and ‘whole’ aren’t at all. Can you imagine what a difference it would make if all restaurants made the calories of the food on their menus available to customers?

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Please feel free to leave me any tips or ideas you have for keeping healthy while you are travelling or let me know your favourite 'healthy' fast food (or not so healthy too, I'm not a complete saint)! 

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I would love to be facebook friends but don't want to publish my real name, if you want to be friends too send me an email with your name and I'll friend you: prettyif@gmail.com 

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Also, I have been catching up on blogs lately, what in the world is this BOOBS thing in Chicago??? Sounds like fun, I want to go!!!

I Don't Drink That Much...

I feel so fat lately...

It would help if I didn't drink so much...

Wizard party... you have to drink your height in beer cans... I came close!

No make up... sexy... red wine in bed... good

Cocktails in Savannah... craziest night I have ever had... so many laws broken... don't ask... scary, scary night...

I'm not drunk in Key West, I just think this looks hot...

The walls are closing in at Miami... no I didn't expose my breasts to everyone in the bar tonight... who told you that??? Oh yeah, there was photographic evidence...

Rocking hard with my brother in Vegas...

Travel Gain

I was nervous about a lot of things to do with my weight when travelling for 3 months around North America. Just before I left Australia I had reached my lowest adult weight and was thinner than I had been since I was about 8 years old. I was terrified that I would eat my way back over 100 kilos and repeat the dieting pattern I have had  for 20 years and it was enough to make me question whether I should even go. I knew having the lap band would help me because I just wouldn't be able to eat as much as I used to eat, but anyone with a lap band knows that having a lap band doesn't stop weight gain!

I have been travelling for about 6 weeks so far now and I literally had no idea how much I weighed. I knew I had gained some weight because of the way my jeans were digging in, but I didn't know how much. I was somewhat enjoying not knowing how much I weigh and being a slave to the scales, but I was kind of curious too. Then the other day I was in the bathroom in a service station and there were scales that you could pay a quarter to get your weight (and your lucky lottery numbers...) and I couldn't help myself. I was sweating bullets while I waited for the numbers to come up and also praying no one would walk in too! I got my weight and raced to car to convert it to kilos on my phone calculator because pounds don't mean much to me.

The weight on the scale was 201.6 lbs, which converts to 91.6 kilos and is a 1.8 kilo gain since I left Australia. I was beyond thrilled with this number because I have been known to gain 5 kilos on a long weekend away, let along 6 weeks travelling! Obviously it would be ideal if I didn't gain any weight or if I even lost weight, but I knew that was never going to happen with me. I came here to enjoy the food and I didn't want to feel deprived and like I had to diet. I do make a little effort to try and keep the weight down, I rarely finish a meal, I try not to snack, I try to keep it to 2 small meals a day, drink diet soft drink and I try to keep active as much as possible, but I'm not too strict on myself!

AJ decided to go to the men's room and weigh himself as well and the poor guy has gained almost 8 kilos while we have been away. I know I have my lap band to thank for keeping my weight somewhat steady and he can probably blame me for his weight gain because I keep giving him all my food to eat! We have been eating whatever we want and I am a sucker for a local specialty, if a town is famous for their pecan pie, than I have to try it, it would be rude not to! Same with the red velvet cupcakes, key lime pie, fudge, pralines, funnel cake, pancakes, milkshakes, twizzlers, ice box pie, almond joys, donuts, taffy, moon pie, anything with peanut butter and that's just the sweets!

Just to prove that I am enjoying the food here in the USA...

Funnel cake, I had powdered sugar in the strangest places after eating that!

New York hot dog from the Shake Shack, the shake I had with it was the best I have ever had.

Chili cheese fries, what a fucking mess! Once was enough with these things.

Macaroni and cheese, look how excited I am! Best mac n cheese I have had here, and I've tried a lot!

Peanut butter frozen hot chocolate from Serendipity 3. Worth the hype.

Shrimp and grits in Savannah. What you don;t see here is the plate of biscuits I also ate.

Choc chip pancakes at IHOP. I want to go back and get more!

Looking caught out with my New York knish. It was better than the look on my face makes it seem.