More than you really wanted to know…

A few Christmas past, my mom gave me a George Foreman grill, one of the larger ones. I used it once in awhile.. in the summer I prefer the grill on my deck… and I’ve never cared for burgers on the GF. Maybe it’s the fact that you do lose so much of the fat? I dunno. Bout the same time I ended up with an electric griddle. It was handy, but when just cooking for myself it didn’t get used very often.

Awhile back, I saw that Cuisinart had what they called a “Griddler” It looks similar to the GF grills, but it doesn’t sit at a slant. What it looks more like I suppose is a panini press, one of those machines that just borders on being a uni-tasker that you might see Alton Brown throwing out the kitchen window. Both a panini press and a GF grill are what are often referred to as “contact grills”. They grill by direct contact heat to both sides of your food at the same time. Not that you couldn’t use a regular grill and just flip stuff over, but hey… anything to make things faster, right?

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“I used to snort coke, but I had to stop. The bubbles tickled my nose too much.”

Ok, forgive the bad joke, but tomorrow is my 2-month “anniversary” being coke free. And no, not that kind of coke… coca-cola.

But in some ways, I suppose I was just as addicted.

I’ve gone the “no pop” route before… went about 4 months or so back about 5 years ago. Then allowed myself one on my birthday. It tasted weird. And before long, I was back to drinking as much as a six-pack a day.

Could Coca-Cola be a gateway drug? Cause then there was the Monster (energy drink).

I’ve never cared for Red Bull, tried a couple other energy drinks, most I didn’t care for. But Monster… that I liked. The slight fizz… the tang that was like a mild can of Squirt. I didn’t slam the stuff, but would sip it over the course of the morning. It was a taste I didn’t mind, even as it got warm. Started out with the 16oz cans, then moved up to the 24’s. I was drinking one a day… sometimes two. In addition to a Coke here and there.

Coke Zero came out, and I liked the taste. It was pretty dang close to real Coke… though yea, you could tell the difference. I was drinking that about 60-70% of the time compared to regular Coke. I figured it was “better for me”. Maybe… probably not.

But, as part of looking in to WLS, I realized, pop… no matter what kind… was gonna have to go. The carbonation, the caffeine, even if it was diet was not gonna be a good thing. So on November 2nd, I took the last bottle of Coke Zero I had with me to my sisters when going over there for dinner… drank it… and haven’t drank any since. (I don’t think the sparkling grape juice at Christmas would count as pop…?)

Do I miss it?

You bet I do. I believe I always will.

A nice cold Coke on a hot day is going to be one of those things I know I will miss after surgery. Big time. The longest Even when “New” Coke came out, as bad as it was, I would drink it once in awhile. And the Monster… I miss that too, though not as much.

Yea, there are worse things to be addicted to… I have friends and family that struggle with those every day, so I know there isn’t a “cure”. But I know such things can be beat, I know I can beat this. After all… it’s a means to an end. I know that. I’m dealing with that.

I can live with that.

I’m not exactly sure why it’s all collecting here, but water and snow coming off the roof of our office building has been collecting outside my window… combined with hot exhaust coming out of the mechanical room next door and I’ve been getting what seems to like a termite mound made out of ice.

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The year is almost to a close… and the last couple months have been… a heck of a ride.

I figured I’d jot a few notes on where things are at with the whole losing weight/considering surgery thing.

On the balance scale at the gym today I was 349, in shorts, socks, t-shirt. The fact that I could use the scale is a milestone… the thing only goes up to 350. The scale at home here has me at 344. Let’s be optimistic and use that one… which means I’m down 25 pounds since the day before Thanksgiving and 30 from my highest. And I’m starving.

Ok, maybe not starving. But it has been tough. Not that I thought it wouldn’t be… but… Well, I’ve been eating more than 1500 calories a day I’m sure. Maybe not every day… but I’ve tried a Cliff bar before working out the last couple days cause I feel almost weak from hunger otherwise. That’s an extra 200 calories right there. I made a pita bread pizza for dinner… but one wasn’t near enough… even two left me still hungry. That was with an ounce of turkey pepperoni, green onion, red pepper, tomato purée, and 2 oz of cheese. The only reason I could have two was I didn’t do any starch with breakfast this morning, so I had four portions left instead of just two.

So actually, today I was likely fairly close, maybe even under. But last Friday I broke. I went to a pizza place for their lunch buffet. About 5 slices of thin crust pizza and a large salad with plenty of French dressing. I’m sure that put me over the top in one sitting. But I left full.

Don’t get me wrong… it’s not all doom and gloom or anything. Last night I baked up a northern pike fillet that I baked with a crust of soy nut crumbs with a lil parmesan cheese, topped with a cucumber dill sauce, a side of cooked apples and some of my peppered green beans. I seem to have those about once a week…

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