Week 10 of 52 – Switzerland – Dec 26, 2011 – 174 lbs… ugh… up 3 lbs!

First, Merry Christmas to everyone!  We feel like we have been celebrating Christmas for the last month…..all the holiday lights in Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Italy and now Switzerland have been magical.

 

After being in sunny Italy, we took the train over snow-covered Swiss Alps (just gorgeous) and landed in Zurich to spend 2 weeks with our Swiss hanai (adopted) family for Christmas.

 

Like me, I’m sure this past week has presented new challenges to every one who has been sleeved or is on a pre-op (OMG) diet.  Hope you were all able to get through without too much trouble.

 

Our beautiful (and slim) adopted family in Switzerland

None of them knew about my surgery and they hadn’t seen me in about 3 months (and they’re all beautiful BTW).  They were all very complimentary and happy about my weight loss and I felt really good being among them physically for the first time!

 

 

Week 9 of 52 – Tuscany – Dec 19, 2011 – 171 lbs!

So here we are in Florence and traveling the Tuscan country side.  And HOW do I know how much I weigh????  Because once again I found myself looking for a clinic; thinking it was my damn bladder again, but to find out I’m OK.  BUT!  While I was in the clinic trying to converse with the Dr. who spoke no English and of course I spoke no Italian, I spotted a scale, stepped on and VOILA!!!  78 Kilos!!!   So while she was checking out my urine….I was whipping out my Iphone calculator and seeing that 78 Kilos was 171 lbs.  So I was happy even before finding out that the infection was gone!!!

 

Porto Venere, a charming medieval village that took our breath away.

So off we went to the charming villages, medieval walled towns and country side “Under the Tuscan sun!!!”  The weather was picture perfect (the photo here was taken Dec 19!).  We now understand why people are so taken with this area and Italy in general.

 

Most of our travel has been by train, but we rented a car for 4 days and had a great time (once we got out of the city with crazy Italian drivers!).

 

THE FOOD.  So here we are in what is not only one of the most picturesque places in the world, but it’s also known for it’s amazing food.  Maybe it was the WLS, but I have not had a good meal since we have been here (and even before my surgery in October, the food in Europe, to me, is not that great….my apologies to any Italians out there).

 

Week 8 – Venice and Rome – Dec 11, 2011 – In the 170s

Venice, with canals and more tall, beautiful women

Venice, with canals and more tall, beautiful women

No pizza, no pasta, and no wine! This may not have been the wisest choice in places to visit nine weeks after WLS. There are 100 Italian restaurants to one of any other type; Italians don’t quite get the concept of diversity when it comes to eating. I think I am the only tourist in the history of Italy who visited and ate mostly soup!

Venice … just as gorgeous as you can imagine, but check out the blonde on the left who has legs that go on forever, and of course her thighs have probably never touched! (What does she eat???)

Our first night in Venice we went to a very charming, local, small, family-owned Italian (what else?) restaurant. Watching the people who worked there and the locals who came in was like watching a scene out of the movie The Godfather. Attention all casting agents: just have a cappuccino here and you will have all the characters you need for your next project! Another thing about restaurants here, if you don’t order vino with your meal, they look at you suspiciously. So when I ordered a pizza (scraping off the top again) and nothing to drink, and we didn’t eat the bread they brought, and I only ate one slice of this huge pizza, I’m sure they thought we were odd indeed. The proprietor asked (looking genuinely concerned) in his heavy Italian accent, “Wassamatta? You no-a like-a my pizza?” So another lie to just say I wasn’t feeling well.

Week 7 of 52 – Weiden, Prague, Vienna, and a clinic – Dec 4, 2011 – 179 lbs!

Three countries, three train trips and a visit to a health clinic this past week.  Weiden (a small town in Bavaria), Prague and Vienna are all cities that are on architectural and picturesque steroids……the beauty and charm has been overwhelming.  Our weather, for late Nov and early Dec has been fantastic and the Christmas markets and lights everywhere are amazing.  We are walking a lot every day and most days I have had some pretty good energy.

I had a nice lunch on the train from Prague to Vienna.  It was a charming club car on this particular train and the menu was nice.  I ordered salmon and it was really good.  I only ate about 1/4 of it and tried a bit of the salad and they both went down fine.  Luckily, my husband was there to finish it off but even he left the mashed potatoes! 

We are staying in those charming European hotels and most mornings I think about eating some eggs and meat and cheese.  But in the end, I’ve just been having yogurt with protein powder.  It isn’t mentally satisfying but I just know I’ll be sorry if I eat something else; as in, I want to go and lie down after breakfast.  So, yogurt it is.  If they have tea in the room then that’s great; I have that when I first get up and after I shower and dress, then I’ll go down for breakfast.  But if they don’t, I get caught up in wanting to have my tea with my breakfast…..and that seems to be a problem, since I can only get a couple of sips of tea; then I get a headache……

 

One of the things I’ve noticed since we eat out so much, is that watching other people eat can sometimes bother me.  Either they are stuffing so much into their mouths that it’s uncomfortable to watch, or I start having a mini pity-party for myself as I struggle to eat a morsel of chicken.  Either way, I need to face away from the open room when we sit down.  I think that will help.

Week 6 of 52 – Frankfurt and Berlin – Nov 26, 2011 – 182 lbs

Adriana, one of the Bariatric nurses said she didn’t recognize me at first….I took that as a compliment!

The first stop on our month long trip through Europe was to Krankenhaus Sachsenhausen
for my 4 week check up.  The check up consisted of a meeting with the nutritionist.  I’m not having many issues however when I told her I was constipated she immediately asked if I was drinking enough water…..so I was busted on that account and so one more reason to drink, drink, drink.  So tough though.  I then had an ultrasound to check for gall stones, kidney stones and to be sure the stomach was in good shape…..and I got a clean bill of health and was told I could go off of my cholesterol medication!  In fact, they said I could now eat anything I wanted…...(hah!).  They should have said, anything my new tummy approves of…..

 

My first attempt at this plan did not work very well.  Hoo boy, we were invited to a friend’s house for dinner and they went to so much effort to prepare a traditional German meal for us – and I could eat none of it!  I felt so bad.  They started out with a bottle of champagne, and I accepted a glass and sipped tiny sips.  Then dinner was served with a starter spinach salad…..and I haven’t tried to eat any salad yet.  I took three little leaves and some bacon bits….and tried to eat some of it, but could not.  I finally told them I was having stomach trouble and to please forgive me.  These are not close friends; they are relatives of friends so telling them about my surgery was not an option as I didn’t want it to get back to our friends.  (Plus, we hadn’t told them we were in Frankfurt a month earlier!).  They then brought out these huge portions of wrapped beef, potatoes and cabbage.  I ended up only eating part of potato; and of course no desert.  At least my husband ate a lot and they seem genuinely concerned about my ‘health.’  As you can see from the table they set, they really worked hard on having us over……I am so happy we are not planning on many of these dinners in the next month.

 

The next day we were off to Berlin where we have been in a hotel for the last 5 days.  Lots of options for breakfast; eggs, yogurt, cheese, bacon, sausages.  But I have found my tummy is quite happy with just yogurt with some protein powder and maybe some cereal sprinkled on top. Weird to be sitting in the breakfast room watching everyone heap food on their plates….I used to one of them!