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.

 

Lunch is always a wild card.  If I can find soup, that’s what I have; today (in-between going to some great  museums) I had a wonderful shrimp soup at a Vietnamese restaurant here in Vienna.  We had gone to one of the museum cafes but one look at the menu and we realized there was nothing there for me so we left.  Luckily I had brought some orange slices with me so that tided me over until we found something.  (As I wrote this I realized I still had half of the sliced in my bag; another advantage of this surgery….I forget about food…!)

 

The other day I had the fish (I think it’s real fish) on a McDonald’s fish sandwich.  You should have seen her look at me when I asked for a fork!  It didn’t go down well, so I got a strawberry sundae.  I  know, this is bad.  The funny thing is, before my surgery I would never have gone into a McDonalds!

So I have had two challenges this week.  First my vitamins…..man, I am having such a hard time getting them all in.  Before my surgery I could pop 7 or 8 vitamins in my mouth and swallow them all and not blink an eye.  Now, I am breaking most in half and I sit there and look at each one before taking it, and I do that for each pill.  I still haven’t started my calcium (I know, BAD!!!) but they’re so huge…..

My second blip was that my bladder infection came back so off we went in search of a clinic in Prague that spoke English.  We found one and they were GREAT!!!!  I got right in, they asked me lots of questions, I peed in the cup and while we waited for the results, the doctor checked all my vitals, my incisions,  and I even got to weigh myself!!!  Which is how I know I am now at 181 lbs.  When the urine results came back she said she could tell I was eating very little and that yes, I have an infection.  So add antibiotics to my plastic pill case.

Other than feeling more tired than I think I should, all seems to be going fine.  In fact, I got dressed the other day and my husband complimented me on how much thinner I was looking. And I can really tell too; in fact I bought a pair of black slim pants (size 14 at H&M ).  I went into the bathroom and threw out my size 20 levis that were falling off of me and put these on.  I figured since I’m traveling with a limited wardrobe I should at least wear something that fits!  And H&M is great because they are so inexpensive.

Here’s a photo I took today (and this is me in France in 2009 (ugh-I didn’t crop enough of my body out of this one). I have that black sweatshirt top with me; but now it’s loose).  From my highest weight I am now down 45 lbs.  Feels good.

      

So am I feeling pissy because I’m in Vienna and had cottage cheese in my room tonight for dinner?  No, not at all.  Yes, it would be much easier if we were in our home and in a more controlled environment, but we’re having a great adventure; my husband is incredibly supportive when I don’t move very fast and as long as I can get a nap in once in a while, I’ll be OK.  And the photos from THIS trip will be a lot more fun to look at than our 2009 trip to France!

 

But, we head into Italy tomorrow……pasta, pizza, wine, and I probably won’t have any of it…….let’s see if I’m this perky next week!!!!

 

Hope all of you in Month Two (as well as others) are doing well and being better than I am about taking your supplements…….my goal for this coming week is get them all (or at least most) down.

Ciao and a hui hou,

Queen of Crop