Guest Blogger with Terrific Giveaway!

One of my favorite bloggers is having a BIG GIVEAWAY to celebrate 10,000 Facebook likes.  For those who are contemplating or who have had bariatric surgery this blog is a must-see for tips, recipes and inspiration.  Be sure to enter for the prizes but don't forget to try her recipes.  

  http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/

 

The Eggface BIG 10,000 Giveaway

While I was away at Fitbloggin' last weekend we hit the 10,000 friends mark on The World According to Eggface Facebook page! To say thank you for taking this journey to better health with me and for always sharing the blog and Facebook page with your pals. I'm doing a HUGE GIVEAWAY!

Sharing this ride with all of you and never feeling alone is AWESOME! Thank you!

The Prize: A Nike Gym Bag Hit the gym, pool, or dance class in style and it's jam packed with some of my post weight loss surgery bariatric favorites...

Celebrate Vitamins Calcium Plus 500 (Chewable Berries and Cream) 90 ct.
Celebrate Vitamins Multivitamin (Chewable Pineapple Strawberry) 60 ct.
Celebrate Vitamins 30mg Iron + C (Chewable Grape) 30 ct.

3 single serving packets of Celebrate Vitamins ENS in Vanilla Cake Batter, Chocolate Milk, and Strawberry flavors (each delicious shake contains a high potency multivitamin, 500 mg of calcium citrate, 4 g of fiber, and 25 g of whey isolate protein in each serving)

5 single serving sticks of Celebrate Vitamins Multivitamin and Calcium Drink Mix (Cranberry Grape flavor)

1 30 ct. Box Calcet Lemon Cream 500mg Calcium Citrate Creamy Bites

1 tub of CLICK Espresso Protein (Mocha Flavor)

2 single serving packs of Syntrax Chocolate Truffle and Vanilla Bean Torte Protein Powder

1 Oh Yeah Ready-to-Drink Vanilla Creme Shake

3 Quest Protein Bars (Wild Berry, Apple Pie, Vanilla Almond flavors)

2 Premier Titan High Protein Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

2 Sample Packs of PB2 Peanut Butter Thins

Chike Nutrition 6 packet Protein Variety Pack (1 of each flavor: Chocolate Bliss, Very Vanilla, Strawberry Burst, Banana Magic, Orange Creme and High Protein Iced Coffee)

1 Mini Sampler Set of Sugar Free Torani Syrups (4 - 150 ml mini bottles in SF Caramel, SF Raspberry, SF Vanilla, and SF Hazelnut)

Big Train 5 packet Fit Frappe Protein Variety Pack (1 of each flavor: Chocolate, Espresso, Mocha, Vanilla, Vanilla Latte)

Big Train Reusable Tumbler Cup

1 Blue 28 oz. Blender Bottle Shaker

How to Enter: Like The World According to Eggface on Facebook. Come back here and LEAVE A COMMENT (include a name and an email addy) on this blog posting. Scroll down to # of comments to leave yours. Do not leave on Facebook (they have rules about it.)

Contest periods ends: Sunday October 7th, midnight (Pacific time)

Monday, October 8th I'll draw a name using a random number generator and announce the winner here on the blog! I will also email the winner at the address posted. You'll have one week (7 days) to respond to my email or another winner will be chosen. Remember winners MUST be a Facebook friend of The World According to Eggface. One ENTRY per person. Blog comments are moderated so there may be a slight delay (up to a few hours) in seeing your comment/entry post. Giveaway is open to anyone in the United States (48 contiguous, Alaska & Hawaii.)

Good luck everyone! 

Love to all, 

Marlena of Mohegan

Sunday Afternoon Ambulation

I seem to have trouble staying active on Sunday.  I go to church where I am the nursery leader.  After our main meeting, I spend two hours corralling a herd of two-year olds.  Yes, you read right.  Three hours of church.  Every week.

Late afternoon shadow. 

Sunny day for my walk.

Anyway, after the nursery rodeo I come home, have lunch while playing on the computer and then go up to my bed to read for a while.  My reading usually turns into a nap.  I don't really like to head for the gym on Sunday and today I really wanted some family time.  I had a great idea to go with my daughter's family and head for a nearby place I've wanted to see for quite a while.  The Walkway Over the Hudson is a former railroad bridge turned into a New York State Park. It is 1.28 miles long and 212 feet above the Hudson river.  

Southward view from mid-span. 

It was a perfectly clear day with the temperature and humidity just right.  A little breeze but not too much. There were all ages of people walking, running, riding bicycles, tricycles, wheelchairs and scooters.  Lots of dogs.  One couple had a very old dog riding in a wagon.  Like any open space in New York, the faces were from all parts of the world.  Today was a whole lot better than laps around the track. 

 

Love to all, Marlena of Mohegan

View of the longest pedestrian bridge in the world. 

Labor Day

Today while grocery shopping I was surprised to discover that Sunsweet is marketing chocolate covered prunes!  While they may call them Plum Sweets they are really just prunes in disguise.  I suppose this is another result of the great glut of humanity known as the "Baby Boomers" becoming obsessed with "regularity" as we age.  What next?

I had to hustle to get to Planet Fitness today because they closed at 1PM for the Labor Day Holiday.  I was surprised to find the place packed with people when I arrived about 11:45.  Only one upright stationary bike was vacant at the time and I was glad I didn't have to resort to the recumbent bike (my butt gets numb on those).

While on the bike I glanced at the row of TV's not expecting to find anything outside the usual daytime drivel.  I was not anticipating something that would make me cry.  On the show "Inside Edition" there was a report of a viral video showing Matt, a young boy with cerebral palsy running a 400 meter race.  He faltered painfully but before he could give up his gym teacher ran up next to him and gave him words of encouragement.  His classmates joined in behind him and gave him the incentive he needed to finish the race.  It was a beautiful moment even though I was not connected to the audio feed.  Below, find a link to Inside Edition write-up.  

News - Boy With Cerebral Palsy Triumphs At Elementary School Field Day - InsideEdition.com

Then view the video on You tube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6Alt2DssYc

My struggles pale by comparison to this brave kid.  To boldly start a race he knew he couldn't possibly win puts to shame all of us who whine and complain about our lack of will power.  Winning isn't always about finishing first.  Sometimes triumph comes by not giving up. 

Love to all,
Marlena of Mohegan

The Thrill of Victory...NOT!

I finally got tired of my knee having the spasms that woke me up a few weeks ago.  On Saturday I went to work all tightened up.  When I flexed the knee there was this horrible grinding accompanied by pain. The crepitis was so bad I could actually hear it.   One of my co-workers was nice enough to switch assignments with me so I could be at the triage desk.  Working triage has a lot less running around.  By the next day I was better but every time I get up from sitting I felt like it might go out again.  One physician assistant who used to work with an orthopedic group felt I should really have an MRI and be seen by my ortho doc.

So today I had an MRI and went to see Dr. Brand.  He told me that I have a small meniscus tear on the opposite side of the knee along with a lot of arthritis. This type of pain I've had before in the other knee.  The MRI doesn't show the problem that hurts the most.  He feels I have ileo-tibial band syndrome.  This is an inflammation of the band of muscle and tendon that stretches from the buttock area to the outer side of the knee.  It often affects runners or cyclists.  This is exactly what my friend, the yoga guru, told me it was.  The doctor gave me a corticosteroid injection which should help.  He says I should be able to get back to exercising in two days.  If I'm not doing better after a couple of weeks he will have me do physical therapy.

Not exercising is no longer an option for me.  I'm rather stressed that I can't do it right now.  Someone suggested swimming rather than cycling but I don't belong to a gym that has a pool.  The only one in the area with a pool is much more expensive than Planet Fitness.  I almost went to a yoga class last week.  My friend has a class on Thursday evening and if my knee feels up to it I'm gonna do it.  Then I can get back to the gym on Friday. 

It's pretty typical of me to find some way to hurt myself doing an athletic activity.  I'll focus more on warming up and cooling down from now on.  I'd never thought riding a bike needed that type of thing.  Usually I tried to start off slowly and gradually increase the RPM's  I incorporated the yoga stretches but I guess they were too little too late to cure my pain.  Hopefully the yoga will help me heal.

One of the US Olympic gymnasts competed with a fractured toe.  I saw a close-up photo of her bruised and battered foot.  When the interviewer asked if the injury meant she was spending a lot of time being iced after training and competing, she replied that they all always do that anyway.  They deal with pain all the time.  It's hard to imagine when you see them flinging themselves all over the place.  The trick is knowing what the pain is telling you.  Some pain means you need to stop.  I saw one short-distance runner slow down and drop out of his race.  He said his ham-strings weren't right.  If he continued to run that race there might have been irreparable damage.  After the years of training for the Olympics it must have been devastating to give up but he listened to his body.

Ouch!

I am not and never have been a competitive athlete.  Oh, I was on a bowling team for a while, but I have never been possessed of the type of drive to win at all costs.  My only opponent is myself. I just want to get in better shape no matter how much my inner self wants to sit on my ass.

Love to all,
Marlena of Mohegan

Bottoming Out in the Wee Hours

No Pop Tarts

I've really got to give myself a kick in the butt.  Last night I was needing something to munch on and found a stash of Pop Tarts that somebody in my family had hidden.The sad thing is that they really don't taste all that great for the amount of calories they have.  Nevertheless,  I ate two of them around midnight.  I've always felt that the manufacturer forces you to eat two at a time because there are two in each wrapper.  If you only eat one then the poor, lonely other one gets stale. (Yeah, right).  Anyway late night snacking is a constant temptation for me but last night it really backfired.

I went to bed around one a.m..  Why I stayed up so late when I had to work in the morning is another issue.  I'm just not ready for bed before midnight especially when I've been to the gym in the evening.  At around 2:30, I awoke dying of thirst.  I stumbled, literally, to the bathroom.  As I got my drink I felt very sweaty and uncoordinated.  I felt like my blood sugar was really low.  I didn't want to wake anyone to get me something to bring the glucose level up but I had to do something.  I grabbed my husband's bottle of TUMS and poured out about five of them.  I chewed them up and soon felt better and went back to sleep.

I was amazed that I woke up in that condition.  I always thought if your sugar bottomed out when you were sleeping that you might just not wake up at all.  I felt fine in the morning, although more than tired from only getting a few hours of uninterrupted slumber.

Apparently there are no existing depictions of women who snore. 

Today after work I went to Trader Joe's and got some munchies with less sugar.  I bought low fat cheese sticks, fresh cherries and protein muffins.  I can get carried away with cheese but at least it doesn't affect my blood glucose level!  I'm up late again tonight but at least I'm off tomorrow.

On a good note, today was a really busy day at work. Normally I'm grabbing those little packs of graham crackers when it looks like I'm not going to get lunch. I resisted all day long. I got a Greek yogurt from a vending machine instead. So see, I can have will power once in a while. I'm not consistent but there is hope.

Love to all,
Marlena of Mohegan

A Day at the Beach

Aah, the beach.  As in ocean.  It's been years since I braved the beach.  After my weight loss surgery and dropping 170 lbs. I have still been reluctant to be seen in a swimsuit.  But last Friday I was off work and the waves beckoned to me.  I went with my daughter and grandson to Jones Beach on Long Island.  As the crow flies it isn't that far but a trip to Long Island from my home in Westchester County, NY requires driving through the Bronx and Queens and over a toll bridge.  It's worth the traffic though because it is an amazingly beautiful beach.  No commercial signs or businesses are in sight of the place.  No high rise hotels or restaurants.  Just beach. 

The waves were not super rough but enough that I got knocked over a couple of times.  The undertow was pretty strong too.  I found that my knee problems make keeping my balance in the surf more difficult than it used to be.  I don't know how to explain it except that my knees felt loose.  I guess that qualifies as unstable knees. 

 My feet at Jones Beach

Still the sheer exhilaration of ocean swimming makes lake or pool swimming boring by comparison.  I don't go to the ocean often but I like to know that it is nearby when I want it.  I feel sorry for all the people who live too far inland to get there easily. 

Enzo and his Mommy in the surf.

This was my grandson's first time in salt water (tasted yucky) and in real waves.  He absolutely loved the water and didn't mind getting knocked over once in a while.  He was thrilled that there was more sand than in his wildest dreams.  Of course even though his mom rinsed him off he still brought a lot of sand back home. 


Before my weight loss surgery I could not have managed a day like this.  I was in such poor health I could not have walked to the water from my car.  It is wonderful to be able to share something I love with my grandson for the first time.  Such simple pleasures are often the best memories. 

Love to all,
Marlena of Mohegan

Knee Trouble

A week ago my right knee seized up in pain and woke me up out of a sound sleep.  Keep in mind that my right knee is my GOOD knee. (I once had a meniscus tear and arthroscopic surgery on the left knee.) My mother said it was because my husband kicked me in bed (good ol' Mom) but he sleeps on the left side of the bed and couldn't really reach my right side if he wanted to. It was almost like a spasm in one of the lateral ligaments. I had similar spasms on the left knee but not as bad.  I couldn't seem to work it out with the usual ice, anti inflammatory tablets and elevation.  It was a little better the next day but I still had to walk gingerly.  I did miss one day of work but I didn't want to take any more time off.  I limped back to work on Tuesday and lasted the rest of the week.

My friend, the yoga guru, suggested that my problem is tightness in my hips.  Because of my exercise routine on the stationary bike I may have too much tension in my hips causing the stress to the knee.  She showed me some hip stretches and I've been doing them every day.  I also stretched before and after my cycling at the gym today. I think it helps.

I had a visit with the dietitian last week.  She gave me some new ideas for keeping control of my snacking.  It mainly goes back to the basics of keeping track of intake and adequate fluid intake. She also suggested a behavior modification group for weight loss surgery patients.

I've been a little down because of my dental situation.  I was in a lot of pain and couldn't really chew for a couple of weeks.  I really wasn't able to eat salads or anything crunchy.  I still can't manage protein bars at all but I was getting a little carried away with those anyway.  I'm adjusting slowly and today I did eat a small amount of salad.

The good news is that TCBY just opened a store a mere mile from my home.  They have one sugar free flavor at a time.  Today strawberry.  Fresh fruit toppings and sugar free hot fudge!  Yum!!  We're also getting a Pizza Hut and IHOP but those are both off limits!

Its a never-ending battle to stay healthy.  This hasn't been the first time in my life when my attempts to exercise caused pain.  I wrote about those in a post some time ago.  I think I may seek out a Physiatrist.

Physiatrists, or rehabilitation physicians, are nerve, muscle, and bone experts who treat injuries or illnesses that affect how you move

Rehabilitation physicians are medical doctors who have completed training in the medical specialty of physical medicine and rehabilitation The job of a rehabilitation physician is to treat any disability resulting from disease or injury, from sore shoulders to spinal cord injuries. The focus is on the development of a comprehensive program for putting the pieces of a person's life back together after injury or disease – without surgery.

This sounds exactly like what I need.  Now I need to find one and see if my health insurance will cover this.

Love to all, 

Marlena of Mohegan.