Stuffed.

Thanksgiving was awesome! This holiday is mostly about the food, and at my parent's house, there was plenty of it. We had the usual fare with a few southern staples like collard greens w/ neck bones and baked mac & cheese. There was plenty of dessert as well, sweet potato pie, pecan pie, lemon meringue pie, chocolate chip pie and chocolate cake. I was all ready to be a total pig yesterday, I had it all planned out. Instead of one big meal - which is impossible for me now post-surgery - I was gonna pace myself and enjoy a steady, well paced of small meals. Instead of having 5 or 6 different things on my plate, I was going to eat 2 things at a time, with a small dessert every 2 hours or so. My first small meal consisted of my two favorites ham and mac & cheese! YUM! BTW, I made the mac & cheese myself with Dreamfield's pasta and people loved it and no one could tell it was low carb.

Anyway, so I eat the first meal and then dig into some lemon meringue pie. It was delish, but about an hour later - I wasn't feeling so great. My stomach started doing cartwheels and rumbling like crazy. The gas was out of control. It took some Mylanta and another four hours of pooting billowing clouds of gas before I felt okay enough to try to eat again. So, on that front, it was a bit of a disappointment. I didn't get to eat like how I envisioned, but I guess that's why Thanksgiving is on a Thursday so you have Friday to phase II! The funny thing is, I'm more interested in eating more ham & turkey than I am in the leftover desserts which is definitely odd for me.

Besides the food issue, I had fun with my family. We are a large and boisterous bunch so it's always a crazy time when we get together. The kids surely had a great time, by 4pm they were hopped up on so much sugar and the excitement of being around their cousins that they were literally running around the house screaming and laughing. Hilarious - and it was nice to do a little running around with them. This is one of the many unexpected benefits of surgery and losing the weight. It seemed like my nieces and nephews were always sort of skeptical or wary of me when I was 500+ lbs, they definitely kinda stayed away, I was sort of the freak of the family. Honestly, they probably didn't know what to do with me. Now, it's so different, I get plenty of hugs and we joke and play and run around, I definitely have much better relationships with them. It's so nice and SO much fun!

On a side note, one my sisters doesn't like to drive so I had to pick up her and her two sons and bring them to the house for dinner. This is a sister that I am seriously concerned about because in the last 10 years, she has probably gained 200 lbs, and honestly, probably like 100 within the last 3 years. If I had to guess, she is over 400 lbs and is having major issues with her knees. I'm really afraid for her because she smokes a lot, drinks probably 2-3 times a week, eats like crap and gets zero exercise. In some ways she isn't as bad off as I was when I weighed 500+ lbs, but in many ways she definitely is. At my highest, I was still able to do what I need to do, even though it wasn't easy. She has two kids who do a lot of the running around for her so she gets to offload a lot of that on them. Sigh. I honestly feel she is an ideal candidate for the Duodenal Switch, but approaching her about it is a delicate thing. We have talked extensively about low carbing and I have been doing my best to be as thorough as I can about it and offering up all the tips, advice and even websites that I can so that she can be as successful as possible, but who are we kidding, the odds of her losing 200+ lbs low carbing are slim and even if she does, she'll have to work miracles to keep it off long term. She wants surgery on her knees, but they will never do it at her weight. The only thing I can think to do is be as supportive and go hung as I can about low carbing with her and plant the surgery seed and nurturing it.

I'm headed back to Georgia tomorrow and find that I wish I could stay a few more days in Texas. My parents are getting along well and there really wasn't much for me to do for them while I was here. I setup a webcam & Skype for my dad and he LOVES it. We'll be able to use it frequently and will give us plenty of opportunities to stay close. My mom has mentioned to me, a few times, that she doesn't think I need to lose any more weight or get any smaller. I kinda just said "ok" and left it at that. I know better! My weight isn't changing that much, but it seems like maybe it's shifting or something because clothes are fitting differently and I'm slowly slimming down. I'm not going to kid myself and think that my eating this month is going to be stellar, nearly impossible this time of year, but I am going to make sure that no matter what, I will be getting in at least 2 protein shakes, if not three. I may not be able to attain perfection, but I know I'll be able to consistently set my nutritional foundation every day.

Today is going to be a lazy one. It's almost noon here so the plan for the day is to go get some Mexican food and maybe do a little shopping. I'm then going to just relax, spend some alone time with mom & dad separately and start packing. Thank goodness I have Sunday to recover and then it's back to the grind on Monday.