Been a hot minute since I’ve done one of these little round ups of things I’ve been loving… and by “hot minute” I mean it’s been since 2018. Oops! Let’s get right to it then. Here are some of the things I’ve been loving lately.
❤️ Power Crunch Protein Bars
Since starting the process of pursuing weight loss surgery, I’ve had to drastically change my eating habits. One of the things I’ve had to do is really up my protein intake, and decrease my sugar intake. In comes protein bars… and some are much better than others. So far, these Power Crunch bars are my favorite! I am OBSESSED with the salted caramel ones. I also like the chocolate as well, and am hoping to try the rest really soon. They’re just like wafer cookies and really satisfy my sweet tooth without an insane amount of sugar.
❤️ Target drive-up service
I’ve been using the Walmart grocery drive up service from time to time (but they’ve messed up badly on two of the four times I’ve done it, plus the nearest Walmart that offers it is 25 minutes away), so I was thrilled to find out that Target started offering this as well! We do most of our grocery shopping at Aldi, but I wanted to get a few varieties of Quest Bars and tea that they don’t have at Aldi, so I placed a small drive up order last week. I was in and out of the parking lot in less than 5 minutes. So convenient! It’s super hard for me to find time to really get anything done between work and the boys, so little things like this really make my life so much easier. Now if only Aldi would offer it…
❤️ Swerve
I’ve just started eating healthier, and Jerry has always eaten healthy, so Swerve (a zero calorie sweetener), has become a huge hit in our house! My friend Angela got us hooked on it and it’s our favorite. It’s all natural and tastes just like sugar, honestly. My favorite is the brown sugar one, which I use in my oatmeal. My dietitian said that we are allowed to use artificial / zero calorie sweeteners as often as we’d like, so this is my savior right now.
❤️ Facebook groups for Bariatric surgery, Aldi, and keto
I’m in a ton of bariatric groups, Aldi groups, and Keto groups on Facebook and I’ve been digging them lately. I love the Aldi and keto groups because we get SO many good ideas of things to buy at Aldi, as well as tons of keto recipes, and while I am not officially doing keto, Jerry and I are both trying to eat high protein, low carb. And of course, the bariatric groups have been so invaluable to me lately. I’ve found a lot of support, advice, and inspiration, and have done a ton of research into the process just by being in these groups and digging into the posts and asking questions. For all the trouble Facebook sometimes is, it can be quite a magical place… mostly in groups!
❤️ Air fryer
We Jerry got an air fryer for Christmas from my parents, and now I wonder how we ever lived without the dang thing! Even I can cook with the air fryer, and we use it nearly every day. Chicken nuggets, chicken breast, brussels spouts, turkey bacon… pretty much everything gets tossed in there, and it’s not greasy!
❤️ Baritastic app
This is an app used by bariatric patients and their surgical programs. It’s kind of like MyFitnessPal, in that I can log food, but it’s more comprehensive and geared specifically towards bariatric patients. I primarily use it to log my food, which gets sent over to the dietitians, but I also use it for my vitamin reminders (I’ve already had to start a new vitamin regimen pre-op). It also has bariatric friendly recipes, timers (you have to chew your food very thoroughly after surgery), a checklist for my specific program, a notes field, a water tracker, and more. I love it. It also offers a new inspirational quote daily… and yesterday’s had me cracking up: “don’t forget to smile at the haters. :)” They’re usually very serious and this one was silly… but also true. I’ve had a handful of people coming out of the woodwork to disagree with my decision, so... smile!?
❤️ Overnight oats
My new breakfast obsession is overnight oats… finally a way for me to use my beloved mason jars in ways other than decor! HA! There are SO MANY things you can do with them. I was doing oats + milk + bananas + Nutella, but now I’m working on being healthier so my current method lately has been some variation of: oats, cocoa powder, Swerve, bananas, almond milk, almond slivers… and whatever the heck else I might want. Yum, yum. Even Holden likes them and mooches half of my breakfast off of me.
❤️ My 600 Pound Life show
I’ve always liked this show, but it had been a couple of years since I’d watched it. Well, I’ve started watching it religiously again because it’s all about bariatric surgery. Hands down the best part of the show though is Dr. Now. He’s the sweetest and the funniest, and Jerry and I walk around all day quoting him to each other. Who else is a fan?
No comments