M2G

Those look not ONLY like flippers (LV...haha!) but ALIEN ones. Sheesh. Are they comfortable? Where do you do a "write up" of them?

Hope she checks in soon...

Sorry I was so stinkin excited for cooler weather...we even got rain...yay! That fallscape is beautiful Georgia!!! LOVE IT!

I have NOT been keeping up on this THREAD however I have been keeping track of my miles. BTB I gave up on that MapMyRun deal....just using an online calc. to figure it out. Anyway, I'm at 34.7 miles currently. I feel like I'm a bit behind, but maybe not. Need to check in here more.

Did GT make it to Germany? Is that maybe why we haven't heard from her? Coops===>exact same thing happened to me when my dad was in town, shouldabeen a fast day didn't happen tho! LOL! I'm fasting today AND I did spin and rode over 16+ miles. I am currently drowning myself in Water and trying to NOT look at the clock to see when dinner is. Had a lovely turk sauage/egg beater/and fruit Breakfast (SKIPPED THE cheese, yes ladies this is a big deal for me, lurve me some cheese) but didn't want the calories so with my coffee and creamer I'm sitting at 228cals currently and not sure what or when dinner will be. Gah. Finally we got some cooler weather today, in the mid-70's about 20 degrees cooler than it has been....welcoming sweet fall weather!

Oh my gold lame? Did I spell that right? It just looks like the word lame. Anyway, I'm sure you will look amazing Cheri...um you have a whole year still!!! Funny how hard we can be on ourselves over a few pounds. I think I would have given my left arm (okay maybe just the pinky) to weigh what I do today and now it's just not good enough. Sigh. I'm stuck. Still holding on to my -10lbs loss but reeeeeeally wanting to see a few more lbs go away. I've thought about trying the 4:3 ...anyone try that yet? Tomorrow is a fast day and then weds. is my visit with my regular doc (not my surgeon) but it's a physical so he'll draw blood and do labs in preparation for my 3 year appt next month with my surgeon. Eeep. Excited to see results esp. after doing the 5:2 since July!

I do spin class 2x a week (1 hour each class, it's intense...lady who teaches is a die-hard bike rider so she is way in shape), fusion class 1x a week (that is 20 mins cardio, 20 mins weights, 20 mins abs) then do walk/run combos on my treadmill on any of the other 4 remaining days of the week. I just signed up for a weight-lifting class 2x a week for 6 weeks, I'm excited but nervous. My plan is to do 1 hour weight class and then go directly to spin...we'll see how long that lasts. LOL!

Agreed! Although if we were to "follow" the plan as written you would be correct, but most of us never go below 500 on a fast day. We usually settle somewhere between 500-600 and that seems to work fairly well for most of us. Chimera, I LOVE your new profile pic instead of the cartoon. We need to get Dee (Swizzly) on board with that also!

Thought we should have a place to share some low-cal recipes that are helpful for fasting days.

Georgia, YOU ROCK! I'm soooooo happy for you and I know you will be a success in the next phase too. And we'll be here cheering you on for that as well!

You know what? I did Curves for the last 9 years. Everyone who ever "deemed" themselves an "expert" on fitness, health and nutrition would always say "it's not good enough" and you know what? I told them to eff off (nicely.) For 9 years I got up before 5 am and made Curves my first priority. Sometimes it was 3 times a week. Sometimes 4 and sometimes 5. So was I out running marathons and competeing in body building competitions? NO. But was I getting UP off the couch and MOVING my body, building muscles, and improving my cardiovascular system. And it was CONSISTENT exercise. I never quit, I never gave up and in the last 9 years the MOST time that I was away from working out at Curves was the 6 weeks I had to take off from it following my VSG surgery. Now in the last two years I have added in so much more exercise that I finally did let go of my beloved Curves (just finally ended in May.) I'm so much stronger and fitter now than I ever have been before, and I know that my easy recovery was a nod to Curves and how it prepared my body. But if I had listened to all the naysayers then by all means I *should* have quit Curves a long time ago. Figure out what you like to do, make it a priority, do it consistently, and then just when you think you have the hang of it, challenge yourself to do more. Hang in there...get walking again...start small and keep going!!!

Lisa you look absolutely stunning, and I know this isn't *just* about your looks. I have no problem with you wanting to reach goal and I totally understand your frustration and anger at the scale not moving. But I just want to encourage you to not put a time-limit on yourself. You're only 15 months post-op and while it's great to be able to say "I made goal in 6 months, or 1 year," etc. it really does take some time. Also be realistic. What will losing the last -12lbs do for you? I get that it will give you a BMI of 25. What else? Will it give you a new clothing size? Will change or alter a medication that you are on? I guess what I'm saying is what exactly will you get out of the next -12lbs. And then when you get there will it be a struggle to stay there? Please do not misunderstand me because we all struggle with this to some degree,we all have our own goals and I'm not telling you to NOT have this goal... but honestly if there is not some amazing reason to reach that weight then why not enjoy all of your success and Celebrate the new slimmer you. Don't fret, and have patience, we are all in this for the long haul!

Feel your pain also! Put me in the "never-got-to-goal-before-I-regained-20lbs" club. Sh*t, is that a club? It should be. Seems quite common around here! I have to back up the ladies who are saying that the 5;2 is helping them and also need to back them up with getting honest and weighing/measuring/tracking your food. Denial is a great place to visit, but a horrible place to live!

Wow, how EASY it is to trip and fall. My dad and his wife were unexpectedly in town last night, and stayed with us until about 1pm today. It was rather quick and unexpected (although nice, they live 4 hours away so it's not as if they prone to just dropping in per se.) Anyway, I had briefly toyed with the idea of fasting (usually I fast on either Mon or Tues, then again on Thurs. or Fri) and as soon as I defrosted some mini banana choc. chip muffins to serve for a quick Breakfast, I immediately threw the idea of fasting out the window. And I also didn't track (why? because I didn't want to be a goof and weigh and measure my food in front of them...not sure why I'm comfortable doing in front of my fam, etc. and they know/support my surgery decision, etc.) but it just seemed ODD. So then I proceeded to decide NO tracking today and ate: egg beaters w/turk. sausage and cheese (small amt), then nothing again until about 2pm, (we had some running around to do) and I had chicken and cheese for a late lunch, then crackers, then a Protein Bar, and had a parent accountability meeting at school (which they provided dinner) and it was even sleeve friendly...so I had some BBQ turkey and beef, a spoonful of Beans and a mini corn bread muffin. Then ice cream. Aaargh... Now that I've typed it all out it doesn't SEEM as bad as I thought, but I think the idea that I wasn't KEEPING track had me a little worried. And no exercise. I guess tomorrow will be my fast day and I am actually looking forward to it...

So it has been about 3 years since I told my kids. I went back to read about it on my blog because it has been so long... (my husband and I are BOTH sleeved about 5 months apart, I went first...) Basically telling my daughters about my surgery was probably THE hardest part about having surgery. At the time (circa Oct. 2010) my two girls were 8 and 9 (almost 10). I have read about so many children (girls in particular) who start their young lives with body issues, body image distortions, and many young girls develop eating disorders. In telling them about my surgery, I didn't want MY failures to become THEIR failures. We do not call ourselves fat, we emphasize healthy eating, basically trying to model good habits for them. BUT, we also had to explain WHY we NEEDED surgery. We talked about having this surgery so that we could lose weight, eat less and generally be healthier and live a long enough life to watch them grow up, and watch our future possible grandchildren grow up as well. They didn't have a lot of questions at first, but we told them they could ask anything anytime and that we would talk about it. We also said it wasn't something that we wanted them to broadcast to the entire universe, that it was personal and medical. They were GREAT about that I do have to say. My youngest just a few days before surgery told me "but Mommy, I like you just the way you are." :wub: Now that it has been almost 3 years later, they know more about it but our eating habits have become "normal" for us. We don't drink when we eat and in fact (bad mom) I don't offer THEM anything to drink. If they want a drink it's up to them to fetch it (they are now 11 and almost 13) and they just know the drill. Sometimes I will emphasis PORTION CONTROL to them and my youngest...sometimes she gets a little ticked at me for having her cut back...and will say "well, not EVERYONE has the stomach the size of a squirrel!" True words...lol. So it's times like that when I'm reminded OH they DO get it and understand. One last piece of advice...not sure where you are at in the process, but I didn't tell my kids until about 3 weeks before surgery. I wanted them to have time to "process" but not enough time to "worry" if that makes any sense...

Really good discussion on this topic... http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-ricki-lake-show-wrap-up.html I'm not sure exactly where I sit on this whole topic. There are days that I feel over-the-top excited over getting to live life in a smaller body, and then there are days that all I can see is the extra skin, sagginess, and I feel sad about my body. And then when I'm feeling sad that sort of mean, reproachful (not helpful) voice chimes in and says "well what did you expect spending most of your life either obese or morbidly obese, you get what you deserve..." Blah blah blah. And there are days that I feel like I'm in "touch" with my body now, and then I will realize that I have it all wrong. The other day we took the girls to see OneRepublic in concert, first concert for our pre-teen girls...how fun! And while we were all waiting in line to use the bathroom there was a large mirror to the side wall of where we were standing. I scan towards the back of the line and saw someone who I guessed to be about my size. Then later we both happened to be right up at the washroom mirror both washing our hands and I was shocked to realize that she had at least 60+lbs on me that I couldn't see until we were standing next to each other. And so then times like that I realize that no I really don't exactly "see" what other people see. Certainly a good topic for discussion...it's rather disheartening to hear that Michelle from Eggface (link above) had bypass AND plastic surgery and still isn't happy with what she sees in the mirror.

Mine was around $32,000 dollars and I had to pay $5,000 of that out-of-pocket, but I knew that was the deal going in. No matter what the "paperwork" says I can guarantee no one paid that much money. The hospital "discounts" the fee and the money changing hands is not that amount. Your does seem like an astronomical number...since they are asking you for more money you might want to do a little bit of investigation about the bill. Good luck, I hope you don't have to pay more $$$$...

Oh yeah I forgot about the tracking microchip, oh well, NOW it makes perfect sense. LOL! So in Texas did your old one last 10 years or what is the deal on that? Not that I'm complaining but well, it IS a good moneymaker if you have to haul people in every 5 years instead of every 10...

Thanks for sharing these articles Dee. My takeaway from the first article was this quote: Most of all, though, I’d simply suggest that women interested in fasting be cautious, be self-aware, and only do so if it comes naturally. It shouldn’t be a struggle (for anyone, really). It shouldn’t stop your cycle or make it harder for you to get pregnant. It should improve your life, not make it worse. If you find that fasting has those negative effects, stop doing it. It should happen WHEN (When Hunger Ensues Naturally), if it happens at all. This makes perfect sense to me because while I enjoy fasting...it gives me back that feeling I had when I was newly sleeved ===> NO HUNGER, and that makes like so much easier for me, when my brain and stomach are not constantly thinking or whining about food. BUT, if this was a chore and something I dreaded and hated and if I wasn't sleeping at night or it was messing with my cycle you better believe I would quit in a NY minute. This way of life is probably NOT for everyone, which is part of why I'm not shouting it from the rooftops. My own long-term opinion is yet to be formed. And I fully believe that if I were to fall off the 5:2 wagon it would remain just as every other diet, the inevitable regain would happen. That fact that my weight does NOT shoot up on feed days tells me that this is sustainable for me in the longer scope of things. For now, I'm quite happy that someone (OD, Georgia...can't remember who started all the chatter?) mentioned that this was something that was FINALLY working. That is how I feel about it. Finally something that is helping me lose the regain (-10 more to go to get to a weight where I was quite happy and then only -8 more to get to my goal...) And my takeaway from the 2nd article (which was almost too much technical info for my scatterbrain...lol) was this: We women (people!) should be honest with ourselves about our priorities, and act constantly with our mental and physical health foremost in our minds. All women are different. But the literature is so sparse in this area that we cannot make any real statements or predictions about the effects of fasting, other than that we just don’t know, and that we should continue to emphasize the centrality of awareness, caution, and loving nourishment in moving forward. This makes me more excited/anxious to get my labs done next week. I'm excited to see what results I have, although truth be told I've always had stellar labs even whilst morbidly obese for a good 17+ years. I think I was just lucky that I had not yet seen high BP, cholesterol, triglycerides, etc. Like for instance my overall cholesterol was 159 (2004) 133 (2009) ==both pre-sleeve== and then the last time I had labs done in 2011 it was 116. So I am interested to see where I'm at today.

Yeah well, 10 years ago that was the ONLY consolation prize for waiting 3 hours for your "turn" at the window, was you walked away with your new shiny license right then and there. Pffft. This mailing business, what a waste, why could they give you an "instant" license 10 years ago but now they have to go through the trouble of printing you a temporary, then waste more time and money doing the mailing deal? Gah! The only thing that would be good about the new way is if they are doing a record check or something like that during those 10 days... I BET YOU ARE CUTE AS A BUTTON!

At the risk of 'dating' myself here, I will say that my old license was one that was "good" for 10 years (now they expire every 5??) So I had no plans to get a new one until it expired in Jan. of this year. So for 2 good years I did not look much like the person in my old photo. I would get double-takes a lot and only one guy said something to me...I just brushed it off and said that photo is almost 10 years old. The other new thing from the DMV here is you don't get to walk out with your new license...what? I had to wait 10 days for them to "mail" it to me and they gave me a temporary license that was just a piece of paper. Crazy! Oh and I did get to keep my old one, they just put a hole punch through it and handed it back to me. Good reminder of where I never want to be again!

Wow, congratulations! What a wonderful success story and such an amazing transformation.

Foxbins, so nice of you to drop by! Congratulations on your loss and more importantly your maintenance! That is wonderful and I am so happy for you! Keep up the good work, and don't be a stranger around here!

Those do sound like hellish conditions...I'm so sorry GT. I would switch to 5:2 also since the ADF isn't doing anything for you. Also what about the hernia? Is it going to heal itself or does it need surgery? My youngest dd was born with a hernia (it wasn't umbillical but it was about an inch and a half above her belly button) drs. thought it would close on it's own, but she finally had to have it repaired surgically when she was 15 months old. Ended yesterday at 563 so not too much over. It was a hard day for some reason...usually fast days keep me from thinking about food but yesterday was odd. I did spin class and rode almost 16 miles, so maybe that is where the hunger was coming from. Gah. Just realized that now... Oh well, it was a day I kept telling myself, tomorrow you can eat...lol.