M2G

I like caloriecount.about.com Free and personally I like the way that I can enter food. For almost every food there is serving, ounces, grams, tablespoons, calories, etc. And for foods like say "pretzel sticks" if the package says a serving is 48 of them, you can click (in cc) and change that to 10. Easy peasy. There is also a free phone app that connects directly to my account so I can add foods from anywhere and there is a bar code scanner on the phone app to scan and enter a food that way. (Not ALL foods are there but a lot are.) Also I've been using them since Jan. 2010 and I guess it's kind of like a grocery store the more you go the more you want to go back because you know where everything is. I tried MFP a while back and wasn't a fan but I probably was too used to the way CC does things...

GT - I know a while back you were horridly sick and could barely eat anything. Did you lose anything during that time? (Not that I want you to be sick in order to lose ..) but just curious how that all went down with regards to your weight. Your body does seem quite stubborn at all attempts to lose...

Agreeing with both of you! I just checked my last 2 weeks of logs and they looked something like this (I don't log EVERY single day but pretty close: 1,118 518 1,271 1,661 1,530 513 1,311 1,243 1,354 572 1,318 Etc. So I do see one day at 1,600+ calories and it's funny my "note" for that day in my log was "oops, too many calories!"

The caffeine doesn't usually negatively affect most people post-sleeve. It's the idea (while pretty much unproven medically) that caffeine can lead to stomach ulcers, over extended periods of time. Since I'm sleeved and don't have lots of stomach left to give up in the case of a severe ulcer (requiring surgery), that is why I usually stick to decaf. It has nothing to do with the caffeine affecting the way I feel (I know some people are highly sensitive to caffeine) but I'm not. It just comes down to me taking care of my tiny tummy for the long haul.

Okay I did download MapMyRun and tried it yesterday on the treadmill and I'm not sure what I did wrong but it just kept track of the time. Sigh. So I found an online treadmill calculator where you put in a couple of bits of info and it will calculate distance for you. I only ran for 25 minutes at level 5 speed no incline and it said 2.1 miles. Oh and the online one asked for my weight and my treadmill at home doesn't. So my home treadmill said I burned 300 cals and the online calculator said 342...wonder which one I like better? lol Up next is spin class today...

I am a huge coffee lover, so I try to limit myself to 2 cups a day. For a long time post-op I was doing strictly decaf. I'm much more relaxed about it now and still drink decaf from home but if I go to Sbux I will order regular coffee (I don't care for their decaf...) If I'm at home I add Fat Free half and half and either splenda or stevia. My favorite cold coffee drink by FAR is to take a bit of decaf coffee, (like 3 or so tablespoons) throw in a bunch of ice, and pour a RTD vanilla Protein shake over it. (I like muscle milk or Premier Protein RTD shakes). It's like all the yummy goodness of a bad drink but it's really only decaf and a Protein Drink. I will sometimes add sugar free caramel or vanilla syrup to it also (but the Protein drinks are pretty sweet so you can adjust according to your own taste.) You could also blend everything in a blender to give it more of a thicker texture. Just as tasty as a frapuccino and way better for you! Oh and sorry my advice as to ordering drinks from those "places" is to make it a once in a blue moon treat, or stick to plain coffee (hot or cold). The mixed, blended, yummy drinks all have too many calories! http://whatscookingamerica.net/Beverage/CoffeeDrinkCalories.htm

I'm now a big believer in actually TIMING my drinking in regards to eating. For example I will eat Breakfast and the moment I'm done I set a timer on my phone. I will not drink anything until at least 45 minutes have passed, but I usually go an hour. Then I start drinking my Water. This helps keep hunger at bay, and I find that this also helps reduce my tendency to "snack"...because I'm not putting anything in my mouth for a good hour after eating. It's tempting to go and have a handful of nuts, or a nibble of cheese, but I've noticed since I'm actually timing myself it has cut down on snacking a lot. I never was eating and drinking "together" per se after surgery (I knew that was not acceptable behavior post-op due to all the reasons listed above) but my timing had gotten sloppy and sometimes I was drinking in as little as 15 minutes after I was done eating. So I think this is an important thread...

OMG, your post reminded me of that ad from Sears Optical. OMG, way too funny! (and also so he IS paying attention sometimes!! we can give him extra credit for that...lol) http://www.ispot.tv/ad/7dwH/sears-optical-thats-a-mannequin

Oh GT, I owe you an apology! I'm so sorry. My brain scatters sometimes between here, FB, my blog, food tracker site, emails, and I did see that you asked us to google something and my mind filed it in the "later" category and then I'm embarrassed to say I forgot. Also I was confused because you were speaking about two separate things but my mind thought they were related. (Attack where you are stationed, and then attack of diarrhea...related to a possible hernia?) Please forgive us for not seeing/commenting etc. Sometimes I come here and skim through 6 or 7 responses and I'm too lazy to click "multiquote" and then find the breaks in between each quote and type my response and I'm also too lazy to go back up and re-read 7 responses, so my mind tries to grab something and hold on to it so when I start typing I can just address those things that my mind grabbed onto. Thank you for pointing out that we overlooked your post...can you please give us an updating how you are doing on all fronts?

Thanks for the link LV... and thanks BTB for starting this! I'm going to join in! Mine will be mostly treadmill and spin class. My treadmill does NOT count distance/miles, etc. (I know how crappy is that? People don't believe me when I say that.) It only counts heartrate, time, incline, and speed. So I need to find an app for my phone that will count the miles. I'm not used to carrying my phone with me either but I will give it a whirl! Spin varies b/c the instructor does different things each week, but I try to go 2x a week and we usually log between 14-20 miles per class. It's an hour long class and she does an "advanced" class that is an hour and a half (which I'm too chicken to try...but maybe I will try that too someday this month!!) Excited to jump in! Thanks all...

Haha, great post! You look great, CONGRATS!! PS - are you going to try and make group on the 9th? I need to check my calendar and see...

I big puffy-heart you Georgia! :wub:

Well promptly after posting that I *might* fast on Sun. proceeded to eat...lol. I finished yesterday at 1311 tho so all is not lost. Thought about fasting today but will prob. wait until Tues to do an official fast. LV- that is one heck of a road rash...OUCH! but like FYE said it's making you look tough. OD- Have a blast, life is meant for living, you can buckle down later... Coops- I'm over 40 but not yet hitting wacky hormone, so I think that makes a big difference. UK-yay for the loss!!! G - glad you had a good weekend, poor furbaby and being in hiding...lol sounds like my cat. Glad you had fun though! Happy Labor day girls!

Well FYE, interesting about never hearing from them again! I'm very connected to my surgeon's office (go to support groups, once in a while will attend his seminars to be on his "patient panel" and try to see my NUT every 3 months. (In 2012 when I was gaining weight I obv. wasn't seeing them so that is why I decided it was worth it to check in every 3 months or so to keep me on my toes...lol) I'm glad you called for labs, I will be sure to share my results when I get them!

I've never thought about their sizing...the only time I've ever been in their store is to purchase a gift card for my daughter's volleyball coach (who was a self-professed *lover* of all their things.) I never bothered to look at their sizes because I couldn't get past their prices. Who charges that for *workout* wear? gah! Not my bag.

Well you ARE a vet, but you are also a HUMAN. And everyone has "those" days when we are not 100% perfect, nor do I think that you can expect to be 100% on top of your game every single day for the rest of your God-given life. I think that you recognized this probably wasn't productive behavior, but it sounds like you already made adjustments. Now it's chin up and move on and make your next meal the right one. Oh and just a little tidbit...I like to think that my obesity is in remission. It's still there lurking, and multiple bad decisions can bring it charging out of the closet and onto center stage. I don't consider myself "cured" from it, so I can never get too comfortable. At the risk of sounding all high school musical-ish, I need to keep my head in the game to keep it in remission.

We have some blessed "cloud" cover today, so finally turned off the AC and am just enjoying the fresh air through all the open windows. ~~Sending you some clouds Ms. S~~ Cheri I don't know if it gets harder to lose after 40...I think for some it might be true but I also a whole bunch of stellar ladies on here who are "over" 40 and kicking arse. I think maybe it's more related to menopause than it is to a certain age, when the hormones get all whacky (Coops?...) So maybe someone else can come along and shed some light on that. I had a "feast" day yesterday and hit 1311 cals but there was some FF frozen yogurt and a small brownie that my daughter baked (Coops?...hahaha!) how could I say no after her "efforts"...lol. So today I'm on the fence as to whether I should fast or feast. My normal fast day has been either a Mon. or Tues. and then again on a Thurs. or Fri. But I'm not against a good weekend fast. Just harder to do when we are all hanging around and there are meals to prepare for the fam. I've had my coffee already today and feeling no hunger. I might just call it a fast day and see what happens...

Wow, congrats on your success! Nice to see a big drop after a "slow" month...you've done a tremendous job, congratulations!

Like BTB said, it takes time for your mental "image" of yourself to catch up to where you are physically in this journey. I have lots of old photos of myself when I was morbidly obese (not as many as I would have liked because usually when the camera came out I would hide, or be the one 'behind' it...) so sometimes I will sit and sift through those old photos to *remember* where I came from. I wasn't a miserable, depressed, binge-eating person before my sleeve, but I was unhappy living in a body that was too large for me to be comfortable and I was unhappy with my relationship with food. So while I don't think that my personality changed much in this process, I always say that I finally feel like my "outsides" match my "insides"...I was here all along, just no one saw me the way I saw myself. If that makes any sense....