swizzly

Pictures look great!! Well done!

I'll apologise in advance cos I know my approach is not 'normal' and is even a bit controversial sometimes. But it IS perfectly in line with what they do in the clinic where my care is managed (in Europe). I never had Protein shakes (which is good, cos I hate them LOL) or liquid/mushy phases -- they move you right to real food on day four post-op, and you're just meant to eat slowly and chew very thoroughly. They believe your digestive system gets confused and/or lazy (some things get lost in translation LOL) by not having 'real' food in there, so they want it right back into your system asap. They also don't approve of very low-cal eating (but they also don't give any calorie or food guidelines, apart from eating a very balanced way and not big portions obviously), so they are trying to get people to eat 800-1000 cals as soon as possible post-op. Thus I was up to 1000-1200 in a month or two, and probably 1500 by six months out. I got to my original 'goal' (arbitrary and set only by me, they don't give out goal weights in the clinic at all) in about a year or 14 months I think? I can't remember everything in detail and I'm not a tracker really. I then set another goal and am still working veryyyyy sloooooowwwwwly toward that one... But I got to my original goal fairly easily, never felt overly freaked out about calorie-counting or keeping food to the bare minimum -- oh, and I never lost my hunger except for the first two days post-op. So I've had a very normal appetite throughout (I would consider my pre-op appetite to have been relatively normal too, though -- I was not a binge eater and couldn't overeat pre-op much either, just had much more capacity of course...) and I've been able to eat anything I've tried, haven't thrown up or anything. Labs and bloodwork all doing great, two-year DEXA scan showed good bone density as well. Anyhow, I also never started exercising till I was nine months post-op, for personal reasons. That said, I do walk a lot (and now I have a fitbit, I realise I walk quite a lot!) in my normal routine, so I was doing that all along, but I joined the gym eventually and do a moderate (20 mins HIIT on elliptical, plus weights/abs) workout 2-3x per week. It's not anywhere near as ambitious as many people's workouts, that is for sure!! I like to operate on the Minimum Effective Dosage principle, in most areas of life... So I've been doing a modified paleo/primal version of eating since about nine months now, no grains, no legumes, limited sugar, etc. I do eat dairy (tons of it LOL), so I'm not a fully religious paleo eater or anything. I eat full-fat everything cos I hate processed/diet/low-fat food -- the exceptions to this are for 5:2 fasting days, and also early post-op I ate a lot of diet yogurt and sf pudding and that sort of thing, cos I thought I should I guess? I've read a lot of very good research about how to eat and I sort of make my own plan. I love coffee (and caffeine LOL), and I've read many good health benefits from it - and I've no insulin issues anyhow, so I feel free to enjoy my coffee. I've been doing 5:2 for three+ months and didn't lose any weight from it, not sure why. I read a few directional data about how it might be different/less effective for women than for men, but nothing definitive for sure. But because of some issues I was having, I now am trying a modified approach to the 5:2 as well, with a target of 700-800 cals for fasting days instead of 500. On my 'normal' food days, I usually eat between 1500-2000 cals. This is long and rambly...but the point is, there's more than one way to get to your 'goal', whether that be a certain number on the scale or clothing label, or just a certain level of improved health. And eating super-low-cal seems to really work for some people, it wouldn't work for me (not to say I wouldn't lose weight on it! Just that it triggers my anorexia issues and that my clinic wouldn't support it if they knew I was doing it); and that eating fairly healthily and 'high-cal-ish' from a VSG perspective can also work! It took me like 14 months to lose 80-ish lb (I consider that pretty fast though, but amongst many VSGers I was a very slow loser), and I was fine with that. It's taken another year to lose 10 more. So maybe the last 10 will take a year or two as well. No big whoop -- I also want to enjoy my life as it happens... Good luck to all of us, right?

CUTE!!!

Lookin good, BTB!! Are you running in those flat/Merrell-type shoes? The kind that are like five-fingers, but without the separated toes? I can't tell for sure from the photo cos it's so small LOL. If so, how does that work for you? I have a pair since about a year now and I walk (fast LOL) in them to the gym and work out in them, but I haven't tried anything high impact with them.

Elina_7 at Obesityhelp.com -- http://www.obesityhelp.com/member/elina_7/ I used to read the Sleeve forum there sometimes, but it's hard to follow the interface (for me), so I stopped. But I do remember her, she's a wee little thing and has a willpower of steel!!

Glad you're SMRT and take some rest days!!

End of day, 6 Sept, 30 miles so far.

Forgot to mention, on my second 'fast' day of the week, I ended up at 800 cals -- under my new plan of not fasting as fast-ily. I have to admit, I felt better and slept better already. Today, though, I had THREE hot flashes. What the sweet eff? I think I'm just going through hormonal nightmare...

LOL...I'm in an environment where my skin has gotten quite thick too, so I sometimes lose my sense of proportion. Looks like the timing won't be feasible after all. If anything changes re: when you will be there, let me know -- the only possibility is next weekend a quick day trip, pending one other thing. But I'd love to pop up and meet you if I can.

W00t w00t!!! WAY TO GO!!!! You have OWNED this thing. I'm very impressed.

Hon, I'm not 'flaming' you -- I'm just telling you what I really think instead of trying to coddle you as I normally would. There are many people who have tried to eat like a post-op and had success at losing (whether they've had surgery or not), it's just not sustainable or healthy. C'est tout. I'll STFU now. Peace be unto you, my friend. :wub:

I think it would be awesome! (If you're still talking to me after my rant back at you LOL.) That isn't too far from me. I asked about timing, though, cos I'm about to be gone for two weeks and it would just figure that the time would overlap LOL. I haven't gone more than 500k from here in years, but the minute someone is nearby, I'm 10,000k away... ETA: About three hours' drive, and goes right through Saarbruecken where I would love to visit another friend too...

Good god you're prickly sometimes, woman!! We are just trying to help. And in case it's not 150% obvious to you, you are NOT in a good place mentally/emotionally, and the stress we speak of is not some abstract thing that isn't impacting you physically, it's a real issue that is blocking you all over the damn place...not to mention the fact that you're in a PTSD situation, an active war zone, with a head injury, a hernia, and possibly a new autoimmune illness, following a year or two of hard emotional hits. These are NOT circumstances under which you should be chasing super-low-cal eating. Don't like my opinion? I'm okay with that. But it's based on science (and common sense, frankly), not on VSG guru-ness, which expertise I have never claimed in the slightest. So if it's also not clear: We are concerned about you. And *I* think you should NOT be eating sub-1000 calories. Not because I've had some la-la-la easy time of it (I haven't lost a gram in MONTHS), but because -- wait for it -- starving yourself is never a good idea, even if it's "effective" in making you lose weight. This is why they TREAT ANOREXIA instead of ignoring it. Jesus, woman. We do it during the so-called "honeymoon phase" cos it's the only option when you're first post-op, and that is also the same time period during which most of us get pretty frequent medical check-ups too, cos it's not just a-okay to live sub-1000 over the long term. It causes malnutrition, among other problems, no matter how many supplements you take. And given your health and stress issues, you need to be effing taking care of yourself, not finding new and improved ways of punishing your body and yourself. So yeah. There's my less-varnished opinions. <3

If you're going to be in Southern Germany (particularly toward the West of Germany), PM me -- if you can have visitors, I will come say hi if possible. Do you know when you're leaving?

I'm so sorry she went through that. And yet, how very cool of you all, supporting her to get back on the horse!! Family, and friends that are like family, are so necessary to get through the shite of life. Go btb!!! <3 Eta: is that her in your photo? :-)

So I've been doing the 5:2 with you all for some time now...fully three months at least. During that time, several things were happening that I was sort of choosing not to notice or not connecting to each other. I have been madly reading all fasting links that FYE and everyone else was posting, and I eventually came across this one... http://www.marksdailyapple.com/women-and-intermittent-fasting/#axzz2diloZOGk Which led to this one... http://www.paleoforwomen.com/shattering-the-myth-of-fasting-for-women-a-review-of-female-specific-responses-to-fasting-in-the-literature/ And I went...well, wow. My hair started falling out again just a few weeks ago, I've been madly gulping supplements to try and stop that. I've been sleeping badly. I've been on high anxiety (and then drinking as a way to deal with that, so then my calories go up...), etc. I'm perimenopausal, post-hysterectomy with functioning ovaries, so it's hard to say what my period would be up to. But I've definitely felt..different doing 5:2 than I had felt just watching what I ate (and this includes my revised paleo approach, which still seems to work fine for me). And if I'm totally honest, the 5:2 thing is a major trigger for my anorexic self, always in there just waiting to be obsessive about NOT eating, so I've had to watch that anyhow. So now I'm going to do as the second article suggests and listen to my body for a while. I think I will initially do a sort of "revised" 5:2, in which I'll do low-cal (relative to my normal levels) and see how it goes. Right now I'm thinking 700-800 calorie days twice a week still, but I'm totally open to suggestions from this awesome group of people. I will still skip Breakfast cos I'm anyhow not a morning eater, but I will eat a more substantial lunch and possibly a late-afternoon snack, as that is when I really start to have high anxiety. I don't think it's just that I want to eat emotionally to soothe anxiety (I'm not much of an emotional eater anyhow, more an emotional drinker...oy); rather that the non-eating is causing the anxiety and I just need to have something to feel better. The data are super thin and not convincing, but somehow that article hit me hard. I felt like...OOooohhh, THAT is what's been going on. So I'm going to experiment with a revised approach, happy to tell you all how it goes. I hope you will let me stick around even though I'm not strictly following 5:2 per se for a while... Besides all that? I haven't really lost any weight, I'm becoming pretty convinced it might just be cos my body is happy where it's at. And I am fine where it's at as well, I wear a 6 or 8 trousers anyhow -- I just had this weird idea that I wanted to weigh 65kg...but maybe 70-ish is more where I belong? I really don't know...I don't have any answers, just a lot of questions right now. Welcome anyone's thoughts on this of course! And will keep reading about how you all are doing, as it seems to be working marvelously for most. xox

GT, I really think the massive stress (former and current) have way more to do with slow loss than your actual food intake. There is no reason to go back to post-op eating habits, you will just be super hungry and even more stressed. I think you need to find ways to reduce stress (OMG while under attack?!?) if at all possible...and be very compassionate and gentle with yourself to help with this. I tell you, it's not just talk -- the stress (the adrenals, the cortisol) can really make you gain very easily and certainly stop you losing. Take care of you!! <3

For the head injury?? You doing okay? Where in Germany would that be, and when? It might be nearby and I could pop up and visit you? ETA: "Eiweiss" LOL

Cheri, it's no use me trying to send anything from this fukakta place, but I would be more than happy to pitch in some funds by PayPal to contribute to whatever you send. Yes, please?? PM me... Also that is weird about your husband's orders. What an uncertainty to live with...I find you relatively calm about it all. Your poor baby getting all worried about her daddy...that's gotta be tough. :wub:

I know it's practically a cliche, but stress can physically, LITERALLY block you losing weight, and in fact CAUSE weight gain despite caloric intake/exercise levels. I know you're in a stressful situation in general, can you add in any meditation or Yoga or anything to turn off the adrenals a bit? I just listened to this podcast, says it's only available for 24 hours (from when, I don't know) -- and I had to use a work VPN via a US server to get it to play...but it talks all about how stress and cortisol and adrenal overload impacts weight severely (also causes chronic inflammation and malnutrition, bad digestion, autoimmune symptoms increase, etc.). In case you want to try listening to it... http://mindvalley.on...1503/1378361422 I would definitely not revert to post-op eating, it's not sustainable or healthy over the longer term, which is why we only do it for a short while post-op. I think it's a point in time to lose like that, not that it's healthily do-able in the longer term. You need nutrition and self-care, GT, not to starve yourself.

End of day 4 September, 29k = 18 mi...whew...

Thanks, M2G!!! I hope you won't mind to share your results when you get them? Mine have always been good, but I haven't had any since a few months now. I'm glad you pointed out the key problem with all this -- which is that there is a dearth of data about women, particularly by age/life stage. I hope they continue to study this by gender and get more and better information out there. For now, I'm just going to do a bit of a modified approach and see if that helps anything. I REALLY appreciate your thoughts and input. :wub:

Also: I feel like my stomach is getting LESS flat over time and more flabby, despite the paleo AND the 5:2 -- both of which are renowned for targeting belly flab. I'm perplexed and a bit miffed LOL. The roll on my midsection, especially just above my waist, is alarmingly roll-y-er.