swizzly

Thanks for the idea, I'm not offended in the least. Yeah, I've been wondering this a bit as well, especially since my carbs are always pretty low, apart from the odd bit of chocolate here and there. I am so loath to go low-cal that I have a hard time to do it!! I wanted to do 5:2 so that I could eat 'normally' on non-fasting days, which is what I've mostly been doing. HOWEVER, a look over the past few weeks reveals the Summer Of Wine and drinking a lot of calories that way. So I just need to start doing one glass wine, one glass Water, or another similar approach to the social whirlwind we're in the middle of. It will all relax again too, it just is one of those phases. I'm willing to be patient and to try a few small compromises in the meantime. Coops is the master of this, so I have a good teacher in this area... In answer to your first question, my response is NO WAY! LOL. I am doing this so I don't have to 'diet' the whole week long. Ugh. But it clearly is helping others lose faster to do so, so don't listen to me. In re: your BMR test -- that does NOT give you your TDEE, it gives you essentially the opposite -- it's measuring your basal metabolic rate -- which is how many calories you'd burn if you did NOTHING AT ALL but breathe in and out and hold perfectly still all day. In other words, you burn 1300 just by being alive and having brain activity. So you'd have to add on activity levels to get to a TDEE number. I can guarantee you that even if you slept all day and all night, you would burn more than 1300 calories!! So your target calories could easily be higher than 1300 for maintenance anyhow. I use them heavily all the time, always have. I was raised in a Tab and Fresca household, and I still prefer artificial sweeteners to this day. So yeah, I use them all the time, including on fast days, though I've been trying to use a bit less lately. Oy, I can't give up EVERYTHING. Fasting today, doing fine so far. Will also be fasting Thursday this week. Happy Monday, all!! xoxox

coops, you're the Woman. You are my hero, always will be. Sorry, you must stay on your pedestal. :-)

Thanks you guys. Posting pics of myself is very challenging. I appreciate the kind words. :wub:

You guys are all doing so well, I'm SERIOUSLY impressed. I think I'm not doing too bad either. Only I haven't lost anything yet. ?? Coops, feel free to ignore me for not losing in 7 weeks vs 20 months. :wub: I'm just a bit stumped. Alas... Today was a non-fast day and I ate pretty healthy, to the tune of 1742 cals, 92 carbs, 96 fat, 71 Protein (this is what my paleo calls for, and I ate a banana today, which is nearly 30 carbs on its own). So let's see. Tomorrow/Sunday are in a resort in the Alps, with lots of yummy food and drink...and pool time. So I am not going to even think twice about it all. Monday I'll fast again and just keep going till something shifts...

OMG Coops, AWESOME!!! I love it. FYE -- that painting is so cool, I completely dig it. Did that used to be your profile pic? Funny that you paint meat... Laura -- I dig your collages too, totally my cup of tea. I'm not an artist of any kind, but I'm an appreciator of abstract and surreal art for sure.

I am just winding up my 2nd fasting day for the week, 521 cals. Good enough! Good luck, Thursday fasters!!

Well, I posted that they were posted here LOL...can't bring myself to post them on a public thread!!! If I post them out there, I will blur my face out...

I posted a couple in the Technical questions thread in 5:2 -- can't bring myself to post them on a public thread.

Thanks!

Okay so i'm going to experiment with uploading a photo or two... Here's my official 'progression' photo. That last one looks absurdly small, I think there's an angle thing going on there... The other photo was from a session with my stylists picking out outfits. Edit: I'm freaking out that my face is up here...

Um, while I'm asking questions anyhow -- does anyone know how to post a picture? When I click the image link, it just asks for a URL...?

Ok figured out I can access and reply from browser on phone, just not vst app. Tracking makes me mental too, Daisy! I just wing it, but then I'm haunted by the spectre of uncounted calories planting themselves on me. I'm too obsessive to be allowed to roam free on mfp. But I just force myself nonetheless. I'm doing it on normal days for a bit cos I've got to see what's going on overall and cos a friend is trying to lose baby weight and I want to support her.

DO have glasses on LOL!! You look mahvelous dahlink...

Non-fasting day today, but much better than the last one. Still ended up with 1752 cals, a lot of which were wine. My friend got the sack at work unexpectedly. Tomorrow is a fasting day...here's to new starts... xo

Oh. DUDE. You look HOT!!!

Um...WTF?!? Seriously? I just thought you might have dyed your hair, and if I'm honest, I'm typing without my glasses or contacts, so I'm lucky I can see anything at all. I'm like Mr Magoo here.

I'm on a 'normal' day today, but apparently not a good one. I just totted up my cals for the day and came out with...2069. If I remove candy and champagne (a mid-day work celebration, oy), I end up with 1368. WTF? I had a weird sweet tooth today and then I got that f*** it thing and just ate whatever I felt like. Bad mojo today... I'm not fasting again till Thursday, so tomorrow I'll try to have a better 'normal' day, though I have another social thing tomorrow night. Sigh. The wine calories are killing me, but I pretty much suck at social occasions if I can't have a drink or three. Laura -- loved your pics in the previous page of this thread, haven't seen your progress before, you look great! The midsection is soooo much smaller, you look happier too. Does my heart good. I am too tired and grumpy to get into the family saga...suffice to say that my generation is the first one with fat people in it (primarily my sister and me) and the rest of my family are OBSESSED with weight and used to monitor what I ate, how much I weighed, etc. UGH. I was fat in my head loooooong before I was even slightly fat physically. Yeah, time for bed. Good luck Tuesday fasters!!!

Hey, where the hell did Globetrotter go anyhow?? She started this thread...! I would love to hear how she's doing...hint hint...

Cute pics, Georgia! So fun that weekend sounds. I don't know if I've EVER posted a picture of me here...??

I think I must have started (edit) near when you did, Georgia -- or very soon thereafter, cos this was my seventh week of doing it (time flies!). I fasted yesterday, ended at like 530 cals, so did just fine. Wasn't as rickety in the afternoon as I have been, and wasn't desperate to eat when I got home, so I consider that a good thing. I'm going to fast on Thursday this week instead of Wednesday, just to see if changing days does anything (and cos I have a social thing Wednesday night lol). So far, it's probably just good that I'm not gaining...? But no real loss to speak of yet. I'm still fine with that, but let's see how it goes... Maybe 70-ish kg is my new set point so I will have to wait a while to get past it...

12 calories per pound? I'm already ahead of that one LOL. Maybe 5:2 isn't enough...

Oh, ain't no thing! Seriously, not fussed AT ALL. I am a bit technologically challenged LOL...so I live in a glass house and attempt to not throw too many stones.

FWIW, I never got an invitation to join -- I just found the link in Daisy's list of social groups, clicked over here, then clicked on "ask to join" and eventually got added that way. Weird, huh?

I just wanted to add a link to the new veterans' forum here as well, so you can be sure to see the threads there, too. There are a number of us struggling with maintenance and/or regain, so do join us there for some good input!! http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/forum/352-gastric-sleeve-veterans-forum-new-forum/