Butterthebean

I found this thread incredibly informative. My question is....who here still likes chocolate? I can't help it....I do. I hope no "self appointed experts" judge me for that.

To anyone else who comes along and reads this.....don't trust your Nut's advice blindly, or mine. Do your own research as well. Collagen Protein is not what we need right now. It will not prevent muscle catabolism which is the danger of drastic calorie restriction. It will give you fabulous hair and nails but that's all. Preventing muscle catabolism is your primary goal in the losing phase....right behind staying hydrated. Whey is the absolute best protein for this, there are others but collagen is not one of them. And if whey protein or whey protein isolate is not the first ingredient listed on a product, then it likely has trace amounts, not enough to be helpful. And those shots deceivingly put "whey" in the name but have very little whey actually in them. Borderline false advertising.

Just be aware that these shots contain primarily collagen protein, which is not the same as whey protein. Basically, it is not as absorbable as the whey.

Go over to the man room. Everyone on there was man-sleeved.

This sounds like one of those days where, in the past, we would have dulled those feelings with food. Now we can't and it's much more difficult tackling life's issues. Hang tough. It gets easier. Give yourself permission to feel badly without food. You'll learn new coping mechanisms very quickly....ways that are much healthier and more fruitful. Good luck.

You pull your weight.....stay at home mom right? Lowest paying job there is.

Thank goodness my wife doesn't say anything when I spend my hard earned money on frivolous things. Yeah....sometimes I do, I have a whole garage full of stuff I don't really need. But my bills are paid. The lights are still on. Mortgage is up to date. And I still put the max into my 401K every week so what I do with the rest is my business. Now....if I wasn't pulling my weight financially....then I could understand her being upset.

Remember that your weight coming home from the hospital was probably inflated because of the IVs. I came home from the hospital 15 pounds heavier than I went in....thats all fluids. Within 3 days that 15 pounds was gone. So I think you're ok.

Hmmmmmm....I still log my Water. My goal is 128 oz per day and I usually exceed that. I'm still alive. Hyponatremia is very rare and very difficult to do without doing something really stupid or really strenuous, like running a marathon in Texas heat while drinking nothing but water. If you add electrolytes to your water occasionally, you can be assured of never getting water intoxication....especially with the sleeve. People forget that before surgery we took in alot of our daily water in the form of food. Now that the food intake is drastically reduced, we have to replace that water volume somehow.

It's not a no-no as long as you're form is right. If you're a forefoot striker, you're doing it right. If you're a heel striker, then yes you need the cushioned shoes. I was a heel striker but converted and it was quite easy. Just shortened my stride and pretended to run on my toes for a couple of weeks. It's hard on the calves at first but if you start slowly and build up it gets quite easy. But as you describe yourself, it also would benefit you to do some leg strengthening exercises. I love sumo squats for strengthening all the running muscles.

My knees are a mess. Torn ACL, torn MCL, torn meniscus, arthritis, lack of flexibility....I've had knee pain all my life....till now. And I know some people don't like to hear this, but when I first started running I went to the shoe store and got fitted for good running shoes. They put me in motion control stability shoes and my knees hurt like hell. I did a bunch of research on running without knee pain and I stumbled upon the barefoot runners. Because they're barefoot, they have to rely on really good technique and not allow their running stride to jar their joints. I don't go barefoot often, but I did ditch the thickly cushioned motion control shoes for some minimalist running shoes, I worked hard on my form, and I never had another knee ache.....except the couple of times I went back to those shoes. When I did my knees hurt immediately. There's lots of good resources for proper running form but my favorite is www.goodformrunning.com With this form I have no knee problems...or any other kind of pain. The interesting thing about running form is there are two schools of thought: This style, which minimizes injury. And the old heel striking style which was developed for track athletes so they could run faster. You have to decide what your ultimate goal is but mine was to run forever without injury, not to win an Olympic medal. That really made the choice easy for me.

Cheesecake truck? I can't believe it's never been hijacked. Good thing it doesn't come down my street.

That sounds cool. We're moving to Portland eventually and my wife is a recent paleo convert.

You wouldn't have to "force" anything.

..........mmmmmmm.......bacon.......wait.....where was I? Hey, I'm in Texas. Where is this magical donut making place?

I hope you're talking about bougies.