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Rather than focusing on a number and not allowing yourself to go higher, I'd focus on finding the sweet spot where you can eat, not feel deprived or moody and still see loss on the scales. Because just about everyone low carbs it out of the gate. But even as early as four months out the paths diverge greatly and someone else might be able to eat 100 grams a day while another can't eat more than 40 without stalling out. Being hung up on the number was only detrimental to me. I added in more carbs somewhere between 6-9 months out and it greatly improved how I felt and how interested I was in food. I had more energy and felt less deprived. Those that exercise strenuously need more carbs than those that don't, too, so keep that in mind. I'm in maintenance (kinda - got a handful of baby pounds I want to lose) so my input probably isn't all that useful to you, but I eat 40% carbs even in loss and have no problems. I can cut them down to nil, but I lose at the same poky pace, so why do that to myself? Do what works for you. You're going to get as many varied answers here as there are members and surgeons. ~Cheri Oh, and it should go without saying that at least in the early loss phase your carbs should be the highest quality possible. Save the other stuff for later, when you're closing in on a year out and need to see how well you do with moderation. Making your carb choice for a meal two bites of a dinner roll might be satisfying, but it's not doing much for you! Make carb choices that you can actually eat more than one or two bites of, and don't use the fact that you need carbs as an excuse to eat Oreos or Doritos.

I didn't start changing clothing sizes until about 60 pounds out. Plus sizes are incredibly forgiving and stretchier than straight sizes! For a reason, I'm sure. But I didn't need any new clothes until about sixty down but from that point onward I shed sizes fairly quickly. Once I was out of plus, the "regular" sizes could drop with anywhere from ten to twenty pounds. I even skipped over an entire size (12) on the way down - just flew from 14/L down to 10/M and didn't pause on the way. My current size is far less forgiving - I have about a ten pound window where my clothes fit and if I get too large I'll have to size up. It's one way I stay accountable! I eat real everything. Unless you have a reason to avoid fats, sugar, salt or some other ingredient, eat real food. Stay away from the fake stuff. Number one, it's fake - it's usually made with unpronounceable ingredients and barely counts as food. Two, real fat and real sugar are more satisfying. Being satisfied keeps you from the desire to binge or graze. And finally, you can't eat much - even at three years out I can't eat much - so why would you waste your precious space and calories on anything less than outstanding food? I'm not sure how far out you are from surgery but I lost the desire to eat for nearly the first whole year. Food is boring when you never feel hungry and can't eat much. Eating is a chore when you have to do it around the clock to get enough calories and nutrition. And frankly, pushing protein non-stop gets old. I got to a point where I thought I'd scream if I saw any more eggs, tuna or chicken breast. I still drink a protein shake each day. I still have a lot of restriction. Where I was with my sleeve around 14 months out or so is where I still am - so I find that I can eat a larger variety of foods if I boost my protein with one shake a day. I mix with coffee, tea or water and have one each morning. When I was in loss, I made myself drink two a day. I had to, otherwise I'd never reach my nutritional goals. Once I had room to actually eat a little bit of salad or some vegetables and a few small bites of cous cous, rice or bread, I was SO much happier about food and eating. Not only did I find I was able to get in more carbs without sabotaging my loss, but I felt so much better. It stopped feeling like a diet and a chore. What is right is what works for you. It's the balance of protein, carbs and fats that will help you lose weight without feeling deprived and without slowing your loss. It's the way you eat that you can easily carry over into maintenance, so that you can stay at goal weight for the long haul. And that magic formula is different for everyone. Some people cannot do carbs at all or they stall out or trigger cravings. Some people need more than others (I eat about 40% carbs) with only beneficial effects. Some people can do moderation and enjoy all the foods they want to eat but stop before it gets out of hand. Some people are never able to go there. It's entirely on you, your body and your relationship with food. If I were you? I'd add in a second shake - find one you don't just tolerate, find one you actually enjoy. And then from there track your nutrition and branch out. Try foods you didn't try prior to surgery. Your tastes have likely changed. Eat something besides chicken breast! Get a variety of foods and increase your carb intake a little bit. See how that affects the scale. If it keeps going down (albeit slowly) there's nothing wrong with making your diet more enjoyable and easier to maintain for the long haul. I give any adjustments about two weeks to see how they're really doing and how they make me feel. If you're working out a lot, odds are good that you need to eat even more than you are eating, especially if you're already pretty sure you're not doing too great on that front. You need to find a way to balance it. That guy from Extreme Weight Loss can tell you what works for most people and he can get you results, sure, for as long as he's working with you! But he isn't going to be able to tell you exactly what to do for you to get results that you can keep up forever. The people on those shows? How many actually maintain their losses for the long run? I read that 80-95% regain their weight. Off on a tangent: Those shows make me really angry. They don't help anyone. They increase the idea that obese people just need to want it badly enough to lose weight - they teach non-obese people that it's a simple matter of working hard enough and eating right and that anyone, even the morbidly obese, just need to get off the couch to lose the weight. It is not that cut and dry. They get results because of a strictly regimented routine that nobody - not even people that have been on the shows! - can maintain for the long run. Nobody in the real world has six hours a day to exercise, I'm sorry. Furthermore, they teach us, the obese and formerly obese - that our entire self worth and our attractiveness are entirely dependent upon the number on the scale. We're only a success when we reach a certain weight. That's not uplifting. That's the opposite of uplifting! It's defeating and negative and frankly, just serves to make skinny people view all fat people as lazy, and makes fat people view themselves as lazy, unattractive and unworthy. It's just one of the many reasons people like me that are living close to goal feel bad about a measly 7-8 pounds and let a half pound bounce on the scale (totally normal fluctuation!) ruin their entire day. /end rant ~Cheri

Yes, I relate. I, too, "pray" but it's more of a recounting of what I did that day and how I can improve tomorrow. It helps me focus and it helps me view things from a calm perspective. When I pray for other people, it's more of a way for me to talk myself through the situation and what I can do to help. And if I can't help? I just pray for things to work out for them and for them to have peace, not for some intervention or redirection from a mystical source. But I admit that nostalgia or things we grow up with can leave us with traditions or habits that might conflict with our current beliefs. I find the seder at Passover tremendously enjoyable. It's crazy - it's long, and boring and everyone is starving by the time you eat. But it's something we did with my long since passed grandmother and great grandmother and I love the food and the tradition of the celebration, even if I don't view the story the same way as the other people at the table. I also find myself humming or singing songs that have been a part of my life since childhood - and if I think about it, many of them are prayers or scripture put to song or are related in some way to a religious holiday. Old habits die hard, I guess. ~Cheri

I cook every day. It's comforting and enjoyable and stress relief for me. For me, it's been really fun to come up with great things to eat for fast day that my husband will eat with me. You know, without breaking the calorie bank on them, or having to skip half the meal! I love chicken but really, chicken breasts can only take me so far. I get sick of the same things over and over again. So, yes, the chorizo is a spicy sausage. I get the freshly made stuff at Whole Foods. I enjoy it once in a while but well, many people don't. I also enjoy chopped liver, remember? I have a wide variety of tastes. Minestrone soup - from a modified recipe I found on allrecipes: 3 links of sweet Italian turkey sausage (casings removed) - optional, I make it vegetarian sometimes 2 Tbs. olive oil 4 cloves chopped or minced garlic (adjust to your taste) 1 large onion, chopped 4 stalks celery, chopped 5 carrots, chopped 3 cups chicken or vegetable broth 2 cups Water 1 (28 oz) can Tomato sauce 1/2 cup red wine - optional 1 can kidney Beans, drained 1 can green beans, drained 1 cup baby spinach, rinsed 1 large or 2 small zucchinis, quartered and sliced 1 Tbs. fresh oregano, chopped 2 Tbs. fresh basil, chopped Salt and pepper, to taste 1/2 cup seashell or mini farfalle Pasta Grated Parmesan or romano for garnish Heat oil in a stock pot over medium heat and cook turkey sausage (if using) until no longer pink. Break into small chunks. Without draining (there should not be much excess oil), add garlic and onion to the pan and saute for five minutes. Then add the celery and carrot and cook an additional 2 or 3 minutes. Add the stock, water and tomato sauce. Bring the mixture to a boil, then add in the wine. Reduce the heat to low and add in the kidney beans, green beans, spinach, zucchini and spices. Go easy on the salt until the mixture has time to blend well and you can be sure it's needed. Simmer for an hour. While soup is simmering, boil pasta according to package instructions. When soup is ready, do the final seasoning, stir in pasta and garnish with cheese to serve. Soup is always best after it's had time to cool completely and is reheated. Also, you might find that your vegetables absorb a lot of your water if this sits in the fridge for a few days; just add a little more water when reheating and it will be fine! Makes a ton of soup and will feed you for several days.

Okay, every day of my pregnancy I was deep down scared about the weight. It never goes away, but it wouldn't go away even without a pregnancy! It's a fear all of us deal with because we're worried we'll fail again, only this time, with 15% of a stomach. I'm three years out. I reached goal in 17 months. I maintained for several months and got pregnant ten days before my 2 year anniversary. I gained 32 pounds while pregnant; 3 pounds on the dang hormone shots I had to take to get pregnant. (We did FET, frozen embryo transfer with frozen embies left over from our IVF in 2007.) How you gain is up to your body. I gained much less than I gained with my previous pregnancies prior to sleeve (97 pounds for a single, 80+ for twins) but I think that we gain a "normal" amount of weight in most cases so expecting anywhere from 25-45 is probably reasonable. It could also be more. Some women just gain more while pregnant! The only folks I've seen gain almost nothing were still in their early months post sleeve when they got pregnant. My daughter will be 5 months old in a week. I lost the huge bulk of my baby weight before a month postpartum. As before, when closing in on goal initially, my last fifteen pounds have been slow coming off. That's perfectly normal and not something I attribute to pregnancy at all, though I admit that the lifestyle we have post baby makes it challenging to lose weight (namely, wacky hormones and sleep deprivation, which slow our loss further) but I say IT IS POSSIBLE. Losing weight, while doubly frustrating because I feel I'm losing pounds I've already lost, is just as "easy" as it was for me before my baby. I make good choices, I watch my intake, I try to stay active and I lose (albeit slowly!) and most importantly, I still have just as much restriction as before. I can eat one single hard boiled egg or a few ounces of dense Protein in a sitting. My sleeve is no larger than it was in 2011 and so the only way to not lose weight would be to not try and to fail to be diligent about my habits. So I'm a success story. I have 7-8 pounds left and while I might wish they'd fall off tomorrow, I know that if I'm patient and keep plugging away they'll come off eventually. I've been back in my pre-pregnancy clothes for months, though, regardless of those few pounds. ~Cheri

Congrats to our new moms! I will say that while those hormones are still flooding your body (and especially if you're breastfeeding) that desire to eat, eat, eat doesn't fade immediately post op. At least it didn't for me! It was like a never-ending period - I wanted to snack and eat and graze all day long. I have said it elsewhere: the absolute most challenging thing I have encountered since surgery was the shift from maintenance to pregnancy and back into loss after she was born. UGH! Mentally, it's a major PITA to adjust and stop basically, doing what you want without consequence! I still have 7-8 pounds to go, and it's slow going. There are many things affecting us that will slow the loss: lack of sleep, hormone fluctuation, breastfeeding - and even just waiting for your sleeve to stop being relaxed from the pregnancy. But within a few weeks I was back to feeling a lot of restriction. The way to get started is the same way you started before: dense Protein first. Snack on things like hard boiled eggs, Jerky, small, controlled portions of cheese or yogurt. Protein, protein, protein. And I added in a shake again and consume one daily. It helps. Hang in there! ~Cheri

Butter, I must say I love the idea you put out there - that people needed to realize that you could be moral and decent without having a religion. That's a huge gap for many fundamental folks. Many seem to think that the religion is what makes you moral and decent and that without it, you can't possibly be a good person! "But what will keep us from raping and pillaging and murdering our neighbors, if not God?" How ridiculous! I'm sorry about both your brother and your childhood experiences. I learned when I was struggling though rough times of my own that any life crisis - any really serious struggle - can make or break faith. I grew up absolutely not believing in the idea of a God that has a personal stake in individual lives. Much like you say, it simply wasn't possible to reconcile what I was experiencing with a personal God that intervenes, strengthens or supports. The conflicting religions of my parents didn't help. Later, when my daughter died I started to wonder if there might be something out there. I think that mostly, it was a desire to feel like there was something else - some way I could see her again - that made me even begin to question if there could be more to the idea of God. I don't really know what I believe. I do not believe that any book on earth was written by God or because God instructed a man to write those words down. I also do not believe that the rituals and practices people follow are necessary, either because they were commanded or because they're a form of salvation. I do not believe in a heaven or a hell or an afterlife that we can comprehend. I'm still Jewish, mind, but that's mostly because I make the best ever chopped liver, fluffy and sweet challah and some mighty fine matzo ball Soup. Also, I know some Yiddish songs and some Hebrew prayers. But all of that aside, this idea that so many other bereaved parents had in my support group - that there was somehow comfort to be had in my child dying, that it was "for a reason" (truly the most trite, meaningless and frankly, repellent thing anyone could ever say to a grieving individual), that I'd see her again because "she was in heaven smiling down on me" - it was completely foreign to me. Like, in order to believe in God (which I still am not sure I do) I have to find a way to justify what happened to my baby or believe that it wasn't a forever thing. To my mind, if it were real and if what people were saying was true, I wouldn't feel a need to explain or justify or work out a way that God was there. People telling me that God allowed this to happen for a reason implies at the same time that he also could have prevented it. That's the type of believer I had an issue with. The vague, Jewish response of my family was more along the lines of "bad things happen, we don't know why, sorry for your loss, let's eat." I can relate to that far easier than the idea of some master plan that takes none of my feelings or suffering into account, except with the vague promise of some mystical afterlife. ~Cheri

You look great! Great work! Yes! I think this is true for more than just slow losers, too! We get to maintenance and feel normal, and are much happier with how we look. Without a huge, looming goal in sight it's very easy to just slip into a lifestyle that has you in total denial about how much you're consuming and that has you constantly grazing. I can easily graze an extra 400-500 calories in a day if I let myself! Being accountable about your intake is crucial. ~Cheri

To those with the discouraging surgeons I'd say that you should definitely be on plan and trying to exercise. But all too often even the surgeons get caught up in the idea that everyone is the same and they set a standard that many can reach but that isn't universal. I wouldn't stress and I wouldn't beat myself up about it. For every swift loser here on VST you'll find a slow one, too. It's very individual. I think this is further complicated when your surgeon is very familiar with the bypass an hasn't done as many sleeves. I see some surgeons suggesting post bypass losses to people, and we almost never see anyone lose at those rates after our surgery. So keep doing what you're doing and you'll see success, even if it's not as quickly as your surgeon would like. I lose slower than I'd like, but I still lose! ~Cheri

I'm in D.C. and we have cupcake food trucks, too. Every time I see the pepto pink of the cupcake trucks I walk to the other side of the street. I'm not even a cake person, seriously, but the smells wafting from that vehicle tempt me every time. I also dodge the cheesecake truck. But Chapat Truck? Every time I'm around the area I stop for some curries or rasam...or even palak paneer. Ooh, or dosa! I can eat more of that than I should, thanks to the crispiness. Mmm...I think I need to make Indian food soon! Oh, and food trucks are the devil and I'll tell you why: If I'm out walking around minding my business I want to be able to tell myself I'm getting some exercise. It doesn't work when every twelve steps I'm tempted by a long line and the luscious smells of food I do not need to eat. Food trucks make me into a hobbit and I find myself not only justifying $3 cupcakes but also eating second Breakfast and elevensies in addition to my normal lunch rotation. ~Cheri

So true! There are so many vets, even, that spend their time beating themselves up over just a few pounds left to goal, too. We get this number goal in our head and we set no other criteria for ourselves so we only consider ourselves successful once we reach that point. There are so many overwhelming benefits to the weight I've lost, even if I'm incredibly annoyed that I can't seem to get back to goal weight. I'm so guilty of this - being hung up on the number, on the daily losses - and completely overlooking the huge changes in my body and lifestyle. It's far more important that I'm no longer diabetic and that I don't have high blood pressure than it is that I can't seem to shake the last 7-8 pounds I'd like to lose. Perspective matters. I needed this reminder today, so thanks for sharing. ~Cheri

Sounds like everyone is doing well! Congrats to our good losers - jealous of you ladies! - and also to our lucky vacationers. It's been ages since we bothered to travel. Some people manage it with young kids and do great but our kids are very difficult when we break from our usual routine. So, no traveling much for us. My last house guest is gone and I'm sorry, but I'm not inviting anyone else back for at least six months. I need to forget what a pain it is to host, first! FYE, congrats on that great compliment. Praise from the people we love (especially when they don't do it often) is the greatest gift. It's nice to feel appreciated. Laura, I commiserate - I'm the same way on my cycle. It's hard. Now they want me to start up hormonal birth control again to help with the endo and it's going to do the same thing to me. Make me moody, hormonal and incredibly snacky all the time. Hang in there! So, I waited four days to announce I'd lost a pound...only to put it back on the next day. If I could rip out my sleeve and quit I might consider it because I admit it put me in a bit of a huff yesterday (and again this morning, when I was + 2 tenths over that pound) but I guess it's just the way things are. I'm really not getting much sleep. I'll get one good night every week or so. I've had four nights running with 4-6 hours total, and those broken up into one hour chunks, at that. Both of my daughters aren't sleeping well and it looks like Elisheva is teething already so that's just....awesome. I firmly believe the child rearing is best done by energetic and smiling 20 somethings and I'm basing that on the fact that I can't seem to get my crap together and I'm pretty much fueled by coffee and sarcasm these days. How on earth did I forget about the sleepless nights? I remembered all the other hurdles and forgot the one that makes the biggest impact on day to day life - sleep! At least the twins start kindergarten in a few weeks, so I'll be able to nap when Shevi does...as if she naps! Hope everyone has a great day. Today was supposed to be my fast but it ended up being yesterday...kinda. I'm calling it a fast. I ended the day at 605 and that's close enough for me. ~Cheri

Another thanks for posting, it's something I honestly hadn't considered. I'm 32 and it's not something coming up in my appointments because our plan doesn't suggest them until age forty. I'm terrible about taking my calcium, in particular, because it does make me very sick. Also, the Iron is my huge issue and always has been, so I take it first thing...and often forget to go back a few hours later and take my calcium. Dang, I better check into my supplements and see what they can do. And exercise can help?! Ugh...more guilt about my lack of structured exercise. ~Cheri

Looking good, FYE! ~Cheri

And it has not escaped my attention that I've gone from professing "a belief in something, but I'm not sure what" into claiming Judaism as my community. It's a complex thing for me. Again, it's not so easy to separate being Jewish from believing in God. Personal doubt or open-mindedness, even, don't keep me from defining myself as Jewish. ~Cheri

Very excellent points and observations. I've said it before but my non-Jewish friends just don't seem to understand what I'm talking about, but Judaism is very different because it's a complex tie of ritual, observances, belief and culture. And even within Judaism, even in the most orthodox of homes, you'll find that not everyone agrees about the things that they do - I've heard an elderly man with peyos and tzitzit saying that he doesn't know why the rules exist or even agree with them - to him, it's a matter of simple obedience. He does them because he feels God told him to. To any outsider, he's the most observant of the observant Jews, but personally, he questions the whys of religion and what God is and if there even is a God like the rest of us - he just follows the rules while doing it. When I questioned this, I was literally told that he couldn't be sure if it was or wasn't true or if he would or wouldn't be punished for not doing it, but that he couldn't imagine breaking with the traditions his family so proudly followed for generations. When you're more than distantly Jewish, it does spill over into everything. You know the other Jews around you, even if they're utterly unobservant. You sprinkle your speech with phrases you sometimes forget not everyone understands. And let us not forget the food! food mined from cultures all around the world and made into our own wonderful, comforting rituals. So it's possible to even profess a disbelief in God and still be considered Jewish by the community and even by other non-Jews. You are part of a community - you are family, even if you're the black sheep doing the wrong things. We have the same problems with fundamental groups vs. liberal practice groups that other religions have, the only difference being that nobody questions if you're Jewish or not. If your mom was Jewish, you're Jewish. Period, end of story. So level of observance is how we separate and divide ourselves. And no matter how you divide, you all read the same religious material - it's a matter of interpretation. Whereas many Christian groups believe a solid and clearly defined doctrine. Some groups (not all) are entirely exclusive - if you do not believe what they believe and if you don't check off their particular set of boxes for salvation, you are not "saved" and in some cases, not even considered a Christian. My maternal grandfather doesn't believe my sister is Christian. He's Southern Baptist and my sister is LDS. No leeway or meeting in the middle for them! I enjoy your comments and insight very much and am looking forward to seeing what both Butter and Fiddle have to say later on. ~Cheri

So, it's higher in fat than some of you might like, but I made chorizo and eggs for my fast dinner last night. Instead of using a tortilla (can't eat the buggers, anyway) I just topped with a pinch of cheese and a teensy dab of sour cream. Oh, and lots of cholula. YUM! Beef chorizo (I prefer the fresh sausages they sell at Whole Foods, but they sell rolls in the section of the grocery with lunch meat) 1/2 small yellow onion, chopped 6 eggs Shredded cheese Sour cream Tortillas (for those that can, I don't use em, but you could easily wrap it up in lettuce wraps to sub) Cholula or Melinda's hot sauce, of course! Remove chorizo from casings, if there are any. Add chorizo and onions to a large skillet and cook over medium heat. Break apart any large chunks and cook until done - about five minutes or so. Drain well, if there is excess grease. I drain and then dab with paper towels to get as much of the grease out as possible. Return to heat and crack in the eggs. Scramble it all together, and cook until the eggs are your desired consistency. I scramble hard, but in any case, it only takes a few minutes to finish cooking. Serve wrapped in tortillas or lettuce or just piled on a plate and topped with shredded cheese and sour cream. And plenty of hot sauce, naturally. Serves 8-10 (with appetites like mine), or 4 big eaters - or even 2 huge eaters (I saw my husband and 17 year old stepson devour an entire pan themselves once!) Per MFP, just the chorizo/egg mixture is 179 calories, 3 carbs, 15 fat, 8 Protein - when I portion it out, I eat 1/8th of the pan and feed the rest to the family. Add in your cheese/sour cream to that, but it's not a bad fast day dinner!

Butter knows all about hijacks and I bet he doesn't mind. Right? Good conversation isn't always a point A to B discussion. ~Cheri

It can be challenging, especially when one participant bases decision making upon faith. That's just my experience. My maternal grandmother is the daughter of Holocaust survivors and chose to marry a non-Jewish man. It was horrifying to the family but not the end of the world (after all, she was still Jewish and so by Jewish law her children would be, too) so my mom grew up in a mixed home. It became a big deal on my dad's side when my mom converted and the family on his side was not nice at all. They were not nice to her, but they'd speak to her. Again, she might be part of another religion but in their eyes, was still of Jewish descent so it wasn't the end of the world. But oh, when my dad's sister converted to Catholicism to marry her husband? I think the sky fell in my family. It was awful, and for a long while many people acted as if she had died. I did not want to marry someone with beliefs that differed from my own because those are the experiences I encountered as a child. Not to mention the raising of children with differing faiths. I know it works for some people but I don't really understand how. My parents refrained from giving us labels and expected us all to choose our own religious paths. I have a Jewish brother, a brother that's working his way towards a conversion to Catholicism (for his wife's sake), a sister that's LDS...and I suppose I'd identify mostly as Jewish but only with the vaguest ties to even the very liberal (in practice) reform movement. But our faith paths have changed since we got married. My totally non-observant husband has become very observant, indeed. And I've moved from a more moderate standpoint on religion to the loosest of beliefs possible. So in my case, what I think makes it work is a complete and utter respect for the other person's personal beliefs. There are things that we quibble about. Keeping Kosher was a big hurdle. I did it for several years but was very unhappy doing it. We now keep kosher style which is less observant than my husband would like to be and more observant than I appreciate. It's a compromise and it works for us. We take our kids to services fairly regularly, but instead of the much more rigid synagogue he'd attend, we attend a very liberal shul that is accepting of all sorts of people (even tattooed ones like me! It's easier to be gay and Jewish than tattooed and Jewish, I swear!) and that works for me. And the kids LOVE going to services. They love the tradition of Shabbat dinner on Fridays and the holiday festivals. I do not keep shomer shabbos (meaning, we do not observe the strict rules about electricity, travel, etc. on the Sabbath) but I do a big Shabbat dinner every Friday evening and that's our family night - no dates or going out that night. It's family time. It's respect and love and compromise that makes it work. It works with the right people. I think it would work far less if I ascribed to a religion that viewed itself as the "one true path" and was married to someone that wouldn't be saved. My husband's ex-wife was never Jewish and is LDS (Mormon). It's very stressful for them to navigate that with the kids. She is part of a church that believes only people that follow their rules and believe they're the true religion get to go to heaven, period. That leaves them with, you guessed it, five kids that do not know what on earth to believe. Not one of them is LDS at heart, though. Because how can you have such an all-or-nothing approach when considering people you love, like your father, stepmom and siblings? It doesn't work for them. She hates us for that and it's a big issue even though they're no longer married, so I can see, from this experience, how much more challenging it would be if our beliefs were totally opposite. Things are further complicated when she makes decisions or arguments that are faith based. They can't see eye to eye on these things - and I'm sure it's one of many reasons their marriage didn't work out. But some people make it work. I mean, I know incredibly liberal people married to hard line conservatives and somehow it works. I am forgiving and understanding of how my husband practices his religion in a way that I don't know I could be about his votes! We agree 110% on the issues that matter to us and are willing to meet in the middle or at least respect (fully respect, not just ignore) each other's differences. It works. ~Cheri

I can easily eat tortilla chips. And while I do like salty, crunch Snacks far more than I did prior to surgery, I tend to avoid them unless I'm at a restaurant and eating the ones that are freshly fried. I keep them out of my house due to the 'ole "If I can't make it, I don't need to eat it" rule that I keep. I can make them but it's royal PITA to make tortillas and then cut them up to fry them. Seriously. I can do it and did do it in Bishkek where I had no other options but it takes forever. By the time you're done you're like, "WTH was I doing and why would I want these stupid tortilla chips, anyway?" No, I want real flour tortillas so I can eat things like tacos and burritos (ha, I have to laugh because I'm never going to be able to eat one of those again) or even enchiladas. I prefer all of these foods with corn tortillas but my husband refuses to eat them the right way and insists on flour. But I can't eat the flour ones. So we're at an impasse and these foods don't get made around here anymore. I miss being able to eat a soft taco now and again! ~Cheri

And hang in there, Laura! I was there not too long ago and it made me a wee bit loony. If I'd had PMS yesterday, I might have smacked my doctor. Instead I gave her a condescending glare before pointedly putting her straight. Then I brushed off her oohs, aahs and "You've done so wells" as if they meant nothing to me. Which they didn't, 'cause why would the opinion of someone that can't read a file before judging a person matter to me? ~Cheri

Aw, love the pooches. ladies! Now that's an idea...drugs to get through a fast day...hmmm ~Cheri

It's days like today I wish that I were at least 5'5" or even better - 5'7" tall or something! If I were, I'd be damn skinny right now. But alas, I'm 5'1" and got the lecture by my doc yesterday that I should consider that I'm in the risk range with my weight. I put her right back in her place (hey, next time bother to read my file or at least look at that nifty paper they made me fill out before my appointment that says I had WLS) but it just reminded me of why I had surgery in the first place. Even after plastics, let's assume I'd lose what, seven or eight pounds? Am I doomed to get the "you're not skinny enough" talk from my doctors for the rest of my life? Bah. Piss on 'em. I'm about as skinny as I'll ever be. I might shed a few pounds and I will definitely have plastics some day but that "ideal weight range" of 105-120 pounds my doc vomited at me yesterday is not going to happen. ~Cheri

And oh man, I STILL can't eat Pasta or rice in anything more than teeny tiny bites. And only a few of those at that. I know I should be thankful and it's for the best, but really? And bread still stuffs me so I'm still eating only a few bites of it if it accompanies a meal. I can eat those foods and they taste wonderful but I can't eat hardly any of it. So I guess my gripe would be restriction, even though I know that it's something to be hugely grateful about. But I still miss flour tortillas! ~Cheri

Everyone is so different! It's amazing. I feel for the folks like Laura and Dee that never got to enjoy a break from the "bad stuff." I taste everything now. I was always a bit of a super sniffer and taster. It's even more pronounced now that I'm post op. I LOVE spicy and super flavorful foods now, when I used to avoid them. Cheeses of all varieties, too, of course. I still eat very little portions, so I make them as flavorful as possible. And I can still taste any and all artificial flavors or sugars. The only "pass" on these fake foods is my nectar shake, which I do pretty well with. Other than that, yuck. I prefer homemade to everything else - I make my own bread, my own foods, my own pastries and baked goods. Everything I can - because I can taste how "fake" the processed stuff is now. Even canned veggies - I just talked about this on another thread, I think. I can taste the can even after rinsing the vegetables. Just yuck. Oreos taste like Oreos to me...I just think they're gross now. They leave a film in my mouth! In a lot of ways, this improves my entire diet overall. I shop mostly the perimeter of the store and that's great. My family enjoys homemade food and we all feel better about that. It's a drawback when I find myself with extra food. I hate throwing food away so I try to give it away. We just don't eat as much as we used to. So half a cake is all we can manage after a few days, or a dozen Cookies over a couple days. When I make everything myself, you just can't scale some recipes down to the one cookie I'm going to eat or the half slice of cake I'll enjoy, you know? So in that respect, it's sometimes a challenge. I love the changes in my tastebuds, but mine have been overwhelmingly positive. Except Peanut Butter. I have always, always, always hated peanut butter. And that PB & Co white chocolate peanut butter (White Chocolate Wonderful) is so good I actually eat peanut butter again. And it's a food I could have lived without, because seriously, I still have mental issues with the fact that I'm eating peanut butter and also, it's so full of calories and fat and I don't avoid those things but OMG how easy would it be to eat an extra four hundred calories in peanut butter alone? And don't even suggest that I try PB2. This is an obsession with one particular peanut butter (okay, I like the Dark Chocolate Dreams, too) and I'd prefer not to transfer it to anything else. So I wish my tastebuds still said, "eww, peanut butter." But other than that I'm thankful that most of it has hung in there. ~Cheri