Globetrotter

They get a bad rap but brussel sprouts are great, just make sure to use only the tiniest ones, cut an x on the bottoms, and steam in chicken broth rather than water. Yum!! You can make a lot of vegetables like mashed potatoes; parsnips, coliflower, turnips, rutebagas. Made like mashies, with butter, greek yogurt, chives, salt and pepper, and they are goo-ood! Cabbage also gets a bad rap but is an amazing vegetable; make vinegar rather than mayo-based cole slaw, braise in a little bacon fat, saute, use as a thickening base for soups, cut a chop with crumbled bleu cheese and slivered almonds (just take your gas-X or beano hee hee). You can also sneek in your greens as wrappers instead of tortillas and as a substitute wherever rice is suggested in a recipe. stuffed peppers, yum ... early spring onions should be around the corner, onion soups are amazing!

B - Protein shake w/ milk, torani SF syrup. Sausage pattie, TBSP scrambled egg white & cheese. L - 4 oz baked chicken breast, 1 tsp balsamic vinegar. D - Cafe Steamers chicken & red pepper alfredo It's at least another hour and a half before I can eat dinner and I don't know if I will make it, my god I want something so bad, popcorn, Peanut Butter, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh.

Corn is a super high glycemic index food, I should basically never eat it, in any form. Which is a shame because a fresh ear of corn in August, barely boiled, dripping in sweet butter and salt, is pure joy. *sniff*

Article in the New York Times. Should clear up some questions ... http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/25/health/25brody.html?ref=health

Yeah, I'm frustrated and anxious these days, that's for sure. I lost 12 pounds in December and only 6 pounds in January which is devastating. I've been in Iraq (I'm a civilian with the Army) for 2 years now, have no place to live when I return to the States, have no romantic prospects, am still fat, dislike my job, and am over 6 months out from surgery. Clothes don't look good on my stuffed sausage body, my waist calves refuse to lose inches. I am 87 pounds from goal and I am so #$%&&% sick of being so #$%-^%$# fat.

So unfair!! I slacked off last week and this week at the gym, averaging only 3xs per week and not pushing myself for maximum drenching and I hit a mega stall! It's so unfair! There are people on here all the time talking about how they never worked out during their losing phase and yet made it to goal quickly! I have now discovered that the SECOND I stop working out, I stop losing weight. WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF. >=C

I really needed this today. I'm in a frustrated place right now, lost enough weight to realize just how far I still have to go, lost enough weight to realize just how enormous I was and that I am still fat and frantic and frustrated. I need to hear these messages of hope right now. It is terrible to lose 77 pounds and genuinely feel like it's just a drop in the bucket.

This is an issue also with BMs, having no momentum to push.

Liquid calories are the easiest, make a Protein shake in the morning with real milk, Peanut Butter, banana, and a couple of different chocolate protein powders. Top it off with some SF whipped cream and you've got yourself a protein dense, calorie rich meal.

When I get frustrated still being in a plus size, 16, I try to remember what a pair of 16s would have looked like to my pre-op self, when I was in a 24. I try to remember that I had a pair of 22s that I couldn't get over my hips and that those same pants are now in the bottom of my wardrobe because they are too big to be worn even with a belt. I try to remember all this and not be greedy, but I can hardly WAIT to get into the single digits! I haven't worn a single digit since I was 17!

They stopped carrying my liquid whey isolate protein bullets at the PC so I have to get all my protein from food and shakes and because of this it is next to impossible to keep my carbs under 30 (surg & nut recomendations). I still have no hunger, and for the longest time it really didn't matter what I put in my mouth, as far as taste/interest is concerned, but now for some reasons (I'm 6 months out) now I want to eat a variety of foods, I want to eat vegetables, whole grains, a variety of lean meats, sea vegetables, soups, etc. etc. This probably has more to do with the fact that I'm getting very close to going home and am just so sick and tired of this place and the monotony (sp). I seem to be in a stall, 10 days since I lost anything. I feel like I'm getting sloppy; though I document it all and my cals are within range, my carb count has crept up, and I have had things like popcorn, chocolate, creamer in my tea, whole packets of splenda in my tea, a hot dog frank, chicken wings, basically junk food! I don't want to eat junk food butmy alternative is endless identical chicken breasts, tasteless vegetable medleys, and protein shakes. I didn't work out this morning, feel like a slug.

Even though I ate over 1100 calories a day on vacation and lost 8 lbs in 7 days, I can't seem to bring myself to eat that much now that I am back in my hyper-controlled regular environment. I average about 800 calories a day and yes, my loss has ground to a halt. In 10 days I have lost only a pound.

you can put your tuna, hummus, dip-stuff on sliced cucumbers if you are looking for that crunch, you can bake salami slices till they get crispy, make parmesan crackers. If you want wraps, certain lettuce leaves work really well, and these thin spring roll wrappers that come in dry flat sheets that you soak. I am 6 months in and I do not eat rice, grains, potatoes of every kind, bread, oatmeal, bread coating or bread crumbs. I do not eat these things because they take up too much space, both in my tummy and in my calorie/carb count. However, when I was home on vacation I ate fresh baguette from the bakery, tiny little high tea sandwiches made with bread, sugar cookies, and alcoholic drinks and I lost a ton of weight so, go figure!

Now that I think about it, I might have assessed the mans condition, see if he was really alert or not, and if he did seem to be fully cognisant of himself I think I would have very sweetly said this, "I would think that by the time someone got to be as old as you, that they would learn some manners. Didn't your mother ever teach you manners?"

I was sleeved at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco.

The only thing I would say to change up is your water intake, IMPO you need more than a pint. I know plain water can be difficult in the first weeks so herbal (decaf) tea can really be a friend. Plain peppermint is gentle and soothing.

Yes I can! I went to the gym this morning and pedalled fast for 30 minutes on a bike and did a full weights rotation. I thought I would get a good sweat going on the bike but I went 9 miles and barely got damp!

I never had any pain, some discomfort over the first week as all the surgical gas moved out of my system but while I was in the hospital I didn't feel a dang thing - that I can remember, ha ha! Here's to the liberal application of pain erasing drugs!! =)

I feel like a LOSER, and not the good kind! last week I only went to the gym 3 times and today is Monday and I didn't go so, getting off to a bad start this week! =C AND I woke up at the time I was supposed to this morning, I could have easily pulled on my gym clothes and gone but nooo, I turned off the alarm, reset it, and went back to bed - boo!!!! I hope I go tomorrow morning, I will ride the bike till I'm drenched to try to make up for being so lazy!!

My favorite is the over-the-shoulder shot!

I actually think that if you are experiencing actual hunger that this is a good thing; sleevers tend to think that those of us who feel no hunger are the lucky ones but, when you don't feel hunger, there is no difference in your need for food at any time of the day. So, you could always eat, or not eat. It takes more discipline, IMO, to not eat when you are like this, because you no longer have a hunger signal to legitimize eating episodes.

I use my "20-10" rule; above a size 20, it is 20 pounds between sizes. Below a size 20 it is 10 pounds between sizes. I am 5'3". Hey I remember dressing like that in the early mid 90's (I'm class of '96 too). cotton leotards and enormous baggy jeans, showed off the "girls" while camouflaging hips and tummy, the best of both worlds! =P

So we lose a lot of weight, hopefully make goal, maybe even go beyond. We become average, fit, thin. We wouldn't stand out in a crowd for the largeness of our size, maybe even the opposite in our chubby American society. We get attention like we didn't before. Romantic attention. So, how do we accept the "feelings" of these people who are now attracted to us, when we (pretty much) know we would have been invisible to them before? How can we believe that they are attracted to us for who we are, when we know the dirty little secret ... that WHAT we are makes all the difference. How?

Alright, you've got me psyched! This week, I'm switching out elliptical for bike, let's see what happens!! =P