delta_girl

Add chia seeds to your food.

I discovered this in a related article on diet vs exercise for weight loss results. http://www.pbrc.edu/...loss-predictor/ Though it doesn't provide quite the extreme for caloric restriction that we undergo, it DOES show how regular exercise can really impact the results. I entered my gender, age, height, weight, and caloric reduction. I had to play around with this for a few minutes to see how it worked and to make connections between how it worked and corollaries to the unique nature of the sleeve and our general nutritional plan. If I have a caloric deficit of 1,000 calories a day (It would take 2,665 calories a day to maintain my current weight of 187), then in 12 months I can be down to around 147 pounds. If I add in exercise that burns just 250 calories a day (a brisk walk for an hour), then in 12 months I can be down around 137 in 12 months. But I'm not in a nutritional deficit of 1,000 calories a day. I'm in a nutritional deficit of 2,100 calories a day as of today at the weight of 187. See how the calculator is not "extreme" enough for us? However, it does provide a fascinating comparison, and if you are great at math, you can do a bit of estimating and calculating to envision results specific to you. Of course you will have to figure in that your daily caloric needs will decline as you lose weight, so the deficit number will go down for each pound lost. Unfortunately I'm really horrible at math so I can't calculate my exact results, but I can guesstimate that it is possible for me to be at or near goal well before 12 months are up, IF I maintain a consistent nutritional plan with significant caloric restriction and IF I maintain a consistent exercise program that includes adequate length and intensity for each session. I did do enough playing around with it to discover that when I do reach my goal weight, I can maintain it with around 1,600 calories a day if I remain active. If I am sedentary, then I will need fewer calories.

We had surgery on the same day and have lost almost exactly the same number of pounds.

I felt that way 2-3 weeks before surgery, but also knew that if I gained weight my surgeon might not do the operation. I did eat a lot of favorite things, but in moderation. I lost 4 lbs in 2 weeks but ate Indian, sushi, pie, chocolate, Pasta. I just ate some, not all of it. Now I know I a can have whatever I want eventually, but surprisingly enough I don't think about food all of the time anymore.

Odd. My surgeon told me that at 8 weeks the stomach is only 50% healed.

Even though I am cleared to eat a greater variety of foods than I am currently eating, I go back to earlier options. It doesn't make sense, but I also try little bits of things that are not quite allowed yet. My sleeve is guiding me, not my mouth. Regardless of how my taste buds feel about it, if my sleeve likes it then it gets what it likes. I had some organic chicken and vegetables baby food for supper last night. Even salt didn't help the taste much, but my sleeve loved it and I could eat the whole 3 oz. I also had 1.5 whites from two boiled eggs. Both worked great. Vegan black bean soup at lunch last Thursday was a bust. I probably had 4 spoons of the broth and maybe 10 beans in all. That was all I could take of that. Unfortunately, a shortbread cookie went down just fine. Trying some pork rinds from the break room at work was a truly horrible idea. I felt like concrete had been poured in my stomach and the feeling lasted for over 4 hours. I still haven't thrown up anything so far, nor have I felt even close to that experience. What I do feel is something like having a handfull of gravel in my stomach, which is extremely unpleasant. I don't see giving up shakes anytime in the foreseeable future. They are too soothing to my stomach, regardless of what my taste buds think. Most days I eat under 500 calories and I've lost 29 lbs in 40 days which is probably an average loss. I've seen a lot of people who have lost a lot more and a lot less in the same amount of time. I've gone over 500 a few times, but not very far and those were days when I was tasting something I probably shouldn't have.

A new thread was just started on this a few days ago that has received a lot of responses. You can do a search for different topics at the top of this page.

Having a one-on-one mentor or buddy is great, but I think that we all do that for each other in general through the forums. That is why I like it so much here. Lots of different personalities, experiences, ways of interacting with others, questions, methodologies, suggestions ..... a much broader variety than you would get from one person. If you need a kick in the pants, you get lots of them. If you need to be reassured that things will be OK, you get a lot of affirmations from the group.

I saw those when I was in there shopping on Saturday but wasn't convinced that DDs would get enough support.

My mind has completely tuned this out and ignored it. I hadn't read this thread until now and then I started counting back. I've been to the bathroom twice for sure (maybe three times) since surgery six weeks ago. I'm traveling for work for the next few days so can't put myself in a vulnerable position, but I realize that this needs some immediate attention. Amazing what you can forget about....

Good job so far! You know you are moving forward with your success when you start to hear compliments. Keep up the good work and your progress towards better health. You decide if and when you want to share anything about your health with anyone. There is no shame in keeping it private nor in sharing your surgery with the world, but don't let anyone (at work, home, or here in this forum) make that decision for you. It is completely your decision for what is right for you.

If you are interested, here is some information on HIPPA law. Your medical privacy is protected, but gossip doesn't know it. http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/summary/index.html

Say you took control of your health, you feel great, and thanks for the compliment.

I'm still fairly new at 6 or so weeks, but I like edamame, Ostrim, salmon, pb2, low fat cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, split pea soup (11g protein per .5 cup), boiled egg whites.

Yup. 500-600 calories a day is exactly a starvation diet. Ever wonder how many calories a day anorexics strive for? This goes back to a post I made about being able to survive on fat stores. We have so much surplus that the deficit has to be extreme to get results moving. That doesn't mean we are meant to continue to live out the rest of our lives on such harsh calorie restrictions. We have agreed to an extreme medical intervention to address an extreme addiction.

I love going to Panera for their lemon chicken soup though it isn't on the menu all of the time. I keep a note in my phone of my local restaurants and what I can eat at each. I did this by looking up the nutritional information and examining fat, Protein and carbs for different items on the menu. There really is no other way to know unless you just guess or the nutritional information is published on the menu when you get there. For example, I know that if I go to Ruby Tuesday's, I have a list of about 5 "very safe" items and a few others that are "pretty good." The white bean chicken chili with 300 calories has a fantastic 24g of protein, but 37g of carbs. I would order that only depending on what else I had that day, or if I knew I wanted to order it at supper, I would plan my food for the day to have a lower number of carbs. The chicken noodle soup has 180 calories with 9g protein, 9g fat and 18g carbs. There are also several sharable appetizers that I have already screened that are ok for me to have. Since I already have these listed in my phone, it is easy to have the information ready to enter into myfitnesspal.com

I can only tolerate a very small amount of sure. Very small. Anything beyond just one bite or two and I feel very sick.

You look healthy and fabulous and you sound very happy and well adjusted. It is obvious from your post that you are in a great place both mentally and physically, and that is the best that any of us could ever hope for!

We all have these (with rare exceptions). You have lost a lot of weight already so feel good about that! This isn't a race, it is a change in lifestyle. Think about how long it took you to put on that weight. I had a two week stall at 4 weeks and it was frustrating, but not bad or sad. I decided to do something to shake my body up. At first I upped my calories by 200, but that didn't work. Then I upped the intensity of my exercise and drank more fluids. That worked. Either that, or it was just time for the stall to end anyway. Rejoice in your victory so far! Don't beat yourself up over a number. I'll bet you are feeling a lot better than you did when you were heavier. You are healthier for sure. Savor the feeling of having done something powerfully effective for yourself and let the rest come when it does. You aren't through losing weight. It is still going to happen. We are all too conditioned for instant satisfaction through the influence of marketing. Those weight loss ads usually say something about ....Lose 50 lbs 30 days or your money back! .... Why is it desirable to make something happen immediately? We are more interested in long term results. Patience isn't one of my strengths either, but reality has its own way of unfolding things.

Just about any Japanese, many steak houses, and fusion restaurants have these things. I doubt you have the same restaurants in Virginia as I do in my part of the country, but I did a quick search. http://www.thaifoodsmithfieldva.com/ Their edamame is $4.00, miso Soup is $1.75, tuna tataki is $8.00 (you can request it seared if it is not already prepared that way.

In college, through some very extreme dieting, I hit 116 lbs. It was the first time since elementary school that I weighed that, with my weight usually being 160-170 (5'3"). Even though that was a few decades ago, I recall being that weight and thinking to myself that inside I felt no different. I still had problems and responsibilities and insecurities. I thought that there would be an internal transformation at the same time and it didn't happen. Obviously I gained it all back and then some. This is a challenge that I know is coming again. At least I am aware of it, though I don't know how it will play out at my age and experience level. Fat is like having a cozy buffer between yourself and the rest of the world. You are insulated and can feed that comfort with more food. At least that is my interpretation. The only counseling I have ever been through was what was necessary prior to my surgery, but I'm not opposed to talking to a professional if I find myself feeling lost or begin to self-sabotage. Yes, OP, that unknown is scary, but we will forge ahead!

Seared Ahi tuna and edamame with hot green tea.

I'm not sure if this is helpful in this context or not, but here is a thread that I started yesterday in Exercise: http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/57581-sophisticated-calculator-caloric-deficit-exercise-for-monthly-estimates/

I have already tried canned boiled peanuts that you can get at the grocery store. They are super soft right out of the shell. The down sides are that they are incredibly high in sodium and the whole can packs a huge number of calories.

That's what my doctor/surgeon told me. He is an award winning physician and runs a Center for Bariatric Excellence, which is not an easy distinction to acquire. When he said that I would survive on my own fat stores with only water for 4 months, he did not say THRIVE. He said survive. That post was to suggest what is apparently medical fact, though not something that anyone would every want to do. Have you ever seen someone go on a hunger strike? They don't die right away, or even weeks into it. This is a conceptual idea that is based in medical fact to illustrate a theoretically relevant idea that I'm damn fat. It was also a wake-up call to me that I do not need to fuss and whine about being deprived about food or being hungry and try to soothe myself with food because I'm already damn fat. He was basically saying not to feel sorry for yourself and get with the program. This was our pre-surgery conference. It worked for me.