itstheamarie

I think the diet snapple half & half (tea and lemonade) has less caffeine and is awesome! It takes me 2 days to drink it, so that shouldn't be enough to have any real effects.

Awesome! I'm with you! I can't walk past a mirror without checking myself out :-) I LOVE squats

LOVE IT!! You're doing awesome!

OMG thank you SO much for posting this!!!! I was about to pull my hair out with the misinformation being spread about needing to be on a VLCD (very low calorie diet) forever to lose/maintain. Anyone every question why there are a MILLION threads on here about stalling after eating low cal and working out like crazy? OUR BODIES GO INTO PANICK MODE AND HOLD ON TO WHAT WE HAVE. As my doctor told me regarding losing my menstrual cycle- evolution has taught our body to resist famine. Say what you want about starvation mode, but I am walking proof that our body will shut down natural processes (ovulation since we can't support a child) to resist famine. Many of us experience this before surgery, too (stalling at 1,2000 cal/day). The reason we regain + more wt after these diets is that we gave up and went back to our ways after losing weight (MUSCLE and fat), but have ruined our metabolism (less lean body mass = lower BMR). This happens with the sleeve, too- look at all the threads about regain as we slip into old ways. The good news is, you can reset your metabolism by eating at TDEE. This is something to think about in the long term, not immediately after surgery of course. VST is great for support, but there are other sources out there, too. Myfitnesspal has several groups such as "EatMore2WeighLess" and "Eat.Train.Progress" who can provide you with information for days along with success stories about people who eat at normal levels and maintain weight loss (long term, not week 3 post op). We have to realize that if we are doing things that we can't maintain for life, all the work and stress we're putting our bodies through could be in vain. Your success does not depend on your sleeve. It depends on the choices we make all day every day to be healthy or not. Lastly, be careful who you listen to (myself included)! There are countless books and papers on these subjects who are written by experts. There are trainers and registered dieticians who can help, too. If you are having success, keep up the hard work! If not, keep looking for what works for you, because everyone is going to give you a different answer.

Yes! And it will help you retain your lean body mass, which will contribute to a sustained metabolism throughout weight loss . You can still burn by focusing on the activity you do when you're NOT working out (NEAT: non exercise activity thermogenesis) such as fidgeting, cleaning, shopping, wrangling kids. Because let's face it, we're NOT working out (23 hrous= 96% of your day) a lot more each day than we ARE working out (1 hour = 4% of your day). All the crazy people who tell us to park far away and take the stairs all these years were on to something. I wear a Bodymedia Fit, which uses sensors to track steps, heat reflux, and etc to calculate daily burn. To my surprise, I have better burns on days when I am out and about all day- more than the days when I have a good workout but am a couch potato the rest of the day. Moral: don't feel tied to a cardio machine to push through your pain and burn calories, do something you can enjoy and sustain! You can avoid looking "skinny-fat" this way, bc lifting weights is what transforms the SHAPE of your body. Focus on compound lifts that engage multiple muscle groups through pushing and pulling (most bang for your buck).

I agree with SleeveOfSteel, in that it's perfectly safe to consume more in order to feed your daily functions. Everyone has a different energy expenditure, so the round numbers don't work the same for everyone. Do a 350 lb man and a 190 lb woman need the same number of cals? That's why we see so many people comparing themselves to other's losses. If you take the more balanced approach, it's likely that you will be able to establish habits that will last long term. However, you will need to accept the fact that you MAY lose slower. But if you're truly doing it for health, then it won't matter! Stay focused on your goal, and continue to seek support. Moving up to 1200 so soon may have you thinking a month from now, oh, I need 1500, then 2000 and it will continue to go up and up as the swelling goes down and you can consume a larger quantity. The easiest way for us to wreck the process is focusing on things that "go down easy." Nearly anyone can get cals sky high if we turn to sliders (especially long term as we lose the newbie motivation to make healthy choices). If we follow the "rules" of protein first, we will continue to feel restriction/fullness even if you eat small quantities throughout the day. At this point, going that method would still land your cals pretty low. It will be a journey, but you will constantly have to ask yourself if you're making changes that you can maintain for life? If you are, then you'll be fine! Keep up the great work, and congrats on your losses so far!

The whole "net" thing on MFP depends on what you set your activity level and weight loss goals at. It gives you a budget based on the information you enter. If you really want to get down to the nitty gritty, you should use an activity tracker- fitbit of bodymedia fit to get a better idea of your real daily calorie burn. The other option is to use the online calculators for RMR & TDEE (which includes exercise, so you wouldn't add it back in). Once you have an idea of what you are burning, then you would subtract your intake, and that's you're deficit. Your deficit is the number that should correlate to your losses. Basically, it's hard to answer the whole "net calories" question regarding MFP, because it's all based on whether your inputs are accurate or not. One thing- eating at drastic deficits for so long will tank our metabolisms, making the calculators/trackers less accurate. Anyway, I could send you days worth of literature on this, if you're interested (google TDEE). Good luck!!!

Hi Globetrotter, how's it going so far? I know this method requires the most precious commodity- patience! It's tough, but it will be worth the sanity in the long run! I'd predict that you saw an increase initially, but hopefully it levels off as your body resets. Please keep us updated, and good luck!

Keep us posted! I'm curious!

What do you do to track everything? Everyone claims the numbers should add up, but most of us know that they don't! Have you had your RMR tested? Do you wear a HRM? Maybe getting a better look at your numbers would be helpful. 3 years and never going above 750 cals has undoubtedly crashed your metabolism. If you do extreme low carb, then it would make sense that eating more makes you gain, as you are restoring your body's glycogen stores. You said you tried to eat more, but you also said you never go above 750 cals. If you did try to eat more, did you slowly increase 50-100 cal per day every week for several weeks to allow your body to reach an equilibrium? What type of foods do you eat? Packaged or all whole foods? What are your macronutrient ratios? How much Water do you drink? There are lots of things to look at, but please don't be discouraged by those who are trying to let you know what worked for them. My questions are not to accuse you, but to dig for something that may help. I'm not a vet or an expert, but I do read a TON about TDEE, BMR, RMR, eating to fuel your workouts, and etc. If you're interested in more information, I would love to forward you the articles. I stopped losing when I started working out more. I slowly increased my calories to 20% below TDEE and have been losing steadily ever since (slowly), and I am OK with that. I chilled out on the cardio and added weight training, which is really changing my body. I wear a HRM 24-7 to keep a good grasp on my activity and log everything in MFP. I wish it wasn't necessary, but it helps keep me accountable. Nothing works the same for everyone, but I think people are sharing in an effort to be helpful, not to be put on a pedestal.

Updates! I went to the gyno this week, after not seeing Aunt Flo for over 3 months. I was ALWAYS regular before surgery. He did an ultrasound and said cervix and ovaries look good, but that the uterus lining was thin, which means I'm probably not ovulating. (I can tell when I am, and I have not ovulated since surgery). So, no cycle. All blood work came back normal. He explain that throughout evolution, weight loss is a sign of famine, so losing ~20 lb in a month tells our bodies that if we aren't able to consume enough to maintain ourselves, we can not support a baby, additionally. Clearly everyone is different, but at least everything is normal for me. It still bothers me that my body has shut down natural processes, and I can't help but wonder if the energy saved by ovulating has any impact on metabolism. He says to come back and see him if my weight stabilizes for about 3 months and she still doesn't return.

Love it, Mike!

I'm more obsessed with food than preop. It's different, as in I am obsessed with eating healthy. At 3 months post op, I barely have any restriction with anything other than dense protein, which is why they stress protein first! I measure and track everything, and I don not eat anything processed foods, but I want food all the time. Since starting to work out more, I'm hungry every 2-3 hours (physical hunger), so food is constantly on my mind (head hunger). *sigh* it's a process!

haha, clearly too much to read! But I was going through a bit of an obsessive period. After reading tons of articles, books, and studies regarding feeding your body and strength training, I've calmed down a bit, lol.

Quest bars. Short ingredient list. Low sugar & carbs, too. Be careful, they can be addictive!