zenandnow

Ok, so I took the tests. I have a slight association with Female=Career. So NOW I get to object to your comments Fiddle!! Of course, I'm assuming my bias is because I work full-time outside the home, I manage a team of people at a large company, and my marriage has never been "traditional"; I don't cook or clean, my hubby does his own laundry, and we make joint decisions on stuff. I am also the disciplinarian with our kids, whereas he's the softie. Interesting tests. I wonder how much of the bias is due to the order in which they present the options. They condition you somewhat in the associations by how it is presented. If they were run with the 'negative' associations first, then the 'positive' I wonder if the results would differ.

My knee jerk reaction to your comments was to be indignant, Fiddle, but then I thought 'wait! Maybe I should take the tests before I protest too much!'. Never know what my subconscious will say! I'm off to take them & see where I come out.

Wow, no kidding! Definitely a consistent theme.

I'm no where near a vet (think I can only post here because of the number of posts I have), but I wanted to say thank you for this thread & these articles. There's a lot of - how shall I say - angst on the boards here; panic about stalls, small gains, the myriad challenges one experiences early on. There's also a lot of 'I lost 100 lbs in 3 months!' type of stuff. These are valid topics and serve a purpose, but they tend to dominate the boards and I find I have to drill down a little - often to the fitness or vet forums - to get to the 'meaty' stuff....the info or discussions that I can really learn from. I am so grateful to the vets who take the time to keep posting so that those of us just starting out can learn from you and get a preview of what it will be like for us when we get to that point. Thanks for the valuable insight & for sharing your knowledge - it is greatly appreciated!! (Even the scary stuff, Laura-ven!)

Hey Fiddle - I was wondering if you're still using this, and what your thoughts are after a few weeks? I'm interested in trying both products, but here's my dilemma: I'm fairly short - 5 feet even - and don't have a long torso. I'm already wearing a BodyMedia Core armband while working out, I just added a heart monitor (chest strap & watch combo) and if I add the sweet sweat and a waist wrap too, I'm afraid I won't be able to move around with all that gear on!

Hilarious!! I thought I'd avoided all this by hooking up with a trainer who rents time at a very small gym. Usually it's just the two of us there when I work out, which is great. Just last week another trainer started training two sisters at the same time, and I swear these girls are living Barbies. Full makeup, hideous perfume, hair long, coiffed and flooooowing, and the cute little workout outfits that show their giant boob jobs to the best advantage. There's a lot of huffing & puffing and complaining about the various exercises the trainer makes them do. Meanwhile I'm over in the corner quietly sweating my fat ass off with my trainer who is just rolling her eyes! To make it worse, the other trainer likes a 'hot gym', so she turns off the A/C & fans and lets it get really warm. This does NOT help the perfume smell. As soon as they leave we open all the doors & crank up the A/C!! I'm all for people wanting to get fit, no matter what they look like. But I just don't get the whole 'spruce up to work out' thing.

I had the Fitbit for about a month, then switched over to the BodyMedia Core armband. It was a few dollars cheaper, but I got WAAAAAY more out of it! The Fitbit measures your steps (and was mostly accurate for me) but estimates your calorie burn. That's where it was way off for me. The calorie burn is based on a person of your height & weight (and I think age), whereas the BodyMedia actually measures your personal calorie burn. It also measures your sleep efficiency, syncs with My Fitness Pal so you can continue using that to log if you already do, and measures your steps in addition to whatever other movement/exercise you do. I've attached a screenshot of my dashboard so you can get an idea of what it measures. Dollar for dollar, the BodyMedia Core had more value for me. I've found that my workouts have become more efficient, and I am better about what I eat because I can see the overall effect it has compared to my calories burned. The Fitbit is great, but I wish I had just gone straight to the BodyMedia, especially since they're about the same price.

Good for you, LipstickLady!! We are surgery sisters - May 16 - and pretty close in numbers too. I'm also not a fast loser, so I know what you mean. I wish I was one of those people who loses all their weight in six months, but it looks like I'll be a long haul kinda girl. That's ok, though. Reading some of the posts by the vets has convinced me that success takes many forms. You have a GREAT attitude, and that's what will get you to your goals!! Keep up the good work, and thanks for pumping up my morale too!!!

Blegh. Finally hit under 200 lbs, went on vacation this week, and what do I do? Fall off the wagon! Feeling pretty disappointed in myself. I know better than this, but I went & hit the trifecta: slider foods, not tracking, and grazing! Trying hard to get back on track today and not beat myself up about it, but it's hard. I'm used to self-sabotaging (kind of wondering if that's behind all this - I typically panic when I diet & get close to 200, self-sabotage, then give up. Only difference here is I broke 200 and am at 198). Also used to that old habit of berating myself for not being able to follow through on changing my habits, self-criticizing - you know the drill. All the mean things we say to ourselves. Trying to think of some of the positive things I can take from this. Like - I learned that I feel crappy when I eat carbs and 'normal' when I eat Protein. I learned that although I can definitely eat a lot of carb-y slider foods, they definitely do not process well through my system, and being stopped up is not fun. I also learned that I do better when I am accountable; when no one is looking I get sneaky. Sneaky is not good. Sneaky makes me depressed and lonely and fat. So....I am tracking on MFP again after largely ignoring it for 4 days. (I am zenandnow23 on MFP if you want to friend me and kick my a** in gear.) I'm going to have my Premier shakes and Water today & try to get myself back in the protein mindset. In other words, DETOX!! And I am going to *try* not to be mean to myself for not doing so great over the past few days...but I gotta admit, I'm feeling pretty down.

HAHA! So true! Thanks for the reminder, I'm keeping that one!

Thanks BKLYNgal!! It helps to be amongst friends!!

Ok, so I set my goals, got back on track, finally broke my stall.....now what? Now....you keep doing what you've been doing, that's what! I need to remind myself that this is a change in my lifestyle - there's no end, there are stages (or levels, as Kramer would say). This is my 'stick to the plan & lose dat ass' stage. Once I get to goal, it's the 'don't mess this up' stage. But I don't ever get to go back to my old habits. Maybe I'll get to have some of the old foods I ate; a taste occasionally, but never at the amounts I used to consume. And is that really a bad thing? I'm starting to think it's not.... I decided to update my goals a bit: Lose 20 lbs - complete! Get under 200 lbs - complete! Lose 45 lbs - complete! Get to 190 Lose 50 lbs Get to 186 Get to 180 Get to 169 Get to 160 Get to 155 Get to 150 Get to 145 Get to 140 Get to 135 Get to 125 Get to 120 Not totally inspired, but at least it gives me something to work towards! Next task - work on some NSV goals to add into this list. Because as I lose more weight the losses are going to slow down. And I know I'll get discouraged and reach for something comforting. Like a jar of marshmallow fluff.

(Posted to MFP on 8/9/13) I've found myself at odds since I reached my first major goal - getting under 200 lbs. I was so focused on that goal that once I reached it, I didn't really know what to strive for next. Over the course of a couple of weeks I started sliding back into bad habits, not tracking, and just generally being lazy. Now I think it's because I didn't have a concrete goal to focus on next. So, I decided to pre-determine my specific goals - obviously the Main Goal is to lose weight, but I need weight-related milestones to keep me on track. Lose 20 lbs - complete! Get under 200 lbs - complete! Get to 190 Get to 186 Get to 169 Get to 160 Get to 155 Get to 150 Get to 145 Get to 140 Get to 135 Get to 125 Get to 120 Some odd numbers, I know. I chose 186 because I had a frenemy that used to crow about her weight loss and time in the gym until everyone was sick to death of hearing about it. When she reached 187 it was 3 weeks of listening to her go on and on about her workouts, her food intake, and every last detail of her bodily functions to get to 187. The number always stuck in my head, so I figure if I get to 186 I can finally get that memory out of my head & thumb my imaginary nose at her! I chose 169 because I weighed 170 after having my daughter, and it was the highest weight I had ever been at. After that, I only gained - I never got back under 170 and that was 18 years ago. So, once I get to 169 I will be at my lowest since 1995!! The rest of these goals may change over time, for now they are just place-holders. But at least I've got them down!

Hey Melissa - so glad it helped! I find need goals or I just fizzle out! Hope you're feeling back in control & doing well! Feel free to friend me on MFP if you use it - we can encourage each other I'm zenandnow23.

I'm 3.5 months out, and just lost a pound after an 8 day "stall". I don't really consider them stalls, though. I exercise regularly, have been following my NUT's plan, and have lost steadily since surgery. But it's not a daily loss, at least not for me. I rarely go up on the scale (maybe a few ounces, but not that often) but my loss tends to look like a crazy staircase - it always goes down, but the steps are all different lengths. I don't stress too much about the stalls - there are a million posts on here about them, everyone goes through it, and there are vets on here who are still losing weight after 2 or 3 years! Even if it takes me that long, I'll be happy because I'll still be healthier than I was pre-op! Good luck to you!

Puja & Sarsar - thanks for the replies. I'm a pretty slow eater (was slow pre-op, am even slower now) so I don't think it's the speed. I'm only 14 weeks post-op, so my restriction is still pretty tight. If I eat too fast I get the foamies, so I'm pretty careful. Cowgirl Jane - could be stress too, hadn't thought about that. I have to admit, I do have a lot of anxiety tied to food! It's my comfort and my bane. Could be anxiety causing the feeling. My heart rate monitor should be here this week, so I'll know soon! Haven't had anymore episodes since posting, but I've also been pretty careful with my diet - low sugar/low carb, and eating carbs in combo with protein when i can.

Over the past week I've developed something new; my heart rate goes up while I'm eating. It's not every meal, and there doesn't seem to be a pattern based on what I'm eating. It's not painful, but it's disconcerting. It feels like a panic attack without the panic (I'm not sure how else to describe it). My hearts pounds for 10 - 15 minutes then slowly goes back to normal. Sometimes I feel slightly anxious because I don't know why it's doing that & I start to worry about it. I don't want to go running to my Dr. every time I have some small symptom, but I wondered if any of the vets have experienced this?

LMAO!!!! Well whaddya know, someone actually invented it!! I could have been a zillionaire! LOL! I can just see myself sitting in a meeting at work and !zing! my neck tape lets go and suddenly my saggy neck falls back down! How would I explain that?!?!