mylighthouse

Cogratulations! Awesome work, you look wonderful. So glad that you are loving your new life!

I just thought of something else that you might want to try. You mentioned that you snack on crackers. I saw a "recipe" for homemade cheese or parmesan crisps, and all they are made with is cheese. I haven't made them, but a lot of people said they are great, and that they take the place of chips or crackers and that they stay crispy in a ziplock. You can even dip them in something. I would do a homemade pico relish--low carb, low calorie. I think the idea behind the homemade cheese crisps is that they are carb free and have protein in them, which is great because protein fills you up whereas carbs make you hungrier. Again, I think you need to have plenty of good snacks that actually taste good so that you can choose them over the bad snacks--crackers, chips, candybars--all that crap, especially sice you say you can't throw out the family member's junk that is tempting you. I didn't say it earlier, but I also agree that you need to quit lying to your therapist. You are causing yourself more stress in an already stressful time in your life and you are doing harm to yourself. I know your situation isn't easy, but neither is mine, and I'm 100% certain that almost everyone on this site is or definitely has been in a tough/stressful/difficult situation while traveling on their weight loss journey. Hope this doesn't come across as if I am saying I know it all, I'm just trying to help.

Go to the grocery store and buy baby carrots, red peppers, cucumbers, celery....things like that. Slice the veggies up and put them into a big ziplock bag. They are nice and crunchy, so that is good if you need a crunch, plus, if you snack on these when you get hungry, or even if you aren't very hungry, that will help keep the carbs down and the calories. If you just absolutely have to have something similar to a candy bar, then keep a box or two of the Atkins harvest trail chocolate and sea salt caramel bars around. Each one is 180 calories and has about 4 net carbs, 8 grams protein, a great amount of fiber and only 1 gram of sugar. If you only have one a day and eat other low carb foods, it will help you. The Atkins bars are really good, so put them in a private place, like your bedroom or something, so noone else can eat them. I don't eat them everyday, but I don't think 1 a day will hurt in your case. Those are just a couple of things that have helped me, however, I understand that you are going through a divorce, and that is very difficult. I have been through a very ugly one myself. I think you need to have plenty of snacky "good foods" available all the time. Then hopefully you will reach for those foods instead of the bad foods. I wish you the best in this difficult time of your life. You can do it!

You look amazing and beautiful! Congratulations on your weight loss and thank you for sharing.

Hello, 11/15 morning weigh-in: 202 lbs.

If sweet drinks aren't your cup of tea, then don't waste your money. Unflavored Unjury and Isopure brands were fantastic. You can mix them into just about any drink, but my favorite was to mix it into decaf unsweetened iced tea. It helped me a lot through the early months. Plus, you can mix it into yogurt, cottage cheese, etc if you need to add a boost to your protein.

We share the same surgery date, our starting weight was close and we have lost almost the same amount of weight in one year...cool. You have done awesome and you look fantastic! Congratulations on your hard work and weight loss. Your "awesome moments" were great, thanks for sharing.

Not sure what type of beef and chicken you are eating and how you are preparing them, but I have a couple of suggestions that have really helped me. I am 1 year post op. If I try to eat bites of drier cuts of meat such as steak, chicken breasts, pork chops or even homemade hamburger patties, I still have trouble getting them down, they cause some discomfort and don't feel nice in my chest or tummy. My favorite foods that sit well are chili, with the meat broken up very well, moist chicken thighs, homemade meatloaf made with eggs, hamburger, small amount of breadcrumbs and also on occasion, finely chopped chicken made with mayo (chicken salad). What all of these things have in common is that they are much moister than the other meats that I listed first. I don't know if years down the road whether or not steak or the drier meats will work better for me than they do now. Time will tell. Steak is still one of my favorite foods. Mmmmm Just experiment and you will find what works best for you.

Hello, I had my surgery on 11/14 of last year. It's so hard to believe that it's been a year. My first goal was to lose enough weight so that my surgeon would be able to perform a much needed surgery. He said I needed to lose 80-100 pounds first. I weighed 334 at the time. When I lost over 80 pounds, he scheduled my surgery and I had that in June. So after that, I set another goal, which was to reach that 100 pound weight loss mark. I believe I reached that goal in August. My newest goal was to reach 199 pounds on the scale by my 1 year mark. I almost made it, as I am four pounds away. No picture to share today, but maybe I will soon. I still hate having my picture taken. To everyone working hard on their weight loss journey, keep plugging away, the rewards are well worth the effort you put into it!

Always wanted curly hair, but I am like you, grey and curly... no thanks. I would so do a hair dye if it went all grey and curly. I am approaching 50, and I don't want to look like a little old lady with the blue hair. It is bad enough when I see my face in the mirror that I can't seem to move past the jiggly loose skin under the chin. That has really put some years on my face.

Congratulations on your weight loss and your 1 year surgiversary! I am exactly 1 year today. Great advice from these ladies and I finally clued in a couple of weeks ago and started keeping a ziplock bag in the fridge with cucumber slices, red peppers and baby carrots. I still weigh everything that I put in my mouth, even the fresh veggies. The fresh veggies have helped me a lot over the past few days, because the hunger started coming back for me at around 10 months. I upped my calories 1100-1250 a day and didn't realize until a few days ago that that is why I have been at a stall for over 2 months! Why am I such a slow learner? Duh. Keep up the awesome work, you are almost there!

You know, it was really funny. Had the sleeve in November, and never did really lose much hair. Then had major surgery this summer, and now I am losing tons of it. Been losing it for over a month now, but just in the last week I can tell it has slowed a little. I have very thick hair, but on top, right in front I can tell it has really thinned. I never did try Biotin, but always have been great about taking my vitamins and getting 100 grams of protein. Did you have thick or thin hair prior to losing it? Either way, you will start growing it back in. Have you seen where some people have said that their naturally straight hair came back in curly? I am wondering what will happen with mine. I will probably get a bunch of grey hair!

Lol, too funny! I actually have the enema in the bathroom cabinet. Not a bad idea... but shave the head? I guess I won't go that far, I might regret it. My scale read 203.6 this morning! Oh yeah, you will definitely make it for Christmas! Thanks, Berry.

I am following you around tonight. Lol. Amazing how the excess weight can affect people in different ways. So sorry to hear about the loss of sight and health issues that you have dealt with. Awesome job of losing the weight to remedy those problems! A month in the hospital, ugh. I hope I never have to be admitted again for ANYTHING! Yes, staying positive helps, got to so I can keep my sanity.

Well, I don't think I look amazing, I definitely look better in clothing that holds everything in, if you know what I mean. You probably don't have as much loose skin as I do. I was over 300 for almost 7 years, plus I'm 46 and I don't get exercise, so I have a lot going against me in the loose skin issue. Oh well. I think you are right for sure, when we reach goal, the number on the scale as well as what we see in the mirror will look good.

Wow, what a huge difference! You look great! Cogratulations on your success.

Hi my friend, I do get it. I am 5'7" and weighed in at 204 this morning. Compared to 334 pounds last year, I see an incredible improvement and I don't really see a fat person when I look in the mirror anymore. Everyone around me says I look so good and even my doctor said I look "skinny". I almost laughed outloud when he said that, but I recovered and told him thank you. I certainly wouldn't go that far and say I look skinny, but it was a nice compliment, especially coming from him. So, I am in a size 14 bottoms and a 10 or medium top. But like you said, when I see that 200+ mark on the scale my head tells me that I am still fat. 200 to me still sounds fat, and I might still be considered obese. So these days the number on the scale bothers me more than what I see in the mirror. I have been told by my NUT and others that I carry my weight well and they are all surprised that I am not below 200 pounds. Funny stuff.

I think it really varies from person to person. After my sleeve, at month 8, I hadn't lost but a small amount. But in June, I had major surgery and now, 6 months later, my hair is falling out like crazy. I had the major hair loss like this 2 years ago as well, after two major surgeries. I was so worried about it. I had a nurse that came to my house every other day and she told me that the large amount of hair loss is expected for some people and that after any major surgery almost all people will have some hair loss. I don't think you need to be worried as to whether or not it's normal.

You mentioned Premier, and I still drink the chocolate one when I don't have the appetite for food at breakfast time, or when I can't cook. There were two brands of unflavored protein powder that I really liked a lot in the earlier days of my weight loss journey that helped me a lot: Unjury and Isopure. They do change the flavor of the drink you mix them into. I tried mixing the powder into Crystal Light as well as Powerade Zero. That was a no-go for me, but I know others like it, so you might try it. The best tasting thing that I mixed my powder in was unflavored, unsweetened iced tea. I really liked it. I have never been big on sweetened things, but for some reason, still like my chocolate Premier.

I am actually coping well, I think. I mean, I am in bed all day, but try to stretch my legs several times a day by walking through the house. It has been a long painful 2 years, but I don't let it get me down and am never depressed about my situation. I occasionally get frustrated that I can't do much, but I move past it fairly quickly. I do watch a lot of tv/movies, browse the internet and read a lot. I also have a kitten that likes to get on the bed, and I play with him. My son is in his 20's and lives here, he checks on me and visits with me, he helps out a little. Got a real keeper of a husband who takes me to all of my doctor's appointments and shops, cleans, and cooks. Sometimes I feel bad that he does it all and I can't help with much. Also, I am currently "coping" with the help of pain meds. Not too thrilled to be on them, but they help a little. I know what you mean about the body being under a lot of stress. No need to be concerned at all if you might offend others with your story. Everyone is different. Each person's make-up is different too. So you were at 250 at your highest and it was putting your body under a lot of stress and causing health problems, and I am 46 now. I had been between 230-300 pounds from about 2005 to 2010. No outward health problems other than beginnings of arthritis pain in my knees. Come 2010 to last summer, 300-334 pounds. Still no problems such as high blood pressure or high cholesterol. Just major surgery in 2015, colon resection and emergency surgery 10 days later and a bad surgeon (was in hospital for 2 months). My recovery most definitely would have been easier had I not been so overweight.

I don't know, maybe I will ditch the toast or maybe I will give it a week to see what happens with lowering my calories first. I'm undecided. Glad to have the advice from both of you though. Plus, Diana mentioned that the lower the carbs for her, the better weight loss, and she's further out from surgery than I am. I am almost a year out. I like bread too, but I can certainly live without it. I remember years ago when I was always using my bread machine. Yum. Funny how now I don't miss anything though. Fifty pounds in 3 months is fantastic, you go girl!

I just replied to your reply. I guess I forgot to quote your reply. My answer is above.

Yes, it sounds yummy! I see you are for ditching the toast like Diana also suggested. I am keeping this in the front of my mind. Thank you.

Thanks, Diana. Not sure how I feel about cutting the 2 pieces of toast. Each piece is 7 grams of carbs each. My main carbs for today will come from the 1/2 apple and the toast. My NUT says I should be getting 50-70 carbs a day but no, I know better than that. I feel that some carbs are good, so that's why I am doing the toast. That said, if cutting the calories down to under 1000 doesn't help over the next couple of weeks, along with keeping carbs between 20-30 grams a day, I will most definitely drop the 14 carbs a day from the toast. I mean, gosh, if the scale still won't move in a week or two, it just might be worth dropping more carbs. I need to see some weight loss! As far as the exercise goes, man alive! I am so sick and tired of being housebound. I have had 3 major open abdominal surgeries and 2 laproscopic in the past 2 years and I suffer with horrible pain that keeps me in bed. I am able to get up on my own to go to the bathroom and I try to take short walks in the house, but I have to move slowly. If I still weighed 334 pounds, I would either be dead by now, or much worse off health wise. So there you have my exercise dilemna. I am so glad for your success and it's awesome that you can go to the gym. Also, thank you for the carb suggestion, I will definitely drop the toast if the scale doesn't move soon.

Thanks, I appreciate the encouragement and agree that I can do this! I also agree that I am not done losing. I see my surgeon regularly because of other problems and he told me a couple of weeks ago that he thinks a good goal weight for me is 175 pounds. He said it might take me another year to reach that. I believe the reason he said it could take that long is because like you, I don't get exercise. Not by choice, but totally unable to do a whole lot other tham arm exercises and occasional short walks. I guess if I got exercise then I would still be losing with my calories up in the 1100-1200 range, who knows. Oh, and I am 5'7". I have actually tweaked my menu plan on fitness pal a little more since I replied to you this morning. I am going to continue to keep my protein grams at 100 or a little more per day, because it has always worked well for me. I think my carbs for today were around 26 grams. Got my calories for today around 960. Can't open myfitnesspal at the same time I am typing this, so going to try to remember my menu for the day. Breakfast 6am: 11oz premier protein shake 1/4 c 2% milk 10am: 1 hard boiled egg on 1 piece low carb double fiber wheat toast 1 tsp hemp seed oil 2 T psyllium husk Lunch-noon 3 oz homemade hamburger chili with green peppers and onions 3:00pm: 2 oz baked chicken breast on 1 piece low carb wheat toast Dinner 6pm 3 oz baked chicken breast mixed with 2 T mayo and with diced celery and onion (homemade chicken salad) served on top of raw spinach with cucumber 1 t hemp seed oil After dinner snack if hungry: 1/2 fuji apple I think that is about it, if I remembered correctly. For drinks, I do regular coffee in the mornings and start my water drinking early. Decaf coffee in late afternoon or evening if I feel like it and water all day up until bedtime. I am the type of person who can eat the same foods regularly without really getting tired of them.