FluffyChix

Here you go! TY. I forgot to add them!

One of my favorite lunches these days. Who knew the Starkist Ranch Tuna pouches taste so yummy? This is spinach arugula salad with low fat feta and pumpkin seeds with a couple tomatoes. And tuna. So easy. So good. And better living through chemistry! Oh and seaweed snacks. Yummy! Edited to add the seaweed snacks. I ended up eating a 1/2 package.

55lbs in 26 weeks is 2.11lbs per week. You are a female 5'6". Only you can say whether that is slow for you. Females tend to lose slower than males (especially 6'1" males with not very much weight to lose). But it still breaks out to 2.11lbs per week which by my docs definition is the low end of average weekly loss. They base their rates on statistical analysis. But, at the end of it, 55lbs loss is 55lbs loss. When is the last time you lost that amount of weight in a year and are continuing to lose? And even more importantly, are the foods you are filling yourself with keeping you satisfied and healthfully on you journey? If you are starving like the OP, then likely you need to look at your diet to see if there is any glaring thing hanging out that you know you feel better without. It just might speed up your weight loss if you kick it to the curb.

The ketogenic version of the FMD (Fasting Mimicking Diet) anyone? I'm thinking about doing this next week to mix things up.

Normal weight loss is 2-4lbs/week. Most men lose MUCH more rapidly than women and are closer to a 3-4lb/week loss schedule over the fist 6 months. You have 26weeks in 6 months. If you as a male lose 3 lbs per week, you would be closer to an 80lb loss. Yet, you are only 55lbs=2.12lbs of loss per week. That's achingly slow for a 6'1" dude. That's achingly slow for most of us women in the FIRST 6 MONTH HONEYMOON period. I am on a cancer drug that puts me in super menopause by shutting down all of my female hormones, and I was still losing in your time frame about 3lbs per week. So yes, I think you are losing too slowly and eating too many simple carbohydrates and having too much fructose. I know of ZERO surgeons who recommend getting your calories from juice. No fruit juices was an explicit order of my doc. Also "Don't drink your calories." Also, limit fruit and only have small servings of berries no more than a couple times a week. Also FOCUS on lean dense protein, healthy fats, leafy greens, and low glycemic veggies. Have limited healthy fats in the form of healthy oils (EVOO, butter, ghee, avocado, nut butters as you tolerate them, and a few nuts here or there.) That's the advice of my surgeon. I beat the %ages for weight loss despite my metabolic issues due to the cancer drug and one other. It's do-able. But I tell you now, I will gain weight like a hog if I ate that much fruit, and also ate porridge and ate 1800 cals a day with 267g of carbs. LOL. But I'd prolly be dead first. Cuz that amount of carbs/sugar would send me into a HR coma first.

@MGBinIsrael Because you're eating slider foods! Porridge, papaya, banana, yogurt = slider foods deluxe. And btw? You didn't mention you were male and 6'1". Yet another piece of the critical puzzle. Eat dense protein first for satiety along with healthy fats. THEN eat dense veggies to your volume prescription. (mine is 1c/meal max) THEN eat berries, nuts, seeds if you still have room. Avoid the carby stuff. You will dramatically reduce your cravings, the number of times you eat, and up your weight loss. But I will tell you? 55lbs for a 6'1" guy in 6months? Is crap weight loss. You are SQUANDERING your honeymoon period by eating too many carbs and too many cals for rapid weight loss. The end. Don't squander your honeymoon period. It will NEVER EVER EVER come again.

I miss the weeks of losing 2-3lbs in a week. Had to remind myself of this. Saw this and wanted to share. Any of you sophomores feel this way?

I am so sorry you're feeling this. I did as well. I'm not a vegetarian or vegan and ate meats. But on testing, they did find that I had deficiencies in some of my B vitamins. You might see if you can get your vitamins tested and do a chemistry panel? Also, I'm told that Genepro isn't the best protein source out there...that their actual protein counts are suspect and it may not be the right types of amino acids/proteins? Just food for thought!

Congrats!

Congrats! Hope all goes well!!

I think many of us are. My TSH is normalizing, as has my Free T3 and Free T4. YMMV...

@Healthy_life2 I swear this whole post feels like a ho-ax...when I saw the daily menu... How can anyone eat a whole papaya? Granted there are many sizes of papaya, but to be able to eat a papaya and a banana at the same time without repurcussions, then be able to eat again within a couple of hours? I have very very little restriction, but I couldn't do it--even if I could tolerate the massive amounts of carbs/sugars/fructose in this daily menu without dumping (which I couldn't)... I don't like to think of anyone being "fake" nor do I accuse someone lightly. But gee whiz. This just seems cray.

Exactly. Start wtih protein first until you can comfortably get it all in. Then you can add other things.

I use the free My Fitness Pal (MFP)-both desktop and the phone app. I weigh AND measure my food. It was the most confusing thing to me. But honestly? Being 14 months out--VOLUME is king. So when they say limit yourself to 1 cup of food. That's the absolute max! But it's just easier to pop stuff on a scale right? That's why on important things like protein--to be sure you are reaching your 60-80g of daily protein, I weigh it on a scale into a measuring cup. When I reach the top, that's it for the meal. The exception I make is that I allow myself to have 1oz of avocado + 1/2-1oz grape tomatoes at dinner each night. They are slider foods, and are an extra 1/4c of food. So I eat 1 1/4c of food with 1/4c of that being slider. Because I track everything, LOL, I know how much I can have now. I can have 3oz of grilled chicken + 1 1/2oz al dente broccoli or 1oz asparagus + the 1/4cup avo/tom mixture. That's my 1cup of volume for that meal. I have to start with my protein. Eat it all, then do my veggies, then and only then can I eat my sliders. It works for me! Once I figured out that volume is king, it all kinda fell into place. I rarely if ever eat compound recipes like (lasagne, potpie, etc). It's usually a dense dry protein (low fat) + a separate al dente veggie + a healthy fat. (And I would never eat sushi--I'd eat sashimi--the rice would have me curled into a miserable high glycemic ball waiting for the dump and praying.) And btw? You "thank people" by hitting the little LIKE and thank you emoticons by their posts! TY.

Yes mam! Gosh some days I want to scream this at the top of my lungs when I see people doing stuff they KNOW is gonna land them back in the smo-zone. SMH. *sigh*

If you are keto by virtue of low carb, this is a terrifying report. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/03/190327112657.htm?fbclid=IwAR19M9hlXDfdmnTsc_1h3PhA5uh8104nR-Oy07mmqRM9kWs6xZG0b3mePTw

NSV to me. I'm back at my ticker weight. 137.2lbs. (thank you poopie and porcelain god) but even more importantly!!! Yesterday was senior day at Goodwill (30% off) and I spent $27.00 and bought my summer shorts wardrobe. And a darling Jones of NY black skirt (short). I think I got like 6 pairs of shorts and a skirt for that. Score! They were all size 8 and size Mediums except for one size 10 and none of them were stretchy fabrics! Wooohoooo. Gosh I (sparkleheart) my tool and my WOL!!! Thanks for inspiring me to continue my IF and my LCHF (low carb healthy fat) diet. (Oh you know I will ho it up with piccys as I get them washed and ironed!) haha!

#4 Exercise-Got up and walked/jogged for 30 minutes at 5:30am. Will do another 30minutes tonight and 2 sets of 15 speed walks during the day today. Yay! (Sorry to miss yesterday #3 Learn something new. I learned more about the gut brain connection from Dr. David Perlmutter and Dr. Mark Hyman.) How to Heal Alzheimer's With Your Fork

I never use pre-sweetened yogurt. I get the lowest carb Greek yogurt and make my own. Here's a matcha yogurt with strawberries, almonds, and poppy seeds. The taste and texture is way better IMHO than premade--for only 10g net carbs. Here's my blueberry matcha one:

That's why I ask you to LIST EVERYTHING YOU'RE EATING! Gah. How hard is it to do that? At 6 months I'd lost most of my weight. At 9 months out I was at 1st goal of 150 and surpassed the weight goal my RD/doc had set for me. I'm now at 14 months working on my last Goal #3 of 130lbs. I'm at 137.8lbs today. So I'm clearly doing something right. There are stalls all the time. I continue to eat the foods that I know work for me. I meet my lean protein goals for the day, I keep my healthy veggie carbs low, I keep fat low. I keep calories in a range of 650-850/day for losing mode. And that's what I do. It works. You cannot game the system. If you are stuck for months, then you are clearly eating too much or too much of the wrong things for weight loss. It's as simple as that. You are maintaining. Or regaining. I take 2 drugs that can cause weight gain. And I have to be extra sharp to eat to my calorie/macro window so I can lose. Weight loss isn't impossible with underlying issues, it is just a matter of being much, much harder.

I'm a bypass but I have the same quantity limits you have. I "can" eat 1 1/4 cups of food and more if it's a salad cuz salads are sliders for me. But I limit it to 1 cup of food and try for more like 3/4cup per meal. At first, when your tool is very tight, focus on getting in protein at your meals. So when you are in the losing phase, here's what I do: Roughly: 1oz (by weight) of lean diced or ground protein = 1/4cup by volume. So eating 2oz by weight is about 1/2cup of volume which is probably close to where you are right now? 1oz by weight of lean protein = roughly 7g of protein. Most women need to get between 60-80g of protein (by content) per day. Soooo doing the the math: 60 divided by 7g average = 8.5 ounces by weight (up to) 80 divided by 7g ave = 11.5 ounces by weight. So most women need between 8 1/2 - 11 1/2 ounces of lean dense protein by weight. Soooo my RD said to drink one protein shake so you satisfy about 25-30g of your 60-80g requirement. I would do that in my coffee each morning. Then I would eat my breakfast, lunch and dinner. And if I felt hungry I would have a veggie snack. When you are at the point that you can eat 3/4-1cup of food, things get easier. You can usually get in 3oz of protein per meal (by weight) and have room for about 1oz of veggies cooked by weight. When that happens, then you really don't need snacks. They can lead you down a slippery slope of grazing. When you are in maintenance, there is likely another set of rules. B1: protein shake + coffee (30g protein) B2: egg puff (75g egg white + 14g JD turkey crumbles + 14g onion/bp/celery frozen chopped blend + 1 wedge light laughing cow cheese + 1 mushroom + 28g baby spinach) L: 1oz Boar's Head lunch meat (turkey) + 1oz Boar's Head lacy swiss cheese + 1-2oz raw veggies D : 2oz grilled chicken + 2 oz al dente broccoli + 1oz avocado + 1/2oz grape tomatoes + 1tsp olive oil Here you can see, that by drinking a full protein drink you're at the top of your 60-80g protein window! So you wouldn't even need to drink all of it. At this stage, I'd use about 1/2 of one of the drinks in my coffee. This is a very typical eating day for me (even right now while I'm 14months out and still in weight loss mode). Here's how it looks in MFP:

What are you eating? Are you weighing and measuring and logging your food? Are you exercising. In order for us to make some comments or have helpful advise we need to see what you're physically eating. How much are you eating per meal (by volume/weight).

The hardest part is getting your head in the game and keeping it there for the long haul. It isn't a situation of getting an "easy ride" with the surgery then being able to resume a fun/frivolous life. Just like with diets, that will lead back to weight gain--by doing the same things that got us a lifetime ticket to the Obesity Ball in the first place. So, even though I want to go out and party like it's 1999 in my new skinny body, I don't. I stay down on the farm and do my daily work. I eat the right things. I do the daily exercise. I work on my head/relationships/spirituality/relaxation, etc.

Hi Rosie and welcome! The main question you need to ask yourself beyond your shift work is if you routinely and easily get all of your protein needs met mostly through food rather than still struggling to meet protein goals through any means (food + drinks). If you have no problem with food then at 7 months you could probably add IF into the mix. It might still be about 2-3months pre-mature? I'd def. consult your doc and team to make sure they're on board with you doing it? I don't know how you would work it out with your random work schedule. I'd check in with this fasting group on FB (they are not fans of WLS btw. So keep that quiet!) It's Dr. Jason Fung's IF group. You should read his book on Fasting. I intermittently fast for extended amounts of time, and then I do TRE on feast days (time restricted eating). I routinely meet my nutritional goals during the eating windows. It is helping me get the last 20lbs or so off, but it's more importantly helping to heal me through autophagy. Here's the name of the group on FB--it won't let me post the link. I think cuz it's a closed group where you have to request to join? The Obesity Code Network: Fasting Support with Megan Ramos & Dr. Jason Fung

Yes. I don't like dealing with hunger and especially don't like it when head hunger hits. But I do like the feeling of having nothing to digest! And btw, my bowel habits are greatly improved. Don't know if it's the pysllium that I take on feast days or just the break that I get?