FluffyChix

DERP! Wait, this isn't March? Where the heck did March go?!

I swear I owe this to autophagy. I'm not kidding. I can see less hanging skin and my hair is finally growing in. I have Audrey Hepburn bangs now! LOL. Month 13 at 137lbs: And here's the comparison B/A: And here is the whole story. As you can see, I'm not exactly wasting away to nothing. My thighs are still large and in charge and although I still have my Gibbs fanny, it's become an old lady booty (flat like a pancake, wide, and droops to my knees. ROFL)

Thanks for the Challenge invite. I'll try to participate in part! Cuz they are so uplifting and motivational. I'm starting a 42-48 hour fast today (last night after dinner) if anyone wants to jump on the fasting train with me? Had a stellar weekend and got to visit with our little nephew (in from Germany for an art show he's having out in LA). He's getting his masters in fine arts in Frankfurt and came through Houston on his way from NY to LA. He's so enormously talented and it was great being with the fam. But now it's Monday and I'm ready to rumble!!!!! IF style! (Oh and I'm 2% BF down since starting these longer fasts. I no longer show as 30% BF on my Tanita! Wooohooo!)

Yep, one step forward, 2 steps back. The fall isn't the issue. We all have 'em. It's the GETTING UP that's important. So make sure you clean out any dribs and drabs today and get back on it strong!!! You'll end up winning Easter and gain confidence in yourself!! And sugar is the debil. So addictive. Love the idea of having "safe" alternatives for a pinch. But you know...I like crutches.

@okayestmom Yikes! Hope you feel better soon!!!! So sorry to hear this!!

Embrace! Embrace! Embrace! Capitalize on your honeymoon period. Let the weight fall off you by the barrel full!!!! Eat only for fuel! Do what you need. Keep is simple and find new pursuits and new ways to get excitement and pleasure. This is a blessed once in a lifetime opportunity. You will likely NEVER feel this way again due to your WLS.

Well, that sounds good to me. Do it. You don't have to justify your personal decisions to anyone. You don't have to be the poster child for WLS awareness & education. It takes hours of energy, effort and time to educate ignorance. Just refuse to play it. Let em hate. And you can laugh all the way to the bank in your size 2 jeans.

Ok, but that's normal for where you are hon! And you need to talk to @sillykitty to find out about her small tummy. So you can be sure to get everything in. When I was having 2oz, I was eating 6-7 times per day about 2 hours apart, trying to go as long as 3hours between meals, but mostly eating every 2 to 2.5hours. Some meals were only protein and some meals were only veg. And at 2oz per meal I was DEF still taking in a protein drink a day--just so I could get my veg in.

Yes, the "unknown" is maybe part of the HARDEST thing in all of this! So many "what ifs." Honestly. I had to continually talk myself off the ledge cuz like you, I'm very Type-A and used to being in control of my destiny. LOL--not my tummies little bia*ch. As everyone said. HYDRATION. Believe it or not, getting your fluid in will make you FEEL more in command! It's even WAY more important than protein at this point. You can live for months on your fat. You can live about 3-5days without liquids. And the thing is? The more dehydrated you become, the less food you can consume, the more anxiety you have, the more pain you perceive, and the more depressed or crazy you feel. So that's your goal. Goal #1 - Get that fluid in. You have one job. Drink 1oz of water in 15 minutes or less. Use the little measuring cup they gave you from the hospital or hell, use a jigger! I used a 4oz jigger. My one job was to get 4oz in per hour or better. Get the fluid in any way you can: 1. Liquid form (anything clear and non-sugar) 2. Ice cubes/ice chips 3. Ninja "snowcones" 4. SF popsicles (non-creamy kind--just the fruit flavored ones) or frozen clear protein drink 5. Broths All of these count! When you are fully hydrated, then you can really address your protein shakes. If they are too thick, thin them down with Fairlife Milk, water, decaff coffee, or decaff tea. Hope that helps!

Wooohooo! Embrace the suck as a right of passage! You got this. It's all downhill from here. Welcome!

Dang! Smart AND eye candy! Happy Sunday!!!

Ok, so for one, veggies are pretty sliderish for me. And I can eat about 1 1/4c of food. So let's just pretend my protein goal at ideal weight (120lbs or 54kg) for a 5'4" completely average woman (defined by insurance charts used in WLS to compute data) is 65g of protein per day. 54kg X 1.2g protein/kg of ideal body weight = 65g of protein (needed to maintain optimal health) for light activity. 65g protein / 7g per ounce of weight on average = 9.3oz of dense protein by weight So now I know about "how many ounces" of protein are needed to make my protein goal. If I'm having a protein drink or protein drink as a coffee creamer, it makes things even easier. On days I do IF, I will often use a protein drink to up my protein levels toward my goal. I will eat 3oz of protein at a meal which makes about 2/3-3/4cup of food. And, I fill the rest with veggies to about 1 to 1.25cups of food. I'm getting in 1-2 eating windows--each lasting about 90 minutes. So I might begin the eating window with a cup of veggies (salad, raw veg, or cooked veg) + healthy fat and cuz they are sliderish, then I will easily get them down and out of me within about 30-40 minutes without much rise in insulin and almost no rise in bgs. I adore broth with leafy greens and mushrooms, or salads, or raw veggies with avocado/yogurt dip (Green Goddess). Then at the last 30 minutes of my eating window, I will eat my complex meal of protein + veg + healthy fat and can eat the full 1 to 1.25 cups of food at that time. I make my totals most days. The days I don't, I rely on autophagy to swoop in and save the day. By doing this I'm usually able to get close to 16oz of veg per day (12-16oz) + 9oz protein.

Yep, Good plan! This was the thing my RD taught and said that she has many patients years out, still doing a morning protein drink so they can also eat their veggies and a bit of fruit!

I'm pretty sure (cuz my mirror told me) that this sharpei is my new spirit animal...so in that keeping...

Gotta fly. BBL to answer here! Marking my spot!

IKR? Wooohooooo on Sugar Daddies and lockin' em down! We are all so unique and no one thing works for us all. My style would drive most people crazy and I'm the first to admit it is unbalanced. To me this is all about re-inventing ourselves and meeting our inner spirit and restablishing a trust and bond after one of us let the other down. It takes time and negotiation and trial and error. Right?

Sigh...I feel "comfort" when my inner warden is on duty. I am so effed. Cuz I understand and remember all too well, the disaster that can happen when my inner hedonist appears and the lunatic takes over the asylum.

My advice? Go back to basics of your "forever plan". Eat ONLY the amount of volume they tell you per meal. If you can eat only 3 meals per day and meet your protein needs do so--cut out the snacking!!! Clean your pantry, fridge, freezer out. Recommit to your new body! You deserve this! Quit cheating, break up with your old ways again, kick the crap to the curb!!!! Weigh yourself daily. Plan your meals, and log every bit in a fitness app like MFP. Exercise daily. Eat to your rules and get in the amount of protein your doc and RD told you to eat daily and make sure you are taking your vitamins. You might also call your surgeon to see him/her and get a referral to your RD for a new plan to combat this. 1. Eat 2-4oz of lean dense protein per meal. 2. Eat 1-2oz of al dente veggies per meal. 3. Eat a little healthy fat with every meal (1tsp of evoo or avocado oil or butter OR 1oz of avocado OR 1/2oz nuts) 4. No drinking 15 minutes before a meal or at least 1hour after. Get enough sleep each night. Try to deep breath and get stress relieving things on board. Congrats on your losses so far and on recognizing the need to get back to being serious about health!

You should totally try it! See what you think and tell me everything! (Oh btw? I ate yogurt/cottage cheese with blueberries and almonds this morning-sweetened with liquid stevia and a boiled egg on the side. And I'm still full, but I sound like a Wookie sitting here. You can hear my tummy emptying and the sucking wookie noised from it as it does! So far no hunger, but it's only been 15 minutes since eating it. Good times! Adventures in FoodTown!) I'll let you know when I feel hungry again.

Saw this on the FaceBook and was curious about all of us sophomores. Does this resonate with you? For me, I can say I in no way miss "the old me". I recognize that self-loathing, whiny, sick, dying bia*ch and she still tries to lurk just below my new shiny paint and body. I AM still getting used to the new updated model and I am still very frightened that it will all come back and work constantly to map out an action plan for fighting it at the 5lb zone rather than the 50lb zone. How about you guys? How do you feel about this meme?

I swear, figuring out how to hack our bodies is cray, right? I think (especially in maintenance) that high or higher fat is where it's at as long as your carbs are low enough to put you into a ketotic state. Cuz if you're still a sugar burner and you combine high fat with high carbs, then it's a recipe for heart disease. The rule is kinda for health: higher carb + super low healthy fats OR low carb + high healthy fats to satiety (but no fat bombs need apply ) Fat bombs = keto candy. Ain't nobody got time for that! I hope you will try it and tell us your experiences!!! My experiments with it since about month 6 when the mean-hungries came back are that I can "choose" to have a cheat meal (didn't realize how terrible they are for our arteries at that point) of high carb (think pasta or pizza or mexican food out), but that I better be ready for the fall out. The fall out for me is about 4 days of terrifying hunger. Super hunger! Everything is woken up and I want to eat continually. Even in moderate portions (I'm talking at 6 months I was still maintaining about a 1/2-3/4c volume I think?) And when I do my low carb as I described to you guys and don't have any alcohol or wine or sugar free sweeteners/sugar free candies, omg. My satiety goes up up up and I'm happy with 1-2 meals per day (mostly of the proper size ) and I feel more peaceful. When I add IF in, it's even better. Until I started hanging out with Jason Fung's facebook group I had not realized the effect of even cephalic insulin response to things like liquid stevia. Thought that one was an "ok" one! But apparently not. Cuz when I dropped it too for the most part, my hunger level decreased even more. And I can tell the days I eat it, I'm hungry and looking for food.

Girlie!!! Hats off to you! I'm so happy for your focus/will/strength/and determination! What a crapton you're going through! I'm praying the ablation works and that your heart rate reduces quickly. 160bpm is NO fun. Makes you feel seriously scary! ((hugs)). So proud of you for doing the hard, hard, headwork and for keeping a clean environment AND for logging everything!!! And weighing every day. I swear for me, there is comfort in the numbers and the knowing. I am at my best and can "forget about it" only after weighing, planning my meals for the day, and logging foods. That way when gains or stalls happen, I can go back and see if anything is unusual. I too have BED (self-dx'd). So I keep my known trigger foods out and also keep a clean house. If it's here, there is no way I won't eat those foods preferentially. We all have to know our own selves and own our crap in order to heal and move out of bondage. We are not victims. We have POWER to determine how we live our life and over the choices we make--even when stressed to the max like you are due to your physical probs!!! Bravo lady!! I hope your back continues to improve. I think if you can get the pain and inflammation down it will soooo help your heart. Please be gentle with yourself!!!

Girl that is terrifying!!!! ((hugs)) Ok, so in addition to your IF to have in the back pocket if you want to try for more satiety...try a 4-5 day test. Eat meals that are "DENSE" (am I yelling DENSE? ) protein and very low carb with healthy fat...(ie Breaky: soft boiled egg with a little butter, a slice of avocado, a spear or two of asparagus) then see how long you feel full. At lunch have something like tuna salad or chicken salad (not very wet--no sugar or sweet in it) and have some carrots or celery or a lettuce leaf and then see how long it keeps you. Dinner? Yep. DENSE hehe protein (but it can be MOIST if you want) + a couple bites of al dente broccoli and a little butter + a slice of avocado and a grape tomato. See how long it takes you to feel hunger. My guess is that even though your meals are small, your tummy has figured out that you are sending high glycemic carbs down your piehole and it's communicated with your pancreas. So the pancreas is dumping out insulin and your blood sugar is then going low and voila! Instant hunger, cuz your brain doesn't want to die cuz your blood sugar is too low. So you are on a blood sugar roller coaster. The way to flatten the peaks and valleys is to cut out/down on the high glycemic carb. (Which will suck for you--not saying full blown low carb, just sayin do a test, and then start testing some of the slower acting carbs like beans/lentils/quinoa/butternut squash/sweet potato/pasta...)

Damn what are we discussing? I lost where we were?!