FluffyChix

Damn! I was hoping that could be it. It was for me and it took 3 weeks to figure it out.

Sorry to hear that. Respect that feeling. And have you had a satisfyingly prodigious poo? Maybe you need to place a call for MOM or for Mom to bring glycerin suppositories?

I think you may be right! Ok, water tonight for this wench right here!!! Or hot coffee or tea unless I am hungry - after 30 minutes hungry!

Ok so I've heard this too and my doc said so--so it must be true right? LOL. Also, the found that the microvilli actually re-grow more tenatiously and in greater numbers than they did pre-surgery cuz they want to scrub as many nutrients as they can because things are moving so quickly. It terrifies me really.

Ok, so I support your vegan/vegetarianism. Swearsies. I support your IF and doing it how you want. We all deserve to do our plan our way--regardless of anyone's opinions--even assh*ts like me! I can't answer the questions about cultures who base their societies on plant based foods. I can't even say what will or won't "possibly" happen to any of us who don't get our protein in. Dr. Weiner and Dr. Vuong don't seem to think protein is a major issue. Please don't be stressed out by me! I was just answerin' your question about why I expressed concern for your 4 hour eating window and why I didn't apply the same filter to Silly. ((hugs)) You certainly look healthy and beautiful and I suspect if your doc or RD didn't think so, they'd run tests, and if it was protein related, they'd come up with a plan for you!!! And it would not be a plan developed or espoused by some schmoe on the internet (aka me). You know I'm a professional worrier, right? But what you and Tea say does have quite a lot of logic and food for thought in them and it challenges my belief system. That's ok. What usually happens is they force/encourage me to examine/re-examine and grow in some way--stretching myself and my paradigms. God knows I have not been tearin' up the tracks in the lbs lost department. And I have been the diligent one eating every meal, eating every damn gram of protein...and now worried that I'm eating too much. ROFLMFAO! So maybe you guys DO have the right answers! I do know the thought of eating a snack today or even dinner is kinda repulsive to me. It's 4:30 and work has run late, and I'm just now getting to my green soup! Holy crap! So I truly don't know if it's best to acknowledge that and not force another meal/more protein on me. Or if I should just break it down and have yogurt or PP in coffee. Part of me is afraid to do things like this, cuz I do not want to be that girl that lives on PP and yogurt cuz it's easy and convenient for me and takes zero fuc*s to make. You know? I used to do that with cheese (and btw, did I mention cheese and salami too?) LOL...so it's just my own personal nightmares I'm probably visiting on your guys through projecting! God I would make a sucky counselor!

Girl that 5th leg can be a challenge! Schedules (#2 trains) get off ALL. THE. DAYUM. TIME!

So far no one has said quit losing weight. I'mI'm not too thin until someone has to carry me around in a back pack. assuming people still think, "Hey fatass, you better not be looking at those french fries with desire in your eyes. Keep losing. You're still in the overweight category!" No offense to anyone here who has in the past or is presently being carried around in a backpack due to any ana probs or degenerative diseases. Sorry to Stephen Hawkins as well and anyone with mobility issues. In fact, I should just probably erase this post.

Congrats on getting back in the gym!!! So the old saying is that your diet/weight loss happens in the kitchen, not in the gym. But, I think things are not so straight forward. I know for me to succeed, I have to have 4 legs of my camp stool addressed and balanced: healthy eating/caloric restriction; exercise; sleep; well-being (de-stressing/happy activities/support system intact, etc). If any one of those legs are not in balance with the others, then I fall over off my stool (hehe I said "stool" which makes me think of a possible 5th leg of the stool: the #2 track and train schedule running on target ) and weight loss comes to an utter and complete, abject stand still. And then I freak. Seriously. Freak. I'm doing some reading with a couple of neuroscientist docs who do research and treat peeps with degenerative brain diseases and the newest research coming out on this is startleing. There is a direct 1:1 relationship with exercise and healthy minds/bodies. And it is convincing enough to me that I'm exercising daily. I was never a daily exerciser. I don't love it. I will likely never be a gym rat. But I can walk. And I can do movement exercise, balance stuff, etc and build core strength...at home. So just my 2 cents! Great question/subject!

Wow! Congrats! You look phenomenal!

Except that your protein needs are defined by your lean body mass or due weight in kgs. So even at 240lbs, you had the same or similar protein needs that you do now. For instance, as a rough figure, I look at my goal weigh of 150lbs ( we both know my "real" goal weight is anything <145lbs) and divide by 2.2 to get my goal weight in kgs. So that is 68.8kgs. We need roughly .8-1.2g or protein per kg to maintain healthy body functions for a "normally" sedentarish to slightly active female of my height and weight. I know my RD wants me to have about 74g and that is based on a super-scientific formula I can't remember. So I figure in rough terms, that I'm "ok" if I meet their general guidelines of 60-80g of protein per day. So I at least try for the high 60s to low 70s most days. Some days I win, others I lose. That was my protein target at 287lbs. It was also my target at 325lbs. And it continues to be my target at 162lbs and <145lbs. The only way that changes is if I shrinkydink and my lean body mass really goes down. Cuz the more LBM we lose, the harder it becomes to maintain weight loss at a reasonable calorie level. And at my age it becomes even more difficult to gain LBM. When we don't get our sufficient protein, the we do go into protein autophagy. Some of that is guaranteed--cuz as we lose weight, we don't require as many blood vessels (protein), some skin goes (protein), some broken proteins go (protein), etc...but we do also lose important LBM no matter how hard we try not to.

My personal rule on this is if something has calories then it breaks the fast. Since I don't have AS water enhancers and stuff then the I don't have to make tough decisions about what to do with Crystal Light and stuff like that. LOL. So if I have PP, then it's either a meal or snack depending on how many protein grams. If it had 30g then it's a meal. If it has 3-6, then it's def a snack. It's SUPER difficult even after only 3 days to force myself to go make lunch. Even though it's quick, I'm not really hungry even at 4 hours then the thought of eating at dinner just kinda makes me go, "Blech." But the thing I know is that I do not want to revert to eating slidery foods just to get protein in or going back to PP cuz I actually do much better with dense protein and the fiber from the veggies and tiny amounts of fruit/berries, nuts, seeds, avocado, etc. than I do when I go back to the PP. I feel like they make me either so hyper insulinemic, OR I'm allergic to them. I tried to do the 5 day pouch reset and my ankles swelled up like balloons again! Oy! On only 2 PPs and decaff and water! So I'm trying not to slip into doing 2 meals per day + a protein drink.

hahaha IKR? I also didn't mean to steal your IF thread btw. You want me to go add those you tubes to it? And I just hope you didn't have to pee your pants!

I'm having 3 + one snack if I can make myself get it in. I'm eating from 11:30 - 9:30 and going to bed around 12:00. I should stop earlier, but I'm having probs getting things in gear in the mornings to eat earlier. And this is already making me not want to eat earlier than 3-4 hours between meals.

Ok, so what I didn't say is that the very tiny amount that Silly can eat scares the crap out of me. And by her own admission, she hasn't even been doing as well as this right now. This represented a good day for her. I also missed that she was doing it in a 4 hour window initially. In my mind, with as little as she eats, there is no way or reason to cut IF to 4 hours. Cuz if she opened it to even an 8 hour window, she could probably get in 60-80g of protein per day. In actuality, you can eat more than her, but you try more toward vegetarian. And ditto that...scares the hell out of me. I think it's even scarier for you cuz you're doing this while using vegetarian sources of protein that do not have as much protein in it as lean meatacular stuff. So both of you are in my honest opinion playing with fire. But I'm just a lay person and don't know squat! I just thought I should not rain on her parade like I did your's cuz I felt so bad about raining on your parade and being a d**k (even though I don't have that appendage)...and also, on this thread, I'm trying not to be judgey. It's hard AF cuz we all know I'm an assh*t sometimes. I'm just trying to turn over a new leaf.

They look beautiful! But omg I'm confused cuz I thought you already had it!!! Doh!!! Good luck hon!!!!

I can only imagine!!! Salivating now.

Oh dang! That's tough with whey intolerance! Actually I HATE the PP Peaches and Cream by itself, but it's the bomb in iced tea! It's sweet, but not cloying. Some might even want it peachier with Mio drops or something? I hope the PP caramel works for you. I absolutely LOVE the PP Bananas and Cream in iced coffee or make a frapp out of it. In the early days, I could get way more protein drink in when it was disguised and diluted in other liquids like the decaff coffee and decaff tea. And the ice in them, made it even easier. And damn I used to adore Vietnamese coffee when I lived in Denver. We used to go to a little place called Tee Wa's (sp? Can't remember the spelling so that's phonetic). Homemade pulled noodles, fried soft shell crab rolls, and Vietnamese Coffee! Hold me.

Wow girlie!!! Good on you for getting back on the supps!!!!!! And for getting your food/protein up!!! Is there any chance you can get another 1/2 bottle of protein drink down -- like with your Lunch? Or use it as creamer in lattes or iced coffee even iced chai tea? It disguises it. Wow! BTW, I'm SUPER impressed you could get 51g of protein in during a 4 hour window!!!! Holy sh*t mamacita!

IDK. Maybe? If I did, I think I have to decide if I make a new one that's bariatric with healthy food (lower carb/controlled carb). We still have to eat lower carb cuz of my lifelong insulin resistance and also cuz of Mr. F's T2. But I know the amount of fat we now use in cooking is completely diff from FCC and isn't really mainstream low carb fare any longer. Plus, I'm still trying to figure out about the lymphedema thing and we're I'm going with it. It's actually gotten more painful now with the weight loss, cuz the foldy skin keeps rubbing against clothing and irritating the neuralgia.

I feel like I have to plan or else I end up snacking. And I can destroy a whole day of good intentions with one snack of 300-400 cals (and it's not even that much food!!)--then I never end up reaching my protein goal either--it's usually down in the 50s. Not critically terrible, but not my surgeon's or RDs goal for me. I know if I at least plan a baseline (and it's easy now, cuz I eat repeat foods for the most part--maybe 80-90% of the time) and I've saved those meals in MFP. So I just search my meals and boom it's done. But then I may shift things up to change them around a little, like I did with craving Chinese for breakfast. Yes. Chinese for brekky! Gah! So screwed. LOL. Thank y'all for liking my food. No one really believes that I don't have a problem cuz I still keep cals so low at times. But I eat an ass-load of food for that amount!! My RD was much less concerned about me not having 1000-1200cals of food once she saw my food pics on my phone. LOL. I do honestly fear I eat too much volume, but she (nor the surgeon) seem one bit concerned and that perplexes me. I would love to be a personal chef! I used to cook professionally and kept a low carb blog: fluffychixcook but I quit keeping it when I got so sick and my lymphedema in my cancer arm got so big. It was just too much energy and effort and pain. Plus I still need to elevate that arm a lot to keep the fluid drained.

Ok, so I hear you and acknowledge where you are and your fears. I just want to say right now, you may not know it or feel it, but YOU are in control and CAN command your inner voice(s) that send sucky messages to you and lie to you. You CAN tell that little persistent voice of fear inside of you to STFU and take a back seat. I just want to encourage you, that sometimes it seems darkest before the dawn of a major break through. Sometimes, getting help is actually the most courageous thing you can do. Please, PLEASE reach out to a licensed professional who is trained in helping people. You are NOT doomed to live your life obese. You aren't. That's a lie the self-hatred inside is telling you. It is possible to turn this around and get to the bottom of your eating issues with help and a support system. It's OK, if you are admitted to a hospital. It won't be forever, just a short time so you can get intensive help and they can help you arrange for a long-term support system and counseling back in your everyday life. There is ZERO shame in this or in asking/needing help. There just isn't hon. Please call those numbers. Please?!

Man. I think you should def be consuming more cals and prolly more protein (although you don't say how much you're getting). They can do about as well using calipers or a submersion test in water. It's good you're meeting with your RD. I would think you should be taking in about what @BigViffer eats daily if you are going to start serious weight training.

Yeah, I was on prednisone for most of my first 11 years of life due to a blood disease that is very similar to leukemia. By 13 I had full-blown PCOS and was already starting to express some Cushing's Syndrome features. When I was in my 30s my asthma went out of control when I moved back to Houston and I was again on large dose of it both oral and inhaled. Instant 130lb gain within 1 year. Oh boy, such stretchies on my tums. But good news is they have mostly gone away with weight loss. So maybe you will experience the same? ((hugs)) and thanks for sharing your story and journey! You are inspirational.

Yay! Damn my reading comprehension issues! I thought you said it had gotten worse since surgery and IF. LOL> Derp! I'm glad it's better. And in that situation, I would have done exactly as you did!!! ((hugs)) I hope the food pics didn't make it harder for you? Do you want me to limit them or quit posting 'em?

Wow! Am I rooting for your success with this all!!!! Prednisone is a cruel cruel (and miraculous) drug! And so is digestive diseases. I'm so sorry you've suffered and felt like you had to do this alone without a life partner. I pray this is the answer for final relief!!! I know you've probably tried all things, but what happens when you go to a really pure diet of only protein/fat and very select veggies. NO gluten or things that cross-react with gluten (including dairy). Do you see any improvement at this point?