FluffyChix

Yeah, I'd keep your things to the bland side and season to taste when you're past surgery, ready to eat them. I add Isopure Unflavored PP to soups and stews all the time with great success. All kinds of soups. I've even added it to V8 and warmed it to taste like tomato soup. I like it. I also sometimes add a spoon of cream of something with it.

@xoxococojay Holy hot senorita! Who are you and what have you done to Coco? You look fanforkintastic girl!! Congrats on those 4's and smalls!!!

ROFLMFAO! You take it, Barbie! Go girl!!

Dang boy! You're just a shadow of your former self. So close to goal and so quickly! Congrats and hat tip to you fine sir!

Oh Lordy! Me too dear!!! ((hugs)) Here's to letting our freak flags fly and letting it all hang out! I plan on baring my batwings come spring--and dayum the torpedoes to anyone who dares to say anything!

Can I just confess to y'all? I'm so thrilled for each one of you and proud of your losses and how you're healing!!! ((hugs)) Every time someone announces they are approved or have a date, I get this knot in my throat/chest as I'm happy for them. I also am a little green with envy. This was also supposed to be MY time. You know? Now I'm in limbo again for the next 3 months wondering if my insurance is going to find a way to exclude me from surgery. So instead of the holidays being laid back and easy...I'm sad and stressed. I know time is what we make of it. I'm just having trouble the last couple of weeks processing the disappointment and choosing to have a positive outlook. I know I'll get there...it just sucks while you're processing. There...they say confession is good for the soul?

NoSalt is potassium chloride. 650mg in 1/4tsp. But you should only use it with doc's care if you're on BP meds or having trouble like this cuz potassium could push things more out of whack if it's really sodium and water that you need. Just shake a little on your food. But I use chicken bouillon, MOM, and NoSalt per Drs. Westman and Phinney - low carb docs...

Congrats! When I saw your headline, I was sorta confused for a minute, cuz I was like...dayum! Does her husband know she has a date with someone? ROFLMAO!!!! Context is everything! So excited for you.

Drumroll please ladies and gentlemen! Survey says...show me elephant penis! I've officially lost 60lbs this go round--as of this morning's scale reading. It appears I'm back on the losing streak! Yippeee!!! Irish Setter--I'm coming for ya, girl!

Dayum, sorry for your pain and stress Mamacita! Saying prayers and thank you for enlightening me!

@shedo82773 I know that's most likely ketone breath, but just wondered, have your mineral levels been checked by bloodwork or hair samples? Maybe you're too high in something like copper or zinc or something? Congrats on getting the smokin' monkey off your back for evs!!!

Holy crap Batman! You look like a completely different guy!!! Huge congrats on your success!

Ha! Love your update!! Dance little ballerina! Dance!

So happy and thrilled for you both!!! What an encouraging and awesome report! Thanks for your inspiration!

Runs to look up what the hell is sugar wax! bahahahaha! Sounds incredibly painful! And ROFLMAO at the thought that "any surgery that expensive should come with the complementary Brazilian wax option." I highly concur! @Berry78 I'm not certain, but I think you might be thinking about trees, forests and them not making a sound if we can't hear them? hehehehe

There are some pretty awesome keto/low carb bloggers out there with sugar free sweets that rival the real thing. While you still have the metabolic advantage going of your honeymoon period, I'd sure check them out though, and see if you can find "healthy-er-ish" alternatives. Cuz God, that would be terrifying to gain all your weight back, just because you can't not eat sweets after dinner! I keep reading at some point, our appetite does come back, and that our ability to eat more increases with time too...I'm pretty terrified I will change my anatomy, be able to lose it all, then because I won't stay diligent enough, will gain some or all of it back! So I'm working like a one-armed-paperhanger to try to build new, healthy habits. Two of those things involve breaking up permanently with sugar and also breaking up with crunchy, carby, salty snacks. ((hugs)) And glad it's working for you right now!!

Congrats! Sounds like you're doing great girlie!!!

Dang. Let me just say...I walk 2.2 mph on the treadmill and am Ms. Huff n' Puff doing it. In 30 minutes, I'm barely over 1 miles and I'm completely whipped LOL! So congrats on doing 5mph for 30 minutes. That seems like a crazy huge goal to even attain! Isn't that running?

Sadly, I don't want to click "like." It must feel terrifying?!? Thank you for sharing your inner fears and I'm really happy you recognize the danger. I haven't even had surgery and posts like your's are making me be hyper vigilant and aware of identifying the triggers now--before surgery. And still, I know that no matter the preparation, the "real thing" will have my head spinning and leave me feeling like I'm teetering with control. I won't know how to truly deal with it until that time comes. ((hugs)) Huge hugs to you my friend! Congrats on your fantastic weight loss!! And it's only been 1 year! You still have 6 months left on the full honeymoon period (from my surgeon)--so you could lose even more weight if you chose! Tell me, how do you "give in" and what kind of cravings do you have--specifically? Is there any "reasoning" with your cravings? Can you distract yourself? Can you make reasonable low carb/low sugar substitutes and feel satisfied? I ask, because I too sometimes crave chocolate even though I don't have a big sweet tooth. Mine is a crunch salty tooth lol! The research shows that every time you give those cravings a fix, it firmly entrenches it in your pleasure centers. So if you want to guarantee you will always be pushing the rock uphill and experience cravings...just feed them what they demand. It's as powerful as an opiate response. Swearsies. ((hugs)) I don't think that life should be a white knuckle experience. I do believe that our life is easier when we're able to control and make a rational choice to eat x, y, or z and have adequately prepared to do it.

Personally I would like to lose an "average size adult woman," but you know...I definitely want her to be average--no one above average need apply.

Congrats to you!!!

OMG! Coffee all. over. my. screen! Classic! And perfect analogy! bahahahahahaha!

Good luck you two! As I read the OP's post, I kept hearing this song: "My traveling companion is 9 years old, he is the child of my first marriage..."

So I am still pre-surgery and @Amburmist made a great point. There's kinda two groups among veterans: Group 1- Eat as few cals/carbs as possible to satisfy your protein needs while in the losing phase (especially the honeymoon period). Group 2- Follow your doc plan to a T. Do as they advise to up the cals and also include "healthy" carbs and get to a level of X cals/day while satisfying your protein needs. And do this for life. Group 1 claims that there is no such thing as starvation mode with a severly obese person in weight loss mode. They claim that there are no "too few calories or carbs." I don't know which one is correct! But I do have a daily spreadsheet from May 2017 to present that shows what happened with my weight from when I was consuming 200-400 cals daily with about 3g net carbs, to now when I'm eating 1500 cals daily with an average of 64g of net carbs. It's pretty enlightening! What it shows is that I had a sweet spot where I lost 13lbs in 1 month when I was in the 800-900cal range and carbs were in the 20-25net carb range. As I increased my calories to the 1500, I'm in what I call "maintenance" phase until surgery. I'm still losing anywhere between 0-5lbs per month and I think that depends on how much of that 1500 is protein and carbs. I figure the surgery RNY will affect my rate of loss and how many calories I can consume while losing at a reasonable rate. I just don't know how it will affect it yet. I suspect that for many of us, eating so few calories does affect us. It isn't CICO for metabolically impaired people--too many feedback loops that rely on hormonal levels/vitamin levels etc. I also think that for many of us, protein isolate is very insulinogenic. If you keep insulin high, you will not lose. It's as simple as that. I was eating 300cals, less than 10g net carbs, and not losing. My insulin was on the high end of norm at 14 and my HOMA-IR was >3.3 (very high). So no wonder. When I started eating real food and dropping the protein supps, I started losing better. I intend to keep my spread sheet so I can track what happens as my calories and macros shift. If it were me, I'd try to up my cals and healthy (veggie/fruit) carbs from low glycemic sources to see if that 1) Helps me feel better and more sustained/nourished and 2) Increases the rate of loss.

@dreamynow Well, I thought I was supposed to have it on 11.28.17, but the insurance said I need 180day with the RD. So my 5th RD appointment is this Wednesday 12.6.17. That means, theoretically, in February 6, I will have my last RD for 180days, then it goes to insurance. If I was a bettin' girl, I'd wager my surgery will be toward the end of Feb. But in reality, it will probably in sometime in March?