FluffyChix

We actually grow more microvilli capable of absorbing more nutrients. That's how smart our body is.

Had a hungry hungry heifer day yesterday so ate as much lean protein as I wanted while keeping carbs low. There is no doubt the hungrier days at the top of the week are due to eating more food and more carbs on the weekend--even though my weekend choices are not very bad. Another busy day today! You guys are all rock stars and your menus look delish!!!!! @ms.sss You look like you are maintaining like a champ and that you have this down! @Tracyringo are you back in your window? If not, you are soooo close!!! Tuesday 11.12 - Maintenance : 5'4" / 57y F/ 19.5mo PO RNY / 131.6 lbs B-Protein lattes (4oz PP) + 1 hb egg L-Big A*s salad with salmon and veg (iceberg, cucumbers, red bell peppers, purp onion, carrots, sliced olives, feta, Grk dressing) + 1 hb egg AS-herb ox chicken bouillon + grilled chickie boob D-grilled chicken parm + garlic broccoli + avo/tomato BS-1/2 s'mores quest bar + decaff/peppermint mocha latte Daily Totals: 1117cals; 101g protein; 66g fat; 33g carbs; 14g fiber; 19g net carbs

@sillykitty That's a good question and fair. I know for a fact that my choices are not bad. But adding extras like I did this weekend, caused me to gain 2 lbs within my window. Am I stressed about it? Nope. But I conversely don't want to have to worry about more lbs. So instead I go back to eating my normal weekly fair. Dr. Fung says this is actually a good thing to do--in IF. If I keep eating, there is no doubt (been there done that), that I will continue gaining. It's not unfounded fear. It's fact. Unfortunately, I don't have the metabolic flexibility you and @ms.sss enjoy. So it is a series of eating more on the weekends, then going back into my strict WLM foods. But you've seen my menus. I pack a crapton of delicious and to me, satisfying food into my daily menus. Is this disordered eating? Dunno. I call it maintenance.

Yesterday was a busy busy day moving our storage unit across town. I fell asleep by 7pm then woke up hungry at midnight. So what did I do? I ate! Ugh! LOL Can tell my arm is unhappy with all the activity and salt from yesterday, cuz I'm having a lymphedema flare in my left arm, chest, and back. Oy veh. Time for compression. I estimate I'm carrying about a lb or more of fluid. Monday 11.11 - Maintenance : 5'4" / 57y F/ 19.5mo PO RNY / 132.0 lbs B-Protein lattes (4oz PP) L-Big A*s salad with shrimp and veg (iceberg, cucumbers, red bell peppers, purp onion, carrots, sliced olives, feta, Grk dressing) + 1/4 of Italian sausage and marinara appetizer (ate about 1/3 of the salad). AS-nothing D-gg brancrisp flatbread + LS peanut butter BS-cottage cheese, ff grk yogurt + walnuts + SF da vinci pumpkin spice syrup Daily Totals: 756 cals; 57g protein; 48g fat; 33g carbs; 11g fiber (Psst: I have that crazy feeling of being at the top of my weight window at 132lbs and need to really skimp on food today to have the scale move back down to 130lbs.) @ms.sss

Yeah, it's the sophomore slump. And you have a choice: either go back and regain or never get to goal OR mix things up. Change up your routine, add another element, refocus. Add something that feels fresh and new, challenging. When I hit that time, it was easy to slip back into life again. And life isn't exactly conducive to living a healthy post op WL journey. So I added IF and TRE to the mix and lost the rest of my weight over the next few months. I'm now in maintenance and allow myself to have cheat weekends then back on plan during the week with healthy healthy eating. It works. You have a lifetime of living life. Seize your motivation again...and get this little bi*ch done. Ok? You can do it. You have to remember your WHY!!!! Congrats on your weight loss so far!!!

@ms.sss I won't requote your post, but wanted to say I do the same thing. Even though my window goes all the way up to 135lbs, I start feeling antsy at 132lbs and start down regulating eating accordingly, slipping back into WLM (mode or mentality). And start putting my time between meals and between first meal of the day. And when I'm down to the 130lbs mark, I start dreaming of what would happen if I do get to slip into BDG goal. I would immediatly start defending the 125-130lbs as my new goal. LOL. And of course, I'd want to defend closer to 125 than 130 cuz I would be so afraid of slipping above 130lbs again. I know once down at the 125lb level, I'd start thinking of adding a 5lb bounce below it so I could defend 120-125lbs. I don't truly believe (very doubtful) that I will ever slip under the 130lb mark. It just feels so inconceivable that I could really reach BDG weight after so long. I'm also just gonna treat it as a happy accident so I don't stress out if it doesn't happen. But I fully get where you are coming from and I don't know if this is normal behavior or not. I just choose to embrace it as "normal for me" behavior. LOL. There's very little chance I will ever become anorexic as I adore eating too much. LOL. And I do feel pretty good in my clothes in all situations--not so true about nekkidity of course...but see through body suits might just save my nekkidy sanity. TY @MIZ60!!

Honestly? I think that's a bunch of hooey. I was able to cough and clear my chest up until the point of surgery. During surgery, they did not remove any muscle nor did they remove any internal organs. But immediately in recovery, I noticed the inability to cough. I have pretty strong core muscles due to PT training. And from the first minutes I was awake, I still noticed this inability to cough or expel air. So where is the "loss of torso muscle" coming from? If that's their explanation for it? I've lost a lot of weight, but I now have the beginnings of a 6pack ab set.

Here's one recipe using a more natural approach but google sugar free gummy bears using gelatin and you will see there are many many variations. One of them you can make extra sour by using citric acid powder. https://lowcarbyum.com/making-homemade-sugar-free-gummy-bears-raspberry/

This is what I'm making for Thanksgiving "maybe" unless I do smashed roasted cauliflower instead. The difference is that I won't use as much butter and will be making turkey tenderloins cooked the way I cooked the chicken breasts. Yum. And so dang easy!!! I won't even miss the loads of butter! https://fluffychixcook.com/pumpkin-in-browned-butter-aka-refried-pumpkin-keto-allergy-kiss-day-2/ Here's the link to the smashed roasted cauliflower: https://fluffychixcook.com/roasted-mashed-cauliflower-aka-roasted-smashed-fauxtatoes/ I make em the same way now post surgery, but I use MUCH less butter and in place of cream cheese I use Greek nonfat yogurt or neufchatel cheese or lite cheese wedges.

I think the emotional toll on your is harder although we all share a similar thing to different extents post surgery. We ALL are in your position. But not all of us are effected quite so strongly by the surgical reality of having an altered anatomy. We ALL have a different experience eating and drinking and have surgical wounds that need to heal. I'm glad you are finding some relief from some of the suggestions BPs have made! It really does get better. I honestly think you are dealing with feeling like a victim for "needing" to have this surgery. It truly helps to know you can step out of the victim position into a power position so you have control of your life back. And you won't believe how normal you will feel 1 year or 18 months from now. I promise.

We're moving our storage unit this morning. I'm taking an extra jacket and gloves!

Liquid stevia doesn't usually cause laxative distress of pains. That's why making your own gummies from grass fed gelatin and adding your own flavors and liquid stevia and citric acid might do the trick for you!!! You could also play around with adding protein powder to them. They are dead easy to make!! You can just pour it out into a tray, let them jel up then cut them into cubes. Very healthy!!

That's where cutting a protein bar into 8 pieces and freezing them come in. Then instead of popping candy, you pop a bite size "candy bar" in your mouth! And you get nutrition and protein in at the same time.

Kinda? In a lazy way. Meaning...if it happens it happens. Mostly I just use M-Th as a time to get down to the low end of my weight window so that I can have any kind of weekend I want without stress. Then Monday I come back 1-2lbs up (or more ) and have M-Th to return to baseline. It helps that I like eating the way I do during the week. And depending, I might throw in some IF with it for autophagy/health reasons. But I would not be a hater if I hit 125lbs. I just don't want the stress on my shoulders of trying to break out of a decade. I thought I might be in the 120s last week, but I ate 200cals more per day on average which is reason enough not to have broken through.

Agree this sounds like a lot. You need to limit your portions to the appropriate volume prescription from your doc and RD. I think about that time I had a 1/2 cup max limit per meal for volume. Even softs and soups/chili. Your restriction should improve with more solid food. But the reality is we must retrain our brain to be "ok" with less. With smaller portions. Now is the time to really do that. So just because you can, does not mean it's advisable.

Back on track yesterday. But up a little bit today. No surprise. 😕 That's my usual Monday situation. Ha! Sunday 11.10 - Maintenance : 5'4" / 57y F/ 19.5mo PO RNY / 131.6 lbs B-Protein lattes (4oz PP) L-Big A*s Salad with shrimp & chicken + blue cheese + pumpkin seeds + veg (rbp, cucumbers, toms) (ate it in 2 portions) AS-(the other half of my salad) + almonds D-atlantic salmon mustard coated + grilled chicken + broccoli in garlic + avo/tom BS-gg brancrisp flatbread + peanut butter Daily Totals: 1064 cals; 84g protein; 69g fat; 36g carbs; 16g fiber; 20g net carbs

You can make your own sugar free gummie bear candy out of sf gelatin. And you can flavor it with essential oils, liquid stevia, and add citric acid to make them like sour patch. Then you start stepping down from the candy. But you will likely need to replace the cals with some other source cuz otherwise you will likely start losing again. Also, you can make keto candy like fat bombs with healthy oils/fats + cacao powder, nut butters etc. They add up VERY quickly. But they are usually more satiating. SF peanut butter cups are the bomb. You can also try getting delicious protein bars, cutting them in 8 pieces then freezing them. Pop them like a candy bite. I think you're in a pretty special situation because of your super endurance exercise. I think @Healthy_life2 and @BigViffer could help you with this. They are both power athletes and have to eat in a method to keep their cals high enough for training. Congrats on your losses. The candy is an addiction. Addiction to sugar is as powerful as heroine addiction. I'd also see your doc/RD and ask for help. They may have a temporary medication that can help you with cravings as you try to detox.

I think we're all different honestly. And you have to do what you know is right. I would try to see if I could find some balance due to your fear. I would: Only have 1 green smoothie a day (if you feel you must). Pack it with a scoop of protein powder, 1oz of avocado, 2oz of deep dark greens, psyllium husks, 1oz of blueberries (or other deep berry), liquid stevia, 28g Greek yogurt (plain) and thin it down with ice and either Fairlife Fat Free Milk or unflavored almond or cashew milk (not as much protein). Then for lunch, I'd have raw veggies in a salad or with my 2-3oz of protein + raw veggies. Use a Greek yogurt (plain) dip with Ranch seasoning if you need. Thin it with Fairlife Fat Free Milk. Include 1oz of avocado and a very very very light oil. I used 3 zeros Italian or Greek (zero cal dressing) or Walden Farms zero cal dressing. I would add 5g of pumpkin seeds or 10g of some kind of nut. That way you are getting plenty of fat for fat soluble vitamin absorption. Then for dinner, I'd have 3-4oz of protein + 1-2oz al dente steamed veg + 1oz avocado + 1oz grape tomatoes. I would drop everything else. Your hunger should come under control in 3-4 days from now. I would try to get in a range of 700-800 cals per day. I lost best around 650-700 cals and carbs at 30g net or below per day. At the rate you are going, I honestly believe you will stop losing well before you are finished or should be finished. You need to up your speed and you are right to feel concern. You are mainlining sugar into your body with all your juicing and smoothies. And just quit the grains. No one needs em. Frankly. If they are causing your weight loss to slow so significantly and causing so much hunger, you clearly as an individual cannot handle them right now. Maybe for maintenance, but the question should ALWAYS be: How did your meal xy or z make you feel 1 hour after eating, 2 hours after eating, the next morning. How long was it before you felt hunger cues. By now, you should be able to go 3-4 hours minimum between meals. If you cannot, you are having blood sugar roller coasters and those are very bad for all of us. Hope that helps. It's not too late to restart your plan!!!! Choose to do it today!

Yep. To this day, I still have to kinda "huff" a few times, to clear my airways. It took some getting used to.

Yayayayayayayayaayay!!!! Soooooo excited for you and so dang proud of you!!! Iron Will! Woot!!! Congrats on 10 days!!!

So so so so right! BTW, bluecheese salad for lunch today in your honor.

Love your menu! Glad you're here posting with us!!! Is this a maintenance menu or are you trying to come down within your window? Looks fabulous!!!

Yes absolutely! Even though today is technically still part of my "food up" weekend where I'm trying to eat more cals and macros, I'm back on the straight and narrow about eating meals or organized snacks and not nibbling, and I'm going to try to make all my choices healthy foods, just eat more calories (real dressing instead of my calorie free stuff + avocado, nuts, etc. ) And definitely no alcohol S-Thurs. It's working so far. Will be interesting to see if my weight holds through to tomorrow or goes up. Still waiting on the #2 trains to make it down the tracks so I predict a bounce up. hahaha And yeah, we all kinda pushed back and told RD that we are all straight shooters with each other and that we took what she was saying very seriously. And she told us that sure we could hold accountability, but we have to do it in a more gentle way. 😕 SMH. ROFL. I know I'm very black or white about some things and can be hard. So I will try to think of better ways to say things...

Congrats and welcome!!!