ms.sss

i notice that people are more "receptive": to bite sized/individual desserts vs. stuff you have to cut yourself to eat. i think pre-cut or bite sized stuff just appeals to everyone's laziness lololololzzzzzz. if i make a cake or something large that needs cutting, i usually pre-cut so that people can just grab and go.

you are correct lady. I LOVE THIS. did you do all this? it looks so fab.

omg, even though I know baking isn't your main profession, it TOTALLY should be!!!! you could totally start a custom cake/dessert business.

@Lilia_90: are you a professional chef? your creations and plating are Instagram-worthy!

i had to Google "hooding ceremony"...yay Sis! CONGRATULATIONS!!! and also CONGRTULATIONS to GT's mini-me!

this is very thought provoking for me! you know, it never even occurred to me that getting wls would/could have re-inforced negative body issue ideas to my daughter at the time i had it. like the other poster above, i just told her point blank (she was 12 or 13 at the time). i think it was along the lines of "i'm having surgery to reduce the size of my stomach to help me lose weight". and i remember her asking me why i wanted to lose weight and me saying that i am fat and i'm getting old and being fat and old will probably stop me from getting older....AND i just wanted to not be fat anymore and surgery will help me alot in achieving this. and that was that. now, my daughter is familiar with the concept of surgeries so maybe that is why she presented as aloof when i told her. when she was 5 or 6 she asked about my breast reduction scar and i told her i had surgery to make my boobs smaller because they were too big before and hurting my back, and now my back doesn't hurt anymore. also when she was younger she asked why she doesn't have younger brothers or sisters and we explained Mr.'s vasectomy. she was 10 when my mom had double bypass surgery and she knew that the doctors took a vein from grandmas leg to put in her chest to help her heart work better. she is also like her father, slim and naturally active and fit, so i dunno if me doing something to my body to "fix" weight would trigger her in any way... BUT i totally see now how WLS in particular may touch on self-image issues and ideas that we may perpetuate or even create about our kids bodies. i'm gonna go ask her about her thoughts later.

as for whether subsisting on a very low calorie diet for a prolonged period of time affects your BMR (metabolism) in the future, there are arguments for AND against. one particular study that i found intriguing was the "Biggest Loser Study"..that found that contestants that participated in the study ALL ended up with lower BMR's than before weight loss...EXCEPT for the one contestant who ended up getting WLS. that one person's BMR did not lower like the rest after his wls, in fact, in went back up. obv, the sample size was very small, and the subjects were only observed for 6 years, but still. something to ponder. you can read the study here if you are interested: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4989512/ or, if you want an easier NYT-read of the same study, here is a link to a more reader-friendly version: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/02/health/biggest-loser-weight-loss.html now for a personal anecdote: i was 300 calories A WEEK for the first two weeks, then 300-400 calories a DAY for a couple months, then 500-600 the next couple months, then 700-800 until i reached goal at at 7 months. i'm 5'2" and at 7 months i was 127 lbs. fast forward almost 6 years post op and i am consuming 2200+ cals a day and i'm just under 120 lbs. however i also do quite a bit of dedicated exercise (1.5 to 2.5 hours daily), plus other active stuff i just do for fun in daily life. BUT...when i wasn't exercising as much as i am now, i was maintaining at about 1800 calories a day...so at least for me, i don't think my BMR/metabolism was negatively affected after a sustained low cal diet...if anything, i think it got better...though i probably have all the exercise to thank.

according to this internet calculator: https://www.calculator.net/bmr-calculator.html ** at your current height and weight, if you did nothing but stand still and breathe, you would burn 1,478 calories a day (i assumed you are are a 30 yr old female to fill in the blanks). so THEORTICALLY if all you did was merely EXIST, and you ate less than 1,478 calories a day you would be in a deficit and lose weight (how much weight exactly would depend on your activity level, your genetics, your health and metabolism speed). with that said, i'm with @catwoman7 in that i agree that 2100 cal a day for someone with your current weight and height may be more than maintenance level cals (i.e, you will GAIN weight), unless you are exercising at least 4-5 times a week. see screenshot from the above calculator's results below. ** p.s. as always, pls don't think that this calculator is the be all end all of truth, its just a guide based on AVERAGES. roughly 99% of people with your similar height and weight will fall above or below this number produced by this calculator.

same. and "anything i want" includes chocolate and chips and fried foods and sauces/gravvies and high-fat things and desserts and pizzas and bread, etc. etc. BUT not in copious amounts (for the most part). BUT i also eat salads and veggies and lean meats and cottage cheese and tofu and fruits, also not in copious amounts (for the most part). mind you my weight loss phase days are long behind me, but even during weight loss phase, i would occasionally have foods that were "off plan". like mentioned above, i was closer to maybe eating "what i was supposed to be eating" maybe 75-80% of the time. though my total average calories were always low regardless of what i was eating.

This usually means you lost some fat and gained some muscle mass. Which is a good thing! yay muscles! over the last several months (due to my increased exercise regime i assume) my 7 day running weight average has increased by about 3 lbs, but my pants are falling off me again like those fun early weeks immediately after WLS (and my pants are already pretty small to begin with omg). but i also think this is a good thing though:...yay shopping for new pants! lol do you take your body measurements regularly? sometimes looking over historical body measurements over time paint a better picture than the number on the scale....

hiya! we all have different paths to goal, so it really does depend on a multitude of factors. with that said, i decided to transition into maintenance at 7 months post op, but it took me few months to figure out what my maintenance calories were, so, i continued to lose (unintentionally) until about a year post op (another 12 lbs to be exact). note though that i INTENTIONALLY increased calories after the 7 month mark, so results would have been different had i stayed at the calorie level i was before that, im pretty sure.

The Kid made an epic charcuterie board the other day which i tried to copy this morning in mini-version (need to use up all the stuff she bought) i haven't eaten any of it cuz im not hungry yet and the rest of the fam are still in bed, so it's sitting in the fridge for later. also made some foccacia dough that is proofing in the the fridge as well for tomorrow, AND i butchered a pork shoulder which is marinating for BBQ. busy morning, eh? now its time to veg on the couch with reruns of Top Chef. the mini charcuterie! 891 calories for it all.

100% agreed! same same same. except i was/am more like 1-2 hours spacing between eating after WLS (if i remembered to eat) and i was a TOTAL snacker prior to WLS. i cant tell you how many times i was told (directly or indirectly) that i was/am doing it wrong, that im just repeating the same bad habits (i.e., grazing and skipping breakfast) and that i am on a slippery slope back to obesity . its been almost 6 years now and im perfectly fine. not even close to being obese again. hopefully this will continue to be the case....because im not so ignorant to assume this M.O. will last forever. things change, and if i don't change with it, who knows? saying it again: we all so different with different things that work for us, find what works and do that. ❤️ p.s. [ DEEP THOUGHTS tangent ] ...sometimes i feel like im nagging or posing as a pseudo Yoda or something because im getting this feeling like i keep repeating the same thing in a way that can be perceived as condescending and know-it-all-ish (sorry!) i think i have maybe been on this forum too long (and/or too much).

i love gathering data and making observations!!! thanks for allowing me to let my freak fly! soooo: i clocked in at 2293 calories as of 9:30pm-ish yesterday. and whaddayaknow, this is actually an amount that i normally eat these days! HOWEVER, a couple things to note: 1) i took an almost 3 hour nap after i digested the offending breakfast. so my "eating window" was quite reduced....and my calorie burning hours were also reduced) 2) when i woke up, i went to town on a charcuterie board The Kid made and we all know cheese and cured meats and fig jam and crackers and nuts and dried fruit have a ton of calories. especially with the amount i ate, ha! sooo...i dunno if yesterday was a typical example of me eating in the morning and the ensuing result. a little anticlimactic...whomp whomp.

90% of my OOTD's is workout gear...sorry! i've been back on the exercise train for past 9 months...but have been riding the bullet train for the past 3. this is where it got me so far. check out my muscles! they've grown! am also adding a side-ish view to show off the tiny lump of a butt that i've cultivated. so i figure 100 gazzillion more squats/lunges/leg kicks/bridges/clams, etc and i could have a regular looking a$$!! 😂

ok...so a real-time anecdote/example to the breakfast debate! woke up this morning at my normal time of 5:30am i usually go to hot yoga around 10 or 11, but this morning i went to a 6:30 class (wanted to try out a new instructor). got home at 8, started to feel super hungry at 9, and i just finished a piece of toast with 1 over easy egg about 20 mins ago. it is now 9:47 am and i am feeling lethargic and full and i wanna go to sleep. am on the couch right now waiting to digest so i can lay down already. boo breakfast (or early day eating, whatever u wanna call it). lets see how much i end up eating today...

are u unhappy with your weight loss?

yeah, the breakfast debate is always around. i've also been told by my NUT, my mother, the stranger down the street that breakfast is a must and THE MOST IMPORTANT MEAL OF THE DAY. i didn't eat breakfast before surgery either. like you, i found that i ended up eating more by EOD if i did. further, i also tend to feel sluggish and tired by mid afternoon if i eat soon after get up in the morning. do what works for you until it no longer works...then find something else that works. good luck! ❤️

i've never had a gastric emptying test, but 2 hrs sounds about right for me to be ok/comfortable to eat something again after last eating. BUT: this is the way *i* normally eat, so i dunno. IF i don't get distracted, i've normally been generally eating SOMETHING or other every 1-2 hours during my regular eating window since surgery (for the most part). regular eating window == sometime after NOON to maybe 8-9 pm

ok, so i just gotta say: while your spreadsheets and plans and DETAILS is like porn to ME (i love it!), i want to let OTHERS reading this that this is not for everyone. its OK to be flexible and/or slack off sometimes. we all can't be perfect 100% of the time. have a plan (as detailed or NOT detailed as you want) and do the best you can. if you stick to it, AWESOME! if you don't, try not to give into any angst about it. just learn whatever lesson you can from it and keep going. the goal is to lose some weight, however way you do it. ❤️

I would assume that your medical team will provide you with the stages they would like you to go through. everyone one here were given widely differing sets of instructions post op, so it may get a little confusing with all the differing accounts. best to pick one program (easiest one would be the one provided by your team) and follow that. remember they are guidelines, so if you are unable to do a stage or meet a goal or have issues, do something else. don't force it. and get in touch with your team with that said, here was mine (almost 5 years ago): week 1: clear liquids week 2-3: full liquids week 4: purees (i skipped this one, i just did full liquids for another week because purees were YUCK! lol week 5-6: minced ...after that i was cleared for everything/anything (just reminded to chew alot).

i don't know what my numbers were, but at my 1 week post op appt my doc had me take b12 out of my vitamin regimen. and he would often comment on my higher levels at most of. my followups (but i never thought to ask what he considered "higher" levels). full disclosure: i stopped taking all my vitamins around 1.5 years post op (by choice, not direction) and all my labs since then have come back with zero issues. i had my 50-year-old-woman full range of tests and checks and screenings a couple years ago and i am the picture of pure health (my words, not theirs, lol) congrats of feeling great, and with the labs to support it! YAY!

wow! looks delicious! did u make that????