ms.sss

im almost 5 years out and lost 115-120 lbs (depending on the day, lol) pre-surgery, i was only slighty active...not because i didn't want to be, but because i tired out easily. i would do fun cardio-intensive activities every once in while, but wouldn't last long, and would take a few days to recover. immediately post-surgery i did a couple laps of walking the hospital halls, once home, forced myself to walk around my kitchen island several times a day. graduated to walking around the block a few times a day, to walking several times at once around that block, to walking around that block for at least an hour, often times much more. by 5-6 months post op, i was RUNNING around the block and neighborhood for min 5km sometimes more 5-6 times a week. i also started exploring other things to do around 3 months post. i tried hot yoga, tap, zumba, bouldering, salsa, weight training. only yoga and zumba stuck. i did force myself to do some sort of strength training 4-5 times a week (body weight only) because i hate strength training but i also know it does wonders for how one body LOOKS. i was pretty religious about all this exercise for about 2.5 years. then i hurt my foot which sidelined me for 2-3 months and i didn't go back to my regularity of exercise since. i probably only run a 5k twice a week now. i do notice the difference in how my body looks now vs then. i was much firmer then and also had more energy. my arms are a faded memory of their once awesome glory lol. i keep telling myself to pick it up but alas im super lazy. its way hard to start up again once u stop, so my advise here would be: dont stop! as others have alluded to above, exercise isn't really a main factor in weight loss, it more for health and "body presentation" lol. u mean i weigh pretty much the same as i did in my exercise heyday, but i dont look nearly as good (body wise). another piece of advice i would dole out here is find something u actually like to di, as u have a better chance of doing it long term. good luck! ❤️

was going to have salt and vinegar chips for breakfast/lunch but then i spilled them all over the couch when i sat down! before i had cats, i would've just scooped em up back into the bowl to eat, but now im a little weary of any cat hair or residual cat poo/pee on said couch so i tossed them 😂 went back to the kitchen and got me some breakfast pistachios instead. 240 calories for 2/3 cup. ate it all (just the pistachios, not the cat chips lol)

same!

i've been busy this morning/afternoon! woke up and decided to clean out the fridge/freezers. there was a bunch of stuff that needed to be used before they went bad so i went to work! a giant pot of meat sauce (used up the 3 month old frozen beef & pork, some ripe tomatoes, drying out carrots, the last of my onions and garlic, and a whole bunch of basil from the "garden" that we really need to use up before summer is over and the plant dies. pickled beets (went to farmers market two days ago and bought a bushel of beets for no real reason!) candied beets maraschino cherries (costco cherries...gonna make a cherry pie tomorrow) chinese green onion and ginger sauce (again, i blame the farmers market...bought a bunch of these steriod-like-overgrown green onions and a sack of organic ginger) didn't actually eat any of this, but i did do alot of tasting. i don't even know where to start to log that in MFP, so im just gonna skip it. actually, speaking of eating, i haven't eaten anything yet (aside from the tastings..ha!) ...will probably have some of the meat sauce with toast when its done simmering.

dupe post

dupe post..whats been going in with the BP site these days, right? 🤷🏻‍♀️

two of my fave things: paella and patios! what could be better??

k, im pretty proud of this one...my first ever attempt at paella, and it turned out really good! 1st pic collage are the different cooked components: the main rice part (aborio rice, shrimps, chorizo, onions, tomatoes and seasonings) + mussels in lemon white wine sauce + grilled whole shrimp. the second pic is of our table spread of the finished/assembled paella plus some mexican street corn i made with and without cojita cheese (cuz one of my guests doesn't like cheese 🤷🏻‍♀️) and some extra grilled shrimp that didn't fit in the pan. looks like there was too much seafood on the paella cuz u cant even see the rice...or maybe i just need a bigger pan lol. anyway, in my excitement i didn't take a pic of my serving before it was all gone, but i ate about 1/2 cup worth of the rice, 4 mussles and one grilled shrimp. also had a martini and 1/2 a lemon square. altogether, i estimate tonights intake at 859 calories . im ready for bed! but i need to digest first....

im almost 5 years post and i still have days when im super hungry. what do i do? i eat. i wont go to town on a buffet spread or anything, but i will fix myself a bowl of something in a regular-person-ish portion size. satisfied or not, restriction will usually stop any more eating...so gotta choose my food wisely if im aiming solely for "satisfaction" (cravings: only specific things are wanted) or if im feeding an empty stomach (hunger: anything will do). and yep, i i still also have days when its like 4pm and i suddenly realize i haven't eaten a thing. then think: i should eat, but don't really want to. so...i don't. i hate forcing myself to eat something i don't want just as much as i hate not eating something i DO want. sooo....i just eat when/what i want. groundbreaking, i know. the restriction in my stomach helped alot to "train" me to eat this way. so thanks, stomach! of course im almost 5 years out, so its a little different for me, but i pretty much adopted this MO since the beginning (except i purposely avoided starches and sugar in the 1-2 years or so, now nothing is off limits...well except copious amounts of sugar at once cuz i dump)

its funny cuz pre-surgery i was strictly a milk or white chocolate gal. now i find them too sweet and much prefer dark. the darker the better!

jamaican jerk pork AND oxtail AND rice and peas. the rice was super filling...should've just ate the protein by itself. will eat the rest later if its still around. 🤞🏼 425 calories for the bowl.

Lindt chocolate bars were on sale the other day, so naturally we bought like 6, LOL had 2 squares of the spicy dark chocolate one for 106 calories . could've been spicier.

fried flour dipped boneless chicken thighs for lunch (with a side of ketchup). oh, and an espresso martini beforehand (not shown). 401 calories for it all. ate 1 of the thighs and some ketchup and the drink oc.

is it weird i wanna try to make that? but maybe instead of the hot dog, shove in a piece of candied bacon... 😂😂😂

late lunch (since i actually had a breakfast this morning!) Mr. made a very yummy melty-cheesy mushroom basil frittata. Paired it with some naan chips i made (equivalent to 1/4 of a naan) and some ketchup. Yes, i eat my eggs with ketchup! Don't judge me! 330 calories for the bowl Ate about 1/2 of it.

oopsies...forgot the recipe. WARNING for bacon lovers: these are addictive and you wont be able to stop at just one. best to not have it sitting at arms reach at parties lol. BACON WRAPPED CREAM CHEESE BITES INGREDIENTS 1 - bacon 2 - soft white bread (no crusts, rolled out for easier use)...when im especially lazy i just buy pre-packaged tramezzini bread, no prep required) 3 - 8oz cream cheese (or garlic & herbed or chive flavoured if u wanna things easier and skip item 4 below) 4 - some chopped chives, 1/2 tsp smoked paprika (skip if u want, see item 3 above) PREPARATION - pre-heat oven to 400 - (optional) mix the paprika w/ the cream cheese - spread cream cheese onto the bread - roll bread like a jelly roll - cut the roll into bite-sized pieces - cut the bacon into pieces big enough to wrap around a single bread bite (make sure the ends AT LEAST overlap) - place each wrapped bite bacon seam side down - bake for 20-25 mins or until bacon is crisp (u usually flip em over 1/2 way, but its fine if u don't) best served warm! now place on table and back away lest u get mauled by the bacon-crazed crowds 😂

you know me, i am not a morning eater, but i was feeling hungry this AM so fixed myself a bowl of....leftovers. went to a bbq yesterday and this is a sample of some of the stuff we brought home: - 2 spicy baked chicken wings - 1/4 cup of cantonese chow mein noodles, including what looks like half a giant shiitake mushroom - and 2 "bacon cream cheese bites"...these were my contribution to the party (see recipe/instructions below...they are always a crowd favourite hahaha. i made over 150 of them and there were like 10 or so left..and i took 2, ha!) anyhoo: back to my breakfast...311 calories for the bowl...and ate it all.

we were out doing errands and were super hungry so we went to the first fast food place we could agree on: a tex mex chain neither of has ever been to. was pleasantly surprised with my chicken taco. yes, this is a taco! but it was so overloaded that it basically eats like a salad, lol. ate about a 1/3 of it...i estimated the whole thing at 551 calories. will definitely be visiting it again later tonight for dinner!

another bowl of leftovers eerily similar to my previous bowl of lefto this will be the last time with these foods cuz they are getting pretty old 😂 fried fish cake, salt and vinegar chips, sirloin steak cubes, snow pea sprouts and some sambal/spicy condiment. also an espresso martini enjoyed beforehand (not shown) 472 cals for the drink and the entire bowl of food. (looks like i was really only in the mood for the fish cake and the chips, ha!)

@CarmenG: how long has it been since ur last poop? it may be time for a suppository...

afternoon snack: a bunch of stuff from the fridge: clockwise from top: - seasoned dried squid - king oyster mushrooms - snow pea sprouts - honey sesame braised cabbage - fried fish cake - black beans 361 calories for the bowl

i chose an arbitrary number of the mid-point of healthy BMI for my height: 120 lbs (which was more or less the weight i was up to my mid-twenties...im 50 now) By the time i got to 127, i called GOAL cuz i felt i was looking too gaunt and skelator-ish for my liking. I did continue to lose more weight, however, and for some reason or another, got down to a lowest-post-op weight of 109 around 1.5 years post op. fast forward a few years (i'm almost 5 yrs post-op now) and i've basically bounced around 115-120 for most of that time. This morning, i clocked in at 119.8 lbs oddly enough, despite the fact that i weigh about 7 lbs less than the time i called goal due to looking too sickly over 4 years ago, i actually look much, much healthier now. the rapid weight loss phase did a number to my appearance, i guess, and now that i'm on auto-pilot and eating more "normally" (i'm looking at you, carbs!), and getting a decent amount or regular exercise. everything sort of shifted around and settled so i no longer look like dead man walking. oh, and another observation: when i was a teenager, i weighed about 110-115, and looking as past pictures, i believe i actually look bigger back then despite actually weighing more today. soooooooo....that was a long winded way of saying that the number on the scale isn't always the best thing to determine the best goal weight for YOU. but of course its a good starting point, if one is realistic about it. Good Luck! ❤️

still looks good tho!

got a chance to visit my fave korean grocery store this afternoon, and picked up an assortment of "Banchan" (korean side dishes often served before the main courses). - fried fish cake - braised black beans - seasoned dried shredded squid - seasoned dried anchovies with peanuts estimated 338 calories for all, ate it all! i find i often prefer all the side dishes and accompaniments vs the main event whenever i go out to eat, so i love going here to stock up on 'em all. p.s. we actually were in the area because Mr. was donating/giving blood, and i thought i would try again to donate myself, but they said (again) that i was under the weight limit for my height. but they gave me pretzels and juice for my troubles. 🤷🏻‍♀️

i didnt have rice nor starch-based noodles until close to 1.5 years post op (by choice, not by mandate). i did have shirataki noodles though (a non-starch/carb plant-based noodle), and they sat very heavy in my stomach. plus they had zero nutritional value, ha. when i finally did get around to consuming rice and traditional noodles, like others above, they were/are veerrrrry filling and hang around in my stomach for what feels like forever. as for whether they are "allowed" it all depends on who u ask. i was cleared for everything (except alcohol) after 1 month. as with everything, if u really want it, try a bit and see how you and ur body responds. then go from there. Good luck! ❤️