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I totally agree with this. I was just talking to a friend about my upcoming surgery. He asked how much I have to lose and I told him, and he looked at me with dinner plate sized eyes and said "You weigh 360??" I actually weigh 376, but I didn't tell him that. I just said "close!" He couldn't believe it. I just carry it/hide it well with smart looking clothes, I guess. I've got to lose about 180 lbs. Even then, I'll still weigh about 220. At that point, if I get below that weight, my rib cage and collar bones start to stick out and I start looking sickly. (Took off about this much weight back in college by working out about four hours a day, living a vegetarian lifestyle and having the metabolism of a 21 year old!) I was caught in the mindset that according to the height/weight charts, I needed to weight about 175. I just couldn't let it go. I was getting emaciated and looking very gaunt. Finally, after much urging by my friends, I had a hydrostatic dunk test and was told by a nutritionist that I was far underweight at 212 (8% bodyfat) and that I needed to put just a little weight back on in order to be where I needed to be. Still, to tell someone you've never met on an online dating service or over the phone that you weight 212 instantly turns a person off and makes them think that you are an overweight slob. Far from it. I look at pictures from when I was that thin and feel ashamed that the man in those pictures never saw himself as he really was. He only saw a number and that number meant that he was grossly overweight according to societal standards. I wish I could be that weight right now and as fit as I once was. I don't think I would have ended up back where I started nearly 15 years later. Oh well. Banding date of January 2nd! 30 MORE DAYS, FOLKS and I'll be on my way back to a much more appreciative, healthy individual!

Before I start, I would just like to say hello to everyone in this forum. Hi, I am Sarabjeet Matharu (Neena) and I am new the forums here. I had a lapband surgery 6 months ago. I am not having any luck losing weight within the due time since the surgery has taken place. I lost only 12 lbs approximately. Is there anyone here who is vegetarian? Can anyone of you vagetarians give me a meal plan so I can find out what I am doing incorrect. I am fairly disappointed about my surgery. :wink2: Please, can anyone help me? I will be greatly appreciated. :smile2:

Promise?!?!?!?!``:thumbs_up: WRONG WRONG WRONG!!! Trixie didn't; I did! :grouphug: Deeeeep breaths, SlimN....I dont know who the quote is from but the jist is: God gives you your family members b/c you would never choose them as friends! I have traveled every T'giving and Christmas of my life. My cousin asked me what I was cooking. I said, "I travel; I don't cook." Heaven forbid they ever travel. :grouphug: My surgeon wanted my first fill to be this week. I lied and said I would be out of town all week. That's all I need; to PB in front of my extended family who know nothing about Trixie (my band). Wayyyyyy too much work! My brother is a vegetarian and it can drive me batty at times. Sorry, SlimN. Did we really need to know about Dr. Nosepicker? Ewwwwww! My brother drooled over hamburgers one July 4th. Y'all really want meat; yer just too stubborn to admit it! :thumbup: and kidding! SUPER MULTI-POSTER!!! BUWAHAHAHA!

trying something new this year VegCooking > Celebrate a Vegetarian Holiday!

CRAP soap has animal fat? is this going to confilct with my being a vegetarian ?crap i have to read the labels on everything ... <embed src="http://www.goveg.com/swf/255-shirleyjones.swf" quality="high" pluginspage="Adobe - Adobe Flash Player" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="255" height="195" allowScriptAccess="always"></embed>

I have trouble with meats, bread, and tortillas. I can totally get why someone would turn vegetarian. When I fix my plate, I eat the meat first because I am "supposed to" and chew chew chew. It still gets stuck sometimes. By the time I get to the other food, it is usually cold. Some friends of mine think i'm fibbing when I say I can't eat bread but can eat toast or I can't eat tortillas but can eat a tortilla chip.

I try every year that we don't go to see family or have family over to suggest that we go out to dinner for Thanksgiving and my DH and DS just get this horrified look on their faces... If I suggested a vegetarian Thanksgiving, I think they'd both petition to have me committed.

Haha, Amanda. I'm one of those people, though, who finds eat easier to stick to a plan when all the tools are there. I'm more likely to eat right if I open the fridge and find Trader Joe's chicken strips in there, than if it's empty. And I'm familiar with Paris as a bit more than a tourist, but I"m not yet a native, so I don't know where to go to get the things I need. I'm certainly going to take a lot of stuff - Fibersure for sure, and, now that I think of it, some PB2. I've been trying to figure out whether or not I should buy a blender; there's a vegetarian joint a couple of streets over from me whcih I bet would have smoothies, and I guess I could bring my own powder if they didn't have any Protein Powder. I'll just have to nail down a new routine quickly, that's all. I've started yoga again, which is good.

I like this thread, everyone post any that they've found, I always need good ideas! I'm a vegetarian so I'm always struggling with this. Here are my fav's: Low Fat Cottage Cheese has 14grams and is 100 calories for 1/2 cup. It's the perfect breakfast for me! Special K Protein Bars have 10g and 180 Calories, usually a mid-day snack if I haven't had a lot of protein. Special K also has a pink lemonade flavored protein powder that you add to water, 5g of protein and low in calories (30 I think)

I'm 5'4 and weighed 239 when I started this journey, and 225 on the day of surgery. It's taken me a while to "get my groove" and from May-Sept I stayed the exact same wieght! I was lying to myself, and eating the wrong foods. I had good restriction, and couldn't eat very much, but I was eating junk! I had been a little down during that time and when you're depressed and not caring about yourself, you no longer care about what you put in your body. In September, I started a mild anti-depressent, and about two weeks later, without me even realizing it, my whole attitude changed. I'm not sure if its the medication, or if I just "woke-up." Since September, I've lost approx 18 more pounds and counting! Woo Hoo, back on track! I'm also a vegetarian with an extremely low metabolic rate - so for me to lose, I need to consume a maximum of 1,000 calories a day, or my weight will not budge. It's difficult, but I've learned nothing is beyond me! Anytime you have "head" hunger, or are struggling, go on LBT and read everyone's experiences. It motivates me everytime. :Dancing_sorry:

The Adjustable Gastric Band (AGB, LapBand®, Realize® Band) is a wonderfully simply surgical device for weight loss. Safe and effective, this procedure can allow people to lose large amounts of weight by simply restricting food intake. Because there is no removal of any portion of the stomach and no bypassing of any of the intestines, the risk for nutritional deficiency after AGB placement is often downplayed or ignored. But research going back many years shows that there is real risk for nutritional deficiencies with the band. This article will give an overview of why there is risk and what nutrients you need to be concerned about. Pre-operative Deficiency It is much more common than most people realize for patients preparing for bariatric surgery to already have nutritional deficiencies. Multiple studies looking both at nutritional deficiencies in obesity as well as examining them in patients preparing for surgery have come to the same conclusions: deficiencies are very common. The deficiencies seen before surgery include, but are not limited to Vitamin E (1), Vitamin A and the Carotenoids (2), Zinc (3), Selenium (3) and Thiamine (4). The most recent data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III: 1988–1994) showed that higher BMI was associated with deficiency of Vitamins, A, E, C, D, selenium, folate and carotenoids. (5) Vitamin D deficiency is so common in morbid obesity that it should most likely be considered a comorbidity. (6) Why is this important? Because if you start out with low levels of nutrition before surgery and then you eat less food, it is pretty hard to keep up with your nutritional needs. Post-operative Nutrition One thing that is lucky for band patients is that they do not have the same level of nutritional concern as gastric bypass patients do. When you don’t have malabsorption, you mostly have to think about the ways that fewer calories, dietary changes and weight loss impact long-term nutrition. Fewer calories means less food. When you eat less it is simply harder to get all the nutrition in that you need each and every day. When it comes to dietary changes, most people really improve how they eat after bariatric surgery. But some of the common changes – for example, eating more Protein and less carbohydrate – can result in getting less of some key nutrients. One nutrient that is impacted this way is folic acid. Most folic acid is found in starch carbohydrates like Cereal, Pasta and bread. So if you eat a lot less of those foods, it can be very hard to get enough of that nutrient. Finally, weight loss itself may contribute to some nutritional issues. One good example of this is bone loss. As people lose weight, some bone loss seems to be inevitable. Good nutrition can be used to help reduce the amount of bone that is lost when you lose weight. The following are some of the nutritional concerns after adjustable gastric banding: 1. Thiamine. Thiamine deficiency is an established risk with all types of bariatric surgery. This is because most thiamine deficiency does not occur from malabsorption, but rather from low intake or from vomiting. Current data suggests that the greatest risk is in the first 6 to 12 months after surgery, especially in patients who have vomiting for any reason (7). There have been at least to published cases of severe thiamine deficiency (Wernicke’s Encephalopathy) with adjustable gastric bands (8,9). 2. B12 and Folic Acid. B12 and folic acid levels have been studied in adjustable gastric band patients in more than one trial. One study of nearly 300 patients examined serum B12, folate and homocysteine (10) levels over a 2-year period following AGB placement (11). The researchers found that those undergoing weight loss had significant elevations of total homocysteine levels compared to controls. Frankly low B12 or folate levels explained 35 % of the elevations. In the remainder of cases, higher than normal levels of these nutrients were required to maintain normal homocysteine levels. Another study conducted in Switzerland, found that by two years following adjustable gastric banding, folic acid levels had declined by 44.1% (12). 3. Bone Health. We already mentioned that one very important nutrient for bone – vitamin D – is very commonly deficient even before surgery. The other major nutrient for bone health – Calcium – is often a problem when it comes to intake. The recommendation for calcium intake after gastric banding is 1500 milligrams per day (13). The average calcium intake by adults aged 35 to 50 years is only 565milligrams (14). If you are now eating less after surgery, changes are your intake has gone down. Studies have shown evidence of bone loss after gastric banding. A one-year study found that there was significant evidence of bone loss, especially at the hip (15). 4. Iron. With no malabsorption, one might think that iron would really not be a potential problem after gastric banding. However, sometimes it is. This is in part because so many women have surgery and iron deficiency is simply more common in women. One study found evidence for iron deficiency in around 8 percent of patients preparing for surgery (16). A study presented to the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgeons in 2004 found anemia in 53% of patients and iron deficiency in 72% of patients 5 to 18 months after AGB placement (17). The likely reason for most iron deficiency after gastric banding would be low intake. Some patients have a hard time eating meat with a band, and this can result in a sort of “forced vegetarianism” that dramatically reduces dietary iron intake. Sometimes, this can occur if the band is to tight, and needs to be adjusted – so if this is happening to you, you should talk to your doctor. Conclusions Overall, the adjustable gastric band is a safe and effective device for weight loss. Because of dietary changes and weight loss, nutritional problems can arise. Simple nutritional strategies such as taking a Multivitamin and calcium can go a long way towards preventing future problems like anemia and bone loss. It is a good idea to work with your surgeon and dietitian to understand your risks, what you should take, and lab tests that should be done to check for potential problems. References: Ohrvall M, Tengblad S, Vessby B. Lower tocopherol serum levels in subjects with abdominal adiposity. J Intern Med 1993;234:53±60. Pereira S, Saboya C, Chaves G, et al. Class III Obesity and its Relationship with the Nutritional Status of Vitamin A in Pre- and Postoperative Gastric Bypass. Obes Surg. 2008 Apr 8. [Epub ahead of print] Madan AK, Orth WS, Tichansky DS, et al. Vitamin and trace mineral levels after laparoscopic gastric bypass. Obes Surg. 2006 May;16(5):603-6. Flancbaum L, Belsley S, Drake V, et al. Preoperative nutritional status of patients undergoing Roux-en-Y gastric bypass for morbid obesity. J Gastrointest Surg. 2006 Jul-Aug;10(7):1033-7. Kimmons JE, Blanck HM, Tohill BC, et al. Associations between body mass index and the prevalence of low micronutrient levels among US adults. MedGenMed. 2006 Dec 19;8(4):59. Wortsman J, Matsuoka LY, Chen TC, et al. Decreased bioavailability of vitamin D in obesity. Am J Clin Nutr. 2000 Sep;72(3):690-3. Singh S, Kumar A. CME Wernicke encephalopathy after obesity surgery: A systematic review. Neurology 2007 Mar 13;68(11):807-11. Bozbora A, Coskun H, Ozarmagan S, Erbil Y, Ozbey N, Orham Y. A rare complication of adjustable gastric banding: Wernicke's encephalopathy. Obes Surg. 2000 Jun;10(3):274-5. Homocysteine is a substance in the body that increases when there is not enough folate and/or B12. High homocysteine is a risk for heart disease and other conditions. Solá E, Morillas C, Garzón S, Ferrer JM, Martín J, Hernández-Mijares A. Rapid onset of Wernicke's encephalopathy following gastric restrictive surgery. Obes Surg. 2003 Aug;13(4):661-2. Dixon, et al. Elevated homocysteine levels with weight loss after Lap-Band surgery: higher folate and vitamin B12 levels required to maintain homocysteine level. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 2001 Feb ;25(2): 219-27. Gasteyger C, Suter M, Calmes JM, Gaillard RC, Giusti V. Changes in body composition, metabolic profile and nutritional status 24 months after gastric banding. Obes Surg. 2006 Mar;16(3):243-50. Aillis L, Blankenship J, Buffington C, Furtado M, Parrott J. ASMBS Allied Health Nutritional Guidelines for the Surgical Weight Loss Patient. Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases. 2008 May: 4(5): S73-S108. USDA National Food Consumption Survey 1988 Giusti V, Gasteyger C, Suter M, Heraief E, Gaillard R, Burckhardt P. Gastric banding induces negative bone remodelling in the absence of secondary hyperparathyroidism. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 2003 Jan;27(1):110-6. Flancbaum L, Belsley S, Drake V, et al. Preoperative nutritional status of patients undergoing Roux-en-Y gastric bypass for morbid obesity. J Gastrointest Surg. 2006 Jul-Aug;10(7):1033-7. Vemulapalli P, McGinty A, Lopes J, Goodwin A, Teixaira J. Nutritional Deficiency in Laparoscopic Gastric Banding. ASMBS 2004.

b: half of a small banana nut homemade muffin L: cup of chili from chili's d: small piece of vegetarian lasagna, brownie (eek):laugh: s: 2 crackers with cheese :thumbup: no excercize.. such a busy day.. I am going to double it today!

Yesterday: B: Nothing S: 1/2 snack size hersheys chocolate bar w/ almonds, 3 ritz crackers w/ crab spread on them. L: 1/2 grilled cheese w/ 1/3 c. vegetarian chili S: 2 multigrain crackers w/ crab spread on them D: 1/2 c. mushroom & wild rice soup, 1/3 c. mashed potatoes & gravy Dessert: kit kat bar (last one of those in house :thumbup:) - maybe if I had breakfast I wouldn't have had this. odd - I've been experiencing some chest pain (right of the sternum but high) I think it's associated w/ band b/c it's similar to where I feel something if I get stuck (but not exactly) it's transient (never more than 5-8 sec) and not associated w/ eating and I don't think it's due to being tight b/c I can certainly still eat plenty of food. My monthly dr's appt is today so I'll bring it up - just weird! :eek:

hi im shonda im a total carb addict and a vegetarian so i cant do atkins at all.

I feel bad for not posting recently - I had a crazy week (worked 80 hrs in the last 6 days) but as I enter a new 'sane' week I'll work on being more accountable with documenting my food choices. Yesterday: B: 4 oz nonfat greek yogurt, 1/4 blueberries, 1/2 c. kashi go lean crunch S: 1 oz baked cheetos L: 1/2 c. vegetarian chili w/ 1/3 c. shredded cheese & 1/3 of avacado diced S: kitkat bar (i know - it wasn't even a mini sized one) D: 1/2 c. dream dinners kungpao chicken w/ 2 tbls rice

I didn't know Whole Foods had that pizza crust...interesting. I was there yesterday (first time) to get some tofu "noodles" for my vegetarian daughter. I think they are called Shokateri or something like that and are shaped like spaghetti or fettucini noodles but very healthy. She hasn't tried them yet. I have no problem eating. Penny--you need to EAT! ~~anne

I have the "Eating Well After Weight Loss Surgery" cookbook and I heart it! It has great, fast and easy recipes, even many vegetarian choices. I highly recommend it!

try going vegetarian and then u can feel good about eating healthy ... GoVeg.com // Features // Downed Cow

i eat lots of nuts and veggies and im still drinking milk and having yogurt... beans are good for proteins but i need to go to library and get some vegetarian cookbooks ..my menu is limited at this point. it took about a week to notice any difference but now i feel lighter and im more regular must be all the fruit..im hoping to see some changes with the scale soon.. reason to give up meat http://www.goveg.com/downedCow.asp

im trying to give up meat i have been mostly meat free for 2 weeks its not as hard as i thought..any recipes would be great i feel lighter and more regular..i hope i dont fall off the wagon with thanksgiving coming up

My daughter was 19 when she had RNY surgery, the gastric bypass. She has it last May and is now 20. Prior to that she had a similar situation with issues too long to go into but she was in-patient for a week due to her suicidal thoughts and other harmful things she was doing to herself. It was a very difficult period and it happened during her last month of HS her junior year. So let's assume she was around 17 at the time. Since that time she's been seeing a therapist and also on meds for anxiety, panic attacks and depression. Mainly these affected her in HS as it was not a very friendly place for her due to her size, she is also 6 ft tall and over 300 pounds at the time. She had wanted to have the WL surgery for a while, and had actually gained much more weight after she was in-patient at the mental facility, not a pleasant time for her, or me but it's about me. Anyway once she was out of HS she seemed soooo much happier applied to the local state university here and decided to dorm. Ended up switching roommates with another girl and made a good friend and things were honky dory for a while. Then that roommate's family moved out of state and she eventually had to move to the state university near her parents which kind of left my daughter a bit vulnerable again. By the time that spring semester was in it's mid-point she was getting bad panic attacks again and got a medical leave of absence from school. During this time she was 19 and had decided she really wanted to get the gastric bypass. Oh by the way she was a vegan also during her HS years and slowly after gaining so much weight went to vegetarian and prior to her surgery now eats fish and seafood but no mammals. She seemed to really gain weight as a vegan because she ate a lot of Pasta and it seemed to be her main diet I suppose but I respected her decision to be a vegan. She eats well now and eats a lot of "Amy's tv dinners. So she's went through the same surgery center I went through to have my lap band, which was fairly new there anyway and with the backing of her therapist and psychiatric nurse and her primary care physician she was approved to have the surgery. She's lost 125 pounds since last April and there's a definite improvement in her self esteem and in her health. She also suffered from back pain. I think she wanted to be certain she would lose the weight as I had not on the lap band so she chose a more drastic surgery but I backed her up even though it worried me to death and probably always will but if she had not had the surgery I'm afraid of what she may have done to herself so I felt my hands tied. I'm just giving you this information because you are not alone out there at your age and I know how hard it is especially this day in age to be overweight and how it makes you feel. I think though that working still with your therapist will help and possibly if you insurance is going to run out maybe your parents could get some type of additional policy on you once you've past that certain age. I know some insurance companies will do that but your parents would have to pay extra in their premiums. I just think it's not an easy fix and the more support you have and knowledge you gain prior to any weight loss surgery is very important. Even though my daughter has lost a lot of weight she is still on her meds and continues with therapy and will for a long time as it's just as it's very important especially with what she's gone through and what she will go through in the future. So good luck to you and I hope things work out for you and you're feeling much better soon take care, Nancy:smile:

As I'm sitting here eating on my lunch break, I decided I should start a blog. I was banded 12/10/07, and have only had two fills. I'm not sure exactly how much I was filled, but my doctor told me that my band was already filled slightly when it was put in. After my 1st fill in January, I didn't have too much restriction, so when I went in for my 2nd fill, they filled me up well! So well, that I felt I really didn't need a fill until recently. I still have food getting stuck, but it totally depends. One day, I can get by without anything getting stuck, the next, I drink water and it feels like it's stuck! I understand this is a common feeling with most of us bandsters. I lost 14 pds pre-op (started 239), and 25 pounds post-op. Over the summer, I went about 3 months where I didn't lose / didn't gain. I stopped logging in here and reading posts - this is what usually keeps me motivated. In September, I finally started losing again and I've lost 13 pounts since then. I've been hovering around 200-201 for the past week and it's killing me! I can't wait until I'm in onederland, but no matter what I do, it's not changing! Forty pounds doesn't seem like a lot when I read posts about people who started around my weight / same time, who've lost 60-70! But then I remind myself that I'd be 10-15 pounds heavier then when I started this process, and 40 pounds is a lot of weight! One year from now, hopefully I'll be blogging about how I'm at goal. My skinny friends / younger sister will go out to eat with me, and always notice that they eat so much more then I do. It was pretty much like this before I had the band too, I have a very sloow metabolism, and my Doctor told me that because of this, it's going to be extra difficult for me. I've been a vegetarian for 10 years, who yes, occassionally would eat fast food, and snack, but ate pretty similar to other people my age - only they were much thinner. Most women my age (I'm 25 by the way) burn close to 2,000 calories with a sedendary lifestyle. So eating, 1,300 - 1,500 calories a day is a diet and they'll lose weight. I burn 1,400, in order for me to lose weight, my doctor advised I must eat 1,000 calories a day. 1,000!!! When I stay on this plan, I lose, but slowly and then my skinny sister thinks I'm anorexic! After being accused of being anorexic, I'll start eating more just to prove that I am most definitely not and then I stay fat. Has anyone had a similar experience? With all the above, I guess 40 pounds is pretty impressive although I don't feel any thinner. A few years ago, I lost 40 pounds (only weighed 180 then), and I suddenly felt so exposed. At 180, I would show off some cleavage, or be outgoing and crazy, I guess for attention, but at 140, I would wear turtlenecks, and was quieter, and I was still getting so much attention, it sorta freaked me out. I would wear baggy sweatshirts and jeans out, which is so not like me. It was then that I stopped working-out, and caring about what I ate again, and the weight crept back on + 50 more pounds! Has anyone felt that they've subconsciously sabotaged themselves because they couldn't identify with the person they were on the outside compared to the person on the inside? I feel as if I'm past this now, and am ready to change the inside to match the out. I still know that even at 140 pds (goal), I'm going to look in the mirror and see a fat person. I know from experience, when I did weigh 140, I felt I was this fat person who was decieving everyone by being thin on the outside. Does this make any sense? I would meet a guy, and we'd end up kissing or something, and I'd think "If he only knew he was actually kissing a fat girl!" And I know it sounds / is crazy, and I knew it at the time, it was a subconscious feeling I couldn't shake. But I definitely agree that being thin and healthy outweighs the above "cons." And having been there, and back, I'm going to be much wiser and give in to my fears and embrace my thin beautiful healthy self. When I went to get my lunch from the office fridge, I passed by our super skinny, gorgeous secretary munching on Funions. I pulled out my healthy meager little lunch and was sad for a second, but then I realized, I am not that person, I'll never be that person. We are all made differently and we need to stop comparing ourselves to other people and getting angry for what we don't have. I'll bet there is someone who feels that way about me? Somewhere in the world :angry_smile:. Sorry to be so scattered and throw so many thoughts in one post, it's my first one! I had a lot to say. :cursing: xoxo, Michelle:thumbup:

As I'm sitting here eating on my lunch break, I decided I should start a blog. I was banded 12/10/07, and have only had two fills. I'm not sure exactly how much I was filled, but my doctor told me that my band was already filled slightly when it was put in. After my 1st fill in January, I didn't have too much restriction, so when I went in for my 2nd fill, they filled me up well! So well, that I felt I really didn't need a fill until recently. I still have food getting stuck, but it totally depends. One day, I can get by without anything getting stuck, the next, I drink water and it feels like it's stuck! I understand this is a common feeling with most of us bandsters. I lost 14 pds pre-op (started 239), and 25 pounds post-op. Over the summer, I went about 3 months where I didn't lose / didn't gain. I stopped logging in here and reading posts - this is what usually keeps me motivated. In September, I finally started losing again and I've lost 13 pounts since then. I've been hovering around 200-201 for the past week and it's killing me! I can't wait until I'm in onederland, but no matter what I do, it's not changing! Forty pounds doesn't seem like a lot when I read posts about people who started around my weight / same time, who've lost 60-70! But then I remind myself that I'd be 10-15 pounds heavier then when I started this process, and 40 pounds is a lot of weight! One year from now, hopefully I'll be blogging about how I'm at goal. My skinny friends / younger sister will go out to eat with me, and always notice that they eat so much more then I do. It was pretty much like this before I had the band too, I have a very sloow metabolism, and my Doctor told me that because of this, it's going to be extra difficult for me. I've been a vegetarian for 10 years, who yes, occassionally would eat fast food, and snack, but ate pretty similar to other people my age - only they were much thinner. Most women my age (I'm 25 by the way) burn close to 2,000 calories with a sedendary lifestyle. So eating, 1,300 - 1,500 calories a day is a diet and they'll lose weight. I burn 1,400, in order for me to lose weight, my doctor advised I must eat 1,000 calories a day. 1,000!!! When I stay on this plan, I lose, but slowly and then my skinny sister thinks I'm anorexic! After being accused of being anorexic, I'll start eating more just to prove that I am most definitely not and then I stay fat. Has anyone had a similar experience? With all the above, I guess 40 pounds is pretty impressive although I don't feel any thinner. A few years ago, I lost 40 pounds (only weighed 180 then), and I suddenly felt so exposed. At 180, I would show off some cleavage, or be outgoing and crazy, I guess for attention, but at 140, I would wear turtlenecks, and was quieter, and I was still getting so much attention, it sorta freaked me out. I would wear baggy sweatshirts and jeans out, which is so not like me. It was then that I stopped working-out, and caring about what I ate again, and the weight crept back on + 50 more pounds! Has anyone felt that they've subconsciously sabotaged themselves because they couldn't identify with the person they were on the outside compared to the person on the inside? I feel as if I'm past this now, and am ready to change the inside to match the out. I still know that even at 140 pds (goal), I'm going to look in the mirror and see a fat person. I know from experience, when I did weigh 140, I felt I was this fat person who was decieving everyone by being thin on the outside. Does this make any sense? I would meet a guy, and we'd end up kissing or something, and I'd think "If he only knew he was actually kissing a fat girl!" And I know it sounds / is crazy, and I knew it at the time, it was a subconscious feeling I couldn't shake. But I definitely agree that being thin and healthy outweighs the above "cons." And having been there, and back, I'm going to be much wiser and give in to my fears and embrace my thin beautiful healthy self. When I went to get my lunch from the office fridge, I passed by our super skinny, gorgeous secretary munching on Funions. I pulled out my healthy meager little lunch and was sad for a second, but then I realized, I am not that person, I'll never be that person. We are all made differently and we need to stop comparing ourselves to other people and getting angry for what we don't have. I'll bet there is someone who feels that way about me? Somewhere in the world :mad2:. Sorry to be so scattered and throw so many thoughts in one post, it's my first one! I had a lot to say. :wub: xoxo, Michelle:thumbup: