juliarh

always a pound or so within the week, but usually I lose it by the end of the week.

Whoot! I am NORMAL today!! SN..............Starting Wt........Current.......Goal.......Lbs to Goal Juliarh ...........171.4.................168.9.........165.............4

Hi!! Ok, honestly this is exactly what I do. First, I record everything I put in my mouth on Fatsecret.com. I've set it to record my net carbs (that is the carbs minus the fiber). If I eat an apple or veggies (like broccoli or something like that) I record them and note how many carbs I've eaten. Now if I've eat a lot of carbs but most of the carbs are due to veggies and/or fruit (like apples), then I know that I'm ok as long as the rest of my carbs aren't over the top. For example, one of the granny smith apples I eat can be 20 or more carbs. I'll probably eat 30 more carbs during the day because I think apples are a good thing to eat. I know that's not very scientific, but it seems to work for me. And in reality, it's not very low carb in the sense of eschewing all carbs, but I essentially have gotten rid of the processed carbs but still eat the real carbs -- if that makes sense. As for beans, I think you should do what you think is best. I record my beans and if they're super high in carbs, I'd probably count them. But if they're not high in carbs, I probably wouldn't. Depends on the beans. For instance, I had 1/2 cup of lentil chili for lunch -- 16 net carbs -- 8.5 g Protein. The lentils plus the apple put me at 36 g of carbs already for today. Oh well. Both are really good for me and I hardly think I'm doing myself a disservice by eating them. Will I have more carbs for dinner? probably. But not enough to make me a carb monster, know what I mean? I hope this is helpful. I know I'm not specific about the carbs, but really I have limited those things that I think are harmful to me -- like processed carbs (sugar, bread, etc.) Other things like fruits and beans and veggies I record but don't really limit myself. Clear as mud? Thanks for the girl crush. I'm happy that you enjoy the vids -- sometimes I think I have nothing to say and I say it for 10 minutes - ugh. I think I need some topics. Maybe you all can feed me some topics -- I'm happy to run my mouth on and on about stuff as long as I have something to say.

Hey Sophia -- I just had a tummy tuck and a breast lift/augmentation done 2 weeks ago. I didn't need the panny b/c my skin wasn't *that* bad -- just a regular tummy tuck. the Panny is usually done when the skin hangs below the genital area. Tummy tuck is done with loose/stretched skin/muscles from pregnancy and lots of weight loss. Essentially they're the same surgery, but the panny is more extreme and takes longer (both in surgery and recovery). I had very little pain and recovery has been really simple so far. Look at my link to my youtube videos to see me talk about my plastics

I try to keep my carb count below 40ish -- recently, I've been upping the carbs to see where my threshold is (where I lose and where I gain) -- but in the past it was 40, not counting veggies and fruit. Now mind you, I don't eat *that* many veggies and fruits -- maybe an apple or two a day and some veggies for lunch or dinner. So it's not like I'm carbing out . . . as for Protein shakes -- yes, once in a while I'll have one. Especially if I feel I'm not getting in enough protein. Initially I had a non-flavored protein that I added to Soups and tea and such. But after I could eat a substantial amount of protein for my meals, I kinda stopped using Protein powder in my food except when I was being lazy and didn't want to cook anything In those cases, I'll make a Protein shake. At your stage, I was definitely using protein powder A LOT. I just couldn't eat much, didn't want to eat much, and basically had to get my protein from the powder. An egg was too much to eat. Glad that's over Now I eat between 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup of food. Sometimes if it's slider food, I can eat like a normal person which is scary. For example, yesterday my son made me a Breakfast wrap for breakfast -- it had a small low carb tortilla, scrambled egg, bacon, black Beans and cheese. It was very yummy and I could eat one entire one. Granted my kids each had 2 or 3 a piece. But the fact that I could eat an entire one was interesting -- I think 4 months ago if I could have eaten half of it I would have been lucky. I still don't get really hungry -- head hunger is more of an issue now because I'm fooling around with my carbs more (word to the wise). But being in semi-maintenance, I'm trying to figure out what my normal is. And maybe I'll always be trying to figure it out, who knows. Speaking of fooling around with carbs, seems to me that the processed carbs are the ones that affect me and not the veggies and fruit. So, that's also interesting (at least to me). Hope that answers your questions. Basically, I was super strict up until about a month ago when I started increasing my carbs and calories to figure out how much I should be eating as a "real" person not trying to lose as much.

I've been doing low carbs since my surgery (about 10 1/2 mos. out) -- I DO NOT count the carbs in my fruits and veggies. I figure they're good for you, you should be eating them, so they don't count. I DO count the carbs in breads, pastas, cereals, rice, etc. You get the idea. Frankly, I think (and it's just my belief) that given our small stomachs, we need as much fiber as we can possibly get -- I still battle constipation and if I don't get enough fiber in, I'm miserable. I've also come to realize in my short time post op, that while we should restrict "bad" carbs, we need to emulate normal eating as much as possible. Our tummies are going to be naturally restrictive (seriously) -- and despite what we eat (even if we fall off the wagon), we're going to lose. I'm about 5 pounds from goal and am still losing at a pretty good clip, despite the fact that I'm upping my calories, upping my carbs, etc. The thing about weight loss, something I think we often lose sight of (and I do all the time despite almost being at goal and almost a year out) -- is that we don't lose at a steady rate. It's stair steps -- sometimes we lose a bunch, then our bodies stop. Then we lose, then we stop. It's our bodies' way of adjusting to the weight loss -- it's mentally frustrating (believe me!) -- but, we have to accept that we will lose as long as we are active and eating well. Now, if you're gonna binge on cake, well after awhile you're not gonna lose. But, eating well, moving our bods, and keeping the weight loss thing in perspective is what it's all about

You are doing a fantastic job!! Very awesome

You look great, Dana!! Great job on losing the weight so fast

That is truly an awesome NSV -- I have been in too many dowdy old western dresses to count -- can hardly wait till I get the chance to be a barmaid too

Better late than never! SN..............Starting Wt........Current.......Goal.......Lbs to Goal Juliarh ...........171.4.................171.4.........165.............6.4 Oh and in interest of full disclosure -- I am actually 179 today because I had plastic surgery (Water retention) -- but my last weigh in before surgery was the weight posted, so I"m going with that weight. And I know that my goal is not huge, but it's doable for me considering my body just doesn't want to lose very much right now.

This has been my experience too -- lots of people have said "but you don't act fat" -- what does that mean??? Yeah, it's weird -- I never really wanted to buy into the whole "fat people are treated differently" mentality because I thought that, well, I think I thought that it wasn't true -- but it was true, unfortunately. And the whole what I'm wearing -- I can't tell you the number of people who say "wow, you look hot." well, it's not like I didn't like these clothes before, I just couldn't wear them. sigh. yeah, it's sad, but I think underneath it all, we all knew this to a certain extent which is one reason we got the surgery. or at least I did. sigh.