Susanne

I had posted a couple of pictures of myself on Facebook after getting a haircut, and a colleague whom I only met a couple of times from a different office posted "Susanne...is that u? You look great!!!". I kinda said "I got a new haircut" without mentioning the surgery and he said "It looks Super!!!! You look like a totally different person...." I kinda mentioned the surgery on FB but I don't think he uses it much so he probably didn't know. I felt just like you and had a big smile. BTW, I feel like my head starts to look bigger...because my body looks smaller, LOL So, I am gonna be a big noggin gal, hmmm...

I think the 1200 calories is fairly high for now. I know in my case I am usually 100 calories over what I log because of the bit of milk in my coffee, a sip I may take at my husbands juice or beer, and other things that are just too small to count. How do you log 1 swig of juice? I am trying to stay around 900 as per my nutritionist. How intense is your cardio and what are you doing? Are you doing cardio really every day? 1200 is generally not too much, but make sure you really ARE at 1200 calories and not "a little over" every day and then a cheat day on the weekend or so. I think 1200 calories as a goal is a little high to play it fast and loose. Are you logging your food, for example on myfitnesspal.com? I am striving for 900 calories, so if I go over with a snack to get to 1100 calories, I am still OK. Just like I am trying to exercise every day, so I usually end up with 5 to 7 days a week for at least 40 minutes. Does that make sense? I am not trying to be critical of your choices, but just trying to make you aware of possible pitfalls.

I don't think it has that much to do with where the shot went but how good the person who did it was. This is my arm one week after surgery where the incompetent night staff drew blood:

In all honesty, I would lay off a little. I understand your excitement but even if you get confirmation today instead of tomorrow, it doesn't mean that you will have surgery a day earlier. And if I was your case worker, that kind of behavior would possibly make me work slower. It's not like they are dealing with people needing transplants, people with heart failure, newborn babies with health complications, people with cancer etc. - oh wait, THEY ARE! It's not like they are cops sitting around the station eating donuts all day long --- just kidding. Just thought I'd throw in my 2 cents -- relax, it'll come and you have a lot of time left for anxiety, LOL

That's true! Actually, when I called BCBS of Michigan, I talked to a really nice guy, who was very helpful. He looked at my company's contract and said it was weird because they said "Gastric Stapling" is covered. He said it's weird since no one really does "Gastric Stapling" anymore, but my company's contract was set up many years ago, when that was the way to go. At that point, he couldn't even say if the Lap band (which was what I was looking into back then) was covered. He actually called around and talked to supervisors to find out what that means and got back with me a few days later telling me it covers the band but no one had updated the contract my company has with BCBSMI. By that time, I had gotten away from the band anyway and moved towards the sleeve. What I am trying to say is that the only thing that you can really count on is if YOUR INSURANCE which is listed on THE BACK OF YOUR INSURANCE CARD with a number that YOU SHOULD CALL tells you something. No one else can give you any real solid information that you can rely on.

I believe you asked this on my Breakfast post. What follows is my personal opinion! I eat anything I want for now. I am trying to stay away from highly processed food and "white carbs" - even though white carbs have the same amount of calories as "brown carbs", ie. brown whole grain rice and whole wheat Pasta has th same calories as white rice and pasta. I know I would lose faster if I would stick to a rigorous diet avoiding any type of unhealthy foods and cutting carbs to an excrutiating minimum. I applaud anyone who follows those guidelines for their strength and willpower. Unfortunately (or not?), this isn't me. I am only 3 months out tomorrow, I have lost 45 pounds which is probably fairly slow compared to others, but I eat what I want in moderation. If I want a piece of my husband's bear claw, I will have that. If I want to eat 1/4 bagel, I will do that. I make sure I get at least 60 g of Protein every day. The sleeve gives me the moderation I was never able to do (while keeping my sanity). If I was able to follow a diet that strict, I would probably not have needed the sleeve. I am currently stalled a little bit since a week, but I am continuing to eat this way - mainly to see if the stall is just a stall or if it is related to what I eat. I am hoping I'll break through it without having to cut out the carbs. I am eating 800 to 900 calories during the week, and maybe 1200 calories on the weekend days. I work out pretty much every day for at least 40 minutes. MFP is down right now, so I can't post exact values. The good thing is, I am just happy. I am not craving anything - because I can have everything. In my opinion, I am eating like a normal person, ie. eat what I want in moderation. I have wanted to be able to do this all my life, and I am keeping my fingers crossed that this is it and that I DON'T have to live with "Can't have this, can't have that" anymore.

LOL - that made me laugh out loud in the morning - good way to start this supposed snowmaggedon day! And on a side note, Greek yogurt with a little fat is sooooooo much better. Unfortunately, here they only have Fage with 2%, all the rest is 0%. And the calories are pretty much the same! As for Greek yogurt in general, the Protein is a little overrated. I mean, as far as dairy products go, it has a lot of protein, but in general it's not that much. I like to think of foods with a "protein to calorie ratio" and Greek yogurt is just so-so. I posted a list of my favorites here: http://www.bananatummy.com/2011/01/best-protein-foods/

I don't have a problem with most breads. I did have a slice of really heavy, whole grain bread with seeds that I used to love - that was a little much for me and only one slice made me uncomfortably fool. Other than that, bread is just part of a weekend morning. During the week, I actually have a Protein shake for convenience, but on the weekend I usually like a nicer breakfast

I mix plain Greek with Cinnamon and Splenda - yum!

Well, at least the article says that below 50 is good for accelerated loss - but not good for your health, which makes sense to me. That said, I overindulged on some delicious organic "Rooster Buns" which made me cross the 100g line. Boo me...but my mouth said "Hmmm, yumm!"

I just posted this yesterday and just realized it goes well with the post here: http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/13039-how-many-carbs-should-i-eat/

He, this reminds of my "I can see my a$$" NSV (just less vulgar of course) - LOL

Oh, and as for the advise not to drink Protein shakes, I don't think this is necessarily a good idea. I think a low calorie Protein shake is an awesome supplement with a very high protein-to-calorie ratio. If I drink 30g of very high quality protein (see my post above) which has 140 calories, I have a lot more room for veggies and other good nutritional stuff. Lean ground turkey for example only has 22g of protein and 150 calories and if I eat those 4 oz. I usually cannot fit in any veggies or fruit or "healthy fiber". If I drink my shake, I have a lot of good protein taken care of and I can eat some things that are butritionally good for me. Now, if you then go and eat the other calories in donuts and candy, that's the wrong way. For most of us, I think this is good info (http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/issa4.htm): Whey powder Because whey protein does have a high biological value (BV), it probably offers the most benefits when you are dieting on very low calories. When your energy intake and correspondingly, protein intake is reduced, whey protein could help you get greater utilization of the smaller amount of protein that you are taking in. Whey protein also provides a way to get high quality protein without the fat. It has been suggested that whey may have other advantages besides high protein quality. These benefits include enhanced immunity, increased antioxidant activity and quick absorption. And that's why I think there are a lot of benefits to still having protein shakes, good quality protein shakes.

As far as I know, a mix of different Proteins is usually desirable. Protein from different sources behaves differently, some are absorbed fast, others are absorbed slowly, so a mix of slow and fast basically has you covered for a longer amount of time. I believe they also contain different amino acids so a mix gives you a full profile of those. Some info about protein blends: Protein blends provide a timed-release effect when combining proteins that digest at a faster or slower rate. Whey protein digests fast, is high quality and is ideal for building muscle and immunity. Milk (casein protein) is slow digesting and delivers amino acids to your muscles over a longer period of time, helping prevent muscle breakdown. Egg white protein (egg albumen) is medium digesting and has an excellent amino acid profile. Soy protein is a vegetarian source of protein that may help reduce heart disease, is rich in phytoestrogens, but is not as good as whey, milk or egg for building muscle. And some more info here: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/perfectprotein.htm I was told to use protein isolates and not protein concentrates by my nutritionist. Since we are all working hard to get protein in vs. a body builder who eats and drinks a ton more protein than we do, I trust them that it makes a difference. If I can eat 150-300g of protein, I can probably go for the cheaper concentrate - but if I am working hard to get in 60 - 80g, I want to make sure that my protein is the good stuff - and good stuff, from what I understand is the actual usable part because of some protein types, the body can only absorb 80% or less and of others 90% or more. So the 10g of protein you make drink may only be 8g if it's concentrate or 9g+ if it is isolate. Here is some more information about isolate vs. concentrate: http://www.bodybuildingforyou.com/protein/whey-protein-isolate-concentrate.htm

So, yesterday we made some very delicious pulled pork in the crock pot. Just 2.5 pounds of pork tenderloins that was on sale, 8 oz. of BBQ sauce, chopped onions and garlic and 6 hours on low. It was so good, and even though pork tenderloin is probably one of the leanest cuts of meat, it was super moist and juicy and it actually "pulled" itself when I tried to get it out of the pot. Now, my non-sleeved, non-obese husband needs a bit of carbs on the side and I thought I'd get the Trader Joe's Corn Bread mix out. Hubby was nice enough to volunteer doing it and 40 minutes later the house was filled with the beautiful smells of BBQ pork and corn bread. The corn bread was cut into 9 chunks, and I wanted to eat half of it but I ended up eating one whole piece. I mean, it's just one piece, not even a big one and pre-surgery I would have probably munched my way through 2 or three (ok ok, the 2 of us would have eaten the whole pan). When it came to logging the food, I checked on MFP...Trader Joe's Corn Bread prepared - 1/9 is 290 calories. 2...9...0...calories, for one serving of corn bread. Kids, cover your ears...WHAT THE MOTHERFATHER BULLCRAPSHIT IS THAT???? 290 calories for a simple piece of corn bread, no cheese added, no butter on top, no nothing but the required ingredients. This is absolutely insane! Now, don't get me wrong, at the moment, I kinda eat what I want. I believe the small amounts I am eating allow me to NOT have to look for low-"everything" items but allow me to eat normal food for people NOT on a diet. But my a$$ is that calorie rich or what? And it is a piece of bread on the side - something that we would have munched otherwise with some greasy fatty foods! At least I had my nice and lean pulled pork tenderloin with it, but this is just outrageous to me. It's like eating 3 tablespoons of butter! Geez...

I have the same "problem" - even worse, because I sometimes weigh myself before bedtime too. But as some know, I try to only let the good affect myself and shrug off a bad weigh-in.

Since surgery, I was wondering what I will look like. I mean, you see women with all kinds of shapes and forms, bottom heavy, top heavy, boyish figure, broad shoulders, broad hips, dainty, athletic -- I haven't been a normal weight adult, my figure went to shits around 16 or so, so I kept wondering what I will look like. Same with my face - will my nose look too big if my face is shrunk to normal size? I have a weak chin with doesn't bode well for the overweight, but once I lose that fat, will it still look real weak or will it at least have a little bit of visible chin bone? So, yesterday I was in the bathroom looking at myself with my "before jeans" - you know, the jeans I was wearing for the "before" picture that had that horrendous camel toe and that I couldn't sit down in and started to turn blue after a few minutes. I turned around in front of the mirror to see my body "profile" and turned a little more and there it was. My a$$. And I realized, I never really saw my ass before in many many many years - at least not without the three door folding mirror things. Now I could just turn around and see it. Not sure what shrunken body part allowed me to get this new view, but it was fun. I still don't know what I will look like at goal weight, but I am pretty sure I'll have a bangin' ass in a few months, LOL!

I was just about to say what Mini said. I HIGHLY discourage using those spoons or cup measures - HIGHLY!!!! Did I say HIGHLY? Have you ever read something to the regard of "product settling may occur"? Did you ever wonder why your Cereal box is half empty when you buy it? Well, believe it or not, the cereal box was much fuller when it left the plant. They would NOT waste that much packaging material if they didn't have to. Measuring material other than liquids by volume is WRONG, that's why ONLY the physical default unit for liquids is in volume and all other materials are measured by weight. Here are a few examples: Measure a cup of cereal with a cup measure. Pour it in a plastic bag, and drop it on the floor. Now pick it up and pour it back into the cup. You will see it has lost a lot of volume. Now imagine how many times the cereal box got bumped, hit, dropped and bounced between the plant and your place - measuring it by volume would give you a lot less cereal at the plant and a lot more after your 3 year old kicked the box through the kitchen. Measure a cup of strawberries with a cup measure. Now cut them in half and measure them again. Is this still a cup of strawberries? Cut them in half again...you get the point. Consider the difference in size between berries, the big juicy summer berries probably make 3 to a cup, the smaller early berries probably make 10 to a cup. Try it with anything. Put a container on your scale and tare it so it shows 0 (or do math in your head...yikes). First try your Protein powder. It usually says 1 scoop (35 grams) or so. Take a scoop and put it in the container - does it come out to the weight it is supposed to? Probably not. I recently tried it with Benefiber. 2 teaspoons are supposed to be 3.5g. Well, 2 of my little metal teaspoon measuring tools is pretty much TWICE the weight and came out to 6g. Another good example used to be the PB2 Peanut Butter powder, which also came out with twice the weight it was supposed to. So, when I used two tablespoons thinking that is one serving, I actually had 2 servings. Keep a scale handy, and measure your stuff, you'll be surprised...and not in a good way. If you find the scale cumbersome, at least doublecheck your frequently used items - you may be surprised how often you had 2 servings when you meant to take one...and those calories certainly add up. Other than that - you'll eat those amounts in no time, no worries.

I try to not eat before morning work out - I have read several times that since you have been fasting over night, a workout on an empty stomach burns more fat or burns fat better? It made total sense to me so I googled (hate to make statements without "evidence"): http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/diet_and_fitness/article6988526.ece http://www.notyouraveragefitnesstips.com/best-fitness-tips/performing-morning-cardio-on-empty-stomach-fasted-cardio-fasted-workouts-burn-fat

@cielle, MFP shows fiber - not sure if that was a separate setting, but I have fiber in my individual items and the summary