meggiep

Oh I so agree! First of all HOORAY FOR YOU!!!!!!!!! I also sympathize about your husband - I don;t know what I would do if my husband was morbidly obese and would not accompany me on this journey. I think you two might need some counseling about this because there is no way you should have to watch him eat himself to an early death. This whole thing of thinking WLS is the easy way out just burns me! This month has been extremely difficult for me and I will be working really hard to lose the weight, regardless of how big my stomach is.

Congrats on the weight loss and so sorry about the asparagus debacle! Onederland is ONEDERFUL!!!!

Do you exercise? That is another important component to keep your metabolism humming.

This is where the different plans we are all given get a bit frustrating! I am not allowed more than 1T of applesauce out of my 4T at each meal because it is lumped int with potato etc. as pure carb. All fruit is handled that way, though I get a little more leeway with vegetables I am supposed to have at least 2T Protein at every meal and if I choose to add another food- either 2T pureed vegies or 1T veg and 1T pureed fruit. Since I think you get 6T (that is a fantasy for me!!!) I think you should be able to get the calories to boost your fat burning. I truly think your body is in starvation mode! I have been reading a lot about glycogen, and about ketosis and I am really starting to understand the optimum approach to this. I want YOU to have great results! Meanwhile I feel like I have another fulltime job keeping track of fluids, protein, and carbs. ARGHHHHHH!!!!!

I agree- there is no way I could get my 80 grams right now with purees and no drinks. I am pleased to use only one drink- my morning "bomb" ;-P with decaf and milk and ice. Sometimes I augment with an powders?utm_source=BariatricPal&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=CommentLink" target="_ad" data-id="1" >unjury chicken Soup in the afternoon. However since 1-4 -Many gets five meals a day I think getting more than 500 calories should be possible. I pureed two ounces of costco rotisserie chicken salad today for 12 grams protein and 120 calories. She is able to eat 3 ounces- so I think it should be possible to get up to 200 calories per meal if you are motivated to do it. I myself am trying to bump up a bit today because I have had too many 500-600 days in a row so I need to surprise the old bod! I always appreciate your wisdom Irene- coming from being a long way out it is a treasure to us just starting out! xoxo

For some reason I thought you said the 500 was prescribed- totally got that wrong! Actually I am not that lucky- a 1/4 cup (2 ounces) is my absolute max! I do drink a Protein drink every morning though to get the protein up- no way could I at this point get it from my food. I am running about 600 calories with the 1/4 cups and the Protein Drink so every other day or so I add a sugar free pudding cup to bring up my calories and to bring up my carbs from 10! I am loathe to go into starvation mode. I also do two exercise sessions on five days a week- walking an hour in the afternoon, and Water walk for an hour in the evening. I am so motivated to put my "slow loser" days behind me! I have lost 16 pounds since my surgery 4 weeks ago, and 18 on my pre-op before. I already had an 8 day span with no loss. I am constantly scared I will be going in to another one. One thing to do is stay with full fat things like cheese, mayo, etc. With our limited calories we are unlikely to get too much fat and we need fat for this metabolism system to work. Also- when you say packaged food- do you mean packaged prepared food? Could it be high in sodium that makes you keep fluids in? I would also definitely get Protein drinks until you can get your protein from food because the combo of lower protein than recommended and such low calories can lead to you burning muscle instead of fat. I wish we didn't have to spend so much freaking time thinking about all this. For example, I am so behind on my water today just because I forgot for a while. Sigh. I keep posting because Mama Meggie sees a problem and wants so to solve it! Hope I am not annoying you.

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It is a little soon to tell (yep we are now two meggies with (soon) sleeves, husbands named Michael, AND hypothyroidism!) but I lost 18 pounds on my two week liquid diet, and have lost 16 in the four weeks since surgery. I am thrilled with it as I too have always lost weight very slowly in the past- but I think I never really got how important the carb factor was and have stuck to that firmly since day one of my pre-op. I think that as long as we keep our levels good we will be ok- jmo. (ps you aren't by any chance left handed? now that might almost be eerie...)

I just thought of something- do you exercise? That is supposed to be key. I have been walking like a madwoman every day since I finally got some energy back at week 2, and last week added an hour of water walking five days a week as well.

Did you take your measurements at the start ? I didn't and I wish I did. I have never been a measurement person and so scoffed at the idea...and now I know for the times like yours I would love to have that to fall back on and reassure myself. I still am somewhat flummoxed by the fact that you have lost 47 pounds and can't see it! I have only lost 35 and my clothes are all so loose- looser than I would expect at this weight and that I ascribe to the magic of low carb and high Protein. Are you sure you aren't just suffering from that weird body dysmorphia we seem to get while losing so much weight? Tell us more about how it has been going... I don't know but here is a giant hug anyway!

Hey Kara! Seems like I can't help but give you support everywhere ;-P You should also chck out a thread I started in Post Op (which is where you belong now!) comparing people who do pre-op diets and those who do not. I don't want you to be upset if you lose a bit slowly at first, or hit a semi stall sooner- For example, I lost 18 pounds on my two week pre-op, so then lost 12 my first two weeks after and NOTHING for a week starting at two weeks, rather than the oft mentioned three weeks. However, I started losing again this week- am close to 5 pounds lost this week. Just remember everyone is different and everyone is normal! I have great faith you will be a stellar sleeve girl because you faithfully follow the diets you elect to do. This diet will be different- because it is the last one, the one that will work like no other, and the one that leaves you with a tool to keep it off. Are you drinking your Protein drinks yet? xoxo

OH YUMMMMMMMMM!!!! I think I get that after next week....I see my dietician Thursday and will get more of an idea what happens when. I am practically in heaven even thinking about your dinner.

Oh now I am craving them! Oh well....sometimes I wish I could go to sleep and wake up in two or three weeks! I guess the only thing I would caution is if you do decided to count carbs bread and crackers will add to that without adding much else! As well as sometimes triggering carb craving- like the mental one I am having right now for crispy flatbread without even having it ! Love right back at you!

OK now I really am jealous- will spring ever come to us here in No CA? Cold and rainy all weekend- it is JUNE! Jeez! We have had a few warm days in the last three months, truly, It is awful. Wow- everything is so different with our plans! I don't thin I am allowed to even consider 1/2 cup until my capacty stretches. I will have to reveiew everything, In any case I know it wont fit in there because I reach my limit every single time with 1/4. I think my doctor likes using a small bougie but right now it seems kind of mean! xoxo

Are you sure it is hunger and not just longing? ;-P I certainly have that- when I see food on TV or smell cooking. But my hunger is gone. Sometimes excess acid can feel like hunger- are you taking an acid inhibitor of any kind? With my 2 week pre-op and three weeks of post-op liquids I can certainly sympathize ! When I finally got to have mushies on Monday my first scrambled egg tasted like manna from heaven! I tell myself this is a short time in a long life and is worth it to let your stomach heal properly!

BTW Michelle- huge hugs! I am totally emotional - my husband calls it "on edge". You are not alone! The article I posted about stalls is really enlightening about the chemistry of weight loss, period- and I also read about ketosis online last night and it rally made sense. I had eight days at the same weight from day 13 to day 22. It was ghastly! Now this week I am almost at 5 pounds lost- so the article really makes sense to me. I also put the link on one of my vids- I think it was vid #9. xoxo

OMG Kelly I just noticed you are almost in Onederland!!! WOW!

You must have gotten switched to soft foods or something else when I wasn't looking! Flatbread? Are you sure about eating that right now? I do not want to be a nay sayer, especially for my RV Gurl but I think you should be careful- bread products swell and are not usually added until much later (with my doctor never really advised) and you are not even a month quite yet. Is it on your food list? I am on mushies until 6 weeks to make sure everything is healed and I want my girl Michelle to be aok! Be careful!

For the second 3 weeks, i.e. 3-6 weeks I am supposed to have 1/4 cup three times a day, plus Protein drinks between if needed. I can divide it- i.e. 2 T pureed chicken, 1 T pureed green Beans 1T pureed fruit, etc. or have all 4 be the same thing. I don't really need to be told that because right now I cannot fit more anyway. I wonder if this is where bougie size come in? i.e. mine used a 34, do you know what yours used? Honestly I wish I had a little more leeway! I don;t mind eating the 1/4 cup because I am not hungry- but I have thrown up once after eating one bit too much of the same one scrambled egg plus melted cheddar I have EVERY day , whereas if I had a little more space.... Maybe I am still swollen. So Michelle you are on soft foods already? Actually- I don' think the tortilla is allowed until full foods- and it is high carbs (relatively) so my only advice would be to ditch it and eat the filling. Bread products are no where on my list until 6 or 8 weeks when I start regular foods and even then they recommend no. The on e thing I really can stress no matter how much you can eat is to do the carb thing. That will keep you in the right direction no matter what.

Wow! All at once? I can barely eat one egg! I am jealous ... Fat secret let's you customize what to show so I select net carbs and fiber and let it calculate.

For all of you- I have a thread for comparing people who did pre op liquids, etc. and people who did not do pre-op and so far it definitely looks like those who do a structured pre-op lost more slowly coming out of the surgery.

Isn;t it interesting ? It explains so much! Tonight I was reading about ketosis- and if you do that, and then connect it to this article then so much makes sense about why we count carbs, why we need the Water, why the high Protein. It's a lot to do with the glycogen! It gave me a lot of strength to do what is required!

So far it does look like the pre-op diets cause the post-op to be a bit slower- which makes sense! That is why I really think of April 25th, my first day of liquids pre-op, as my start date, Keep the data coming!...

Well I wrote a long long post and my computer froze. I'll try to reconstruct it! Many on here who have done really well limit it to 30 grams. My doctor says 40 net carbs- which is carbs minus Fiber, and I plan to try that as that makes sense to me! (Gives better carb value to, say an apple, than a cracker) Yep Michelle- there are LOTS of carbs in things! But that's where meat, cheese, eggs and such come in- high Protein and low carbs! Hence the protein first rule accomplishes so much… I don't count fat, and many here do not as we need some fat and let's face it- the restriction usually keeps that from going out of sight. It IS hard- definitely! Yogurt, for example, has LOTS of carbs- Greek yogurt is better and that is why many use it here. I just know that the people who have the best results do count them- and I just look at as investing the time, just as I did on any diet in the past- except this time I know it is really going to work, and with my little thumby will help me keep it off. We have a 6 month or so honeymoon period for optimum losing and I will make the best of it as our capacity increases later and it will get harder. I use Fat Secret dot com for logging my food- it lets you select which things you want to show in your nutrition data- I have it show calories, carbs, fiber, net carbs, and fat. Logging is the key- estimating never works too well and you get a nasty shock when you find out what you really ate :-P I like FS because you can add in the nutritional data of anything you want to add- I have added quite a few of the Protein drinks including that GNC one you like. I also use spark people to enter the components of a recipe to find out the carbs of everything. I was able to get Eggface's info that way. To help you see how protein helps you keep the carbs low- Today for me morning Protein Drink with decaf and 1/2 cup milk 49 grams protein 3 hrs later scrambled egg, 1T grated cheddar 9 grams 3 hrs later 1/4 cup cottage cheese 8 grams evening 1/6th eggface ricotta bake 11.5 grams For a total of 77.5 grams portein! And get this- 15 carbs- 13 net carbs. I drank all my Water, I walked an hour- I am good to go! And if I really want a treat later (we stay upp verrrrry late) I can have a sugar free popsicle (Dreyers are nummy!) for 6 grams of carbs oor a Jello sugar free pussing cup for 12. Still under 30. It is a diet, no way to see it as anything else- but it is one that we know will work because the chemistry of it is logical- and because we have teeny tiny stomachs! Better still, we will have help from those teeny tinys keeping it off. For me, counting cars is worth it to maximize the loss when the losing is at its best. I know it will be harder to keep the carbs low when I add more and varied foods but I am committed to this because the people I see having the bestest results have done it. Just keep doing protein first , veggies and fruit second, and the other stuff third and keep logging and you will get the hang of it! The thing is- right now you are probably losing a lot just due to low calories- but I firmly believe from everything I have learned that the way to keep that going, and to keep it burning FAT instead of muscle- is to count carbs. I also think the high protein/low carb thing, which sends your body into a state of ketosis- is the reason people fit into a smaller size than they used to at a specfic weight- because fat is burning, not muscle. Whew- that was a lot of typing! For YOU, dear Michelle...and Kelly, and anyone else who is wondering about the dread carbs!

I KNEW you would feel better if you ate more! And your body might not go into shut down mode either- which is always a danger eating so little. As for feeling like eating- I NEVER do. I have no hunger and I just schedule it in because I know I need to and because I am loathe to drink two shakes a day. I still have not ventured ut from my egg and cottage cheese and ricotta bake but I am going to make Eggfaces cauliflower cheese also, and try some tuna or chicken salad. I can't have things like a pices of turkey lunch meat until soft foods. Anyway- WOO HOO!!!! Try to get 600-800 calories- if you get your Protein, count your carbs, and drink your Water you are on your way!