feedyoureye

I started taking belly dance before WLS. It was part of my last ditch effort to get into shape and lose weight. I do love it as well. I think this has helped me a lot with body changes. There is lots of isolations, yoga based balancing warm ups. After I let my teacher know about my bone spurs in my knee (that showed up after losing weight) and Sports Physical therapists diagnosis that I had very weak hip flexers (especially the tensor fasciae latae ), and I was sitting knock kneed, getting out of the car with my knees together and my feet apart... and stepped down stairs with my knees together... (the signs) she started adding exercises to strengthen that muscle. I have to watch turns, as this may cause flare ups, but it is much better now. I used to have a touchy lower back, but keeping my tail bone pointing down in the "dancers posture" has really made the pain go away. Of course, no one, my PCP, Sports Medicine Dr, my physical therapist or my Bariatric drs ever said anything like this could be caused or exacerbated by massive weight loss...

You have done a great job, you look fantastic! I used the 5:2 to re-lose 22 pound regain, I still use it to maintain. With your blood sugar, you might want to split the 500-600 cals over the day instead of saving it all for dinner. That might help keep your blood sugar more stable. Maybe try it on a day you don't have much going on so you can see how you feel. I really like how it makes me feel. Best of luck, and welcome out of the lurking corner!

Welcome back Jeff, this place really helps me to stay on my toes. Its all too easy to let things just float up without even really noticing until the damage is done. MFP is a big help to me as well. I gained 22, then got it off with the 5:2. I try and plan a snack/desert for the PM to help me finish my day full and happy....then I have something to grab when the "witching hour" shows up.

Aw! Cute Kitty! I had a great Dads day, visited with my family. I'm lucky my dad is still here to visit with. It was also my 61st b-day. I actually had someone call me an "old lady" yesterday, in a good way... she said "I have always admired your point of view (I have known her from when she was about the age of 15---she is at least 10 years younger than I) but I have to say I like you as an old lady even better. I haven't seen her for maybe 20 years...it was kind of funny to hear, but not really bad or anything. I said thank you. I had lots of fun this weekend, kayaking, bird watching, eating out (the good the bad and the ugly) Cake, ice cream, and lots of other stuff. Good news, my labs came in today and my cholesterol went down to just below 200... so no meds for now. What a relief. I really did not want to go there.... I never did lose the 5 pounds the doc wanted me to lose... Really the only thing I did different was take plant sterols before eating high cholesterol foods...this has had some good research test results so far... and no side effects....so I thought I would give it a go. It fills the receptors that take in cholesterol from food with a form of cholesterol that doesn't effect your arteries, and blocks the bad cholesterol that is contained in dairy, eggs and meat from entering into your blood... it just passes out of the body and is not absorbed... this is my understanding anyway. I don't eat meat, but would use the tablets when I knew I would be eating something with high cholesterol content...cheese, milk, and eggs. Well, that recipe looks good! I love marinated veggies... I like to add garbanzo beans and some olives and mozzarella too...I may have to make some tomorrow.... G'night all...

I hear you. I come from a family of "big girls" and I know I was not the only one in the family photos....but I also know that at least 50%of the time I was on some kind of diet... and it just did not make a dent in it, and I got so tired of paying attention to some plan, and not being able to just "be me". I swore off calorie counting for good at one point... hahaha. That plan did not work so well either...

Georgia! I would be so sad if I couldn't eat a bunch of salad! Funny thing, this summer, watermelon fills me up so fast. Not early out though... go figure!

Oh, I like the Black and white one way above the others... flattering and stylish! With black boy shorts? Cute.

I am one of those people who really try to practice moderation in eating. I have very few true "red light" foods, although, i do have some that I just keep out of the house, and will eat now and then outside the house.(brownies, oreos, potatoe chips... are devils to me!) I can clearly see I like to "treat" myself to celebrate, cake for birthdays, LEFTOVER cake from birthdays, when I go out for a fun day, like hiking or kayaking, I bring a little gourmet lunch, especially if I am sharing with someone...a trip to Whole foods bakery really ups the calories. When I had my regain (22pounds) it took place over a stretch of time that I was "celebrating", vacationing in a foodie town, had visiting relatives who brought happy hour with them for 10 weeks.... and then came holidays. I also had an injury that kept me from the gym and dance class. The perfect storm. I took a blind "break" from my moderation, and bang. Eventually I got into a routine (thanks to Georgia who discovered the 5:2), a great support system here, knee recovery, and getting back to moderation. The only way I can judge what is moderate is by weighing myself and writing everything down I eat. Then on days where I celebrate, or cave in to stress eating or find only thing on the menu for a vegetarian to eat is french fries or pasta...I mostly make sure that the week balances out if the day doesn't. I think thats why moderate fasting two times a week(5-600 cals in the evening) helps me so much... as part of a balancing act. I do enjoy celebrating with food, but not so much if I do it every day, it loses its celebratory feel and turns into addiction. I still want to eat it, but it doesn't satisfy anymore. I also have a bounce range that sends me the warning that I need to watch it for a day or three...or a week or three.... not that easy to take those gained pounds off sometimes. But here I am at goal. (admittedly at the high end of the bounce range...but yesterday I went kayaking with my husband, brought a gourmet lunch including pastries from Wholefoods, and then went dancing and out to dinner for veggie sushi for my birthday weekend...) I do get tired of having to keep track so much of the time... but really its a bargain tradeoff for getting and staying at goal...AND I do get to hang out with a bunch of nice ladies and gents who get where I'm coming from....here. Thanks!... and are there real plateaus and comfort zones??? Hell yes!

So sorry... can you visit your Doc again and get some advice? The sleeve will not do it for you, you need to take yourself in hand and get back on the wagon. Throw out everything not on a healthy plan.. or lock it up if someone else in the house needs it. After three days it will get easier. Write it all down, weigh every day... don;t let the time slip by without staying aware of what you are doing. That has been my downfall a couple of times. How about checking in every day here for support? better still 17 gms of protein! I use the vanilla in my chai or Thai ice tea, and the chocolate in my iced decaf. Great way to hold a fast day till dinner, or to keep from getting too hungry on any other day. I find the best deal at Target.

Hi all! Sarah! Love the before and after on the bikes... you (all of us really) are worthy of a story in a magazine! You look fab. Sheryl, sorry about the blues, but Tino sounds like a champ. Sometimes a little test with some truth really lets us see the others ability to be there for us. Sounds like he came through with flying colors. Hope you and Kelly can get together. Craig and I may be taking a trip to Portland this summer with some friends from New Zealand. Road Trip! Might even head up to the Olympic P if there is time. Lots to do here right now... stuck at .9 pounds above my top bounce... after two fast days as well! Oh well, that is not really bad in the big picture! I will be 61 on sunday... letting my hair color grow out a bit to see what it looks like now.... almost white! The purple dye job has faded to a light pink ending in a henna red at the ends... so the white at the roots kind of look like an intentional fade. At least thats what Im saying! I am going kayaking today, belly dancing tonight...then maybe some bird watching tomorrow... Not bad for an old broad! Nice to hear from you all. Have a great weekend. Wish I was in London too! I have been thinking next big trip to Scotland, England, Wales... from doing all the genealogy, I have so many places I would like to visit!

I can eat a lot! And can eat around the sleeve too. I do eat around 2 cups of food at dinner... can eat lots of salad...and junk and at other times get the breaks put on by the sleeve at very little food (may not even be protein) I have to write it all down and plan for healthy choices to keep on track. Restriction is a great tool, but will not keep me from gaining all by itself. I can def eat more now than I could at one year out. If you don't have the healthy eating plan in place, you may be caught in a weight gain cycle at some time. It has happened to the best of us at some point. The more tools in the tool chest, the better life you can build!

I so agree with you. Sometimes I just feel for that person I was, stuck in that body, doing the best I could. Well we have come out the other end, and with work, hopefully will maintain that.

Love you Georgia Girl!

Looking forward to your story and your support here! We can always use another person with the experience that only time can give .

Thanks for letting me know D.

Unjury makes a protein chicken(less) broth. everything tasted too sweet to me early on as well.

Have fun Coops!

Haha Sheryl! Keeping the dogs in a Kennel outside.... Lil'Sukie has a line drawn that she cant sleep on the dining room table or french kiss (very often!) Thats about it. We actually found her stretched out on the kitchen table when she was younger when we got home from someplace...and pissed on Craigs head when she was mad at him. We lived in a convirted loft, the upstairs were rows of 2 x 4s... you could see some light through the cracks downstairs... you gussed it, she went up stairs, aimed and fired. Craig was doing the dishes when from "somewhere" his head was getting dripped on. I laughed my head off! He was in a huff over something and she really did not like it. Little dogs were bread to be companions. (and ratters!) Here she is "Praying" for pets.

Right on Wanda!

Happy birthday Sheryl! Hope it had been a good day for you. The newbies? I like the idea of a link you can post.... better a little than none...which will happen if you are totally burned out. I know i don't post as often as I used to for the newbies... I do have a couple of posts that seem to still get some use. I still like the Vets forum, but mostly , I like our little thread. Sarah... I think that is the thing that has been going around here for months too... a lingering respiratory thing... really take care or it will come right back! So happy you have surgery to look forward too, you are so darling, you will be bathing suit ready by the end of the summer! Coops, It looks to me like that low number is teasing you, but you know all the pounds before this one were teasing you too, and they are (with continued work) a thing of the past now! A new low number is as sign of good things to come! Denise, wow, poor Bill. Glad you are having a nice time there and it is warm for you. Sacramento is going to hit 100 this weekend.... Georgia, love the pic with the black hat! Cute darlin'! I think the 148-50 sounds like a great weight. and congrats on the 4 years. That is so awesome. I really attribute part ofmy success to you all... one piece in the puzzle of "getting it off, and keeping it off". I have been fighting the top of my bounce range for a while... ate donuts at work today. (bad BAD habit!). Im afraid that losing those 5 pounds for my doc is just a dream at this stage of things. I still feel like a success though... being at the top of my bounce range at 3 1/2 years is amazing really. After all those years of dieting constantly and never getting anywhere with it. I finally ordered and got my bariatric Calcium chewables... they are not too bad. GIANT, but sort of desert like. Just don't breath in while you chew them or you get a dust storm of cherry dust down the hatch.... I have been going in to the gym to practice dancing before regular class twice a week... mostly dancing with a veil. I am having so much fun. Sometimes one the of girls or the teacher joins me. Today a girl practicing hoops for a performance at burning man was sharing the studio with us... it was so fun! I actually think I am getting better. (funny how practice can do that!) on June 15th I will have been taking the dance class for 6 years. I started out 90 pounds ago. I would have thought I would be better by now, but really, it has been so much fun, and for an old broad, I think really, I am doing pretty good all in all.

<p>3 1/2 years out.... at one point I gained 22 pounds.... had not reached goal yet but close. I then got it off, and have been in maintinance for about 7 months. (It took me around 3 years to get to goal) I have a 3 pound bounce range, do pop over the top now and then, get back on track by 5:2 style fasting a day or two a week I work out 4-5 days a week... walking, dancing, kayak and/or gardening.</p> <p> </p> <p>I can eat LOTS more...when i want more I eat more fruits and veggies... and dont forget the Protein. My will power comes and goes, I weigh every day, and post everything I eat 95% of the time every day... I take my Vitamins and did this as a vegetarian. When I pop out of the "zone" its because of too much junk... full sugar cake, Cookies, pizza.... I can eat healthier versions of these in moderation and maintain.</p> <p> </p>

Keep in mind that Vets recommend this to those over 12 months who have a loooong stall, regain or just cant get to goal try this... others please just REALLY follow your Docs method until then. That being said, I do think its safe and effective, but for it to work you have to follow it.... long term.... its not even a weight loss plan, its a longevity plan where you can lose weight as a side effect.

I just tried it and it worked for me... here are the first few links from that page.... Just going to get this rolling. Here is an "official" 5:2 fourm. Not all links are equal, just some reading if your interested... This is where I linked to the 5:2 FAQs page: FAQ: http://www.52fastdie...c.php?f=1&t=246 Home Page: http://www.52fastdie...7ab7bbb545beb71 Intermittent Fasting May Help Those With Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease, Study Suggests http://www.scienceda...30426115456.htm Effect of intermittent fasting on lipid profile and hematological parameters in healthy volunteers in Jordan http://universalrese...rjeh et al.pdf The Power of Intermittent Fasting http://healthdivas.b...nt-fasting.html some recipes: http://www.lavendera...e-52-diet.html� I found a copy of the original 5:2 docu that started this particular movement: http://leangainsguid...-1-and-fasting/ it is 57 minutes long, take time to watch it, its very interesting.

I still bounce out of my bounce range now and then. Making sure I eat cleaner, write everything down and do a semi fast day now and then really helps me to get back in the range. If more hungry, I eat more veggies, and big salad or bowl of veggie soup to fill up the gap.

Well. Some people just can't live without drama! How sweet is that. That is something I would get a little worried about, the kid getting attached then left. It can be hard enough for an adult that "gets left" or the like.