LindaS

I'm 5'8-ish. My surgeon suggested 140, but I think that is too small for me. I am happiest in the 170s.

I tried my first fast day yesterday, and I kept my intake to 627 calories, which was a bit higher than I was aiming for initially. I was mainly concerned with still reaching my 70 grams of Protein, but I realize now that you might not make protein goals on fast days. I had a Protein Drink for Breakfast, a Protein Bar for lunch and 3 ounces of beef Jerky for dinner plus a couple of other things. My protein was 72 grams for the day. Does anyone else reach their protein goal on fast days? Or do you focus more on staying around 500 calories? Also, I picked a day that I work (teach four university classes). How do you choose your fast days? Do you fast if it is an exercise day? A heavy work day? I initially picked that day because I'd be busy and less likely to be around food. I'm just curious about others pick their fast days.

You can see before and after pictures of my face in my photo gallery area. I think I have some after pictures of my belly there too -- my belly is really the only wrinkly place I have, and you need to keep in mind that I gave birth to four kids, so it stood up to a lot of abuse.

I had been sleeved for a little over a year when my mother-in-law had her sleeve done. I was so nervous about it because I felt like she would blame me if anything went wrong. When I first had my sleeve, she made it a point to say she'd never have WLS. Then two of her siblings died within a year's time from heart-related problems. She went to see a cardiologist because she was scared, and he told her she needed to get WLS. so she started asking me questions. She went to my surgeon's office and even ended up with my surgeon. In the end, her surgery went well. She's lost around 70 pounds and is very happy. She tells people that I saved her life by telling her about WLS. She is just so much more active and happier with herself, but it was really the cardiologist that made her start looking into WLS. She is pushing her daughter to get WLS. When I started, my BMI was 39/40, my mil's BMI was 48/49. My sister-in-law probably has a BMI in the high 50s if not into the 60s. I have not talked to my sister-in-law about my WLS. She has a lot of health complications. I hope she is able to lose weight, but I don't have the magic ticket. I know that I would again be very worried about the outcome if she ended up getting the WLS.

MFP is not accurate in what I should be eating nor is it accurate when it predicts what I will weigh in 5 weeks. It wants me to eat much more than I can eat in order to maintain. It thinks I will lose much more than I will actually lose. I use MFP to help me track my Protein intake. My goal for that is 70 a day. I also use it to record exercise and Water intake. I like that I can check the amount of calories, carbs and sugar in something I plan to eat because it helps me make great decisions. I am very leary, however, about the amount of calories ingested and the amount of calories burned. I think there is too much wiggle room for these to be accurate enough for me to ever consider eating my exercise calories. I feel this way about any calorie counting and not just that at MFP. If the calorie amount is printed on something, the actual calories can be 10 percent higher or lower and still be within range, according to labeling laws in the U.S. The predictions for how much calories are being burned by exercise often depends on effort as well as size of the person, and effort is just too unpredictable. It allows for too much variance. I used MFP every day for almost two years, and I am again back to using it daily. It is a great tool, but it doesn't know everything.

I'm going to try it. Thanks everyone for sharing your experience with it!

I do love the dress, but I meant to say that you look great in it too. Your face glows! Your men look handsome too.

Gamergirl, I love that dress!

Thanks, Sheila!

It has nothing to do with conceit. Sometimes when the scale isn't moving, you can still have changes in your measurements. It's another way to keep track of what is going on with your weight loss, and it can keep you from being discouraged when the scale is being a jerk.

I felt like I smelled bad after surgery. I had a drain for a week, and the drain was part of it. Protein also smells bad, so it gave me ad breath. Ketosis also makes you smell bad since you breakdown the fat and it comes out in your breath and your waste. I kept sugarfree mints with me and drank a lot of Water, which seemed to help. It did get better. I feel like my biggest source was the drains. It is also possible that my nose was just more sensitive for a while.

I read about this, and it suggests dropping calories to 500 for women. This is supposed to be approximately a quarter of your regular day's calories (based on a 2,000 calorie diet). The question I have is what do you do if your normal calorie day is 1200 or less. Do you still aim for 500, or do you still aim for only a quarter of your regular calories?

As a mom, I hope my kids never have to work to hide something from me. I know it isn't realistic -- all kids hide stuff, but I can still hope. Although, it is sweet that you are thinking of her health. To help you, I highly recommend eating some slider foods to make it look like a more normal portion.

I lost about 30 pounds the first month, 15 the second month and then had several months of losing 8 pounds, it went down again to about 4 pounds. I also had several months without a loss. Currently, I fluctuate two to three pounds. I am not really losing.

I was fine by 2 to 3 months out. I like what Lipstick Lady said about comparing it to the first trimester of pregnancy. It is very similar. I was able to do what I needed to do, but if I sat down, I was out. :-)