Fiddleman

Sure, I know exactly where that Safeway is at in Silver Firs ( used to live in Highlands community up the street). Now that I live near Frontier Village of Lake Stevens, I will see if they grind nuts. I know they have a huge nuts center up front with fresh nuts, but have never checked it out before now.

It seems like whenever I mention some food you get hungry for it Laura. I better be sure I am mentioning healthy things...

Tomato protein soup is awesome as a balance to protein shakes during the first few weeks. You can add some lobster bouillon for a yummy lobster bisque. I drank this as an alternative to shakes until the purée stage. Tomato protein soup has about 12-15 g of protein depending on the brand you buy or you can mix in some flavorless protein powder ( might end up a little chunky).

Interesting. I did not know this. Thanks for the heads up!

Being an armchair cook and the gourmet chef out of the house for a few days, I decided to be lazy and see what subway has for options. I heard they used to make any sandwich toppings into a salad. However, tonight I found they have a double chicken chopped salad for only 9 dollars. It is delish and you can put tons of veggies in it and add your own dressing later. I now have enough yummy salad for like 6 meals. Lol. And it is very healthy.

Thanks for all the great suggestions. They all look like viable options. I will just have to try one and see how it goes. My fridge is already packed, so I would prefer not to refrigerate if possible.

Yes, I am in agreement with you and am in the anti smoking group myself. I hate 2nd hand cig smoke. However, putting my bias aside, I still think people have a right to put things in their body if they wish, as long as it is not harming others. If it is truly causing harm, them yes, I agree that they should smoke in the privacy of their own home. However, if they are not causing harm and the smoke is merely annoying then they have a right as long as they are within the boundaries of the law ( in Washington, they need to be away 25 feet from public openings and cannot smoke in public buildings).

This week, I just started spreading some peanut butter on my banana or apple to get a good ratio of protein, fats and carbs. Really tasty snack for before working out. My question is which brand or type is best to use? I am currently using jiffy because that is what is in the house. I know it is not the best choice. I also don't want to use a PB2 spread nor do I want to eat a low carb version of peanut butter (nasty!). I am pretty open to suggestions, but do want it to taste good and easy to spread. Also, I am maintaining and am pretty active daily with my workouts. Any suggestions?

There is nothing like issues that question our morales to start a holy war. There are always going to be "us and them" or "them and us" so might as well come to peace over it. To drink / smoke / take drugs / etc is always going to be divisive like politics every 4 years. Everyone has a right to their own decisions in a free society, especially when it comes to decisions about their body. The exception is in my mind is if a decision going to harm them or harm others around them.

You got that right! Eating all day from wake to sleep. Lol. Meals are generally 150 calories or less so the BMR really likes these small bursts of energy every 2-3 hours.

I search on google just by typing in location keyword and race type keyword. I found quite a few local races by doing this.

I absolutely hate to track. Go figure because my whole career has been about details. I am most successful when I can formulate a set of simple rules that work for me and then follow them religiously. I do a lot of eye balling on portion sizes and listen to my body in terms of satiety or fullness. I do read labels and make decisions of acceptance or rejection, but it is really an organic organization that is all in my head if that makes sense. I cannot really describe exactly what i do because there is a lot of micro adaptation that occurs from day to day. It just works. My hat off to all you MFP über trackers!

I was completely against the whole eating 1800 calories a day for the longest time (Susan will remember ), but now have started to embrace it after increasing calories from 900 over several months. It feels good to be able to eat a normal amount of good quality nutritious food and have your body respond in a positive way. It just feels better. With all the exercise most of us get after weight loss phase is complete, these calories are necessary to keep a good level of physical and mental response on a daily basis. I just started eating fruit again, and, my god, what have I been missing for the last 10 months. It tastes so much better as a post op then it did as a pre op. I also put some peanut butter on a banana or apple to give me those good carb / fat / protein ratios necessarily for mr. body to be in a happy place when really pushing myself during a workout or just working at my desk. I choose wisely when eating to get the most nutrition for the buck. Sometimes I slip up, but generally I do not find it very hard to eat simple unprocessed foods.

We use a salad dressing made by Bolthouse that uses yogurt instead of high fat to create a fully body and good taste. A serving is 45 calories. I like to put even less of a serving on my lunch salad that I eat with my protein. My favorite flavor is their honey mustard, but I think they make all flavors with yogurt from 1000 island to blue cheese. Fat is also low by nature of yogurt. Enjoy and let me know what you think.

Does this only apply to table sugar, or other sweeteners like raw honey? It is a very interesting article.

Yes, a running store has personnel that will find the right shoe for you given gait, pronation, weight, etc. I have used mine for about 5 months and they cost about $100. I will probably be replacing them over the summer months.

From my own experience, 60-70 lb overweight is about the limit if you want to run without injury. Of course, it is individual and really depends on your form and technique. This time around, I started running at 225 lb which would have placed me 45 lb overweight 5 months ago. I have tried running at 255 in the past and it puts too much strain on my ankles and knees. 225 lbs was OK and I was able to run 5 k with it. At goal, it is so much easier to run with no injury if your form is good. I am dealing with some minor bursitis this week, but that is not weight related. Wearing a properly fitted running shoe will protect you from injury also.

For me, running did change the body composition. However, not in an ideal way because it really leaned out my upper body in the absence of strength training. I still run quite a bit for cardio during the week, but now also push full body workouts during cross fit sessions, focusing on fast reps of body weight exercises, but still keeping textbook form. I am finding that body weight exercises like headstand pushups, wall sits, planks, pull ups, push ups, sit ups. Etc are really helping to create upper body and lower body strength. You know, boot camp type exercises. Try and focus on compound muscle movements. Planks are awesome for hardening the core, back and arms. Try holding for greater then 2 minutes and if that gets easy, add variations like on leg in the air, feet on ball, etc. Burpees and squats are also awesome compound muscle movements that really change the body composition. Try doing 100 burpees or do the card deck game where each card requires a different exercise for a different number of reps, as fast as possible. Other fun exercises include farmers carry where you jog/run with two heavy weights for 1-2 miles. I am doing this with 45 lb weights. You might also do fireman's carry where you are jogging with the weight of another on your back. I have not gotten into heavy weights yet, but have my eye on it. My PT is helping me with the technical form for bench presses, squats, back lifts and Olympic lifts with an average amount of weight. These are helping a little, but will be much more effective once I can increase the weights. Dead lifts are also good to do fast and furious. Put on a good amount of weight and see how many you can do in 5 minutes with two sets of 10 burpees in between. That will change your body composition.

I drink shakes mainly out of optization. There are different types of Proteins that affect the body composition differently depending on time of day. Also I am trying to eat body weight Protein grams or close to (150-180 g). Shakes are about the only way I can do this. As said above, I eat 3 shakes a day. I eat "real food" for the other meals, but it does tend to be paleo style of clean protein and leafy greens. I eat energy squares and paleo bars to increase my good carbs and fats. Working well! I need all the food in order to keep my BMR churning along as a result of running and cross fit during the week. If I did not eat this way, my muscles would atrophy and body would constantly be in catabolic state like it was during month 5-7 when I was only running and calories were more around 900-1100 daily. All that running zapped my upper body of strength. To maintain a strong upper body, I need to get the protein and continue to train with cross fit. Running on off days between 5k and 10k to keep body lean. It is a careful balancing act and I think it is working so far. DISCLAIMER (to all) - I usually share strategies as a VSG post op that work for me through trial and error. I also ask a lot of questions in order to pick and choose from a buffet of different ideas. My strategies may not work for everyone ,especially if you are not the active type. You are welcome to try all strategies, some strategies or no strategies. It is up to you. I wish everyone success.

Trust me, you should be glad that you are not sliming as it can be painful if early out (e.g less then 5 months).