Globetrotter

219.8 This morning. In a week it will have been an entire month with only 3 pounds lost.

I've been around the block Lipstick, I know what I'm about.

I ate 754 calories yesterday, this morning I weighed 220.4 - up a full pound.

...And I have known about the connection between gut bacteria and MS since I was first diagnosed. Upon initial research I decided that I must have what is known as Leaky Gut Syndrome, and have taken steps to health and protect myself. All of my foods are organic, probiotic, etc. etc. etc. etc. I follow a strict AIP diet, etc. etc. etc. etc..........

Update - today's calorie count is 534 cals, let's see how much MORE I weigh in the morning ....

Babbs, you are the first person to be willing to call out these truths with me, thank you. For the past 21 days I have logged every single morsel of food, every single liquid. I average 700 cals a day, less than 45g carbs, more than 60g Protein. I have lost only 6 pounds and of those 6, 3 have come back; just this morning I got on the scale and it said a pound heavier than two days ago and yesterday I ate only 500 cals.

Rogofulm, thank you for your encouragement and support, it is meaningful. My success at getting myself "back under control" isn't quite the point I was trying to make, however. I was trying to be very clear and frank with all the sleevers out there who have less time on the sleeve than me about what life and weight management and even what "working your sleeve" actually look like when surgery date is a distant memory.

ate 800 cals yesterday, up another pound, from 218.4 to 219.2 this morning.

Frumpy don't participate in the blame and shame - yeah you made some food choices that didn't help matters, but the amount of effort we have to put into keeping the weight off is absolutely shocking and not something people are willing to really admit/talk about. At my lowest weight I had lost 135 lbs since surgery (it took almost 4 years). I still wasn't at goal but I was close. That was one year ago. In eleven months I gained back 43 lbs. Also, that grand total of 135 pounds lost since surgery represents a loss of about 34 pounds a year, or about 3 pounds a month. That is actually worse than had I just gone on a VLC diet. And as it turns out, I will be on a severe diet the rest of my life - we all will, if we want to be starkly honest with ourselves. This last regain was my second regain since surgery. My surgery was July of 2010 I was 294 lbs,17 months later I was at my lowest post-op weight of 172 lbs. My first regain was Summer 2012 and within 6 months I had gained 30 lbs. I plateaued around 200 for the next 6 months and then got on a serious recommittment kick and dropped 40 lbs in 4 months. I held onto my new lowest weight since surgery (159 lbs) for 5 months, until May of 2014, before I started to gain again. From May 2014 to May 2015 I gained the aforementioned 43 lbs. May 28th 2015 I weighed in at 223 lbs and on the 29th I recommitted again to faithful post-op style eating, all the strict guidance we are initially given and that we follow to. the.letter. In the past 20 days I have lost only 5 1/4 lbs. To say this is frustrating cannot even begin to express it. And before anyone starts suggesting reasons for this slowness, yes I have had all my thyroids checked, yes I have done everything to the letter of the law, yes I have done all one is meant to do.

The truth is that our bodies get f***ed up, metabolically, which they already had problems with to begin with which is what was part of what made us obese in the first place. For the rest of our lives we do not get the luxury of eating a reasonable sensible diet and exercising reasonably to keep a healthy body and weight. It requires an unreasonable amount of diligence and a level of concern over calories/exercise/and the components of food that is usually reserved for those with severe eating disorders.

If you want to keep that honeymoon weight (if you were actually lucky enough to achieve goal during honeymoon phase, which I was not) then resign yourself to eating between 600 and 800 calories with less than 40g carbs, for the rest of your effing life. *

*take this rant with a grain of salt as I am obviously terribly upset and frustrated and sad right now.

Horrible surgeon, it makes me so angry that they get away with that kind of sloppy work.... glad your daughter is okay now and congratulations on little EJ!!!! Is that his big sis in the pic?

Yesterday morning I was 217.8, this morning I was 218.4. Yesterday I ate 692 cals so, WHAT THE MUTHERFU**.

Also, I don't look ANYTHING like the good photos I have posted here, not anymore. Now I look like I did four months post op.

All of that just feels like blame the victim. And I know I shouldn't feel like a victim but darnit, I do!! I never got to goal, I have fought regain without ever actually getting near goal... when I lost weight overseas I did what I am doing now and I lost 50 lbs in 3 months.

If 10 pounds a month is normal, then why the fu** did any of us have the surgery??????? When you are 100 lbs over weight for your age and height, losing 5 1/4 lbs in 21 days of PURE CLEAN abstinence very low calorie eating is bull$h!t

5 pounds in 20 days v_v

Well meaning sleevers have repeated suggestions to me over the years as a response to why I am such a slow loser and I've tried them all; I've had all my thyroid levels checked, I have done 5:2, I have done strict post-op, I have done cardio I have lifted weights I have stopped exercising. I have loaded up on Water and Vitamins, I have done severe carb limiting I have done high Protein I have gone raw. This is day 19 of the new diet and I have lost only 3 pounds. FU** THIS SH**.

Denise, depression only causes weight gain when you overeat to self soothe - I am eating 600 calories a day!!! I am doing a post-op diet and I weighed in at 218 this morning - which means that in 14 days I have lost only 5 pounds. and I had MS last year when I took off my regain, and I had MS (even though I didn't know it) when I lost my weight the first time around. So, GRRRRRRR, I don't get it!! My daily carb totals are super low but maybe they aren't low enough? 60g or less per day. Today I had sardines with sauteed vegetables, a coconut flour and Protein Powder cookie, and several tiny nutritional yeast/coconut flour crackers. 59 carbs, 637 cals.

Always happy when you check in Swizz! Now if we could just hear from Chimera, SarSar, Brown...

Well the scale is being a real ass, after four days of stuck I was so happy when I thought it had jumped down 4 lbs, I got on and off the scale several times just to be sure. Then the very next morning (after having only had 600 cals the prev day) the damn thing said 219 and today it says 220 so, that is crushing. Gonna go see Jurassic World tonight, very excited, not because the last few were so great but because that first one was ... well there isn't a lot that will incite genuine wonder, but I won't forget seeing it with my little friends, every kid I ever knew seemed to be there, it was a packed theater, and that opening music.... awesome .

Well, I got on the scale yesterday morning and it said 215.8. I got on the scale this morning and it said 219. W.T.F.!!!!!!!!!!!

215.8 this morning, last night it was 219.6 and had been 219.6 for 4 days. I don't feel hunger, perhaps one of the only blessings I received from the surgery, while others lost faster or more my actual hunger has never come back. I get this weird kind of cramping in my stomach region that I think probably indicates the empty walls of my stomach smacking into each other, lol.

Yesterday I had a Protein Shake and a salad of sauteed greens, sardines, and avocado and for dessert a Protein doughnut made of coconut flour, chia, raw honey, etc.

8 pounds in ...14 days.

Mine has nothing to do with temptation Denise, as I mentioned this is just my body, even post-op I was this way, even during my honeymoon of faithful 600 cals a day, I was this way - one pound every two days. No negotiation. I realize that we all share the same frustrations and angst, but it really is like salt in the wound when I hear someone bemoaning the low 140s or the 15 lbs bounce... In the last year I gained sixty three pounds. There, I said it. I am out of the regain closet. I hit my lowest post-op weight in April of last year, 159 lbs, and when I weighed myself on May 28th I weighed 223 lbs. That means I gained an average of 5 pounds a month for the last year or a pound and a quarter a week. I'm not trying to cry over spilt milk here FYI, just getting it off my chest in a safe place. Three days ago I weighed in at 219 and am currently plateauing. Unlike a noob I know that this just means that in a few days I will get on the scale and the number will suddenly be down several lbs.

I mentioned my goal a few posts ago, that I don't want to be THAT fat middle aged American woman, wheezing and sweating in wrinkled khaki shorts and sneakers with a FANNY PACK! this is a mild horror...

So, here I am, doing a severe 5:2 - 600 Mon thru Fri, 800 Sat Sun. At the rate my body chooses to lose, I can reasonably hope to get in the neighborhood of my best weight by the time we leave (1 OCT).

I am going to need the love and support of my peeps here, not for temptations but to keep up the good fight when the scale decides to be a stubborn ass.

Feed, that is an accurate assessment (of the Water v fat v muscle loss) I believe that my sensitivity to that phrasing is due to hearing my Mother use it when I was growing up and already on diets (yeah...) and it was ALWAYS used in a deprecatory manner, as in, you get no credit for that because it is just water weight and you still aren't good enough...... but anyway!!

I am SO jealous of you sleevers out there who lose 5 lbs in the first week of strict 5:2ing, regardless of which diet I do - up to and including my original post op period - I lose a pound every other day, no matter what the EFF I do. So it takes me 10 days minimum to lose those 5 lbs. Grr. It has taken me NINE days to lose 4.4 lbs! Feeling very cranky about my sluggish body -.-

AHEM! WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT THAT SELF-DEPRECATING CRAP???? Whether it be factual or not, I just LOATHE it when we completely disregard a win/triumph/reward of a loss by then demurring with "oh well it's just water" GAHHHHHHHHH!

Oh Denise, whatever happened with that guy who had the weird ex who claimed to be pregnant? Has she had the baby? What's up with that?

Apropos of nothing but you know what really irritates me? When we lose 5 pounds at the start of a concerted effort and then totally $h!t on our hard work (or others!!) by saying, "well it's just Water of course". GAH!! That really peeves me, we all know the effort it takes, taking away even a small victory, particularly that first one when the needle moves in the direction we want, is just AWFUL.

Yesterday I came in at 727 cals, 29.5 carbs, 35prot. A little high in cal considering how low my Protein was but I was simply too tired to chew and all of my protein powders live at work so I ended up licking a teaspoon of Peanut Butter.< /p>

The other two are landscapes; the top one is of the cliff formations at my favorite beach at dusk, and the bottom one is of the grasslands of inland CA. I prefer gold leaf carved wood frames, I think they are simultaneously simple and sumptuous. The black wood frame on the dog is a recycle from another piece, I didn't have anything else in that size on hand!

618 cals yesterday and I was so full I had indigestion well into the night! chicken, lettuce, 1 tsp caesar dressing... 2 pieces bacon, 1 egg, 1 tiny coconut flour pancake. It was the egg that gave me indigestion.

Hung my art last night for this month's show, it's hanging in the street facing window!

I agree Feed, I think though that this was my body's way of saying, "no, we don't like this, you are cleaning us out of straight sugar and we like it, this stuff hurts" I also worried that maybe this was some kind of latent strawberry allergy...

Last night I had 3 large strawberries sprinkled with brown sugar, before bed. I have been eating clean for four days now and I spent the entire night twitching, waking up intermittently, and itching. Coincidence? I think not. The strawberries put me at 944 cals but considering that I have been eating thousands of calories a day (I seriously wouldn't doubt it) for close to a year, I'm not going to beat myself up.

Please don't flame me CherylJane but, with all the issues with your hip, why did you tempt fate by going on a hike? It took 6 months of doing NOTHING remotely strenuous to get past the bursitis in my right hip, and it took that long because I was so pigheaded about wanting to continue my exercise regimen, wanting to do my yoga, etc.

I did 868 cals yesterday but only managed to get to 41g Protein. The big calorie user was the avocado I had for lunch, 300 cals by itself! But the nutritional payoff is such that I am willing to incur the "cost". I guess I am going to have to double up on my Protein Shakes if I want to make the daily recommended minimum of 60g.

Doughnuts in the office today, I know my 5:2 peeps understand what it took for me to NOT have one!

In four months I am taking my Mom to Italy - we are going to florence for a week! Tickets booked, apartment booked, travel guides are being studied, we are excited! Neither of us have ever been and my Mother has only ever been to Mexico, Canada, and the Bahamas. I do NOT want to be fat for this! I want to be able to hike the Tuscan hills and wear beautiful clothes and get whistled at Above all, I do NOT want to be the stereotype of the fat American, too out of shape to wear anything but elastic waistband shorts and sneakers D:

update: lunch with one of the bigger wigs meant I had to eat restaurant food. Luckily it was a slightly fancy place and I was able to order steamed mussels in their own juices so that 18g protein puts me at 60g protein, without having to drink 2 shakes, yay!