*Dean*

You know your Grandma better than anyone. If you don't think you can educate her or talk her around I think you should cut her off and make it clear your not going to discuss it with her. 'Kiss your kids goodbye' type stuff is just poison. I'm sure she loves you and thinks she's helping but .........

Turkey everything is massive over there. It's so lean. Hard to find over here, unfortunately.

Also the amount of protein goes up when you add exercise. Cheers, Deano

Thanks mate. Love the new profile pic btw. Just makes it a bit awkward if I'm reading a post by you and my wife walks into the room! :wub: Lookin good! Deano

Hadn't thought of that - could be the culprit!

www.myfitnesspal.com You can track your food on the net, but the app is fantastic. It even has a little bar code thingo to scan any packaged foods and brings of the cals and all the nutritional info. In the search function, I havent found a food that hasn't been in the data base. Deano

How much Protein do you target? Myfitnesspal says I should be after 57grams a day, but I'd prefer not to rely on a free app completely for my nutrional advice! Cheers, Deano

Hey Kelli, Mate as you know I'm a bit behind you so what I'm eating is probably not relative. One thing I cant live without is the myfitnesspal app for tracking food and excercise. I love it. Good luck - I know you'll overcome this hurdle. Deano

Love Alice Springs!

Way to go!

Hey mate. Sorry you're having a rough time. I think when we're overweight we sometimes hang all of our problems on being overweight, when maybe some of the issues might not be weight related. A bit like someone winning the lottery and thinking that will solve all their problems. They soon find out that it only makes them wealthy with problems. If you look at this as an opportunity it might help. I guess before some of these problems were hiding behind your weight. Now that you don't have the weight you can recognise the problems and try and deal with them. All the best, Deano

I've had lots of 'final straw' moments with diets. The reason I decided I needed a tool like WLS was that as I got older weight loss got infinately harder and I'd lost all optimisim for losing weight on my own. I know that to lose weight where your head is at is key. So here I am!

Bwahahaha. That's awesome!

Mate just throw your hiking / dancing shoes with some protein bars in a backpack and hit the road! We've been away a few times and there's always something VSG friendly to eat if you're out and about.

I think you need to change your profile name to 'The Mediator'. Glad we sorted that out. Everyones got their own road.

You're right. Nobody can say it isn't easier. But I've spent 30 years yoyo dieting, at times losing up to 70 kilos. I've tried every other way. So easy way out, maybe. Last way out, probably. I don't mind people calling it the easy way out. I certainly don't take it personally, because they haven't walked in my shoes. Deano

*runs*

I admire honesty as well, although I wouldn't necessarily tell people they're taking WLS wayyy too seriously. The same as I wouldn't tell people I think they're not taking it seriously enough

Mate there's hard and then there's setting people up to fail. I admire your commitment. You will rock your sleeve!

Robin, I know where you're coming from. My wife works in the food industry as a coffee roaster and I guess we consider ourselves foodies. We spend money on quality ingredients, we love cooking, and I still enjoy eating and talking about food. The eating bits are in smaller amounts! I know what you mean about left overs. It's a bit different in Australia as well. We have very strange food hygiene laws (over the top) which means lots of places won't give you a to go box or let you take it away. I used to eat 3 or more courses when I'd eat out. I've had more than my fill of 12 course de gustation. Now I'll order the main I feel like eating (I think we call your entree a main course) and I'll just leave what I don't want. I don't like waste either, especially money. But the reality is we're saving a fortune (I used to eat for 2 men) and I refuse to not live a life! Cheers, Deano

I was on a diet the same as this for 12 months and seeing a dietician every week. I only lost 15 kgs (30+ pounds). I should have lost a heap more and it was really expensive, about the same as the out of pocket for my VSG. The reason I didn't lose is because I wasn't sticking to it, because I was bloody starving!! You've been on a really restrictive diet for a long time which is hard (read: impossible) but are you sticking to it? because I couldn't! All the best, Deano

I was done Nov 7th, and I'm giving anything healthy a try - in small amounts. See how you go and let us know

I don't just think it's length. With better circulation and cardio fitness it's harder. Harder means thicker. My motto now is "Longer, thicker, harder for longer"

I know what you mean. And just generally getting more done around the house as well.

Love your work! Hope your nephews ankle is ok for more awesome leaping