careya123

I probably drink 6 cups a day. That's a lot of sugar and a lot of calories. It's amazing what you see when you start tracking your food. On the up side, if I cut down to 1-2 cups a day, that's a lot of sugar and calories out of my diet. And maybe that's enough calcium too.

No to everything. I'll go through my tracker today and see how much calcium I've been getting, and start experimenting with supplements. I just find the whole thing depressing. I think I'm going through the five stages of grief, but I went straight from denial to depression.

I've been tracking my food in MyFitnessPal, and noticed that my sugar intake is much higher than I expected every single day. It comes down to milk. I drink a lot of it. When I don't drink it, my femurs ache. Has anyone else experienced this? Anyway, between the sugar and the overall calories, I'm starting to accept that I should drink a lot less of it. This article is pretty convincing: How Drinking Milk Can Help a Hardgainer Get Bigger! Has anyone else out there dropped milk for weight loss?

Oooh, good to know. Thank you

I haven't had surgery, but I've lost weight other ways, and you've got to measure success by what you have direct control over. You don't have direct control over your weight. You can't get up in the morning and decide what weight you are going to be that day. You can decide whether or not to practice good habits. See if you can focus on that as your measure of success. If that doesn't really cut it for you, take your body measurements instead. That is a much better indicator of fat loss than your weight. Good luck!

Someone needs to start a side business re-packaging protein powders into sample sizes, so new patients can have a less expensive way to test a bunch of options at once. I know some companies have sample packs, but I'd like to try several brands.

That's incredible! Are you planning on maintaining at 150, or will you keep going down? 150 was my original goal, but I think I'll try for 140.

Hey, we have the same stats (well, height and 'before' weight) and I'm also in the SLC area. Congratulations on your accomplishment! You look fabulous.

Maybe you are carrying your weight differently than you were back then? Maybe when you lost your weight, it didn't come off in the same way? For instance, maybe your hips are smaller than they were, but your arms are bigger. It certainly is odd. I've noticed that profiles of people who say they are my size 20/22 might weigh 60 lbs more than I do. Bodies are certainly variable.

What was their justification for the second denial? Seems ridiculous.

Hmmm, I'll have to try that. I didn't think about calling them myself. Thanks!

Are they thick like most protein shakes? Or chalky?

Thank you for chiming in, everybody. You give me so much hope. Except for one brief period, I've never been thin in my adult life, so I'm having a hard time imaging this. I was mostly a size 14 in my 20s, and a size 20/22 in my 30s. Just turned 40, and I'd really like to shop in regular stores. On a side note, I just finished all my prerequisites and my file is being submitted to insurance in the next day or two. I'm so excited!

Did you have a lot of loose skin? Enough to want a tummy tuck or other plastic surgery? I'm hoping mine won't be too bad because I'm starting out at a lower BMI, but maybe that's just wishful thinking.

That's what I am expecting. I have a butt the size of TX. I hear this on a regular basis: "You have a big butt for a white girl." *sigh* Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining. Well, I'm complaining a little bit about being able to see my ribs, that's gross. But I'm not complaining about being a size 10/12. It's still the smallest size I've worn as an adult! And I do look great in them! I just looked at your pics. You look fantastic! I hope I can look as good.

That's what I am expecting. I have a butt the size of TX. I hear this on a regular basis: "You have a big butt for a white girl." *sigh*

Wow, I can't even imagine. My stats are exactly the same as yours (height and pre-surgery weight). BTW, I love weights too and your profile pic is great.

You've got to track your food. Until you do that, you're just guessing about what to do to speed your weight loss. Sounds like your carbs might be a problem. And is your protein high enough? Track!

For all the veterans out there: what size did you end up after surgery? Did you decide on a size ahead of time, or did you go by what your body seemed to like? I assumed the smallest I could ever be was a size 10, because that's the smallest I ever was as an adult. But I'm hearing about so many women who ended up in the very small sizes (0-6), that I'm wondering if that's possible for me. The thought just about makes my brain explode. I have a hard time picturing it.

I have the smallest wardrobe ever now (pre-surgery). I was telling a friend about a blog post advocating the use of only 33 clothing items for 3 months (333 capsule wardrobe). She said, 'You'd have to go buy clothes.' And she was so right. I have almost no clothing. I work at home, though, so it's okay. But when I was thinner, I bought clothes. Mmmm, I love clothes. I have been cruising J Crew and banana Republic lately, but they seem to have lost something since I shopped at them last (15 yrs ago?). Now I'm looking at Hugo Boss and Brooks Brothers. I've never spent that kind of money on clothes before, but I am seriously considering it for post-surgery. And the time I spend on Pinterest looking at fashion posts is out of control. *sigh*

You should really go to counseling by yourself, in addition to marriage counseling.

Approval within 30 days? Ugh. I hope mine is closer to the 7 you mentioned.

I hate Protein shakes too. I've just started to experiment with them, and this is what I've learned. 1. GENEPRO Protein Powder is unflavored. It does have that whey protein smell, but it doesn't change the taste, consistency, or texture of what you put it in. I've put it in plain milk, stirred with a fork, and it just tasted like milk. I had a friend taste it, and she agreed with me. This morning I made a fake Starbucks hot chocolate with 2 T cocoa, 2-3 T Torani sugar free syrup, a dash of salt, 1.5 c 1% milk, and 2 tsp Genepro. Add the protein powder AFTER heating. Tasted just like hot chocolate, and the whey protein smell kind of blends in with the milk smell. I'm going to try it in Soups and broths too. Genepro has 30 g of protein for only 1 T, so it takes half the powder than most Protein drinks. It's not a Meal Replacement though--there's no Vitamins and minerals. I believe

Woo-hoo!!!! Congratulations!

When you work out your muscles, you are causing micro tears. The process of repairing them builds muscle. This process takes a lot of Water (and Protein, but that's another topic). This additional water is reflected on the scale as a stall, or even a gain. If you are working out and the scale isn't moving, you might well be losing fat and retaining water, resulting in no net movement. You can probably move the scale down by giving up weight training and drinking caffeine to remove the extra water, but you'd be shooting yourself in the foot. (People talk about losing fat and gaining muscle, but it takes 6+ weeks to gain muscle. The extra weight is water, not muscle.) Instead of measuring success by the scale, take your measurements: bicep, bust, waist, hip, thigh, calf. This is a much more accurate method of measuring fat loss. You might find that when the scale isn't budging, you are losing inches like crazy. If you aren't losing inches, then you might think about changing up your diet.