FluffyChix

Sure. And as your tool matures, you will be better able to tolerate rich, calorie dense foods (sadly). But in saying that, every time I disobey my pouch, I feel like crap. So nauseated I have to lay down and pray to die young. But as the months go buy, I can eat some things that I couldn't in the early days -- in small quantities. But I do prefer "clean" lower-ish fat stuff these days. Makes me feel better after eating it. Sorry you had that experience! Happy belated birthday!!!

Wahoooooo! Hurray! Congrats!

OMG! IKR? No way! But I think with a little modification, I will be able to arrive at pretty nutrient dense version of his plan using his macros and calories and do almost as well as the prolon kit. And it's not gonna be anywhere near as processed. I will do this for 5 days and then see how I feel to see if I can do a refeed day on Saturday and then maybe go into a more low carb Mediterranean plan. I'm mostly eating fish/seafood and veg anyways. I just won't add the beans and legumes until I have the oncology RD blessing.

Ok, starting a new experiment today. It's the DIY version of Dr. Valter Longo's FMD (fasting mimicking diet). I came across some sites where people are making up their own. Dr. Longo expressly warns not to do this. Cuz so many things can go wrong. But I've a hard time seeing the harm in this--except it is extremely low protein. But I'm doing EF (extended water only fasts), so this should theoretically be "better" for me rather than water only. And it is supposed to still build stem cells and allow for autophagy. His real plan is called Prolon and comes as a meal kit. But it's $250.00!!! And it's all highly processed stuff! ? So I need cheap and fresh! Here's his site to buy it. And here is his book where he talks about the FMD and longevity. Longevity Diet. And here's the site to the girl who did her own FMD plan. I downloaded her spread sheet and made my own. It's a giant PIA honestly. You have to have very specific measurements of macros and sub macros. LOL. And honestly, my diet today calls for about 848cals and I've no idea if I can get them all in! I'm only working on the first meal now (18:6 today), and I'm already full. Which means the rest of lunch (let's just call it 2nd lunch) has to be eaten as a snack and pushes the snack back. So have to go figure it all out! But lunch was absolutely gorgeous and all for 330cals (8g prot, 21g fat, 28g carbs, 8g fiber, 12g sugar--only naturally occurring sugars in veg/fruits). I think the volume is just too huge to eat raw. So I will need to think up some cooked meals instead so that I can reduce the volume of the veg.Here's the site for the DIY: GenX Life Is Good . She's also on YouTube with it -- you can google her. Here's lunch. I was able to eat the soup (total slider) and 1/2 the salad (salads are pretty sliderish for me, but this has a lot of dense fiber veg). The rest of the salad will be afternoon snack with more added fat. And here's the after: Ha. I've no idea if this will work. It was fun "cooking" it. Super easy soup throw down. I just poured everything into a pan. Here's the Butternut Squash Soup recipe ingredients. Simmer for 5-10 minutes and garnish with cilantro if you want.

Work with your liver specialist and surgeon. It's gonna be so important to change your diet. You should look into IF with him with prolonged fasts. You can clear the liver of fat in about 2 days with a total fast. But it differs when there is scarring and NASH/Cirr. Also look at Dr. Valter Longo and FMD (fasting mimicking diet) and stem cell regeneration to see if it's helpful for this? Sorry to hear of both of your situations. Fasting has awesome effects, especially long term extended 3-5 days fasts.

#6 Hard pass on the baking cookies, but I will make salmon tonight with asparagus and avo/tomato for a nourishing dinner for my honey! @Alpaca55 Thank you so much! I honestly don't see the diff between the 5 lbs photos but that's ok. I'm liking my shape a little more each month. Maybe the 2% fat difference is working finally? You are so sweet, but trust me, I'm not a good role model! I just hack my body obsessively. Please don't be like me. I hope you are healing and beginning to get relief for your back!! It's so frustrating doing everything "right" and not seeing the results we want to see, or seeing opposite results. No doubt that is only a temporary water fluctuation, but I still feel your pain! Glad you're back here with us again! Don't ever leave. Ok? As for maintaining a super strict lifestyle/diet...19 years ago now people said I'd never be able to sustain a LC lifestyle. I laugh at that every day. My lipids are totes norm...cholesterol totes norm, etc...and control my insulin and bgs just fine now with the help of the surgery and a good lchf (low carb healthy fat) diet. You can do it (or whatever diet you choose). Each day you make the right choice to stay with your plan, it gets easier to make that plan a lifestyle rather than a "diet" or regimine. Diet btw, isn't a dirty word. ((hugs))

It just occurred to me. Is there any possibility it is your protein drinks making your liver enzymes rise? Maybe ask the docs? So sorry you are going through this. How scary!!! ((hugs)) Saying prayers!

Si.

Have fun!!! If you can't sharesies with someone, then I still do this today: Order from the "add on protein menu". LOL. Like you know, if someone orders a steak, or an entree you can "Add 4 shrimp for $4.50, or Add chicken for $3.50" That way, you can steal a couple bites of veg and or salad from someone's plate and have a perfect size protein to work on. I also will add sliced avocado on the side. Just cuz I love my avocado. And it works at almost every restaurant so far! No explanations necessary. I keep my bread plate (since I don't eat bread) and just eat off of it. I do this more often than any other thing. That way the leftovers are manageable and are just plain protein that will go with anything. I like it way better than ordering an appetizer. Apps are too greasy for me and are too calorie dense in my way of thinking.

Yikes sorry bout the girls. But honestly, those b*****s cause a lot of trouble don't they? Ditch the carbs. Replace them with 12g of psyllium husks dissolved in 2 glasses of liquid (I use Celestial Seasonings Cinnamon Apple Spice tea made into "cool tea without ice" and drink it down. Love it and look forward to it and I am able to better make my fiber goals and poopy goals. ) I bet with some tweaking your wl speed will pick up. But definitely just follow your doc and rd's plan for diet progression and don't fear the future. Think only about taking the next best bite for today and staying true to your plan!

Yikes sorry for your struggles. Congrats on being close to goal! I was aware. I also use sublingual B12 like @sillykitty and mine is always on the high end. I use Celebrate sublinguals.

You are right to feel concern! Are you following your surgeon's and rd's plan? Are you weighing measuring logging all your food? Hard to comment. To me it feels alarming. Since you're about 3 weeks out from surgery. That feels like a lot of food. But sometimes you're restriction signal takes a while to work itself out with your brain. I've heard of people taking 2-3 months to start feeling their restriction. Because of this you simply should never "chase that full feeling." Just because you can doesn't mean you should. So when your doc tells you 1/4c of food at 3 weeks post op. He means business. You can seriously eff yourself up that way! So eat ONLY the volume they tell you and of the foods that only they list. *Edit: Oh and don't forget, to take tiny bites with tiny silverware and chew chew chew. Take 20-30minutes to eat if you can--especially in the early days. And no drinking with meals or after meals! I tried to keep it 15min before and 30min-1hour after. Focus on your protein first. At this point, that should be about all you're eating. Call your doc's office and schedule with the rd.

I still at 14 months keep it between 650-850 for loss. My sweet spot is somewhere in the 650-750 calorie range keeping carbs low and mostly from low glycemic veg and leafy greens, a tiny bit of berries now and then, a tiny bit of nuts/seeds/nutbutters now and then. And average protein of 60-80g. I don't know what maintenance will look like. But. We are in ketosis. We have weeks of energy stores hanging on our tookuses (unless we're at our ideal weight, then we have to make other plans). And because we are in ketosis (if we're following our surgeon's and RD's plans, we can tap into those eternal fat stores to make up any caloric deficit we experience on a daily basis. Our body (AS LONG AS INSULIN IS LOW) has access to a 24/7 buffet of fat cells. So we need protein to help with cell repair. We need the fat that's hanging on our bellies and butts to use as fuel. And we have no need of 1 single carbohydrate cuz our body has the ability to create whatever glucose is needed to run those few cells that only run on sugar (the brain, a few kidney cells, and some red blood cells). Will we need fewer cals after we get to goal? Compared to what? Compared to what we were eating pre-surgery? Most assuredly. Will our metabolism have possibly slowed? Probably a little. But will we still need to eat 650-850/day. Most of us won't. But I do know some older women who maintain around 900-1100/day. They don't exercise though and are post meno. Some have other health issues. But I see more here and on another board (filled with very successful long term vets), who lost on 650-850 in a low carb keto environment, who still eat a similar diet composition, and who now exercise and live happy, active lives and they maintain anywhere from 1200-1800 cals/day--or more! Your thermostat for weight equilibrium is what you make it. And it is wholly dependent on the quality of the food you eat. All calories are not equal. And CICO is a myth, but having a dietary caloric deficit is imperative for weight loss to occur. Otherwise you are just in maintenance or you are eating with a regain.

Ok. True statement. But it's an average! Take care. Hope you get things figured outl.

Love it!!! #5. Have been practicing 4 square breathing. So so so helpful, especially if you have any kind of lung stuff or also anxiety! And I've also been sitting on my butt resting all day, too! TY for that! TGIF.

Oh you know. You started the whole love affair with matcha yogurt and nuts seeds and berries. LOL. Can't wait to talk to the oncology RD to find out if I'm allowed to have chia seeds and hemp hearts again! Cuz I will be flat out rippin' off your recipe.

IKR? I bought $6 of them last week. Mr. F. said, "Don't you think that's a little excessive?" bahahahaha I said, "The heart wants what it wants..."

You've done amazing and watching your hacks and journey have been inspiring! I totally get you. My hunger came back with a rage around 3 months? And I had very little restriction. It was a recipe for disaster. So like you, I had to figure out how to capitalize on exploit the honeymoon period to make it work for me. All of your tips are spot on, girl!

Yep yep yep. Then IMHO, to average 2.11lb/week in those circumstances is pretty amazing! Congrats!

Here you go! TY. I forgot to add them!

One of my favorite lunches these days. Who knew the Starkist Ranch Tuna pouches taste so yummy? This is spinach arugula salad with low fat feta and pumpkin seeds with a couple tomatoes. And tuna. So easy. So good. And better living through chemistry! Oh and seaweed snacks. Yummy! Edited to add the seaweed snacks. I ended up eating a 1/2 package.

55lbs in 26 weeks is 2.11lbs per week. You are a female 5'6". Only you can say whether that is slow for you. Females tend to lose slower than males (especially 6'1" males with not very much weight to lose). But it still breaks out to 2.11lbs per week which by my docs definition is the low end of average weekly loss. They base their rates on statistical analysis. But, at the end of it, 55lbs loss is 55lbs loss. When is the last time you lost that amount of weight in a year and are continuing to lose? And even more importantly, are the foods you are filling yourself with keeping you satisfied and healthfully on you journey? If you are starving like the OP, then likely you need to look at your diet to see if there is any glaring thing hanging out that you know you feel better without. It just might speed up your weight loss if you kick it to the curb.

The ketogenic version of the FMD (Fasting Mimicking Diet) anyone? I'm thinking about doing this next week to mix things up.

Normal weight loss is 2-4lbs/week. Most men lose MUCH more rapidly than women and are closer to a 3-4lb/week loss schedule over the fist 6 months. You have 26weeks in 6 months. If you as a male lose 3 lbs per week, you would be closer to an 80lb loss. Yet, you are only 55lbs=2.12lbs of loss per week. That's achingly slow for a 6'1" dude. That's achingly slow for most of us women in the FIRST 6 MONTH HONEYMOON period. I am on a cancer drug that puts me in super menopause by shutting down all of my female hormones, and I was still losing in your time frame about 3lbs per week. So yes, I think you are losing too slowly and eating too many simple carbohydrates and having too much fructose. I know of ZERO surgeons who recommend getting your calories from juice. No fruit juices was an explicit order of my doc. Also "Don't drink your calories." Also, limit fruit and only have small servings of berries no more than a couple times a week. Also FOCUS on lean dense protein, healthy fats, leafy greens, and low glycemic veggies. Have limited healthy fats in the form of healthy oils (EVOO, butter, ghee, avocado, nut butters as you tolerate them, and a few nuts here or there.) That's the advice of my surgeon. I beat the %ages for weight loss despite my metabolic issues due to the cancer drug and one other. It's do-able. But I tell you now, I will gain weight like a hog if I ate that much fruit, and also ate porridge and ate 1800 cals a day with 267g of carbs. LOL. But I'd prolly be dead first. Cuz that amount of carbs/sugar would send me into a HR coma first.

@MGBinIsrael Because you're eating slider foods! Porridge, papaya, banana, yogurt = slider foods deluxe. And btw? You didn't mention you were male and 6'1". Yet another piece of the critical puzzle. Eat dense protein first for satiety along with healthy fats. THEN eat dense veggies to your volume prescription. (mine is 1c/meal max) THEN eat berries, nuts, seeds if you still have room. Avoid the carby stuff. You will dramatically reduce your cravings, the number of times you eat, and up your weight loss. But I will tell you? 55lbs for a 6'1" guy in 6months? Is crap weight loss. You are SQUANDERING your honeymoon period by eating too many carbs and too many cals for rapid weight loss. The end. Don't squander your honeymoon period. It will NEVER EVER EVER come again.