Crick

I don’t have a picture from them but here’s one from another time I made it…

@ms.sss how’s this for dessert? I had a friend whose sister passed away and she was having family stay at her house. She asked if I could make my famous chocolate cake for them. It’s 3 layers and with the best frosting ever. Since it was going outside of my house, didn’t have to be worried about eating any. I normally use chocolate curls for decoration but I couldn’t find any (not sure they ship them to TX outside of the winter season) so I grated up a Ghirardelli chocolate bar. The nubs that were left I threw away - that was hard but went straight in the trash.

@ms.sss how’s this for dessert? I had a friend whose sister passed away and she was having family stay at her house. She asked if I could make my famous chocolate cake for them. It’s 3 layers and with the best frosting ever. Since it was going outside of my house, didn’t have to be worried about eating any. I normally use chocolate curls for decoration but I couldn’t find any (not sure they ship them to TX outside of the winter season) so I grated up a Ghirardelli chocolate bar. The nubs that were left I threw away - that was hard but went straight in the trash.

we get rebates from our health insurance if we do something like approved three activities a year. One choice was having a handful of telehealth appts with a dietitian (note this was not the dietitian I usually see annually at my bariatric clinic - this was just a regular dietitian who works for the insurance company). She suggested I cut 1000 calories a day from my diet to lose the weight I wanted to. I maintain my current weight on about 1700 calories a day. So cut 1000 calories from that? Is she f***ing kidding? So I cut 200-ish calories, knowing it'll take months to lose some microscopic amount of weight. But that's how it goes when you're at or close to a normal BMI. You're pretty much equilibrium as far as calories in/calories out, so there's not much to cut - and that weight loss is going to be S-L-O-W! (note that 700 kcal/day is fine during the first months post-op -- but not when you're as far out as I am..)

@ms.sss how’s this for dessert? I had a friend whose sister passed away and she was having family stay at her house. She asked if I could make my famous chocolate cake for them. It’s 3 layers and with the best frosting ever. Since it was going outside of my house, didn’t have to be worried about eating any. I normally use chocolate curls for decoration but I couldn’t find any (not sure they ship them to TX outside of the winter season) so I grated up a Ghirardelli chocolate bar. The nubs that were left I threw away - that was hard but went straight in the trash.

Oh yes I remember those ladies when I did WW back in the day - and I would roll my eyes (mentally) at them. But yes - it’s so much harder to lose weight when you don’t have as much to lose - and it’s much more frustrating to have stalls or only see the scale move .2 or .4.

I got there (at one point - I'm now 6+ years out - gained 20 lbs after hitting my lowest, which is very common...)

it's super tough to lose weight when you're at or close to a normal BMI. I remember vividly going to Weight Watchers meetings before I had surgery. I used to roll my eyes at these women who were only slightly overweight who'd moan and complain about how tough it was to lose 10 lbs. Yea - I'd think - try losing 100+. But now I TOTALLY get it. You might be able to do it - but it'll take a lot of work. I'm now 4 lbs overweight, thanks to the pandemic, and it's hard as heck trying to lose it again.

I was attending WW when I made the decision to have WLS so I know my "goal range" for them was 94-124 lbs. I think that was based on a height of 5' because I used to round up from 4'11 1/2". I set my goal at 123 because then 125 would be my top limit to never go over! My surgeon never really gave me a "goal" but said he thought I could get to 130. The chart where they plot my weight always had 117 lbs as my "ideal" weight but he always said not to worry if I didn't meet that. Well, I met his 130 goal at 9 mon and I told him I didn't want to stay in the "overweight" category so I was going to try for 123 for a normal BMI. He was ok with that. I continued with WW throughout this because I liked the emotional support and I wanted the lifetime membrship for continued support in case I had regain. On my one year anniversary I weighed 122 lbs. I never really had any stalls that year. The next year I continued to lose gradually, (while trying to maintain) up a pound, down a couple until I reached 111-112 on my second anniversary. For this past year I have weighed around 108 lbs. I weigh every day so its sometimes up a pound. Now as I approach my 3rd anniversary, I have lost some more weight recently and have been as low as 103 lbs, without changing anything. I'm right in the middle of my BMI range at 21. I'm "medium" frame according to wrist size and wear a size 2 or XS. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I'd have 33 in hips!

I picked my goal based on the lowest weight I’d ever reached before too - my bounce weight range. 60kgs & BMI of about 23. Reached that at 6 months & then lost another 11/12kgs over about another 11 months. The weight loss just continued to get slower. No stalls in that time, but the trend was still the same pretty smooth & even trend I experienced in my first 6 month weight loss. Just more up & down when I was starting to stabilise at around 50kgs
I struggled to find that caloric balance to stop losing. Just trying to eat larger portions & then eat more frequently was hard but over that year I eventually got to about a recommended portion size for most foods. I was eating 4 or 5 Snacks a day on top of three meals by the end. Now I eat about 3 snacks & 3 meals & I’ve been maintaining for almost a year at about 49kg (generally fluctuate between 48.5-49.5) & a BMI of just under 19.
I know a lot of people have issues about BMI but I always look at it as a guide. Higher end of healthy range for large frames, lower end for smaller frames. Taking in the needs of our bodies is also important as is how muscular we are. Some people just sit happily at a BMI above the healthy range - their body seem to function better. We also carry our weight in different ways too. You can look at two people with similar height, build & weight but one can look slim & the other bony.
I was always told I had a larger frame. Once the weight was gone it was obvious I don’t. When I was nearing 50kgs, my surgeon & doctor wanted me to get back to about 54kgs but they’re fine now & happy I’m healthy & maintaining. As one said: you’re actually really quite tiny aren’t you. It’s still can be a freaky I’m the size I was at about 12.

@ms.sss how’s this for dessert? I had a friend whose sister passed away and she was having family stay at her house. She asked if I could make my famous chocolate cake for them. It’s 3 layers and with the best frosting ever. Since it was going outside of my house, didn’t have to be worried about eating any. I normally use chocolate curls for decoration but I couldn’t find any (not sure they ship them to TX outside of the winter season) so I grated up a Ghirardelli chocolate bar. The nubs that were left I threw away - that was hard but went straight in the trash.

@ms.sss how’s this for dessert? I had a friend whose sister passed away and she was having family stay at her house. She asked if I could make my famous chocolate cake for them. It’s 3 layers and with the best frosting ever. Since it was going outside of my house, didn’t have to be worried about eating any. I normally use chocolate curls for decoration but I couldn’t find any (not sure they ship them to TX outside of the winter season) so I grated up a Ghirardelli chocolate bar. The nubs that were left I threw away - that was hard but went straight in the trash.

Go for it - I’m trying to get rid of all of those negative things I was told growing up and, damnit, it starts with stripes. 🤪

So, I absolutely love to bake. It de-stresses me more than anything. Easy when visiting my parents since all of my family is nearby but when you live alone, it’s good to have folks that will take goodies off your hands gladly. Have a friend that is a teacher so she takes the extras to school (and she has people come in her classroom all the time to see if there are any Cookies ). Yesterday I made brown butter chocolate chip snicker cookies (there is a mini snickers inside and chopped snickers on the top). I ran out of snickers so the last 5 cookies were regular chocolate chip (and smaller as you need double the dough to make the ones with something inside); I kept one of the chocolate chip for myself which I will eat today and the other cookies were all out of the house last evening so no temptations.

So, I absolutely love to bake. It de-stresses me more than anything. Easy when visiting my parents since all of my family is nearby but when you live alone, it’s good to have folks that will take goodies off your hands gladly. Have a friend that is a teacher so she takes the extras to school (and she has people come in her classroom all the time to see if there are any Cookies ). Yesterday I made brown butter chocolate chip snicker cookies (there is a mini snickers inside and chopped snickers on the top). I ran out of snickers so the last 5 cookies were regular chocolate chip (and smaller as you need double the dough to make the ones with something inside); I kept one of the chocolate chip for myself which I will eat today and the other cookies were all out of the house last evening so no temptations.

So, I absolutely love to bake. It de-stresses me more than anything. Easy when visiting my parents since all of my family is nearby but when you live alone, it’s good to have folks that will take goodies off your hands gladly. Have a friend that is a teacher so she takes the extras to school (and she has people come in her classroom all the time to see if there are any Cookies ). Yesterday I made brown butter chocolate chip snicker cookies (there is a mini snickers inside and chopped snickers on the top). I ran out of snickers so the last 5 cookies were regular chocolate chip (and smaller as you need double the dough to make the ones with something inside); I kept one of the chocolate chip for myself which I will eat today and the other cookies were all out of the house last evening so no temptations.

So, I absolutely love to bake. It de-stresses me more than anything. Easy when visiting my parents since all of my family is nearby but when you live alone, it’s good to have folks that will take goodies off your hands gladly. Have a friend that is a teacher so she takes the extras to school (and she has people come in her classroom all the time to see if there are any Cookies ). Yesterday I made brown butter chocolate chip snicker cookies (there is a mini snickers inside and chopped snickers on the top). I ran out of snickers so the last 5 cookies were regular chocolate chip (and smaller as you need double the dough to make the ones with something inside); I kept one of the chocolate chip for myself which I will eat today and the other cookies were all out of the house last evening so no temptations.

So, I absolutely love to bake. It de-stresses me more than anything. Easy when visiting my parents since all of my family is nearby but when you live alone, it’s good to have folks that will take goodies off your hands gladly. Have a friend that is a teacher so she takes the extras to school (and she has people come in her classroom all the time to see if there are any Cookies ). Yesterday I made brown butter chocolate chip snicker cookies (there is a mini snickers inside and chopped snickers on the top). I ran out of snickers so the last 5 cookies were regular chocolate chip (and smaller as you need double the dough to make the ones with something inside); I kept one of the chocolate chip for myself which I will eat today and the other cookies were all out of the house last evening so no temptations.

I was shopping at costco today and walked up to a display of down vest type jackets. There was a woman looking at them as well. As I was digging through the pile she said “Oh, I already looked-they’re out of smalls in all colors”. Even two years post op it surprised and delighted me to have a stranger look at me and assess me as a size small. It made my day 😊

I had zero change in my tastes. Now, I try not to eat many sweets or processed foods - but I didn’t have any aversions to the things I liked before nor did I start liking anything that I didn’t like before (broccoli I’m looking at you - still makes me want to gag when I even smell it). Now, tolerating things in my system - that has been a slightly different story. I had some Greek food and had a little tzatziki sauce on the meat (which I had had the meat plain no issue) - that did NOT sit well in my system. But my tastes didn’t change - the Protein Shakes I liked before I still liked and when I transitioned to regular foods - the stuff that tasted good before still tastes good. I was so worried about my favorite fajitas and salsa - now what used to be a meal is 4-5 meals and I don’t eat the tortillas but it still tastes wonderful.

Ohhhhhhh Yeeeeaaaaaahhhhh.
Now we're talking.
Those look amazing. I swear I can smell them off my screen..
More dessert porn please!
Sincerely,
The Dessert Lover.

I had zero change in my tastes. Now, I try not to eat many sweets or processed foods - but I didn’t have any aversions to the things I liked before nor did I start liking anything that I didn’t like before (broccoli I’m looking at you - still makes me want to gag when I even smell it). Now, tolerating things in my system - that has been a slightly different story. I had some Greek food and had a little tzatziki sauce on the meat (which I had had the meat plain no issue) - that did NOT sit well in my system. But my tastes didn’t change - the Protein Shakes I liked before I still liked and when I transitioned to regular foods - the stuff that tasted good before still tastes good. I was so worried about my favorite fajitas and salsa - now what used to be a meal is 4-5 meals and I don’t eat the tortillas but it still tastes wonderful.

So, I absolutely love to bake. It de-stresses me more than anything. Easy when visiting my parents since all of my family is nearby but when you live alone, it’s good to have folks that will take goodies off your hands gladly. Have a friend that is a teacher so she takes the extras to school (and she has people come in her classroom all the time to see if there are any Cookies ). Yesterday I made brown butter chocolate chip snicker cookies (there is a mini snickers inside and chopped snickers on the top). I ran out of snickers so the last 5 cookies were regular chocolate chip (and smaller as you need double the dough to make the ones with something inside); I kept one of the chocolate chip for myself which I will eat today and the other cookies were all out of the house last evening so no temptations.

I lost around 70 pre-surgery (and I didn’t follow a specific program - was just trying to lose weight on my own - lost 50 before I even met with the surgeon). I was around 227 the day of surgery and by month 7 had lost all of my excess weight. It’s definitely slowed down in the last couple of months but I am below my initial goal weight (which was in the “normal” BMI range). I’m now hoping to get down to 135 but it’s really slow now and getting these “mini-stalls” where I stay around the same weight for 2-3 weeks then have a couple of weeks where I lose 1-2 lbs, rinse and repeat. I’m exercising a lot though so that may be part of it - incorporated weights after about 10 weeks post-op. I do take my measurements once a month so I can see progress there even though it’s slowing on the scale.
Good luck with your surgery - you got this!

I had zero change in my tastes. Now, I try not to eat many sweets or processed foods - but I didn’t have any aversions to the things I liked before nor did I start liking anything that I didn’t like before (broccoli I’m looking at you - still makes me want to gag when I even smell it). Now, tolerating things in my system - that has been a slightly different story. I had some Greek food and had a little tzatziki sauce on the meat (which I had had the meat plain no issue) - that did NOT sit well in my system. But my tastes didn’t change - the Protein Shakes I liked before I still liked and when I transitioned to regular foods - the stuff that tasted good before still tastes good. I was so worried about my favorite fajitas and salsa - now what used to be a meal is 4-5 meals and I don’t eat the tortillas but it still tastes wonderful.

So, I absolutely love to bake. It de-stresses me more than anything. Easy when visiting my parents since all of my family is nearby but when you live alone, it’s good to have folks that will take goodies off your hands gladly. Have a friend that is a teacher so she takes the extras to school (and she has people come in her classroom all the time to see if there are any Cookies ). Yesterday I made brown butter chocolate chip snicker cookies (there is a mini snickers inside and chopped snickers on the top). I ran out of snickers so the last 5 cookies were regular chocolate chip (and smaller as you need double the dough to make the ones with something inside); I kept one of the chocolate chip for myself which I will eat today and the other cookies were all out of the house last evening so no temptations.