SpartanMaker

I had a very similar experience! I bought something online in a medium based on a size chart, only to find that vanity sizing had done me in. I actually needed a small in that brand. I still felt like the sales clerk was judging me for asking for a small. On another note, the vanity sizing thing is so frustrating! I know women's sizing is the same, but I have found in men's sizes if you pick the size that's supposed to fit based on actual measurements a size chart, it's almost always too big. This wasn't an issue when I was obese because I probably wanted my clothes baggy. Now that I'm smaller, having a decent fit is more important, so I almost always pick the next smaller size of everything, and in some things have to go even smaller.

Great work so far! Keep it up!

Sorry you're having trouble sleeping. I know that's just making recovery harder. You probably already know this, but here's the thing: being stressed out about not sleeping can just keep you from sleeping. The first step in getting past that is just to release yourself mentally from the stress/insomnia cycle. What I mean is that you have to acknowledge that you just had major surgery. Coupled with massive dietary changes and you are going through an incredibly stressful time right now. It's normal when stressed to struggle with sleep, so the best possible thing you can do is simply acknowledge that sleep may be difficult for a while and it's okay. I would also say do whatever you need to do to get control of your pain levels. You may need to try changing out your pain meds, or consider changing where/how you sleep. As an example, even though I'm normally a stomach/side sleeper, I slept on my back in a recliner for the first couple of weeks simply because it was less painful. Finally, I'd recommend researching good sleep hygiene and implementing as many of those recommendations as possible. Right now, you need all the tips and tricks you can get. Good luck.

Jollof Rice with Coleslaw, Smoked Chicken with Peanut Butter Sauce & Fried Plantains:

Have you talked to your surgical team? That should always be your first point of contact when you're having issues. I really doubt the surgeon somehow didn't create an appropriately sized stomach pouch. They use something called a bougie to determine where to staple. Not all surgeons use the same size bougie, but they definitely have a guide to use that would preclude somehow leaving your stomach too big. With that out of the way, we can think more about what may be going on with you. Obviously I don't know for sure, but just to throw out some ideas here: Some people have a hard time with the liquid portion of the diet specifically because the desire to chew can override their brain a bit. It can even make them think they're hungry when in fact the issue is just this strong need to chew. This happens because part of what signals our brain that we've eaten is actually coming from chewing, not from a "full belly". There are hormones released while we chew that signal to our brains that we're "done" and don't need to eat anymore. Your stomach is also really inflamed at this point still and the mechanisms involved that signal fullness can get really messed up as a result. This should settle down the further out from surgery you get. It's not unusual for people to not be good at understanding the fullness signals out brains are receiving. Overweight and obese people especially often associate being overfull almost to the point of pain as "being satisfied", when in reality that stuffed signal is not actually what we should have been relying on to know when to stop. If you're chasing this feeling now, that may be part of the issue because you're not going to have that feeling for long, if at all on just a liquid diet. Finally, keep in mind that it's common for hunger cues to be based not on anything physical at all. Sometimes we yearn for food so soothe us or satisfy other psychological needs. If your desire to eat is still present, even after you have a "meal", then it may be psychological, not physical hunger cues that are driving you to eat. Best of luck.

Ohh, I didn't know you had access to a gym! I might have modified this a bit because I was trying to make sure these exercises were something you could do without equipment. Here are some suggested modifications if you are using a gym: If your gym has a hip thrust machine, feel free to use that instead of doing the glute bridge. As I mentioned, hip thrusts offer a bigger range of motion, so are an even better exercise. Push Ups are probably fine as they are, but once you get to doing 10-15 knee pushups, you might also start doing the chest press machine, or doing a bench press with dumbbells. Once you get to unsupported squats, you can start adding some weight. Some gyms have hack squat machines or leg press machines and both will work great here. Another one to consider would be a goblet squat (google it). The nice thing about this one is that it will emphasize your quadriceps a bit more, which might be good since we're hitting your glutes and hamstrings pretty hard with the hip thrusts and lunges. As to rows, feel free to skip all the ones I wrote and do a seated cable row or do something called a bent-over row with dumbbells. With leg raises, do them as listed, but if you get all the way through those, then the next logical progression is to move to hanging leg raises. These can be done on a dedicated machine (sometimes called a captain's chair). The lunge exercises are probably fine as they are, but feel free to add weight (hold some dumbbells in your hands), if you get to where the versions I listed are not enough for you. As an optional thing, if you wanted to add in one additional exercise per session, I'd do a Bicep dominated exercise one day, a Tricep dominated exercise another day, and a Calf dominated exercise the 3rd day. The actual exercise selection does not matter much, so do whatever exercise you like or whatever machine your gym has. You can even do a different one every week. Again, if you're happy without this, then skip it. it's not going to make a huge difference, because we are hitting these muscles some already. Best of luck!

Welcome. Sorry to hear you're struggling. I want to touch on a couple of things you said since the truth may be different than what you thought? First, I want to hit on this idea of a "pouch reset". There really is no such thing. Your stomach expands and contracts normally, just like a non-surgical stomach. You can't make it appreciably smaller just by eating less for a few days or weeks. Sometimes people feel like this makes a difference because it mentally helps reset what it feels like to be full. (A lot of people overeat after a few years.) If you really want to go down this road, you certainly can, but just understand it's not going to magically reset the size of your stomach. It might help reset your brain a bit, but the effect won't last long if you go back to eating too much at a time. You can get the same effect by just reducing portion sizes. Second, I want to touch on you gaining muscle from going to the gym. There are a few things to unpack here, but let's start with the fact that scales are NOT your friend and I would strongly advise you to not use the scale as the thing you use to gauge your success. Let me give you a hypothetical situation: If I could give you a magic potion that overnight made you look just like a fitness model, but it also made you weigh 300 pounds, would you take it? I don't know what your answer is, but I'd guess that like most people, you probably would in fact drink the potion. I don't have a magic potion, but doing strength training in the gym is kind of the same thing. It just takes a lot more work and time. The point here is that muscle is a lot denser than fat, so you can in theory be even heavier than you are now, but still look a lot thinner because you've changed your body composition to favor more muscle mass. Keep in mind that most people find more muscle mass more attractive (well up to a point anyway). Also, you are NEVER going to actually lose weight from doing strength training. it's not a great way to actually burn calories, so thinking you're going to go to the gym and lose fat just isn't realistic. Cardio at the gym isn't much better, so don't think that's the secret either. It will burn more calories, but the reality is a couple of things happen when you do cardio (or resistance training) at the gym: You'll be hungrier, so you tend to eat more than you would otherwise (this might be why you're snacking more). It will seem subtle and may be almost unnoticeable, but you will move less the rest of the day because your body is trying to recover from the workout. This means you don't actually burn many, if any additional calories. Said differently, your body will do everything it can to keep you right where you're at, so it is literally slowing your metabolism down to make up for the calories you burned exercising. I'm not trying to discourage you from working out. It has a LOT of health benefits, but as a way to actually lose weight, it's not so great. Now once you get to your goal weight, working out at least 5 hours a week can REALLY help you stay at your goal weight, so keep that in mind as well. The final thing I'll add here since this post is already pretty long is that the one sure-fire way to lose fat is to eat fewer calories than you burn in a day. I know that seems fairly obvious, but people think sometimes they're special, or that it doesn't apply to them. I don't know how many calories you're eating right now, and it honestly does not matter. Right now, whether you're eating 1500 calories or 3500 calories, you're eating at maintenance for you. If you want to lose fat, then you've got to eat less. The way to do that is whatever way works for you. There is no secret diet that works for everyone. All diets can work if they have you eat less than you eat now. You've got to find not only what works for you, but what is a sustainable way of eating for the long term. Crash diets almost always fail, so I wouldn't look for something that works in the short term. What you need is something that you can do for the rest of your life. Best of luck.

Welcome! I was thinking the same thing as @summerseeker. I personally would try to quit smoking now, rather than wait. A complete liquid diet for 2 weeks is hard enough without having to go through nicotine withdrawal at the same time. To be honest, it would also be safer for you. Smoking puts you at a much higher risk of complications from bariatric surgery. The sooner you quit, the better off you'll be. You do you, but that was my thought. @summerseeker is also correct regarding your post surgery diet. They're all so different, it's hard to give specific advice. I could provide what my team had me do, but that might be completely at odds with what your team wants you to do. I'd start with what your surgical team has given you, but if you have questions about it that they can't answer, feel free to ask here. Alternately, if you want to post the plan you were given, we might be able to generate ideas for you that you can try. One thing to consider: it's REALLY common for people's tastes to change after surgery. Something you like right now, may become the worst thing ever, and vice-versa. I know if you're worried about the post-surgical period, it's comforting to try to plan out what things will be like for you, but please don't try to stock up on stuff. Many of us did that and ended up with things we couldn't or wouldn't eat. Best of luck.

She may have called it a DEXA scan, but it wasn't. That was definitely a BIA scanner. Here's the workout: 3 times per week, please dedicate time to do the following workout. It should take no more than 45 minutes and hopefully closer to 30. For all of the below exercises, I want you to start with the first variation of each exercise. Week 1: Do variation 1 of each exercise for 2 sets of 10 (or the max you can do if you can't do 10) In between each set, rest for ~1-3 minutes. The exact time doesn't matter that much, as long as you feel ready to begin again Week 2: Now I want you to do 3 sets of 10 or your max if you can't do 10. Week 3 (and beyond): Continue doing 3 sets, but now I want you to do the maximum number of each exercise that you can, up to 20. If it's 12. do 12. If it's 15, do 15. If you can get all the way to the point that you can do 20 of the exercise for 3 sets (a total of 60 repetitions), then stop there. Next time you do that exercise, I want you to move to the next variation listed to make it harder. Be aware that some of these may feel like big jumps, meaning you may go from being able to do 60 of version 1, to only being able to do 5 or 10 total of the next one. That's perfectly fine and to be expected. Just keep working at the new version until you can do 3 sets of 20 at that level. At that point, move on the the next version. If you get all the way through one or more of these, there are even harder variations available. Reach out and I'll give you more. That said, after doing these for 2-3 months or so, we might want to switch things up a bit? Doing the same thing over and over can get boring and we also want to fight any potential muscle imbalances by changing things up with different exercises. Be aware that you may feel sore a day or 2 after doing these exercises, especially at first. That's perfectly normal and should get a bit better over time. Here we go!: Exercise #1: Glute Bridge – Primarily works your glutes and lower back, as well as various smaller hip muscles How to progress: Standard Glute Bridge -- Both feet on Floor Single Leg Glute Bridge -- Do a single leg at a time with the other leg held straight out. Be sure to work each leg! Weighted Glute Bridge -- Time to add weight across your pelvis. How much is up to you and you can also progress here by adding more weight. Dumbbells work, but short of that, it can really be anything. Sandbag, milk jug, small child get creative! Hip Thrust. This is a very similar exercise, but allows a higher range of motion, so actually works your glutes even better. Ideally you'd also add heavier weight than you were using for the glute bridge Exercise #2: Push Up – Primarily a chest workout, however it also works the arms, shoulders, core and upper back as well. How to progress: Wall Push Ups -- It's what it sounds like, do a push up against the wall. Start by standing just over arms length away from the wall. You can change the difficulty a bit by moving further away Elevated Push Ups -- Another push up motion, but now you're using something lower to support yourself. You can also gradually move to lower and lower surfaces. For example, start with a kitchen counter, then progress to a coffee table Knee Push Ups -- Move to the ground in a basic push up position, but on your knees Regular Push Ups Exercise #3: Squat – Good leg exercise that hits the quads, hamstrings & glutes How to progress: Box Squat -- This is basically squatting down to sit on a box or chair, but DO NOT use your hands to get up or down. Ideally, the chair/box will be about the height where your legs are parallel to the ground Supported Squat -- No more box. Now you'll hang on to something for balance. Again, try to shoot for getting your upper legs parallel to the floor. Also try not to use the support to aid you in standing back up. It should be there mostly for balance Deep Supported Squat -- Now it's time to go as deep as you can, ideally with your butt hitting your calves Unsupported Squat. Time to let go of the support and do a proper squat Exercise #4: Row – Primarily a back exercise, but also can work the arms to some extent, especially the forearms. How to progress: Wall Pull -- It might be a little challenging to find a place to do this, but the idea is you'll find something sturdy like a stair rail, or something firmly attached to the wall that you can pull against. When you did the push ups against the wall, you stood further away. Here, I want you to start by standing maybe a foot or so closer to the wall so that you're leaning back when your arms are fully extended. Wall pull with a towel -- We're going to increase the difficulty by using a hand towel wrapped around your stair rail or object. You'll hold onto either end of the towel. This will allow you to lean further back. If needed, you can progress even more by moving to a bath towel instead of a hand towel. Inverted Row with Legs Bent -- Now things get even more complicated. Ideally to do this you'd have something like a suspension trainer, but it's possible to do this with a heavy wooden or metal rod suspended between 2 sturdy chairs or kitchen counters. Some city parks may also have a low bar that would be ideal for this, but you might have to look around? Inverted Row -- Same as above, but now you keep your legs straight NOTE: It may not be easy for you to find a way to do the inverted rows. If you're struggling, another option might be a "Plank Row", but this will require dumbbells. Simply progress this by adding more weight. If you go this route, you may want to go easy on the Leg Raises below or you may torch your core muscles.) Exercise #5: Lunge – Another leg exercise, but these are done one leg at a time. This will continue to work your legs, will help with balance and will engage your core as well. How to progress: Supported Rear Lunge -- I suggest just googling all these as they are easy to do, but harder to describe. In this one, find something to hang onto for support. Rear Lunge Front Foot Elevated Rear Lunge Bulgarian Split Squat Exercise #6: Leg Raise – Primarily a core workout How to progress: Lying Knee Raise -- Another one I suggest googling. These are all done from the floor Lying Knee Raise to Straight Leg Lower -- the idea here is you’ll raise your legs with your knees bent, but then straighten out your legs and slowly lower them down. Lying Leg Raise Seated Knee Tuck Good luck!

The average woman is going to be around 30%, but this obviously varies. Also, younger women will tend to have a little more and older women typically have less. Men tend to have more muscle mass, so on average, they will be anywhere from 30% to 45% based on age. Men tend to suffer more from age related sarcopenia than women, though. What I mean is that 40-45% is pretty common for a man in his 20s, but once they get to around 75, 30% is about average. Women on average go from just over 30% in their 20s, to maybe 25% over the age of 75. Keep in mind, these are just averages and it's not uncommon for people to be way under or over this. As an example, the average for my age would be about 33%, but I tend to be around 40-42% based on BIA readings (that can admittedly be off). A lot of these variations are simply genetic, but if you're active, you will tend to have more muscle mass than you otherwise might have. The 26 lbs you were told you had back before surgery does sound really low, but it could be off as well. Obviously I don't know what you had done, so I'm assuming they used something like an InBody scan, which is just a fancy BIA scale that you stand on and also hold some electrodes. If so, that number should be skeletal muscle, so it would not include your heart or other organs. Those all go into what we call Fat Free Mass, which is everything other than body fat. Quality BIA scales like InBody can be pretty accurate, but they're not perfect. The gold-standard way to measure is something called a DEXA (Dual-energy X-ray Absorptiometry), scan, but it seems unlikely you had this done? If you did, you'd probably know it. For these, you lie on a table and the scanner either passes over you, or more commonly, the table moves under the scanner. It's a lot like having an xray or a CT scan, but it scans your whole body. It's not an all or nothing type of thing! Anything is better than nothing, but light weights don't really do a lot, especially if they don't challenge you. Rather than do that, it would be much better to spend the exact same amount of time you do today, but really push how much you're doing. It needs to feel really challenging. If you feel like doing more of a proper workout, I'd be happy to provide something you could do at home to really work on building some muscle, but I'm not going to do it unless you promise me you'll actually do the workout! Deal?

Forgot to post this last night. Blackened Shrimp bowl with brown rice, sauteed peppers & onions, tomatoes, avocado and a remoulade drizzle.

As you probably know, PCOS can affect metabolism. This means you may be getting a double whammy from PCOS and your height that really pushes your metabolic rate down. As I mentioned earlier, without having an expensive metabolic test done, we can't know for sure how many calories per day you burn on average. If I had to guess, I think it could be as low as about 1000 to 1200 calories per day for your Basal Metabolic Rate. This is basically the amount your body burns just keeping you alive. If we add in a bit more to account for the fact we all burn some additional calories (even if we're mostly sedentary), then that could put you around 1300 to 1500 calories per day. If you're eating ~1000 calories a day, that means at best, you'd lose about 1 pound a week, but it could easily be closer to 1 pound every 12 days or so. If you do the math (I did ), then this would put you losing right about 2.5 pounds per month or 10 pounds in 4 months, which is right where you're at. Now for the record, I didn't factor in anything for the fact that as a DS patient, you are actually also benefiting from reduced absorption. These are all made up numbers anyway, so don't get too caught up in the hard numbers here. Remember: Even if you think you're super accurate in logging food, variation in caloric content from one piece of food to the next means your calorie counts may or may not be that accurate. Don't trust manufacturer calorie counts as accurate either. They can be as much as 10% or more off. We don't actually know how many calories you burn in a day on average. My guesses are just that, guesses. Bottom line, you've got a few things working against you here, but as long as you continue to follow your surgeon's plans, there's no reason you can't lose the excess weight. It's just going to take you longer than most people. I know that sucks, but it is what it is. Knowledge is power, so hopefully you'll come away from this with a little more knowledge. That should give you a little more power over your unique situation. All the best.

Welcome! For me personally, body image and self-esteem issues are potentially two different things? I'm obviously not a therapist so take this with a grain of salt, but while they may be related, it seems to me that they may also not be related at all? I know a lot of us have struggled with the body image issue, me included. I think for me that's mostly just because I was so big for so long and I have not yet gotten to the place where being small is "normal" for me yet. i still will grab clothes out of my closet and think "No way I can fit in that", yet I do. I also will look at my stomach and think I don't look that different, but I went from a 44 in waist to about a 30-32 in waist, so obviously I am objectively a lot smaller. I would not, however say that I have self-esteem issues, at least I don't think so! Am I sometimes overly hard on my bodily appearance, sure. As an example, you'll never catch me going without a shirt, even though as a guy I "could" do so. I'm older, have a lot of scars from various surgeries, and still have a fair amount of loose skin that is unlikely to go away. Ain't nobody want to see that! I'm also honestly too cheap to spend the money on plastic surgery. Anyway, I just wanted to share my perspective. I suspect even if your body was perfect (and no one has a perfect body), you might still have self-esteem issues due to your past life experiences? I mention all this because I do have to wonder if you're not thinking "if only I got to a normal weight, I'd feel better about myself", but in my experience, that never works. If you are not currently seeing a therapist, it might be a great time to start?

Sorry, one more point I should have made above: I'm not a fan of calorie counting for the very reason you're struggling. You seem to be stating: "I'm only eating 700 calories a day, why am I not losing?" As I mentioned, we all are horrible at knowing how many calories we're really consuming. The issue is actually even bigger than that. Remember, you have to eat less than you burn to lose weight. Since you most likely are overestimating your intake (we all do it), that's an obvious issue. The EVEN BIGGER ISSUE is that you only have one side of the equation. You have a rough idea of intake (even if you measure poorly), but actually have no idea whatsoever know how many calories you really burn per day. There is no reliable way to measure that unless you have a rather expensive metabolic test done. Sure, there are online calculators, but these are only good at determining rough amounts and they can be off by hundreds of calories per day. I won't lie. As a person of small stature, you have it a lot harder than most because the margins for error will be smaller. What I mean is that we know you personally need fewer calories per day just based on your height. Beyond that, it also means the number of calories you have to "play with" are also a lot less than a taller person would have. Let's look at a couple of examples to illustrate this point: Person A needs 2500 calories to maintain their current weight. This means they can cut their calories down to 1000 and all other things being equal, they can in theory lose ~3 pounds of fat a week. Person B only needs 1200 calories to maintain their current weight. They obviously don't have the "room" to cut by 1500 calories a day, and even 1000 is unrealistic, so they'd have to reduce by 500 at most, taking them to around 700 calories a day. This person will only lose about a pound of fat a week, even though they are eating less calories per week than person A. It seems unfair, but it is what it is. Person B is going to have a harder time being compliant with dieting (since they have to eat so little food), and is also going to lose a lot slower. Guess which one you are?

So sorry that you're struggling. Weight loss is both the simplest thing in the world, and also incredibly complicated. The good news is there is absolutely hope for you! Thinking through what you've posted. I think I want to break things apart a bit so we can address a few different things: Let's start with being an emotional eater. My personal belief is that EVERYONE that is (or at one point was), obese has an eating disorder, or at the very least suffers from disordered eating. You simply don't get that big without having an unhealthy relationship with food. I'm really glad that you are working to get help in this area. We have a saying here on this board that you should take to heart: Bariatric Surgery doesn't fix your brain. Success or failure long term is most often about addressing these mental, not physical issues. The surgery is a tool that can help you, but surgery alone won't make you lose weight. My point here is YOU ARE NOT ALONE. A lot of the folks here have the same problem regarding turning to food for emotional support. You can get control of this, but it does take time and help. Failure to lose weight. We all lose at different rates, so it's hard to judge whether or not how much you've lost is problematic. First, can you clarify some things? Your sidebar shows you having lost 128 pounds, but your post suggests it's a lot less than that? Also, your post says it's been 6 months since your surgery, but unless I'm misunderstanding something, it's only been 4 months? Even if it's only 4 months instead of 6, having lost 9 pounds would still be on the low side, but I think you need to also keep in mind that you are on the low end of the height scale. That absolutely does matter when it comes to weight loss. Smaller bodies need fewer calories per day. That's just a basic fact. I think it's important for you to understand that you can't break the laws of physics. if you eat fewer calories per day than you burn, you'll lose weight. Eat the same amount as you burn and you'll stay at the same weight. Eat more than you burn and you'll gain. I know that seems obvious, but people often look for reasons other than this as to why they might not be losing as expected. They'll say things like "my metabolism is messed up" as if that means they're allowed to break this basic rule. Perhaps their metabolism is messed up, but there's no rule that says you should be able to eat, say 1300 calories a day and still lose. Your metabolism is your metabolism and while there are ways to ramp it up, you don't get to break the laws of basic physics. Calorie counting. You mention eating 700 calories a day, but then mention snacking on top of that? Did I understand that correctly? Here's the thing. Everyone is TERRIBLE at calorie counting and if you're not counting the snacks, you're estimates of how much you're consuming will be even worse. Even if you're counting the snacks in the 700 calories, the likelihood that you're actually eating only 700 calories a day is really small. Studies have shown again and again that people drastically underestimate how much they are eating per day, even if they try to accurately weigh and measure everything. Part of it's just user error, but part of it is that the actual calorie counts of food are not nearly as simple to measure as we think they are. One final thing to keep in mind. Our bodies are made up of lots of "stuff", and this "stuff" is all part of what you weigh day-to-day. Fluctuations in how hydrated you are, your muscle mass and even stool weight can mask fat loss, so don't get too caught up in what the scale says. Simply put, the scale is NOT your friend. Let me give you an example of just how much the scale can lie: I'm a runner and if I run in hot weather, it's not that unusual for me to lose 6 to 10 pounds in the space of a couple of hours. Does that mean I lost 10 pounds of fat? Of course not. It means I lost a bunch of water due to sweat. Using a scale as the sole means you use to judge your success would be a bit like trying to use a hammer as the only tool you use to build a house. a hammer's great for some things, but there are also times when it's not.

Al Pastor–Style Chicken Skewer Tacos! (Well, taco, as in singular for me.) It was supposed to have sliced avocado as well, but the avocado I had just wasn't ripe enough. My wife ate it anyway. I'm just not going to eat things I don't like just because we have it. That's one of the behaviors that got me so big in the first place. It's taken me a long time to come to terms with that and not feel bad for wasting food.

But that's kinda my point. We used to think that extra muscle mass burned a lot more calories per day than it actually does. Keep in mind too that fat is not completely metabolically inert. So on average, one pound of fat burns about two calories per day just existing, whereas one pound of muscle burns about 6 calories per day at rest. You're just not going to lose much weight from resistance training alone. Weight loss happens in the kitchen. Sculpting beautiful bodies happens in the gym.

Nothing wrong with trying GLP-1s to see how they work for you. Cost can be an issue for a lot of folks, but as long as you have the means, then I'd definitely say give them a try. A few things to keep in mind: Some people don't respond to GLP-1 meds at all, or may respond to one and not others. If you find out that the first one you try isn't working, be ready to try a different one. Some people find that they quickly gain weight after stopping GLP-1s, which brings me to my next point:. Keep in mind that these meds can be life-changing, but they are also just tools (much like weight loss surgery). The real goal has to be retraining your body and mind how to eat better. The meds alone won't do that, so unless you're willing to dedicate yourself to learning how to eat better and move more, you may end up right back where you started or worse. In the end, these are not magic. They can reduce the "food noise", but they won't suddenly make you want to eat a salad instead of pizza. If eating better and feeling better is your real the goal, these alone won't do much.

I wanted to address this because it's just not correct. I'm not trying to discourage anyone from doing resistance training since there are a lot of benefits, but this idea that it helps you burn more calories is based on outdated science. We used to think that adding a pound of muscle mass would on average burn an additional 50 or so calories in a day. More recent research shows it to be closer to just 6 calories per day. Considering that the average woman that strength trains might do well to add 10-12 pounds of muscle in a year, Strength training consistently for a year is only going to get you to a place where you burn maybe an additional 60-70 calories a day. For comparison, this is roughly the equivalent of 1/2 a scoop of your typical protein powder. Yes, you do burn some calories as you do resistance training, but it's not even close to the amount you can burn doing moderate to heavy cardio such as running, spinning, etc. Resistance training does contribute to a higher level of something we call EPOC, or Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption, but the contribution there is also minimal. Even with the increased EPOC amount, resistance training simply can't touch the amount of calories burned in moderate to intense cardio. Once again, I'm not trying to discourage anyone from doing resistance training. There are some tremendous benefits, from increased health and longevity, to being more capable (and bad a$$), to making you look seriously hot, but as a way to burn more calories? Eh, not so much.

Yea, if 160 grams works for you, it's not high enough that I think it will be problematic at all, I only shared all that for awareness. I personally think you'd also be fine at 125 to 140 as well, but you know your body best. If you feel better at 160, do 160. The biggest potential issue for most people eating higher amounts of protein is an increased risk of kidney stones. I doubt you're eating enough excess for that to become an issue at all, but If you've ever had one, then you know it's something to be avoided at all costs! If you haven't ever had one, imagine a grown man (with a pretty high pain tolerance), rolling around on the floor crying for his mommy. That was me back when I did Atkins and had kidney stones ~twice a year. Ah, the good old days! 😬

Lately it's been a lot of a cajun influenced chicken & rice soup I made. I have TONS of smoked chicken I made on Memorial Day and have been adding that to everything I can think of, hence the inspo for this particular soup! Plus, I do love cajun flavors and smoked chicken works really well with that. Really as long as good and brothy, it works for my needs. I already have some chicken vegetable in the freezer and will probably start on that one next. I have also done chicken noodle, minestrone, as well as a simple asian inspired soup that I make with dumplings. I do love good thick creamy soups as well, just not for post workout where they feel too heavy?

As far as breakfast is concerned, it's hard to go wrong with Greek Yogurt. You can add additional flavors to it if you like, throw some fruit on it, and maybe some granola (I add protein boosted granola), and you have a solid breakfast with 25-35 grams of protein depending on serving sizes. It's super portable if you need to eat at your desk (just keep the granola separate from the yogurt until ready to eat). Another option would be overnight oats. There are lots of recipes online, including some that have additional protein added to them. The nice thing about this is it's also easy to customize based on your needs and literally all you need to do in the morning is grab and go. It's great if you workout in the morning before work and don't have a ton of time to prep something. My final suggestion may honestly be a little weird, at least to many Americans. In a lot of cultures, they don't actually eat what we in the US think of as traditional breakfast foods. Breakfast is often simple and last night's leftovers many times make an appearance. In some Mediterranean cultures, one of my favorites is just an assortment of things like a slice of leftover bread, some olives and/or fruit and a slice of cheese. You can add in a boiled egg or two and get a simple and healthy breakfast that's easy to take on the go.

I love that expression and it's so true! That's why I asked, honestly. I personally workout because I want to stay as healthy as possible as long as possible. Not wanting to die an early death is hella motivating, at least for me! "Because I'm supposed to" just wouldn't cut it for me, especially when it gets hard. Not sure this will lead anywhere, but you might think more about if there's something else that could help keep you going rather than "just because". Maybe it's health related like me, or maybe it's something completely vain like wanting to look totally hott in a swimsuit. Nothing wrong with the latter if it works for you! I don't know a ton about pilates, never having tried it, but I also wouldn't discount it for developing a strong & fit body. You can get incredibly jacked just working with bodyweight. Afterall, take a look at most gymnasts!

Welcome. That's an awfully broad question! As anyone can attest, I can be a bit long-winded. Trying to answer could easily turn into a book length response. Perhaps it would be best if you narrowed your question(s) down a bit? For example, are you interested in the surgery itself, recovery, diet, other people's results, potential issues to be aware of, something else? Don't forget as well that there is a search bar at the top of the forum you can use. Finally, I'd strongly recommend looking through existing posts as you may find things you didn't even think to ask. There are many years of accumulated wisdom here, so definitely take advantage of that!

In the summer, I'm a huge fan of "bowls" for lunch/dinner. Take a base of your choice like rice, brown rice, farro, quinoa, etc, add whatever veggies you like and then your protein of choice. If desired, you can also add some sort of sauce/dressing. The nice thing is you can easily meal-prep these and even vary the ingredients slightly in every single bowl just by having a few different base/veggie/protein choices available. It's also easy to adjust them to your tastes, as well as change the proportions to fit your macros. Also, for the most part you don't even need to heat these up. I eat them cold (or more often at room temp), all the time. I'm also a big fan of soup (yes even in summer), because it helps me rehydrate (due to the salt and fluid), as well as get some food in me after my workouts. I totally realize that for many people, the thought of something warm post workout seems odd, but it works for me. As to the amount of protein you're eating, I think that's okay (and not likely dangerous), but honestly is a bit higher than you actually need. I know in some gym circles, they push as much as 4 grams per kg of body weight, but there's not a lot of evidence that even strength athletes need more than about 1.6 to 2 grams per kg. Keep in mind that your body can't store excess protein, thus what it doesn't use for muscle repair just goes to waste or gets stored as fat if you're eating in a surplus. Another consideration as @WendyJane mentions is that your ability to metabolize protein is limited. While I think the rate at which it can be metabolized is actually variable and likely somewhat dependent on overall bodyweight (some studies suggest it's around 0.3 to 0.4 g/kg/bw), the net effect is that it may actually be a lot less than 50 grams for most people. For this reason, it would be ideal to actually plan on eating about five meals a day, rather than the traditional three. Further, keep in mind that the ability to metabolize protein IS NOT the same as the rate at which your body can induce muscle protein synthesis (i.e. use protein to repair repair your muscles). That rate may be as low at just a few grams per hour! That said, there's not a lot of evidence that high amounts of protein hurt the kidneys in healthy people. Yes, certainly if you have kidney disease, you should follow your doctor’s advice and limit your protein intake. For everyone else, the danger is pretty limited (or even nonexistent). I would say that if your higher protein intake is coming exclusively, or almost exclusively from meat (especially red meat), this is a lot more likely to potentially cause renal problems. Now keep in mind that when we look at whether or not a high protein diet can cause kidney issues, scientists always look at EXCESS protein. In other words, it's not the total protein intake that matters. It's the amount in excess of your needs. As someone involved in strength training, you do need additional protein to repair your muscles. As I pointed out, your actual needs may be less than you think. Like a lot of things, it's best to not assume that more is always better. Obviously some protein is essential, additional amounts can be beneficial for some people, but there are potential downsides to eating more than you actually need. Certainly your call, but you might try dropping that down to ~125 to 140 grams. This will open up some options to get some additional veggies or whole grains in you that will help with athletic performance, while still supporting your goals regarding body recomposition. FYI, my statements about protein needs for athletes is based on the latest Nutrition and Athletic Performance position statement from the American College of Sports Medicine. Sorry for yet another long post. I geek out on this stuff and just wanted to share.