Malaika

WOW I knew all of that had lots of calories; however, never knew the exact numbers. Thankfully, I've never ordered any of it. Well did get the quesadilla burger once -- it was awful - ended up eating 1/2 the burger. It was also incredibly messy to eat -- not that has anything to do with the price of tea in China. Thanks for posting that article WASa - very interesting! And I believe people would be swayed on what they order if they had the information in front of them ... and I am sure that is why the restaurants don't want it -- their profits will definitely decrease if numbers are posted, IMO

When I was doing the shots/pill weight loss, the doctor specifically told me to avoid all artificial sweetners, especially aspartame, as it would slow/stall/stop my weight loss. I don't care for aspartame at all. I haven't had soft drinks in over 20 years and I can drink my iced tea without sweetner, so it was not a big deal for me. I haven't read Dr. Atkins book in years, so do not recall what he has to say about it specifically; obviously this man does as he knows the exact pages! My theory is to avoid putting anything artificial into your system as much as you can. I do occassionally use stevia in my 1 cup of daily coffee; however, that's about it.

WASa, so you only count carbs in things like bread, rice, white potatoes and don't worry about fruit etc.? I've pretty much given up all white carbs and sugar (Occassionally give in when they are serving warm sourdough bread ... mmmmmmm)

Which I totally don't understand because these people obviously had been on diets before and every diet involves reading labels...WW you have to know calories and fat; Atkins - Protein and carbs, no sugar/no flour - ingredients, calories ... so how did they get through the dieting process without at least absorbing SOMETHING?

wow that is one heck of a challenge rb -- i will have to give this some serious thought and will be interested to see what others who have more experience have to say. (sorry for the caps, i was too lazy to go back and change them)

That is what I thought when I read it -- I always thought ricotta had no flavor ... however, I'd decided everyone was saying it was so yummy that perhaps I'd have to give it a try after my surgery and I'm on mushies or solids ... so if there is a trick to giving it flavor, please share.

Well, you are one ahead of me -- I ended up throwing out what I bought. Let me know if you have any luck finding those marshmallow mud pie bars -- if not, I'll pick you up a box and send them to you (of course, you'll have to email or pm me your address) but they are the best of all the atkins bars I purchased.

OKAY - so my fiance won't register here but wanted me to post the same question he posted on Dr. Aceves website ... so here goes .... "My fiancee is having her surgery on the 12th of this month. I am not worried about her having it, what I am concerned with is WHAT should be MY role in all this? What can I do? What can I expect? I just read that she will be 'leaking' (pads?) I can and will change that. What I would like to know from all of you is what will be the the best way I can help her through the initial three weeks and beyond? Thanks Please respond to me at my email, as I do not regularly visit these forums. You can email me at beardeditalian48@yahoo.com. Thank you all for your help and words of advice." So there you have it -- Thank you from both of us.

I told my boss just that -- he didn't ask anymore as I am sure he was afraid I would tell him it was female related ... LOL

You got that right ... plus if you're skin is the wrong color or you don't have money, or you aren't dressed quite right, then you don't always get the same treatment as someone else. I've seen that on more than one occassion ... I have worked med mal cases for 6 years ... both on defense and as plaintiff ... it's shocking the things that happen and the "mistakes" doctors make ... some of the cases I have worked on, and one I am working on now are so very very sad and simply because the doctor made a simple mistake ... I'm not saying that everyone is perfect; however, I think that doctors should be limited on the number of hours they work a day -- or at least the number of surgeries that are performed by any one doctor in a give day/week. I don't think it matters if your doctor is from the US, Mexico or BFE -- there are great doctors, mediocre doctors and butchers everywhere. IMO at least.

I know what you mean - I bought some sugar free chocolate candy .. oh man ... the candy tasted good but the results afterwards didn't make it worth it.

I haven't had the opportunity - YET - however, I always remember my mom saying "You stay fat in your mind longer than in your body" after she had lost over 100 lbs. and kept it off .. I will be interested to see if that is true ...will keep you posted as my weight comes off ...

I use Zantac. Is your RX or OTC? I buy the OTC ... 2 = 1 RX ... if I've got bad reflux, I'll take 4 OTC which is equivcalent to 2 RX ... it helps me; however, priolsec works better for others.

RB2 went to Dr. Aceves, just like we are going to :confused1:

Okay, the marshmallow mud pie are bars and they're great -- got them at WalMart. The Protein drinks do not have sugar alcohol in them -- 1 g of sugar, no sugar alcohol listed. Got them at Target

I think the two of you are GREAT debaters and that Alex should make a new section entitled "DEBATE - Mac & WASa" and the members pick a topic for the two of you to debate on ... between the two of you, everyone definitely gets all sides of the topic. BTW - not being facetious (sp?) or trying to be a smart ass -- being totally serious ... I enjoy reading what both of you have to say and have learned so much I can't believe it. Alex - what do you think?

When my oldest son (first child) was a baby -- he went through a phase where all he would eat was applesauce. I was concerned, so I took him to the pediatrician. He told me not to worry about it - when he was hungry he would eat. He said that if everyone ate like young children did, there would be no overweight people -- that overeating was a "learned" behavior. I believe he is partly right ... dieting should never have been invented, IMO

That seems to be the answer to everything for me these days ... age and hormones ... that's what my gyno tells me, my PCP, my dermatologist ... grrrrrrrrr :biggrin0:

So I was in Target last night (you'll find I spend too much time there) and was looking at all the various protein drinks, bars, etc. I find the Atkins bars and shakes very good ... especially that marshmallow mud pie ... OMG ... anyway, I regress ... over by the pharmacy, where they have the slimfast and atkins, etc., they had a 4-pack of Pure Protein Shakes ... They are 11 fl. oz; have 110 calories, 1 g total fat, 5 g carbs, 2 g fier, 1 g sugar and 21 g Protein. I purchased the Cookies 'n Creme flavor. Tonight, I was missing my fruit smoothies (haven't figured out a way to have them on the pre-op diet) so I opened a can, put it in the blender, added some ice and blended away ... voila ... it made it very frothy and it tastes very good. They are a bit pricier than the Atkins - at Target $5.99 for Atkins - $6.99 for these (qty. 4) -- they may be less expensive at Wal-Mart if Wal-Mart carries them. I know the Atkins is only like $4.86. Second discovery ... was in GNC awhile back -- before deciding to have WLS ... and the gal suggested some supplements to add to water ... I picked up 2 of them ... the pink lemonade was good; the orange mango, not so much ... anyway, they are 50 calories; total fat 0.5 g; carbs 3 g; protein 10 g. You can use the entire package in 12 oz of water for a light flavor (I found it strong enough in 24 oz. of water). Cost at GNC was $1.79. Not a great deal; however, nice to keep on hand for emergencies.

I was going to finance my surgery; however, certain things happened and I was able to cancel my loan. I went through SurgeryLoan.com ... they approved me; however, the interest rate was high (15.9%) and they wanted to charge me a "service fee" of almost $1800. I was glad I didn't have to get the loan; although I would have done so if circumstances hadn't happened as they did. I have heard that ChoiceCard (?) or something along those lines is pretty good and reasonable ... I've even heard you can use it for surgery on your pet! Not sure if that is any help or not, I hope so. And good luck to you with your surgery.

Well HELL -- I couldn't call you OLD WISE ONE anyway ... I'm 4 years older than you ... okay, we'll stick with YOUNG WISE ONE ... I think VERY YOUNG WISE ONE is pushing it a bit at 47 ... :biggrin0: Regardless, you have been a wealth of knowledge for me during this journey, and I applaud your success ... I hope you stay around for a VERY long time.

This is the first time I've ever been on anything like this ... you very well have a point ... perhaps I will remove my photo and replace it with an avatar ... I never get too much information about myself - just generalities; never specifics

Should we call her "OLD WISE ONE" ? :thumbup:

Be sure to keep us posted on your knee replacements... I'm going to be having to have bilateral knee replacements down the road ... I'm pretty much bone-on-bone and once the cortisone quits working, I'm sure that will be the next step ... my ortho is trying to keep me going until at least 55 ... that's 4 years away ... so hoping that the weight loss will help; I'm sure it can't hurt. Fiance and I went bike riding tonight for about 30 minutes ... I had to quit due to the fact that my knees were hurting so bad; other than that, I could have continued 30 minutes, maybe more. May have to stick to walking and pilates.

Ah, well that said, I totally understand. Sorry.