isaviolinist

I also generally use smaller forks and I put my dinner entree on my small salad plates. For some reason, when I put the dinner on the smaller plate, psychologically it is more satisfying to me. I'm not sure why - just is. And it also prevents me from putting extras on my plate. When I make a meal, I usually make a protein and a veggie or sometimes a carb/veggie combo (like a soba noodle edamame carrot salad or something). When I use the smaller plate, I generally just take the protein before taking something else. If its a really small portion of protein (like my crabcakes are only a 1/3 of a cup size), sometimes I do take some of the veggie, but with the smaller plate, I can really only take a small amount (like 1/4 cup). It prevents me from loading my plate which prevents me from overeating. The smaller forks and spoons are definitely helpful. Plus its pointless to use such a huge plate when what I'm eating more than fits on the smaller plates. Just takes up more extra room in the dishwasher. :blushing:

Hey I'm so glad that you are feeling better!!! Yay!!

I love these threads. I love cooking. For dinner tonight I made baked jumbo scallops (they were huge!! I could barely eat 2) with garlic, rosemary, lemon, white wine, and some brie baked on top. Delish! And for dessert I made this Peanut Butter pie from BariatricEating.com (love this site!). I made it without the crust, and instead spooned it into individual cupcake liners and actually froze it slightly so it came out in delicious 2 oz portions of peanut butter custard "ice cream" (its SO rich...I ate two 2 oz servings and was pretty overwhelmed and beyond satisfied). I changed a few things about the recipe - I used fat free cream cheese, fat free cool whip, chunky peanut butter instead of smooth (makes a great texture within the mixture), and only a 1/4 cup of splenda (which I thought was plenty, and then you don't get that slight bitter aftertaste from the splenda). If you love peanut butter, this is a great recipe. The way I made it, a 2 oz portion has 167 calories, but you could spoon the mixture into 1 oz portions too for even more control over the calorie intake. I love to cook, and post a lot of my cooking on my blog. Check it out: Violinist With A Band

Hm...I hate to say it but I'm not sure if I've ever really had totally proper restriction with the band. Sometimes I can eat ANYTHING and sometimes I can barely eat one bite without the throwing it up. The majority of my weightloss has been from me anally counting calories and now, exercising (and when I stopped both of those things, I gained weight back). How many calories is 25 points? For me, this isn't a diet because I'm not restricting a particular food or macronutrient (i.e. no carbs, no fat, or whatever other crazy diets are out there). I'm eating foods that I like and that taste good (one would be surprised how many healthy foods there are that taste absolutely amazing) but I am exerting a certain amount of will power. I could easily eat 3000 calories a day (there's over 1000 calories in a pint of Ben and Jerry's, I could easily eat 3 a day...probably more) but I know that my calorie cap per day is between 900-950. So I just have to stop there. I guess another question - are you actually physically hungry or is your head hungry? Much of the time when I have a desire to eat, I am definitely not hungry but my head is trying to compel me to eat. Not really an easy thing to deal with, but its definitely a good thing to be able to recognize within yourself.

I love fitday!

Wow I've actuaLly never heard of weight being listed on a DL. What states ask for this (because I want to make sure I never move to any of them lol)?

Hey Cara! Glad you got the link to work. I was in my car when I saw that you had posted that the link was broken and I was scared that someone erased the spreadsheet like they did the other one Anyways, to answer your question, I'm crosstraining 4-5 days a week, doing 55 minutes of interval training on the elliptical for the days that I don't crosstrain, and everyday I take a 2.5-4 mile walk (I love walking. Doesn't feel like exercise and it gives me a chance to clear my mind). I'm sticking to 850-950 calories a day and food logging everything (I use fitday.com). Things were slow for me toward the end of October so I changed things up a little (varied my calories, changed the balance of my macronutrients for a few days, changed up my exercise a little, and started drinking tons of water/fluid). That seemed to work. What is your daily calorie intake like and what is your exercise routine? I'm writing from my phone so I don't know how much you lost this week, but I think any loss is a great loss! When I have a week where I only lose .5 pounds or something, I try to remind myself that its just great to lose whether its .5 pounds or 5 pounds.

My goal is 145. I'm almost 5'3. I chose this based upon my body composition. At my last body comp assesment about 4 weeks ago I had 141 pounds of lean mass (muscles, bones etc anything that isn't fat). Because you do lose lean mass as you lose weight, my practitioner estimates that when I'm at my goal of 22% body fat, I will have 130-133 pounds of lean mass. I felt that 145 was a reasonable goal (which would be between 12-15 pounds of fat mass) and would put me at a REALLY healthy range, body fat percentage-wise. If I can continue losing past that (without destroying muscle) I will, but I want to hang on to as much lean mass as possible. When I get to 145 ill reassess.

I'm not totally sure what you mean by the vitamin taste (are you tasting the whey?), but unjury is a really good tasting protein powder I think. I know they have an unflavored one (you could add it to something like coffee maybe) and they also have a chicken soup which is yummy. I know that there are protein drinks that come in fruity flavors too (they would be meal replacements).

Yay!! Sometimes that stupid thing is so stubborn

Hey looks like it was a pretty good week, for the most part! Yay! Sophie - just wanted to say that a few weeks ago I went through 2 weeks or so where I just didn't lose anything and even gained about half a pound (I didn't change anything...was still keeping to my calorie goal and exercising everyday). Then, I got on the scale and was down 2 pounds in a day. And then this past week I lost a pound a day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday (Sunday I think was 1.2 pounds down). I think sometimes our bodies just go through weird stalls for no reason at all. I was getting so discouraged :-( But then, often we'll lose a crazy amount in just a day. So don't get discouraged -- just stayed focused on healing up!! Congrats on your surgery and weight loss so far!

Probably not a bad idea to give your surgeon a ring :thumbup: I will say that for weeks after surgery (even after everything else was feeling great), I would have a searing pain near my port if I moved in the wrong way. Nothing really felt like it was coming out of place - I never heard a rip or a pop, it just took longer to feel better than the other places. Sometimes I felt like I was going to just keel over from pain when I got that searing sensation. I was just careful of twisting and turning and sitting up during those weeks. I hope you feel better!!!

My heart was breaking reading this. I am sending so many positive thoughts to you and your little one. You should be so proud of yourself for continuing to take care of yourself through this ordeal. Its wonderful because you need to be healthy yourself so you can be all there for your daughter. Good for you :thumbup: Even though you don't know me, know that I am sending many wonderful thought toward you and your family.

Yay! That is so great! You should be proud of yourself! :thumbup: are you gonna do anything as a reward for reaching that goal?

Well I'm about a year and a half out from surgery so it may be different, but we do a lot of jumping in our cross training class but so far it doesn't seem to be affecting my port at all. I don't know if your place wiLl do this, but at our place the trainers will modify exercises to suit individual needs. So maybe tell them that the jumping is tricky and see if they can suggest an alternative exercise?

Hey good luck with your fill! And nice job with your loss this week! This morning I was at 214. A 3.6 pound loss from last week. It also happens to be my Thanksgiving goal :thumbup: hoping to take off 3-4 more before Turkey Day so ill be in good shape for my New Year's goal (onederland!!).

I didn't have any doubt in the beginning because I knew that I wouldn't have any restriction after surgery. There are only a few lucky people that have some sense of restriction before having an adjustment. I wasn't one of them, but I wasn't surprised. I eat a balanced diet (when I say diet, I'm not talking about 'dieting'). Generally, I end up a 33%/33%/33% for my macronutrients. I eat anywhere between 60-90g of Protein, about 20-25g of fat per day, and my carbs vary. I don't do any fad dieting or anything (i.e. no carbs, no fat, or whatever is popular these days). For me, maintaining a lifestyle is not about dieting. I read a study that there is something like a 98% failure rate with the fad diets that are advertised. I eat things that I like (luckily, the majority of those 'things' are nutritious but I don't deprive myself of little treats...I just budget my calories so I can include them) and I track my calories like a crazy person (everything that enters my mouth, including the little sample I get at the super market, or the taste I take while I'm cooking....everything). I use fitday.com, and I really like it. There are other sites too. And most importantly, I do high intensity exercise 6 days a week, and something low intensity on the 7th day. I average about 10 pounds a month. In September, my body fat percentage was around 46%. Now its around 35% and dropping steadily :thumbup:

Lots of luck and wishes for a speedy recovery!!! Congrats on your surgery today :thumbup:

Well I don't really have mini meals - I have lunch at noon which is a protein shake (I don't breakfast...I hate eating in the morning). And then I have little snacks (like half an ounce of cheese, yogurt, some little sample of something at Whole Foods etc.) and then sometime between 6-8PM we have dinner. After dinner I usually have some kind of dessert (usually a weight watchers ice cream or a slim fast bar). I log all of my food (even the little sample I get at the market) and so I know what my budget is. And if I know I'm going to have a higher calorie dinner, I plan for it and budget my calories. This works best for me - I'm never tired, I have energy at my workouts, and I don't feel hungry generally (head hunger is a different story, however).

I wasn't doing mushies over Thanksgiving, but I think there is a lot of stuff you can eat (just don't go overboard). Mashed potatoes (just mush up the lumpy potatoes or pick them out), any kind of soup (pumpkin, squash...if its chicken, just pick out the non mushy stuff), squash souffle. You can probably have some pumpkin pie - just don't eat the crust. I'm not a fan of pureeing certain things (I don't eat poultry, red meat, or pork...just seafood - the thought of pureeing either is gross to me so I never did it) but you could certainly puree some turkey with gravy or cranberry sauce or something like that if you like that.

You need to go get an unfill ASAP. You will become dehydrated and starvation is not the way to lose weight (you won't be able to starve yourself forever, and you'll gain it back...plus you will royally screw up your metabolism if you do it for an extended period of time...then you'll REALLY have issues losing). Your mindset seems like an eating disorder mindset. You've really done wonderfully well with your weightloss, and it sounds like you've persevered despite complications. Be proud of that, and continue on losing weight in a healthy manner. You should page your doctor and get in for an unfill first thing tomorrow.

At 10 days, I was feeling more like myself. The day of surgery I was walking around, so at 10 days I was pretty much able to get around on my own (except my surgeon said no driving for 2-3 weeks after). The only thing that was still pretty painful was my port. That stayed sore for awhile (5 weeks maybe?). I guess I'm wondering what your post-op diet is like? For 3-4 days after surgery I was on clear liquid (so broth basically). And then for 2 weeks after that (which is where you are right now at 10 days) I was on full liquids only (so Protein Shakes, SF FF Jello, milk, etc). For 2 weeks after that I was on mushies (anything with a mashed potato consistency basically), and then after that I went slowly to solids. I guess I'm just thinking that at 10 days out its too early to be eating solid foods like eggs. The reason is that when you eat food, your stomach churns to digest the food (even if its just a little bit of food, or something that you think is easy to go down). With the band so newly in place, its not a great idea for the stomach muscles to be moving that way. Perhaps this could be contributing to your issues with stomach pain. What is your post-op plan from your surgeon for eating?

Yay! Welcome:)

Sometimes when I get sandwich craving, I use Tumaro's low carb tortilla and toast it with tuna and cheese, and its like a tuna melt. For me, if I toast it and eat it in the evening the tortilla doesn't get stuck, and there's only 50 calories per tortilla and they're very low carb (5 net carbs, 6 g of Fiber which I need), plus 5g of Protein per tortilla: Tumaro's Gourmet Tortillas - Low Carb Tortillas, Healthy Flour Tortillas and Wraps, Organic Tortillas, Flavored Tortillas, food Service Tortillas, Soy-Full Heart Flatbread Tortillas). Last night, I cut two slices of tomatoes and put them next to each other with a little salt and pepper, put some shredded lettuce on top, then tuna, then a 1/4 cup reduced fat cheese. And toasted it all in the toaster oven. Didn't even miss the bread/tortilla!

The thing about MM Lite (ready to drink shake) is that yes, it is has far fewer calories, but it is a much smaller serving than regular MM ready to drink (8.5 oz vs 11 oz). There are about 19 (18.85, actually) calories per ounce in Muscle Milk Light. There are 20 calories per ounce in Muscle Milk. So the "Lite" part is, for the most part, a result of the smaller portion. You can lose weight eating anything - its a simple matter of calories in vs calories out. It doesn't matter if you drink MM, MM Lite, some other whey Protein, or you just eat your protein (or if you dont, for that matter...calories can come from protein, fat or carbs...regardless of where they come from, if you eat more than you burn, you'll gain...if you eat less, you'll lose...and please, no one launch into the "I feel like I can't function if I'm eating carbs...so calories in ARE NOT just calories in to me"...you're talking about something different, you're not talking about the simple equation of calories in vs out). If you feel like you want to budget a MM into your daily calorie goal (and that goal is less than you are burning), then you will lose weight. Also, I bought the Premier Protein shakes (160 calories, 30 g of protein) and they are delicious. I'm phasing out the MM and moving to the Premier Protein Shakes. I love them