My biggest dilemma is that I have to take medicine in the morning. I don't want to eat until around 11 am because I like to have a late night snack of 100 calorie pack of cocoa dusted almonds. I've been putting off taking my medicine but the one I can't put off is an anti biotic.

I guess I can share this ,lol. I have to take an antibiotic before have sex or I will get a UTI.I have to take it with food.

I guess half of a Greek Yogurt would be 50 calories. I need to look up string cheese and baby bell light.

How about you? Is the 5:2 plan working with your life? I also don't like working out with my trainer on an empty stomach.

Will this not work if you have 11 hours in between instead of 12? There must be some reason you have to have 12 hours off.

I'm upset about my food today, it has been incredibly healthful; coconut flour, pumpkin puree, cauliflower puree, greek yogurt, eggs, zucchini.. but when I look at my calorie count, my carbs are through the roof!!! The biggest offenders are the zucchini, cauli, and coconut flour, even though my cals are only slightly more than 600 for the day and my fiber is actually really great...

I didn't think cauliflower had many carbs in it! That is crazy.

 

Sheryl, I hope you continue to like this guy. I envy you having actual meet up groups that do things. I like my little small town sometimes, but for the most part I hate it because there are no opportunities for anything here.

 

Bill is quitting the job. He was trying to counsel and teach very disturbed kids. One girl tried to kill her mother and one boy tried to kill his father.  Bill has no way to discipline them when they tell him to F off, etc. due to the rules. All he can do is send them out of class back to their rooms, which is what they want. The money is poor and he feels it's not worth the aggravation.

 

i try to distance myself from him as much as I can and just go out on dates with him. I've learned he's fun when he has an idea of something he wants to do, or a place he wants to take me to, but I can't get wrapped up in his drama.

 

Jim is crazy in love with me. I don't know what to do about that. He tells me this all the time that it is true and " he's been looking for me all his life."  He calls me constantly and asks if there is anything I need. As a single woman, there are always odd jobs I could have him do. I can't encourage him. I like to go dancing with him, but he keeps talking about a future together and I don't see my future with him.

 

I'm having fun going out to dance as often as I can with my women friends, but I'm afraid it's going to come to a complete halt after the beginning of Nov. when I have my surgery.

 

The doctor gave me a prescription today for an antidepressant that is supposed to help with anxiety and sleep, and I looked it up and it says causes appetite increase and weight gain. I will try it for a couple of days and see if I start to have carb cravings. That is what Elavil did to me, and I gained 40 lbs on it. This one is an old antidepressant, Doxepin.

Edited October 21, 201411 yr by Oregondaisy

I had to pop in just to say, a drug very similar to Doxepin (a tricyclic antidepressant) is what made me gain 50lb in like 6 months, many years ago. Which weight I never got off me again until the sleeve. If you can take something else, I totally would!! Good luck, though -- depression and anxiety SUCK. (I am not sure how effective those meds are for that anyhow -- I was taking it for a chronic pain condition, which they found it worked better for than for dep/anx).

Shoot, I will be in CO for a wedding that weekend!

Anywhere near Denver? If so we should meet up for coffee or something Florinda!

I'm popping in to say I've been sucking it big time. My mom had total knee replacement surgery on Oct. 6, so I took the week "off" from fasting...and wouldn't you know it can't seem to get back on track. So I'm determined to fast today. Got up at 4:45 am to hit the treadmill and burn a few extra cals. Other than walking the dog my life of exercise is NON-EXISTANT. UGH! I hate not working out.

Funny I will be 4 YEARS post-op tomorrow. And at my highest weight since hitting my low at about 18 months post-op and my FIL said to me the other day "you and your hubby look like you are losing again" ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, that was the funniest thing EVER! We are both up!!! LOL. Anyway, trying to fast today. Gotta hold strong!

Edited October 22, 201411 yr by M2G

Denise what dose are you on ? Sleep aid low dose much lower side effects according to what I read.

For just anxiety and depression I was told busebar combined with lexapro or similar often works. It takes weeks to tell if the drugs are working and I didnt gain weight on lexapro. Lexapro did reduce sex drive but I didn't care, better than anxiety. Reason I went off it was I started getting flu like symptoms from it. If I took too high of a dose (normal dose) I would get a little euphoric so low dose treated my anxiety really well.

Another thing that worked is eliminating anxiety provoking people and situations from my life. I am doing great so far off the lexapro as long as I limit my coffee...high doses contributes to anxiety for me. So, for example, having coffee with one of my anxiety provoking sisters is an activity I avoid..ha

That is awesome that there is a new meetup in our neck of the woods - I haven't gone to my hospital group in a long time, I guess I wasn't that interested in the topics and everything is so geared towards the fresh post op or pre-ops. No thank you I do not need to attend another protein drink sample party lol - I drink one brand and that is it!

 

I will see what my work schedule looks like - as it is a crap shoot now that I am in retail. I already have requests in for a few days in November and December, so I will see how it goes.

I won't be there if the weather is nice...weekends are my horse riding cowboy chasing time.

Dinner last night: Zucchini jullienned into spaghetti noodles, blanched. "alfredo" sauce - nutritional yeast, salt, pepper, onion powder, minced garlic, powdered mustard, coconut milk, and pureed steamed cauliflower. Wiz all together until a smooth creamy sauce, adjust seasonings to taste. This sauce tastes even better the next day or the next, after the ingredients have had time to snuggle up together

Looking for gluten free noodles I discovered that even noodles that tout themselves as gluten free or veggie-made, ALL have wheat in them. Or if not durham wheat, then a grain of some kind. If anyone knows of a grain free noodle out there, let me know! Anyway, the blanched zucchini noodles are awesome, they move like noodles and absorb sauce really well.

This morning as my coffee was brewing, I decided to have a sugar-free day. I thought it would be easy... I reached for my Trader Joe's pumpkin spice chai mix ... first ingredient - sugar! Then I reached for my Trader Joe's coconut milk ... first ingredient - sugar! Et tu, Trader Joe? TRAITOR Joe! So, plain coffee with a 1/4 tsp coconut sugar, a slice of grain-free bread with salted butter and a drizzle of organic honey. Dinner should be easy, my "pasta" dish again and probably a persimmon for dessert. Now, I realize that I am cheating a bit by still having sweeteners like honey and coconut sugar, but that refined white powder drug is just EVERYWHERE :/

Hiya all... sorry I've not posted much... been on the thread and reading.

Life is very busy at the moment... work is crazy and my energy levels are at zero.

Not been doing great with the 5:2 - once a week I get a fast in but not more than that... all good intentions are going awol at the moment. Not exercised either, as much as I 'want' to my motivation is zero too! I don't know how to get it back? I am fed up of 'trying hard' without any results... I am not happy with maintaining when I want/need to lose more ... *sighs*

On a lighter note my son is going to NY tomorrow... he leaves home at 3am and will arrive at JFK 6am... I am sooo envious of him. Not sure if you remember but my daughter was in NY when Sandy hit... let's hope there is no hurricane for Hywel to deal with this time!

I seriously doubt I will be taking the Doxepin. I went online and did a lot of reading about it, and there were way too many people complaining about increased appetite, not being able to control themselves because the medicine caused them to feel like they were starving. That's the way I was on Elavil.

It's 25 mg capsules so I can't even cut it in half. I'll try one tonight and see if it helps me sleep, and how my eating goes tomorrow. I won't give it more than a couple days before I stop if I notice any type of new cravings starting. I surely don't need that!

I've tried a lot of different medications for all these problems over the years, insomnia , depression and anxiety. I just haven't had any luck finding anything I could handle because of side effects.

I can't believe I am going to be 62 on Sat. I feel so young at heart, but I am getting arthritis in more and more places. The one thing I am the most thankful for is my sleeve, that's for sure!

TRAITOR Joe made me LOL. Thanks Florinda!!

Re: the Doxepin -- it also caused me v. bad constipation, so it's not just increased appetite, I feel it slows down the entire metabolism/digestive system and motility. Maybe I just had bad luck though!

Coops girl...missed ya! That is awesome about your son doing the NY thing. Prayers for a safe trip!

Florinda, if you are going to be anywhere near Denver for the wedding let me know!

I'm 4 years post-op TODAY! And if I'm being honest, I'm only maintaining around a net-65 loss. Boo. But I can't say that I'm all that upset about it because I know myself and I know that statistically and realistically, MOST patients do in fact regain "some" weight after hitting their lowest post-op weight. But it's still not an easy pill to swallow. One thing I've decided to quit beating myself up about is that "low" weight. If I'm being honest, I only hit it ONE time when I was about 18 months post-op. So yes, technically it was my "low" weight, but realistically it was a one-time-low-bounce time for me and I really maintained about 7-10lbs higher for MOST of the time that I was near that weight. Anyway, I've definitely gained weight this year BOO, but in the grand scheme of things, I would NEVER NEVER NEVER go back to the way I was before surgery. Did this surgery allow me to lose some weight and gain some perspective YEP YEP YEP. If they had told me at the beginning you would only lose -30, -40, -60 lbs would I have still gone through with it. YES. (Plese don't get me wrong, I think it's upsetting that someone who really has about 30lbs to lose would do this surgery that is NOT something I'm on-board with ...for instance someone who is 5'6" weighs 180lbs and they want to weigh 140lbs...I do NOT think that this surgery is designed for that type of person but I digress...)

I'm happy I had surgery and I feel like it has been a big gift and a blessing in my life. I would do it all over again even knowing what I know now...and what I know now is that this is certainly not the easy way out. The struggle is real...but I'm thankful I have a group of ladies to take the journey with and who GET IT!

Life is such that most "western" women are a little overweight - and not just the middle aged ones! I think a bit of self acceptance goes along ways. It is so hard when you used to be obese. I get into that whole 10pounds = 100pounds problem in the brain, no what I mean? All or nothing thinking.

You know what made me feel good last weekend? i have regained about 5-7 pounds from my low weight and Steven was so compimentary to my looks when I got "skinny chick" size... down at 140 this spring and summer.. I felt a little embarrased for him to see me. Isn't that dumb? You know the first words out of his mouth - you look great, better than ever! I kinda realize he always says I am beautiful, but it reminded me to not be so damn hard on myself! I saw him again yesterday evening... I really cant figure out this guy except to say I think he is also very drawn to me, his life is just high chaos so he lacks consistency. I don't have a real boyfriend, or anyone else I am ready for intimacy with, so I am okay with what is going on... playing it week by week as things go.

Kevin, the guy i met in the parking lot is nice guy. We had a fun date, going dancing again. He is already driving me a little crazy though... daily texts and calls... offers to come over to my house to fix things etc. Love it if he were my boyfriend, but we just aren't there yet....and i feel a bit smothered by the daily calls etc. He is also a big complainer I am finding. That gets old.... we shall see.

So, pics from my very fun dance night last weekend! Bling belt with non cowgirl clothes - got lots of compliments on it.

Denise, have you tried the Lexapro or Busebar anxiety meds? Even though I couldn't handle Lexapro over the long run, a tiny tiny dose addressed my anxiety and helped me get off the crazy train.

I don't think I suffer from true depression, but I get the blues when my anxiety amps up too much and i can't sleep or relax. Anyway, i didn't gain weight on Lexapro except that once I got mentally healthier i started normally eating again, so regained about 5-7# of that unplanned loss I had. I didn't try busebar, but according to my online reading, those two drugs are lower side effects, easier to deal with than many of the old drugs. Life in day to day anxiety SUCKS! Life is so much better with that monkey off my back. Other things just start falling in place...

I would also strongly encourage limiting contact with anxiety provoking people. For me, it is my EX. Good guy, but we had a very unhealthy relationship and every time I saw him, my gut would wrench. He is in close contact with the boys - so if he comes over I leave and it helps me alot.

Today's food: breakfast - coffee with coconut sugar and coconut milk

lunch - a paleo brownie - avocado, coconut flour, bitter chocolate powder, chia "egg"

dinner - a piece of paleo pizza - cauliflower crust, my alfredo "sauce", arugula

dessert - dollop of greek yogurt with grain-free granola

I have a date to watch game 2 of the world series (GO GIANTS!!!!) so I might have a hard cider, otherwise I think it's a decent menu...

Hey my other PNW gals, hooray for heavy rainy fog! I've got the blankies piled high, a steaming cup of coffee, and this means later today I will be able to wear my Hunters rainboots!