Hello WLF, How are you all doing? I did much better yesterday. I even got the protein drink down and kept the carbs at a minimum. Hugs, Barbara 267/217/126

Hi Shell, I am right there with you. Actually, I am on my second plateau. I believe it is beginning to break, as the scale today showed a loss of a few pounds. I firmly believe that mine are caused by two things, the first being my period. I actually gained about 5 lbs the day before it and now that it is over I am a little below the weight I was at before gaining the 5 lbs. But, I truely believe that my plateaus are mainly caused by not getting enough calories in. The body thinks it is starving, so it holds on to everything. When I get more calories in I tend to lose more. Some days I can only get around 400-500 calories and on top of that they are not all absorbed, so my body doesn't want to let anything go! At least we are not alone. That is the wonderful part of this board, it helps us to know that we are 'normal'! Good luck and congratulations on your loss so far. Also, a while back I posted about the wonderful little diet tracker on "my yahoo", you should check it out... it really seems to help put the weight loss into perspective. You set your goals and weigh in periodically and it tells you how close you are to your goal. It helps me to stay realistic and it reminds me just how far I have come already! I am 48% to my goal with 19 weeks left to go out of 26. It really does help! If you need help finding it just let me know! Happy Holidays, Amber

boy, I wish I could eat even close to what you all describe. lets take today. started the day with a protein drink made with 1% milk, that gave me close to 34 g protein with the 9g in the milk. had maybe 8 chedder cracker fish as a snack at 10, and then my fiasco at lunch, tried a personal pan pizza just beef and cheese, and was only going to eat the toppings, got maybe two bites in before i realized it was just way to greeasy, the melted cheese on a pizza is like a grease magnet. it was all I cuold do to keep the two bites down. I will have maybe three bites of applesauce in about an hour, and then a glass of lowfat chocolate milk when i get home at 5 to get in another 9 g of protein. l will try to eat some meat for protein at dinner but in the last 5 days my dinner meals have gotten rougher and rougher to consume anything at all. either I am just not hungry(which is always) or I am still way to full from my lunch and try as I might I cant eat more than a bite or two before just giving up and throwing the stuff away. if I get in 600 calories a day it would be a miricle and only get those from my protein drink and the milk. my usual lunch is a half of a small wendy's chilli with cheese and then I have the rest the next day. soups I do well on but prefer the protein in the chili. I avoid all carbs as much as possible, but because of that seem to be avoiding everything lately. the pizza topping today was a trial which I wont repeat. when I eat slowly I get maybe 3 or 4 bites in and then the food is cold and not worth eating so I just put it away. Lately while I have no cravings of any kind and no real head hunger, I have been grieving that I cannot finish even a childs meal. I have been so ingrained to finish my plate that throwing four fifths of everything away is really getting to me. left overs dont sit well on my pouch either. I have tried lean cusines as they have good protein but can eat only maybe a fourth or a third at best of the meat and none of the vegie. I dont feel bad, though my energy level is a bit low by evening time. I drink water all day though I seldom can drink more than 20 oz of plain water, that coupled with the 30 oz of milk I get in the protein drink and chocolate milk only bring me up to around 50 oz of fluids a day far short of the 64 oz I was told to shoot for. protein wise I know I am far short at probably around 50 to 70 grams a day , I think I am supposed to be at 96 g a day based on my current weight. I was told to take your existing weight and multiply by.03 To see how much protein you should be getting a day. I just cant seem to eat much more than I currently am no matter how much I wish that I could. now If I was loosing weight hand over fist I might not worry but I seem to have plateued about two weeks ago at -55 pounds and for the past 2 weeks have hovereed close to that figure maybe a pound down then a pound up. I walk three miles a day but know that I need to increase my exercise. alas knowing it and doing it are two different things.

I was experiencing the same sharp pain, almost like a knife. I called my nurse and she said sometimes you get adhesions where you are healing and they can cause that. She said to try and ride it out. I did have it on the left side and I must've overdone it one day, because I got another one on the right side. I had been watching the message boards closely to see if anyone else said anything similiar to what I was experiencing, and when I didn't, that's when I called the nurse. They are going away, now finally. Still a little sore, but not like it was, that's for sure! I would still call your drs. office, just in case, but hopefully, that's all it is. Hope you feel better!

Those carby potatoes will make you hungrier and hungrier. Carbs tend to do that to us... Try to stick to the protein--always eat it first. I am going to tell you that I would drink those shakes to get in my protein and then I would chew up and spit out what I was craving. I know this may not be the best thing but it really really helped my head hunger. Its not like I wasnt getting what I needed cause I was thru my shakes but I was also satisfying my brain. I havent craved those items again. The peanuts should be ok--they are full of protein but high in fat. Did you eat the whole can? Try your best to get your water in and your protein. Protein in essential in losting the weight. You are doing great!! Christine 275/266/217/160 57 to goal!