ACCOUNTABILITY MISSION: NO MERCY AND NO EXCUSES 

TELL THE WHOLE TRUTH AND BE ACCOUNTABLE:  DO YOU OBJECTIVELY MEASURE YOUR PROGRESS?  Do you weigh yourself?  Do you take your measurements?  Do you keep up with your follow up visits so that an accurate history of your progress is maintained?  Are you conistant in your methodology so that you monitor the true numbers. 

OBJECTIVE - As an adjective, definition:

-being the object of perception or thought; belonging to the object of thought rather than to the thinking subject ( opposed to subjective).

- not influenced by personal feelings, interpretations, or prejudice; based on facts; unbiased: an objective opinion.

Source: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/OBJECTIVE?s=t

Some disregard wieght guidelines, the bmi calculaion, etc as arbitrary and of little value.  However, we need something other than our own opinions and perceptions to confirm how well we are performing in order to reach our personal goals.  

Do you make an objective assessment of your progress on a regular basis?

The scale.  Nemesis for some and savior for others.   It is a hard and fast fact that this is the primary measurement of weight loss success a any stage using any method.  The question of long term success is answered by the % of excess weight lost and maintained over your lifetime.  We need the scale at lest for now.  However, how we use it varies. 

To weigh daily or not is a personal decision.  For me, it keeps my focus on my goals.  Knowing I am over weight even if I am no longer obese serves as an incentive to eat carefully and stay on plan.  For others multiple daily weigh ins, weekly, twice a week or monthly work best.  What is right for you? 

BMI or boy mass index is a ratio of height to weight in order to determine if your weight is a healthy one.  

Definition: A measurement of the relative percentages of fat and muscle mass in the human body, in which mass in kilograms is divided by height in meters squared and the result used as an index of obesity.  

Critics rightfully charge that it is flawed in that lean muscle mass may place a healthy person in the overweight category.  However fat or muscular we should see our bmi's decline and hold steady at maintenance.  We can still choose a number or range that works for us personaly.  Thus it is still an objective measure. 

Body measurements: using a tape measure and knowing your girth.  I wore with pride the same size for decades.  Shamefully, my clothes were growing as I was.  Today's size zero at the gap or at old navy is equal to my coveted size 9/10 as a teen.  Don't let ever changing vanity sizes fool you.  Measuring yourself and your clothing will provide objective information on your progress. 

Body fat percentage is easily determined with a few simple math skills and a spread sheet program if you'd rather not return to the stone age with a calculator.  The Department of Defense and the YMCA have methodologies that are recognized as a reasonably accurate estimate of fat vs lean tissue.  You will need your weight and body measurements.  This is another objective measure you may use periodically to set and monitor your goals.  These are the formulas for women and the web sites where full details including the calculation for males reside.   

We can wonder where we stand.  Lie to ourselves. Accept what is, is.  Measure, assess, take action.   It begins with putting objective measures to use.   

  ...All are welcome, jump in at anytime.

For reference:

5 Day Pouch Test (5DPT) website 
http://www.5daypouchtest.com/plan/theplan.html
5 Day Pouch Test Instructions
http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/black_american/3995048/Hold-my-feet-to-the-fire-please-Accountability-Mision/

 
Protein Train Instructions 
http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/black_american/3993571/Protein-Train-Educate-me-please/#32309205

 
Wagon Plan Instructions 
http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/black_american/3650242/The-Wagon-Plan-Get-back-on-the-wagon

 
Overeaters Anonymous
Online Meetings Around the Clock * Information on changing eating behavior 

Protein Sparing Modified Fast (PSMF) 
The no op version.  This version is still severe but far more liberal than the one many pre ops are given.   
http://www.holisticmd.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/ProteinSparingModifiedFast.pdf 

Daily calorie needs calculator
A more advanced calculator that's still easy to use.   
Advanced option lets you choose from  3 different calculation methods.  Enter data once for calorie needs at maintenance;  plus calorie needs for 2 different levels of weight loss; and, results include a week long calorie cycling plan.  Calculator  takes into account age and gender as well as activity level.  Links to other calculators are on the same page.  
http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

Podrunner
Not just for runners.  Site has a variety of workout music and music timed to progressive running programs for 5k, 8k, 10k, and speed.  In place indoors, treadmill, or at the track run to the beat and you'll complete the stated distance.  There is also a variety of interval training music from about 130 bpm up to to 180 bpm; and, fixed bpm workout music as well.  Lengths of tracts vary but there is a speed/ length to suit most workout needs.  
http://www.djsteveboy.com/mixes.html

A WORKOUT site to get you started or keep you going
http://www.exrx.net/index.html

No special equipment is required for this group of progressive workout programs designed for those new to it all and for those wanting to step it up a notch.  Perhaps you can only do one or even none today.  Perhaps you do quite a few already.  Either extreme or somewhere in the middle, this self challenge is still for you. 
http://www.twohundredsitups.com/
http://www.hundredpushups.com/
http://www.onefiftydips.com/
http://www.twohundredsquats.com/
http://www.twentyfivepullups.com/

USDA - database, nutrition facts
http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/

I've let things slide for quite awhile.  Plan was shot to hell.  Still, I managed to loose some of that steroid induced fat I'm carrying around. 

Since I haven't felt well lately I've been relying on take out and processed foods.  Bad business for me.   I am retaining water and my weight is fluctuating.  I'm supposed to be in weight loss mode. 

This is not good.  However, I am the one person that can fix it.  This is when I must be accountable to myself for not loosing the regain.  No mercy and no excuses.  As a regainer, regardless of the reason for it, straying from plan is inexcusable. 

Right now I am on point once again.  When I stray It has to be well planned and calculated so I do not negatively influence my goals.  I have proven repeatedly that I cannot step off of my plan on the fly.  Every time I stray without planning for it first, I screw up.  Fingers crossed I won't miss step again. 

ACCOUNTABILITY MISSION: NO MERCY AND NO EXCUSES 

TELL THE WHOLE TRUTH AND BE ACCOUNTABLE:  How easily do you find reasons to break from your plan?  How difficult is it for you to return to your plan after making a mistake?  Perhaps for you it is the opposit.  You resist the temptation to stray and snap right back onto the straight and narrow if you do stray off plan.  

At each stage our needs are different.  There are always danger zones.  Individual differences will determine the best course of action for each of us.  There are some universal truths to weight loss and in particular weight loss surgery from pre op through maintenance.  There are also areas where the individual must determine what yields the best result. 

Do you eat strictly within your plan?

No op?  No harm may come to you by cheating but neither will the desired weight loss.  Can you find a plan you can live with indefinetly?  If not you will continue to live the typical dieters on & off life.  This is not a flaw within you.  It is a fact of being human for about 95% of dieters.  We all want to be the 5% who can do this without surgical intervention; however, you have to find what works for you and you can keep up forever.  You may be among that 5% if you can discover that sweet spot.  

Pre op?  There is no room here for your own "tweaking the plan".  You have failed at dieting over the long term.  My definition of failure is not having lost and maintained a loss of at least 50% of youe excess weight for life.  This is the same as the medical definition for succesful wls.   Doing this the "traditional" way did not work for you.  You are not in that 5% who make it.  You have made a decision to go the surgical route.  Why are you struggling to commit with so much invested?  The answers are individual and complex.  However, you know that your plan is to prepare your body for the best possible surgical outcome.  Not sticking to plan could increase your chances of complications and slow your post op recovery.  

Newbie post op?  Not following plan to the letter at worst will kill you.  At best slow or even no weight loss.   Most post ops are excited at seeing the weight drop quickly and efforlesly in the first year.  You can get away with a taste of this and that.  You can get by trading really soft for your puree stage.  The question is should you?  You know the answer is no.  While physicians' plans vary widely, you have been prescribed a particular diet for a reason.  Follow your time table to move between stages.  Stick to allowed foods.  If you have a doctor that left you with little guidance ask for details.  If things remain vague use your resources.  Seek out a  more detailed post op plan with a bariatric surgery trained nutritiionist or through another surgeon's detailed plan.  You want medically reviwed information not opinions and anecdotes. 

Post op "Tween"?  No longer a newbie but not yet a veteran there is a lot of temptation to go astray.  Physically you can get away with a lot at times.  Of course this slows your weight loss or worse sets you on a cycle of regain.  Here is where you will come face to face with your food related dysfunctions.  You will have to decide if you can handle an occasional serving of any given food.  You will have to examine how your body responds and how you respond emotionally.  Only you can decide how far you can stray and still achieve and maintain for life a healthy weight.  From reading many posters on many sites, It is at this stage many people who never make goal have faltered.  Usually, the biggest regret is returing to carb based trigger foods.  After a long period without these foods the cravings were gone.  Then we have a little and it is ok.  A little becomes a little more and we realize we have awakened the fat person within.  Before you add variety do some serious self examination.  If you could not handle it in the past why do you believe you can now? 

Veteran long term post op?  The danger may be everywhere if you are the cast iron pouch type.  After the first few years this is where your feet really get held to the fire.  You have to keep it going forever.  You must know by now the amount of calories, carbs, fats, protein that you need to continue to loose or to maintain.  Many are continuing weight loss years post op.  Procedures with no malabsorption and those with slower metabolisms may not have fast weight loss even as a new post op.  Then there are those with a very high bmi to start.  Naturally one would expect several years of active weight loss.    Boredom and temptation can be a struggle.  It becomes too easy to treat oneself for a special occasion.  This is where we make it or break it.  Have you created good new habits to replae your old eating dysfunctions?  By now you should know what you can handle and what is no good for you.  Use this information before you step off the eating pattern that works. 

Regainer?  You know the answer.  Straying is not an option for you right now.  Find out why you have gained.  Is it physical or is your eating the cause?  Keep up with your post op follow up visits so issues with your procedure can be identified and corrected if needed.  Getting that weigh in with your surgeon is an added incentive to keep working your plan.  Ask for what you need to start loosing again.   Like the newbie, follow plan to the letter. 

Diet is a dirty word for some.  I've heard "lifestyle change", "plan of eating", dozens of other terms.  In the end you must determine how you want and need to live to be succesful.  What you can and can't handle will require introspective with brutal honesty.   It is ok to declare no food off limits as a long term maintainer.  However, we all do not have that priviledge.  Many of us will find we must swear off certain foods forever. 

Consider the consequences before you take that first bite.  Where are you now?  Where do you want to be?  What has this food meant for you in the past?  What has changed and what has not?  Don't stray at all is the best answer for most of us.  Instead, seek out a satisfactory substitute.  Once you enter the danger zone you may not find your way out. 

  ...All are welcome, jump in at anytime.

For reference:

5 Day Pouch Test (5DPT) website 
http://www.5daypouchtest.com/plan/theplan.html
5 Day Pouch Test Instructions
http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/black_american/3995048/Hold-my-feet-to-the-fire-please-Accountability-Mision/

 
Protein Train Instructions 
http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/black_american/3993571/Protein-Train-Educate-me-please/#32309205

 
Wagon Plan Instructions 
http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/black_american/3650242/The-Wagon-Plan-Get-back-on-the-wagon

 
Overeaters Anonymous
Online Meetings Around the Clock * Information on changing eating behavior 

Protein Sparing Modified Fast (PSMF) 
The no op version.  This version is still severe but far more liberal than the one many pre ops are given.   
http://www.holisticmd.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/ProteinSparingModifiedFast.pdf 

Daily calorie needs calculator
A more advanced calculator that's still easy to use.   
Advanced option lets you choose from  3 different calculation methods.  Enter data once for calorie needs at maintenance;  plus calorie needs for 2 different levels of weight loss; and, results include a week long calorie cycling plan.  Calculator  takes into account age and gender as well as activity level.  Links to other calculators are on the same page.  
http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

Podrunner
Not just for runners.  Site has a variety of workout music and music timed to progressive running programs for 5k, 8k, 10k, and speed.  In place indoors, treadmill, or at the track run to the beat and you'll complete the stated distance.  There is also a variety of interval training music from about 130 bpm up to to 180 bpm; and, fixed bpm workout music as well.  Lengths of tracts vary but there is a speed/ length to suit most workout needs.  
http://www.djsteveboy.com/mixes.html

A WORKOUT site to get you started or keep you going
http://www.exrx.net/index.html

No special equipment is required for this group of progressive workout programs designed for those new to it all and for those wanting to step it up a notch.  Perhaps you can only do one or even none today.  Perhaps you do quite a few already.  Either extreme or somewhere in the middle, this self challenge is still for you. 
http://www.twohundredsitups.com/
http://www.hundredpushups.com/
http://www.onefiftydips.com/
http://www.twohundredsquats.com/
http://www.twentyfivepullups.com/

USDA - database, nutrition facts
http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/

Happy belated birthday Angenoire! Glad to hear you made it safely through Sandy path of destruction. I wish you nothing but the best on your success and happiness!

Heeeeeeeeeeey Lee......... Glad your're still here.