I was like that when I was a week out too. :-)

Congrats on your new journey in life.

It does get better, I lover sleeping on stomach too, I think that started back around 3 weeks out.

Take care.

...and I am still alive and down 24 pounds. Still can't sleep on my stomach but I'm getting incrementally better each day. I went shopping for an external hard drive at 5 days post-op and that was a mistake because I felt miserable before I could even leave the store.

I'm doing well with my vitamins and liquids but the gas is still getting me and I'm finding it hard to adjust to the fact that the few times I get hungry, the hunger pangs are actually painful.

Anyway, just wanted to update you all on my progress. I'll be sucking on Gas-X strips and watching Lifetime Movies until next time....

Hey Lee.............I think a whole lot of us have been taking a break from the board,on vacation, busy or otherwise occupied over the summer....(self included).  I'm glad you and Becca made it back stateside safe and in one piece.  Looking forward to seeing all the great pics when you get them up.

JJ

I'm holding myself accountable for several high cal, high carb, high sodium days.  No "bad" foodsin excess.  My usual eating whats convenient instead of what I should have eaten.  So much for low carb and a weight loss mindset.  I'm planning on going out for Mexican today but it will be all within reason.  Tomorrow I knock the carbs back down.  Today I will have ome carb indulgence and not a platter of them. 

Some tome ago I learned to create my own agenda because the accepted school of thought does not aid my obesity control objectives.  I have to eat more fat to loose weight but a lifetime of being phobic of dietary fat hinders this.  Like anything else related to a life long succesful change I need to figure out how to do this in a way that I enjoy.  We don't stick with what we don't like very well and I have not been able to aquire a taste for fat in most foods I regularly eat. 

I do however want to reach my personally selected ideal weight while being as healty ans strong as I can be.  That means finding a way to work the fats in so I can stop teetering on the edge or just above a normal bmi and find my way to mid range.  Doctors say I eat fine & metabolically I likely "can't" loose any more.  We all know that's not true.  I wi**** were than no famine or starvation could exist in the world. 

Holding my feet to th fire.  Staying accountable to me. 

ACCOUNTABILITY MISSION: NO MERCY AND NO EXCUSES 

TELL THE WHOLE TRUTH AND BE ACCOUNTABLE:  Are you managing your obesity or something else in control?  

Surgery: Under consideration, approval process, pre op, post op, or maintaining we have responsibilities that we must be committed to.  Even if we never admitt to ourselves there are dysfunctional food issues in the mix at some level our agenda must include a radical change to make this a long term succcess. The physical cure is not an automatic obesity cure any more than many disease modifying medications can work optimally without the patients active participation in ensuring it is tken as directed. 

No Surgery: Not an option for most who find this site but there are many silent no ops who can loose and maintain by diet and exercise alone.  In spite of the 95% failure rate of diets, what can work for you is a complex combination of physical, emotional, metabolic, and even speritual factors that need your direct attention to resolve.  Moe dillegence is required at the outset because there is no benefit of a tool to allow time to gt your head straight while making progress.

Activity:  The fact is there fat people who are healthier than thin people because acgtivity is an important component of good health.  The only option here os to get out and do it.  A little or a lot, some form of exerrcise is a requirement for maintaining the body both short and long term.  

For many of us, the calories in/out math doen't work.  Lucky folks can exceed the numbers and there is where you seee the bragging rights taken full advantage of.  For some of us the numbers are average and where wls is concerned and we've been falsly led to believe that wls = rapid wl we are dissolusioned and impatient.  Then there are the true nightmare folks myself among them that don't loose normally and may even gain when the numbers are saying there is a nice calorie deficit.  We're the folks on suicide watch.  

Whatever you situation, it is up to you to create the agenda you need to address it.  You may have a phenominal medical/ wl support team that can creat the plan that surs weight loss even in the worse case scenarios.  Most of us do not although our practitioners are well meaning and believe what they tell us.  If it is not working, you may have to figure out why and create your own fix.  

Suggestion:
Review plans of eating. 
This is another way to say diet.  However, I want to distinguish between weight loss industry product and clinical research.  What type of foods work best for your body?  Is low fat helping or hurting you?  How many carbs can you process daily without over taxing your insulin production?  Do you store fat easily and have hell to release it?  Will a week of stress or eating light cause you to drop a few pounds or result in weight gain? 

Various ways of eating fit a multitude of metabolism scenarios.  Keep a food journal and note how your body reponds to what you ingest.  Then look at medical data on differrent dietary schools of thought and see what fits your profile.  You may find that what you are doing, like the arguably now infamous food pyramid appears to be for many people, is not the best plan of eating for you personally. 

The folks running the obesity information pipeline have no consensus on what is really happening in our bodies.  The weight loss and drug industry profit machines are largely in control with plenty of government support.  Results that go against the grain don't get renewed grant funding so our doctors often cling to what does not work.  This is what they accepted medical literature states so it is their cofort zone. 

Create your own agenda.  Find your comfort zone.  Find what you need to do in order to enjoy food, activity, and life without obesity as your constant nemisis.  This is your universe to re create your way. 

Make this week a good one.  Think about what went well and what was not so nice recently.  Consider what works for you and what is counter productive.  Make a plan.  Work your program.   


    ...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/downloads/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/