Daily Post 10/8
Sorry I'm late, but it's been a busy day!
Here's your topic:
What is the best advice given to you either before or after your surgery (but pertaining to the surgery)?
Mine was given to me by my surgeon. After one month, I began obsessing over calories, fats, carbs. I counted them all. I asked him if my intake was okay. He told me to pay attention to the protein and only the protein. Since then, I noticed that I stress less, and put more faith in my tool. Don't get me wrong. I watch what I eat, but I'm not going to flip out over a slice of bread. It's life - live it.
Here's your topic:
What is the best advice given to you either before or after your surgery (but pertaining to the surgery)?
Mine was given to me by my surgeon. After one month, I began obsessing over calories, fats, carbs. I counted them all. I asked him if my intake was okay. He told me to pay attention to the protein and only the protein. Since then, I noticed that I stress less, and put more faith in my tool. Don't get me wrong. I watch what I eat, but I'm not going to flip out over a slice of bread. It's life - live it.
Highest: 315 ~ Surgery: 296 ~ Current: 177.8 ~ Goal: 165
Because of skin issues I was told at my surgeons office last week to stop obsessing about the BMI>>> I was asked what my goal was and I said to get the BMI in a normal range and was told to just be glad I am feeling well and not obsess about numbers. That if I get at the top of the normal range that would be great!
I think it would have to be my nut. Last year, around the holidays, I was sort of "pushing the envelope" by making some bad food choices. I wasn't eating a lot, but I was finding ways to justify what I was eating. My nut simply reminded me about the honeymoon period and how I should take advantage of it while I was in it. I took it to heart, and my weight loss picked up and never looked back.
"I am not the skin I'm in, but the soul within."
I think it was my daughter that brought me to my senses, when she said I was being too rigid. I followed the rules to the letter for about a year - wearing a size four by then, when my daughter told me that I was driving her nuts... I needed to relax a little. Since then, I have pretty much maintained my size, if not my weight!
Sat on the loser's bench 8-25-06!! 
High 334/PreOp 275/Curr 168
Made it to goal, then gained again... working back to goal of 155!!
The Lord doesn't require us to succeed, He only requires that you try - Mother Teresa
foobear on OH. He reposted a post about weight stalls, why they happen and what to do, that finally made me relax about not losing as fast as I thought I should AND got my weight dropping again.
http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/rny/a,messageboard/action,replies/board_id,5465/cat_id,5065/topic_id,3750033/
It's well worth reading!
---jan---
A "stall" at this point is inevitable, and here is why.
Our bodies use glycogen for short term energy storage. Glycogen is not very soluble,
but it is stored in our muscles for quick energy -- one pound of glycogen requires 4
lbs of water to keep it soluble, and the average glycogen storage capacity is about 2
lbs. So, when you are not getting in enough food, your body turns first to stored
glycogen, which is easy to break down for energy. And when you use up 2 lbs of
glycogen, you also lose 8 lbs of water that was used to store it -- voila -- the "easy"
10 lbs that most people lose in the first week of a diet.
As you stay in caloric deficit, however, your body starts to realize that this is not a
short term problem. You start mobilizing fat from your adipose tissue and burning fat
for energy. But your body also realizes that fat can't be used for short bursts of
energy -- like, to outrun a sabertooth tiger. So, it starts converting some of the fat
into glycogen, and rebuilding the glycogen stores. And as it puts back the 2 lbs of
glycogen into the muscle, 8 lbs of water has to be stored with it to keep it soluble.
So, even though you might still be LOSING energy content to your body, your weight will
not go down or you might even GAIN for a while as you retain water to dissolve the
glycogen that is being reformed and stored.
When your body begins to mobilize fat, it has to convert that much of that fat into
glycogen (think of glycogen as a kind of "animal starch" which can be rapidly converted
into glucose which is then burned for energy.) But for every pound of fat converted
into glycogen, your body has to hold on to 4 pounds of water. That's why you can
appear to maintain (or even gain) weight during a stall, even though you're still
losing inches: the fat is disappearing, but is replaced by glycogen and a lot of water
weight. Eventually, once the glycogen is burned up, all the water ends up being
flushed out by the kidneys. This explains why many people's weight loss looks like
this: lose a lot of weight, gain a few pounds (!!!!), stall for several weeks, then
drop 5-10 pounds in the space of a few days!
Also, if you indulge in eating too many carbohydrates (especially if you've already
been eating fairly low carb already), your body immediately converts these carbs into
glycogen and holds on to 4 times that amount of water. This explains why "cheating"
can suddenly lead to a gain of several pounds overnight. It's all water weight.
It's always a good idea to keep a food and exercise diary just in case the stall might
be due to eating the wrong foods, or the wrong amount, or too little exercise. The
diary will help you track your daily intake. Many people use thedailyplate.com or
fitday.com to help with this.
If you're not doing anything wrong, as evidenced by your diary, I don't think there's a
whole lot you can do, other than to be patient. You're a recent enough post-op that
your weight loss should resume soon!
http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/rny/a,messageboard/action,replies/board_id,5465/cat_id,5065/topic_id,3750033/
It's well worth reading!
---jan---
A "stall" at this point is inevitable, and here is why.
Our bodies use glycogen for short term energy storage. Glycogen is not very soluble,
but it is stored in our muscles for quick energy -- one pound of glycogen requires 4
lbs of water to keep it soluble, and the average glycogen storage capacity is about 2
lbs. So, when you are not getting in enough food, your body turns first to stored
glycogen, which is easy to break down for energy. And when you use up 2 lbs of
glycogen, you also lose 8 lbs of water that was used to store it -- voila -- the "easy"
10 lbs that most people lose in the first week of a diet.
As you stay in caloric deficit, however, your body starts to realize that this is not a
short term problem. You start mobilizing fat from your adipose tissue and burning fat
for energy. But your body also realizes that fat can't be used for short bursts of
energy -- like, to outrun a sabertooth tiger. So, it starts converting some of the fat
into glycogen, and rebuilding the glycogen stores. And as it puts back the 2 lbs of
glycogen into the muscle, 8 lbs of water has to be stored with it to keep it soluble.
So, even though you might still be LOSING energy content to your body, your weight will
not go down or you might even GAIN for a while as you retain water to dissolve the
glycogen that is being reformed and stored.
When your body begins to mobilize fat, it has to convert that much of that fat into
glycogen (think of glycogen as a kind of "animal starch" which can be rapidly converted
into glucose which is then burned for energy.) But for every pound of fat converted
into glycogen, your body has to hold on to 4 pounds of water. That's why you can
appear to maintain (or even gain) weight during a stall, even though you're still
losing inches: the fat is disappearing, but is replaced by glycogen and a lot of water
weight. Eventually, once the glycogen is burned up, all the water ends up being
flushed out by the kidneys. This explains why many people's weight loss looks like
this: lose a lot of weight, gain a few pounds (!!!!), stall for several weeks, then
drop 5-10 pounds in the space of a few days!
Also, if you indulge in eating too many carbohydrates (especially if you've already
been eating fairly low carb already), your body immediately converts these carbs into
glycogen and holds on to 4 times that amount of water. This explains why "cheating"
can suddenly lead to a gain of several pounds overnight. It's all water weight.
It's always a good idea to keep a food and exercise diary just in case the stall might
be due to eating the wrong foods, or the wrong amount, or too little exercise. The
diary will help you track your daily intake. Many people use thedailyplate.com or
fitday.com to help with this.
If you're not doing anything wrong, as evidenced by your diary, I don't think there's a
whole lot you can do, other than to be patient. You're a recent enough post-op that
your weight loss should resume soon!
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