What I WON'T do in the name of weight loss and healthy living

 Amen, Sister!

Awesome post! I recently became lactose intolerant. I am plodding through milk substitutes, but so far--gross. I'd rather permanently give up milk than have to suffer through that stuff. I totally agree with your take on not suffering through foods we don't like.

Love it!!

Besides, I made this oats & fruit bar yesterday..so good... egg whites, 0% greek yogurt, whole wheat flour,baking soda, steel cut oats, mashed banana, splenda, molasses, cinnamon, chopped walnuts and raisins..another version I made was with No sugar added applesauce, dried cranberries and sliced almonds, and cardamom.. I was so happy to find and modify a recipes to suit my cookie cravings..

Its not about denying yourself what you want but just tweaking it a little bit..

I also made fake fried chicken.. marinated chicken breasts overnight in yogurt, seasoning, tabasco.. 12 hours in refrigerator... rolled in crushed corn flakes sprayed with PAM.. baked..in oven.. very pleasing to the entire family.

I also cooked Collard Greens, Black eyed peas, brown rice.. I cooked  a huge pot of greens and black eyed peas.. funny thing.. now that I think about it.. the brown rice was cooked in the smallest pot by comparison..now in the past, I would had a huge pot of brown rice.. I can eat a TBLS of brown rice but mainly cooked it for my DH.

I guess you can say I was on a Cooking Binge cause there is not much else I can do around the house since my  PS..

Michelle

 Nik I think I love you!! You are wise and  I agree with you,

YOU already know that I agree 100% with all of this (although I am not able to eat enough that seconds are ever a possibility for me), but for the sake of newbies... it really is SO important to put into place an eating and exercise plan that you can live with for the rest of your life if you want to maintain your weight loss.  Part of the reason that diets don't work is that they are not sustainable.... people feel deprived when they completely stop eating things thay they like and get grumpy forcing themselves to eat things they don't like and do exercise that they hate... and eventually they get tired of being miserable and give up.  Post-op life after RNY is no different.  If you are eating and doing things you hate, and permanently depriving yourself of things you love (without acceptable substitutes, if applicable), once the weight is off and "real life" settles back in again (and it WILL), you will experience the same negative emotions and may go back to the old habits.

I do not eat anything that I do not genuinely like.  Protein bars are a great example.  I have never found one that I really LIKED... I found a few that were tolerable when necessary early out for nutritional purposes (or as emergency protein now).... but not one I actually like.  So I don't eat them.  I have plenty of sources of protein that I genuinely like, and if I want a sweet treat, a protein bar is a REALLY poor substitute, so I have a small normal treat (a few M&Ms, a Hershey kiss (or two), a mini snack size candy bar, a spoonful of ice cream, a couple of Nilla Wafers, a GS Thin Mint if I have one). 

I do not feel deprived and I do not feel like I am on a perpetual diet.  I eat like a normal-sized, healthy person... and I AM a normal-sized healthy person... and we eat the occasional cookie or M&Ms (or full fat salad dressing, right LisaR?!?).

Lora

 I really don't like protein bars but I do keep them for emergency food in the car. Premier yogurt crunch. They are the best of a bad lot. It's saved me many times when I was fading from RH. For me they are better than pulling through a drive through.

LOVE THIS!!! Had to shout, lol... So true and the eating something I don't like is a huge one for me.

I love this post and I agree with you 100%. I am also one that can eat a lot. I just have to eat it slow. Whereas I used to be able to scarf down a regular plate of food in a matter of minutes. Now, it takes me at least an hour. I eat until I feel tight and I go do something else. I actually love eating this way now. It took some getting used to but now I love it. Whenever I go out to eat with the family I am guaranteed to have leftovers for later or lunch the next day.  And, did I read that we can eat cookies?  I've been terrified to eat anything with a lot of sugar so cookies have been a big no-no. I haven't had any kind of sweet goodies (cake, brownies, cookies...) since my surgery because I am terrified of dumping. I saw sugar free oreos in the store and as hard as it was I even walked away from them out of fear. I didn't forget them though. I'm not sure if I'm strong enough to buy the package yet but maybe one day.