What's on your Tuesday Menu?

Happy Tuesday Gang!

Yesterday was a nice day back to work. Honestly, since I never really left the house during my vaca, I might as well be filling the day with something interesting to do... I am still a little behind from my time off but I think I am mostly caught up! If I get a nice early start again I should be all caught up by end of day today.

Yesterday evening I had my first virtual appointment with the food therapist. It was funny when she asked if I had anyone I could discuss WLS with... um, yep, haha! I don't think that anything earth shattering came from our first meeting, but one interesting piece of advice she gave me was to start logging any time that I get caught in "all or nothing" thinking, and then try to notice how it affects my eating. That will be an interesting activity, for sure. I do get caught up in thinking that "if it isn't going to be perfect...f*ck it!" Other than that, she suggested more weight training and less caffeine. Meh. Maybe, lol.

QOTD: Do you have anyone outside of this forum who you talk about weight loss surgery with? I am lucky to have a mom and a boyfriend who both had surgery it and understand the highs and lows, completely. I have 2 other friends who didn't have surgery who I feel comfortable talking about it with, but I try not to, too often. They are lovely but they don't get it at all, compared to those who have lived it. You guys are definitely the best :)

I've been really on track lately. Its nice to have a renewed urgency--it's helping me make better decisions. I ended the day with 1000 calories and about 30 minutes of exercise.

Morning. My husband is on-call this week and got called at 2am, so I had a pretty broken night of sleep with a long wake up in the middle. I'm really, really tempted to just take a day off today and finish my book.

We had plans to go to my BFF's in MD for Thanksgiving and I think we just decided it's a bad idea. I'm sad, but it's probably the responsible thing to do. We have been "podded" since about July and have gone back and forth from there several times. We both socially distance hard otherwise - We still have only gotten take out and been inside the grocery store for the items we can't have delivered 1-2 times per month - no onsite shopping, no dining even outdoors, no social get togethers, both girls are still out of school. My girls otherwise each have a friend they are exposed to, but they have to alternate and quarantine in between so that friend isn't exposing the other friend.

QOTD: I have a lot of online contacts in the WLS community. People here who are genuinely friends now. I know people IRL that have had it, but either they are much closer to surgery than me or even farther out and it's just not a daily topic of conversation anymore. I also tend to find myself "in between" because I had WLS, an anorexia diagnosis, and am now an intuitive eater. IE goes over poorly with the WLS community (for obvious reasons) and WLS goes over poorly with the IE community (for what I feel like is more biased reasons).

My Food:

• Coffee w/ Cream x3
• Eggs, Bacon, Sweet Potato
• I think it's my older daughter's dinner night and she wants chicken patties.

The food therapist was pushing IE last night. I totally get how it would be right for some people, but I don't see it ever working for me. I guess I am not very mindful, lol.

Sorry you had to abandon your Thanksgiving plans. We did too :(

That's always the resounding message from WLS folks about IE. It was 100% of the answer I had back before I started it. I always tell people who go into it that it's a bit like jumping off a cliff and trusting your body will catch you. If you don't go "all in" and truly stop restricting food then it won't work and it will stay a yo-yo diet. In the beginning that means you're going to potentially eat ALL THE THINGS. Eventually though your body catches on and you stop doing that. At first, I craved everything. Intensely, craved everything.

However, that doesn't mean "you won't gain weight". It's not magic - you eat more food, you potentially gain weight. I currently sit 10-20lbs above my absolute lowest weight and about 6-10lbs above my "steady" lowest weight. I understand why it's not acceptable to many WLS people to do that. The magic part of IE for me is that I don't pine for food anymore, but that's a trade off for some people with being the weight they feel is acceptable or healthy.

I think it is great that you trust yourself enough to do it! Maybe I'll get there someday.

Thanks for the enlightenment on I.E. I never heard of this before. I looked it up and wow it looks like once you get it down it could be almost Zen like being in control. I am always amazed of the things I learn here.

the dietitian at my bariatric clinic pushes IE as well. I finally got the Trible/Resch book from the library since I've been promising her for two years that I'd read it, but seriously, I don't think it'd work for me. Even now, I have afternoons or evenings when my body is screaming to me that it needs some fatty, sugary treat. Nope. It may be fine for normal-weight people who don't deal with food addictions or uncontrollable cravings, but for the majority of WLS people, no.

btw - she HATES that I "obsess" about calories (her word) - and the fact I count calories at all. But that is what has kept me at an acceptable weight for the last few years. If it ain't broke, don't fix it...as they say..

I think you have to have a certain personality to be able to do IE. Erin is right about jumping off the cliff and trusting your body. I actually tried IE before WLS, I tried literally everything before WLS. I was doing the IE nutritionist + therapist in tandem for 6 months of weekly appts. The therapist told me I need to trust that inner person that has been dormant for a long time. I told her I think I have killed that inner person and there is no way to resurrect her. After 6 months I had lost something like 3 lbs, when I needed to lose 120 lbs. That's when I decided it's not working for ME! I have deprived myself of food for so long that if I let go of that inner ***** I will eat my weight in chocolate, cookies and icecream!

Good morning all! Really wish I could go back to bed. I'm not ready to get this day started yet. Accountability was good yesterday. I got the urge to snack, but resisted and then just went to bed. I've found if I go to bed at a decent hour I'm not tempted to snack late at night which is normally when I get the urge to snack. So I'm trying to get back on a regular seeping schedule.

QOTD: Other then you guys who have been the best by far......I do have a friend who had the VSG I can talk to. I know other people who have had WLS as well, but we aren't close so I don't really talk to them.

B: coffee w/Splenda & sf creamer x 2

B2: protein shake

L: 2 oz low sodium turkey breast & a laughing cow cheese wedge

D: 4 oz baked salmon & veggies

S: either a L&F Greek yogurt & an apple or one of the low calorie peanut butter energy balls I made.

Good morning all!

I've been up since before 5 so it's gonna be a long day here. My stomach is upset yet again. Eating kind of went off the rails last night. I need to reign it in.

my mom is wanting to go to Sam's today and Walmart. I am not to thrilled with this prospect. She needs a few things that she could order online but she is set to do it in person. I'm going to come home after and take a shower and put on clean clothing. Sigh...I'd rather stay home!

I got a big order done and they are so pretty! Going to get proper photos today. Gave them a bath last night and should be shipping them out tomorrow!

qotd: I have a few friends that have had WLS but we usually don't talk about it much. This is really the most comfortable place to talk about it.

b: Cheerios, almond milk and coffee

l: Sonoma pizza(GF & DF)

d: cauliflower soup

s: protein shake, popcorn and maybe another coffee