Friday, March 11th

Good Morning Fellow Health Warriors !

     Definition:  fearless, strong, energetically engaged in a struggle.  Sometimes it feels more like a struggle than others, because building new habits while extinguishing a former lifetime of  non-productive responses is HARD WORK. I woke up feeling tired, shaky and off center.

132's. I will be a "substitute principal" today, covering a 3-5 intermediate building of 950 students, with a sick principal and AP. I think a "kid fix" is just what I need to focus on what really matters and what difference a healthy lifestyle truly makes.

TGIF.

120.8 today. Only got a 1/2 hour on the treadmill yesterday but it is better then nothing at all (which is what I felt like doing!). Work today, out to eat tonight, not sure where. Funeral tomorrow - one of our scouts lost his Mom - she was only 55 and leaves behind twin 11 year olds. The Dad is a very involved scout parent. She was MO and I guess had a heart attack. So sad.

Happy weekend to you all!

It's just a horrible thought that I should not have shared while you are grieving, so I deleted it and added something else.

184.6  I stocked my kitchen the other day and made pulled pork in the crockpot for dinner last night.  I have to find more sugar-free bbq sauce before I run out because I plan to make this more often... I bought a pork loin on sale at Costco, cut it up, froze most of it.

I have posted this before but it is so good.  It worked well with turkey breast and is supposed to be good with beef.  I put one chunk of pork in the crockpot with some sugar-free root beer to cook overnight.  Then I take the hunk of meat out of the crockpot onto a plate to carefully peel away the outer fat to throw away.  Then I dump the liquid from the crockpot (and wipe away the lingering fat with paper towels) then put the meat back in, rip it apart with forks, add the sugar-free bbq sauce, let simmer for a while or not and done.  So easy and delicious!

I can't wait till payday to get an UP3, my UP24 broke and I'm getting no credit for my steps.  I'm still logging.  I am also looking forward to getting my Instant Pot, but maybe next payday or with my income tax money.

161 today.  So getting a little more back to what is, apparently, my new "maintenance"

I think everyone should hop on back to Thursday's thread and read Kairk's response to me.  It really was a great post, thoughtful.  Thank you so much.

I'm still grappling with what I'm comfortable with at maintenance--both in terms of the weight I want to maintain, and in terms of the diet I'm willing to accept.  Everyone is so different.  And maintenance is tricky because we are doing this FOR LIFE.  And I think it's harder to judge whether we're doing things right.  

My ultimate shangrila goal would be to somehow order my eating so that I could enjoy food, but not feel deprived, and ideally maintain in the 140s.  But I think I will have to redefine "deprivation" in order to reach that goal.  Even though it may seem to you like I've been struggling a lot recently (and I have), I have also learned a lot--much like Kairk's non-dieting experimentation.  I have learned that hunger is not my problem.  My sleeve is still doing a very good job at that.  And even when I get a tinge of hunger between meals, it usually is mild and goes away quickly.  My biggest trouble is with head hunger.  I simply want some eating distraction after a couple hours.  And usually this is in the form of not-so-good carbs.  

I love food.  I always have.  I was never the kind to eat in a closet, or in the car at the drive through.  I'm the kind to plan out a menu and serving dishes, shop at farmer's markets and the butcher, and lovingly cook the food.  And eat too much too often.  I really like eating and I think perhaps this can be used to my benefit.  I have no desire to drink more protein shakes, or eat endless amounts of baked chicken.  But that's my calculation, and that's ok.  To me, saying "eat to live" (not live to eat) is like saying "only have sex to procreate."  Eating is one of my favorite things to do.  But I definitely think there is still room for improvement.  When I look at my food choices, if I simply eliminate the snacking and wine, the calories are pretty good--maybe even under maintenance, and macros decent.  I could also probably make some swaps at the main meals for a veg or healthy fat to change my macros.  Add in bodypump, treadmill, dog walk, or yoga, and I think those changes could easily (ha!) result in a 1lb. per week loss.  And I don't have that much to lose!  I'm not ready to throw the baby out with the bathwater just yet.  My sleeve still works, this I know.  And I'm a healthy young person.  And I'm still 116lbs. less than I was 6 years ago!

I do apologize for being so verbose on here.  I tend to think through things to solve problems.  And sometimes, maybe like Kairk suggests, solving the problem means living and knowing the problem well.  I hope my detailed accounts of my own "learning" has not deterred or in some way hindered anyone on here.  

Morning all

enjoyed both Kairk's post yesterday and yours today Brown.   Thoughtful.

calories yesterday not great 1322, and as Fitbit remains on the fritz no numbers to report, but walked a lot.

happy Friday.

Good Morning!!!  I'm officially on Spring Break!!!  I am so grateful for the break...we just finished testing.  Enough said!!!  

Have fun being sub principal, Diane!  Giggling kids will make you smile and energize you!

i love the discussion going on right now...I'm right there with you, Bonnie. I love what Devon contributes to this group.  And, I wish I had been smart like some of the you who are new to maintenance.  You are doing it the right way...I wish I had followed Linda's approach to adding calories.  I wish. I wish. I wish.  Woulda. Shoulda. Coulda.  

All is not lost in this journey of mine... Maintaining has not been my strength and I am yet to be successful.  I love food.  I am a grazer.  I eat when I'm bored, happy, sad...I'm learning more about how my body works and what is needs.  156.2# today.  I'm still not logging consistently.  I'm losing slowly...Just like Devon said if I eat clean(meaning unprocessed), high protein with veggies, low sugar then my body responds in a positive way.  If not, I receive a negative response.  It's really quite simple in theory yet difficult because head hunger is real!  

So, for today...I'm enjoying a relaxing morning with coffee, eat when I'm hungry, mani and pedi and a haircut:). 

Have a great day protecting your skinny, my VSG friends!!  I couldn't do this without you!!!

Still hanging in at a nice solid 112. That feels really good.

Oh my goodness but the discussion is so fantastic here. It truly enriches me. Reflecting on the discussion, I can say that the calorie and carb stuff is complex and not things I fully understand theoretically, but here's what I know about me:

I can routinely eat 1300-1500 calories and maintain south of 115 with ease. But there are still finite calorie parameters I must follow - if I'm routinely eating 1500+ I gain. If I'm routinely eating 1000 calories I will lose a pound a week. I also see that there's some type of internal switch in me that sometimes gets 'activated' - which starts my weight trending up or down.  And exercise make absolutely no difference to my weight if I eat the same amount of calories  

Regarding the type of carbs, I don't find a lot of difference in how I get triggered, but when I go through a period of eating 150+ daily I get off the rails. When I 'reset' with a period of eating 80 or less, I'm good again, no matter what carby foods I eat. But with that said, I do not routinely eat rice, pasta, bread or potatoes, even when I'm overdoing carbs. 

Hanging out in the 195s - 195.5. 

My gut reaction this morning when seeing the number pop up was, "Crap, I'm up again!" Then I countered that thought with the logic of knowing I had a 1520 calories yesterday and that up .4 is not a gain. It's a normal body fluctuation. Funny how the old tapes an start rolling at a moment's notice. Overall, I'm still feeling peaceful. 

Diane O, I am principal today, too! My school is much smaller, though. We are a K-5 school of 450 students. 

On this journey we really do have to find our own paths to follow. What works for me may not work for you. I think what is most important is to know and understand and ACCEPT our personal truths about our relationship with food. I know for me that the fewer carbs I eat the less hungry I am throughout the day. Yet, the type of carb I eat will affect the degree of hunger, glucose spike and insulin reaction. I also know that a certain sugar level in a food will immediately trigger a hormonal response and cause immediate cravings. I really think knowing "WHO WE ARE WITH FOOD" is the key to long term maintenance. 

The other thing that helped me was when I stopped feeling sorry for myself or regretting the hand I had been dealt. For years I was PO'd that I struggled with weight and had a strong leaning towards addiction. I was bitter about it. When I finally let go of the anger around that things started to slowly change. What I noticed over time was that I stopped fighting who I was and instead started working with who I was. It's something I still work on each and every day. 

I am so looking forward to this weekend. I have NOTHING scheduled for tomorrow - no clients, no training, nothing! My big plan is to stay in bed as long as I want! YAY! 

Happy Friday! 

I'm still in bed eating lunch...watching tv and perusing on-line! 

Good morning!

Diane O, as a parent of a school age child, it gave me great joy to see you ENGERGIZED by being a substitute principal today.  Thank you, all you educators, for what you do for our kiddos. 

I'm feeling enriched by recent discussions, too.  It augments something that hair colorist said to me this week.  She herself is MO but is isn't currently interested in WLS because she thinks being thinner ages her looks.  Plus, none of the people she knows with various WLS have been particularly successful, in her opinion.  Either there has been weight gain, or they are still doing crazy things with food (bulimia), or, they disappointed that they are still profoundly unhappy after WLS. 

So, what she said was "I can see the joy in you.  I think the difference is that you really knew yourself before the surgery." 

I think this is true. I have lived, I have had stuff happen to me.  I have reflected. I knew what I wanted and it wasn't just a lower number on the scale.

To borrow a phrase from Kairk (hey, why come up with my own phrase when Kairk does it so well) I am working on my whole self.  While I don't know exactly each step I need to take, there is a clear light at the end of the tunnel and I am going to make it there. I have characteristics that don't serve me well in the food arena but serve me well in other areas of my life.  I don't need to abolish these characteristics, just recognize when I need to "leave them outside the door" as a yoga instructor would say.

Anyway, "know yourself" seems to be a theme here.  What a worthwhile journey, and (like my colorist said) maybe this is something we need to know to be successful in long term maintenance. 

By the way, I find some humor when you long term maintenance people find fault in yourselves/journey.  You clearly rock in my book!!!!  Thank you all for being here for us newbies!

thanks for all your thoughtful conversation!

Oh, 123 on the dot today.  Two back to back on the dot days.  Silly things make me happy.

Shel