Wednesday, May 11th

The pups are adorable and getting so big!

It's good that you spoke up when frustrated.  You even used "I" messages, which makes the other person far less defensive, and it seemed to have a good result.  Good for you!

cool pos. good looking toplines and great angulation.  winners for sure.    diane s

I'm partial to girl dogs but that Blue boy is so handsome!

Had my meeting with Dr. C yesterday - It was the expected mix of chastisement and encouragement. 

We have a plan, albeit an aggressive one, so I hope I'm up to the task.  5 small meals a day, really low calories, very few carbs - have to kick the carb cravings to the curb and jump start things.  I'm going on a cruise mid-June with the family, and he wants to see me 8lbs down before I leave.

None of this is the end of the world, although I spent a few hours yesterday feeling like it was.  Funny how this is such a mental game, isn't it?

Sitting here at work with my water watching the cloc****il it's time to eat.  Sigh.  I hope those cravings leave soon.  They are most unwelcome.

Was up yesterday, down a bit today.  Sitting at 11 lbs above goal.  I think the new strategy is to go 5 lbs below goal and have the 5lb goal range be below my goal instead of above it.  I think I'd feel better to be at or below goal, instead of at or above goal.   

We'll see where I settle out. 

Thanks everyone for being here and sharing the "dream" - It's nice to know we are all in this boat together.

Jen

Last August his goal for me was down 20 in 12 weeks. I did it in 10, but it was tough going at first. If you can manage the first 3 days, it will get progressively easier. What carb level does he want you to manage? If you need a little extra support, let me know. We can always chat - email or phone - or even meet for coffee since we are relatively close. 

800 calories, 40g carbs max,   100g protein min.

He actually suggested 5 days of protein shakes, which I may start over the weekend if the next couple of days are hard.

I appreciate the offer of support - and would love to get together for coffee with you or a group of us if we could manage that.  I miss the support groups :)  I also appreciate your frequent posts - I get so much out of reading about your journey.  Undoubtedly you have helped more people than you know.

The puppies are adorable - congrats!

J

Holy diet mode, Sleeve Girl! That's kind of a tough regimen to follow at 2-3 years out. Do you still have phenomenal restriction and have minimal hunger? If not, 800 calories a day right out of the carb box can be really hard. You may consider weaning back to an 800 calories per day level. One thing I have learned from my regain experience is that the whole diet cycle can be the exact same as it was pre op. It can be a really good idea to identify the food choices that are inhibiting your weight maintenance. It took me a long while (about 6 months) to truly be able to identify sugar as a HUGE and insidious carb in my diet. I did really well for about 7 months and then I allowed more and more sugar in during this period of exhaustion and gained about 8 pounds back over about 5 weeks.

I guess that was all to say that hard core doesn't always work. It can actually backfire. There are different approaches that might be easier in the bigger picture. Do what feels right, but if going the 800-40-100+ route is difficult, don't give up. There are other ways to be successful.

BTW - Me, I would not do the 5 days of shakes. I find that sort of punitive. 

Yeah - diet mode is right!

I hear you about the potential for backfire.  I figure I'm going to do "extreme mode" for the 5 days to kick the cravings to the curb and see where to go from there. I know I have limited patience for being in "perfect mode."  In the past I have been able to keep things ups for a while then really go off the rails in rebellion. I'll likely ease up a bit after the 5 days to something more sustainable.

I also think you're right about the shakes.  I did 800 cals yesterday with actual food included and that seems ok. 

I'm looking at the current "austerity measures" as a way to help me diagnose where I went wrong.  I've already identified a couple of things:

The restriction is there, but I think part of my problem was overly relying on it to stop me from eating too much vs. being careful and measuring out what I'm going to eat ahead of time.  When I was on autopilot, the sleeve saved my 13 lbs from being 25, but it still let me put 13 on.  And that wasn't eating stuff like fast food and donuts - that was on an outwardly healthy diet with a few (ok, more than a few)  carby snacks sprinkled in there.  Also, I love the flavored almonds.  A handful of those are 200 calories.  When I kept them in my desk at work (after getting them on BOGO sale...) they became dangerous to have 2-3 handfuls a day.

I have also discovered that I eat too fast, which doesn't help matters.  Eating what I've planned doesn't get me full, but if I wait, it does satisfy me, in contrast with eating until I feel full (and thus eating more calories that maybe I need to)

I'm interested in seeing what else I can learn from this process.  Will keep everyone posted!