3 squares a day?

   Hi my name is Edie and I'm 52 years old. My highest weight was 364, pre surgery was 314 and now I'm about 230 which at 5'3" is still too big, so I hope to get down to at least 160 although I'm not
sure what I should way because I've always been heavy, even as a child. My surgery was in Dec. of
2010  so I've just been maintaining for almost a year. My arthritis holds me back from exercising
as much as I should, but I can also do a lot better with my eating than I have been and truthfully could be exercising more than I do.

   I think one thing I'm doing wrong is trying to just eat three meals a day and then get to snacking on whatever later. I'm going to start including some planned protein snacks and commit to my water(I'm
a coffee drinker, big time)and walking at least 10 minutes a day.
   
   I really like this forum, everyone here seems so positive and encouraging. Hope you all have a great
weekend and thanks for listening!

Edie

Hi Edie:

Glad to have you here.  I cannot do just three meals a day.  I have six to seven snack meals a day.  I have only one item at each meal which keeps my calories up between 1000-1200 a day.  I keep my proteins up around 90-110 now and still keep my carbs at a 100 net grams or less a day.  No white products and I walk every day possible.  Your goal and still be obtainable, you just need to make a few adjustments.  Don't think of walking as exercise, get out and enjoy the sights in your neighborhood or park.  Try to keep a journal daily to show you what you are eating and to make youself accountable for staying on track.  Come back here daily and lurk or post but just stay on top of it.  Everyday is a brand new start so don't let a stumble knock you down.  Good luck to you.

Tess,

Thanks for writing to me, I'm moving forward with a new plan, & plan to
get my but moving! I really think that having more planned protein meals
is gonna help with keeping my snacking & calories down. Again thanks
for the great advice!
Edie

Hi Edie....I'm also an Edie, are you really an Edith?  I am.  I had an RNY in 2007? (my tag will tell the truth :) ), I haven't posted in quite some time, so I honestly forget, I'm rarely on here, but according to the scale I should be :).

Your Dr's name is arreola?,  really...and he's not a breast surgeon, hahaha!, sorry just had to. 

Hope to talk soon,

The other Edie!

Hi other Edie,

Yep I'm an Edith, named after my Mom, it does tend to be
an old family name doesn't it? What's your middle name?
Mine is Kathleen. Everone assumes it's Ann, that dang Lily
Tomland!!!

LOL! No Dr. A is a bariatric surgeon. He's a super nice man,
I'm glad to have him as my surgeon. I still have weight to lose,
at least 70 lbs. I think. My next goal is to get under 200, been at
230 for almost a year. It seems I'm an excellent maintainer but
I need to kick it up a notch or two to get losing again. On that
note I guess I should get off my but and go for a walk!!!

Talk to you soon,
TOE

TOE, LOL!  That was cute.

I was named after a *****y Aunt .  My middle name is Lynn, but my family used to make me imitate 'my name is Edith Ann .... 

Good luck on the weight loss, I'd love to loose the 40 I regained, that's why I'm back here.  I have not been able to work out for a couple of weeks, while leaving the vet's office the other day my dogs somehow wrapped their leash's around my ankles and down I went on my R knee, scraped it bad and hurt the knee, so I'm healing right now.

Hope you had a good walk!

TOE

Hi Edie,

Oh my, sorry about your knee. It sounds like your dog
behave about as well as my Lhasa does, but I may be
to blame for slightly spoiling her,understatement of the
year, ha ha!

I did not go on my walk yesterday but I swear I am going
to right after I write this really! I have added incentive, my cousins
are coming for my sister's wedding in late June and they
are taking us clothes shopping!!! My sister had bypass a
couple of months before I did and she looks great.So I have
3 months to get some more weight off my but before then
so I got to move it, move it.

I know you can lose those 40 lbs. and I'll be here to encourage
you and listen when you need to vent. We can and will do
this!!

Okay, I really am going to walk right now!
TTYL,
TOE

Well......  :)  how was that walk?

I'm going to start walking at a local park sans dogs, that should help me get through a walk w/o killing myself!  I have a friend interested in walking after work, so as soon as my knee is up to it, I'm there!

Have a great day,

TOE

I actually did walk 23 minutes on Wed., Thursday
I did not walk at all. I figure I'll aim for 15 minutes a day and go from there. Hope your knee
is better soon so you can enjoy your walks with
your friend! I walk with my dog, Lola and she is
a pain to walk so I try to walk her where there's
no civilization or she trys to chase cars, truck,
motorcycles, bicycles, people, ducks, geese,you
name it, sigh. But she is cute so I put up with
her crap.

I have been tracking my food on fit day and am
eating way more thant I should, like 1800 calories
a day . It doesn't seem like I'm eating that
much but I guess I am. It says that if I continue
to eat that much every day I will lose 2 lbs. in
5 weeks, so I guess I'm going to have to aim for
about 800-1000 a day if I want to get anywhere.
I see a lot of people use protein shakes and bars
and have success with them but I'm not sure if I
can afford them. I'm afraid if I buy a box of bars
I'll eat them in 1 day, they seem like candy to me,
the ones I've tried before, and I didn't find them
satisfying. What do you think? Do you use the bars
or shakes? Boy listen to me, am i a whiner or what!
okay well I hope you have a good day!!!
TTYL,
TOE

Good for you, try to walk 3 x's a week for the first week or so, then increase from there, you'll be a walking fool before you know it!

When I walk with my dogs I'm actually being pulled, I'm not walking.  I'm going to work on walking them individually, to teach them how to calm down and walk properly.  When there is 2 of them their just crazy.  They each weigh around 70 lbs, Molly is 67.5 and Joey is 72!  So when they are in the mood to go, I go!  That's why I'm going to do the majority of my walking with a friend at a local park.  It has fabulous hills, a lake, beautiful scenery.....I love walking there.  I just got my pass in the mail yesterday, so I'll be hitting it Sunday!

As far as shakes and bars.  I don't use bars much.  I feel cheated when that's all I get for a meal .  But I do start my day out with shakes most days of the week.  I feel like I'm doing a good thing for my body.  My husband adds protein to his coffee every morning, since you love coffee you may want to give that a try.  Personally I make mine with Silk lite Chocolate, w/ frozen berries (usually blueberries), once in a while I'll get frozen cherries and pineapple, num num num!  It tastes like the stuff at the bottom of a banana split .

As far as reducing calories, try substituting higher cal foods w/ less calories.  ie: a salad w/ meals, fresh fruit, fresh vege's, for snacking.....

Just keep plugging along, you'll get there!  If it was easy, we'd all be skinny minnies.

Have a great day,

TOE