Rita E.

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This is what I heard him to say. Since I do not commit to aerobic exercise, if I want to maintain, I should stay away from carbs. Limit to special occasions - otherwise minimal amounts per day.

Add more vegatables to make up the remainder of my meals. 6 oz is normal.

IF I were to add 40 min aerobics/day, I could add oatmenal, whole grains. And he doesn't think its reasonable to count calories for the rest of your life.

I'm still using Centrum chewables, I don't know why - he said feel free to switch to a swallow if I prefer. I just found Centrum Cardio. I think I'm going to try that!

I asked about how we can tell if we are getting enough calcium. I *only take 1000mg/day. Splitting between two pill-taking times....he says take it all at once. Never thought of that. hehe He says the 1500 is important.

How can we know if we are absorbing enough calcium?  Are *you* dissolving into a pile of mush while you are sitting here?  Here's how you can tell:

1) The most important is a DEXA scan -- this will actually test your bone density.. should be done at least 1x per 2 years, with those who have issues doing it more often.  Sometimes insurance won't pay, and that sucks.  It's your choice whether you want to pay out of pocket or not, but it's the most definitive way to test bone mass.

2) Blood tests that *do* help to indicate your melting ability are 25(OH)D and the PTH.  If the PTH is high (and keep in mind, we want no little buggers swimming around in us ideally), and the D is low (mineral required to hold that bone mass), then you are melting as we sit.  Vitalady has suggested that we want our D levels to be 80-100 at the very minimum.  She knows more about lab values than I do, so I'm going with her number.

http://www.shrinkpictures.com/

Buy pb2 at bellplantation.com

I wanted to tell everyone that the protein ball receipe on Ms Linda's profile are delish..................I used my PB2 and they are great and 10 gr of protein each. I could eat them all day, but I limit it to 3 per day. Thanks Ms Linda you rock...............Protein balls
1 cup protein powder (chocolate or vanilla)
1 cup non-fat dry milk
1 cup rice crispy cereal
1 cup peanut butter
Splenda to taste
cocoa powder mixed with Splenda

Add the protein powder, dry milk, cereal and peanut butter in a mixing bowl. Mix thoroughly making sure that all the dry milk is in the mix and not visible. If you like it real sweet, add some more Splenda to fit your taste. Form the mixture into small balls ( about 1.5 inches in diameter) Roll in the cocoa/Splenda mix. Refrigerate. Each ball has about 10 grams of protein.

for the flashy avatar.......

go to www.shrinkpictures.com and create 2 or 3 different avatars...  you need to make them 100x100 pixels...  right click over your picture of choice and save to your computer.

Then...

go to  http://animator.iconator.com/animator.php and upload your newly shrunken resized avatars.  Just follow the directions the site gives you and then your new avatar should come up.  You can change the speed if you don't want it to change as fast... the lower the number the faster the change...  

http://www.eatingdisordersblogs.com/healthy/2008/02/10-ways-to-chan.html

10 Ways to Change Your Eating

Although there are a host of things you can do to work toward “normal” eating, here are 10 ideas that are tried and true. Some will be easier than others, but all are necessary if you want food to stop being a hassle and to have a positive place in your life.

1.      Take a step back and reflect on the way you relate to food and how you could improve the relationship. Reflecting is a good way to break denial. Stay relaxed and don’t pressure yourself to change. Just identify a few changes you could make.

2.      Consider whether your eating patterns are simply bad habits or whether you have major underlying issues to work through—ie, are you used to munching while watching TV (habit) versus using food to avoid emotional pain (underlying issue).

3.      Develop compassion for yourself. Replace harsh judgments with being forgiving when you do something you perceive as wrong, eating or otherwise. Notice how it feels to be compassionate rather than judgmental about yourself.

4.      Surround yourself with people who support your “normal” eating goals. Make a list of those who do and those who don’t, then figure out how to work with or around people who might try to derail or sabotage you.

5.      Identify your life goals and be honest about whether you’re converting frustration and disappointment about not reaching them into eating or obsessing about food. Take one small step to make your life more satisfying.

6.      Eliminate diet think. If you’re aiming to become a “normal” eater, you have to think like one. Change starts in the brain, not at the dinner table.

7.      Consider personality traits that keep you stuck in dysfunctional eating—mistrust of people, perfectionism, all-or-nothing thinking, fear of failure and of making mistakes, disliking being dependent on people—and work on changing them.

8.      Decide to make peace with your body no matter what you weigh. Hating your body will NOT help you change your size. Body acceptance will.

9.      Think for yourself. Make “normal” eating such a priority that you allow yourself to eat differently than friends or family. Break with the herd and risk being authentic.

10. Recognize that recovering from food problems is a long and arduous road, but continue to find ways to hold onto hope and remain motivated—join a message board, talk to friends, keep a journal (not a food log!), or get into therapy.

 

Imagine what it would be like to accomplish all 10 ideas. If the process feels overwhelming, take a deep breath and give yourself time to achieve them. Reread this list daily and pick one or two areas to work on every day. Keep at it and you’ll get the payoff down the road in a better life and an improved relationship with food.

they looked so good...I needed someplace to copy them!

Miss Shell's Mock Mac and Cheese
12oz extra firm Tofu
2 cups shredded cheese
1/4 cup half & half
1/2 cup egg beaters

Fork tofu, add remaining ingredients (reserving 1/4 cup cheese for the top).  Spread in pam sprayed 8x8 baking dish.  Top with remaining 1/4 cup cheese.  Baked 350 over for 30-40 minutes or until it is bubbly and lightly browned on the top.   Cut into 8 squares.  

Serves 8

Nutritional Info
Servings Per Recipe: 8
Calories: 171.1
Total Fat: 12.2 g
Total Carbs: 1.4 g 
Dietary Fiber: 0.0 g
Protein: 12.8 g 



Fabulous Ricotta Fluff Stuff
1 large container of ricotta cheese
1 box  SF jello instant cheesecake pudding
dollop or two of sour cream (to taste)

Mix it all up and enjoy however you want it.  I love it with strawberries!  It's a great fruit dip or just eating straight out of the bowl. 

Fabulous Trail Mix
Base mix
1 jar peanuts
1 jar sunflower kernels
1/2 bag raisins or "berries and cherries"
1/2 small bag chocolate chips.
1 small bag macadamia pieces
1 small bag pecan halves

To this, I might add other nuts depending on what's on sale (walnuts, cashews, more pecans).  I've also varied the fruit, too, so play around.  Try to keep the proportions the same.  It's so easy to load up the sweet stuff, but it's the nuts that are so valuable here.  The balance makes the perfect sweet and salty snack and my daily breakfast.  If proportions are kept, it's about 32g of protein for 8 oz.

Fabulous Custard -- full of protein, easy on new post-ops ~delicious!
3 cups milk
3/4 cup splenda
4-5 eggs (depending on size)
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp nutmeg (optional)
handful of coconut (optional)

Preheat oven to 375'.  Beat eggs, nutmeg and vanilla together in baking dish.  On the stove, bring the milk and splenda just to a boil, then stir together to the eggs.  Bake for 25 min
NOTE:  when the milk is coming near to a boil, you'll get a little foam on the top.  Remove this foam before stirring into the eggs, or it will get a weird texture on top.

God Bless Paula Deen for flourless peanut butter cookies!

1 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1 tbsp vanilla
1 cup Splenda

Mix and roll into balls (about walnut sized) and flatten with fork dipped in Splenda.  Bake at 350 for 12 minutes.  

TIPS
-Do NOT overocok -- they will get crumbly since there's no gluten
-Peanut butter is naturally low sugar - the low sugar kind only reduces it by 1g per serving.
-If you're picky about artificial sweeteners, I've done a 3/1 with splenda and sugar to cut the after taste and it's good.  Presently, I do full-splenda in the cookies, and roll in regular sugar and that's good too.  I've also added semi-sweet chocolate chips to shake things up. 

  

I don't have pain, I don't have nausea, I don't have fatigue. But I feel far from normal at 5 weeks.

Maybe its all in my head. But I'm just trying to learn to eat now. I've had a couple things get stuck that wasn't pleasant and sent me back to liquids until I was brave enough to try again. I'm not going to try to eat more than my dr-recommended 2 oz of anything.

Worrying about drinking enough water, which seems impossible, doesn't feel normal. Drinking all the protein to get those requirements is not normal...no soda - not normal, no caffine - not normal, eatting only protein - not normal.

At this rate, I'll be at goal before I feel normal again, if then.

Now the ticker decides to show the new amounts. I think it said 27 or 29 pounds lost when I posted it.

Even after a miserable two week stall where I wanted to quit, I'm ended up pretty happy with the one-month results. For the first time since I've known Tim, I weigh less than him. I'm not quite really ready to depend on food for protein. I'm not sure when that will happen. I'm trying a few things, but moreso than trying different foods, I really need to practice with the small bites and eatting slow. I'm making myself really miserable when I eat. At this rate, I'll be at goal before I learn to eat again.

I didn't have any nausea to speak of. I feel healed. I'm slowly adding solid foods. Eatting 1-2 meals of solids a day, but I'm still very dependant on protein drinks. My energy has been pretty stable. I haven't had to take many afternoon naps ( just one that I recall). I haven't really exercised yet, but I should.

I stopped Benicar (blood pressure medicine) on 11/27 - 11 days after surgery. I started feeling dizzy and bp was 104/60. Now I'm just on one bp medicine and I've cut back the lipitor from 20mg to 10mg.

My PCP wanted to see me at 3 weeks out, and I have a phone appt this week with Dr C on Thursday.