A similar thing happened to me, minus the testing.  I increased the cals and lost several pounds right out of the gate.  I can lose at 1200 calories if I am exercising, and I kept protein over 110.  I had no difficulty getting to goal.  Just a warning that my loss pattern changed- no loss for up to 21 days, then a week of rapid loss (5-10 pounds) then repeat.  You are probably already doing this, but make sure you are eating quality protein.  Whey isolate versus collagen kind of thing.  I hope you are able to bring the protein levels up.  Good luck on your journey.  

lmao!!!

Well Happy Birthday Friend!

You look positively amazing!!!!!!  It sure has been a roller coaster of a year for you, but you are doing brilliantly and an inspiration!  Enjoy the day!!!  

Hi there,

There is huge variance in this by person.  I think a better question you may want to think about is what percentage of Excessive Weight Loss did people experience in the first month?  That seems to be a tad bit more consistent.  Taller heavier males, for example, typically lose more pounds then a shorter "light weight" female.  (Light weight- has about a hundred or less to lose).  Here is how you calculate:

1.  Determine your goal weight.  Many of us use the upper limit of the weight range for a normal bmi, but use whatever you are comfortable with.

2.  Take your start weight and subtract your goal weight.  For me, that was 326 - 195 = 131.  So 131 pound is my excessive weight.  

3.  Divide your lose by your excessive weight.  So, if in month 1 I lost 22 pounds it would be 22/131.  This will result in a decimal.  Slide the decimal to place values to the right and that is your percentage.  So 22/131- .1679 for a percent of 16.79%.  

I don't remember what my first month loss was (look at my ticker).  But, I did run through this process and compared several people's percent after a month and whatever mine was matched up pretty nicely with others.  Again, this is not perfect and results vary by person.  There is a guy Ryan here who lost 160 pounds in 4 months.  Dang!  

Do a search on EWL- there was a great post a while back on the topic.  Good luck and welcome to the loser's bench!  Oh, and congrats on your terrific start too!

Every once in a blue moon I would like to go out for dessert with my girls.  Does anyone out there know of a chain restaurant that has a sensible choice?  I am not looking to do a 600 calorie dessert, but up to 300 is Ok.  

I am jealous that your Sams carries more than just vanilla!

Immediately post op I used it to flavor yogurt.  Greek yogurt (Fage fat free) with unflavored whey and torani syup mixed in to taste.  Did that for quite a while.  Nowadays I use it for coffee and to make protein cakes mostly.  I do use it to substitute in recipes also.  For example, when I sautee carrots I throw in the brown sugar flavor of the syrup to make glazed carrots.  The other night my husband made a stir fry and he mixed in some with soy sauce to flavor the stir fry (not exactly like a psuedo teriyaki, but it was surprisingly good).  My favorite flavor for the yogurt is the black cherry.  I cook withe the brown sugar flavor the most, find the vanilla flavor the most versitle.  I have a bottle of pumpkin spice that I put in protein cakes and oatmeal.  Unfortunately I have a huge bottle of peppermint that taste like toothpaste to me.  I will sometimes put a hint of it in a chocolate protein cake, but I am not a fan of that flavor.  The white chocolate flavor was not very good either.  Try them in protein shakes too- it can make a world of difference.  

Just throwing on the post that I found Kroger carries Kroger brand sugar free bread and butter pickles, and sweet pickle spears. They were cheap too :0)

I  was having bouts of issues more after surgery.  Thinking back I do not recall a ton of issues preop, but I was eating quite regularly and following a plan that had some carbs in it.  Post op I was curtailing carbs and that was causing a lot of issues.  Once I added carbs back in that took care of the issue, and it would only come back if I forgot to eat a snack before bed.  Can you check your sugar levels a little more frequently to help regulate until you can get to the dietician?  The mood swings and headaches could just be from the diet- many of us dealt with that emotional roller coaster during pre and post op.  The first 3 or 4 days are the hardest, and then it will get a little better.  Hang in there!

A few weeks ago my doc wanted me to increase sodium to help with the low blood pressure.  I did, and it worked great.  I have an Aria scale that automatically syncs to myfitnesspal.com so I have a good record of the weight fluctuations since that point.  Within 2 days of the sodium increase I was about 5 pounds heavier, then I would lose 2 pounds the next day, back up a pound, etc.  The fluctuations for the most part have to be due to the sodium thing, but I have also had my calories creep up dangerously high to the weight gain area instead of maintenance.  Does anyone know of a simple way to tell how much is from sodium and water retention?  (Aside from the sore breasts and ginormous fingers?)

Oh my goodness, i would get it repaired a hundred times over!!  My recovery was super smooth overall- up and walking around after the morning surgery by that evening.  Yes, there was some pain associated with the hernia repair- but it was more than tolerable for sure.  I had terrible reflux that I had up to that surgery thought was "normal" and had no idea that it was related to the hernia.  The short term discomfort alone was worth not having to eat Tums every 3 minutes!  If I were to make the decision again I would not hesitate!

idateacher2

Meijers makes a version of sugar free relish also- I have been using that for a while, but would not just get a spoonful to munch on :)  I will keep an eye out for the Mt. Olive brand, thanks for the tip :0

If you are indeed struggling with low blood sugar than Elina's advice is very dangerous advice.  I strongly urge you to consult with your doctor and nutritionist on this.  Elina has a positive intent in that she wants to support you in reaching your weight loss goal, but a sure fire way to reach it is if you are dead as a result of low blood sugar rendering you unconscience and things going from bad to dead at that point.