Not doing it 100% right....but it's OK.

I got jumped on...on another forum....for my choices in my journey, but I am wondering, if it works for me, how is it wrong?

I have lost almost 48 pounds since I started my one week pre-op diet and almost 40 since surgery and my 12 week surgerversary is next Monday.

So, I am losing. I don't know if I am losing slow or losing fast, but I am losing. This tells me that my sleeve is working. :)

But, admittedly, I am not exercising. I go to work at 7am and then go to school afterwards until 9pm. After school, I drive 45 minutes to get home. I have time to eat something for dinner, then I go to bed. I don't even feel like I have enough time to spend with my 16 yr old daughter. On the weekends, I am mostly writing papers and studying Calculus. If I get caught up, I make sure to spend time with my daughter. All cop-outs aside, I don't have time to exercise, at least until after the first week of December, so don't flame me. That's just how it is. Is this going to bite me in the butt later? I don't know.

Also, I only concentrate on getting at least 60g of protein in a day. Sometimes I don't get it and sometimes I get close to 80, but this is the only thing I watch. Carbs? I don't count carbs....although my totals show up in MFP and I never get more than 85g, which is still considered low-carb. I do eat about a serving of baked tortilla chips with hot sauce fairly often (3X a week?)....and I sometimes have a serving of wheat crackers with my tunafish salad. I have even had a Bahn Mi sandwich (vietnamese grilled pork sandwich), where I ate about half of the bread, when I found myself in a bind. I have had a sliver of chocolate cake....or two. I may have had a bite of rice, once...and I tried a bite of noodles....but both kindof grossed me out, so I probably won't try those again. I don't have trigger foods though, which is nice. I have decided not to beat myself up about anything...and not to be ashamed of having a bite of that which is "forbidden". The point of getting this surgery was to lose weight, but also to learn how to eat better and less. But I don't want to be on a diet...since I know they don't work for me in the long run.

I look at it like this.... my food choices have improved by leaps and bounds over my 5,000+ calorie a day diet from just 3 months ago. I mostly eat shakes, eggs, chicken, cheese, yogurt and turkey. 90% of the time, I don't deviate from my daily plan, except at dinner. I have had sweets maybe three times in three months, I don't drink anything bu****er, I steer completely clear of fast food places and I am happy. I have a crockpot of butterbeans going at home and I will be making cornbread. Will I eat it? Yes. Will I eat half a pan like I normally do? No, a 2x2 square will probably suffice. No matter what, I am eating less than 800 calories a day. My scientific mind tells me that it is just impossible not to continue losing on 800 calories a day, since it takes way more than that to maintain a 200 pound body...and my Fitbit tells me that I burn about 2,000 calories a day (on a regular workday).

My questions are these...am I doing things SO wrong? Why all the suggestions on carb restricting to 40g? Why is staying in ketosis stressed...when it doesn't seem to matter either way?

My doctor puts no restriction on carbs other than, he suggests replacing white flour products with wheat. Also, I seem to wake up with good losses on the morning after a higher carb day. Do I ever slip into ketosis, yes but I purposely try to keep myself out of it because I feel cruddy, act like a biotch and my breath stinks.

Sorry this is so long winded but does any one have some insight?

LISTEN!!!!
This is YOUR journey, and if your OK with what your doing...
To hell with everyone else!
You seem to have a busy, stress filled life right now...
Are your doing things different than me..yes
BUT...everyone is doing something that works for them...

If it works for you, and fits your life, AND YOU'RE OK WITH IT, go for it! No room for sanctimoniousness there.

I think people get frustrated when they see posts that say pretty much what you said, but then complain that they're not losing fast enough. The way I see it, this is a personal journey, and if what you're doing fits your (extremely busy life), then who is anyone to say if it's right or wrong?

Live and let live, IMO.

Laurie

Like you stated, everyone's journey is different but I want to give you my thoughts & experiences with what you are doing because I was doing what you are doing now when I was about 4-5 months out ...

I had my VSG in August 2011 so the holidays came around when I was about 4 months out.  I started to eat carbs and sweets that were in the office as people started to bring goodies for the holidays.  I lost 8 pounds in November while re-introducing sweets & carbs back in ... I lost 4 pounds in December & nothing my 6th month in January because I kept up the holiday eating ... all while eating LESS than 800 calories a day.

I believe the main reason alot of successful vets tell us their way of low carb is because they got the weight off fast & kept it off so far.  You are only 3 months out and it will catch up with you as the months go by.  Please don't take this as bashing because I hate that stuff but it's just a note of caution that most of us (not all) need to change our eating habits long term.  Yes you are consuming way less than 5,000 calories a day but 1 day you will be able to consume 3,000 calories a day at 2 years out like me and that will equal regain and the pounds can & will come on just as fast as before surgery. 

The only reason I got to goal in my first year was because I decided to get serious about losing the weight after my 6th month and I can credit my change in eating to that.  If I kept on the path of eating a little of this & a little of that, it would turn into a lot of this and a lot of that.  I can easily eat a slice of pie or cheesecake.  I'm pretty sure that goes with 6-8 oreos too if I tried (I'm not much of a cookie monster but I have other vices).  I can easliy eat a cheeseburger happy meal or even (gasp!) 2 slices of pizza.  That might still not sound like a lot for the most part but if most meals are going to be high calorie while we can eat more at 2 years out then it can hinder & stop weight loss.

I lost 47 pounds in my first 12 weeks and was able to get another 77 pounds off in the 7 months after to meet my first goal at 1 year but it was harder work in the 2nd 6 months.  Please just be careful, it's a slippery slope is all. 

I gotta agree with Jenn.  I pretty much did the same like you (and jenn) and at a year out, losing weight has become a LOT harder.  So much so that I actually DO need to place myself on a "diet" to re-focus my energies to losing weight.  No bashing here but like Jenn said, be careful because it's a slippery  slope the farther out you get.

I think you are doing fine so far because you have a new sleeve that keeps you very restricted. That will change.

I think people are on you because after time you will be able to eat more so one slice of cake every so often may become a slice once a week, then once a day....or a bit of noodles might become a few bites of noodles ect. If you are not combating the extra goodies with exercise you may end up on a bad path again and no one wants to go through all of this for that to happen...but it does.

Just be careful is all I would say. Good luck with your journey!!

In the end, this is all about you and what works for you.  You and only you get to decide how you are going to approach this.  I read  your post and I mostly get that it's working for you and you are happy with your results.  If it stops working for you, you will reevaluate.  All I can tell you is that I just came from an OH conference where the vast majority of people never made it to goal and/or started to regain.  Looking out at the sea of people who are more than one year out and still obese was motivating to me to keep to my plan.  I also had about seven people, all quite tiny, walk up to me and thank me for sharing my plan.  Most of them went to Mexico and didn't have a particular plan.  That too was enlightening.  Will this be you later on?  I don't know, it is indeed possible to get to goal following a different plan, I have seen it here.  Is it likely?  You get to make that choice.

Well said:)

Just flagging that being one year out and not having made it to goal doesn't mean they're in maintenance and will never lose any more weight. If you're older, and/or need to lose a very large amount of weight, and/or have an incredibly efficient metabolism, and/or are limited in the amount/type of exercise you can do, it may well take 18 - 24 months to get to goal. 

 

You are right, there is no endpoint, but my point still stands.  My observation was that there are many post WLS patients that are not anywhere near to goal as I would define goal.  Does that mean they are not successful?  Absolutely not.  It is just not what I wanted for myself.  I still think they are much healthier and better off having had the surgery.  It is a personal choice where your goal post stands.  Only the individual gets to make the decision about how much effort they are willing to put into this process and how success should be defined.