Whatcha Eating Today VSGers? Thursday 8/10/17

Good morning, VSGers! It's my last day in D.C. and I return home tomorrow. Ugh, what a long drive. It's always more exciting on the way down. I had my RMR and DEXA scan yesterday. I will make a reply to this post with details for those of you who are interested!

M1: Premier Protein, Miralax and Coffee

M2: Dannon L&F w/ PB2 and Sunflower Seeds

M3: TBD

M4: TBD

Safe Travels. Busy day and evening for me, vendor is taking my wife and I to dinner this evening, we are going grocery shopping after dinner and then will deliver our groceries to our camp. Monday we are going hiking, will cross off another Adirondack High Peak...only 42 to go to become a 46'er!

B - Pure protein bar

S - Pumpkin Pie greek yogurt

L - Chili

S - Buddig meat

D - unsure

E - Night off, will walk today at lunch.

Stay Healthy my friends, Mike

What brand is the pumpkin pie Greek Yogurt? I haven't seen that one by me but it sounds like a nice change from my usual strawberry or coconut.

It's Dannon Light & Fit Greek 80. It's one of their Limited Edition yogurts that they change with the seasons. I love the Pumpkin Pie!

So, I had my RMR and DEXA scan testing at Composition ID in downtown Washington, D.C. yesterday. Very nice place and nice people. They were super quick too.

RMR: I'm 5'7" tall and 144lbs (as documented by the DEXA scan) and the test said I have an RMR of 1,541 calories/day. The test said that's 7% higher than "normal" for my metabolism, so pretty average. Since I just entered maintenance, I think this gives me a target of around 1,700 calories. I'm going to work on adding 50 additional calories for a week at a time and see where that takes me. I think that should theoretically give me a nice loss buffer if I need it.

DEXA Scan: It showed me as having a fat percentage of 24.2%. This is actually very close to what the stupid little contraption that my trainer uses says, so that was really surprising to me. I have 34.8lbs of fat mass and 104.1 lbs of lean mass. Most of my fat mass is left in my arms and gynoid (glutes/hips). That was funny to me as I am (visually) not at all pear shaped. Funny enough, my lowest fat was in my lower abdomen where all my hanging skin is...so that was validating that at this point it's just skin. I guess I need to keep hitting my arms hard at the gym, as I don't plan to have any plastics on my arms.

My bone density came back on the very low side of average. Up until last week I was only taking the 1,200mg of calcium carbonate that is in my Bariatric Fusion, as my center did not recommend anything additional. I will go back in 6 months or so after taking 1,500mg of calcium citrate (off set from my multi) and see if that improves.

Edited to Add: my visceral fat was very low (.38lbs total), so that's pretty awesome for the indications of heart health long term!

Erin, calcium is great to add, but we also need magnesium, and other minerals to form - rebuild the bones. You need enough vit D (what are your current numbers?,) To be able to absorb the calcium. When you take 1500 g calcium, them we need 750 g magnesium, mostly citrate, or other that is easily absorbable.

In addition - I also take vitamin K2. That vitamin is critical to bone formation - that directs calcium and magnesium from our system into the bones.

Read more about it. People often assume they are not taking enough calcium, but often is not enough magnesium and K2 that can cause bone loss. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4566462/

HALA, wow, thank you for advising of this information/article. I had no idea. I've been worried about bone loss and bumping up calcium and D3 but will now look towards more K2 in my daily intake.

Thank you for this info! So, my multi has 400mg of magnesium and 3,000IU of D3. So, I need to add some magnesium it seems? Should I be taking that with the calcium or with my multi? I don't see any K2 in my multi at all, so I'll look at that.

My vitamin D is on the very low side of normal and I'm currently taking 50,000IU for 4 weeks to boost it (which I have done before and raised it, but not enough).

I can't tell you what to take since I am not your doc.

I take 800-1200mg of mag pr day. I take app 1500 calcium per day. The 1500 is elemental calcium. Google difference between elemental and citrate and carbonate and elemental. I.e 1000mg of calcium carbonate contains 400 mg elemental calcium.

Mt D is typically 55-75. I like it that way. I take 50,000 IU dry D3 2-3 times a week to maintain that. Beside what is in my multi or calcium. i take magnesium with or without calcium. I take most of my magnesium at evening. helps with my sleep.

I typically take dry K2 100-200mcg once a day.

I had RNY so I malabsorb fat, Itaek D3 and K2 in dry form.

FYI: I am over 50 and 9 years post op my dexa showed great bone density - similar to a young person.

Thanks for the info. I'm experiencing some failures from my Bari Center when it comes to talking about supplementation. Luckily, I have a personal relationship with my dietician there and although she isn't giving me supplement recommendations, I've been able to voice to her where I think they are failing and she's very willing to help me communicate that.

I'll do some research on the different types of calcium, and I think I need some more magnesium.