What's on the menu today, RNYers?

Good morning, OH!  I am just home from personal training - yes, I did a morning workout!  How many of you workout in the morning?  I wish I could drag my butt up everyday because it feels good to be done, but I don't know how feasible it is.

Topic of the day: I have a five month follow-up at my surgeon today.  I want to talk calories with my NUT.  I have set a personal goal of 700 per day and sometimes go to 800...but since I have been feeling dizzy, I may go up to 900 or 1000 on days where I am working out.  Apparently your calories now can be a determining factor in what your maintenance calories will be, and if we eat too few calories in year 1, our maintenance calories could be 1200 instead of 1500 (for example).  Anybody here have any guidance on this issue?  (fully understanding none of us are experts - hell, we all had to have WLS so apparently we are the furthest things from experts!).  But I do appreciate opinions and other points of view!

Time Since Surgery: 5 months, 5 days

B: 2.5 oz of turkey, .75 oz of light muenster cheese (before gym)

S: Nature's Best Javapro Latte shake (I ordered a coffee flavored sample pack from mybariatricpantry.com and I am digging this brand - you just shake with 12 o of water)

L: Cauliflower pizza crust with a tbsp of pizza sauce, italian cheese, 7 hormel turkey pepperoni (btw 17 slices is 90 calories and 10 g of protein - I saw someone post one day that they nuke them on paper towel until they are crunchy!  Could be good!)

D: 1/4 bag of shirataki noodles, pesto, sautéed extra firm tofu 

Totals are 641 calories, 70 g of protein, 16 g carbs, 33 g of fat (the fat is high due to the yummy pesto!).  I may have another protein shake tonight if I can fit it in, to really boost my protein.

E: 10 mins treadmill warm-up, 50 minute personal training butt-kicking

V: Taking now (this always reminds me)

W: 24 oz in, 12 oz shake in front of me, will work on it all day (working from home today)

What's on your menu today?

Just back from a walk with Lily: to the park,2 miles there and back home. Distance a bit over 21/2 miles. I prefer to work out in the morning because I push myself harder because I have more energy. Doesn't always work out that way though. No wisdom here about calories. My doctor didn't even talk about them until I got way below goal. Then the dietitian worked with me to figure out how many I needed to stop losing weight. I seem to maintain now somewhere between 1400 and 1500 calories per day. Post op 21 months at 121.8 today. B 1/2c steel cut oats with nuts and 1/2 banana with peanut butter L 31/2 oz deli turkey and cheese and 1/2 c Greek yogurt S apple with peanut butter D tuna salad with sliced tomato S Greek yogurt with nuts. On track with fluids and vitamins. Will do 20 minutes on the bike at some today and 200 crunches. Have a great Wednesday everyone!

Karen, you always seem so sweet when you post...which helps me to not HATE you!  LOL!  You had a goal of 145, you reached 121, and you have to work to not keep losing weight?!?!  That is freaking phenomenal!  You are definitely a success story, and I am so impressed with your continued dedication.  Your menu is always super reasonable and you get exercise in every single day.  We can all learn from you :)  I am only five months out but reaching goal (170 is the one I arbitrarily set) sometimes seems like a given, and other times seems impossible (especially since my loss has slowed).  I was just thinking this morning about my brother's wedding in September, and I was thinking, "hmmmm I am 45 lbs until Onederland, will I weigh 200 or less by mid-September?"  It's hard to know because my weight loss slowed in month 5.  Anyway, you are doing great (and of course I don't hate you - I am kidding - hard to tell via the written word!) but you are an inspiration for sure!

PS Glad Lily is settling in to the family!  She must love those long morning walks.

Karen, 1400 to 1500 calories sounds like SO much food at this point!! I love that you continue to post here, it's always good to get the benefit of your experience. Thank you!

Good morning! Good morning! I find dragging myself out of bed rough, but I do walk 3 mornings a week with my colleague. I like that I get a great jump start on my steps for the day and on my liquids as well. I don't think I could manage getting to the gym though, ugh.

I slipped into a dress I got a few years ago this morning and it looks great, if I do say so myself. And the best part is it's an 18. Not an 18W, but a regular 18, and it's even a bit roomy. It has a lot of structure to it, so I think it makes my weight loss especially noticeable. The scale hasn't moved the last two days, so fitting in this dress felt really good after that.

An interesting tidbit about calories. I'll be very interested for you to report back from your NUT.

Time since surgery: 9 weeks

B: 3oz Greek yogurt, 1/4 cup Fiber One

S: 12oz Nectar lemon tea protein shake

L: 1oz chicken salad, 6 cheese crisps, 1 cheese stick

D: Sausage and veggie bake, 1 Babybel (I needed to boast my protein for this meal a little and felt at a loss on how to do so...)

S: 12oz Nectar Lemon Tea protein shake

TOTALS: Calories 618, Protein 87, Carbs 35, Fat 19

W: working on it

V: started

E: walked 2 miles this morning, evening meeting means no Y tonight :-(

Something new is blooming and allergies have begun to plague me. Do any of you suffer seasonal allergies? What do you take? I did leave a VM at my clinic as I couldn't find anything about what's ok for an RNYer to take.

Hi Anny!  The allergies are out in full force here too.  I have a good friend who takes Zyrtec.  I think as long as it doesn't have NSAIDs, you are good.  I take Sudafed when I am stuffy.  But thank god I do not suffer greatly like some of my poor friends here :(

Good numbers today!!!

I'm sorry to hear about your allergies, Anny. They can be a bear. I don't suffer personally since I moved away from Houston (the pine tree pollen there KILLED me every spring) but my son does, and I've seen how miserable they make him. I'll be interested to hear what you find out about what to take, but I would think you'd be ok with Claritin or Zyrtec. The Claritin melts might even be best since they skip the stomach pretty much. Let us know what you find out!

And thank you for the words of encouragement yesterday re my bathing suit issues. There's a reason I haven't worn one in almost 20 years! I'll keep working at it, though, that aqua aerobics class actually sounds like it would be fun. Grats on getting into that dress! I have a couple that I bought from Old Navy during a recent sale, they're 16s. I'm curious about when they'll fit, but confident that they will before the summer is out.

96 pounds lost Pam!  Do you know how amazing that is?  Every time I see it I am elated for you.  Just had to share that!  Amazing.  You will be rocking bathing suits this summer! 

You are so sweet, thank you! It's a lot, I have to keep reminding myself. I still see all the weight that I have left to lose, unfortunately...I need to learn to look at the bright side more!

Pam - I just saw your ticker... you have lost 96 lbs, that is totally awesome!