I agree with the calorie saving with diet soda, me too and I didn't care how it looked to people, though it is kind of funny... My first surgery my only instruction was to maintain my weight - don't lose, don't gain. The second time I had to do the 2 week LSD and that is protein shakes and a small list of protein choices for 800 calories I think - it was brutal but I lost 15 pounds.

Mornin' Weekenders!

I spent yesterday plowing through a book I had to read for a book discussion group that meets tomorrow morning. I need to get through another one in the next few days because I have a book review due (for a newsletter) on Nov 1 - cripes. On top of that, we went to a Homecoming bash (before the football game) at 4:00 PM yesterday - lots of food there, but I did OK - half a bratwurst, some mixed fruit, and about 1/4 cup of pasta salad. But once at the game - ugh. We had premium seats (thanks to the development director of the Athletics dept (we set up a scholarship for women's hockey in our trust recently - which explains how we managed to get the free tix to the box seats earlier this fall - and the premium seats last night). The premium seat section was attached to this "club" (you could see the game from the club - too - it was part of the stadium and had floor to ceiling windows overlooking the game) - all the free food you wanted. Tons of it. Including things like shrimp and crab legs! I blew it there. Six shrimp and about 1/4 c of roasted root vegetables (both of which were fine) - then I hit the dessert bar - 2 "gourmet" bar cookies and some apple crisp. Then later went back and had some Chex mix, about 2 oz of cheese, and some potato chips with French onion dip. I think that might have been it - but those desserts and Chex mix/potato chips pretty much killed me. Feeling it this morning. I've got two meals out this coming Thursday but I don't think anything else, so it's going to be super light eating most of this week.

QOTD: it's been so long I don't remember much, although I was obviously eating more than 3000 kcal a day, or I wouldn't have weighed well over 300 lbs. Even on my absolutely WORST days post-surgery (like Thanksgiving), I've topped out at about 2500 and felt like hell afterward. I can't believe I consistently ate a lot more than that before surgery - pretty much every day! Anyway, the couple things I do remember is my breakfast. Always a smoothie. Healthy, yes - but SO MANY CALORIES (at least the way I made them!). They would consist of a banana, a couple of peaches or a cup (at least) of melon, some berries, a bunch of plain Greek yogurt or half a chunk of tofu (for protein), and either milk or orange juice to get it going in the blender. So around 500 kcal there - plus the half & half in my coffee. Before I even walked out the door. We had a coffee shop on the first floor of the library I worked at, and I remember going downstairs several mornings a week around 10:00 to get another cup of coffee - with half & half - and a scone. So there's another 500-ish kcal. I usually brought leftovers for lunch. I must have had a snack in the afternoon, but I can't remember what. I did have a mini-fridge in my office where I kept things of yogurt and diet soda, so hopefully just that most days. I remember making microwave popcorn sometimes, though - and not the lighter variety. Dinner - I used to cook a lot more than I do now and I always made healthy things, but then, I always had two or three servings of whatever I made. So yea - just that right there is about a 3000 kcal day. And that doesn't even count the times we went out to eat - or the times I "overate" (compared to what I USUALLY ate...). When I went through my required six-month supervised diet before surgery, the dietitian had me eat 2300 kcal/day. That seemed like a really restrictive diet for me at the time. Do-able, but very restrictive. Now a 2300 kcal day would be a major binge day for me.

coffee with half & half

protein pumpkin muffin and a thing of Activia yogurt

not sure about the rest of the day because I'll be meeting up with my sister at some point (still haven't seen her yet, and she's been here since Thursday night), but after yesterday's blow-out, I will be eating very lightly today!! Maybe something like soup if we end up going out..

have a great day, everyone!

I forgot about the vending machine and pints of ice cream! A lot of the foods I ate I no longer want, or found subs and created hacks to scratch the itch, but it's never the same. The camera was a brutal reality check, still is. While I writing my answer, I was thinking it was sort of a 600 pound life before, but it was never on that level. How often I ate, maybe, but the quantity not even close.

Good morning weekenders ~ I hope you are having a lovely weekend so far! I had a very lazy day and besides some errands, I barely moved! On one hand, I didn't feel like doing anything else but enjoying the down time and recharging... but in the end, I feel like a wasted a perfectly good day! I need to find a better balance in my life. Today, I am doing house stuff and getting organized for the week. The kids are coming over and we are going to grill last night's dinner since we ended up eating leftovers. I fell asleep during the Halloween movie and then slept through the Dodgers game, but they won! 2 down, 2 to go!

QOTD - What was a typical food day for you pre-WLS?

I was always winging it and eating at every opportunity. Starbucks latte, donuts in the break room, cookies here, candy there. Full restaurant take out (Thai, Mediterranean, Indian, Chinese) for lunch every day and I would eat the whole thing. Dinner was usually high-cal carbs/fat - alfredo, lasagna, pot pie, or fast food. Or - when I was dieting -this kills me, a 2000 calorie low carb salad with avocado, nuts, bacon, cheese and full fat dressing, SMH. I can't imagine how many calories I ate on an average day. I feel sick thinking about this....

Accountability - I switched out planned dinner for leftovers even-steven. 0 active minutes and only 3,676 steps. Today I am 168.2 and in need of movement - not sure what that will look like so I'm just going to roll with the day. Maybe I need the rest days on the weekend, but I feel like I have more time and should be doing something...

B- coffee, eggbeater cheese wrap

l - rotisserie chicken w/salad

d- grilled chicken and asparagus

s- quest chips w/plain greek yogurt

Have a great day!!

We had a tea room in our city for a while and I could never get any of my friends to go. They thought it was a weird idea. Now I wish I had just gone on my own. There is none around here now. My family was Irish and we did have tea every afternoon. The kids usually had very weak tea with a lot of milk and the grownups had strong tea with whiskey and lemon or coffee with whiskey. There were sandwiches cut into 4ths and sometimes little cakes.

Other kids had milk and cookies after school. We had afternoon tea.

Have fun today.