Re: Intro and Vitalady Question...

September 20, 2002

> or whomever can answer it...

~~~ Can share what I do -- I'm RnY short (12 " ) proximal, 2 years, 2 months

out -- 15 months at goal and (with a little slippage) holding... 41, 5' 6 "

and 120ish... no plastics yet.

> I know a lot of you do not count calories, but there a some that do and I

am one of them.<<<

~~ I don't count calories but maybe because I'm just not good at it *shrug*

or maybe because that never worked for me -- I do count " sugars " and I do

count " low end carbs " (low end = bread, pasta, rice... most anything that's

white) I don't count veggie carbs cuz those are good ones.

>> Do we count the calories in our protein drink in our daily total? If we

don't why not?<<

~~ I don't count the calories in my protein because the calories don't come

from sugar or carbs -- my shake has 0 sugars and 4 carbs so the calories are

not coming from the bad places -- calories from protein I consider " fuel " as

opposed to " calories " because we have to have fuel to keep going.

There is some ratio (don't know the numbers) of calories burned needs to be

around equal or less than calories taken in BUT at the same time our bodies

have to have " enough " calories to burn fat -- in my head I just think of the

calories in my protein shakes as the ones used to burn fat and to fuel my

body (give me energy) to go go go all day long... so, I don't count them as

calories as such... but, as fuel... good fuel.

I do believe ALL of us need a healthy balance so carbs from veggies --

usually raw or lightly sautéed so I get the most I can from the food plus

they are (some are) slightly bulky providing the " full " feeling and others

are fibrous helping in that area.

Fats I don't count I think because I just don't consume that much of them

to count them -- my cholesterol levels over the last two years have gone

from WAY over normal (a family thing I think) to mid/low normal now so I'm

real happy about that.

I do consume fats but more in the way of high end virgin olive oil to sauté

my veggies in and so on...

Balance....

For me, counting calories (other than what fitday.com would do for me if I

did that all the time) is just too much work -- right now, I have a system

and habits for the most part that if I do what has been working (to

maintain) and keep doing the right things my weight is stable and my labs

and DEXA are great so... for me, just keep doing what I'm doing as long as

it works is the easy route (not easy always but the " right " thing for me.)

If it quits working then I'll have to look at doing it another way.

>>>I have had the pleasure of meeting Curran on numerous

occasions<<<

A lot of what " I " do is a direct result of what has shared about

what she has done that works and what hasn't worked for her -- her and other

longer term post-ops that are doing the deal successfully, to me, are

invaluable assets to all of us... Not just because they share what has

worked but also sharing what didn't work and being honest about it -- After

gathering all the " longer term post-op " information -- then I put it to use

in my own life, tweak it accordingly to fit my life style and so far have

had really good results by doing it that way... For Me... each of us are

different though.

I do think if we are going to count the calories from protein shakes that

we can't clump them together with the calories from say... a slice of

toast -- the " type " of calorie we are getting is totally different -- so, I

think if I do need to begin starting to count the calories I would have to

put them in two different categories -- bad calories and good calories or

something along those lines.

hugz and welcome to the group,

~denise

September 20, 2002