lizpackard09's Journal, 20 Sep 22

44 kg lost is amazing. You are doing soooo well! 

Thanks Mials11, it's a journey... 

It’s when you see the real positive impact on health that I am sure it motivates you even more - Liz thank you for making me stay on course even though I am starving with all these drugs! 😜 

Hi Liz. Your weight loss in such a short time is inspirational. Can you please share some information on the meal plan you are following and any supplements you are taking? Even with my best efforts I can’t get a third of your weight loss on a continuing basis. 

thanks malgaynor, six months ago I would have been envious of you being laid up and not able to do much of anything after your op, truly I would have been revelling in the guilt free time to cross stitch 😀 But if I imagine being in your shoes now, I know my biggest challenge would be not snacking... like all day 😬 I hope your hubby can keep the healthy foods coming to keep you full and help you heal 🤗 it's still cool enough for chicken and veg soup or bone broth isn't it?!  

documentmyfood, thanks so much. I wish I had some sage advice but truly everyone is different. For myself, I love food and have a 'healthy' appetite, so I knew that I had to start swapping rather than cutting out what I had been eating...pizza and hungry jacks, now swapped for something with the same volume but 1/4 of the calories... lots and lots of vegetables and salad...with chicken breast, salmon, tuna and eggs. I now spend hours each week doing meal prep... because if I don't have my meals ready to go in 5-10min, then I easily talk myself into drive-thru... I slowly increased my water intake (now at 3lt water/ day, plus 1lt tea/coffee). I swapped biscuits and chips for carrot (up to 2 /day) and cucumber sticks (sometimes with dip) and almonds. Eventually I have cut out the snacks all together to help reduce my type 2 Diabetes. Once I was more confident with WHAT I was eating I began to reduce the volume 😬 I have kitchen scales and weigh everything I eat and drink. With this wonderful App, I have slowly worked out a monthly meal plan of food I enjoy and can sustainably prepare for myself week after week after week. if you look back in my posts you will see some pics of my very plain, no fuss meals. Today I had oats for brekky with fruit and an egg. Asian greens veg soup, with Konjac noodles and 110g chicken breast for lunch. Dinner was Thai Green Curry with masses of Asian veg, 95g cooked rice (1/2 cup) and 120g chicken breast. Daily total of 1200 cal, including my milky coffee/ teas. Macros are roughly carbs/35%, fats/30%, protein/35%. Big tip, now I have mentioned it, check how much protein you are eating. Before changing my diet, I was eating mainly carbs and unhealthy fats, very little protein. The advice I found that has made a dramatic change for me was to try to include 30g protein at each meal... The only supplement I use is Lady shake (2 per week only), mainly for the protein boost on days I know I can't fit in all 3 meals. Slow and sustainable changes are best, lots water and whole foods (we are so lucky in Australia with the quality produce available). I hope you have found something of use in all of this info- lol... keep reading what others are doing... and build your own personal plan over time. Keep posting your ups and downs, this is a great and encouraging community... 

Hi Liz. Thanks so much for your detailed reply. I really like your food choices so please keep posting these. I am going to focus on 2 extra things based on this. Firstly increasing my fluid intake. I find this hard as very rarely do I feel thirsty but I will just plan it in. Secondly I am going to aim for 30 gm of protein at each meal. 

Documentmyfood, Glad you found something useful 🙂 Besides helping to fill us up, the amazing thing drinking water does (and especially for us post-menopausal gals) is rehydration of our dry and scaley skin. I noticed within three weeks of drinking minimum 2lts of water daily that my skin felt smoother and softer than it has in years... Who knew??!! A friend of mine recommended a free water tracking app called Water Drink Reminder (not water drinkING reminder - that is loaded with adds). I have used it since before finding the FatSecret app and also use it to graph my weight-loss. Good luck 👍