Plateau or Maintenance Struggles: Here's your solution

If you are struggling with weight loss or a plateau or even with maintenance it may be time to review this article shared from Cooking with Kaye. It contains recent information about the importance of our high protein diet and how to calculate individual protein needs. Increasing protein intake is a fundamental method of managing our weight loss surgery tool. Take a look - let me know what you think. (This download file is available exclusively to members of our Facebook group - Please link below to join us.)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/LAWLS.PROJECT2014/

Living Inspired After WLS - Project 2014 Group

Uniting like-minded people through education support, and community, while promoting health sustainability and weight management with weight loss surgery.

Project 2014: Season III Begins!

LivingAfterWLS Project 2014 

Season III Unit 1 Newsletter 

 

Season III: Summer
Living well and empowered

 
Welcome to Season III - Summer of our LivingAfterWLS Project 2014. I am so pleased you have joined me for this exciting and meaningful approach to health and weight management using our weight loss surgery tool empowered by our collective knowledge and strength. We continued to pursue our goal in Season II - Spring to unite like-minded people through education, support, and lasting health sustainability using our surgical tool for weight loss and weight management. Our Facebook group grew to over 1200 members and we enjoy lively and supportive conversation daily.  We listened to feedback from our membership and have revamped our units and worksheets for Season III to feel less like homework and more like engaging fun. You will notice these changes beginning in Unit II. Like our other seasons, Unit 1 of Summer is the activity of completing the Personal Self-Assessment and making daily entries in our Today Inspired micro-diary. The worksheets are attached in this convenient PDF download.

We hope you love the new worksheets and find them useful tools in the ongoing pursuit of good health and weight management with weight loss surgery. As always we remain committed to our goal of uniting like-minded people through education, support, and community, while promoting health sustainability and weight management with weight loss surgery.

Season III: Unit 1:
Personal Empowerment - You are in control.

Download Season III Unit 1

Personal Responsibility: Our best weapon against biology and environment WLS patients have a tremendous sense of personal responsibility in controlling their health through weight management with surgery. In summarizing the research on biology and environment in relation to obesity expert George Bray said, "Genes load the gun, the environment pulls the trigger." No wonder we struggle, even with surgical intervention, in the fight against obesity. Dr. Brownell attaches great hope to personal responsibility saying, "Calling on people to make better decisions and providing them with the skills to do so should always be the first step, always the default. This is consistent with our country's character and also with psychological principles; people who change through their own efforts have enhanced self-esteem and maintain the changes longer."

Link to Newsletter

Metabolic Set Point - When weight loss stalls

Is your weight loss stalled? 

Question: Kaye Bailey do you have an article or presentation on how our body's reach a set point? I find that my body is trying to reset the normal weight but higher than I want.

In our LivingAfterWLS Project 2014 Facebook group we are discussing MSP - Metabolic Set Point - in relation to our weight management efforts with weight loss surgery. This is a complex topic and I am working on a more extensive article to share with you. In the meantime here is a bit of a summary addressing the issue that confounds and frustrates us in the chase for goal weight after WLS.

If you haven't joined us yet hop on over to Facebook and join our Project 2014: Uniting like-minded people through education, support, and community, while promoting health sustainability and weight management with weight loss surgery.

Link to Facebook Group



by Kaye Bailey

I'd like to briefly mention a few things that contribute to metabolic set point and since most of our group is women I'll address the female biology more specifically.

MSP (Metabolic Set Point) is the rate at which the body burns energy and the popular "calories in/calories out" is not particularly accurate or representative. The MSP is a product of the food we eat, the exercise we do, the presence or absence of hormones including estrogen, ghrelin, testosterone, our age and gender, our reproductive stage of life, our history of weight loss/weight gain, and so much more. I am working on a full newsletter to cover these topics more completely.

Knowing how many ingredients are in each individual's MSP is key in understanding personal weight management independent of another person's weight management.  We do so much comparison and competing in weight management which leads to great frustration when we encounter a plateau that quite possibly is our personal set point. Our care providers (doctors, surgeons, nutritionists) set goal weight based on antiquated data. In addition, we ourselves set a goal weight that is often random and most often unrealistic (i.e., I want to weigh what I did when I got married, or was in high school, or weigh less than my husband or less than my pet zebra, or add your own reason).

 When I had surgery my goal weight was 135 (I really don't remember why) and I got there for about one joyous day. This was an impossible weight for me to maintain: I was miserable and so was everyone around me. Additionally I was hungry, tired, and weak and did I mention really cranky.  It turns out my set point is about 155: I've been stuck there for about 9 years. That's a long plateau! In my fantasy world I'd like to be 145 and 135 would rocket me to the moon. But the fact is - I am healthy at 155. I feel healthy, I look healthy, and I’m rarely cranky.  I haven't heard the old "Have you been sick?" question for years - feedback I got daily when I was 20 pounds lighter.

So, taking my experience and listening to so many of us over the years I've come to believe that finding our personal MSP is extremely liberating. If we can maintain a healthy weight, through conscious effort including consistent health-promoting choices, we avoid the misery of chasing unrealistic goals which lead to the further misery of yo-yo weight fluctuations. By this I do not mean settling for good enough weight loss, not in the least. I just think that when we lose a goodly amount of weight we must be ever vigilant to look for the signs that we have arrived at the destination of great health and personal content. And this destination is most likely different from the one we had in mind when we left on the journey.

so - that's all I'm giving up for now. I love this topic and I appreciate the opportunity to share some thoughts and look forward to presenting more information in greater depth. Thank you!

What the *HAIL* Happened?

Season II: Spring Unit 4
Life is Abloom and Inspired

Visit the Project 2014 newsletter here: Spring Season: Unit 4

Are you down in the dumps after WLS?

Welcome to Season II - Spring of our LivingAfterWLS Project 2014. I am so pleased you have joined me for this exciting and meaningful approach to health and weight management using our weight loss surgery tool empowered by our collective knowledge and strength. I hope Spring abounds in your area - here in Wyoming we were pounded with hail on May 7 doing damage to plants, vehicles, and structures. And of course there was the day-long mandatory post-storm power outage just to increase the frustration factor. I suppose a mid-spring hail storm from out of nowhere is quite like a dumping episode. After it hits you wonder what the "HAIL" happened.

In this unit we take a good detailed look at dumping syndrome.

Dumping syndrome is a phenomenon, primarily reserved for Gastric Bypass Roux-en-Y patients which is characterized by unpleasant symptoms when the patient's blood sugar is adversely affected by simple sugars, simple carbohydrates, and fatty foods. When these foods are rapidly absorbed by the small intestine dumping syndrome may occur. Some Roux-en-Y patients never seem to experience dumping, others are surprised when some foods trigger an episode and others do not, and still there is always the surprise dumping event that occurs on food that has previously been enjoyed without incident. Learn more - link to the download:

Spring Season 2: Unit 4 Download

Have a terrific week, stay safe and prepared. Thank you for joining me!
Kaye

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LivingAfterWLS Project 2014: Wanted! Breakfast Ideas

We are collecting great recipes and ideas for breakfast after WLS in our Project 2014 Facebook Group. Jump on over and contribute your best breakfast to the project. Our collection deadline is Sunday night, May 11. At that point we will close to submissions and prepare the recipes and ideas in a printable compendium to print and enjoy as a supplement to our Project 2014. Please join us and share your knowledge - We are all in this together!

Add your submission to the pinned post at the top of the group page.

Link Here:  LivingAfterWLS Project 2014 Facebook Group

Are you prepared?

LivingAfterWLS Project 2014
Spring Season Unit 3
 

As much as we would like to believe our world is safe the fact is emergencies and disasters happen every day. Are you prepared to manage your weight loss surgery special needs in the event of an emergency? Current polling shows that nearly half of all American families do not have an emergency plan or an emergency supply kit in the home. When disaster strikes it is too late to make a plan and emergency preparations. This Unit 3 of our Spring Season addresses the unique needs of the weight loss surgery patient in the event of a crisis. We also provide useful first aid information for a gastric bypass dumping event.

Download this unit - go to: LivingAfterWLS Project 2014

Project 2014: Spring Season Unit 2

Today in Unit 2 of the Spring Season we look at the definition of obesity, designated in 2013 by the American Medical Association as a disease rather than a condition. For many years obesity was considered a condition that contributed to other diseases, not a stand-alone disease. The change in designation makes way for improved comprehensive treatment that is ongoing in the prevention and intervention of disease relapse. This matters to us as weight loss surgery patients because we know that a comprehensive approach to weight management is the one sure way to keep our health and weight in check. Take a look at this week's PDF download to learn more. We also explore a new designation in the medical field, the Obesity Medicine Physician: an agent for the comprehensive treatment and management of obesity.

Spring Season Unit 2: Obesity is a disease
 

Project 2014 - Spring Season Unit 1 Now Available

Oh What a Week!

Okay, so you know our tech issues with the email list. The guys are still working on the repair and rebuild and it doesn't look like we can get the email sent today, although they are hopeful we will have the email function back for Sunday's publications.

While we are working through these issues please get your download file directly from our website:

LivingAfterWLS.com Project 2014 Spring Unit 1

Join our Facebook group and get involved in the Project 2014 discussion. Uniting like-minded people through education, support, and community, while promoting health sustainability and weight management with weight loss surgery.

LAWLS Project 2014 Facebook Group

Join Now! Facebook Group: LAWLS Project 2014

Project 2014 - Spring Season Starts Sunday 4/6/2014

Hello Group and who else is thinking "TGIF"?
Link: LivingAfterWLS Project 2014 Facebook Group

Project 2014 Update
 
Be prepared and watch for our all new Spring Season of Project 2014 - your Unit 1 will be delivered via email Sunday and we are on schedule for a full 13-week season of lessons, learning, and LIVING! We will also post Season 2 Unit 1 here and on the LivingAfterWLS website.

Season 1 Review:
In the meantime how about pulling out your Project 2014 binder and reviewing the Season 1 Units 1-7.

In review of your Quarterly Self-Assessment (Unit 2) how are you doing? You know we have the new quarter self-assessment to do this month, have you given thought to this exercise?

One reason I encourage all of us to do our journal exercises and self-assessments is that when it comes down to the hard cold truth - each of us is personally the guardian of our own health and progress. We can get all kinds of advice from professionals, family and friends, support group peers, and even the random stranger or late night infomercial host. But when it comes down to it, only we are 100% invested in our personal health and well being. Keeping records and marking progress is a priceless tool in our quest for improved health management, weight management, and better living.

Okay - got my nagging done! Get those binders out today and tomorrow and make sure you've completed the exercise best you can. Our Spring schedule is rigorous, be ready for it! You are going to enjoy it.

All of the Season 1 - Winter files are located under the FILES tab located just below the group logo on this page (Facebook group). You can also find them on the LivingAfterWLS website on this page: Project 2014  

We have many silent participants who prefer not use Facebook - no problem. Sign-up for the emails & get the downloads on our website page: Project 2014

Download Tech Support: Also - we get many emails asking us to help individuals learn how to download files. We do not offer tech support for the end users' computer or device. Our job is to provide great content in free files presented in the most commonly accepted format. If you do not know how to access and print these please talk to your device manufacturer or the smarty-pants-computer-genius you know. We simply do not have the resources to offer computer and device tech support.

Review these units from Season 1 - Winter:
Unit 1 - Program Structure
Unit 2 - Self-Assessment
Unit 3 - Today Inspired
Unit 4 - The Four Rules
Unit 5 - Vitamins & Supplements & WLS
Unit 6 - Recipes - the Sensational Power of Soups
Unit 7 - Slider Foods

We will build on the ideas and concepts from Season 1 and we boogie our way through Season 2. Are you ready?

LivingAfterWLS Project 2014 - Our FAQ's this week

Question: Do I have to be in the Facebook group to participate in the Project 2014?

Answer:  Project 2014 is a guided learning program in support of your weight loss and weight management goals with surgery. As we are a diverse community the Project is structured so individuals can participate in any manner that suits them. For some this means active participation in the Facebook group, for others quiet self-study is profoundly effective. Minimum participation requirements are simple: sign-up for our free email publications to get weekly updates that include the Unit download files. You take it from there to enjoy the Project and make 2014 a health-minded year.

Question: Can I join anytime?

Answer: Yes. Jump in anytime. Our group is off to a late start but we are self-guided. Winter Season (January-March) includes 13 Units. They are posted under the files tab. Read each unit in order and do the assigned exercises as you go. Participate in the group or follow silently on your own. You decide your level of participation.

Question: Do I have to buy anything to participate?

Answer: No - This is a free shared experience and we are glad you are here. Joining this group and/or being an active subscriber to the LivingAfterWLS Newsletters grants you full access to all of the Units for each season. The units are provided in PDF format for your personal use to download, organize, and copy. They may not be redistributed.


Question: The downloads aren't working for me. Is there somewhere else to get them?

Answer: Yes, all of our lesson Units are posted as PDF files on this web page at LivingAfterWLS.com:
Project 2014
        
They are in PDF format and should open automatically open in a browser window. You may also open them if you have a PDF reader installed on your computer or device. You can get the free Adobe Reader here:
Adobe Reader

Project 2014: Unit 6 - Sensational Soup

Thank you for joining me in today's Project 2014 newsletter, one to warm your body and soul. Today it is all about soup! We explore the health benefits of comforting soup and the role this long-standing comfort food serves in the weight loss surgery diet. A good cup of soup can be a life-line on a cold day or when the stomach needs soothing. A soup rich in vegetables will tame any carb cravings and keep us full for hours. The Unit assignments are easy and rewarding: make a list of your favorite soups and add one new soup recipe to your weekly menu.

Jump to the Download: Unit 6

Speaking of assignments, how are you progressing with Units 1-5? By now we should all have our binder prepared and Units 1 through 5 printed and organized. We should have completed our Winter Season LivingAfterWLS Self Assessment. In addition, we need to be taking a moment each day to celebrate a "Today Inspired" moment. Assignments from Unit 4 include comparing the standard Four Rules to our specific post-surgical guidelines and noting how they fit with our weight management plan. The Unit 5 assignment has us list our vitamin supplementation and answer key  questions about our current vitamin protocol.

Visit this webpage to find all of the previously issued Project 2014 learning Units for Season 1: Winter  LivingAfterWLS Project 2014

Project 2014: Units 4 & 5. Download & Do Tasks this week!

Thank you for joining me in this second newsletter for our LivingAfterWLS Project 2014. We apologize to those of you who received this email on Sunday (2/16/2014). A technical glitch caused the coding to overwrite itself and many received a cryptic letter mixing words and code making it illegible. We hope the glitch is fixed now and you are seeing a clean letter! (My fingers are crossed!)

Today we look at Units 4 and 5 of Project 2014. Unit 4 covers the universally accepted WLS Four Rules and Unit 5 takes a look at vitamin supplementation. They are summarized here, but be sure to click the download for the full articles and your Unit Assignments.

Jump to the Download: Units 4 and 5
By now we should all have our binders prepared and Units 1, 2, and 3 printed and organized. We should be near completion with Unit 2 assignment, LivingAfterWLS Self Assessment. In addition, we need to be taking a moment each day to celebrate a "Today Inspired" moment. In case you missed Units 1, 2, and 3 we've included a quick look at each Unit and links to the download.
 

Project Mission:

Empowering individuals to harness their inner strengths for life-long weight management with weight loss surgery. Personal empowerment through education, thought, community support, and validation. We are LivingAfterWLS.

Our dedicated Facebook group has more than 350 members now! It is not required that you join the Facebook group, we have many silent participants in Project 2014. But if Facebook is your thing come on over and join us. For convenience all PDF files issued in association with this project are located under the FILES tab within the group. I wish to say Welcome and Thanks to everyone who has already joined our LAWLS Project 2014 on Facebook. The group is off and running pursuing our collective goals: please join us follow the link below:

LAWLS Project 2014 Facebook Group

 
If you are eager to join us please click the link above through your Facebook account and request membership in this group. Once your membership is accepted please take these steps to begin your engagement in this supportive and empowering group:

1. Read the Code of Conduct (under Files) and initial your agreement.

2. Open the file Winter_Units1_2_3.pdf and learn the project structure. Print the .pdf file for your personal use. (Hint - print on 3-hole paper if available!)

3. Dedicate a 3-Ring binder to the documents and worksheets (suggested binder tabs are listed on page 6). Do the tasks assigned in Units 2 and 3. Share your thoughts, experience, and encouragement with the group.

Let's get this project started! I look forward to sharing 2014 with you!

CHEERS!
Kaye

LAWLS Project 2014: Living Inspired After WLS

Check out the first issue of our Project 2014 Newsletter

I am so happy to invite your participation in LivingAfterWLS Project 2014: a program dedicated to life-long weight management and healthy living made possible by optimizing our weight loss surgery tool and harnessing our internal strengths so that we may thrive. This project has been long in the making, starting in 1999 when I underwent laparoscopic gastric bypass (RNY) to treat my condition of morbid obesity. 2014 launches my tenth year of blogging about weight loss surgery and the eighth year I've worked for LivingAfterWLS in support of the greater weight loss surgery community.  In that time I have learned with complete certainty that weight loss surgery is not, as the public may perceive, an easy means to weight loss. In fact, this is a challenging and difficult path we travel in the name of weight management and the pursuit of improved health, wellness, and longevity. I invite you to join this project because you understand that. As diverse individuals, unique and beautiful in our own right, we come together united in the common cause of managing metabolic disease (obesity) and through improved health we enjoy an enhanced quality of living.

In this newsletter we outline the structure of Project 2014 and release Units 1, 2, and 3 for your use as a participant in the project. The structure of the project is supported with weekly newsletters, free printable PDF files that include informative articles and practical worksheets, and numerous links to sources of further reading and empowering information. Additionally, Project 2014 is supported by community in a Facebook group dedicated to serving the membership as a support satellite to Project 2014. 

Project Mission:

Empowering individuals to harness their inner strengths for life-long weight management with weight loss surgery. Personal empowerment through education, thought, community support, and validation. We are LivingAfterWLS.

Last week we opened the group inviting members to join and share introductions. For convenience all PDF files issued in association with this project are located under the FILES tab within the group. I wish to say Welcome and Thanks to everyone who has already joined our LAWLS Project 2014 on Facebook. The group is off and running pursuing our collective goals: please join us follow the link below:

LAWLS Project 2014 Facebook Group

 
If you are eager to join us please click the link above through your Facebook account and request membership in this group. Once your membership is accepted please take these steps to begin your engagement in this supportive and empowering group:

1. Read the Code of Conduct (under Files) and initial your agreement.

2. Open the file Winter_Units1_2_3.pdf and learn the project structure. Print the .pdf file for your personal use. (Hint - print on 3-hole paper if available!)

3. Dedicate a 3-Ring binder to the documents and worksheets (suggested binder tabs are listed on page 6). Do the tasks assigned in Units 2 and 3. Share your thoughts, experience, and encouragement with the group.

Let's get this project started! I look forward to sharing 2014 with you!

CHEERS!
Kaye

Watch for it ..... LivingAfterWLS Project 2014

I shared this little announcement in our LivingAfterWLS Neighbors Group - but in case you missed it here you go: Later this month we are introducing our "LivingAfterWLS Project 2014" which is a support program for long-term commitments to weight management with WLS --- watch your emails and social media to learn how to join - it will be a closed Facebook group. It is going to be fun and worthwhile! I've very excited!!! Please stay tuned....





Join our current open group on Facebook:

LivingAfterWLS Neighbors