Take Your Health Seriously

[Max Rockatansky]

I'm getting Fraggle Rock flashbacks with this talk of this "silly"  talk.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I'm getting Fraggle Rock flashbacks with this talk of this "silly"  talk.

And now for something completely different, maybe this board needs a Ministry of Silly Posts.

[Max Rockatansky]

I'm getting Fraggle Rock flashbacks with this talk of this "silly"  talk.

And now for something completely different, maybe this board needs a Ministry of Silly Posts.

Done.

[formulanone]

I'm getting Fraggle Rock flashbacks with this talk of this "silly"  talk.

Doozers were fond of their infrastructure, only to have Fraggles come and eat it. If they'd only linked up a treaty with the Gorgs, maybe they could have peace. Or just become perpetual castle-building slaves to those behemoths (until the great Trash Heap saved them).

Moral of the story: don't eat infrastructure

[webny99]

Sorry
 

Well, at least you changed up the emoji that time...

Thanks for the appreciation, @kphoger

Actually, it wasn't appreciation, it was appreciation.

[NWI_Irish96]

Not sure if anyone is interested in an update, but here it is: Seven weeks out from surgery, I'm down a little over 60 pounds. I've been able to supplement my protein shakes with eggs, thin sliced deli turkey and low fat cheese. Basically soft foods that are high in protein, low in fat, and devoid of carbs. There are other things I'm allowed to have but don't really care for.

One thing I've noticed is that in response to cutting my calorie intake down to < 800 per day, my body has responded by burning much less energy heating my body. I'm constantly cold. I wear a long sleeve shirt and heavy sweatpants inside. I crank the thermostat up to 74 when nobody else is home.

Looking forward to a week from today, when I will be able to add: lean ground beef, chicken or turkey breast with no skin, low sugar cereal, peanut butter, whole grain bagel thins, low carb tortillas, and peanut butter.

Strict no-nos until 6 months are alcohol, beef/pork that isn't ground, nuts and popcorn.

Anything high in carbs needs to be extremely rare or my stomach won't have enough room to get the required amount of protein. I was always a very regular consumer of fried foods, especially potatoes, so it's going to be hard to limit that but I have to do it.

Something I'd never done before is drink anywhere near 64 oz. of water per day. I'm averaging about 50-60 oz per day, and it really does limit hunger.

[abefroman329]

Interesting - I think I was on an "unrestricted" diet by six weeks post-surgery, but it was a long time before I could eat almost anything, and there are still a number of food items that I can't eat.

You've done a great job so far, and yes, I've basically had to adjust how warmly I dress by about ten degrees F (if I did need a light jacket when it was 50, then now I need one when it's 60, and so on).

[JayhawkCO]

I hope the recovery keeps going well!

[NWI_Irish96]

Interesting - I think I was on an "unrestricted" diet by six weeks post-surgery, but it was a long time before I could eat almost anything, and there are still a number of food items that I can't eat.

You've done a great job so far, and yes, I've basically had to adjust how warmly I dress by about ten degrees F (if I did need a light jacket when it was 50, then now I need one when it's 60, and so on).

I probably could eat more things, but my surgeon is pretty insistent about sticking to the scripted plan. I don't mind--it's working for me.

[kphoger]

I've been able to supplement my protein shakes with eggs, thin sliced deli turkey and low fat cheese.

That's got to be a bright spot in your diet, huh?  Can you combine those three things together into one bite?

[NWI_Irish96]

I've been able to supplement my protein shakes with eggs, thin sliced deli turkey and low fat cheese.

That's got to be a bright spot in your diet, huh?  Can you combine those three things together into one bite?

Well, yeah, I have a turkey and cheese omlette every morning.

[Roadgeekteen]

I'm 6 feet tall and around 188ish pounds is that too heavy?

[NWI_Irish96]

I'm 6 feet tall and around 188ish pounds is that too heavy?

Your doctor would have the expert opinion but in my non-expert opinion most certainly not.

[kphoger]

I'm 6 feet tall and around 188ish pounds is that too heavy?

Your doctor would have the expert opinion but in my non-expert opinion most certainly not.

I'm just over 6 feet tall and just under 120 pounds, and I once had a trainer at the YMCA refuse to believe that I wasn't on drugs.  Also, my BMI came back with an error code.  So I suspect 188 pound may be more in the "normal" range...

[J N Winkler]

I'm 6 feet tall and around 188ish pounds is that too heavy?

I'm just over 6 feet tall and just under 120 pounds, and I once had a trainer at the YMCA refuse to believe that I wasn't on drugs.  Also, my BMI came back with an error code.  So I suspect 188 pound may be more in the "normal" range...

BMI Calculator

188 lb, 6' 0" = BMI of 25.5

120 lb, 6' 0" = BMI of 16.3

In my own case:

149 lb, 5' 11" = BMI of 20.8

The general rule of thumb is that normal weight corresponds to BMI between 20 and 25.  But BMI is useful mainly for assessing the prevalence of obesity within large populations, where individual variations cancel out.  Depending on how much muscle mass one has, one can have a BMI above 25 with a normal body shape and a low body fat percentage.  In any event, BMI has nothing to say about health conditions not related to metabolism--for example, a share of people with normal or underweight BMI have lost weight due to incurable Stage IV metastatic cancer.  Weight loss also commonly forms part of the final progression to death.

In economic history, quantifiable parameters such as calorie intake, masses of fats consumed as food, and BMI are commonly used as a way to tell stories about famine due to supply chain breakdowns (Bengal famine of 1943), food scarcity due to naval blockades (British blockade of German ports during World War I, which contributed to the Turnip Winter of 1916-1917) or confiscation of food supplies (the Hongerwinter in the Netherlands during 1944-45), or intentional combination of overwork with starvation (the Nazi policy of Vernichtung durch Arbeit in the concentration camps).  But these are all instances of analysis conducted at the population level, not guides to diet in any individual case.



In regard to cold tolerance, my weight has dropped about six pounds since I'm no longer lifting weights at the gym (due to covid) and I'm now more likely to wear a jacket and to wind a scarf around my neck as a draft excluder.

[Max Rockatansky]

The BMI result I got based off what RGT cited was 25.49.  If you believe BMI as gospel that's slightly overweight.  For what it's worth I'm the same height and weigh about the same amount.  I don't think anyone based off how much a exercise or distance run would call me overweight (my wife told me the other day I've lost too much weight and look emaciated).  So take that calculation with a grain of salt, it really doesn't mean much at that level.

[kkt]

I find most restaurant ads to be disgusting by the way they do extreme closeups of their food.

Agree with this. Why do they have to do a closeup of a sandwich from Subway?!

If they did a close up of a set of Kobalt socket wrenches they probably wouldn't sell many sandwiches, now would they?

[NWI_Irish96]

So an update if anybody is interested: now down 72 pounds since my high point 2 weeks before my surgery.

Some observations from my experience and my doctors:

1) drinking 64+ ounces of water per day helps you feel full and less hungry. Before my surgery, I doubt I hit 64 ounces of fluids more than 10% of the time.

2) drinking that water at different times than eating helps even more. It was a hard adjustment to not drinking with food, but I've gotten used to it. My routine is that I force myself to drink 16 ounces of water and then wait at least 30 minutes before eating, and then repeat the cycle 3 more times per day.

3) artificial sweeteners stimulate appetite. I got tired of drinking plain water so I started using Mio drink mixes. Zero calories but I noticed a much bitter appetite once I started using those. The artificial sweeteners trick your body into thinking it's getting sugar and then when you don't, you body demands calories. I've switched to Splenda-based drink mixes and it has helped.

4) getting 80+ grams of protein per day is critical, but my doctor advised me against having meals that are entirely carb free. Something about your body trying to convert protein to carbs if you don't have any carbs. So instead of filling up on lean meats and low-fat cheeses, I have half a banana or some mashed potatoes first (foods that are filling without a large carb count) and then eat the meat and cheese until I'm full.