This is not a sponsored post. I just really think this is a great app and want you to know about it.

When I first had my weight-loss surgery back in February, and for weeks afterward, I averaged around 600 calories a day, which is TEENY-TINY, but believe it or not, that's the average. 

Now that I am 3 months out and exercising more regularly, 600 calories simply does not work. I discovered that when I started my stint with a personal trainer. I was wobbly, weak and lightheaded, and I knew that I had to get in more calories. 

Over the past couple months I've been working my way up in calories, and now I average around 900 to 1,000 calories a day and my weight loss is still plenty speedy. 

(Did I mention I'm 10 POUNDS AWAY FROM ONEDERLAND??????)

But planning a protein-heavy 1,000-calorie meal plan can be time consuming, and often I just wing it and end up not hitting my protein target.

Another problem I face is that in logging my food in My Fitness Pal, the app freaks out when I attempt to complete my food for the day. It throws up a red-lettered warning if my calorie is too low for its algorithm. 

So I don't know where I found this, but clicking around the web yesterday I discovered Eat This Much, which is an automatic meal planner app, which you can use on your phone or on your desktop. 

I can tell it to make me a 1,000-calorie day and it doesn't scold me! I also can tell it what foods to exclude, whether I want to try paleo, Mediterranean, or vegetarian, how much protein I want to get in my day, what size meals I want and how many of them I want. It's really customizable.

It'll generate a day's worth of meals, and if you aren't fond of a meal or a meal component, you can replace it with another one. If you're dining out, you can choose a restaurant meal from its database that'll fit in with your macros. And if you're thrifty, you can direct the app to give you dinner leftovers to eat for lunch or dinner the next day.

Now, I'm only a day into using this app but it looks like it'll help a lot with my meal planning and won't have me lunging for the protein bars and cottage cheese all day. And as you can probably tell, this app is great for anyone on any type of eating plan. 

The plan is free, but there is a premium version that allows you to plan a week in advance and make more modifications. The first two weeks of premium are free. 

Here's a super cute video that explains the program:

And here's a deal!

Any time someone clicks on my link (https://www.eatthismuch.com/a/gogogail) and signs up for a subscription, you AND I will automatically receive $9 in credit. 

Let's dance!

If you are a friend or family member of mine, you know I'm a bit of a neat freak. My favorite word is "tidy." I dash around the house from room to room, shouting "TIDY!" when a room is up to snuff. I pretty much do this every morning.

But even a neat freak can slack from time to time, and I felt myself sliding late last year. Everything was stagnant or going in the wrong direction: Water drinking, exercising, housecleaning, spending, going to bed at a decent hour, and -- yes -- weight.

I felt stuck in every area of my life.

Fast-forward to this year. I'm down a little more than 50 pounds since New Year's Day (which still BLOWS MY MIND), and that momentum has spilled over into nearly every facet of my life.

• The laundry not only gets done, but folded and put away in the same day.
• The sink (usually) isn't full of dirty dishes.
• I run the dishwasher and the clean dishes get put away.
• Tabletops are free of clutter.
• My magazine pile is down to a short stack instead of unwieldy mountains all over the house.
• My closet is culled (mostly because I got rid of a bunch of too-big clothes). 

It's something about not being stuck in my weight loss that has jostled loose all sorts of stagnation. 

I've got some other things I'm working on that I hope to update y'all on soon, fingers crossed.

There are around eleventy-billion purveyors of bariatric supplements and foods on the Internet. But as someone who has spent her lifetime eating "diet foods," I don't plan on stocking my pantry with "cookies," and "puddings" and "soups" and other prefab "foods."

Why are these freak-show foods so prevalent? 

Is it because bariatric surgery patients are jonesing for cheesecake and caramel macchiatos? 

This is not how one makes lunch.

I am determined to make my post-op food as clean as I possibly can, and I know that runs counter to some people's reliance on boxed and canned and bottled bariatric foods. So here's my list of clean favorites. First stop:

Premade protein shakes 

Before I even had my surgery in February, I had a couple weeks of a pre-op diet that relied increasingly on protein shakes. We'll get into protein powders in a bit, but the easiest way to down a bunch of protein is to grab a premade protein shake in a cardboard carton. And there are loads of gross ones out there (OK, gross to me). I tried a few varieties of one super popular brand (Premier), and quickly found them way too sweet. I know some people absolutely love them, but after surgery my disdain for sweet stuff got even stronger. It's kinda crazy -- before surgery I didn't really have a sweet tooth per se; it was more of a "food tooth." But after surgery? EVERYTHING is too sweet, especially foods that have artificial sweeteners or stevia. So now I either go without any sweetening or add a little honey, agave or sugar (usually just a teaspoon in my tea). 

Anyway -- the only premade protein shakes I can put up right now (I say that because my tastes are in a constant state of flux) with are Orgain Clean Protein. They have 20 grams of protein and are much cleaner than a lot of brands. There is some stevia, but it's not overkill.

Protein powders: Whey and vegan

I'm narrowing this list to whey and plant-based because I want to keep things simple. I don't mess with soy, and my dietitian told me that whey is the best absorbed protein source. I'm throwing in vegan protein because there are times my pouch is cranky and doesn't want the foamy texture that whey produces.

Man, I have been on a visionquest with protein powders! I made a lot of smoothies before surgery and already had a big collection of protein powders, but all bets were off after surgery. Protein powders that I used to like I now despised. Once again -- too sweet, too much aftertaste. So I was on the hunt for naturally sweetened protein powders that didn't contain stevia.

Whey protein

Chocolate: Whey to Go! Who knew! One of my old, old favorites fit the bill perfectly. I hadn't bought Whey to Go in years, but I checked the label and BINGO! no stevia. It's sweetened with beet sugar and has 9 grams of sugar per serving. It's a little higher in added sugar than my dietitian recommends, but I hadn't been drinking ANY protein shakes, so I'm not sweating the extra few grams of sugar. There's 20 grams of protein and a relatively short list of ingredients.  And it's fairly low cost -- some proteins are ridiculously overpriced (I'm looking at you, Shakeology). The chocolate flavor has a nice depth of flavor, so I haven't had to hit the bag of cocoa powder to amp it up. 

Vanilla: Garden of Life Organic Whey Protein was the first stevia-free whey protein powder I found, probably because it says "no stevia" right on the front label. This protein has 21 grams of organic whey concentrate and 11 grams of sugar, 9 of them added, which is a little high, but again, I'm not sweating it since my overall calorie level is so low for the day. It's really clean tasting, and while it isn't labeled vanilla, there is vanilla in it, so it's like a light vanilla. It's really good mixed with frozen fruit as it lets the fruit really shine through. I made a great smoothie with frozen mango, chilled green tea and a serving of this. 

Plant protein

Chocolate: Apparently Aloha protein powder has reformulated its recipe since the first time I tried it because I really like it now! Sometimes plant-based protein works better for me when my pouch needs something simple. It doesn't tend to foam up as much as whey-based protein powder. Aloha has a nice dark chocolate flavor while only having 4 grams of sugar from coconut sugar. It also uses monkfruit, which doesn't seem as "aftertasty" as stevia. There's 18 grams of protein that comes from pea, pumpkin seed and hemp, and you can buy it online or at Target. 

I don't have any favorite plant-based vanilla protein powders yet, but if I do find one, I'll update this list.

Other proteins: Collagen and Genepro

Collagen is a little controversial because a lot of dietitians don't think collagen peptides are a good protein source, but I use it pretty regularly because it disappears into any liquid hot or cold, and doesn't add any flavor. Many mornings my breakfast will be a cup of tea with a little honey and two scoops of collagen peptides. Hey, even if it isn't the highest quality protein, my cup of tea gives me 18 grams of protein from collagen, which is supposed to be great for your hair, skin, nails and joints, and all of those can use a little help. I haven't tried a lot of collagen brands, so I just stick with Vital Proteins collagen peptides, which you can find nearly all over. It also comes in single-serve packets, which are great for traveling. On our last road trip, I brought a bunch of packets with me and stirred them into coffee, tea and soup. Are there better brands you like? Lemme know in the comments.

Even more controversial is Genepro protein powder. A tiny little scoop -- 1 tablespoon -- purports to give you the equivalent of 30 grams of protein. But many people refuse to believe the claims made by the manufacturer because the serving size is so tiny. It's unflavored, mixes really well into hot or cold liquids and is great if you're low on protein for the day. I just don't know whether I'm getting 30 grams of protein or 15 or what!

I was going to go into vitamins and other things but I'll save those for another day -- this is plenty of food for thought.

I had just gotten done at the gym and needed some Propel, so I swung by a local grocery store. I got my Propel (Yay, it was on sale!), plus a few other things, and loaded up my trunk. As I got in the car, I was facing a Starbucks in the shopping plaza. 

It was nearing noon, so I figured I'd stop in and grab lunch, so I looked at the Starbucks app on my phone to order something to go. 

I scrolled past the entrees, the drinks, the specials and nothing jumped out at me. Remember, I can either drink or eat -- can't do both at the same time anymore because of the surgery. 

Cold brew? Nah. Iced tea. Not feelin' it. Egg white bites? Hmmmm, nah. 

Nothing. Nothing called out to me. 

WHO IS THIS PERSON?!?

Pre-surgery I could always make a successful Starbucks run. There was always something I could find to order. Something always looked or sounded yummy. But now? I just wasn't interested. All I wanted to do was go home, take a shower and drink a Propel. 

In a weird way, I was a little disappointed in my disinterest -- but just a little disappointed. I chose to have surgery that would shut down my constant hunger and overwhelming interest in food, and it worked. A lot of the time I have to almost force myself to eat, especially around dinner. And then when I do find something to eat, I can't eat much. (Thank goodness for unflavored collagen peptides and protein powder -- I put them in lots of things just to get my protein quota for the day.) Last night I had a cup of "Oprah soup" (O That's  Good Creamy Tomato Basil Soup) with a scoop of Genepro whey protein. Fortunately, the protein powder just disappears into the soup, but just to be safe I added a tablespoon of shredded Parmesan. Tiny Tum-Tum was happy.

In other news

From my pre-surgery doctor's appointment to April 30, I'm officially down 50 pounds, which blows my mind.