can you guys eat this much?

Just trying to see if Im on track. Sometimes I get so worried I can eat too much. For example I usually measure out my food and if I eat, say, spaghetti, I measure out one cup and can eat that with maybe a slice of toast. Or...I can eat a baked chicken breast ( thin sliced) and a half cup or more of vegies...Or a whole sandwich...not a piled high one but a slice of ham a slice of cheese and both slices of bread. I try not too push my limits and have only gotten sick twice since surgery from eating too much. Does this sound righjt to yall? Also...I have about 70 more lbs to lose. Ive heard our "window" is 18 months. My loss has slowed to about 5 lbs a month. At that rate I'll never make it by my window of opportunity. At that rate Id be another year or more losing it all!! Im worried sick over this. HELP!! Thanks, Mary

I can usually eat about that much. I can have 1 nice sized piece of pizza as I did last night, it was fairly thin crust with cheese, mushrooms & ground beef. A cup of spaghetti is about the norm, rather I get the garlic bread in or not is iffy and if I get to it I usually don't eat the whole piece. I can do 1 taco with 1/4-1/2 a cup of rice with it or sometimes I can almost do 2 tacos (w/o the rice). When I eat a chicken breast, I can usually eat 1 whole boneless skinless breast without anything with it, but if I have veggies or something with it I usually only do 1/2. On the rare occasion we go out for fast food, I'll have a cheeseburger or chicken sandwich, but with only 1 side of the bun and that fills me up perfectly. My loss has also slowed, I have about 30lbs left to goal and I'm down to only losing about 4lbs a month, but I'm gonna kick things in gear and start to really watch what I'm eating and exercise because I'm only 6 weeks away from being a year out and I'd really like to be within 10lbs of my goal if not to my goal by then. Best of Luck, Kenzie

Thanks Kenzie, I think I can eat more than you. I could easily eat the whole cheeseburger, bun and all. I dont do it very often, but I have done it. ONly the burger tho, nothing elase with it and I was full. And if I ate the chicken breast I could still eat about 1/4 to 1/2 a cup of some type of vegie. I dont do past or rice but maybe once or twice a month. I do good during the day and barely get hungry at all, but come night time I wanna eat everything in sight. Im trying real hard to watch that. The 4 lbs a month thing sucks doesnt it?? LOL they get us all psyched up losing 20-30 lbs a month and then it stops!! That not fair. LOL Thaks again and good luck to you too! MAry

Waving a hello, Mary!! I'm probably not a good reference because I've only been averaging 5 lbs a months since like month 4 most op, and am currently going through a "what am I doing wrong" phase again, but... I can eat a whole chicken breast (small) some days, other days not. I can eat almost a whole McD hamburger (the 89 cent one) at one sitting - including the bun if I want it. My total food is probably somewhere between 1/2-1 cup most of the time. One thing I've found is that I can be satisfied with less than I CAN eat. Does that make sense? If I stop eating the first time my tummy kind of pinches or twinges - I can be satisfied with that. Or - I can slow down and eat more. I think the trick is to re-discover that twinge of fullness and stop there. Does that make sense? What are you doing for exercise? Can you add an additional 30-60 min. workout each day? Are you drinking all your water? Try increasing that to 64 oz minimum PLUS 8 oz for every 25 lbs over goal you weigh (so that'd be an additional 16-24oz for 70 lbs over goal). One thing Anna said on my "what am I doing wrong" thread reminded me that getting "back to basics" is a really good thing to do once in a while. Are you following the pouch rules? Protein first, don't drink with meals - stopping 30 min. before and waiting 30 min after meals to drink, eat slow, chew thoroughly, etc.....that kind of thing. One thing I keep reminding myself is that my 18 month "window" is just the window of opportunity from the surgery. It's my best chance at making the surgery "work" for me, so I need to do everything I can to make that happen, ya know? BUT (and it's a big BUT) - I'm living this the rest of my life. It's not like at 18 months I'm going to start eating "normal" again and stop exercising and my weight loss will completely stop or *horror* start creeping back on again. I need to have the mindset that this is the rest of my life. If I'm eating healthy and exercising regularly I will keep losing if I need to keep losing after 18 months. Surgery didn't fix me. It gave my the ability to make better choices - those choices, those new habits of healthy eating and loving to exercise will be with me long after my surgical window of opportunity passes. Does that make sense? If it's not a lifetime change, it won't work. If it is a lifetime change, then it will continue to work. You're doing GREAT Mary!! Pull out some pictures from the holidays last year and compare yourself to now. You can, and WILL do this! Margaret

Awesome reply Margaret! Thanks I think you summed it up perfectly!! And definitley spoke to me as well!

Thanks Margaret. Youree right...it is for life. Thank God! I guess being able to eat more makes me scared one day I'll be able to eat as much as I did pre-op. I never wanna be able to do that. I try to eat healthy and watch my portions and my carbs, altho I dont cut them out completely. I do ok during the day but at night its like Im starving!! And since my weight has been fluctuating by the same 3 or 4 lbs Im starting to really freak out. I jsut wanna get to 150. Im 5'4 so thats not unreasonable, but its something I havent been since about the 5th grade!! I definatly could increase the exercise. Im more active than Ive been in yrs...but no formal exercise. Bey my butt will be walkin tomorrow! Thanks again, Mary

It sounds like you are doing fine, Mary. I know that you have been periodically nervous about eating too much, or making the wrong choices, but if you are mindful of what you choose and how much....I don't think that you can go wrong for you. We are all different...having different preferences and cravings, having different eating issues, having different tools for success. We are all doing this the same, yet differently, if that makes sense. If you are losing, even slowly, then it means that you are doing it right. If you want to lose a little faster...you must make more drastic changes to your eating and exercise...even then it's no guarantee that the rate will pick up drastically, but maybe you will feel like you are "doing more". The losses are bound to slow down because you are getting closer to goal weight, but they can continue for as long as you own your pouch!! The window of "lose it no matter what you do" is 18 months or so, but you can work your program and your pouch forever!! You have plenty of time to acheive your goals, Mary...so just keep doing what works for you and be honest with yourself...it will happen. ~Suz

Thanks Suz. I know Im an obsesser!! LOL Im so afraid of not getting to where i wanna be or worse yet, gaining it back. I try to be very mindful of what and how much I eat, but sometimes it seems like I cant get enough. I stop because I know I should, but Im not satisfied. And that makes me wanna munch more. Its liek the old dieting days when youve done so well but ya feel like if you dont eat that Big Mac youre gonna scream. I dont eat the Big MAc, by the way... but I do ALOT of screamin!! LOL Thaks again Mary

Mary - I agree with Suz, continue what you're doing, drink lots of water, eat your recommended amount of protein, exercise and you will continue to do fine. I am like you though, I worry about gaining. I look at my before pics and I'm so sad for the old me. I think that is what is going to keep me from gaining it back, seeing those pics. So, if you need to, put a before pic on your fridge, that might help. I'm not sure how much I can eat, I try to limit my carbs, so I haven't had a sandwhich since surgery (although it sounds great!) I don't measure my food, but I can tell you I can eat most of a Lean Cuisine or Healthy Choice. That's pretty much the only carbs that I'll eat, well as far as pasta or rice goes. Keep up the good work!

Mary, Have you taken a look at the 5 day pouch test? It gets you back in touch with your pouch and restores your confidence that it is working. http://www.5daypouchtest.com/ My weight loss was stalled for almost two months. I was really worried and knew I was eating too many carbs. I can't seem to each as much protein volume as I do carb volume. I started recording everything I eat on fitday.com and it has really helped me. I have left the simple carbs alone and now the scale is finally moving. I have lost 4 pounds since Monday. I got comfortable where I was and then I realized that time was ticking away and I wanted to lose the weight my doctor had plotted me at. He doesn't expect me to be at goal before my surgiversary but I want to at least be where he feels I need to be. My plan has been up the protein and water and exercise. If I didn't do all three, I would up protein and water. If I still wouldn't do both those, I would up my water drastically. I know you will succeed. You have to do what makes you happy. Hugs, Katy B.