Help, I wanna snack to much..........

I find myself wanting to eat more............ I wonder am I doing my pouch an injustice? I feel great but of course the weight has slowed--- I never want to revert back to size 28/30............... how do we stay on track food wise. I tend to get really hungry..... Help..... Renee'

OH Renee i am battling the sam dang thing. ITs hard! I thankfully am not gaining but im not looseing either SO its stressful a bit! hugs

Hi! I know exactly what you mean... lately I have been addicted to TGIFridays Mozzerella sticks (in a bag). They aren't HORRIBLE for me... and still keeping away from the sugar... but wow... do I like em. Maria 318 start/176 current/159 goal

Renee' I am in the same boat for the last 3 months. I think they call that "grazing." Grazing is (from what I've read) what will keep us from reaching our goal or even contribute to gaining (depending on how extreme our grazing is). I saw my surgeon Thursday and was asked if I snack. He told me to limit my snacks to only healthy choices (protein, veggies, fruit). My surgeon is as thin as a rail--I don't think he understands cravings at all. I'm down 93 lbs. (which is about 20 from my goal). He wants me to lose another 55 lbs. Believe me--if I lose another 55 lbs., everyone will be wanting to enter me into a hospital for malnourishment. He looks at the numbers the charts say, and that's what he goes by. He doesn't consider your age or size of your frame. Sorry--I digress. Just try to limit what types of foods and how often you snack. I've found that if I only allow myself two days out of every seven that I can have any snacks, I can lose. On my snack-allowed days (we're talking a morning snack and an afternoon snack). On the other 5 days, it's 3 meals only. I can actually lose this way. I saw that woman on Oprah (it was a repeat) last week that had the WLS and weighed over 500 lbs. and had plastic surgery. She stated that after a year, your success is 20% because of the surgery and 80% because of your own willpower. I think we've definitely reached that point. I tend to be extremely hard on myself, because I see some of the other posters on our Junebugs board that are under their doctors' goal weight. I wonder what's wrong with me that I can't do that? Becky/lap rny/6-22-06 288/192/175

Hi Renee' I found myself doing the same thing in the last few weeks. I decided to get back to using my Fitday program to track what I eat. I also found a Bariatric food guide pyramid to use as a guide. I think it's okay to have a snack or two, but I think we really need to watch what we are snacking on. I found using Fitday that one of my "mindless" snacks was Eatsmart Soy crisps. Okay..good protein, but more fat and calories than I really want to add with a mindless snack. I think when we are this far out keeping track of what we are eating becomes more important than even in the beginning. At one year out our malabsorption is not as much. Research has shown that by a year out our malabsorption goes down to about 20% versus the 50% in the beginning. So, we need to really watch what we are doing as we are absorbing nearly all of what we are eating. We will ALWAYS have some malabsorption so taking our vits and calcium are lifelong, but the calorie absorption is much more than in the beginning. We are also able to eat more food at this point. Gernerally up to 1 cup at a sitting (although I think there are people who can eat more). Our stomas also may get a little bigger so our food passes through faster than it did in the beginning, so it's important to have foods that are dense, and remember not to drink at all with our meals, and wait that 30-60 minutes to drink after we eat, so the food stays in our pouch longer. For snacks perhaps we should try to get in our veggies and fruits during this time. Also remember to try to get in at least 80 grams of protein a day (I feel best at about 100 grams). Drink lots of liquids between our meals and if you tolerate sugar, pretend you don't and avoid it like the plague. Believe me, I have had to remind myself of these rules lately because I was really snacking on the wrong foods. I'm trying to do better, and believe it or not, since I've tracked my protein, I've lost 2 lbs in the past 3 days. I would still like to lose at least another 20 lbs (30 would be ideal), but I know at this point it will have nothing to do with the surgery, and everything to do with me. I just need to use this tool to its fullest. I hope I've given you some encouragement, and know that you are not alone. We were not obese by accident, and it is going to continue to take hard work to stay healthy. Love, Debra