I am a gastric bypass patient....struggling...

Danggit. I'm trying. I swear I am. Now I have a cold and it's messing me up. I packed my lunchbox with all the food i was to allow myself for the workday.... only I got lazy and didn't make a high protien item. I packed: 2 low carb yogurts a cheese stick a jello a healthy choice cup of roast beef n veggie soup What I REALLY DID: A venti SF vanilla latte a mini whole wheat bagel a yogurt a jello 20 M&M's 15 Peanut butter filled pretzel nuggets A cup and a half of taco salad Maybe 50ish grams of protein, probably 1300ish calories and pretty much a grazing junk food day. Hugs, Pam

Hi Pam, That is so funny...we are so much alike with our intentions and plans. I am a Sp. Ed. teacher and I take my kids out in the community once a week to order thier lunch and practice paying for it...shopping for christmas presents ( right now) and buying groceries to cook in our classroom. Anyway, I had it all planned for the day. I went to starbucks (yeah!) and ordered a tall SF vanilla latte ...although I can't remember if I ordered it nonfat or decaf and I packed my WW yogurt, apple, chocolate graham crackers and a string cheese. So I eat a RB sandwich on the way to starbucks 30 min. later I drank my latte (yummy by the way..i am in love with them now) 9:30 yogurt and apple 11:15 tendergrill salad with FF italien dressing 3:10 string cheese and 2 choc. graham crackers ok...so then I get home and had 2 mini-powdered donuts and I am preparing to fix dinner and my mother wants me to help her fix her christmas tree and that was it for me... I ate in 1 hour....2 licorice sticks, 2 vienna fingers, and 2 praline pinwheel cookies, oh and 10 salt/vinegar chips...why OH why...I was really determined NOT to eat that stuff anymore and I couldn't stop myself...I swear I don't know what came over me! Anyway, at 7:00 I ate the stir-fry I made with chicken, snow peas, carrots, baby corn, mushrooms and peas over a little rice. I just feel like I am really eating way too much, yet I feel like I am genuinely hungry when I eat. Do you feel the same way? Anyway, I am looking at tommorrow as a new day and I am planning for that...so hopefully I will be good tommorrow! After 4:00 before dinner is my worst time for wanting to graze...UGH!

Well, today I can honestly say that I wasn't hungry at all. THAT'S how i know I am genuinely sick with this cold. It's either that or the zinc lozenges and decongestant are an appetite suppressant! But I really think it's just because I'm so snotty right now. I always lose my appetite when I get a cold. I should take advantage of that right now - especially since that means I'm gonna have KILLER appetite when the cold is gone. Always happens that way.... but NOOOOOOOO I had to graze all day! DER me. I've noticed that lately (when I'm not sick) I genuinely DO have an appetite. I really DO get hungry. And I think my blood sugar drops too low when I wait too long between meals. It seems that when I eat smaller meals more often, I don't have any problems with getting voraciously hungry or getting the shakes, jitters, slurred speech, and drunken stupor feelings.... If I try to limit myself to three meals a day - I end up getting all of those symptoms and I end up SHOVELING food in and don't want to stop - then I end up stuffed and miserable. I've also noticed that if I go waaaayyyyy too long between meals, I darn near pass out....the room goes black...I can't walk straight... I know it's a blood sugar thing. So what I'm TRYING to do is eat mini meals more often in the day - every 2-3 hours eat something. BUT not eating until I'm full. In reality, I know that I only need to eat a little bit to keep the hunger at bay and to keep me from having low blood sugar episodes. For example one of the following is enough to last me 2-3 hours without overdoing it: one little 4oz yogurt 1/4 to 1/2 of a wrap a banana a cheese stick a jello a vitabrownie 1/2 an english muffin a rolled up slice of deli ham with a slice of cheese rolled up in it (I can't stomach american cheese though) Another good thing about doing it this way is that it keeps your metabolism fueled throughout the day. So if you were trying to lose weight, this is a better approach. It also helps to keep your blood sugar/insulin stable. Another thing about doing it this way, is not stretching the pouch. The benefit in that is not being able to fit as much in there during a binge. Just gotta remember when we binge till we are so full - we are stretching it again! I try to find good substitutes for things too. Like instead of eating a whole sandwich - I'll heat a slice of ham and cheese on a plate in the microwave and put it on half a toasted english muffin and eat it like that. Half an english muffin is only about 50-60 calories and easier on my pouch than bread. For the past couple of months - up until I decided to try harder (last week) - I was eating myself SICK. OVEReating.... eating everything in sight.... like a kid in a candy store...like the OLD me. It really scared me. I know the further out we get from surgery, the more challenging it becomes. We will have to rely more and more on ourselves and the behavior modifications that SHOULD have been taking place while we were newer post-ops to get us through each and every day. In the end, the burden comes right back around on ourselves making the right choices. So we better get our stuff straight now!! It's a long road ahead. I don't know what I can do to stop myself from getting on these grazing binges. I need to work on that. I realize what causes me to overeat - it's going too long between meals. So I can work on that. Looks like I'll always be a work in progress! Talking on here with others in the same boat helps so much! I'm so glad to see you and others posting! Don't stop!! Hugs, Pam

Hi Pam. I'm joining in here too. I was great until after dinner. Then it was one thing after another. It started with eating a couple of raisins, then adding peanut butter, then a couple of butter cookies, nuts... you see the downfall. I wasn't hungry either. Today, I'm shooting for a 100% day. Three meals and no snacking. Lots of fluids - warm ones. I'll be taking a short trip to Walmart today to purchase a second compression garment - to have once mine is too soiled with blood stains! I gotta call my plastic surgeon this morning with the amount of output from my 2 drains. I think one of them could be pulled out in a day or two, as there is less than 10 cc coming out for the day. My back drain is still draining a lot, about 60 cc a day. No grazing today. No grazing today. I will repeat that all day long. Thanks for sharing your struggling issues with us. Take care my dear friend! Hugs and Love, Lucy

I gotta get the chips and dip out of the house! That is what I ate for dinner! Chips and dip! Had cereal for breakfast. Ate a hot dog and small sundae at DQ and threw it up(not on purpose). Then went home and had my "dinner". Then I ate a little cheese with wheat thin chips. and 2 pretzel rods for dessert! CARBS are a no no today! I also have a cold and it does make it hard to eat right. I don't want to think about food I just want to eat and not think!! Keep chuggin' guys we will get it right again. Wendy

Hello All, I've been lurking and seeing you all and assorted, posting about food...AURGHHH...I can so relate to what I'm reading...It seems like everything else since June 2005 we ALL seem to come to the same issues about the same time... I still do not really ever feel hungry, but perhaps this is because I still really do not know what feeling hungry feels like...I did not get fat in the first place because I was hungry, oh contrare, I got fat because I ate it because it tasted good, sounded good, made me feel good (feeding emotions, was good at that too), etc...Most of you can probably relate at least a little on this...Anyway, I find myself now falling into old patterns, do eat much smaller amounts and truely much healthier food (pre-surg it would have been a pkg of hoho's, a bag of chips and a soda for a.m. snacking) now its pretzels and cheese...what I find I'm struggling most with is the little grazing though...I can handle a little real sugar, so go for 1 x-mas cookie or a mini chocolate bar; also substitute sf goodies (granted better for you)...BUT what I guess I'm trying to say is I spend tooooo much time grazing, just too many unplanned snacks, sf or otherwise and I'm really scared this will be my undoing... I still haven't figured out why I keep grazing when I'm not hungry, its got to be a mental thing...What I do know is I AM NEVER GOING TO BE OBESE AGAIN...I guess and hope that by realizing/seeing what I'm doing and by monitoring my weight daily I will help myself put on the breaks when needed and force myself back on track...I wish I would just stay on track in the first place... Thanks for posting, keep reporting in so I can see I'm not alone...get ideas, suggestions and help from my fellow brethren, and once in a while toss in my own rant...I'm looking to you all to help me, I hope some of what I post will help you... Alesia

Pam, I don't know if it will help, because since I have been such a slow loser, I still haven't tried most of the things you gals have. Am still working on the last 4 lbs. But, to keep me on the stright and narrow, I keep protein things around for me to snack on. I keep a package of Jerky from Costco in my cupboard at home and my drawer at work. I buy the refrigerated cooked chicken strips in both my home and work frig. I also keep some low fat or non fat ranch dressing. I will just take a chunk of chicken and pour a smig of dressing and eat when I get hungry. And Protein bars also in my purse and desk. This keeps me from ever getting to hungry and helps to keep my blood sugar stable. I usually have one of these between each meal. Somethings fruit or the frozen "broccoli for one". But the meat stays with me longer. Also, the bonnie bell round chesses in the "light" are good snacks. Hope this helps you. I find if I keep good choices around me and keep my proteins up, I will make better choices. Sara