6 months - and need help with food

I had my surgery on 12/16/05. I have lost 100 lbs. since the two-week pre-op liquid diet. I'm very happy with the loss. I'm just having problems with food, and need to get some ideas of what ya'll eat in a day. I have an ulcer and reflux so I hurt when I start eating, but it's getting better with treatment. Do ya'll take 20-30 minutes to eat a meal? I find that so hard, but I'm eating cheese, beans, chicken, etc. Do ya'll still eat just 2-3 oz at a time? When I eat things like beans, I eat more like 4 oz. because it goes down so easy. I find my hunger coming back and am worried about that. Are ya'll having problems with hunger returning? Are you eating salads, and if so, how much salad do you eat at a meal? I still drink two protein drinks per day - one for breakfast and one for supper. I get in my liquids (through Crystal Light). Water just doesn't sit well on my tummy since surgery. Anyway, any help/suggestions ya'll might have would be appreciated. Thanks. Linda D

Hi Linda, I had my surgery on 12/28/05 and have lost 66 pounds. This is what I eat most days. Breakfast - Isopure (protein drink) 10 oz. + homemade applesauce, flax, raisin, muffin (small) Wait for an hour then drink - usually 1/3 gatorade + 2/3 water on ice (usually 3 12 ounce glasses before lunch) Lunch - small taco salad (like 2 ounces meat + 1 ounce cheddar low fat cheese + salsa and fat free sour cream and some baked doritos) or a small lunchable - I can't eat it all usually Wait an hour and drink some more! Late afternoon snack - usually a stick of cheese and half an apple or a few triscuts Dinner - sometimes I make a green bean cassorole that has browned hamberger, sometimes a piece of steak and some veges, sometimes just a glass of milk and some graham sticks - depends on my day. After an hour I try to drink some more - sometimes before bed I drink 20 more ounces of Isopure. Usually Mon - Fri I keep on a pretty school schedule but on the weekends I forget to eat at times. I don't feel hungry ever but sometimes if it's been over 4 hours I start to feel weak and empty. I agree with you though. Food isn't my favorite thing anymore. I fight with head hunger at times - I think I used to eat when I was bored or something! I find that I overdue it on graham crackers cause they go down so easy so really have to count them out. Hope this helps! Diona

It does help. Thanks. Maybe I'm trying to eat too much. One question - when you say you eat a taco salad, do you eat lettuce with the taco meat, cheese, etc.? I think I need to venture out some and eat a larger variety of things. Cheese is my go-down-too-easy food. I can eat cheese all day long - it's real easy. Thanks. I'm going to begin today to keep a food diary again - to see just what I'm doing. Hope you have good weekend.

Good idea on the food journal - I use fitday.com's software to help me keep track. No lettuce for me. My nutritionist says lettuce is fufu! Not enough nutrients to be worth eating - at least for now. I know what you mean by going down too easy - that's my problem with graham crackers! I think I like them because they crunch and just taste normal! Diona

I dont know if my eating habits are better or worst. Before surgery I would go 15 hours without eating. That was from dinner until around 11a.m the next day. Then I would start and wouldn't stop until after dinner. Now I have at 6:30 a.m. a Premium Whey Protein Chocolate made with day old coffee, creamer, sweetner and ice cubes. That way I don't miss chocolate malts. I drin**** decaf brewed tea with mint and sweetners all day long anywhere from 9:30 to 11 I'll eat something. Yesterday it was a BLT. I ate all of it and was suprised that I could. That was the first time I have eaten a whole sandwich. I have to admit it was not the giant monster I would have made before WLS. The rest of the day I was full and that was the first time I have been full all day like that. Around 3 I ate some of the chicken off of a chicken salad. I don't even think it was and once. Around 5 I ate 6 strawberrys. In the past that would have been the whole container. This morning I made another BLT thinking I would eat the whole thing again. I didn't. I guess it depends on how full you are. I thought I ate too much yesterday and today I can't eat that much. Saltine crackers are my down fall. I will eat those when I don't feel so good. They are easy to do down. I only eat them when I am having a bad day. I am good about chewing my food and seldom have the foamies. What I do have a problem with. It is summer time and I want ice water. I will gulp it in a minute and it hurts like h##l. I have even swallowed too much tea at once to have it come back up. I need to sip slowly and not so often.

By reading what you two are eating, I think I'm eating too much. I have to really take a look at this. I'm afraid my hunger and appetite are returning and that scares the you know what out of me.

Hi, my 6 month anniversary was 6/9/06. So far I have lost 87 lbs. I have 23 lbs to go before I hit my goal. This is what I usually eat: Breakfast (8AM)- 1/2 scrambled egg and a piece of fat free ham... about 13 g Protien Lunch (1 PM)- 3 oz. grilled chicken and 1/4 c. of steamed Broccoli... about 29 g protein Dinner: (6 PM) Varies- yesterday I had P.F. Chang's Mongolian beef I don't usually snack between meals. I do drink gatorade, full strength, and lots of tea with sweet n low. My biggest downfall is that I am always very thirsty, especially after I eat. I have to really try to remember not to drink anything after I eat. I hope this helps. Babs

For breakfast I have a chocolate protein shake. For lunch I usually have one cheese stick, one 4 oz. Dannon Carb Control Yogurt with freshly ground flax seed mixed in, and one 4 oz. applesauce. For dinner, I usually have 2-3 oz of meat and some fruit or veggies. Sometimes I also have a little potato. I have a cheese stick and some SF popsicles as a bedtime snack. I track my intake on fitday.com and I usually eat between 800 and 1100 calories a day. Pat

Linda- I am there with you. I know that my problem is grazing. I can eat almost a whole sandwich ( 2pieces of bread, 1 slice of cheese, one slice low fat bologna) and a few chips. Alot of times that would do it for me but there are other times that I sit and munch all day. I worry soooo much. I started out at 394 and am 285 and am etremely excited about the weight loss, but the head hunger and the habits are still there. I worry constantly that I wont make it to goal but even those thoughts don't keep me from the food addiction. Everyday I try to start over and stay positive that I will make it. Keep your head up! We will do it! keri

This thread is very interesting. I hope even more will share. I had surgery on 12-14 and have lost 62 pounds to date. (I have 38 to go for MY goal....18 for the doctor's goal). Monday through Friday: Breakfast: cup of coffee with creamer, Unjury protein shake mixed iwth milk, crystal light or diet juice. Protein is 30- 40 grams. Mid morning: Power Crunch Protein Bar Lunch: Tuna and crackers, (3 oz package from BumbleBee) or cheese and crackers, (usually 2 oz) or maybe some lunch meat. Once in awhile I order take out with the office and it might be soup (4-6 oz), salad (try to get some meat in it) or an appetizer like chicken wings or seafood. Midafternoon: some nuts (handful) or maybe one oz of cheese, rarely, but sometimes a power crunch protein bar or soy chips. Dinner: meat and veggies Probably 3 oz of meat (fish, shrimp, chicken, beef) and some of the veggies if I can. Late night snack: usually an ice cream or popsicle...all sugar free. Fluids: one bottle of water before I leave the house, one or two before I eat my lunch, one more in the afternoon and one crystal light and another drink of some sort in the evening after dinner. On exercise days, I can drink a bottle while I am on the treadmill in addition to this total. Plus the coffee, SIPS of tea with meals, and the protein drinks. I consume more calories than anyone who has posted. At times I worry about that and try to cut back, but it doens't affect the speed of my weight loss. I haven't lost many pounds in the last six weeks, but I have lost some weight and even more inches. I started exercising about six weeks ago regularly and I beleive it affects everything. I could eat crackers all day long. It is my comfort food now. I keep them at a distance but I have also not had any constipation problems since surgery. My calories are averaging 1100 per day with the protein bars and supplements. And some folks tell me to get even MORE supplements into my schedule!! On the weekends, I eat breakfast with the family.....eggs and such. I rarely eat any snacks during the day and eat out often with friends. I eat many leftovers during the week for my dinner from my weekend meals. I eat chicken and fish most often when I go out. Vicky 240/178/140 five foot four