A Normal Day of Eating

I am 4 months post op have lost 67 lbs to date... Im a little confused on what I should be eating (calorie intake).. I feel like i am always hungry and having a hard time staying on track because Im not sure what I should be eating.  I would be interested to know what everyone eats (Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks) in a day.  It may help me make better choices if i know what everyone else is eating. Thanks.  Lisa

Lisa, first of all congratulations! 67lbs lost in 4 months At this point in time I would think you should be having a couple of ounces of protien at each meal, always eat that first. Dense protien will help to fill you up, then have 1 or 2 tbls of vegetable and then if still not full a whole grain type food still just a small amount. If you need to eat in between meals choose a dense protien like sliced turkey or chicken or cheese or cottage cheese maybe a small piece of fruit. Try and stay away from white potatos, rice, crackers, pasta, bread, sweets. Those foods will not keep you satisfied and will make you want to eat more, and besides that can sabotage your weight loss efforts, Be sure you  stop drinking 30 minutes before a meal and not drink for 30-60 minutes after a meal as fuids will push your food through your pouch quicker and thus you will be hungry again. Another thing to try is to drink a glass of water when you think you are hungry, sometimes it is your body asking you for liquids and drinking it will curb your hunger. If you can, post a journal of your daily food intake for us to comment on. That might help too. Sher

Sher pretty much covered the basics. One thing I do not do... is skimp on the fat. Don't misunderstand  me... I don't go crazy, but FF is out for me. I use "full-whack" cottage cheese (4%), but  measured out for a "serving". What I might  also add to Sher's list is a protein shake daily. And I use lowfat milk, no****er. I have done that since my surgery and find it really helps get my protein in and curb my hunger. I use Isopure Powder. Vanilla. Congrats on the weight loss to date! T.

Being that it is 11:30 in the afternoon and I just polished off a bowl of Ice Cream, it is probably better that I not tell you what I eat.  I can tell you that on a good day I should eat: 1 bowl of Kashi cinnamon harvest cereal 1 protien shake tuna sandwich on good bread a few cheese sticks and maybe some Shrimp scampi for dinner.

My eating regimine at four months was very close to the program advocated by the insightful and gracious  Towanda (o.k., so maybe in our support group we take "support" a little too literally).

I tended to start my mornings with one soft boiled egg and one Ritz cracker.  My midmorning snack was typically a protein shake, althought it was hard to get in all eight oz.  Then for lunch, I would tend to have a small portion of chili (heavy on the meat, light on the beans) or chicken salad.  My later snack was usually either some rolled deli  meat or a cheese stick.  Then supper was always just protein (half a hamburger or something like it).  Then, if I was hungry later, I would try to get in at least 4 oz of a protein shake.   A few things I did that I think helped was that any snack, and any meal, and even a protein shake, were always consumed sitting down at my kitchen table.  That way, I was hoping to break out of my snacking and grazing mode that just might have contributed to my few hundred extra pounds. Also, I was perpetually walking around with something to drink (even keeping bottled water in the car).  When I could, I would have some Isopure Zero Carb, but also enjoyed lots of coffee (neither my surgeon nor I subscribed to any of the coffee-is-bad myths because we tended to feel that caffeine was a gift from the gods). My goal every day was to get in at least 80 grams of protein and keep my carb intake to less than 24 grams.

Who loves ya baby!