5 Years Out

Good morning - I hade surgery almost 5 years ago....been struggling for a while now.  I was wondering if someone would share what you eat on a typical day.  I would appreciate it,  Thank you.

Hi,

I'm sorry to hear you are struggling.  This is a life-long commitment to managing obesity - every day!.  I'm 3 year post op, and maintaining at my goal weight with constant attention and effort.  Its not easy.

I try to eat 3 meals and a snack or 4 meals per day.  I try to keep the meals at about 300 to 350 calories with minimal carbs. I like casseroles and dishes that combine the protein and veggies. So my typical day would be something like:

Breakfast - salmon or a crustless  quiche

Lunch - crack slaw or chicken and broccoli casserole or salsa chicken, or hamburgers and veggie, or sloppy joes, etc.

dinner - atkins beef stroganoff, or mustard-crusted flank steak, or meatballs and cheese, or pork chops or pulled pork with veggies...

4th meal would be more of the same, or snack might be humus and veggies, or broccoli slaw, or other salads

I can maintain on about 1400 calories, so I try to eat a little less than that so I have some latitude when I eat a little more.

Good luck with your diet. You know how to do this.  You'll do great.

Carol 

Thank you so much!

Good Morning 

You have already taken the hardest step by saying enough is enough and now I want to get back on track.  Here are some steps I hope will help you. They helped me...  Also, be sure and join the Back On Track Together group. 

Planning/Preparing

Remember when we were preparing for surgery?  How many meetings, classes and such did we attend?  We were told the more prepared we were the better our chances were for success.  And they were right. Go through the house, car and work place and get rid of trigger foods.  Stock up on foods that will keep you on track. I removed every bad carb/sugar temptation and replaced it with lots of protein, veggies, grains and fruits.

Journaling

Get back to journaling.  This will help you identify when you feel like eating, stress factors and any triggers in your life.  Once you identify these factors, this will help you put tools in place to keep you from eating.  It became clear I was not taking time for me anymore. I worked my day job and then spent the rest of my time caring for my husband.  It was easy to reach for fast, prepackaged food.  Since I purged my home I have to eat clean as there are no other options LOL

Use a tool to track you're eating and exercise like Getting Started with Health Tracker.  Once I started to track ever bite and drink it became clear why I had gained.

Goals/Rewards

Make a list of goals for yourself.  Make them realistic and small.  Some of mine were move more, purge all junk from my home, eat more protein.

Food

In general, a long term post-weight loss surgery eating plan includes foods that are high in protein, and low in fat?, calories, and sugar. Important, vitamins and minerals are provided as supplements. (if you had a different surgery adjust this to your food plan).

Water

Water is our Best Friend. I have to say I never went back to pop or any bad drinks, however I was drinking tea like crazy. What is wrong with drinking tea?  I was either using sugar or 3 equals and 3 sweet n lows per 32 ounce glass.  So I was either pushing to be diabetic or get cancer.  I found once I started carrying a bottle of water around 24/7 (yes had one at my bedside) I lost the cravings for the sugar and I KNOW those artificial sweeteners are not good for me. Look I am old and if you add up all the artificial sweeteners I have consumed I am sure I am at the rat in the lab getting cancer threshold.

MOVE!

I can't say enough about how key this was for me. The reason I kept my weight off for almost 10 years was no matter what, I kept moving.  If I could not go to the gym I would walk. I loved Zumba, bootcamp workouts, lifting weights. When I stopped, the weight started coming back.  So for me I am starting slow to avoid injury by walking and using some of the workouts on my Demand TV.  Find something you love to do and it won't feel like a pain in the *** to do daily.

Support

If it's an option "run" don't walk to a support group.

Keep me posted on how you are doing

Thank you so much for your suggestions and encouraging words!  You rock!

We are in this TOGETHER!

Thank you so much! I did watch the video - great info!  Not sure I can go totally plant based....but lots of valuable information!