Bored with Protein and other maintenance quandaries

Hey.  

Like you, I love food and cooking, but go through periods where I'm completely uninspired by the entire "food process."  I don't want to meal plan, I don't want to shop, I don't want to cook.. (I always want to to eat, too bad that's not part of the malaise for me!)  One of the things that can help me out of a rut is to get a new THING.  Sometimes a new gadget can be inspirational - I had a lot of fun with the Instant Pot when I first got it.  I still use it frequently (which is maybe 3-4 times a month) but it was super fun to be "all Instant Pot all the time" when it first arrived.  Sometimes a new cookbook can have the same affect.  Some of the better Paleo bloggers have great cookbooks.  Maybe playing with a new cut of meat?  I could probably eat skirt steak every day of the week and die happy - it's my current favorite.  

I really like Paleo websites.  I find the recipes to be, in general, super VSG friendly.  Nom Nom Paleo is one of my favorites, but there are tons of others thanks to Paleo's current popularity!  My favorite recipe site is probably Serious Eats.  I've never made a recipe that hasn't turned out well from that site.  

For breakfast - I have a shake every day, so I'm no help with suggestions there.  But I can say that you can eat whatever you want at breakfast.  (You probably know this already, but some people really feel they need to eat breakfast foods for breakfast.  I eat breakfast foods for any meal!)  

I don't eat foods I don't like - like you say, life is too short!  I do, however, try new things and retry things that I haven't liked in the past.  That's fun.  My tastes have changed just with age (not due to WLS) and sometimes I find that I like things I didn't in the past.  I've also tried "weird" things while traveling and that's fun.  (Yes, I ate horse in Norway!)

I think that the whey in protein powder shouldn't trigger lactose intolerance?  Could it be the whey itself?  Or the artificial sweeteners?  I'd investigate that a bit more - so no suggestions at the moment, since it depends on the actual culprit.  

Eating when not hungry.... sigh.  I battle with this too.  My main problem is that I have a block of time when I am NOT able to eat twice a week and it spans dinner.  I can't eat from 4-7:20pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays and the hour before and after are driving which means if I wanted to eat then I'd have super limited options.  What I've ended up doing is trying to leave early, so that I get to college about 30-45 minutes early, and eat something smallish then.  I'm not hungry, but I know that if I don't eat I won't be able to function until class is over at 7:20.  (My brain starts to defocus at some point, which is v. bad.)  

So the majority of the time, I try to only eat when I'm actually hungry.  I plan my meals for the day in the morning, and that helps prevent bad choices since I already know what I'm going to be eating.  So when I do get hungry, I know what's going in my mouth - no other options.  

I should clarify, that I eat when I'm hungry and when it's meal time.  On non-Tuesday/Thursday days this means that I have my breakfast after I finish my morning exercise, lunch is as close to 2pm as is feasible, and dinner is when my partner gets home from work (and I've finished cooking) which tends to be around 7:30pm.  If I get hungry outside of those times - sucks to be me since I know I've got to wait.  

Anyway.. I hope this helps in some way.  I'm not 6 years out but I've had to battle some demons in the last 1.5 years of my 2.5 years of post-op life.  Some of what you've written resonates with me with my own struggles.  (I don't really have off-limit foods even in weight loss because I want the lifestyle I'm building now to be as similar to maintenance as possible.)  

Take care!

No, I don't eat foods I don't love.  I don't even eat a lot of foods that I just "like."  I do try to eat well balanced, but I'm pretty much all meat, all the time, with some limited veggies and lots of milk and milk products.

No, I don't eat when I'm not hungry.  I just try to avoid getting hangry, because that's where all the bad decisions lie - like buying food at the grocery that you really don't need or want.  But it's tricky sometimes figuring out the line between hungry and hangry.

Breakfast?  If you're not hungry, then drink as much of your liquids as you can in the morning and push your first meal back or skip it entirely.  And you know you're not limited to "breakfast" foods in the morning.  Eat whatever appeals.

Hi! I will be 10 years out next weekend!! I have a band so I am in a bit of a different place.

Here are some of my go too tricks as I like to call them. Like you I do not like to eat artificial stuff I want to be able to READ all the ingredients in what I am consuming. 

I dont always eat breakfast foods for breakfast. To me it is another meal and like today I am eating turkey chili. I do tend to go the greek yogurt route, I am also lactose intolerant but greek yogurt has so little lactose that I dont feel ill.  A 7oz cut of FAGE 2% (I also feel like I need good fat in my diet) is 150 calories and has 20 grams of protein. Now I can do magic with this stuff! I can make a veggie smoothie where I blend a bit of veggie juice and frozen veggies and half a frozen banana for starch and it is super yummy! I mix in chopped raw almonds and low sugar dried cranberries. Or mix in a ranch dip and use it for dipping veggies.

 

Recently I have been freezing canned pumpkin in an ice cube tray, adding the yogurt, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla and a frozen banana and it is sooooo yummy.

 

I also eat the KIND bars but only the ones with less than 7 grams of sugar, they are chewy, slightly sweet, and come in all sorts of yummy flavors.

 

Jay Robbs egg white protein powder is about the only one I can tolerate, but I honestly dont use it, but it is sweetened with Stevia so it adds a bit of sweetness to a protein smoothie.

 

I am like you I have to eat before I am hungry and it works for me.  I also dont eat out much, I have 3 kids and that makes eating out not very enjoyable. I know your life is filled with all types of social fun stuff so I would assume it makes it that much harder on you.  I know for me as the holidays approach I get really worried and try to drop down a few lbs to make up for it. 

 

Now if I am in a social situation or at home and I know I am eating just to eat, I drink something hot. Black coffee or tea if it is hot it takes some time to drink and I have to be mindful not to burn myself so I am paying attention.  That usually takes away the mindless eating.

Finally  as a last resort I have foods that kind of back me up, make me uncomfortably full, for me it is raw carrots, a whole apple, and hard boiled eggs. I hate these things, but I use them, I always have them ready in refrigerator.  When I notice I am mindlessly eating I quickly eat one before I can think about it. And this makes that mindless eating for no reason quickly disappear. 

 

The reality is it sucks, after 10 years it has not gotten easier,  I have to constantly be looking around for new ways to get in what I need and keep myself in check. 

Good luck!

 

Mellissa

If it's meat you're after, many of the national ag organizations have great websites with ideas for how to cook meat. I put together some of the links here:

https://fivedaymeattest.com/resources/meat-tastic-recipes/

 

I'm only post op day 35 so I'm a newbie with the sleeve but I did have a successful lap band (for 7 years) before some minor issues popped up so I'll go by that experience.

 

I never eat any foods I don't like. I always eat when I just begin to start getting hungry because if I wait too long, I may accidently pass that stage and then lose control of choosing healthy nutritious foods over "what looks good and what is available right now" hehe. As far as protein first... Not sure if you've seen these sites, but they are popular so you probably have, but just in case:

 

http://www.bariatricfoodie.com/

http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/

You are welcome to take a look at my blog www.theworldaccordingtoeggface.com and if you are a more visual person www.pinterest.com/eggface hope it gives you a few ideas :)