Newbie from the UK
Hi!
I'm not sure if this is the right place to say hi but I'm sure I'll get moved if I've posted in the wrong place.
I'm Fee, I was sleeved in May last year on the NHS in the UK after a lifetime of problems with my weight and eating disorders in the past. I'm 10lbs off my ultimate goal and have been stalling for a few months now at about 10.7/ 147 and then put on 3lb after a bad fall that really curtailed my usual daily workouts at home,walking a lot and weekly aqua aerobics and zumba classes so I am trying to get back to it now.
I'm disabled in various ways (variety is the spice of life right?!) I can't easily cook for myself and also can't eat gluten all of which means I rely more on protein bars than I'd like. I've recently cracked making overnight oats each night with gluten free oats, chai seeds,yogurt,almond milk and fruit which has helped my digestive system work much more predictably :D
I'm trying to crack more easy to make and prepare in advance lunch type meals since if I do it the day before I'm much more likely to eat it rather than grab another bar so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Plus only 3 people know I've had surgery so having somewhere to talk about dealing with life after WLS would be fantastic. When weight was dropping off week after week it seemed a lot easier but now the really hard work starts. I want to make the most of this opportunity I've been given.
Next year I need to have a hysterectomy. I've out it off till then because of work and I want to be in the best possible shape and at my goal weight so I can cope with around 6 weeks of being laid up and not able to exercise. I need a smaller op before the end of the year too but recovery should be a couple of weeks max. It's so great going for pre ops and my BMI is normal, my bloody pressure and resting heart rate are good and all my blood tests come back as 'excellent'! It makes such a change and I don't want to go back to how it used to be.
Anyway that's me and I look forward to chatting :)
Start weight 18:10......... Current weight 10:10...........Goal weight 10 stone!
Sleeved on May 12 2016
Welcome, and congratulations!
For me, preparation is everything. As I work full time, preparing lunches in advance makes it very simple for me to stay on plan. This is a two pronged approach for me:
1) Main Dishes. About once a month I spend the better part of a Sunday shopping, prepping and cooking lunches. I chose meals that I feel will freeze well and generally make 3-4 different dishes. I generally double the recipe. I log all the recipes in MyFitnessPal, portion them out into individual containers, and put them in the freezer. This usually gives me 4 weeks or so of lunches and/or emergency dinners.
2) Weekly "fresh" prep. Unlike many WLS patients, I eat a large amount fruits and vegetables. I generally go to the store/farmer's market every Sunday and but fruit and vegetables for the week. I then weigh them out and bag them up for the week.
By doing this, I can pack my lunch every morning in about 30 seconds flat. I grab one of my frozen meals, then whatever combination of pre-measured fruits and vegetables I have for the week.
I vary my meals as well as my fruit/vegetable selection so I constantly have variety. By pre-weighing/measuring everything it's really simple to not only grab my lunch quickly in the AM, but to to enter it into MFP. In total it takes me less than an hour every Sunday to prep my fruits/vegetables, and a half-day or so once a month to prep my lunches. I've been doing this for most of the last year and a half and it has worked extremely well for me.
Hiya thanks for your thoughts.
I can't cook for myself as I'm disabled but I've been getting better at dead easy stuff like celery (or apple) and peanut butter sticks or salad with cheese or cooked meat though.
I too try to make sure I'm eating at least a couple of bits of fruit and some vegetables each day. I like carrot sticks with some hummus too and my overnight oats always have a handful of fruit on top. In the early days I found myself relying on a lot of pre packaged stuff partly for ease but also because it was already calculated nutritionally. I was blogging earlier about needing to exercise caution when it comes to logging nutrition. I need just enough info otherwise there's a fear I'll revert back to my obsessive eating disorder behaviour. Batch cooking is a no go because we simply don't have the space to store it but we do use a meal service where they send all the fresh ingredients you need all portioned out and with the nutritional info so my husband cooks one of those generally 3 times a week since one meal does me at least 2 dinners.
It sounds like you have a really great system going and that's definitely what I'm trying to work towards too, I definitely feel like I'm getting there. It's hard despite my family being very supportive. They're all very slim and fit and can eat gluten so there's certainly a lot of temptation around but I'm quite used to it now. Being diagnosed and giving up gluten a while before surgery definitely helped and gives me an excuse on occasion!
Start weight 18:10......... Current weight 10:10...........Goal weight 10 stone!
Sleeved on May 12 2016
There is no doubt you are in a much more difficult position! And that's a bummer, because even with no health restrictions (aside from that whole life-long obesity thing!) it's STILL a lot of work. When you pile of dietary restrictions and disability it certainly makes it more challenge, but you seem to have the right attitude about it, so I'm sure you will figure out what works for you! Just trying to share how I approach it in the hopes that it might trigger ideas for you, or anyone else who stumbles across the thread.
