Thanks!  Everything is just so overwhelming in terms of things available.  I know that my taste buds will change after surgery but my dietitian wants me on protein right now. 

Hey there.  I'm pre-surgery, so I can't give guidance from experience, but I have the same concerns from the beginning.  Here are a few thoughts.  Use most of your work-out time doing resistance training to increase your resting metabolic rate. Do small amounts of reps at with high amounts of weight (start slow). Try coconu****er.  Remember to not drink during or immediately after meals, and to eat your protein first. Artificial ingredients take longer for your liver to process, so it spends less time burning calories - eat "clean" food.

I once heard someone say, "You can never stop anything, you can only start something else."  Find something that gives you what you seek from food and indulge in that.  I am a cook, so I have to find recipes that fit my nutritional needs and can be portioned easily for travel.  I also love watching football, so I use a stepper and resistance cords while watching.

I have experience in going to counseling for other reasons.  It is always very helpful. 

The vitamin shoppe is where I was able to get sample sizes of a variety of Protein powders. Syntrax nectar in chocolate truffle is the only one I keep on had now ( I'm 13 months out and use protein powders rarely now). 

i also got my vitamins there initially, but now I get my calcium and multi from BJ's or CVS. My iron I get in Amazon. 

If you don't mind, I will check in with you to see how it's going and share how this calorie reduction is working for me.  

Keep pushing forward, day by day, step by step.

Willie,

I hear you!  My one year anniversary was March 30.  I haven't lost a pound in about 3 months.  My calorie intake has increased to 1200-1700 daily. I tend to stay near the 1600-1700 end.  I want to get to 160...my body likes 166-170 :-)

I am staying away from the sweet stuff but I do like plain popcorn and trail mix (with no candy).  Trail mix is a trigger food for me so I try to eat it at work only.

First, I am going for a DEXA scan to see what my ideal body weight should be.  This will let me know if I am within range or I need to lose some more weight.  Then, starting June 1, I am lowering my calorie intake by 100 daily calories for a week--the following week, I will lower by an additional 100 until I get to 1000 daily calories.

I am off to the gym 5 days a week starting today to get on the treadmill--I got my playlist ready!

I also had to increase my PPI to 4 times daily which reduced my "hunger" signals significantly.  I realized it was stomach acid not hunger.

My meals are protein forward--I eat 100g of protein daily--no exceptions!  I do get at least 10 cups of fluid daily--mainly coffee and tea since I can't drink water (my surgeon knows). My diet is very repetitive but I can't handle too much variety right now.

Let me know what you try.  You can do this.  I realize we have to do more work to find what does "work" for us.