I got a question.....

Ok I was just out reading some blogs. I just was thinking if a couple of you can post a list of exactly what you eat and exactly how much for a day's worth of food for you. I am just curious on how long post op and how much and what other people eat. From what I have read so far I eat WAYYY less than most. I have seen 2 different nutritionists that both say I am doing great. But from comparison to everyone here I eat way less that everyone else. Please be honest I really want to understand this. Thank you for your time.

Kathleen

 I had my surgery about a month after you and I too still eat small amounts of food.  I average about 300 calories a day.  On a good day I can get to 500.  My dr is of the mindset that if you are no hungry - don't eat.  He believes that morbidly obese individuals should drink their protein for the first six months allowing the body to feed off of it's excess.  I did good for about four months, but liquid protein was getting too gross.  So now I eat one protein rich meal a day and possibly a fruit or a protein bar, but at maximum I eat three times a day and my portions are still pretty small.  It is working for me but I am sure the further out I get the more I will be able to eat so I am working on portion control now so that it is habit when I can get more in.

I started at about 400-500cal per day and slowly raised it. At six months out I was at 1000, and now I range in the 1200-1300 range. Since I have blood sugar issues I eat small frequent meals - otherwise I would not. I am almost 14mos out. My surgeon has consistently told me to eat a little more everytime I see him, perhaps because I was so large, I don't know. I don't track calories much anymore, maybe once a week just to make sure I'm still in the range I want to be, but I'm pretty good at estimating it now.  I also aim for around 100g protein per day, higher if I can manage it.

I am almost 6 months out and I am around 1000 a day. I dont track so I believe somedays its might be a bit more. And so far so good , and I havent had a major stall. I have had a couple slow weeks but never had a non loss week yet. But that might also be because I started out so big.

My nut has had me at no more than 1,000 calories since my 7th month.  I am @ 10.5 months out right now and we have no NUT so I'm not sure if I should have bumped up the number by now or what.  With that being said, I have.  I was really lacking energy and my normal zeal and last week I decided to bump it up to between 1100 and 1200 as my goal.  Whether I get there or not is another story.  I do work out almost every weekday and I wa****ting rock bottom.  So..last week I only worked out 3 days and was eating at the new normal range and boom, I lost 3  pounds. 

I typically get in 80--100g protein a day, about 20 g fiber, and it's a ratio of 40% protein, 25% fat and 35% carbs.  I rarely eat pasta, bread, rice, potatoes.  Baked chips do sneak in there about once a week as well as a serving of crackers about once a week as well.

A typical day for me is like this:

B- South Beach Diet high protein cereal bar  at about 6:45 AM    10g protein  140 cal
coffee when I get to work with half and half
S - piece of fruit or NSA applesauce/diced peaches/ etc around 10AM    40-60 cal
L - usually a grilled chicken sandwich  (fast food) without the bun   25-35 g protein   200 cal
     sometimes I have a grilled chicken salad (fast food) or a South Beach Diet frozen dinner
    I pick the ones that have the most protein and are usually 24+ g of protein  24-30g protein and about 250 cal
S - I don't always have an afternoon snack but it will typically be some nuts  5 g protein 150 cal
D - grilled chicken, fish, pork, steak with grilled or steamed veggies   30-40 g protein and about 350 cal

This works out to be about 900 calories but it doesn't account for the mayo or sauces or the half and half.  A tablespoon of mayo (I don't eat fat free YUCK) is 100 calories by itself.  Half and Half is 40 cals so adding those in I'm around 1050 calories.

My diet seems pretty boring, but I am not bored with it.  I concoct all kinds of spice blends and sauces with lemon or orange to add flavor to my meals.  And I love, love, love the ziploc steam bags.  They are the best for steaming veggies.  I cook a potato in there with the veggies for my husband so he's not starving.

And there's the 2 time a week vivano smoothie from starbucks or the frappachino with protein powder.  Those are about 250 calories so averaged out it adds about another 50 calories a day.

I was bound and determined to eat my protein from everyday foods as quickly as possible and wean off of protein shakes, but I still use them from time to time when I don't eat so good in the daytime to make sure that I'm reaching my protein goals for the day.  That is something that I do not compromise on.

I hesitate to post mine because it is so different than most people's plan.  However, it is exactly what my NUT wants and she's been working with bariatric patients forever...

The rule of thumb for me is 10g of protein per day for every month you are out.  So at 6 months out, 60g of protein per day.  For calories, 100 calories per day for every month you are out; again, I was eating approximately 600 calories per day at 6 months out.

Do I count calories? No.  I'll throw some things in the Daily Plate program to get a rough idea and I'm usually right on track, give or take 100 calories.  I pay more attention to my protein.

Take Care,
Jana

After surgery I was never told how much to eat, just to eat until I got full. It didn't matter if it was only a few bites, that the rule I stuck with.  Of course it wouldn't work so well if you never got full.

Since having surgery I have never counted anything but fluids (becasue of dehydration issues). I eat protein first everytime I eat followed by a bite or two of veggies. The amounts have increased the farther out I've gotten.

Follow your Dr's or Nuts rules for you. Each and every DR is different. If they think you're doing great and your losing then stick with it!

I think I should start counting calories now that I am able to eat more, I really do not know how many I am eating.  I usually have one pro shake in the am and one pro bar sometime during the day and a 6 oz ff yogurt or 1/3 cup ff cottage cheese somewhere in there then a veggie/veg protien meal at dinnertime.  (a meal for me is 2 bites of tofu and a chunk of broccoli or a couple snowpeas these days)   Sometimes there is a splenda fruit cup, grapes, apple or 1/2 grapefruit in there somewhere too.  I need to work in more low cal veggies and wean off all this dairy bc/ of the constipation I am having now.