Time to put on my Big Girl Panties and take care of business!!!

I would like to begin by thanking everyone for their kind and encouraging words in response to my last post.  I fiinally feel like I have found a place where I belong.

I have decided that it is time to get my **** together and start taking care of business.  I think I have been looking at this the wrong way.  Rome wasn't built in a day right?  Even God took a whole 6 days to create the world.  I guess this means I can take smaller steps and not try to fix all of my issues at once. 

Here is my plan.  Feel free to offer as much advice as you would like.  I would appreciate it!

1.  My first step is going to be to make sure I eat a good breakfast EVERYDAY!  I have started this week and have been eating a small bowl of Life cereal with skim milk and frozen blueberries.  I thought I was doing the right thing but now I know I need to take a different track because I would be starving by 9:30 - 10:00.  After reading some other posts I know that I am not getting enough protein.  When I look at my "nutrion" on my Lose It app, I see that I am only averaging about 43 g of protein a day.  I now know this is NOT enought.  So, I will start adding an egg or maybe some natural peanut butter to my breakfast to get the protein up.  I know there are better choices out there than those but for me it is a start.  I have also been drinking my 8 - 10 cups of water a day and then some.

2.  I am going to make an appoitnment with my doctor to have some blookdwork ordered.  I want to get my cholesterol and sugars checked. 

3.  After I have spent 2 - 3 weeks on step 1, I am going to start making sure I have a healthy lunch everyday and try to stop snacking on crap between breakfast and lunch. 

4.  After I have spent 2 - 3 weeks on step 3 I am going to start making sure I have a healthy supper everyday and try to stop snacking on crap between lunch and supper.

5.  After I have spent 2 -3 weeks on step 4 I am going to cut out the crap after supper.  I need to take medication with food before bed so I still need a snack but I will make sure it is a healthy one.

I should say that I am determined to NOT step a single foot on the scale.  It takes so little to derail my best intentions so I am planning on letting my bloodwork and how I feel (and how my clothes fit) tell me how I am doing.

Key to each of these steps witll be journalizing everything I eat (good or bad) and trying to keep the protein as high as I can.  Is there such a thing as too much protein?

Alright ladies, any thoughts on how I can improve my plan?  My main focus right now is on making the nutrional lifestyle changes required for weight loss.  Once I get those under control I will start adding in exercise.

Liz

Here's what I did to lose weight before surgery.

Remove All Unhealthy food items from the house. Throw them out. Everything. If it's not good for you, if it's sugary, carby, starchy, sticky, or fatty in the tra**** goes.

Plan out healthy meals and make them up ahead of time. Freeze portion sizes only. Don't make a pot of soup and freeze a giant bowl ful. Measure out one portion and freeze it. That's all you get.

Track everything you eat and drink. Use Lose It or some other app online or on your phone to track everything you eat. Set a calorie goal and stick to that. If you know you will be more hungry in the evening then save calories for the evening for a snack or a meal but don't just up the calories before you are hungry.

Eat like a post op person. Protein first, no drinking while eating. Low carbs. No sugar. Drink only water, tea, crystal light or other no calorie beverages. Measure out your protein, vagetables, and good carbs. For instance 4oz of chicken, 2-3 oz of vegetables, 1 oz of rice, pasta, bread.  (If at all possible really cut the white foods from your diet because they just add empty calories and cause your bloodsugar roller coasters.)

Your cereal in the morning is all empty carbs. It's not staying in your stomach for very long and it's turning directly to sugar and by the time you hit an hour later you are hungry. Dump the cereal and milk.  Eat protein dense foods like eggs and sausage crumbles or even deli turkey and cheese. You don't have to eat breakfast foods for breakfast. I've eaten lettuce tacos, no pasta ricotta bake, and no muffin egg and cheese breakfast meals. Turkey sausage, one egg, and cheese will really fill you up and last longer in your stomach.

Eat your heaviest meal of the day around lunch time. This also needs to be protein dense.

Cut out high calorie foods like mayo and salad dressings. Walden Farms has some no calorie alternatives or just try using plain greek yogurt with different seasonings for flavor.

Drink 64oz of water a day.
Walk at least 15 minutes a day.


Don't eat until you are full. Eat until you are satisfied. Eat slowly and chew your food well. Every swallow evaluate how you feel. Are you hungry? Are you still eating because you think you need to?  The only time preop (and now post op)  I allowed myself to feel full was when I was drinking water. Any other time I ate til I no longer felt hungry. I ate half my food first and then stopped to see how I really felt. I realized that most of the time I over ate because the food was there and I felt compelled to fini**** all. Once I started halving normal portions I realized I was getting satisfied on smaller amounts. So then I would see how long I could go before I got actual hunger pangs again.

Also pay attention to why you feel you need to eat. Are you eating because you are bored? Are you eating because you actually feel hunger? Are you eating because everyone else is?  When you first feel that urge of hunger don't just reach for something, wait and ask yourself if you are really hungry.

Snacks should be kept to only healthy snacks that are dense in protein as well. String cheese and Baby Bel cheese are my go to snack. If you need crunchy keep cucumbers on hand or sugar free popcicles or even freeze berries to chew on.

I will be honest, it would be best to change your entire meal plan and combine 3,4, and 5 right now so you can detox off the carbs. It's not hard to just plan and portion out healthy meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And if you keep unhealthy options in the house between each stage that's just one more hurdle. If you get it all out now then you only have the good things to reach for if you do get your snacking craving.

I started all of this back in March and my surgery wasn't until July. I lost 26lbs by just making these changes.  Sure I had some slips and I "cheated" but it was much easier to get back into the groove by just making sure I kept no junk in the house and getting up every day to walk.

Hello Liz I truly do believe you are in the right place here at obesity help.com!
We are all a great group of women and and men with alot of the same issues and struggles in our efforts to manage to lose to continue maintaining whether your post op or pre o*****t choosing wls. We have to recognize it will be a lifelong journey! I do think that the steps that you are working on are good and could possibly use some tweaking. However it is important to realize that you have posted and really tried to set some steps up! So kudos for actually being brave enough to post! Taking things step-by-step is important. My hope is that people will share what they did pre-surgery since that's where you are at. For all us, our bodies are built individually so what works for one may not work someone else. You are correct that Rome wasn't built in a day! For me my nutritionist presurgery told me to keep my calories at a thousand calories or less but do not count vegetables or fruit ,they were free! She advised me to try the protein powders in shakes or adding it to cereal for breakfast possibly a cut out all butter the extra things that really didn't need to be eaten. Journaling truly is key to be able to see what it is you're eating, what calorie count is, she said don't worry about the fat as much, try to count the calories! 3500 cal equals a pound! You have to have a deficit. Meaning what you burn with just living daily and what your burning when you exercise if you're not exercising then that will come later, however it's advised to try to at least do something more than what you normally are doing, anything just think outside the box that's what I did. At my weight of 654 pounds I couldn't even make it to the bathroom so I had to think about movement that I could do that was not the same thing I did during the day (which was practically nothing)! The advice to get rid of all junk in the house is very good advice. Changing one meal at a time while still having snacks that are not healthy in the house probably will set yourself up for failure even with good intentions. It will be up to you on you if you are strong enough to resist. I wasn't! I am going to have to go for now I want to continue after I get home tonight to the house to post.

Ok, sorry it is the next day... today. I walked with another OH member last night and we did 5.40 miles. My feet and legs were needing a hot bath and rest and so this is my continuation of the prior post.

So back to the meals and snacks. Not sure if you are making changes in your house as to the type of foods that you are buying as you need to get more... but possibly healthier. This can be baby steps, but just think about it. I was amazed at how many healthier choices there are that actually taste good and that can satisfy a sweet tooth or craving. Be creative! Also try to cook for yourself. No PREPACKAGED foods. This helped me so much. I gave up soda first as far as drinks and then made changes in steps to where I wanted to be in my fluids for after surgery. My change prior to surgery went from small to full fledged... because I saw success. Steps are good... you have to try what you think will work for you, evalute after the first week and then tweek and change what you need to. What works for one will not always work for another. Variables in components of things people have tried though can be common and used. Be open to tweek and try things! MOST of REMEMBER also that if you fail one time, learn from it and try and try again! NEVER completely give up! Success is not giving up in the rough times. Hard to see clearly and move on but you just need to! If you are cooking for your family and so forth this does make it much harder! Have your stuff seperate and make it be known that it is yours! I had to do this with my now husband back then! For me if I chose not to eat something back then, I had to know it would be there for me when I wanted it or felt I needed it! Otherwise I would eat it all up in some silly fear of not getting my FAIR share! I learned that this was a part of my past growing up with two brothers... one is my twin. Had to eat fast and as much to get food... and so sort of a learned thing. Still after surgery, I tell my husband and he it figured out now, that I may give him what I am not going to eat, but do not ask me until I have eaten. He also knows that if I do not offer that I will want it later or the next day. So he generally does not ask. I have learned that food will be there when I want it again and so on.
Pre surgery, for me it was the pains in my stomach if I did not eat super big meals because my stomach was used to this. I would get sick and feel terriable if I did not eat and stuff. So it was a gradual weening down in portions but knowing fruits and vegtables were free to eat and not apart of my 1000 calories helped alot. Cooked or Raw they filled me. Like I said, I was able to do a full fledged all out reduction rather quickly once I saw the results coming so fast!

Really I could go on and on, but I think that I should be closing this post. There are so many things to try, but it all is about:

Eating Right/Calorie Count + Excersize of some sort/increasing as you go = weightloss!

We do not have a choice, we have to eat! What we eat, when we eat, how we eat are with in our own control. FIND WHAT WORKS FOR YOU!!
Keep track! Re-evaluate!

hugs and best wishes,
Sherrie

Just offering up a HUG and encouragement. Do what feels right to you and will be lifestyle changes. Remember, this isn't about the next week or the next month or even the next year, but about what happens 10 years from now.

BUT you have to take one day at a time, one meal at a time, one visit to the gym at a time.

You'll be fine... hang in there!

I too want to offer lots of encouragement. I've done this many many times and so based on MY experience - I'd also like to suggest cutting back all at once versus doing a good breakfast for awhile, doing a good lunch for awhile, and a good supper for awhile. Your idea is very strong in theory - but it's a lot less painful to reduce what you eat ONCE and the way you're planning it you'd go through about 4-5 days of being hungry every time you did a reduction in food.

Okay that said - I'd also like to highly recommend drinking protein shakes. What I was hearing from you is that you need to add protein. Protein shakes come in a bazillion textures, flavors, or even flavorless. The beauty of them is that it's a quick and easy way to improve the quality of your food. Another thing I've experienced is that they help take some of the food out of the equation so I only deal with head hunger versus real belly hunger. Also typically protein shakes can be found which are low calorie, high protein, low carb which are all positive things when getting on a program.

It's what I myself will be going back to when I am back to the grind with my weight loss plans in December (I am on hiatus for the moment due to pregnancy.)

Good luck to you - and do what works best for you!

Brenda~

Protein is very important.  You need to eat protein with every meal and every snack.  That's an easy fix right there.

I can tell you I did one thing at a time and I made changes slowly and it has been so much easier for me this way.  I started with 50 carbs per meal and 25 per snack.  Even before that I started with just getting my water in every day.  I think you are going about it the right way.  It seems so difficult to just go straight for it.  Although, I admire people that can do that.  It's not how I've been able to do things in the past.

I'm now down to under 40 carbs and I drink 100oz+ of water a day.  I also exercise five times a week for an hour to an hour and a half...The exercise was the last challenge and so far so good.  I really think you have a good idea.  This is what worked for me.  

 Life cereal is like crack - one "small" bowl is never enough. I could eat the entire box if I let myself. Get the stuff out of the house. If you want carbs for breakfast, have oatmeal (not the quaker flavoured crap - get plain oatmeal and add splenda brown sugar if you want it sweet) or wholegrain toast with peanut butter.

other than that my best advice is to write down everything you eat and why you're eating it (ie your emotions at the time). Once you see how often you pick up something just because it would taste good (regardless of your actual hunger or nutritional needs) you'll be amazed.

 You are on the right path and all the advice you have gotten is dead on.

I am so happy that you and the other people in this forum are here. They and you are what keep me going everyday. 

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Sharon

 I guess just because I threw the scale out the window and as a result I put 99% of all my weight back on I cringe every time I see some one say they will not look at a scale any more. I think if the scale gives you so much trouble you should still weigh in twice a month. Oherwise you might not know you are heading in the wrong direction till you have done some real damage.

But I really think you should turn that around, any time you see even a small loss or even at no change at a at all you are a winner!. You didn't gain!