Need a good diet! HELP

I am fairly new to the whole WLS thing. I am still in the research mode and going to my first seminar this month. My question was I am hoping I could get a good diet or some diet tips to help me out to kick start loosing! I have been following Shari recently and see she has lost a good portion of weight! GREAT JOB! I have just began walking 3 times a week for 2 miles and I must say thats a lot for me! But today, after I got done walking I went to Hardees for breakfast....I think they cancel each other out when you do that! hahaha

I was reading about optifast shakes and that is just something I can not afford. I was wondering if there was anything out there like that but cheaper???? I live in a small town and there isn't much support from our physicians here in getting a nutrital plan or at this point, a prescription :)

I love the support on these message boards and look forward to any help I can get!

Thanks so much!

Tammy

Tammy, Welcome to the forum.  All of us are trying different healthy eating plans.  I say that instead of diet, as when I think of changing my eating habits and calling it a diet I fail miserably.  For me, I have been keeping a food/exercise journal.  From here, I have been counting calories.  I try to stay in the 1,300-1,500 calorie range.  I have also added fruits and veggies into my diet and switched from full fat items (mayonaise, butter, etc.) to light.  Not all has been changed to a light version, but that's a work in progress.  I have also added exercise into my life, though the last two weeks I've had to lay off on it as I messed up my hip.  The result of these changes is that I've lost 20 lbs in 6-7 weeks time.  This week I have decided to try meal replacement shakes one meal four times a week.  I'm going to try this for two weeks to see what happens.  The shakes I got are the Slimfast Optima with the extra protein (15g I believe). Congrats on your exercise plan.  It's important to get "moving" as they say. Best of luck on your journey, Melinda

Thanks Melinda! I was wondering myself if the slim fast optima was a good thing or not????  Congrats to you on loosing your 20 lbs I remember what it felt like to loose wieght haha. When I was preg w/ my son I used the thinking eating for two, well 4 years later, I forgot to stop eating for two haha..actually I did that with all 3 of my children. Wish me luck on my weight loss! I have had enough and I must do something soon, I wanna be able to walk into a store and be able to wear the clothes.  I cant even go to a plus store any longer enough of feeling sorry for myself! Thanks for you motivation and to all of you posters thanks for your motivation! Have a great weekend! Tam

I'm always going to recommend Atkin's.  It helped me lose 40lbs pre-op, in about 4 months.  It's easy because there's no portion control, so you don't feel deprivation.  Weight lost is pretty fast and fairly steady.  There's a great website called Sugarfreesheila.com.  This website is about a great lady who lost 35 pounds on Atkins and restarted her life.  It's inspiring and she's very helpful.  I would give Atkin's a shot.

melinda is right about everything she said - there is no best diet. what you can do is make small SUSTAINABLE lifestyle changes that you can live with without feeling deprived, hungry etc. fad diets that you cannot maintain for the rest of your life will get you nowhere fast.  i would start by thinking about what you like about your current diet and what you are willing to change. do some research about the different plans that are out there and see what would be a good fit for you.  go to the food section of barnes and noble for an afternoon. there is also ao ton of info on the internet as well that websites that can help you overall like sparkpeople.com or fitday.com. maybe a one time consultation with a nutritionist would also help you develop a plan. i am a firm believer in calories in/calories out but regardless of what you decide to do, journaling you food is very important and basically the most consistent hallmark of long term weight loss maintenance. you don't need to drink only shakes, but special bars or cut out all your favorite foods if you don't want to - dieting doesn't need to = suffering or bankruptcy.