Going to Summer Camp

I am considering a revision from band to RNY.  My doctor already said I am a good candidate due to complications with the band and lack of weight loss. 

I work at a summer camp every summer for 2 months. I'm a teacher so this feels like a paid vacation!  I love working with the kids without the math part. I LOVE IT!

While there, we live on camp and eat the camp foods in the dining hall...there is no other option.  It is quite healthy compared to what people "think" of camp food.  We have a full salad bar including some protein options like cottage cheese as well as fresh fruit.  We (my husband and I) have a small fridge in the cabin which I have kept protein shakes to supplement when needed.  The unhealthy part of the camp food is it is often very carb laden.  Lots of pasta, breaded meats, etc keeps their cost down and it is things kids like.  Although there are times they have healthy baked chicken I'm wondering how I would be able to eat with RNY. 

One of my biggest reasons for having WLS is to improve my quality of life.  I do not want to give this up.  When I met my husband in 2008 I began to work at camp with him.  I was about 240lbs.  It was somewhat uncomfortable walking all over but definitely worth it.  Through the next 6 years I have been putting on weight and this wonderful part of my life is becoming difficult and not nearly as fun as it was.  I also have other complications with my feet and ankles due to excess weight.  

Has anyone had such an experience long term?  We stay for 2 months so I would need to figure out how to eat for this period of time with the foods offered to me.  I do not have access to the kitchen (health code) and only have the small fridge in my cabin and a coffee machine.  We do have access to ho****er. 

There are definitely a lot of shelf stable foods you could take - tuna pouches and jerky come first to mind!

You have many options: ready to drink protein  shakes, tuna packets, salmon packets, cans of chicken, cans of shrimp, jerky- beef, turkey, chicken and pork types, cheese stick, nuts, protein bars, turkey sticks (like slim Jim's), but butters, protein soups and hot chocolate that you just add ho****er to. Along with the healthy options at camp like the cottage cheese you should be fine. Your only limited if you let yourself be. After 2 months you maybe sick of some of these things but that will go away once you return home. 

Haha, but (butt) butters, that made me giggle. I'm sure you meant nut butters.

These all look like good options.  I think the food is there but making sure I eat enough could be a challenge.  I would perhaps carry around protein bars for snacks or something like that. Nut butters?  I thought these were too high in fat?  Are there any sort of powdered or soups I can add water to so I can heat it up in the dining hall?  Eating low carb for so long I know there are options out there to order...maybe there are such things for bypass surgery patients as well?  What's this powdered peanut butter I hear about?

There are some awfully big hills that I look forward to being able to climb much more easily! 

What does your plan say? My plan doesn't really have me restricting fat, but I can understand the concern over the nut butters in that they're really a slider food & its really easy to go "nuts"  on. I really like the nut butters but they do have a lot of calories, but they're sold in packets, so you can carry them around on hikes & stuff & still limit how much you eat of them., unlike me who dipped my finger in the jar & ate what I wanted.

Protein bars you also have to be careful on as they can be considered to be overblown candy bars,I go for the quest bars, they give me the most protein for calorie buck. I go for 10g of protein for every 100 calories, plus have you had surgery yet? Your tastes can change after surgery, so you don't want to start stockpiling stuff only to find you can't stand the taste later, & while there's a chance you can dump, there's also a chance that you won't dump. Why not stay away from the sugar for awhile, it's addictive anyway. 

There's powdered soups you can get, try bariatric advantage ketogenic vegetable soup, I've only seen it in tubs so you might be sol if you don't like it. I've also had wonderslim chicken & vegetable cream soup, broccoli flavored soup & celebrate chicken soup, even though I wasn't crazy about the celebrate soups, but they're all sold in packets.

I buy them off the Celebrate website, or diet direct, unjury, bariatric advantage & my bariatric pantry websites.

Yes, there are a number of dry soup packets available... I have some Lipton chicken noodle (with the little tiny noodles) in my pantry right now.. But they aren't high in protein so probably ant much better than whatever options you have from the camp kitchen.

Oh, yes, there are lots of special "bariatric" foods available online.  I have tried lots of them and, IMO, most of them are disgusting and I would eat almost anything else no matter how high in carbs before I would eat those kinds of "frankenfoods"! 

Yes, nut butters are high in fat, but they are ok in small amounts (and you are only talking about 2 months a year). All of the other options that poster provided are all excellent options.

Yes, you could get protein bars, but the majority of them are extremely chemical-laden and the sugar alcohols may bother you in the ones that are low carb.

PB2 is powdered peanuts with the fat removed.  The idea is that you can put it in protein drinks, etc. or that you can add water to try to make it sort of peanut butter like again, but when you add water to peanut flour, you get peanut flavored paste, not peanut butter. I bought some and threw most of the jar away 5 years later.

Lora

Does the camp kitchen accommodate kids with food allergies or other dietary restrictions? If so, you may be able to put in a standing request and they can handle you in a similar fashion. If there's someone who's vegetarian, then it can't be too difficult to have other food set aside for you as well.

I did think of that.  They have vegetarian options at every meal as many kids and employees are vegetarians.  They do allow special meals, provided by the parents, for special needs mostly for Celiac.  Its possible but not likely.  From what I've been reading in this thread, I could make some good choices and I feel alot better about it than before.  I have not had the RNY surgery yet.  Camp is a huge part of my life...every summer for 2 months...so I need to know if its possible or not.  Seems it is with some practice with the foods offered.  (I'm not there this summer because I have a neuroma in my foot, doing PT for ankles and getting a hysterectomy in a week.  I miss it ALOT!)

Powdered peanut butter is pb 2. You just mix it with water. It's in most grocery stores and walmart. I wouldn't be worried about getting enough to eat especially if you have protein shakes you can keep in your room. Sounds like you should have a great summer and come back with a great weight loss. Lots of activity and ways to eat healthy.