What;s on your Menu today (Monday) RNYers?

I did take measurements. I hate that a stupid machine bugs me so much!

I agree with Pam. If the scale is not moving the measurements are!!

Hey All! It's my first post here so go easy on me haha. Had a pretty laid-back and uneventful weekend, went to work on clients for several hours on Saturday and then came home to spend the rest of the weekend with the hubby and all of our four-legged kids. All in All pretty mellow BUT I did finally reach my breaking point with the place I'm in with the post op process, I'm talkin' big ol crocodile tears lol. I feel like I've been busting my hump since my doc gave me clearance for exercise (I'm just under 8 weeks out) and I've been doing the best I can to keep my calories in check even though I left the hospital with practically no tools in my toolbox for this new journey (big thank you to everyone who gave me links, files and info/support so that I could actually educate myself and not feel like I've been thrown to the wolves! seriously, so grateful!). I have been at a stall for 2 weeks at least now and I'm not eating junk I shouldn't be, I weigh/measure my food and track/journal EVERYTHING but I'm just not seeing the results I was hoping to see. I know that's normal but its so hard to not be discouraged when it happens and you're doing everything that you think is right. I could go on and on haha but I guess what I'm getting at is that I've finally hit that wall of food withdraw depression and I don't know how to get myself out of it fast enough. Tips/advice welcomed with open arms!

QOTD: I always make it a point to show my appreciation in one way or another when service is above an beyond (as somebody who is in the service industry I know how a little acknowledgement to the hard work you put in is always the ultimate compliment that can make your smile last all day). When it comes to negative experiences, I try to put things into perspective before I voice any issues I'm having. Maybe the person is having a bad day, maybe they just lost a loved one or been through some other traumatic event. We never truly know other people's stories so I try to remind myself of that when I feel frustrated with someone. HOWEVER, I will be voicing my opinion regarding my night nurse while recovering in the hospital. I asked multiple times for my pain meds and he had a weird attitude for some reason and never brought them. by the time my day nurse came back she said it had been 12 hours since I had had anything (no wonder I was in such pain!). All that I can handle even though it was very unpleasant but I just worry that it will happen to somebody else if I don't speak up. :(

B: Dopio espresso over ice with chocolate premier protein shake added

L: bananas and cream premier protein shake

S: 1/2 rice cake with hummus and a tiny bit of roasted red pepper

D: TBD... Maybe baked tofu and some kind of veggie?

S: light blueberry greek yogurt 

V: Multi chewable, chewable biotin, iron, calcium chewable

E: Jilian Michaels' "30 day shred" DVD (workout 1)

Hope everyone has a wonderful day! Make it a great one!  Feel free to share any thoughts about what I may or may not being doing right with my meal planning. Still new and don't have a lot of local support up here.

Welome, Mandi!  In addition to just a totally new life (sip swallow chew measure tiny amounts of food), you also have hormone dumping going on.  It's totally normal to feel sad and cry some crocodile tears!  It happened to almost all of us!  I remember waiting for the bus one day, around 8-10 weeks out, and the bus was about half a block back...the light changed and some person was texting in their car and didn't move...I started yelling at them LOL.  I realized I was having road rage and I was on foot!  I promise, it will pass.

I was fortunate not to have stalls but it seems like 99% of people do have stalls.  I am sorry your doctor didn't send you home with enough information or guidance, but this place is a great site to get that.  At 8 weeks out, your focus should be liquids (docs say 60 oz a day but do more if you can!) and protein.

For liquids, if you can tolerate water (I love ice cold, some prefer room temp or warm) then keep a large water bottle by you and sip all damn day.  I used to add Crystal light packets to water to mix it up.  I also used to have a Chike iced protein coffee shake for breakfast everyday (20 g of protein + 15 oz of liquid = win win).  At 8 weeks out, I was eating tuna salad, egg salad, ground turkey with taco seasoning, ground chicken or turkey with ricotta cheese, flaky white fishes like tilapia, Dannon light and fit yogurt...I was so tired of sweet protein drinks that I just wanted all things savory.  I did not eat applesauce, grits, cream of wheat, oatmeal...all of the soft "slider" foods that are ALLOWED, but will not help your weight loss in the least.  If you can focus on eating protein forward, and get in lots of liquids, you will lose weight.  It takes work - you have a tool, not a magic solution, but come here and read people's menus and ask questions and you can do this!

Are you a vegetarian?  Don't get me wrong, I love hummus, but it's not protein packed.  At your stage I may have had 1-2 bites of veggies to go along with my protein, but it certainly wasn't the focus of my meal or even half of it.  

I was still over 300 lbs at 8 weeks post-op so I got a FitBit and started tracking my steps.  I couldn't go hard at the gym yet, but I could move my ass!  And it got easier everyday, and I felt stronger everyday.  I don't know where you live, and it may be cold and hard to get out, but even if you bundle up and just go around the block, it's a good feeling to have less aches and pains as you move.

I should say - you will find a variety of opinions on this site.  I ate low carb (under 30 g a day) for the first year to get to goal.  The honeymoon period (around a year after surgery) is a real thing, and as someone who is 3 years out and struggling every day to make good choices now that the compliments have stopped, my stomach is bigger, my resolve is smaller...I recommend low carb, high protein, and stay strong.  You can change your lifestyle and do this - you didn't go under the knife for nothing!  This is a great group of folks who will help you along the way!

Good luck!

Also, here were my major posts along the way, in case the first one helps you in any way.  I am 5'5", I was 36 and 351 lbs day of surgery, today I am 39 and just above 170.  And feeling awesome!!!

Two year surgiversary: http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/rny/5445401/My-two-year-su rgiversary-with-a-before-and-after-picture/

Thank you for all of the good info and support! Tomorrow I'm going to my first post op support meeting which I'm looking forward to but I'm bummed they only meet once a month. So glad OH exists!

It's weird to me that a lot of people are eating different things than I am at 8 weeks. I guess my doc just has his own way he wants us to do. Sounds like what everyone else is doing is the standard though. My doc told me by now I should pretty much be eating like normal again at this point (within reason of course) and I feel like I'm tolerant to everything so far except for red meat (most of my protein comes from my two daily shakes but I usually have chicken or tofu for dinner). As long as I chew, chew, chew, I feel fine but I was never given any guideline as to what my carb, sugar, fat limit should be per day or calorie limit etc. so I'm not sure what bounds I should be staying within. Just been eating protein and protein annnnd protein and keeping it as low carb as possible and trying to stay under 500kal a day so hopefully that's good enough. 

I was 260 on my surgery day, 5'6" and gonna be 30 in April so I don't know how all those factors calculate what I'm supposed to aim for... I wish I just had somebody to tell me exactly what's what haha but I know that everyone's journey and body is different.

Good evening friends... I am so late to the party today.  But I am here.  I feel like today has been one big day full of two steps forward one step back thank goodness it is over!

QOTD:  I am so a person to express my opinion good and bad.  Did it just this past weekend when I had service that was not just bad but was treated horribly.  I won't go in hunting for bear but if a certain line is crossed I need to speak up for myself and I will speak up if I see someone else being having poor service or great service as well.

Food for they day:

B: 2 slices of bacon

S: Clementine

L: 2oz ham slice of cheese

D: 3oz chicken, Salsa & cheese

Hope everyone has a wonderful evening....

Hello!!  I've been MIA for a few days. Life..well work got in the way!!  What a few days it's been.

Eating has been crap.  Well, no.  Not that bad but not structured or planned.  I didn't eat enough on Saturday. Or drink enough and had to work Saturday night.  10 hour shift and by the end of it I was sick with a headache from hunger and dehydration.  I ended up having a piece of pizza.  One bite, then just the topping.  But it was 2am and not what I should have been eating.  Didn't get home till 4 and slept till 1 pm on Sunday. So Sunday was a lazy-not moving from the couch kind of day.  Then about 9pm I got the urge to clean and away I went.  Today was regular day job and super busy.  So I never got to eat everything I had planned. 

QOTD:  I always say I'm so going to complain. I"m going to get the mgr.  But I tend not too.  Food wise? I'll send it back sometimes.  It depends on where I am and who I'm with.  So most times I'll just suffer or not eat.  

Menu for today:

Breakfast: Tea with Restoralax. 2 protein bites

Snack: Light and fit Greek yogurt.

Lunch: Didn't  get to eat what I had planned-ended up in meetings all day. So Mission tech protein bar. Brownie one.

Supper:  3 homemade fish taco's.  Cod finger, coleslaw mix on a Boston lettuce leaf with spicy aloi I picked up at Costco.

I"m super behind on the water again today and feeling it.  So tonight I plan to drink drink and drink.  I need to get things moving-been 3 days and I know it's my diet and lack of fluids.  

Hope Everyone had a great day!!

Lori

Hi everyone,

The scale was good to me today. After a 2 1/2 lb gain yesterday I was down 3 lbs today! Yaay!

QOTD: I don't normally raise a stink about anything. I think in all of my years I've only sent food back once at a restaurant. I do always give positive feedback and will tip well for good service. When I was at boy scout camp in my teenage years we were assigned to waiter duty in the food hall. It was not easy and I empathize for waiters and waitresses who do it for a living.

B: 2 eggs, 1 strip of bacon

L: 3oz low sodium ham

S: 1oz coppa, 1oz turkey breast

D: 1/2 taco shell, 3oz lean ground beef, 1/2 oz cheese, 1tbsp low fat sour cream, 1/4C diced tomato,

S: ff chobani yogurt

Cals: 725 Carbs: 17  Protein: 85

Hi Gang, I've been MIA on here for several months...lots of life issues. We had a nice Alaska cold snap last month, down to -26 at my house for several days, and a lot more days where it wasn't much warmer. Many nights staying awake to keep the water from freezing (I also had no heat for 3 months), but I made it thru.

QOTD: I never complain about service or a wrong order, which drives my friends crazy, but I just let it go. I do regularly write honest reviews though, and kindly state issues or give compliments where warranted.

B: Chike Vanilla with a splash of SF Toasted Marshmallow Torani syrup and a tsp of chia seeds.

L: no time

D: Stopped at Fred Meyer's (Kroger in other parts of the country) and discovered they have Brisket at the deli.  SO GOOD!  Had three oz of that and half an apple, and I'm a happy girl.  I have no fridge so some meal planning is a little hard right now, and this was a happy find!

Back to the Gym today for me, it's been a while and I dragged my butt in there and got some good coaching to pick up where I am and go forward.  Goal for 2017 is running a race with my youngest son down in Colorado.

Off to a good start, hope the rest of week is great for everyone!