a little help please

Ive seen posts that you guys wanna help newbies or oldbies....lol

I consider myself an oldbie to the board, but a newbie to WLS....

I'm 6 months post op, I'm down 75#'s.

I just truly don't know what to eat....I stay really close to the protein side of things...just recently I snuck over to the carb/sugar side....Guess what??? I lost some wt.,  more than my usual 1 or 2 lbs....I think last week I lost over 3 #'s......

I know about eggface and such, but I need practical ideas that dont involve buying stuff I cant get locally....I dont like buying online, I work 3-11 and the UPS guy leave stuff on my porch and the dog next door eats it.....

I need grab and go type ideas, crockpot ideas or any type of casserole idea that isnt rice or noodle laden.....hard to get, I know....

Please take my under your wing and guide me through this journey.....

For some reason this keeps echoing through my brain "the 1st 6 months are the "honeymoon" phase after that its hard to manage"........Hello !!!!! im 6 months out....I dont want my wt loss to stop here.....im scared !!!! I need more time.....


HELP !!!!!

Hi Tara -

One of my favorite things is protein roll-ups.........

Sliced turkey - ham, roast beef - whatever you like.....etc from a deli -     slice of cheese -  r oll each one up and presto - you have protein roll-ups.......these are easy grab me snacks as well.......

Breakfast idea:   Scramble approx 6 eggs or dozen - whatever......put in various bacon, sausage, rotel sauce....velveeta (makes it creamy)  mix all of that up .....then divide and place in a cupcake pans - you have mini  quiches  w/o the carbs................  You can freeze these too  - I think..............

cook chicken in crockpot -   I use chicken broth to cook it in............. chop it up and make chicken salads.........pickles, eggs (more protein)  cheese....etc......onions.....

I've seen some recipes out there on here (go to the recipe board too for ideas) where chicken is cooked in the crockpot with taco seasoning too..........chicken tacos ?   lol  wrap those up in lettuce wraps maybe?           

 

i hope that this helps - I'm not much of a cooker............so  recipes  - eh...........

First of all..... everyone is different, including the 6 months honeymoon phase.  I lost weight steadily for 15 months so you aren't going to stop losing weight at 6 months, but it probably WILL slow down.  You may see some months with only 1-2 pounds whereas now you are losing that in a week.  And no reason to panic if you aren't at goal at your one-year surgiversary - nothing magic about that, either.

What gets harder as you get farther out is you are hungry more often and can eat larger portions.  Now by larger I don't mean what everybody else eats - but larger than you have been able to eat.  If you couple that with a tendency to graze then it will seriously hamper your ability to get to goal or keep it off. 

My weight has been stable for about 9 months and I now know why I failed at so many diets.  With my metabolism I will never be able to eat normal portions and keep the weight off - not even healthy food.  And without my WLS tool I never could have managed to get by on so little food without caving in.

Carbs are fine - just eat them with protein to keep your blood sugar up and try to eat whole grain carbs.  I used to make a Wasa cracker "pizza".  Nuke some pepperoni and cheese just enough to get it hot and slide it onto a Wasa cracker and have it for a snack.

Make up some chicken or tuna salad and keep in the fridge.  Yogurt and cottage cheese (you can add fruit if you like) are good.  Or another good salad you can make up and keep in the fridge is cut up some tomatoes and green onion and mix with cottage cheese and some salt and pepper - the flavor combo is really good.

For crock pot meals you can make some hearty stews and go light on the potatoes - that way you get your veggies in, too.  Or do chicken with canned soup then you get a nice sauce to keep it moist so it doesn't get stuck.

Cheese sticks are my go-to snack.

Casseroles are harder - they depend on the pasta and rice to make them stick together LOL.  Meat loaf would be ok, though.

Sarah mentioned or brought up cottage cheese....

You can do many things with this............

I have mixed in cinnamon and a pkg of splenda in with the cottage cheese for breakfast (kinda like the old malt-o-meal thought).........

cottage cheese and salsa.....mix in some ham or chicken or turkey.....etc..........
mini salad of sorts............

There are many things you can do will stuff from your neighborhood grocery store. I have eaten weight control quaker oatmeal but switched to HEB's no sugar added oatmeal because it was cheaper. I add whey isolate to it as well as skim milk to boost the protein. My nutritionist would like for me to add either fruit or low fat yogurt. I also eat a small TV dinner for lunch with low fat string cheese. My afternoon snack varies genrally 1/2 cup low fat low sugar or sugar free granola and either a small protein shake or bar . Dinner is usually what me and the wife fix for the family. Now, I still have times I can not eat what the family is having and will eat a spare TV dinner or soup or even a sandwich. My nutritionist has me trying to eat the protein in my diet instead having to supplement it. Almost everything I eat is bought at the Wal-mart, HEB, Whole foods, and Randall's. I do eat some speciality items such as my protein and sugar free granola, and protein cookie but it is made here locally and sold on the internet. I understand about buying online, whichis why I try to find local stores that carry products that we can use and I try to post here on the board when I find a new product. Like Friday I found a 110 calorie bagels at Randall's called Thomas bagel thins 100% whole wheat, plain, and everything are the different types. If you are feeling lost you may want to talk to a nutritionist, I felt lost and was wondering why I was having trouble eating at three months out I could not eat anything unless it was pureed. I made minor changes based on the nutritionist and some recommendations from people here on the board and I am able to eat bigger range of foods. It is very important to read the nutrition labels on products and understand the serving sizes and the nutritional break down such as calories, fat, carbs, sugar, protein. My favorite grab and grow foods are yogurt, 100 calorie packets of low fat crackers, nuts, and 100 calorie packs of popcorn. I hope some of this helps but remember we are all different what we can handle eating and caution needs to used when introducing something new into your diet.

Thanks ya'll...these are some great ideas...

Ive bookmarked this page so I can look back to it....gotta get printer ink.....lol

Check out the Atkins weight loss website for links to more good recipes for us...

Hijack!! Just wanted to tell you, Hubby and I LOVE your town of Boerne!!! stayed in one of the log cabins at Ye Kendall Inn! Just sorta found it on one of our driving tripss!! How romantic!!!!

Meggie