HELP HELP HELP HELP HELP

WHAT DID YALL EAT TODAY? WHAT DO YALL EAT ON AN EVERY DAY BASIS? Today I ate: 3/4 of a carnation instant breakfast = 150 cal approx about 10 pork rinds throught the day (they tend to sit in\ my pouch a long time so i dont feel hungary = 9 has 80 cal. 1 small nible of a snickers low carb marathon bar (just wanted to see what it tasted like = will approx about 20 cal. generously This is why i am asking Yesturday and the day before I ate some chinese chicken and veggie soup, (basically it is just chicken with chinese veggies in chicken broth) Now, and please no flammin for what I am about to say, I admit I am a spitter. I generally very rarely swallow any food. Not for weight loss purposes but because I dont like the feeling. So usually when i eat i have my little zip lock baggie to spit the food out in. BUT, I did drink about a cup of the chicken broth. I gained 2 lbs. Do you think it is because of the salt. chinese food tends to have a lot of sodium. Yesturday all i had was about a cup of the broth (didnt swallow any of the chicken or veggies), 1/2 cup ff refried beans, and 3 pork rinds (which has 8.88 calories a rind) and that is it. why would i gain 2 lbs I know, I know, I am not "eating" enough. however I do usually swallow some crackers (it doesnt bother me, and 3 usually keep me full about 4 or 5 hours) but it seems anything else other then refried beans, a few crackers, a few pork rinds and stuff like that make me feel so unconfortable that i just got in the habit of grabbing a zip lock bag when i sit down to eat something. So, I am trying to get ideas. chicken, beef, pork, fish ARE NOT HAPPENING. I cant seem to feel confortable when i eat them even if it is jsut a small bite. I have, though, tried cold cuts and for some reason they work fine but are so high in sodium. I am truly not looking to get flammed, I am looking for help. I mentioned my spitting because I am only going to get the help i need if yall truly know the whole story. I had svbg so that is why I am seeking help mostly from vbg'ers but anyoen suggestion will suffice. Thanks VJ ps. before you all wonder "where is my profile" I deleted it. the reason is because i work for an insurance company that is widely used on this board. Since i dont know who or what is monetoring this board I deleted my profile so that i can more freely answer questions or issues regarding that insurance company without "looking over my shoulder" constantly. I do plan to make a new profile but just havent had the time yet. but it is comming soon.

Hi VJ- What I ate today is 6-7 peices of taffy for breakfast (I know, bad!) a can of chili (12oz? I think) for lunch 1 24 oz grape propel water 1 cup of coffee with saccarin 1 sugar free hershey bar I typically don't eat Any sugar, but someone left this taffy on my desk! Aside from that this is a fairly typical day for me. I don't usually eat bread or pasta, or sugar, but just about anything else. Tonight I'll probably eat a pizza pocket or ravioli for dinner. I don't think the snickers marathon bars are low carb...read the label. I had one on Sunday and I think it said 26 g of carbs. It has a lot of sugar too. I think you have probably not gained 'weight', but it's probably water retention. There is a lot of salt in soup. Excercise a little more and it will fall right back off. They make some low salt luncheon meats, but I haven't tried them so I dont know if they are any good, but give it a try. Good Luck! Tammy

thanks for your feedback.. one thing about the marathon bars.. there is the regular and then there are low carb bars with only 7 grams of sugar. I made sure I got the marathon low carb bars. I will try the low salt lunch meats. i didnt know they made those. Thanks. I also do need to exercise more. in fact i am going for my walk now. Thank you for your reply. I was beginning to feel helpless. hopefully it is water weight. I stopped the soup, and probably will try something else. I was able to eat some chopped spinich tonite though so that will probably be something i will be eating a lot of. that and finely chopped broccoli. I think the rny'ers misconceptions about the vbg surgery is getting to me. I have heard so many rny'ers talk down about vbg and even heard (read) them stating we will gain the weight back. so i think i am being overly cautious

I think that what you are really looking for is what vbg'ers eat successfully. You are probably correct that lack of eating is causing you to retain/gain weight. It is probably water weight. You also seem to realize that "spitting" is not the answer to being successful with this surgery. Okay with that said. The one piece missing to this puzzle is... "When did you have surgery??" This is a difficult question to answer without this little piece of information. Also -- Have you been going back to your surgeon?? Is it possible that you have a "stray" stitch sticking out in your pouch irritating you?? Also when you do actually swallow food in what quantities are you eating?? Your post raises more questions for me before I can answer your questions. However... let me try to muddle through this. When I was very early out post-op -- the first 3-4 months were pretty miserable for me. I enjoyed the weight loss but hated that I could not keep anything down. I basically threw-up everything I ate. It took a lot of analizing what/how/when I was eating to finally figure it all out. I think also that my pouch needed to heal. To this day I can not stand to overeat even one mouthful. I have to be very consious of how hungry I am before I eat. I can't be too hungry or I may eat too much. I can't be stressed out when eating... etc. Basically when it is time for me to eat I am eating for FUEL not for emotional needs. It took this understanding of food to get me where I can keep the food down. I usually have to lay down for 10-20 minutes after eating. So if I choose to "eat" lunch while at work I have to go lay down on the couch that we put in the women's restroom. If I don't I will probably be throwing-up. Okay with that senerio in mind if I don't have time to lay down then I choose to NOT eat. That does not mean that I won't drink something... generally milk... maybe coffee... etc. for lunch. There are also "safe" foods that I have figured out that I do not have to lay down after eating them. One of my "safe" foods is Hotdog Chili with no beans (I buy it at Walmart for .33cents a can). Today this is what I ate... Breakfast 1 almost closed handful of cheese (I did not need to lay down) Snack 1 Granola bar with fruit filling 1 cup of coffee with cream/sugarless sugar Lunch 1 10oz can of hotdog chili (I did not need to lay down) Dinner 6 Tablespoons of Malt O Meal (I did not need to lay down) Today I did not eat anything that was hard or dense. Today I ate "safe" foods. Today I did not overeat at any given meal and best of all I did not throw-up. I applaud you on being so candid. I wish you luck as you figure out how/what/when to eat! Best Regards, Sharon -120#

I had surgery 072604 and so far lost 60 lbs. I really dont go to the doctor much. I will have my second follow up on the 18th. it was supposed to be last month but the receptionist didnt put the appt. in the system so it was changed to the 18th of this month. when i do eat I eat stuff like 3 crackers, maybe some ff refried beans, or pork rinds. today though i did eat some chopped spinich which worked very well for me. I may try to eat a lot more spinich and maybe some finely chopped broccoli. I am really trying to stay away from carbs. so i chose pork rinds over crackers a lot of the times and if i eat ff refried beans than that is the only carbs i have for the rest of the day. I probably dont drink enough water. I mostly sip on crystal light all day long or maybe tea sweetened with splenda. I really do have my mind set on swallowing. but my mind says swallow but my throat seems to automatically close up when i try. I know it is mostly psychological and i need to get over my extreme fear of food. Thank you sooo much for responding.

VJ If this is psychological then get psychological help for it. It is my belief that most people know what the root of a problem is. So what is the root of your problem? I personally still meet weekly with a "group" of women. We met each other in a facilitated domestic abuse therapy group. After the official group was over we continued meeting on our own. I also have an appointment in about 10 days to see an individual therapist that I started seeing to help me deal with the domestic abuse issues that were happening in my life. I am the person I am today because of this therapy that I received. It really helped me to look deep into my life and change things that I wanted to change. I feel as if I am at the strongest place I have ever been mentally today because of this. I guess what I am trying to say to you is that going and talking to someone if this is a psychological problem is what I would recommend. All of the changes that we go through after having surgery are pretty intense. That is what is sending me back to therapy. In some ways it is pretty scary to have men actually "see" me now. I used to be invisible. I do not want to do anything that will cause me to sabotage my weight loss as I know that this is the best thing I can do for my health. Sometimes old "self-doubt/self-hate" issues come back to me. Your title of 5x help is pretty telling to me. It is obvious that you really want to help yourself. I hope that you are able to find some answers for yourself soon. Are you able to discuss any of these concerns with your surgeon? Obviously you can not continue to "spit" and not eat. Search deep and find some answers for yourself. Concerned about you... Sharon

Ok, I almost feel like something is wrong with me because food does not make me sick or repulse me. I have only thrown up twice, but have thought I would several times. Every time was from eating too fast. Anyway, here's what I ate today: Breakfast-1 piece of bacon Lunch-Cheddar Cheese Soup Snack-A cookie (I know bad...someone left it on my desk and I couldn't resist) Dinner-About a tablespoon each of FF Refried Beans, Seasoned taco meat, Mexican rice. I drank 32 oz of water, about 8 oz of tea, and some diet dr. pepper. Ok, have other people been told not to drink carbonated drinks? I asked my doctor why that was and he said it was just after surgery that I couldn't drink carbonated drinks. He told me I could have anything except FF cheese. I'm really curious what other people know about this. Natalie 281/243/125

VJ, As you said, I think you are not eating enough...and your body is going into starvation mode. And, this is worse if you are not exercising because your metabolism is declining at the same time. Your body is adjusting to be able to function on what little nourishment you are giving it. If you are having problems swallowing, mental or not, I suggest you start over. You are having some liquids and crackers...that is good. Why not start with pureed stuff again? Soft foods, mu**** around in your mouth and it's basically liquid. Work your way up to solids and take as much time as you need, that's my advice. Last year, before I had VBG, I gave it one last big try on my own. I was eating at least 1200 calories a day and exercising for 30 min, and I was losing about 5 lbs a week. That lasted for 50 lbs, gained back 30, then had the VBG this year. Now, after VBG, my doc wants me on 600-900 calories a day, and 30-45 min of exercise. I haven't been exercising like I should, but I'm strict on what I eat and the calories. And, I have been losing on average 2 or 2.5 lbs per week. Go figure, I'm eating less, but I'm also losing less weight. The human body is a mystery... One last thing....if you are not eating that much, I definitely recommend protein shakes. I just started these because I was tired of having no energy. And, you don't want your hair falling out! Also, make sure you have vitamins. I have 4 children's chewables throughout the day. You'll feel better, I promise! And, maybe that will help with the eating as well. Good Luck!! ~Kim Open VBG 9/1/04 292/256 -36 lbs