CHECK OUT MY "SAMPLE" LUNCH PATTERN

Good Afternoon: I had RNY on 9/28/03 and lost 160 lbs. Now, I've gained 20 lbs!!!!! and am very upset about it. People tell me the stress related with taking care of ill parents, two jobs, cleaning my house and my parents house and the recent death of my mom more than likely added to the weight gain over the past 9 months. My physician wants me to walk 10 minutes per week to start (as I'm not an exercise person). I drink at least 2-3 large size decaf ice coffees with milk only each and every day. My breakfast today was: 6 oz of lowfat cottage cheese and 6 oz of carb/sugar reducsed yogurt. My mid-morning snack was: 3 oz. of sugar free pudding. My lunch is: very small salad consisting of 8 pieces of lettuce, 1 slice of roast beef from deli, shredded cheese, 20 very small fat free croutons, and natural oil based salad dressing. In addition, one small Wendy's chili with cheese and 4 crackers. Tell me if I'm doing ok-------------------please Kathy From Massachusetts

Hi, Kathy: Only you can tell if you're doing "OK." I'm not a counter of things in general, except it's always good to know how much protein you're taking in, and make sure you're getting enough. Personally, I believe we need to have at least 80 grams per day, and over 100 would be better. For me, I can tell you that on what you're eating there, I would be starving, so I don't know that I could keep that up for very long. I try to track my calories on fitday.com, and that helps keep me focused on what I need to do. I have also gone up 20 pounds from my lowest weight after surgery, but then I never expected to stay at that low of a weight either. So I would feel fine if I could get 10 off and stay there. I have recently started exercising as well, something I have never been very good at. Did your doctor mean 10 minutes PER DAY every week? Only 10 minutes for the whole week seems a little wimpy. LOL If he did mean the 10 minutes per day, I think that's great to start out, but you'll probably need to work up to 30 minutes or more pretty quickly in order to see results, and make sure you're working at a pace that gets the heart pumping and you sweating. That's the only way I ever see any results, unfortunately. Best of luck to you. I hope your stressors are relieved soon, as well, or that you might be able to get some help with all of your duties. Sounds like you could really use some time to spend on yourself. Carlita

From looking at this menu you seem light on protein....looks like less than 60 grams. Are you supplementing with a shake or bar? Gosh if I ate this little and was satisfied I would be sooo happy! Are you satisfied with what you ate here? I would definitely add a shake or more protein to your menu. Less than 60 grams is only going to hold the weight on you....Body needs protein to survive. Maybe add 3 oz of chicken, turkey, hamburg, fish or pork if you don't want to go the shake route. That will give you ~21 grams of protein. I hope things improve for you. Debbie

Kathy, You may want to go see a nut to help you get you back on track. Take a look at the amount and type of calories (from milk) you are consuming in your coffee. My nut advises that in the maintenace phase that we eat 3 meals a day with at least 65 grams of protein a day and complex carbs such as vegetables and fruit are to be included in each meal. Mary 415/163