Roll Call and Eatin' Good in the Neighborhood (Monday)

Howdy guys, How was your Monday?  Did you succumb to the temptation of the Monday morning donut run or did you stay strong and opt for a protien packed first meal?  Are you liquid-dieting to shrink your liver or because you are newly post-op or are you settled in to a post-op eating routine?  Let's hear it!  How was this fine Monday for you with food? I'm still doing protien shakes, pedialite and such through my feeding tube trying to gain some weight or at least stop losing weight so I can have this surgery I need (it is really strange to be bummed about losing 22 pounds in 12 days, but truth is I didn't have much left to lose and I'm now sitting at 123 pounds and I am ill - so I'm not trying to be annoying because I know lots of people would love to lose 22 pounds, just not this way).  Today I was wild and crazy and tried more food by mouth (I am supposed to at least try to get some nutrition that way, but it has been rough going the past couple of days).  I managed a few bites of yogurt before pain made me give up but later on in the day I got down a hot bowl of french onion soup with swiss cheese and later some fresh strawberries with whipped cream.  That is a start at least.  I haven't gotten over to fitday to log everything yet but with the 2 atkins protien shakes, 8 oz glass of skim milk and the solid food I ate I imagine I'm sitting at about 400 calories and somewhere in the neighborhood of 55 grams of protien.  fitday is a wonderful tool, I just can't stress that enough. Are there any tricks or tools other post-ops use to stick to a healthy food plan that you'd like to share?  We could all use your experience so if there are any other tricks of the trade out there - speak up! And while you're at it...how was your weekend?  Reese got to go on a hot date, it sounds like Amanda had a blast in 'testosterone land" - what about the rest of you?  And what's up for this week...I think we have some surgeries coming up soon, and of course brock's surgiversary.  Anything else?  Come on out and say "hello" at least.  I'd love to hear from anybody around! 

Hi Amy, I hope you are doing well!!! At least some things are sitting for you now. Umm strawberries!! I had a couple of those over the weekend. Talk about heaven! Lets see I didn't do that great today because I forgot my lunch on the counter and that helped out a bunch B- 1/2 a Kashi Go Lean Bar. 7g protein S- 2 SF Nibs Carmels nummy L- 1 cup South West Tortilla soup w/o the tortilla S- 10 Flat Earth (by Frito Lay) veggie crisps D-nothing. I am feeling sick. I will stick to water :o) Also I found these things at target called Water Sensations. They are TERRIFIC! It is like Crystal Light packets in liquid form and it's clear. Did I mention it is SF, Calorie free, and caffine free? It tastes like Propel  I suggest everyone trys it!!!! My weekend... alright. I am lookin for love.  I am SICK of being told that I have a great personality!!! I had 2 guys tell me that this weekend! Urgh Sorry I had to vent. So if anyone knows a guy that would like me, please hook a sista up!!!  I love you all! have a great week!!!

Hey Ruth~

I have been thinking about trying the Water Sensations - from your review I'll have to pick some up.  I hope you land yourself a boy or two soon, you sure do deserve it.  Ya know you've already got the personality so now that you're getting self confidence and healthy I don't know what else anyone could want.   The only thing I can add - I think you need some protien in there.  Seems low to me.  It is always frustrating to try to get it all in so I hope you can find some ways to do that (if you need ideas feel free to ask - I've got lots).   It is good to see you on the thread!  Keep posting  because you know we love you too.

Today was a busy day tying up a lot of loose ends before my move. Tommorow will be even busier. I pick up the U-Haul trailer in the morning. I will use that to lug my apartment to my still-not-sold house in Raleigh Wednesday morning. Then, after a quick few days with my mom who is driving down from "Lawnguyland" to see me and my kids, it will be time to hit the road to Phoenix - 2200 miles away - just me my truck (that got a new loud tons of bass muffler and 3" dual tail pipes with chrome tips today) and my two dogs. It should take three days and two nights.... As for the menu today, I ate breakfast too late again today and wound up not eating enough again...I better not let this become a trend unless I want my metabolism and weight loss to slow way down. A couple things that I did try today that were different was I really limited my carbs. I only ate a signifigant amount of carbs once today. It just seems to help my weight loss since when the body can't find the glucose it needs for energy in the form of the carbs that you eat and store as glycogen in your liver and muscles, it then looks for that energy and finds it in your stored fat - and then burn baby burn! The other new thing I tried today is a HIIT workout. I am by no means an expert on it but all I can basically tell you is that it is intense intervals of cardio. It's supposedly great for your heart because the intervals of intense work conditons the heart and it's also great for burning fat because you continue to use energy as your muscles recover from the thrashing you gave them  - up to 6x more fat burning is what I heard so I figured I would give it a try... Anyway, today fitday says I ate 935 calories (a little low), only 27 g of fat, only 35 g of carbs (nice!) and a whopping 130 g of protein (ahh very niiiice) and about 70 ounces of water b: 2/3 cup of southwestern egg beaters, with some shredded cheese l: 1 cup of chicken onions and bell peppers (fajitas) and some cheese on top d: 3 home-made baked chicken tenders and about 1/4 cup of green beans and 1 tablespoon of Ranch s: 2 scoops of choc. whey protein mixed with 2 cups of water, some sf ff banana creme instant pudding powder, and some instant coffee crystals -  I know it sounds gross, but it was actually pretty good...

Lookin' good - as always.  A little low, but eh nutrition is more of a cyclical thing - you're low today so make it up tomorrow (works on protien, cals, vitamins, and water).  Now don't go getting carb-a-phobic on me now.  I get a little freaked out by some of the ladies (I love them to death and I mean that) on the main board who have a brain hemorrage at even a mention of crackers or bread at all.  There is definately such a thing as a healthy carb - but like you seem to know, protien is a much better choice for sustained energy. I am dying to get back to my exercise routine!  During the fall/spring I run (I do a 7 minute first mile, down from a 12 minute mile when I started) and do strength training with yoga. During the winter I do yoga and aerobic dance (I just got new belly dancing DVD's to pick up this winter) and during this summer I picked up swimming because I could't stand running in the heat.  I am not allowed to exercise except normal walking around the house.  I'm not even supposed to go grocery shopping unless I use a riding cart thingy.  So cherish your new routine a little extra for me okay. I hope you move goes smoothly and I hope it doesn't take you away from the boards at all (and if it does I hope not for long).   

So, anyone seen the movie "Office Space", because I have a case of the MONDAYS!!! let's see here 1. 2 oz sf choc pudding for breakfast (930ish) 2. 2oz sf choc pudding for lunch (4ish maybe?) 3. 30 min walk with pups 4. 1oz applesauce (9ish) 5. red sauce from chef boyardi ravioli (dogs ate ravioli) (1145) i need any tricks for beginners getting protein.I'm lactose intolerant, so i try the protein water, but I get 'full' and i hate the taste. all i ever want to drink is water! i'm still on liquid diet until next week. errg I saw SUPERBAD this weekend, and i almost wet myself laughing sooo hard. I'm going to a stl cardinals baseball game friday, i love baseball, so super excited!!!! that's it for now! hugs Amanda

LOVE Office Space!  When they are beating the fax machine I so relate.  When I worked as an office assistant while in high school for a while we had a fax machine that screwed up and was SO SLOW!  There were many a day I wanted to take a baseball bat to it.  I'm going to try to see Superbad this weekend with my husband - he is really excited to see it - so I'm glad you give it a good review.  It is nice to hear from you Amanda!

Have you tried Isopure - they are glass bottles, about 16 oz I think, they have around 40 g of protein in them and come in all kinds of fruitey flavors - the one I tried was blue rasberry, and oh yeah, dairy free....There also are these vials Profect and NewWhey are the brands I have seen there about six ounces maybe and are packed with 42 g of protein and are also dairy free.  Both of those products have kind of a gross aftertaste - like sucking pennies, but if you look at it like taking your medicine until you can start solids again, then you can get through it....I tried the NewWhey straight, and dilluted with water, - I wound up drinking it straight like a shot...The Isopure I just sipped throughout the day... Both of these options can be found at health food stores like GNC or Vitamin Shoppe or you can google them and find tons of online vendors for them.....I also "sneak" my protein in sometimes by adding unflavored protein powders to soft foods like oatmeal or pudding or even coffee..I like a product called AnyWhey - it's available at GNC for about 19 bucks a tub... There is also powdered soy protein which may sit well with you. I used to have some of that in a vanilla flavor, it was pretty good...

the isopure is what i'm trying, but it seems the only thing i like the taste of is plain ol water. and it has to be REALLY cold, so keeping the isopure cold is hard sometimes. i'm gonna look for the proteins in gnc you talked about, and sneaking them in would be cool!!! i made this pumpkin flavored pudding that rocks, so if i put some protein in the mix, it'll be all good. Thanks soo much! :p Amanda

Just had my surgery on the 8th and am going nuts with the liquid diet, I need real food again! I meet with my doctor on Thursday and pray to god he will upgrade me to soft foods at least. My mouth is watering for some scrambled eggs with melted cheese on them. Here was today's meals: B - 1 cup of pureed Progresso Minestrone soup S - 1/2 cup cottage cheese L - 2 scoops of Nitrotech protein shake and half a banana blended with skim milk. D - 1/2 cup of the pureed minestrone again.