Question:
8 mth post op, can someone give me some diet examples ?

Hi there, I'm 8 months post op and am down about 118 pounds, I'm not complaining how-ever reading the board, I've noticed that everyone that is post op 8 months or more, at this particular stage was eating around 1000-1200 calories, I myself am consuming about 1500-2000 calories, I must admit the weight lost has darn near come to a halt, maybe 4 pounds a month if that. I started at 5"10 and a weight of 303 pounds, and am now at 181 pounds, how-ever I still feel I need to loose about 25 more pounds. I wonder if the longer post op's could email me or post and let me know what you're eating in a day, or even in a week, an example diet that I can follow. I use fitday.com and am trying, how-ever I'm still doing a protien shake in the morning, that in it's self is almost 300 calories, (about 270 calories),Other then that I know I have to shake the peanuts as they are high in both calories and fat,Don't get me wrong, I'm not falling back into the same routine, I haven't touched anything fried in 8 months, no soda either, everything I consume is low fat or light. I count everything that goes in the mouth even if it's non fat instant creamer in my coffee, Please I could really use the help give me some insight on your wisdom.....    — tannedtigress (posted on February 11, 2003)

February 11, 2003
HI I AM 9 MOS OUT HAVE LOST 107LBS I EAT IN THE MORNING A CUP OF REG TEA WITH SPENDA AND A PIECE OF TOAST DURNING THE WEEK THAN FOR LUNCH I HAVE HOME MADE VEG SOUP THAT I MAKE WITH TOMATO JUICE AND CHICKEN BROTH AND A BAG OF FROZEN VEGTABLES AND I ADD SOME OF MY OWN TO WITH SOME SPIECES AND A FEW CRACKERS I HAVE 1 CUP OF THAT THEN FOR SUPPER I USUALLY EAT WHAT EVER MYFAMILY HAS IN SMALL AMT THEN IN THE EVENING I HAVE POPCORN OR SOME RAW VEGTABLES NO I AM NOT TAKING THE PROTEIN DRINK BECAUSE I COULD NEVER FIND ONE THAT I LIKED AND I ALSO EXERCISE 5 TIME A WEEK FOR 1 HOUR I DO THE RICHARD SIMMONS TAPES I JUST LOVE HIM. WELL IF YOU NEED TO TALK WRITE THANKS AND GOOD LUCK
   — ROSEMARY A.

February 11, 2003
Hi I am only 6 months post op but I thought I'd share anyway. I'm just now at 100 pounds lost. My surgeon says to be eating between 1/2 cup and 1 cup maximum volume of food by this point and from now on I think. Closer to 1/2 cup is better. He also said to stop protien after 4 weeks post op because it was unneccisary calories. You should do what ever your doctor says to do though. I eat an egg and cheese omelet almost everyday for breakfast. It is one egg, one slice of american cheese cooked with nonstick spray. I need an extra large or jumbo egg to get full. If I use a medium egg I am usually still hungry and not satisfied. For lunch I don't use much variety. My choices are usually either a heapin tablespoon of tuna with about 5 fat free saltine crackers or an ounce and a half of low fat cheese (cracker barrell 2% it's yummy) with the same amount of crackers. Some times less crackers if I feel to full. Lately I am finding my appetite increasing and I am starting to add in more salad when hungry. I eat about 2/3 cup of salad with some grilled chicken sometimes for lunch too. I get the already cooked grilled chicken in the short cuts section of the meat department and already made bag salad. I also usually grate a little bit of cheese on it. Actually I bet I can't even eat 2/3 cup of this. It really fills me quick and i have to eat my salad very slowly. For dinner I fix whatever for the family and eat a small portion of that..usually close to 1/2 cup trying to stick with meat and vegetables for the most part. I do eat carbs on occaision but not every day. I don't snack at all. My surgeon is adamant about not snacking. He feels it leads to grazing and is how people most frequently out eat the surgery. I have met people who have to snack though because of blood sugar issues or because they can't get in hardly any amount of food at a time. I am about 500 calories a day I think.
   — Carrie D.

February 11, 2003
Well, I am going on ten months, and I must say I manage to pretty much out eat everyone on this board. Yesterday I ate: 1 sl toast w/jam, one veal parm. patty, some nuts, a small movie popcorn, an orange, a chicken breast and some rice. I totaled 41 points on the WW plan - in my range I should be at a max of 27. Sometimes I get freaked out that I can eat too much, but at this point I am ambivalent...I too would like to lose another 25-30lbs, but at this point I would rather stay a size 12 and eat a bit more than starve myself! Dunno if this answers your question, but I hope it helps....
   — rebeccamayhew

February 12, 2003
I'm 8 months out too, and am now finally getting up to about 1300 calories a day (I freak when I hit 1500, even though that's normal and I'm almost at goal anyway). I'm pretty sure there are times I'm eating more than a cup of food, too, but I don't feel bloated or uncomfortable when that happens (a cup of cereal with half of cup of milk and a banana, for instance, is gonna be more than a cup of food, right?). Anyway, I think it's great that you're tracking on fitday. With that, you KNOW how many grams of protein, carbs and fat you're getting daily. I wish they tracked sugar (darned if I can understand why they don't!), but I track it under "alcohol."<P>Anyway, I eat a lot of high protein stuff and try to keep my protein grams slightly ahead, or the same, as my carbs (maybe 110 grams each day of each, roughly). It seems like a lot of people here have good weight loss when they really eat high protein, and many people also have terrible head hunger with too many carbs, so that balance seems to help for me. I eat stuff like egg beaters with fat-free cheese, turkey-based proteins (turkey bacon, turkey pepperoni, turkey bologna, turkey chili, ...etc.) as snacks, plus I still use protein shakes. Mine has 160 calories per serving, with 30 grams of protein, 4 grams of carbs, and 2 fat grams (Proscore 100 Chocolate). I use two of those daily to help keep my protein grams up and my carb cravings down. Frankly, I don't like enough types of protein food to keep my protein high enough without the shakes. Plus, I know of many successful long-term post-ops who swear by them. I'd like to say to the docs, Once our pouches have healed, and "normal" meals and grazing capacity enter the picture, Why would you think the same old diet advice will work for us? It won't. We have to make new changes this time (with protein shakes, or just a high-protein/low-carb/low-low-sugar diet, or exercise, or whatever's new for YOU) to succeed, or I'm afraid it's the same-old, same-old (weight regain) down the road. :-(
   — Suzy C.

February 12, 2003
I consume around 1500 calories a day and am 2 1/2 years post op. I'd still like to lose 15 pounds but I figure I'm 42 years old and have had 2 kids so I'll never be what MetLife says I should be. 400 of the calories I consume each day are protein shakes. It keeps me honest. I find that some days I can eat more than others. I've never tried the cottage cheese because I hate cottage cheese but just this week I accidently found a test that I think is pretty comparable. I call it the tuna fish test. I was eating a package (or envelope) of the white tuna in water. It's 7.6 ounces. I love just plain old tuna and figured I could easily eat the whole thing. WRONG! I got about 3/4 of the way through it and was almost miserably full. It was a good reassurance that everything is still intact. I can eat anything and don't dump anymore. Occasionally something might make me feel a little queesy but generally not. I think 2000 calories might be a teeny bit high but you're pretty tall so that actually might be just perfect. Don't worry - none of us wants to be on an eternal diet. I think you're doing great.
   — ronascott

February 12, 2003
I have my diet at 4, 9, and 18 months on my profile if you'd like to check it out. I do think that 2000 calories a day seems a bit high for a reduction diet (and by that I mean the food you eat--not a "diet") but for maintainance that sounds about right. If you are 5'10" you may not need to lose much more weight. What size do you wear? Remember that as MO we gained a bunch of muscle from lugging all that extra body weight around so YOU at 180 pounds is NOT the same as someone who just gained up to 180 pounds. I think if you lost another 25 pounds you would probably look sickly! You might measure your percent body fat to see where you stand or your BMI. If you are in the normal range for your age, your diet is fine. If you still have a few pounds to lose, you might try cutting out some of the fat/carbs extras that may be hanging around in your diet for a couple of months. Just remember that YOUR 180 pounds is NOT as big as it sounds. Hope this helps!
   — ctyst

February 12, 2003
Almost 4 years out; can eat quite a bit when I want to but I try not to want to. I still do protein shakes (about 140 cals) 2 or 3 times a day. I don't count calories; I just try and avoid sugar and concentrate on protein. Here's a typical day for me: 5am: protein shake; 7am: 2nd protein shake, drink it on the way to work; 10am: couple of cheese cubes, 2 triscuits; noon: salad with grilled chicken; 3pm: (if lifting weights that day) 3rd protein shake; 6pm: dinner, small portion of whatever the family is eating, usually two ounces of meat and some veggies. Maybe half a roll. 9pm: if hungry, small piece of fruit or some sf yogurt. Lots of water in between. Exercise 3x a week on weights, 3x cardio. Have been essentially the same size since 10 months postop. I did have a plateau at 7 months out, though. Broke it by upping the protein. hugs, Ann rny 9/10/99 260/124
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