Meal guidance sought from those non-newbies

[joecs1 4]

I start myday with either 2 scrambled eggs with cheese in or a Protein shake and 4 oz of Fiber one Cereal with raisins I add to it.

for lunch I have variety of things like tuna or chicken salad with lowfat mayo, and i add lots of dried cranberries or raisins. sometimes I have a chick pea salad with diced tomatoes, red onion and artichoke hearts, and black olives, and low fat italian dressing. Other times I may have sushi made with brown rice.

dinner I have what ever I cook for the family. Grilled chicken, pork tenderloin, beef(lean) and a veggie of some sort.

Most importantly, keep it lean, healthy fats only, low carb high in protiens. I dont deny myself most things if I really want it. but I then be very careful, and excercise more to offset the food I ate.

[Dawn5115 0]

I have to know about popcorn. I have heard it's nothing .... I have heard it's terrible and people have had to have bands unfilled to pass it?! What do the non-newbies say?

I LOVE popcorn in the movie theater. *of course only once every month or two.... cost and calories isn't good. : ) and I know only a small amount should be allowed..... but never??

[emjay 8]

I eat the 100 calorie bags with no problems. I wouldn't go eating a ton of it, but it was never mentioned as a "can't have" item from my doc. Moderation can't hurt you.

[BetsyB 9]

I eat low carb, and include a variety of fruits and vegetables--I'd wither up and die if I couldn't have them!

I do focus on protein--but not in the eat-protein-first-then-have-veggies-if-you-have-room way. I eat meals that have both, and supplement my Protein intake if necessary. (It's easy to sneak a shake in if need be.)

A typical day for me :

early morning: warm Protein Shake & Vitamins

breakfast: 2-3 ounces of Protein (right now, my max at all meals seems to be 2.6 ounces), maybe a fruit

lunch: 2-3 ounces protein, about 1/2 cup nonstarchy veggies or salad (I don't really measure; I have good restriction now and stop when I have to)

occasional afternoon snack (I often don't need one, but sometimes am starving: veggies or a fruit or an ounce of cheese

dinner: 2-4 ounces protein, more nonstarchy veggies and/or salad

evening: warm protein shake & Vitamins

(The protein supplements bump my intake up to where it needs to be---but really, I mostly like them because the warmth helps dissolve my vitamins before they pass through and cause me trouble.)

ETA: I keep my calories in the 800-900/day range--which is pretty severe. My odd body requires this kind of limitation--it is why I was banded. But if you can get away with 1000-1500, then you have lots more flexibility!

ETA again: I really don't eat as anally as it appears on paper---I eat a wide variety of things, and don't weigh and measure everything. When I'm home, I do weigh protein because I have difficulty getting enough. But I feel very "normal" and unrestricted, dietarily---I just avoid certain things (which I no longer have room for, anyway).

On special occasions? Not a minute's hesitation to have birthday cake, or a glass of wine, or whatever.

Edited August 13, 2010 by BetsyB

[LapNYC 3]

Molly - sorry--I didn't see your question for me until now. I think people fall into two camps: the dieting-got-me-nowhere-and-I-want-to-take-the-focus-OFF-food camp and the track everything camp.

I've never tracked my calories or Protein or anything else just because I know that that sort of thing doesn't work for me. For example, I did very well with Jenny Craig/Blueprint Cleanse and that sort of thing with strict "rules" and terribly with Weight Watchers where there is some guesswork and subjectivity. I could never remember to write my food intake down and at the end of the day would practically be making it up.

After I reached restriction (I was lucky--it only took two fills) I let that do the work for me. I'm aware of whether or not I've eaten a decent amount of Protein (I don't use protein supplements much) and certainly know a good day from a bad day. If I "cheat" it's mostly with Weight Watchers Desserts or something along those lines. Not to too caloric, but really unhealthy kinds of processed things. But mostly I just let the band work for me. Very often I'll have some Soup for dinner. Although this is considered to be a slider food, we eat late enough that there's not really time for me to get hungry afterwards. So that's a rule I definitely break. I try and keep alcohol down to a minimum. I know I consume a whole lot of extra calories in sauces for my protein, but they make me happy enough that it's worth it. I exercise my ass off and...that's about it.

The band has enabled me to eat ALMOST like a "normal" thin person. I cheat. I overeat a little bit sometimes. But those things are pretty rare and if I do it once I don't throw my hands in the air and say that it's all over. I wake up the next morning and get back to business without a thought. The band makes it easy. It takes willpower, but it's willpower that I have. Unlike life before the band it doesn't entail moving mountains. Just making some small, reasonable, easy-ish decisions along the way.

Sorry for the rambling post. I actually gained a few ounces this week which I'm not too happy about but in general this thing has worked exactly how they said it would. Two months of bandster hell (see all the "did I make a mistake I'm getting this thing removed" posts all over this board) and then pretty smooth sailing.

I wish you all the best! Do a search for "journaling" and that sort of thing to see others' opinions on the subject. It just depends on what works for you!

[dman3998 0]

W

I have a question though did your doc say you can have nuts and popcorn? Mine said no.

Mine said no on the nuts too, but think because they are so calorie dense not because you cant process them. Not sure about the pop corn, I suspect it is individual if you can tolerate it and not get stuck, popcorn is pretty low every thing, and good roughage too.

[Dawn5115 0]

Is "bandster hell" when you are hungry all the time.... still?? I'm only 16 days out.... but freaking about how much I can eat before I feel sort of full. I just moved on to puree... that is helping a bit, but it seems I have a LOT of calories with this stage. : (

[Dawn5115 0]

Thanks mama but I have a question...What are NSV's..Im sure when you tell me Im gonna feel really dumb so while Im feeling so can you explain what does PBing stand for and why am I doing it so often. I hope to learn what im doing wrong so I can stop. Thanks

*I also wanted to know about NSV and PB (thought everyone was having Peanut Butter or something!!)

[BetsyB 9]

NSVs are "non-scale victories." Sometimes, the scale doesn't cooperate, but you still lose inches, or clothing sizes. Or, you have other experiences that remind you of how far you've come, like fitting in a movie theater seat better, or going through a turnstyle without having to turn sideways (the guy at Guitar Center thought I was insane when this happened for me--I kept going back through that turnstyle, I was so thrilled!), or not needing a seatbelt extender on an airplane, or fitting in an amusement park ride. That sort of thing.

PB means "productive burping." It sometimes happens if you've eaten that one bite too much---you feel icky, then burp, and a little food comes up, but goes back down.

It's a not-quite-throw-up sort of thing. I don't tend to experience it--I tend to just throw up.