Need some encouragement

[layne409 0]

Hi all,

I was banded on June 28, 2011. I am down 33 pounds. I lost 6 during the pre-op diet. I feel great, but lately I've gotten sort of complacent. I am snacking more and I know its not going to help with my weight loss but I can't seem to get myself out of this slump. Also, I have had one fill, I had 5 cc's put in my band on the 19th of August. I'm not really feeling too much restriction when it comes to eating certain foods although I can eat a little and be full for 3 to 4 hours. This band is a great tool and I know I am not doing myself any favors by snacking. What do you all do to help you stay on track or keep from snacking on bad foods just because they are there? One more thing. What do most of my fellow banders do....count carbs or count calories....if so give me and example of what is a good amount of carbs or calories in a meal, or should I get rid of the carbs all together.

Thanks

[Thee-O 15]

Hey Layne,

Snacking is ok. Just as long as they are good Snacks. If you are snacking on apple slices, great! If you are snacking on Potato Chips...not so great. I count calories mainly. I use (and a lot of the people on this site also use it) Myfitnesspal.com. It is a great tool to help you count your calories throughout this journey. I suggest you look into it. Keeping a food diary is a great idea and this will also help you keep a diary of all your exercise. The more you burn, the more you can take in and then snacking could be a ideal situation.

As far as carbs. I am not hardcore about counting carbs but I found that eliminating these 3 things, White Rice, White bread and Potatoes (which I call the white devils) help out quite a bit. I don't generally eat bread or rice anymore, but from time to time I have noodles. I work out a lot, so I do need some carbs for energy.

You are losing good weight and that is awesome. Keep up the great work!

[seriously11 0]

I was just banded on September 1st, so I am very new at this. While I was on my pre-op diet, my nurse said I could eat sugar free Popsicles. I found some at the store which are 15 calories and they have taken off the edge. I lost 9 lbs before surgery and I have lost 8 since. I will soon start soft foods, but for now in between meals I love those popsicles.

[vlp1968 83]

I have always been a snacker. I disagree with doc.'s who say no snacking. I think healthy planned Snacks are fine. They are necessary for me to keep from getting too hungry inbetween meals. I snack mostly on nuts and lowfat cheese. I lost 107 pounds in 10 months. Now that I am maintaining I've added some fruit into my snacking/dessert. Hope this helps. I think the bottom line is that Snacks are ok, even good, but they must be planned and fit into your overall eating plan. That is very different then mindlessly or impulsivly digging into a bag of chips.

[leepfrog 4]

I agree. I am newly banded and have found that going sugar free/fat free is the way to go. If I have the urge to snack, I drink a glass/bottle of Water and ask myself, am I really hungry, or do I just think I am hungry. If I am unsure, I ask myself why did I get the band again? This helps me stay motivated to make the right choices, cottage cheese instead of chips. If I am still on edge, I look at this website and see all the progress everyone has made and think, "I CAN DO THIS!" I have motivated my husband and now we are in a little competition to make it fun PS I'm winning

[sandiburn 23]

So I agree with everyone else. My Dr told me that snacking is fine as long as it was the right kind of snacking. It takes the edge off. He also said that Protein Bars and shakes are a good snack that will fill you up as long as they dont have a lot af cal's. Good luck.

[Jachut 487]

So I've learned a few things about snacking lately, six years into my journey. I've always been a 3meals, no Snacks kinda dieter, only becuase once I start to snack, I really have trouble stopping. That's because I snack on snack foods, d'oh. Simple, evil, white carbs that leave you wanting more, so you suddenly decide stuff it, I've had 2 Cookies, now I'm gonna eat the rest of the packet.

Recently I had an ileostomy reversal, so that now my colon is doing its job again and after nine months, I'm back to doing number 2's the regular way. This is not an easy surgery and it takes a long long time for the body to recover and adjust, I have no rectum anymore. What I've found is that my insides are just so messed up through chemotherapy, radiation and havign to adjust to working again that I simply cannot even think about eating a regular sized meal - even a regular sized bandster meal. First up, I was forced to live on white carbs - white bread, rice, Pasta, mashed potato, rice bubbles and other cereals were all I could manage, with some chicken, tuna etc and I couldnt even think about fruit and veg and yeah, I actually had trouble keeping my weight stable despite eating hardly anything - those foods pack the fat on faster than you can blink.

So now I've managed to transition to healthier foods again, but in order to avoid awful bouts of gas, bloating, flatulence that would fell a horse and diarrhoea/urgency, I need to eat six small mini meals, rather than anything approaching a normal sized meal. What I've found is that it is MUCH easier to not overeat, with this constant input, I'm having trouble reaching 1200 calories a day! I'm a bit gobsmacked, but I guess the moral of the story is that if you're a snacker and want to eat this way - then you need to abandon the idea of "meals". For me, Breakfast, lunch and dinner would be too large to allow the calories for Snacks as well even though I mean large by bandster definitions. So, I had a half a cup of greek yogurt with a few teaspoons of muesli for Breakfast - a teeny serve of nuts and dried fruit at mid morning - a small tin of tuna, 4 crackers and some sliced cucumber for lunch, I'm planning a puree apple snackpack and babybel cheese for the afternoon and then I have whatever the family's having for dinner, but just the amount that will fit on a saucer. There's not a cookie or traditional "snack" to be seen in that plan, which is how it needs to be for me, nor is there really a "meal" which I define as containing some sort of carbohydrate. If you can do that, snacking's great. If you still want "meals" and simply add snacks, then its not so great.