I'm Stuck

[Shekkie 2]

I'm 10 months post-op and am struggling. I lost 60 pounds in the first 3-4 months and nothing since. I work out 4 times a week (45 min. each) and I watch what I eat carefully (on occasion i eat the wrong things but for the most part I eat low fat/carb and high protein). I drink only Water and never with my food.< /p>

I dont know what else to do. Here is my menu for the day, maybe someone can have some suggestions of what i'm missing.

breakfast: oatmeal with raisins and granola

snack: banana

lunch: sliced turkey with swiss cheese; cheddar rice cakes

snack: sugar snap peas

dinner: turkey sausage, green pepper, onion stif fry

snack: rice cakes, popcorn, or nuts

thanks,

Struggling in Ohio

[Kabooboo 4]

Are you tracking carbs/calories, what you eat on MyFitnessPal or something like it? I see a lot of carbs in that menu. It is not a low carb menu, not even close. I know that if I eat a high carb food I immediately gain 3-4 pounds- and I mean like I at 2 tablespoons of mashed potatoes and I gained 3 pounds. Bananas are one of the highest carb fruits you can eat, if not the highest if I recall. Peas are also a higher carb vegetable. There are better choices for fruits and vegetables. I would suggest cutting carbs back to less than 40 a day, maybe closer to 20-25. Many people who are really successful with the VSG follow that plan. 600-800 calories is a good range for weight loss. Just my opinion...You can do it! This is a journey not a race....

[bikerchick519 202]

How much more do you have to lose? The closer you get to goal the harder it is. I agree with Kabooboo, your carbs look really high. Myfitnesspal is the way to go. It will track all your carbs and you will be surprised how many you are eating. I would suggest using that and cut back on the carbs. How many calories are you getting a day?

[MinaT 669]

I agree with the above, each meal seems to be high in carbs, skip the popcorn stick with the nuts, having oatmeal, raisins & granola (I would replace this with a Protein shake) all three are high carb items. The banana, while great for potassium is high carbs, I would add a high Protein yogurt instead or find something else to get your potassium, like almonds.

Cheddar Rice Cakes only have 8 grams of carbohydrates and you could do worse with something else so if you need that crunch, that's definitely a better choice than the popcorn. Even the 100 calorie Smart Popcorn has 24 grams of carbohydrates.

They say Air Popped Popcorn has a little over 6.2 grams of carbohydrates. I don't know anyone that has a air popper anymore, though I will look into one of these perhaps some day.

If you actually counted your carbs & protein you will notice that you aren't quite getting enough protein there and your carb count will be higher than you think.

The good news is it's very obvious you are being very cautious on your calories but to get off the stall perhaps adding more protein with a Protein shake or scrambled egg and choosing a different fruit would be your best bet for now. Nobody is saying not to have oatmeal once in a while but if you do have, make sure you squeak in a high Protein Shake at one point. Pick and chose carbs wisely, don't have mashed potatoes, oatmeal and popcorn in the same day.

I think you have done well so far.

I had a discussion with nutritionist and nurse last ***ht and we talked about how Jared lost so much weight with Subway, when we all know Subway has a lot of bread. Here's a guy that weighed a whole lot and probably could take down an entire pizza himself, a bag of doritoes, drink several pops just for a meal. Anyone that eats that much that walks to subway, and severely limits their calorie intake is going to lose weight, lots of it, and he probably lost a lot of muscle tone too because his protein to carb ratio was pretty big.

I once went 330 to 128 pounds, eating only carbs...yes, only carbs, I quit meat, I did once in a while have shrimp or eggs, but I lived on tortilla shells with fat free butter, skim milk & oatmeal, toast, etc. I did this for 5 years. The catch....I ran up to 10 miles a day, I lifted weights, I did step aerobics, and I spent most of my day and evening exercising. I swear I did isometrics in my sleep. It wasn't healthy for me, I lost the ability to go #2 and when I got sick and couldn't work out anymore, I gained it back and fast and I had become so unhealthy.

For me, I'm not a sweet eater, which I suppose many will say I am lucky, but I'm more of a savory eater I love oatmeal, popcorn, potatoes, rice and grits, so I avoid these now for many reasons, but most importantly, these are food choices that you can eat a lot of without realizing how much you ate. Popcorn, I have been known to eat an entire Jumbo Bag at the movies, with salt & butter....and still wanted more, while I sucked it down with the largest Mountain Dew. Now I know why I got so darn sick.

Best of luck to you, you have done a good job, now it's just time to tweak things and I do suggest myfitnesspal.com to chart everything. A good range is 800 - 1000 calories 80 grams of protein and 45-75 grams of carbohydrates (during maintenance) --- 800 calories 80 grams of protein and 20-45 grams of carbohydrates while trying to lose more.

[chitowngirl 885]

Looking over your diet it looks more like a maintenance diet. I'm with everyone else here, up your Protein and lower your carbs. Not to say you can't have any, but you really have them moderately, as opposed to as much as your having them now. Especially since you want to still lose weight.

[Shekkie 2]

Thank you all so much for the advice. I've been so focused on calories and low fat and I do avoid breads and potatoes, I didn't realize how many carbs I have been eating. I HATE Protein Shakes so I've got to find another solution but now I will keep better track of the carbs too.

[Shekkie 2]

I am 1 year and 3 months after my gastric sleeve surgery. Had no complications (vomiting, gas, ext..) has gone extremely smooth. Problem is, I initially lost 60 pounds in the first 4 months and have not lost any more, I've actually gained back 15 lbs.

I watch what I eat (trying to watch fat, calories and carbs), I watch my portions (but i have noticed i'm eating more that right after surgery) and I exercise 4-5 times a week. nothing is working. I've started taking diet pills and i'm back to the depression of up and down dieting.

I am off all my blood pressure and diabetes medicines (which was the main goal), and i would definately do the surgery again but if anyone is thinking this is a miracle cure, it is not. its just as hard as it was before the surgery.

[simplejaxgirl 135]

Thank you all so much for the advice. I've been so focused on calories and low fat and I do avoid breads and potatoes' date=' I didn't realize how many carbs I have been eating. I HATE Protein shakes so I've got to find another solution but now I will keep better track of the carbs too.[/quote']

Try a stick of string cheese, cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, chicken breast pieces, hard boiled egg to add Protein. I too have come to dislike many Protein Shakes, and try to get it in other ways...

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