What is your typical day?

[NMJG 1,266]

Good thread. I am 8 months out and I too lose half as fast as I used to. Now I lose maybe a pound a week, used to lose 2 lbs a week. But, I am very close to goal and the BMI is low, so I think that has a lot to do with it. I also eat around 900-1000 calories a day now, not 700-800. I do a modified fast day once or twice a week.

Breakfast

Protein shake (low carb) or eggs or Protein powder & egg baked concoction or ricotta or cottage cheese or yogurt

lunch

some sort of meat and/or cheese (3 oz), some sort of veg, sometimes a small salad, occasionally include corn tortilla or a slice of bread or cracker (couple of times a week)

dinner

some sort of meat and/or cheese (3 oz), some sort of veg, occasionally include corn tortilla or a slice of bread or crackers (couple of times a week)

Snacks

low carb or sf sweets, fruit, apple & pnut butter, nuts, Jerky, pumpkin seeds, soy nuts, yogurt, sf pudding or ice pops. Very rarely I have a lower carb Protein Bar (emergencies only, couple times a month maybe)

Other

Occasional glass of wine or liquor, maybe a couple of times a week. I always get my daily minimum 64 oz of water/liquids.

Typical Entrees (almost always 3 oz portions, I can't get down more than that)

Carne Adovada (New Mexican pork stewed long and slow in red chile) PM if you want the recipe - yum!

Roast chicken

Green chile chicken stew

Hamburger patty

Corned beef

Turkey meat

Precooked Meatballs

Tofu

Steak

Beans and shredded cheese (refried or charro beans)

Cassoulet (white Beans with variety of meat and sausage chunks)

Italian deli meats (salame, prosciutto, cotto) and cheese and olives

[VSG AJH 499]

Thanks, good tips. I still think I will miss being able to dive head first into a salad. I'll have to be one of the folks who eats real food, tho. Its less tempting for me. A Protein Bar will feel like a candy bar. And obviously, I could eat more than one in a sitting. And sugar-free foods makes me want to jump off a bridge into a vat of whatever the "real food" is. Oh well, here's hoping my tastes buds change after surgery.

I'm 4 months post-VSG, and I regularly eat salad, fresh fruits and veggies, and other real foods.

[enjoythetime 1,457]

I definitely agree with what everyone above has said. You should always strive do to do more fresh Protein from chicken etc. but occasionally a Protein bar as a Meal Replacement just can't be helped:-)

I eat a protein bar about once a week for lunch, typically because I'm in a hurry or if I know based on my menu for the day that I could be short on protein. Remember you should really only be looking at the net carbs. I think sometimes people look at the total and trip out. To find this you would subtract the Fiber grams and the sugar alcohol grams from the total carbs and this will give you the net. The net carbs are what affects your blood sugars etc.

I buy the Low Sugar Detour Bars from the Vitamin Shoppe. They are 340 cal, 30g of protein, 2 g sugar and 5 net cabs

But yes do try to add more protein in by consuming more meats, eggs and cheese.

Edited April 18, 2014 by enjoythetime

[blackbetty 0]

Hi. I'm 2 years post and my typical day is Decaf coffee in the morning and all of my snack Protein Bars are single digits in carbs and sugars. as well as my yogurt fat free and single digits also in carbs and sugars. I add splenda and sugar free syrups to it and it does not leave an after taste. I also may have fat free cottage cheese with sugar free jelly added to it. All of these are only a half a cup. I was the smallest patient my doc had done but I have secondary asthma related cushings syndrome and this was the best approach to keep me from getting so big that I would die. I have never been a, able other than the snack bars really move on to real foods, so I'm constantly munching on a little something and drink tea with splenda. I've just started being able to drink Water again. Anything I had before surgery I couldnt hold down after. I do the fruity Protein Shakes made with water. They are my main food source with the other stuff I mentioned. I will also be working out again starting Monday. I had a mini stroke, and it caused problems with the Parkinson's I found out I had. So as of now I'm still seeing my surgeon every few months because it will not be a success until I can eat real food but when I do it feels like glass cutting my insides out and another man came in saying the same thing. I do nothing and lose 2 pounds a day. I was also my surgeons first patient to go right before surgery diabetic to hypoglycemia. In February of this year I finally stopped vomiting and have regained several pounds back but that was due to steroids for pneumonia.

So please do not get discouraged if you stall because it will get better, because of the vomiting I met my goal in 4 months and bypassed it by 22 pounds. I get my cooler packed each morning and it goes with me everywhere. I can tolerate sometimes low sodium ham with a slice of fat free cheese rolled up. I started at 210 and got to 145 in 4 months and 123 a month later. I maintained that until the steroids which took me back to 138, but I did the same thing as a 5 day pouch reset that does exactly that. It resets your mind and body against the carbs and you can do this anytime.

I hope tis may help in some way. This is now our lifestyle and this site is the best site I have found. So do not worry, we are here to help, support, and encourage you on your new journey.

[Dr-Patient 830]

I agree, as others, re: watching your intake of the Protein bars. For me, I don't lose weight with Splenda/sucralose, and those things all have it, so when I stopped all those things, I broke through my early stalls.

Edited April 21, 2014 by Dr-Patient

[James Marusek 5,244]

I agree with what the others are saying. Look at reducing some of the Protein bars and shakes. I am 11 months post op and achieved my weight loss in 7 months. I lost 20 pounds pre-op and 80 pounds post-op for a total of 100 pounds. (I had a RNY which is known for its rapid weight loss.) I now weigh 160. Part way through the process my weight loss went into a standstill. I looked at my caloric intake and decided at the time that I was getting so little Protein in my meals, the problem must lie in the protein supplements. So I dropped from 3 Protein Shakes a day down to two and I began to loss weight again.

As the volume of my meals went up, I was able to derive more protein from my meals. Presently, I think I am consuming around 50% of my protein requirement from my meals. This means that I can reduce the amount of protein supplement I am taking. When I hit my bottom weight, it allowed me to experiment. So I completely went off my protein shakes. Today for my protein supplement, I have one large cup of hot cocoa (Nestle "No Sugar Added") in the morning and one homemade large berry smoothie in the afternoon.

I have discussed my meal plan in "How I survived Bariatric Surgery" which is available at http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery.pdf

[indecision 863]

Reading through the responses I think that the original too many Protein shakes and bars is the right suggestion. That being said everyone is different in what they can or can not eat to achieve weight loss. Most of you do really awesome with all of the low fat, low carb, low this, and low that choices.

I on the other hand have not been this way through now the 1st year of my journey. I do not eat anything low. I really just eat the same types of food I did before but way less of it. This probably does not work for everyone but it has worked for me. I will spare the details on what exactly I eat on a daily basis as to not start a riot. LOL

I just think our bodies are all different and respond in different ways to things.