Eating Healthy Long-Term with a Sleeve

[Ann2]

Since I was 2-1/2 months pre-op I've used My Fitness Pal to track and record what I've eaten. During that time, I've eaten few sugary and other highly processed slider foods and learned so much about food nutrition -- a lot more than I learned when following Weight Watchers, for instance.

I'm currently only 3 months post-op and in a typical day eat about 800 calories, including 60-80 grams of protein. But I'll soon be ramping that up to 900-1000 calories/day by continuing to add more good veggies, fruits and healthy carbs.

Anyway, the point of this thread is that given what I'm learning about nutrition, VSGers needn't have any worries about eating healthy and getting great nutrition for the rest of their lives. We don't need 2,000 calories a day to get all our necessary nutrients -- high-quality and varied protein, high fiber, sufficient vitamins / minerals, and lots of hydration.

It's so obvious that many of the calories I used to eat were completely worthless (in terms of the nutrition they contributed) and even harmful to my body.

And yes, I know I sound like a reformed smoker ... LOL!

Of course, I wonder if I'll continue to be this enthusiastic about meal-planning and self-care in the months and years to come.

Although this final thought is probably worth a separate thread, I've found this forum so helpful in my pre-op and post-op weight loss journey. I expect it could help many of us to remain as active and committed to our health and weight maintenance as we are during the weight loss portion of the journey.

[Joe Poppa]

Yes, it is now "eating to live" not "living to eat".
Keep up the great work!

[Fast Eddie]

Great post Ann!

[Lee6Lee]

This will be our greatest challenge!

[Matthewsiv]

Let me give some advice ,no carbohydrates or sugar and watch the portion size.

You can never go back to eating like you did before or have the same tastes , as it is a very slippery slope.

I know, I have stretched my sleeve and done all of the above and am now struggling to get back.

I thought that I knew better than what I was told , a very big mistake.

Good luck to all.

[JrMerv]

Keep up the great work, this is gonna be a long journey

[char602]

Its great that you are so self aware Ann. We're less likely to make bad choices moving forward if we are fully in tune with our bodies. You've gone about this whole thing in such a smart way- being as dedicated to doing the mental work as the physical.

I also agree that for a lot of us, part of the success or rather, maintaining the success will be to stay engaged with some sort of support model. Whether that's in person, online, this group, or some other group that we find helpful, staying connected to other people on a similar journey is going to play a huge part.

[LORAW]

Have you posted any 800 calorie menus that have 60-80 grams of protein? I am not getting close to that!! Thanks.

[Ann2]

Lora, here are 3 menus taken pretty randomly from my MFP food diaries:

Sample MFP Menu #1.JPGSample MFP Menu #2.JPGSample MFP Menu #3.JPG

You'll have to click on each image to expand it so you can (sort of) read that day's food diary.

[Trophywifesoon]

Ok, I think I'll post this in the blogs. But I have a question regarding the "stretching" sleeve. ( posting in blog so I don't Shanghai this post)

[LORAW]

thanks Ann