Not losing weight - check out a typical day's eating and give me your thoughts.

[Truebody]

May be you guys can help me out.
I'm just over a month out and I'm not really losing weight. I put this down to a system that is immune due to my past dieting, but seriously, there are people 2 weeks out that have lost more than me.
I struggle to eat my full calories, struggle to get all my protein in, struggle to get all my water in. I can do one - but cannot do another - so I rotate them.

So for today this is what I have:
B: Latte (300ml) skinny milk
S: Shaved ham slice, Cheese slice x 2
L: Arancini/chicken ball (about 1/3 of a ball)
S: Half a banana
D: Thai chicken balls x 3 (my own recipe that I blogged - these are damned good and @ 53 cals a ball) and probably some mashed pumpkin, which will be about a spoonful.
.... and water. I will have had 1 litre today (about 2 pints-ish).

Is there anything wrong with this intake for this stage post-op?

Oh and excercise. Weight workout - with some stationary bike and x-trainer (cannot do much of this as I have a dodgy knee just at the moment, so the focus is on the weights).

Right - let me know what you think.

[Truebody]

Come on guys......help!!

[mlrisser]

How much salt are you taking in? Salt can cause you to retain water. Also, focusing on weights will develop muscle

[mlrisser]

I think you should call your surgeon Just see what he/she thinks

[txbluebonnet]

I'm still pretty much stalled too. I just keep going up a pound and then down a pound. It is frustrating. Your intake sounds about the same as mine. I to have trouble getting protein and water all in on the same day. I've noticed that if I'm not careful with my sodium intake the scale goes up. Lunch meats and such are high in sodium, but it's hard to find foods that work for us. As for exersie, can you do any swimming? Sorry I can't be more help to you. I hope things improve soon. Just know we are here for you.

[Michellemo]

How many calories are in the latte? At one month out I couldn't eat a slice of shaved ham and 2 slices of cheese. I'm 9 months out and that would fill me up now. I was drinking a coffee every morning with some flavoring stuff in it but I added the calories in it I was shocked. I say check with your dr but I bet the weight loss will start kicking in soon. Good luck!

[Munchkin]

I think your menu is good. Make sure you drink enough liquid. It does affect weightloss.

And I would focus on cardio exercise at this stage. Can you do walk?

Oh, instead of latte, you can do protein shake for breakfast to add more protein to the diet.

[bestnester]

Ok here's my two cents...

First, calories aren't your concern at this point in your recovery. Yes, I'm calling you in recovery because you're just a month out. Your body is still healing, and so the top two things right now are protein intake and water. Are you not on any protein supplements? I'm 4 months out and without at least 1 shake I'm not hitting my protein requirement. Based on what you've posted you can't possibly lay be hitting that 80-100 protein amount most surgeons require for healing. Mostly because your quantity is so little.

To give you great ideas of what to eat for people who are successfully losing go to the what's on your menu post under the forum diet and nutrition. I get great ideas for there. Are you using a food log? This helps you really see your protein vs carb amount. Here is a sample of my daily consumption. Note, I'm a few months ahead of you.

Breakfast: 6 ounce light soy milk with 1 scoop Isopure protein powder. (I do this early to get a good 35 grams of protein in)
Snack: string cheese or Greek yogurt
Lunch: deli turkey meat (I stay away from ham since its high in salt naturally) with some mozzarella cheese and avocado
Snack: nothing really unless I'm famished then maybe some almonds
Dinner: usually 2-3 ounces of chicken or fish with some veg side
Snack: to help any nausea in the morning I eat some dry cereal with some string cheese

If I have some fruit it's usually watermelon or strawberries.
I try to eliminate carbs, but that mostly includes breads, pasta, and rice, I haven't had bread for weeks and never had pasta. A small nibble of rice here and there but get too full.

How often do you weigh in? I do once a week and that helps with the up and downs.

[shortnsweet24]

One thing to keep in mind is a lot of people hit a stall about 3-5 weeks out from surgery and your weight loss amount typically drops once you start eating solid foods (i.e. I was losing about 5 pounds a week at the beginning, now I'm closer to 2 pounds a week). Your food looks about right - maybe you could add a little more protein.

[Truebody]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I do have a shake every second day as I'm really trying to get my protein from food. I try to incorporate fruit and veg and protein and today was the first time I had tried rice. Wasn't a huge success so will not be doing that again.
I record every morsel and every sip in Myfitnesspal so I can readily see what makes up my diet. I get to 800 calories a day mostly - some days less.
I can readily drink, never been an issue for me, but struggle with the timing - Stop drinking/start eating and vice versa.
So tomorrow I will do a shake for breakfast - they have quite a bit of salt in them by the way, but I can stomach the flavour.
Fruit for snack.
Lunch will be a yoghurt or a soup.
Snack - focus on making up water intake
Dinner - chilli with beans and sour cream I think.
Then to the gym for a session.
Something's gotta give soon. Surely.

[bestnester]

What shake do you have that has lots of salt?? That's strange!

[Its_Me]

Jen I really think you've hit your first stall, which sucks but will definitely pass. Of course others have had good suggestions. Hang in there, you got this.

[Truffles]

You've hit a stall (the first of many) and it will pass. Your body cannot sustain its current weight and activity without losing weight eventually with the caloric intake you are ingesting. That's simple science. Keep telling yourself that. (That's what helps me through the stalls.)

As for suggestions, eat a little bit of protein when you have fruit. Since you are only 1 month out, you are probably not eating nuts, but have a slice of cheese with your fruit (protein first, though) or some yogurt. Also, make your latte into a protein frappe latte. Get some unflavoured protein powder. Make your latte, let it cool slightly (it can't be boiling hot or the powder clumps), then blend it with the powder. You don't have to use a full scoop of the powder, either. Experiment to find out how much your latte can hold and still taste good.

I know I sound like a broken record on this but try hot herbal tea if you are having trouble with water. The warmth of the tea goes down much easier for me than the coldness of water (and room temperature water is yucky lol). Herbal tea is how I get most of my fluids.

[MrsB0324]

Sorry to hear that you are losing at a low pace. Before I add my two cents need to know if you are (pardon my french) peeing? Sounds like there may be a little too much sodium in your diet. Are you going to the bathroom every 15 - 25 minutes to pee? If not, you are either not getting in enough fluids ore are retaining fluids because of your sodium intake. Anything Thai equals sodium; even if you make it at home. What about the shaved ham? Is is low sodium? The sodium alone will have you retaining water so whatever fluids you are managing to get in, they are staying in..........someone else mentioned cardio. For weight loss, you have to do cardo. For toning, use weights, although weight training will help with weight loss because the more muscle you have, the higher your metablism burns but it's the cardio that burns the fat. An episode of Dr. Oz said that while weight lifting is an excellent way to sculpt your body, cardio is the best and only way to lose the fat covering the muscles. So, if we attempt to weight train, we are building muscle underneath our fat. And yes, eventually, the fat will melt away because of the higher metablism, but it will take longer. Hope you start losing the way you want to soon!

[Truffles]

Urinating 3-4 times per hour?! I'd have to be drinking 1 litre of water every half hour to do that! LOL