I was banded on June 7, 2012, I've lost 25 pounds since the start of my journey. My biggest problem is not knowing what to eat, how much to eat and if I'm getting the proper nutrients from what I eat.

My doctor said to only eat between a 1/2 cup to a cup of food. Always put Protein first then small amount of veggies. I take Vitamins to make sure I'm getting the nutrients. I cut out all empty calories which is. Calories from food that isn't giving your body nutrients. My surgeon has a nutritionist working with him so maybe you could visit one. It helps to clear up any questions about nutrition.

I use My Fitness Plan, it's an app that you can use to research all the food your gonna eat, it tells you the calories and protien and that information, and allows you to break it down by how much your eating ex:1/2 a cup. It's a great app, and you enter everything you eat for the day, set calorie goals for yourself. It's helped a lot.

I eat pretty much what ever I want. During that time a month after surgery it was a big learning process on what i could and couldn't eat. I actually went out and had a Ribeye steak but of course could only eat 4 or 5 bites of the meat and a bite or 2 of veggies! Like I said in all a learnig process! Good Luck!

Protein, Veggies, and Fruit should be the staples of every meal. Also - your nutritionist could be your best friend at this point. I was able to email the one I met with pre-op with questions. Can you do that with yours?

I was banded on June 7, 2012, I've lost 25 pounds since the start of my journey. My biggest problem is not knowing what to eat, how much to eat and if I'm getting the proper nutrients from what I eat.

25 pounds is some serious progress! That's great!

I know exactly what you mean about nutrition and food choices. As hard as it was to get into exercising regularly, I struggled with that even more. It is so much more crucial that we get the nutrition we need, but it can be so much harder in a low-calorie diet.

Having fruits and vegetables handy and eating a lot of soy (high Protein and low fat!) in all forms really helped, but like Jeani said, nutritional supplements (multivitamins, etc.) can help take a lot of the guesswork out when it comes to Vitamins and minerals -- which allows you to focus on putting good things into your body. When I got on my nutrition program it made a huge difference in my energy, and saved me a lot of headache.

It is also really helpful if you use a food logging tool like Lose It! or MyFitnessPal. If you're consistent with logging, it will show you what you're doing well and where you need to improve when it comes to daily food and nutrient intake.