Not losing-plateau, I don't know, wrong foods, maybe, what do you eat day to day? Help!

[mummajuju 77]

Dd

Hi Donna

Do you have My Fitness Pal app. That's a great way to add banded friends and view what they eat for ideas and inspiration?

I'm mummajuju on there add me!

I've found that it takes a while to know how many calories a day makes you lose and not stall. I'm on 900 now and scales moving the right way. I was banded in September so still pretty new.

Julie x

[Holly Dolly 575]

I could always eat more than a cup of food also, but I think my meals are around 1-1.5 cups, as I weigh my Protein not measure it in cups. You are going at least 4 hours before getting hungry so that is good. I have 2 friends who both had their bands emptied before surgery and now are doing fine without having nearly as much Fluid in their bands. One got almost filled to where she was before and ended up being too tight. It's not really about restricting how much you can eat, it's about controlling your hunger. I would love to go 4 hours before being hungry again.

[utcaneuser 32]

I guess I need to start over like day 1. I go for a fill this Thurs and I sure need the restriction as I feel like I can eat more than a cups worth but don't and I'm hungry every 4 hrs. I've gained a pound this weekend so that means I've only lost 2 lbs this past month since I've seen my surgeon last. I don't eat rice' date=' raw bread, toast sometimes is okay with eggs, I don't eat Pasta as these were things my surgeon told me to stay away from so I do. Early on in my journey I was craving chinese fried rice and tried a bit and got stuck so haven't tried any since so rice would be a no no like he said. I'm getting tired of fish, chicken and cottage cheese. Tomorrow I'm cooking a pot of Beans which I like and will have around all week but that is good for only one meal as I don't want to get tired of that. I know most of you say you eat whatever you want but if that is so how do you lose weight eating pizza, Pasta, rice, potatoes, mac/cheese, etc? I thought the whole idea of this was to get a new lifestyle and eat healthy and I have tried but I'm getting burned out on what I'm eating everyday. It's making me crave old foods and making me feel deprived and crazy. Today I had oatmeal, Lean Cuisine and wasn't hungry for dinner so I ate a little cottage cheese with some crackers (low fat) and then had a few bites of skinny cow ice cream oh and I had a greek yogurt. Usually what I eat is egg and piece of toast or Cereal, baked chicken and veggie and then I will have a bowl of Beans cooked up like I'm doing tomorrow to have on hand for dinner. That consist of my day. I'm scared of eating steak but craving it, yes a filet would be nice but scared to eat it. Oh I did bake a pork chop with fat free mushroom Soup on top for gravy last night. That was a variety. Am I eating wrong? Help, anyone...[/quote']

I don't think your eating wrong but I also think you so scared of food your limiting your options. You can do 1 package of cream a wheat a week and use 2 tble pb or sweeten with Splenda brown.

The other things I do are are grain less lasagna mushrooms, ricotta ff or reduced fat cheese top w/ marinara cook in microwave for 2 minutes or bake it can top with Mozarella or Parmesan cheese.

Make your own 7 layer dip in a bowl.

Ff beans

Cheese

Ff sour cream

Ff salsa

100 cal pack of guacamole

Heat beats and cheese before adding other layers eat by itself no crackers or chips.

Sent from my iPhone using LapBandTalk

[Jewelsm1127 351]

Donna - I invested in a Cuisinart 'Griddler'. I have the large one. You can use it as an open grill or griddle or use it closed as a grill or panini press. I use it closed to grill burgers. It preheats in a few minutes and I've cooked a huge juicy burger (pre band) in five minutes flat. I got mine at Bed Bath and Beyond on sale and with a coupon. I have an outdoor grill but this is great for winter and quick and easy and perfect for just a small meal. Easy to clean up etc. I like it much better than the George Foreman grills. Just thought I'd mention in case you haven't thought of something like that. Or you can even get a stove top grill pan too!

[ladylaine 5]

Was in the same boat but someone gave me this thread and I am following it my weight moving but slow but it's going down try this: wish u well

Quote

Someone on an old,old post shared how she jumped off her plateaus and went from being a slow loser to a steady loser by adding Protein here and there to her meals. I'll see if I can find the original post and link it back here. Good luck finding what will work for you.

Couldn't remember where I had posted remembering an old post--I've ended up reposting this several different places! Oh well. Here it is. Newsho posted this a long time ago, but maybe her approach will help you. I copied her post and am pasting it below. Good luck.

LENGTH ALERT! (This has very detailed tips and tricks, so this is not a short post. Just a "heads up")

People asked me a lot how I went from Slow Loser to getting to goal. I did better my second year of banding and when the weight came off - it really came off.

This is something that worked for me, and I recommended to other Bandsters.

Granted, these are tips that's not in any LapBand brochure or doctor's manual, and YOUR MILEAGE MAY VARY - but if you already think of yourself as a Slow Loser like I was, then maybe you will be open to trying something to shake things up a bit.

When I needed a weight-loss push, I didn't cut down on calories much (if I'd recently had a fill adjustment, that's different) but in general:

I *added* Protein to every thing I ate.

This helped me to lose steadily (although it sped up my weight loss, more importantly it kept it steady). And it worked! Some Bandsters in my same banding date were better at counting calories - I wasn't. Some were better at counting carbs, I wasn't, but I excelled at ADDING protein. And I did well and later, other fellow Bandsters were asking me for help and tips.

How did I do it? I did not reduce calories or the amount I consumed (without a fill it wasn't much need to try that) and yet, I still lost. (I added a little bit of Beans, or a sprinkle of cheese (my favorite), or eggs - whatever I could. I didn't reduce what I ate, but I "upped my protein" - and it worked.

With the band, if you eat more protein, you generally will find yourself eating less overall - it doesn't feel that way but you do.

Every single time I added more protein to my regular Band-friendly meals, I lost more weight, even though I wasn't eating less calories sometimes. Sounds crazy - but in my particular case, if I didn't keep my protein levels up, my body held on to calories a lot more. Who needs their bodies "hoarding" calories?

If adding a bit of food meant I would lose more, it was worth a try. It worked.

And I paid attention to the TYPE of protein I ate. (Even before banding, I didn't eat beef or pork at all. And the band was developed in other countries where the pork and beef consumption is a lot lower than it is here in the 'States. I'm not a vegetarian, I just eat seafood and poultry only. My doc said this helped my weight loss a lot because the protein I ate was leaner, not fattier protein like pork/ham/bacon or beef/hamburger/fatty red meat. So I didn't have to regulate my portions as much as some Bandsters did. My can of tuna did more for me than a hamburger ever would have.)

Also, I'm a single/childless Bandster who lives alone, so I eat out for almost every meal. If I could make it to goal - while eating out - ANYBODY can.

How did I do it? Here were some tips.

At Breakfast, with my morning egg(s), I added a bit of cheese on top. Or I would have cottage cheese added. For protein and hunger reasons, cottage cheese did better than yogurt for me - unless I just had a fill or was very very filled or adjusted. The most filled I am, the less I eat in the mornings. So especially if you are not at your sweet spot, try Proteins that "stick" with you more to keep hunger away. Yogurt alone was not good enough of a breakfast for me, with the band it just went through, and wasn't really filling. Now if I charged up my yogurt with lots of nuts, seeds, and wheat germ - then BAM! I'm not much of a cold Cereal eater (I prefer hot cereals) but if I had one I made sure it was a protein-packed one (I LOVE Grape Nuts cereal best. Go Lean is awesome, and several of the Oatmeals & Cream of Wheat cereals have good protein content. I also added a few nuts to those, too. If I had a yogurt smoothie drink as a snack, I had them had a half scoop of Protein powder (a full scoop can make it too thick sometimes) or some soy or nuts.

Lunchtime was easy to get more protein in. I'd eat a scoop of tuna salad or chicken salad for lunch - and have them add some shredded cheese, some seeds and/or some nuts. I also love Soup. Usually a cup is a nice start to my lunch if I'm having a scoop of salad or tuna. If it's my whole lunch I get a bowl of soup and eat what I can from it. My band will tell me when to stop. Almost any kind of any soup is great with a sprinkle of cheese or nuts added. Beans, too!

With my dinner I always like a cup of soup to begin. Gets me going, jump starts & 'primes' my band and it's a great protein opportunity. Then if I could, I concentrated on seafood. ANY type of fish worked great with my band - From catfish to salmon to snapper to Tilapia. Or even shrimp or my all time favorite, calamari. I enjoy oysters in season and clams all year. The weeks that I ate more seafood, I lost more weight - across the board. Usually grilled is a good choice to be honest I even ate it fried (sorry, weight loss experts) and I still did well. And with my seafood, if I could I added beans to almost everything. With my steamed veggies, I added nuts and a sprinkle of cheese sometimes. I know it's not very It really does work!

See when I restrict my calories or even when I try to cut down on fat - I usually just end up cutting down on protein. And no matter how "well" or how much less I eat, if I cut my protein my body won't 'burn' up the fat. It holds on to it. I know that protein is the fuel that helps the LapBand machine work and not trying to diet or 'cut down' was a blessing to me.

I've had other Bandsters try this, and yes they are skeptical at first but when they start seeing inches lost (muscle really does weigh more than fat, so your clothes tell you before the scale ever will) then they get on the bandwagon. So don't just 'cut down' - ADD some food on your plate. That's right. ADD MORE nuts, boiled/diced egg, beans, cheese, seeds and other yummy forms of protein. Your body and your LapBand will thank you for it. Also adding protein allowed me to eat fewer carbs and save them for what was really a nice treat - a nice martini or occasional glass of wine, with dinner. Yes, I'm a drinking Bandster. All the successful European Bandsters I knew drank a glass or two now and then and they were my role models. I can't drink a lot AT ALL - a little goes a long way, but it was nice to get to goal weight without ever missing a Friday Happy Hour. I got the band to enhance my life, not take away some of the things that make it enjoyable. I eat out at restaurants, I go have drinks with friends - and I feel and look great. BRAVO!

Good Luck to you. (And since so many people asked me the same question in private posts - that's why I am posting it on the Slow Losers board too...)

Keep up the good fight. I did it - and you can too.

[donna12 742]

thank you so much ladylaine for the post, I will give it a try, wow what an interesting read.

Thanks Jewel for the info on the griddle, I do have a George Forman and never have thought of using it, dang, I will have to get it out of the pantry and get busy. I'm not much on hamburger meat as I don't want to chew chew chew it, it gags me. But I would like however grill a piece of fish on the GF or a chicken breast instead of baking sometimes. Be something different. Dang it, why didn't I think to get it out of the pantry...lol. Headed to the freezer right now to get a chicken breast out to thaw and cook on the Geo F. tonight. as for adding more Protein, I think I will have Beans with it!!! Thanks everyone.

Donna