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I'm curious- what is your daily calorie allowance?

What is an example of your day? (Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and any snacks)

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I try to stay between 1,000 and 1,150 calories a day. Breakfast is often oatmeal or cream of wheat w/ pat of butter. Or a slice of toast with a slice of cheese on top and then broiled in the toaster-oven (sort of like an open face grilled cheese sandwich) I have scrambled eggs once a week....cold Cereal (like rice Krispies) with skim milk once a week as well.

lunch is almost always a half a tuna sandwich or hummus with a lo cal whole wheat wrap

dinner is always 3 oz. Protein, 1/2 cup veggies, 1/4 cup carbs. I also have a snack or two...SF pops or SF pudding, or fruit.< /p>

I've been doing this since I was allowed on regular food and I've dropped 75 lbs. in a little less than 7 months including the pre-op diet.

Hope that helps you some.

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I don't have any specific calorie target...except less is usually better. :)

I just try and eat fresh foods as often as possible...I guess it's called eating "green"? Little to no pre-packaged/processed food.< /p>

Heres a link to a webiste discussing various meal plans, depending on what stage of food progression you're on. Hope it helps.

http://www.bariatriceating.com/2013/04/16/transitioning-from-early-soft-stages-to-real-food/

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My calories stay around 1000-1200 per day.

Honestly, my meals are very "normal". I just eat what my family eats only smaller portions.

Today I had a Protein shake for breakfast. I went to lunch with my daughter so I had a bowl of chicken Enchilada Soup at Chili's for lunch. dinner will be whole grain Hamburger Helper and some green Beans. I'll probably have a sugar free pudding for a snack at some point. If I'm hungry tonight (I'm a nightowl) I'll have a piece of string cheese or Laughing Cow cheese.< /p>

Tomorrow night I'll be making mostaccioli for dinner. I'll be making pork chops and rice this week at some point, too. Oh and my daughter wants marinated chicken breasts this week as well.

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I usually stay at 700-900 calories a day . That's really all I can. Very satisfied with that . Typical breakfast scrambled egg with Lil low fat cheese and a few bacon bits or whole wheat English muffin (1/2) with low fat Peanut Butter. lunch cottage cheese, pickles and few reduced fat wheat thins , supper tilapia , green Beans maybe a little whole wheat Pasta . snack sf Popsicle and string cheese..

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I keep my calories under 1200 a day. My breakfast is usually oatmeal and egg, lunch is maybe yogurt and granola, dinner I always stick to 4 oz Protein, 1/2 cup vegi's, and 1/2 cup carbs. Then I may have a sugar-free Popsicle if I need a snack sometime.

~~~Stephanie

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At this point in my journey, I no longer track calories.

When I was in active losing phase, I tried to stay between 1200-1600 a day. I would usually have the following:

- Breakfast: instant oatmeal with milk, a tall skinny caramel macchiato, greek yogurt, or a Protein shake

- Lunch: salad with allotted Protein and veggies (dressing on side), a bowl mixed with meat and veggies, beef or turkey Jerky

- Dinner: meat based with a side of veggies

- Snacks: string cheese, Jerky, yogurt, Fiber bars

I did not really eat any breads or any type of carbs other than veggies or fruits at this point. No chips, candies, calorie laden drinks,etc.

Now that I've reached my goal, I am more lenient but weigh myself a couple times a week to make sure I'm staying where I want in terms of weight.

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Thanks for the replies! I have been doing well... Banded April 29, have had 3 fills putting me at 6.5ccs, and have lost 56 lbs (pre-op included)

I just wanted to make sure I was eating enough, sounds like I am- 1000 or less. I like the ideas for meals, too. :-)

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It depends on whether I need a fill or not, I DO need a fill but cant get in for one until Aug 12th, so im not eating as good as I would with a fill, as im hungry a lot more right now. When im at the Green Zone, my usual is 1200 cals or so. Breakfast is a home made Protein smoothie, lunch is leftovers, usually some protein with a little fruit or veggies, dinner is the same . Hubby is diabetic so we eat a lot of chicken ,fish and some red meat, brown rice, whole grain Pasta fruit, salads veggies etc . For Snacks I like PB on apples slices, 1/2 granola bar, or WW ice cream (YUM !) Myfitnesspal .com was an eye opener as far as calories in certain foods. 2 Tbls of unsalted sunflower seeds was almost 200 cals ! Who knew ???

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My nutritionist raised me to 1800 calories and I started losing again. At 1200 I was stalled.

Some of my favorites:

Wendy's chili

Boiled eggs

Lite chicken salad - canned chicken, lite miracle whip, mustard, dill pickle juice,diced apples or red grapes, diced celery, diced dill pickles

I can make a sandwich with 45 calorie bread or my favorite is to serve it with thick cucumber "chips"

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Thanks for sharing. I am getting some great ideas. I did notice that when I went from 800 to 1000 calories, it jumped started me again. After 1 month I'm down 20lbs. Thank you God.

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Great ideas here! Glad I saw this thread as I was just wondering how many calories I should be eating. I haven't been doing well for a while but getting back in track.

My fitness tells me I should have 1345 calories per day. But I felt like it was too much. I just finally got a fill in June after 2 years of being out of work. I'm at 5.5cc now.

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I was just banded three weeks ago am I allowed to drink Protein Drinks with my cream of wheat in the morning? And is it true we are not allowed to drink when we are eating

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Yes. My dr. Says nothing to drink 30-45min prior to meal and 30-60 minutes after meal. They say this helps u stay full longer. They do not want food getting "flushed" out of pouch and not keep u satisfied. This did not start for me until j was in the solid food stage, but they want u to get into that habit. Hope that helps . It's hard to do at times .

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Yes. My dr. Says nothing to drink 30-45min prior to meal and 30-60 minutes after meal. They say this helps u stay full longer. They do not want food getting "flushed" out of pouch and not keep u satisfied. This did not start for me until j was in the solid food stage' date=' but they want u to get into that habit. Hope that helps . It's hard to do at times .[/quote']

I'm banded almost 2 months and I still can't seem to get this part.

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    • LeighaTR

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. LeighaTR

        I hope your surgery on Wednesday goes well. You will be able to do all sorts of new things as you find your new normal after surgery. I don't know this from experience yet, but I am seeing a lot of positive things from people who have had it done. Best of luck!

    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
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