So I had my 3 month post op visit with the nutritionist as well as a PA from my surgeon's office.

First the nutrition was telling me that when I hit the 6 month mark that I can only eat 3 meals and NO Snacks. I said "really"? I asked her to explain to me what the advantage is of eating 3 large meals vs 6 smaller ones during the day. I shared that all of the diet plans that I had every been on stressed the importance of eating smaller meals so that you don't get ravished in between. I told her I had NO intention of eating 3 big meals a day but would plan on sticking to my 6 "meals" of 200 calories each. She just looked at me and said "well, that would work too". Well then why are you stressing "absolutely NO snacks". Sheesh! Everything I have ever read AND other nutritionists that I have spoken to have all said that the more frequent smaller meals are healthier. Any feedback???

Second, the PA told me to wean off of my PPI. It was kind of weird because I had stopped taking them a month or so ago and when I went for my last appointment, the NP was appalled and told me to get back on them, so I did. Now the PA is saying I need to get off of them but to wean off slowly because if you stop cold turkey your body will actually produce MORE acid. So I am going to wean off but was curious as to whether you all are still on PPIs or no?

Everything else going well. They said that they expect people to be at 50% of their weight loss at 1 year and I am almost at 50% after 3 1/2 months so I guess I am doing well. Weight loss has slowed to about 1/2 pound per week or so but I'll take it. And I know if I could ever get my butt to the gym more often that would really help.

Bottom line is that I have lost 52 lbs in 3 1/2 months and am thrilled!

Wow, Cinderalla, I don't even know what to say. Your nut is a b word. You should write a letter to that office and tell them why you are not going back there and how they made you feel. I'm sorry that happened to you.

In my opinion, that menu plan has to many carbs and not enough Protein. One banana has 27 carbs and peas have 11 carbs per half of cup, not to mention the crackers and to much mayo. I'm sure people on this board will help you with meal planning and maybe you can find another doctor that could help you. Good luck.

You've done amazingly well ! ! ! I eat 4-5 times a day, but I'm also in maintenance so it's different for me. I have to eat that many times per day to get in enough food. When I was losing, I adhered to the 4 meals a day rule, no snacking. It's just what worked for me.

As for the PPI, I'm still taking it at 19 months out, and have zero plans to go off of it. With my recent pains, my PCM switched me over to Nexium 40mg once daily from Prilosec 20mg once daily. I can tell the Nexium has already kicked in, and I'm elated with being on it. I know I've said I would wean off of it, but I'm not willing to deal with acid, or chance getting Barrett's esophagus by not having it and treating the symptoms of acid reflux when I can prevent it completely.

Cinderella, I would not get too hung up on the names of meals... Theses meals do not look too out of line. Perhaps a little carby, but mostly everything on there low glycemic index foods. My nut does not stress low carb ether OR counting calories, just Protein first and avoid the refined carbs and sugar. If she is yelling at you about not exercising the right way, why didn't you just tell her what you had been told? She is just a person, perhaps she thought you were further out from your surgery. Of course you don't want to get stuck with a bit*h for PA but you are an adult... if she was uninformed and unprofessional, tell her boss. She might just need a heads up from the top. You know you were doing the right thing as far as exercising goes...at least it sounds like it to me. Take a deep breath and don't throw out the baby with the bath Water... Rants are good to let off steam, but I think there was some good advice given to you at your meetings, even if the delivery wasn't so pleasant. Just my 2 cents.

Funny you should mention this... I had my "one month" checkup (although it is really six weeks, due to the holidays) this week and came away very disappointed with BOTH my NUT and my PA.

First of all, the NUT also stressed THREE MEALS A DAY, ONE SNACK and nothing else.

She gave me a printout of a "3 meal a day" paper with sample diets.... here are two samples from that list. See what you think... in my opinion, these are Snacks, not meals:

LUNCH: 2 oz. Tuna w/ 1 TBSp mayo& 4 whole grain crackers, + half a small bannana.

DINNER: 1/2-OZ Poached Fish + 1/2-Cup canned peas.

SNACK: 4 whole grain crackers & 1/4 Cup Egg salad.

What's the difference? To me, it looks like the same amount of food for a snack, as for a lunch or dinner. So although she is stressing THREE MEALS A DAY only, she is really telling me to eat four teeny meals a day. AT this point, I couldn't eat all of the lunch... I would save the 1/2 banna and maybe a cracker for a fifth teeny meal.

I really think that what the NUTS are afraid of is that we are going to start grazing... eating bites of anything we want constantly.. and they just want to reinforce that we need to sit down to regular "eating times" and not eat on the run.

My NUT also put a note on my meal plan that says... "If you are unable to eat a meal, try to at least have a 4-8 OZ skim milk (or Lactaid) with 1/2 scoop protein power." What's that if it's not a snack?

Is anybody counting calories? She told me that I used to count calories, but now I'll count protein. I can eat so little that I could never consume a lot of calories, even if I ate nothing but potato chips and dip... although I HAVE noticed that processed, prepackaged foods go down a lot faster and easier than "real" foods, such as veggies and meats.

Anyway, back to my rant... worse than the NUT meeting was how RUDE and MEAN the P.A. was to me. She rally confused me.. she says "what kind of exercise have you been doing?" and then proceeded to yell at me for not "walking at racewalk pace an hour a day until you sweat..." but after surgery, I was told NO exercise for six weeks except take a walk every day & try to get your heart rate up. Which is it???

She also told me that I should take no pain killer but Tylenol for a WHOLE YEAR, nothing else, or I might irritate my staple line and cause an ulcer. First time I had heard that... AND she took away my PPI... she said "if you have developed GERD we have to fiind out why, and not just treat the symptoms."

She was SO MEAN TO ME that I am not going back there. I heard nothing of value from the NUT, and I didn't go through all this and pay all this money to be yelled at by a mean doctor.

I'm on my own.... nutrition section of the library, here I come!

Cinderella