Prior to surgery and the months following, our diets are so restricted and very planned out for us. A question I get asked a lot is what do you eat now that you are a ways out from surgery? So I decided to make a list of recipes and snack/meal ideas I use now at almost 4 years out. Remember, I eat six meals/snacks a day.

Breakfast:

• Frittatta with Ricotta and Mixed Greens- omelet
• Nonfat greek yogurt with fruit and granola.
• oatmeal (old fashioned oats) with cinnamon and banana
• One piece of whole wheat or 9 grain bread with Almond/Peanut butter
• Turkey bacon with egg whites and salsa
• Special K Protein Cereal with almond milk, or 2% milk
• Any kind of Breakfast smoothy with protein powder
• Protein shake

Morning Snack:

• Apple Slices and Almond/peanut butter
• Apple sauce
• Fruit- bag or grapes, orange, pear, banana, etc.
• Protein Bar
• Homemade protein bites- meat and low fat cheese and wheat thins and a cookie.
• dinner left overs.
• Grilled chicken Cesar Wrap (homemade)
• Tuna fish with low fat mayo, apple and pickle relish with wheat thins.
• Grilled chicken salad over spinach and kale with veggies and lite dressing.
• Turkey Meatball sub with heart smart marinara sauce, low fat Parmesan cheese and whole grain/wheat hogey roll.
• Grilled chicken fajitas and veggies on a low carb, wheat tortilla.
• Quinoa with black Beans and corn- Jerky
• Low fat string cheese
• Sunflower Seeds
• Protein bar/shake
• Sweet Snack
• Rice Cakes
• Low Fat Popcorn (Smart Pop)
• Celery and Almond/Peanut butter
• Veggies with lite ranch
• Hard Boiled eggs
• Sliced avacado

Dinner:

• Turkey Chili- pizza Frittatta- pineapple juice and cayenne pepper, served with a slice of grilled pineapple and steamed or grilled veggies.
• Any type of grilled fish with mango salsa.
• Baked pork chops over apple pie filling with roasted new potatoes and asparagus

Evening Snack:

• Low fat greek yogurt with honey or fruit
• Cottage cheese and fruit
• chocolate milk
• Sweet treat
• Peanut Butter Spoon
• Protein Shake
• Fold over peanut butter and banana sandwich on whole wheat or whole grain bread.

By no means is this all I eat, but this is a list of my favorites and most used. If you have any questions about recipes or preparation or possible calorie and protein amounts just let me know. Hope this helps.

what is your current height, weight and age? on all your current exercising, I need length of times doing each. I need to get a ballpark on your resting metabolic rate from that info and then we can figure out your daily macros.. great job on your journey so far by the way!!

I'll bite

I'm 9 months post sleeve. 5ft tall, 158lbs, 39 years old (for a few more months anyway). On a good week I walk (with some burst of running) for an hour 3 times a week. The rest of the week (and even on bad weeks) I am up and down all day taking care of 3 kids, homeschooling, grocery shopping, etc. I get about 7K steps a day on days I don't exercise. My nut said to eat about 800 calories a day, so I put that as my starting point in myfitnesspal, then it syncs with my fitbit and adds whatever extra exercise calories. I aim for a minimum of 60 grams of Protein. Today I "earned" 226 calories extra, so it set my goal as 1026 calories. I ate right at 1,000.

I lose very slowly...I know I need more exercise but we've had a nasty chest cold running through the family, and if I'm sick I don't exercise and if the kids are sick I can't take them to the gym daycare, so I'm just getting back. But days I don't exercise I try to walk around the house cleaning, hit the grocery store and walk every aisle briskly, etc. I lose MAYBE a pound a week....probably less. I'm down from a BMI of 41 and 220lbs to a BMI of 29.9 and weight of 158.

@@Katie Loesch-Meyer I am really shocked by all these NUTS recommending so few calories so far out from surgery. 800 a day at 9 months seems insane. I don't see how that could possibly NOT wreck your metabolism long term. At least you are ea ting "extra" on the days you are active....

You said you are logging with your fitbit and my fitness pal, right? What are your daily differentials coming out to? Are you seeing more than a thousand calorie a day deficit?

@@Katie Loesch-Meyer I am really shocked by all these NUTS recommending so few calories so far out from surgery. 800 a day at 9 months seems insane. I don't see how that could possibly NOT wreck your metabolism long term. At least you are ea ting "extra" on the days you are active....

You said you are logging with your fitbit and my fitness pal, right? What are your daily differentials coming out to? Are you seeing more than a thousand calorie a day deficit?

Often over 1K a day differential when I'm on track. But I'll be honest, that's HARD. And I still lose way less than the 2 lbs a week predicted. Often when I'm not totally on track it's more like 800-900. Calorie intake ranges from about 800 to, on a really heavy eating day (say once a week or less, o the weekend) 1,300. Most of the time calories are about 1K, which is about what my fitbit adjustments say to have.

Thanks for all the great ideas! Here are a few of my daily meals…nothing too exciting, but they seem to work for me.

Breakfast: Greek yogurt with blueberries and sometimes oatmeal.

Lunch: Greek salad with lettuce, feta, olives, vinaigrette, tomatoes, cucumbers.

Dinner: chicken or tofu stir fry with vegetables, or fajitas with peppers, onions, and tomatoes.

@@Katie Loesch-Meyer I am really shocked by all these NUTS recommending so few calories so far out from surgery. 800 a day at 9 months seems insane. I don't see how that could possibly NOT wreck your metabolism long term. At least you are ea ting "extra" on the days you are active....

You said you are logging with your fitbit and my fitness pal, right? What are your daily differentials coming out to? Are you seeing more than a thousand calorie a day deficit?

Often over 1K a day differential when I'm on track. But I'll be honest, that's HARD. And I still lose way less than the 2 lbs a week predicted. Often when I'm not totally on track it's more like 800-900. Calorie intake ranges from about 800 to, on a really heavy eating day (say once a week or less, o the weekend) 1,300. Most of the time calories are about 1K, which is about what my fitbit adjustments say to have.

Well, 1000 calorie a day differential isn't too extreme. Ideally you'd want to increase both your calorie intake and activity level and maintain an 800-1000 calorie differential each day for steady loss.

sorry folks. ran into a little issue and have been in Denver a few days. im heading home as we speak and will be back here soon.

After reading this, I was trying to figure out exactly what I eat in a day. I've been maintaining my weight for 4 months now and my surgeon feels that I'm where I should be for my frame and height. I don't count calories but try to keep my protein intake in mind when I eat. Im doing the March exercise challenge, so I'll be keeping a better count starting tomorrow. It'll be interesting to find out EXACTLY what I've been doing....

After reading this, I was trying to figure out exactly what I eat in a day. I've been maintaining my weight for 4 months now and my surgeon feels that I'm where I should be for my frame and height. I don't count calories but try to keep my protein intake in mind when I eat. Im doing the March exercise challenge, so I'll be keeping a better count starting tomorrow. It'll be interesting to find out EXACTLY what I've been doing....

awesome! good luck on the challenge! looks like you have a good grip on what you are doing so far so keep it up! congrats! love the success stories!