So I don't always track what I eat in fact I rarely do. In the beginning ( nearly 14 weeks ago) I was so in tune with what I was having. Gradually that has worn off. The weight was coming off slowly so tracking didn't seem to matter. Then started the bit n pieces of "slider" foods. I had read about this in others stories and would think "oh never would I let myself be like that".... how wrong I was.

The potato chips and small biscuits seem to go down with no issues. I wasn't sick and it didn't fill me up so what was the problem. Peanut paste then started to become a favourite snack straight off the spoon. It's ok it's protein!!.. Icecream was another easy food to go down and it seemed to help my sweet cravings as I was only having a little so what did it matter?..

A bit here and there soon became more and more!!..

Today i decided to track what I had eaten as best I could.. to own what I was doing.. the damage I was doing.

You see like most of us here that decided to get this procedure I have a food addiction. Something that is NOT fixed by having a sleeve. They take some of your stomach not the part of your brain that controls this. I have really no clue how to fix it but maybe the best I can do is to some how control it. That's hard!!..

Nope I didn't have counselling before my sleeve to help me. I honestly thought I could do it alone.

I feel now I am more consumed with "food" then I ever was. What a shit position to be in.

So today I was so over my Carb intake it was terrible. My protein intake low... and my fats should of been more. If I was counting calories I'd say at 1400 Cals was too much for me.

But from now and into tomorrow and beyond I shall be accountable for what I put into my mouth. Yeah I'll stuff up a little but mostly I shall be on track.

Food addiction is a hard one as we need it to survive and can't get away from it..

I have journaled everything that has gone into my body since the first day of my six month pre-op diet program on March 21, 2016. I would not have had my success so far without it, and I cannot imagine not exactly tracking everything I ingest every day. Good luck to those who aren't tracking. I'd be very interested to see how you are doing a year or two from now...

I don't often track anymore. I would be obsessive about it and I really don't want that. I only track protein and carbs anyway, never calories. Monday to Friday I stick to the same food daily so I know I am okay. I don't deviate and if on the rare occasion I do, that's a day that I will track. At the weekends in the winter, we tend to have pot meals, so with hubby and a houseful of sons, I would find it hard to determine the micro's of a meal.

People can be successful in a million different ways. To say you won't succeed unless you track is a comment I find a little hard to swallow.

4 minutes ago, _Kate_ said:

I don't often track anymore. I would be obsessive about it and I really don't want that. I only track Protein and carbs anyway, never calories. Monday to Friday I stick to the same food daily so I know I am okay. I don't deviate and if on the rare occasion I do, that's a day that I will track. At the weekends in the winter, we tend to have pot meals, so with hubby and a houseful of sons, I would find it hard to determine the micro's of a meal.

People can be successful in a million different ways. To say you won't succeed unless you track is a comment I find a little hard to swallow.

Congratulations on your success Kate! Approaching your 2 year mark and under your weight loss goal. Very cool! Agreed that tracking for me on a daily basis boarders on obsessive. It's good to do a check in here and there though.

I would also like to add that pre surgery I would go out a lot for meals, I have a very sociable job, a family who go out a lot together and a good bunch of friends. I still go out a lot now I am maintaining. I don't want to be sat with friends having a great night thinking, omg I can't weigh the food and track. I am glad I have learnt an internal strategy which allows me to scan a plate of food and be secure in the knowledge that I will be okay. Protein first a little veg afterwards, no crap carbs. I am not saying everyone can do that but I was obsessive about food before the VSG and there's not a cat in hells chance I will be like that now.

Same here. I still eat out a lot. And it's not uncommon for the meal to not be something I can easily look up. I prefer enjoying my company rather than focusing on finding the nutrition info, which is likely off anyway since foods are prepared differently in different restaurants. So I employ other techniques. Slow eating, conversation, just the protein, nothing fried, etc. Many times I will share a dish with Hubby and eat the protein then a little veggies. And at home, I don't measure ingredients much of the time. But I do focus on high quality protein and low carb veggies. Seafood and chicken, eggs, broccolli, onions, peppers, kale, tomatoes, cucumbers, butternut squash, nuts, etc. I don't eat processed sugar at all. And I don't do chips or ice cream and I haven't done pop in over 30 years. I enjoy cooking and eating and what I eat. It works for me. My problems before were processed sugar and carbs. Those are pretty much out of the equation for me now.

7 hours ago, _Kate_ said:

I don't often track anymore. I would be obsessive about it and I really don't want that. I only track Protein and carbs anyway, never calories. Monday to Friday I stick to the same food daily so I know I am okay. I don't deviate and if on the rare occasion I do, that's a day that I will track. At the weekends in the winter, we tend to have pot meals, so with hubby and a houseful of sons, I would find it hard to determine the micro's of a meal.

People can be successful in a million different ways. To say you won't succeed unless you track is a comment I find a little hard to swallow.

I never see people that track their food come back years later talking about regain. All the people that come back looking for help because they have regained, don't track or stopped tracking.

Yes, some people can be successful not tracking, but even you just admitted that you track your food. You track it by eating the same things. I can eat a pound of pork chops a day, not track my food and know my protein, carbs and calories. I dont have to track that because it is simple, but I track it anyway.

You have almost the same surgery date as me, we aren't even 2 years out, we are not long term sleevers. I have never seen a long term 5 year plus Vet that tracks, regain. Which is why I track.

I prefer to track on paper in a daily calendar book I carry in my purse. Using apps takes too long.

12 hours ago, OutsideMatchInside said:

I never see people that track their food come back years later talking about regain. All the people that come back looking for help because they have regained, don't track or stopped tracking.

Yes, some people can be successful not tracking, but even you just admitted that you track your food. You track it by eating the same things. I can eat a pound of pork chops a day, not track my food and know my protein, carbs and calories. I dont have to track that because it is simple, but I track it anyway.

You have almost the same surgery date as me, we aren't even 2 years out, we are not long term sleevers. I have never seen a long term 5 year plus Vet that tracks, regain. Which is why I track.

As I said in the post following the one you quoted.

19 hours ago, _Kate_ said:

I would also like to add that pre surgery I would go out a lot for meals, I have a very sociable job, a family who go out a lot together and a good bunch of friends. I still go out a lot now I am maintaining. I don't want to be sat with friends having a great night thinking, omg I can't weigh the food and track. I am glad I have learnt an internal strategy which allows me to scan a plate of food and be secure in the knowledge that I will be okay. Protein first a little veg afterwards, no crap carbs. I am not saying everyone can do that but I was obsessive about food before the VSG and there's not a cat in hells chance I will be like that now.

Oh i did track for the first year, learnt about nutrition and set myself up for healthy food choices for the future.

I now follow more of a mindful way of eating. I am certainly not being nit picky about everything which goes past my lips every day of the year and that's MY choice and it works for me. What works for one won't for another so we cannot predict things will work for everyone the same way. I don't eat a poor 'diet'. I am VERY strict as to what I eat but I am comfortable not noting it all down. I eat clean and I have maintained lower than my goal weight for a while. My surgeon gave me a predicted goal of 160 lol yet here I am at 135. So it's working for ME.

If I start putting weight on, then maybe I will need to think of other things to stay accountable. See you in 3 years and congratulations on your success so far.

Kate

4 minutes ago, _Kate_ said:

As I said in the post following the one you quoted.

Oh i did track for the first year, learnt about nutrition and set myself up for healthy food choices for the future.

I now follow more of a mindful way of eating. I am certainly not being nit picky about everything which goes past my lips every day of the year and that's MY choice and it works for me. What works for one won't for another so we cannot predict things will work for everyone the same way. I don't eat a poor 'diet'. I am VERY strict as to what I eat but I am comfortable not noting it all down. I eat clean and I have maintained lower than my goal weight for a while. My surgeon gave me a predicted goal of 160 lol yet here I am at 135. So it's working for ME.

If I start putting weight on, then maybe I will need to think of other things to stay accountable. See you in 3 years and congratulations on your success so far.

Kate

I have been reading your posts for a while now, and I have a lot of respect for you and the work you have done during your weight loss journey. I think the issue here is that most people on this site are not years out from surgery like you are. It appears that most vets have gone for one reason or another, and the site is largely pre-op people and recently-sleeved people. When they read things like "I don't need to track because of x, y, and z," they immediately apply that to their situation. (Just like people get all upset that they don't lose 30 or 40 pounds a month because someone else did. And they don't take into account someone else weighed 500 pounds when they started and not the 225 they weigh.) And when you read some of these posts every day (as I know you do), some of the things they say that they do are downright scary!

I agree that there is not one way to get to goal in this journey. I am just 5 months out, so tracking is a must for me, and given my anal personality, it probably always will be. It keeps me accountable at all times, and I need that to stay on the right track. But, that's me. You are rocking it, so if not tracking works for you, then more power to you, my friend!

Thanks for your insights on this and other posts!!

Blair

I concede Blair, hence me saying that I worked really hard the first year learning about nutrition and tracking etc etc. Tracking is great for so many people and more power to those who do. I'm a little OCD about certain things and wanted to get to the point where I didn't have to track anymore as it could have become a very dark place for me but would certainly do it again for the short term if I felt I needed to.

I tend to post about my experience and not tell people the right and wrong way to do things because who am I to say that. I am an expert in me though. So "written in stone comments" tend to get the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I have also just had all my dressings changed at hospital (plastics) and I'm having a pity party at the moment. God it hurts when they rip those suckers off your skin lol.

Thanks for the compliments . I am back in work next week so will probably go back to lurking. Eleven weeks off has nearly driven me bonkers. Love the new profile pic btw !!

Kate

10 minutes ago, _Kate_ said:

I concede Blair, hence me saying that I worked really hard the first year learning about nutrition and tracking etc etc. Tracking is great for so many people and more power to those who do. I'm a little OCD about certain things and wanted to get to the point where I didn't have to track anymore as it could have become a very dark place for me but would certainly do it again for the short term if I felt I needed to.

I tend to post about my experience and not tell people the right and wrong way to do things because who am I to say that. I am an expert in me though. So "written in stone comments" tend to get the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I have also just had all my dressings changed at hospital (plastics) and I'm having a pity party at the moment. God it hurts when they rip those suckers off your skin lol.

Thanks for the compliments . I am back in work next week so will probably go back to lurking. Eleven weeks off has nearly driven me bonkers. Love the new profile pic btw !!

Kate

11 weeks -- wow -- I bet you are going crazy. I took 6.5 weeks after my surgery in September, and that was the perfect amount of time. (And being consumed with the food stages took up most of my time anyway.) And don't get me started on ripping off bandages. That is terrible in any circumstance.

I hope you continue to feel better. Keep rocking it, my friend!

If you guys haven't tried it yet, I really love the Baritastic app. It's meant for bariatric patients. I think it's better and easier to than FitBit and MyFitnessPal.

On 3/6/2017 at 2:05 PM, orionburn said:

Most foods on an app like Myfitnesspal will give you options on serving size - ounces, grams, cups, etc. I've entered a lot of staple recipes into my food journal. For instance tuna salad. I list out all my ingredients and I can dictate what a serving size is. That way if I put something in and say it serves 8 people then it's saying each portion size is 1/2 a cup (or whatever). It takes some time but it's worth it.

OMG, i just did this with my homemade chili today. Can you say shoot me now? LOL Thankfully, i love chili, so i'm sure i'll be thankful every time i have a cup of it now.