Let's Dish!!! Do You Still Like To Cook and Interact With Food?

[dreamingsmall 1,125]

1I had over 100+lbs to lose and now 57lbs left just four months in. Your right I'm not interested in fancy food. But my food does taste delicious or I wouldn't be able to eat it.

I love halloumi cheese and cucumber at the moment so I use two slices of cucumber and some fried halloumi in the middle like alittle sand which the hot cheese with cold cucumber is so nice.

[dreamingsmall 1,125]

6 hours ago, Sosewsue61 said:

Well my snag is I am raising 10yr old and 7yr old granddaughters - so I have to add some starch in there. My plan is to just add a noodle dish or something for them. We already grill a lot, all winter even. And these girls will eat real food, prefer real food - fish, vegetables, salads, fruit, Coq au vin, venison chili, etc. Of course they will eat brats, burgers, tacos, spaghetti, too!!!

My goal is to lose 60 - 65 pounds from today - 200.5. I hope to just concentrate on the Protein and a few bites of vegetables as well. I really only go all out at holidays with the pie thing, and whole t-giving dinner. Christmas is prime rib, asparagus, salad, wild rice dish - but if I can't tolerate the beef I will make a chicken thigh or something w asparagus.

Its honestly not hard with kids. Like I made my toddlers Pasta with a nice tomatoe sauce with corn and meat balls and cheese. I made the meatballs in the oven. Before throwing in the pot with everything. My meatballs are separate so I'll just have the meatballs and some sauce. So I always Cook the meat separate. I'm allowed pasta on my plan but don't crave it.

Good luck with your goal! You can do it!!

[Kat410 423]

10 hours ago, FluffyChix said:

Do you still like to cook and interact with food now that you are either on the other side, or are seriously knuckling down to your pre-surgery diets? Do you try new recipes and like/love cooking still (if you ever did)? Or do you seek to just "getterdone", you know, get in, get out, get on with your life? Gimme the straight skinny on how and what/why you put food down your pie hole now that you're gellin' like fellon!

Inquiring minds and all...

I love to cook and am a pretty darn good cook. I kept that sort of stuff "out of my space" so to speak during the pre-op diet and the post op liquid/pureed stage. But shortly after that went back to hosting dinner & cocktail parties.

I have found it oddly satisfying to cook and not eat. Somehow cooking satisfies a big part of what is no longer satisfied by eating. Part of it is creative, doing something that people love, creating a great environment and experience for people.

A few weeks ago I hosted a birthday party for a friend and cooked for 20 people in my NYC apartment. I made sautéed jumbo shrimp with blacked corn and jalapenos, carnitas, lime crema, home made pico, a grits casserole, roasted cumin heirloom carrots, a variety of aps - the whole thing was about 10 hours of cooking and prepping with two friends.

When it was meal time, I made a teeny tiny plate of Protein, ate half of it and had no regrets.

[Meryline 546]

I love food, and I still love meal prep, because of the convenience during the week. I just go to my freezer or fridge, pick out 2-3 meals that I heat up during the day. I also of course eat Breakfast (oats) and cook a fresh warm meal.

I do have some staples that I use a lot, but I'm venturing out more and more. And I always try to figure out how to get the most amount of Protein into my meal lol

[BDME 138]

Do you still like to cook and interact with food now that you are either on the other side, or are seriously knuckling down to your pre-surgery diets? Do you try new recipes and like/love cooking still (if you ever did)? Or do you seek to just "getterdone", you know, get in, get out, get on with your life? Gimme the straight skinny on how and what/why you put food down your pie hole now that you're gellin' like fellon!
Inquiring minds and all...

I’ve always loved cooking. This hasn’t changed with the surgery. I cook more now I think because I am watching what I put into my body more. I didn’t have a pre surgery diet so I kinda did my last hurrah the week before and ate whatever i wanted. My last meal before surgery was Chinese food.

Now I use Pinterest to find flavorful recipes that are also healthy. I have to have flavor. Anything bland and I won’t eat it. I made a “lasagna” Sunday night that I used spaghetti squash instead of Pasta. It came out great. I made turkey meat balls and used zucchini noodles as a base instead of pasta. I eat a lot of fish with white wine or butter lemon sauces. I try to stay away from carbs as much as possible but I slip up sometimes. I was never going into this thinking I had to give up anything permanently. I’m going to still eat the occasion slice of pie, have the occasional jack and coke, and I’m never giving up pizza. I think it’s all about balance. I am 4 weeks out and about 40lbs down. Hope this helps!

[FluffyChix 17,409]

Wow! I overslept this morning and am reading your responses. It's really giving me a lot to digest! Get it? Digest? I want to respond to many of you. Lemme slurp down a cuppa and I will bbiaf!! ((hugs)) To each of you major inspirations!

[FluffyChix 17,409]

@dreamingsmallLove your food and the way you work around your family and yourself! So practical and it sounds like you've found the right balance for you!! Ha! This weekend I just made our dad's meatballs and sauce that are famous in our family. We make them every year and share with "the sistahs" and it was my turn this year. Funny you should mention baking them, but for the first time evs, I took a shortcut and instead of pan frying in olive oil, I baked 'em! They came out great, but have less fat and took a LOT less time! Love the idea of pre-cooking the balls, freezing them, then serving them with a tad of sauce, some spinach or zoodles! Meal done (for us)!! I was surprised that I didn't want to cheat with them while I was cooking. This is the first big carb monkey recipe I've cooked for the holidays. Before this, it's been very austere, sparse, but very flavorful cooking on this diet!

@Kat410Good Gawd Marge! I wanna come to one of your parties!!! They sound fabulous!!! Maybe that's the answer? Maybe it's respect the no hunger thing in the beginning, to get things on track? Then once a lot of the weight has come off, I can re-introduce the idea of more food interaction? I really feel energized by the interaction as you do: planning, cooking for others, serving others, making them feel loved and honored. I agree it's the whole family nurturing experience of food is love. Is that wrong to feel that way? Do I doom myself to failure long term if I fail to sever this relationship?

@Meryline I love your approach. I'm doing this now with meats. I still prepare fresh veggies (pre-op so much more room for them) at each meal, and Breakfast is new each day too. But it's dramatically cut down on the amount of time spent in preparation of the meal. You're my RDs wet dream, girl! LOL. In every session she's all about "think how to maximize the Protein in that meal!" LOL!!! Well at 100lbs lost, you're doing something VERY right my friend!!!

@BDME Congrats on the 40lbs girlie!!! Love your food subs!! And I agree, even simple food must have flavor!! Love the low carb alternatives to the high carb "crush" food. I used to be a huge Pasta girl. I swear, I could eat a lb of pasta and used to think that was a serving. LOL. No wonder I was 325lbs on a 5'4" small frame, right? I do think having small treats now and then are good. I'm hoping though, that I can defer those treats for the first 6 months! With my metabolism and challenges of drugs, I feel almost frantic to capitalize on that short window of opportunity the malabsorption from my RNY will offer. You know?

Wow! Very cool conversations everyone!!! So thinking new thoughts...like maybe it IS ok to still be a foodie. I'm just so afraid to Carnie Wilson the crap out of this opportunity. Cuz this is my golden shot...you know?

[Sosewsue61 3,185]

Yeah, but Carnie had 2 kids, and stretched her pouch. The big keys are never never ever overeat the sleeve- which is what she did, Protein first, 64oz+ liquids.....

[BDME 138]

Oh you are having RNY! I’m not sure if your food requirements for that is different from sleeve which is what I got. I wish you the best!

[FluffyChix 17,409]

5 minutes ago, Sosewsue61 said:

Yeah, but Carnie had 2 kids, and stretched her pouch. The big keys are never never ever overeat the sleeve- which is what she did, Protein first, 64oz+ liquids.....

Sure...its the overeating her sleeve which I'm concerned about. LOL. I just am trying to figure out for my personal situation, the degree that I will have to go to keep me from overeating my pouch. But I also suspect rich foods, food obsession, and alcohol played a contributing roll in Carnie's regain. I know weight gain with kids is a real issue and that it is doubly hard to lose it afterward...but I somehow think the first part of this is more in play?

@BDMEPretty much, our food requirements/limits are the same. Slightly smaller for pouch v. sleeve but it's essentially a similar journey. My Vitamin requirements are set in stone and different from a VSG, though!

[Sosewsue61 3,185]

Yeah, but Carnie had 2 kids, and stretched her pouch. The big keys are never never ever overeat the sleeve- which is what she did, Protein first, 64oz+ liquids.....

Carnie does have a lot of demons, her family had/has major issues......I wish her well, but I still don't get the whole 'opening a bakery' thing.

[FluffyChix 17,409]

@Sosewsue61IKR?! The whole bakery thing! That's what made me start this post. Carnie's bakery made me think about my own life and food journey. I know I'm a foodie. I know I can be food obsessed. I used to keep a low carb food blog (Fluffy Chix Cook), but it's not active any longer. I had to quit for health reasons and my lymphedema was off the charts and flaring so badly that working was exhausting. I concentrated on low carb, healthy, but VERY rich homecooking-Southern and Tex Mex. Even though it was healthy, I still stayed fat/morbidly obese! Clearly it was still not a good thing to do, cuz I was still dealing with food WAY too much and still eating too much to lose weight.

So now I'm trying to understand whether I should just break the food interaction entirely or in part? Is there a food life after surgery? Or would it only lead me down Carnie and her bakery's path? Should I track my journey and re-open the blog? Or would that be so stupid? Cuz the one thing I canNOT let happen is to not make my goal (hopefully within the first 6months to a year). I figure 10lbs/month is fairly realistic goal for me--at least initially. I think I will be about 220lbs at surgery (after the liquid diet), so think I should be somewhere close to 160lbs (which is my oncologist's goal for me). My first goal though is to be the same weight I was in high school, which was 150lbs.

I just know that I can't fool myself into believing that the surgery will be a cure-all. (I think maybe Carnie bought into that myth.) The surgery will help me lose the weight. It's the retraining of my brain and behaviors that will help me maintain the loss. And I don't know if my food obsession will allow me to have partial. I sense it's an all or nothing journey...well not really black and white thinking...but more like 90/10 (maybe 80/20, but I think the 80/20 may be a slippery slope for me).

[Sosewsue61 3,185]

@FluffyChix You know, I had to think really hard during the pre-op phase about those same things. It was a slow process, I tried to conclude that in my lifetime I had already experienced the flavors of wonderful food - I know what my pie tastes like - lol. I decided food needed to 'serve me' and that mediocre food would not touch my plate - after suffering through the initial healing food stages of course. I plan on pretending that Michelin 5-Star restaurant food in tiny portions would be how I want to eat. Three bites of pork medallion sautéed in madeira, w two roasted brussel sprouts w/ gruyere sauce. Because I am f****** worth it!!! Finally.

During this time, I did the original Atkins version, read the book with new eyes - it wasn't a free for all like some interpretations, (eat 3 plates of bacon covered in cheese) if you read it thoroughly. He said eat until satisfied - not full. (Only put ONE T of cream in your coffee, only 1oz of hard cheese as a serving). I didn't get crazy with it, and I did visit some old food demons, but wrote in a journal to see why I even wanted to eat at that moment. I had to break the anxiety causing part of it, that is my demon - not the food, the food was trying to be medicine - well it doesn't effing work!!! So journal some more, work on the anxiety.

We are all a work in progress, I hope that this is everyone! Some have such hard addictions to some foods that it might be better to never eat them again - potato chips cannot come into my house ever, that rule was already in place. Some people need rigid routine and more bland options - else tempt the tastebuds and bam set off a rash of overeating.

Right now - I am not hungry at all and not craving anything, not phening to create a masterpiece. I hope it lasts. I may go the 90/10 route during maintenance for treats - you know the three bites of my grand marnier cheesecake w almond crust. Time will tell. During this first 6 months, I too plan to maximize the surgery boost.

[DropWt4Life 957]

I have always had a love of food, which many will say was unhealthy, and I agree...I did go overboard. I just ate too much, pure and simple. I don't think that my food choices were necessarily the culprit though. I loved to make great tasting foods healthier...Still do. I just don't go out to eat that much, and don't snack on crap. My little gift from the surgeon also allows me to eat a lot less. I believe that those three things were the culprit.

So, I love to meal prep and make staples on Saturdays and Sundays. I make a lot...Enough for probably 8-12 meals. I end up freezing some of it for another time, so I tend to have a huge selection of healthier TV dinners in my freezer. It is just easier for me that way.

I actually made a Vegetarian King Ranch chicken casserole last week. I pretty much followed the Ro-Tel instructions, but replaced the chicken with half chopped up Quorn chicken strips, and half chopped up mushrooms. I then also added in two pounds of fresh spinach to the recipe along with Light Cream of Mushroom instead of regular Cream of Chicken and Cream of Mushroom . It turned out great. The calories and fat were cut in half, and the Fiber and Protein were increased at the same time. I only allowed myself four ounces of the stuff per sitting, and that is it. I would normally have six or seven times that.

I enjoy food today just as much as I always have. I just make it healthier, eat way less of it, and find a way to fit it into my diet in a way that doesn't destroy my progress.

I eat a lower fat, lower calorie diet, focusing on getting a mix of different nutrients. I feel that I need fiber, polyphenols and antioxidants almost as much as I need protein and healthy fats, so I try to eat lots of vegetables, fruit, and ancient grains as well. I don't have room to eat as much of those things as I would like, but I'm working on it.

[FluffyChix 17,409]

@Sosewsue61 This whole post resonates with me! Thank you for writing out such a well-thought post! I the part about Atkins. You are SO right! He wanted us to use the Atkins Diet as a means to control appetite in order to see "how little" we need to only extinguish hunger, rather than become a free for all protein/fat feast. People are such interesting animals, aren't we? We just kinda automatically trend towards all-or-nothing principles! That dangerous black and white thinking. Because even though he said, "Moderate Protein and eat only until the hunger is resolved, but not until full," we still took it to mean, "Wango Tango! It's a Free For All, Baby!"

I know when I was developing recipes, it was very easy to "over taste" and not count the licks, bites, and tastes. And then would sit down to a meal and eat every last. damn. bite. I was a founding member of the clean-plate-club! LOL. Regardless of mindful satiety status! Haha! Full? Yessindeeedyyyy! I WANTED that full tummy feeling. It felt comforting. Familiar. Like nothing could harm me. Like there wouldn't be deprivation ahead or ever. LIke I was safe.

Love the whole work in progress. Gosh so much headwork. I work on it all the time! Do you?