I recently met a nutritionist as part of my surgical pathway. I’ve made a lot of good changes in the last few months and have managed to lose 14lbs...the hardest part for me losing more than that and keeping it off.

What changes did you make after meeting with the nutritionist?

What are your go to meals before surgery?

Scrambled eggs and geese or apples and peanut butter are my go to breakfast. Chicken Caesar salad for lunch and usually something like chicken with rice and broccoli for dinner. im slowly getting tired of chicken.

I was very lucky to have a nutritionist who was used to serving a diverse populations of people with very different nutritional preferences and cultural diets. (Kosher, Halal, Vegan, Vegetarian, Etc.)

She asked me what my favorite diet was....I said Mayo Clinic/Mediterranean....and we looked at some key factors of the diet and made a few adjustments to prepare for bariatric surgery, but mostly I was able to stick to my preferred plan....and even praised for it. (I do hit a higher protein goal than I was used to, but I do half of it in plant protein) I also reduced my carb side dishes to 1/4 cup instead of 1/2 cup. If it's a Vegan main dish, that's different....but a side of rice or potatoes with a protien is a much smaller portion now....and often omitted.

I'm discouraged when I hear about dietitians who only offer one approach and doctors who believe Keto is the only way to go. It works very well...but it doesn't work for everyone. I think patients are more compliant with plans they are comfortable with, and can maintain for a lifetime.

Glad to be working with a group that offers more than one way up that mountain!

Jersey, I'm a big fan of apples with natural peanut butter, too Had some for a snack tonight.

LOL...I understand chicken fatigue! Maybe try to switch things up with fish or turkey?

Congrats on your 14 pound loss!

Edited February 5, 20188 yr by Creekimp13

I just bought another $20 of chicken at Costco ?

I know I need to start deciding on protein drinks and powders soon. May is going to come quicker than I think. I’m a plain eater so it’s just a system of trial and error.

I tried black bean pasta from Trader Joe’s today. I’m going to need quite a bit of lite Prego sauce if I plan on eating that lol!!

6 hours ago, Jerseygirl4523 said:

What changes did you make after meeting with the nutritionist?

I use a side plate, NOT a dinner plate, for my meals.

I leave food on the plate if I can't fit it in or if I am feeling full enough or sated.

I use a cocktail fork with three small tines (rather than a regular dinner fork with four long sharp tines).

I eat cereal and soup with a teaspoon.

THESE WERE ALL IMPROVEMENTS FOR ME PRE-OP and POST-OP.

I began doing a food journal, that tracked every calorie that I ate. This process taught me where my problems were. So having a delicious milk shake at Steak and Shake became a permanent No-No.

One of the first changes I made was to get off my 6 diet coke a day habit. I knew that I had to get off caffeine and carbonated beverage, so I went cold turkey. I suffered through a week of caffeine withdrawal syndrome of severe headaches and body aches. But on that change alone, I lost 20 pounds.

So, most days I do a shake for breakfast - 1 cup of fairlife skim milk, scoop of protein powder, handful of frozen fruit. Most days, that will hold me until noon when I have my chicken and salad - sometimes chicken salad on salad. Afternoon snack is usually cheese - I need the extra protein. Dinner is whatever I make for the family - protein and veg.

As to pasta, I stayed away for 1 year. (For an Italian, it was hard) My go to now if I have pasta is the Barilla High Protein in the yellow box. I find it better than the other "substitute" pastas.

Some days for breakfast I'll have scrambled eggs with cheese, but on days when I'm on the way into the office I do a shake and coffee. I did not give up my coffee. My team was OK with it.

Lunch at the office is always a salad with 1 tablespoon of a vinaigrette dressing and about 3-4 ounces of protein - usually left over from dinner the night before. Snacks during the day are cheese or Oikos greek yogurt. Sometimes, a small apple.

Dinner is 3-5 ounces of protein and a vegetable - sometimes 1/2 of a baked potato. I make all kinds of proteins at home - fish, beef, chicken, pork. I find the denser the protein, the less I can eat - I can eat 5-6 ounces of cod at this point, but only about 3-4 ounces of beef.

Pinterest is your friend for meal planning. This week I have tons of leftovers - we had a sleepover for the 15 year old daughter so there were tacos - there's plenty of taco meat left which will be a taco salad for dinner tonight for me. I bought but didn't make chicken wings for the game yesterday and they will be dinner tomorrow. You've got this.

My RD was clear - protein and water first. Get your 60/60 in - 60g protein, 64 ounces water - daily. I shoot for about 90 g protein most days. Using MyFitnessPal to track my foods has helped quite a bit.