I eat the following everyday.

2 eggs and Bacon with one peice of toast

3 chicken fingers and a side of potatoes

Cornbread and butter with a small peice of meat

My concern is that I obviouly am not getting the variety I need. I am concerned but the reason I eat this is because it works and never gets stuck. Each day I go to bed full and satisfied. I am at goal weight now but concerned that I cant keep my calorie intake up high enough to work out. I can maintain my weight fine but I am right on the border of dropping to low. Everytime I go to the doctor they take out .5 cc and it usally kicks off a yo yo affect of filling and unfilling. I thought I had finally settled on a fill amount but dont know. Everything resolves around how moist the food is I guess. Im confused.

i'm just curious to know...how much weight u've lost....

no fruits, veggies, grains, dairy (cheese, milk, yogurt / etc)?

personally i get bored - so i have to mix it up A LOT & with working out, especially weight training i need the good carbs & dairy.

you seem protein / carb heavy - but that's just my opinion & doesn't work for me personally...plus i crave veggies too much.

That behavior will only last so long. You will eventually get stuck, it happens to all of us...but you will need to implement healthier choices...chicken fingers are fatty, and fully of preservatives! You need vegetables, and good fats in your diet. Bacon is full of fat and cholesterol...you basically loosing weight, but your building plaque in your arteries that you wont necessarily see...but over time it can cause problems. I would personally look at finding other foods to implement into your diet. Good Luck!

Let me add a little more info,

I play basketball 2 nights a week and the above mentioned food in during the work week. I have only eaten like this for about 3 months and I have been banded about 16 months total. I started out around 300 and ended up at 201. 6'3 tal

I know I need to add some variety. I am fine with the breakfast but lunch and dinner need fruit and veggies. Right now I feel like my choices are so limited but I will try some other items. I know bread is out regardless of how well it is chewed.

Surely soft steamed vegies go down? With maybe just a bit of butter and salt and pepper - yum.

Or mash them in with potato.

I'm all for "normal" diets with the band and I can do it but for many I think the reality is a staple stock of moist foods that work. But there's a LOT you can eat within this description.

Have you tried, for example, cooking other meats in the slow cooker with liquids. I dont think I'll be eating too many lamb chops straight off the barbecue in my future, but a steak cooked in the slow cooker in cream of mushroom soup - easy to eat. Curries and casseroles cooked on low heat for long times - fantastic.

Oatmeal can be as soft as you need and its fantastic made into bircher muesli - soak oats, seeds, and some cut up dried fruits in apple juice overnight, in the morning stir in some natural yogurt - a lovely mushie breakfast.

You just need to be creative in the kitchen, knowing what to do with basic ingredients makes banded life a lot easier.

well i'm not a doctor, but my advice is if it's working for you...go with it, but make sure you get your vitamins in because you're not getting them with food.

i would maybe sneak in some milk though...or yogurt or something. just realize you can't eat like that for the rest of your life..ya know? so when you're ready you may want to introduce some other foods.

i know how it feels though to stick with what works. I eat lean cuisines during the week like they are going out of style!!! i just can't muster up the energy to cook after the gym. not the most healthy option, but it works for me.

Good luck!! Seems like you're doing great.

Just because youre eating the required amount of protein doesn't mean your body is getting everything that it needs. Your body requires 21 essential amino acids, which are in the protein you eat. However, different forms of protein (beef, chicken, eggs, nuts) all are made of different KINDS of amino acids. So if you are only eating one or two kinds of protein you may not be getting all of the amino acids that your body requires. This can lead to many health problems, realized or not. (AMINO ACIDS AND VITAMINS/MINERALS ARE NOT THE SAME THING, YOU NEED BOTH)

*Note- eggs are the best source of protein, because they are 94% complete protein (they have 94% of the 21 essential amino acids that you need). But even eating just eggs still won't provide you will all the amino acids you need to survive.

I got in a rut with food choices as well after being banded for a while. The trick is just to add something new in every once in a while. You don't have to change everything all at once, just do one thing different every day. Your body will thank you for it. Eventhough you can take vitamins, it is still better to get them through healthy food choices.

One thing I found is after eating eggs every single day for months . . . I can almost never eat them now. I got bored almost out of my mind with them and can barely tolerate them now. Eventually you will probably get sick of the same old same old.

Dr. Oz (the dude who is on Oprah) says that an eating routine is good for our bodies. I read that in his book "You on a Diet", I think.

My husband is a type-1 diabetic (all his life) and he knows that his blood sugar is stable when he stays consistent. He tries to do the same breakfast and lunch most days, but changes it up for dinner. This repetition is also often recommended in the diabetes circles for good control.

However, whatever your pattern is, it should be nutritionally comprehensive, or as close as possible. And of course a multivitamin and such can help supplement.

I know it flies in the face of a lot of what we hear out there on nutrition, this approach. It's always difficult for people (even us, ourselves) to feel comfortable when we're doing that. But my view is to question and research - read opinions from those who support and from those who oppose the conventional wisdom.

(My own belief is that our experts are still learning an awful lot and so many of the things we've learned or are even currently told are not necessarily FACT... if it doesn't resonate with me, whatever I'm told, I research and question and assess for myself.)

I agree entirely! I dont think it was all a huge con when they told us to eat high carb, low fat back in the 80's and 90's. I think its what all evidence pointed to as being correct at the time. I also think it went off the rails becuase people tend to eat HIGH carb, HIGH sugar and HIGH fat, they dont follow the healthy food pyramid AT ALL. Now there's lots of evidence that a Protein based diet is it and a bit and so we're leaning that way. I think in time we'll see the flaws in that as well.

I personally feel most comfortable eating everything in moderation and eating what makes me feel good and function well.

But there's a different focus in controlling diabetes and indeed, I can see the sense in eating the same things becuase you know that they help you control the condition.

HeatherO - the pic of u in the big chair looks like one I've seen in Bangkok, Thailand!

HeatherO - the pic of u in the big chair looks like one I've seen in Bangkok, Thailand!

It was taken in Niagara Falls, Canada in the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum. It is supposed to be a chair made specially for the tallest man in the world.

Although . . . to be perfectly honest, I would have much rather have been exploring Thailand :0). You are lucky to have had that opportunity.