I've read a lot of different things and am a little confused!

I have read things that say you should eat 3 oz of meat, then if you have room, some vegetables, and only if you STILL have room should you eat starch.

I've also read that folks do Weight Watchers style diets.

But in my opinion, if you're only able to eat 1/2 c at a time, a few times a day, why not eat WHATEVER you want? (within limits, of course...nobody should eat ice cream 3 times a day...) Whatever doesn't get you stuck, that is....Portion control, right?

I understand that some folks need specialized diets for health reasons. But do others sort of "preach" the meat, veggies (starch) because it's healthy and not likely to lead to cravings or overeating?

Would some of you mind telling this newbie WHAT you eat?!

Thanks!

I don't diet. I do portion control. So as you say I eat what I want within reason. I try to eat from as wide a range of foods as possible and I also try to eat fresh rather than processed.Sometimes I eat icecream but no not 3 times a day. LOL

I also mix my foods up when I eat so would find it hard to eat Protein first then veg then carbs. I prefer to have a bite of this a bite of that etc.

For me this has been one of the best things about the band. I now eat like a skinny person.That is I eat what I want and am satisfied with much smaller amounts. I also don't feel hungry the whole time in between meals.Sometimes my food choices might be strange but if that is what my body wants then that is what I am going to give it.e.g I just ate abowl of natural muesli with greek yogurt for lunch! Normally I would have tuna and salad or a sandwich or something but today I felt like Cereal.

Everyone is different and each person does need to work out what works for them as there is no "one size fits all rule".

Good luck

I eat what I want within reason.

I dont really agree with the protein/then vegies/then starch mantra. My take on it is that on such small servings (I eat about 3/4 of a cup at a time) we are going to be short on most things. To me, there is no point in the world focussing on Protein and only then vegies. You end up eating a chicken breast and 3 green Beans which to me is not a healthy meal, its a meal of only meat.

I say if you're going to be short of nutrients, then try to get a little bit of everything. So I tend to put a tiny bite of everything on my fork - some meat and some vegies at once and eat it all equally. I do leave out the starchy things like rice/potato etc becuase those truly are less valuable to me than protein and vegies. But I get a slice of wholegrain bread or a small serve of oatmeal or muesli most days.

Protein foods will fill you and keep you sated, no doubt it is an important nutrient but it is not the ONLY nutrient and it is not magic when it comes to weight loss.

And of course, there's times when you want cake for lunch and in my humble opinion as long as that's not all the time, so what? Have it. There's no such thing really as good food/bad food, only poor balance.

I refuse to diet ever again.

I am still really new and hunger is a huge issue for me. I have to watch my carbs. I was drinking a small glass of unsweetened lite cranberry juice in the morning with my Vitamins and by 9 am my hunger was out of control. I switched to a small drinkable yogurt and dont have the PAINS like I did.

I realize everyone is different. I can only tell people what is working for me. For me, I do 1/2 cup max meals 5-7 times a day. I focus on Protein and veggies. I do eat other things, but I always have some fat or protein with my carbs to try to limit their affect on my blood sugar. And once again, this is not for health reason as I do not have diabetes. It is to help me control my hunger which can get out of control on the small meals.

When my hunger is out of control, I choose poorly, eat quickly and dont chew like I should....all of which will get you in big trouble with a band.

I've read a lot of different things and am a little confused!!

I'm going with the "there's no such thing as a bad food...eat in moderation". So if I want a piece of pizza for lunch, that's what I'm going to have. Which is a lot different than having a half of a pizza for lunch.

I've never been much of a junk food or sweet eater and I have always had problems controlling my blood sugar since I was 13, first hypoglycemia, then diabetes, and have found that a high Protein, low carb diet with 6 meals a day works best at controlling my sugar levels.

So my meals tend to be protein first, good low carb vegies next and if I'm still wanting more, carbs last. During the weekdays, I do Protein shakes all day and then a normal meal in the evening. On weekends, I'll have one egg scrambled with some vegies and a slice of bacon for Breakfast. Lunch and dinner are usually 3-4 oz of protein, a low carb vegie and maybe some type of carb but a very minimal amount. In between meals I do low carb, low calorie protein shakes.

You need to find what works for you and what you can live with on a permanent basis.

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My nutritionist says you want to eat protein first because its the only thing that she cannot replace w/a supplement. Starches are completely unnecessary unless you are doing heavy heavy exercise. And, everything else can be covered by supplements if needed. Realistically, though, she says it is not that hard to get in the amount of protein you need, though. So, as long as you make sure to get it in as part of your meal, you don't necessarily need to eat it first. The problem is if you eat everything else first and then you have no room left for the protein. If your body doesn't get protein, it will burn/eat up you own muscle for protein. And, this is something we don't want because muscle helps us burn more calories so you want to lose as much fat as possible without losing muscle at the same time.

There's many experts who would disagree that you can replace anything with a supplement - there's a lot of complexity in the balance and combinations in which nutrients appear in foods that cant be replicated. How often, for example, do women take Iron they need desperately and simply fail to absorb it, showing no improvement when retested? Happens all the time, becuase the the various nutrients people take need other things to help them be absorbed or can even fight one another and prevent utilisation.

And a lot of us DO do heavy exercise, which increases our needs for both Protein AND for some carbohydrate to fuel it.

Its difficult isnt it? You simply cant get it all in as a bandster, but choosing one of the other isnt necessarily sound practice. I've gotten to the point with my exercise that I'm seriously considering an unfill to fuel myself because I tend to get really bad carb cravings lately simply because I cant eat enough to fuel myself - I'm doing bootcamp sessions that easily burn over 800 calories in an hour.

I think you have to go a bit by things like what makes you feel good, and what you can maintain too.

The Protein first thing just doesn't work for me. If I eat all my meat, especially chicken or even fish, I get stuck. It just sits there for hours. I need to eat a mix up my foods like elcee mentioned. salad or other veggies work well for me. It makes everything taste and feel better to me. I have to believe that it's better for us to eat a large variety of foods. I eat plenty of protein, but if all I was eating was boneless chicken breast for dinner, I'd have given this up a long time ago.

Cindy

I eat what I want - with that said , I dont eat crap all the time - not to say i dont have a bite of something - like my daughters birthday cake, but it was a bite.

I was never a breakfast eater and eating in the morning was really hard for me - but i found after the band i had stomach pains if i did not eat - so i have a super protien shake in the morning - usually drink it over the course of an hour -

lunch is either a lean cuisine type meal, at work i find that the easiest, or left over dinner, today will be a salad and 3 meatballs from the subs i made my family last night..

I try to stay away from breads and Pasta, only because i know i do well when i dont eat them all the time, I lost 97 on atkins a few years back and the low carb thing worked well for me.

I didnt have this band put in so i could "diet" for the rest of my life - i had it so i could eat like a normal person! Normal foods in small amounts - and that is what i am doing. I am 2 months out of surgery - as of last week i was down 26lbs , i have not weighed this week yet - wednesday is my weigh day at work. I have had one fill of 4cc and go back next monday for a second.

I dot fee restriction unless i dont chew or eat to fast then i feel "something"

i catch myself eating that last bite when i really should stop, hopefully this next fill will help that.

This is different for everyone, i tell you that as much as i remind myself that when i read these boards.. we are not so and so , and whosey lost this and whatsey lost that.. well they are them and we are us and we can can not compare - do what works for you!

This is such a refreshing thread to read! I am a total baby bandster (just finishing up week two), but like most of you said, I did this to eat normal, not to have to count calories, carbs, and Protein grams for the rest of my life.

In my baby bandster head, I keep thinking that if you can only eat about 3 cups of food per day, then you should be able to eat what you want (within reason - again, not ice cream three times per day) and still lose, because it would be very hard to eat more than 1200 calories in 3 cups of food unless you were swigging straight alfredo sauce! I might be wrong, but I am hopeful I'm right. :thumbup:

Amy

swigging alfredo sauce. LMAO thats funny. I also agree this thread is reassuring. I am only a baby bandster myself but I eat whatever i make my family( Ive always cooked healthy food with ALL the food groups, but wow! i ate like a full grown man so its so refreshing to eat like a little lady:)

There's many experts who would disagree that you can replace anything with a supplement.

Yeah, I know, that's just what my nutritionist said. And, she's basing it on my exercise level right now which totally does NOT include any bootcamp! LOL

I tend to eat low-moderate carb anyway. I have an intolerance to wheat so that rules out a lot of the carbs that I would LIKE to eat (like bread, Pasta, muffins, cake, etc.). Well, I can eat them, but I get horrible fatigue unless they are a gluten-free variety. I can eat non-wheat carbs like rice, corn, potato w/no problem, but I try to limit it. But, I do think sometimes you just need some. For example, yesterday, I just kept getting hungry every couple hours even though I was eating lots of Protein. I finally just ate a baked potato and I was fine. So, I am totally in agreement that there is something to all this nutrition stuff that I think NOBODY totally understands.

I think the average WLS patient just starting out probably does need to make sure they are at least getting in the 60-80 grams of protein that their surgeon/nutritionist probably recommends, though. I am not banded yet (9 more days!) so its hard for me to even imagine that this would be a problem. I could eat 60 grams of protein in one meal right now.

On the whole 'dieting' thing, I am averse to diets now as many of us are. I am willing to keep track of the protein for awhile until I get a good grasp that it will not be a problem for me to get in the minimum amount. I do much better w/minimums than maximums. :thumbup:

Everyone does things a little differently. I don't measure out my food. I did in the beginning when I didn't have restriction and could eat alot more. Now, I know when to stop eating and if I don't I'll pay the price. I do believe I eat more than 1/2 cup of food. That seems ridiculously small but like I said I don't measure so I'm not certain.

I also don't focus heavily on Protein. We're not malabsorbing with a LAP-BAND® and I don't keep my band so tight that I can't eat, so I'm not worried about not getting enough nutrients.

For Breakfast I'll have either fruit, oatmeal, Cereal, or sometimes just a nonfat mocha. lunch, I'll have a grilled chicken salad, chicken and brown rice, yogurt, or chili. dinner, I'll eat whatever the family is having. I'm not the fastest loser but this works for me without feeling deprived.

I think the whole population could do with a bit less carbs. When I say I eat them, I certainly dont need the 2 or 3 slices of bread, serve of cereal, Pasta and Cookies that I used to eat all in one day! I might have ONE of those things now.

I've definitely changed the protein/carb balance in my diet, without really counting, and it IS for the better.

Does anyone else find though - if I have a Protein shake for breakfast, I eat far less all day. People say protein provides good satiety - but I find I eat less because they make me slightly nauseous and VERY gassy and bloated. I just cant seem to tolerate them, its been the case everytime I've tried this protein thing - and boy oh boy after a day you wouldnt want to be downwind of me!

But the weight drops every time.

your posts are all fascinating to me -- thanks for the inspiration!!!

Does anyone else find though - if I have a Protein shake for breakfast, I eat far less all day. People say protein provides good satiety - but I find I eat less because they make me slightly nauseous and VERY gassy and bloated.

That's my experience...eating far less when I start the day with a shake, not the gassy/bloating thing. Thank goodness because shakes are my preferred method of eating during the day.

My husband made the observation that when I'm eating low carb (and that includes the shakes), my gassiness disappears completely.

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