Portion Help needed

[Eileenpet]

Hi I am 25 months post op Gastric Bypass Surgery . For last 7 months I have just eaten & watched scale go up & down. Again & again. I have 70 lbs left to lose and I don't know how much I should be eating at this stage. I do not want to stretch my pouch. Any advice would be appreciated even if it's approximates. It's better than gaining back all my loss. Thank you

 

[Eileenpet]

You can't stretch your pouch. Research it and you'll find out. The tissue the stomach is made of is thick and doesn't stretch without a great deal of pulling with tools. One reason I know this is that I grew up on a farm and we butchered a steer every year for food. We kids played with the guts (farm kids, go figure) and it was almost impossible to stretch them at all.

Your stomach is no different in terms of tissue makeup. It's almost impossible to stretch. Don't take my word for it. Do research on the internet and you'll see it's true.

As to the scale going up and down, and the weight you have left to lose, I'd suggest you go back to your post-op diet. Use a scale and measuring cups & spoons. A portion of meat or fish should be the size of a pack of cards.

And keep a journal of every bite or crumb of food you eat, including licking the spoon you stir your dinner with while it cooks. Every single bite. This is super-important because the strongest driver of an eating disorder is denial--or in other words, lying to yourself. That sounds rude, but it's not. It's factual. Once you start keeping track, you'll see all the ways you get extra calories into your otherwise obedient day.

Obesity is the result of an eating disorder. No one wants to believe they have an eating disorder, but if we didn't have one, we wouldn't be obese or ever need surgery.

Best of luck to you. You can get back on track if you make a commitment to be compliant with your foods and portions.

Thank you. I lost 300 lbs but when the struggles start its like you forget everything you know . Thank you for the info

 

[FinallyMe]

I agree with Diane. I had my surgery a year ago, August 2. I have lost 105 of the 120 lbs I planned to lose. I am over the moon with my steady progress until I got to July of this year i had steady decline on my app's graph. I tracked every morsel and sip. Then I started relaxing and having 4th meals, and popcorn with late night tv after I knew I had eaten my plan earlier in the day. It is very hard to stop those bad habits from creeping back in. My pouch is no bigger but if you wait an hour you can eat again even though you shouldn't. I still have random acquaintances stop me to say how good I look, and how I am feeling. I decided from the beginning, to take it as a positive and say thank you and acknowledge it is hard work and determination but so worth it and speak encouragement to myself. However, now that I have almost arrived and feel good about how I look and feel, it is hard not to let my guard down and relax. You have lost a lot already and even though you are not at your goal weight, you must feel amazing compared to when you started. Surely, people you know have noticed and let you know. Be patient with yourself, it is okay to plateau for a bit, but it will take determination to get back on track and push toward the finish line. I am right there with you, we all are. You got this!

 

[sunshineandrainbows]

I agree with Diane. I had my surgery a year ago, August 2. I have lost 105 of the 120 lbs I planned to lose. I am over the moon with my steady progress until I got to July of this year i had steady decline on my app's graph. I tracked every morsel and sip. Then I started relaxing and having 4th meals, and popcorn with late night tv after I knew I had eaten my plan earlier in the day. It is very hard to stop those bad habits from creeping back in. My pouch is no bigger but if you wait an hour you can eat again even though you shouldn't. I still have random acquaintances stop me to say how good I look, and how I am feeling. I decided from the beginning, to take it as a positive and say thank you and acknowledge it is hard work and determination but so worth it and speak encouragement to myself. However, now that I have almost arrived and feel good about how I look and feel, it is hard not to let my guard down and relax. You have lost a lot already and even though you are not at your goal weight, you must feel amazing compared to when you started. Surely, people you know have noticed and let you know. Be patient with yourself, it is okay to plateau for a bit, but it will take determination to get back on track and push toward the finish line. I am right there with you, we all are. You got this!

If you don't mind me asking do you have any tips for the popcorn part? I have noticed i've done a lot of mindless, and grazing eating and it seems very hard to break. I am only 6 weeks post op...

 

[Eileenpet]

I agree with Diane. I had my surgery a year ago, August 2. I have lost 105 of the 120 lbs I planned to lose. I am over the moon with my steady progress until I got to July of this year i had steady decline on my app's graph. I tracked every morsel and sip. Then I started relaxing and having 4th meals, and popcorn with late night tv after I knew I had eaten my plan earlier in the day. It is very hard to stop those bad habits from creeping back in. My pouch is no bigger but if you wait an hour you can eat again even though you shouldn't. I still have random acquaintances stop me to say how good I look, and how I am feeling. I decided from the beginning, to take it as a positive and say thank you and acknowledge it is hard work and determination but so worth it and speak encouragement to myself. However, now that I have almost arrived and feel good about how I look and feel, it is hard not to let my guard down and relax. You have lost a lot already and even though you are not at your goal weight, you must feel amazing compared to when you started. Surely, people you know have noticed and let you know. Be patient with yourself, it is okay to plateau for a bit, but it will take determination to get back on track and push toward the finish line. I am right there with you, we all are. You got this!

Thank you. And yes I feel better just found alot of health concerns hiding under all the weight.

 

[dianeseattle]

portion control is essential. make sure you have measuring spoons and cups, and a postal scale or something similar. I know I was shocked at the results when I started weighing and measuring.

 

[trnsmaster]

Hi I am 25 months post op Gastric Bypass Surgery . For last 7 months I have just eaten & watched scale go up & down. Again & again. I have 70 lbs left to lose and I don't know how much I should be eating at this stage. I do not want to stretch my pouch. Any advice would be appreciated even if it's approximates. It's better than gaining back all my loss. Thank you

After the surgeries I followed deck of cards size for protein . One cup for veggies .
Bought some paper French fry boats from restraunt supply that only hold cup of veggies and the deck of cards portion of protein . Just put the two boats on a plate .

 

[dianeseattle]

If you don't mind me asking do you have any tips for the popcorn part? I have noticed i've done a lot of mindless, and grazing eating and it seems very hard to break. I am only 6 weeks post op...

I know this is an old post and may not be seen by the author, but I wanted to share this, because I think it's harder to back off from snacking than it is to adopt healthy portion controls. (though popcorn wouldn't be recommended for six weeks post op--but would be considered solid food)

So, allowing popcorn really made things easier for me. I didn't have to have the greasy, salty, movie-theater, or popped on the stove stuff I'd eaten all my life. The reason all microwave ovens have a POPCORN setting is because it's perfect for making it. You can pop corn in a paper lunch sack if you don't have a microwave popper. Either way, here's what I do to make it snackable.

I only use vegetable spray any time I have to saute or fry anything. In the case of popcorn, I buy the butter flavored spray. It's olive oil or vegetable oil, flavored to taste like butter. I spray it on my popped corn in the bowl or bag, then season with various types of salt (like Johnny's seasoning salt) and herbs like dill or pepper or dried peppers.

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One of the first things I used for a topping was large-flake nutritional yeast. It is sooooooo delicious on popcorn with salt. It's nutty and "round" tasting. You can buy yeast in bulk and it's also good on pasta and salads and broiled fish and... a whole lot of things. It adds a big nutritional health bomb to anything you sprinkle it on.

In the last year or two I discovered Andre the Farmer's Sweet and Hot Pepper Sauce. He's been gaining success and now you can buy it on Amazon, or directly from him. You can find him in a web search. I am in love with this stuff. I could literally drink it from the bottle. Even if you don't like hot sauce, this is incredible. It's NOT hot sauce;; it's pepper sauce, and there's a big difference.

Of course, the goal is to eat like "normal people," but a lot of us realized we don't have the restraint or the metabolism or whatever they have, so we can't just snack without thinking. But these popcorn hacks have really worked for me.