Question RE: Food Diary & Dietician

Hope that everyone is having a great Sunday!

I started keeping a food diary shortly after my surgery 2 weeks ago to show to the dietician at my appt next month & in it I've listed the following columns:

Date,   Time,   # of Days Post-Op,   Food,   Amount,   Protein.

Is there anything else I should be including? Will she want to see daily amounts for Fat, Carbs and Calories as well or is just the Protein amount enough for now?

What did you include in your daily food logs? 

My steri-strips are finally off and incisions seem to be really healing nicely. No pain at all, except from my back, which is normal for me.  The only thing that worries me is that when I eat, I often get a pain just behind my breastbone and a bit of a feeling of the food wanting to come back up a bit. I was worried that maybe I had a leak but after reading on here about leaks, I think I'd have other symptoms as well, such a a fever, nausea & vomiting. My guess is that I'm either eating a bit too fast or eating too much.  I had 5 saltines with just a dab of tuna on them & it started to hurt. Does it sound like over-eating to you?

I'm down 21 lbs since my surgery plus I lost 20 lbs on Optifast so I'm pretty happy with the way things are going. I'm still getting to know my Sleeve & I'm very happy that Dr Jackson decided on a sleeve vs an RNY after all. 

Thanks for any advice or suggestions you can send my way!

Deb

You are doing great!! Congratulations on your success so far!!

When is your followup? Mine isn't until June 27th for the nurse and Aug 3 for the Phyc and Dietian.

Thanks Brenda! My follow-up with the doctor is June 13 & June 15 with the dietician.

Deb

For your own info, I would also track my exercise.

Hi Deb - I plan on joining an Aquafitness class in a few weeks. I've bought some ankle weights, etc for use in my own pool - that will be my main form of exercise right now. Due to various back problems I have mobility issues so walking isn't an option for me.

Deb

I hear you Deb. I am in so much pain from my arthritis sometimes I wonder what I want first the hip replacement or the WLS. Enjoy the pool, I know I love it. 

I had the same type of pain after my VSG.  It eventually went a way.  Just eat very slowly and chew well! and I mean really well.  I have found when I eat soft foods I forget to chew them then the pain starts.  So chew chew chew.  I would also leave out the saltines.  Actually forget those carbs for a while.  Concentrate on the proteins.  I started adding steamed veggies about 1- 1 1/2 mths post op and then added carbs like crackers, rice, pototo at about 3mths. Now I find I usually add a carb (all bran) to my morning yogurt snack.  9 times out of time I bypass the carbs altogether and concentrate on getting enough protein.  You will be surprised how you don't miss it and you won't feel hungry either. Just beware of the head hunger that comes now and then.

BTW, in regards to the food journal, each time I saw the NUT I took my journal with me  but she never asked to look at it. Not sure why, maybe I just answered her questions with the right answers.

Keep up the good work it sounds like you are doing well

Jennifer

Thanks for the great advice, Jennifer! I guess that I added the saltines mainly because I was so tired of everything being creamy & soft - I really craved salty & crunchy for a change, but I'll wait til later to add them. I think that I may not be chewing enough - thanks for the good reminder.

As far as the head hunger, boy, I feel like I'm already experiencing it! I feel like I'm hungry all the time and yet, if I take a bite of something, I quickly realize that my stomach isn't hungry at all & I stop eating & realize that it was probably just head hunger. I SO don't want to develop bad habits this early in my "new" life!

Deb

Deb,

Have you tried tracking on line?  I love myfitnesspal and you can print out whatever you want and I actually logged in at my appointment and showed the nut what I had.  She had never seen it befoe, but loved it and was going to recommend it.

I'm so glad to hear that you are enjoying your sleeve.  I knew you would!  

Hi Sandy!

I was planning to check out some different on-line tracking sites so I'll defnitely look at myfitnesspal. I didn't know that you could also print out your log. Awesome! Do you track your fats, sugars, carbs or calories? As I mentioned, I'm just tracking my protein.

Yep, there's a lot of pluses to the Sleeve so I'm happy with it!

Deb