THIS WELL HELP EVERYONE-pls respond!!!

9 Months Out

129 Pounds Lost

Typical daily consumption right now:
Breakfast:  Protein Coffee  (decaf)
Morning Snack:  Protein Coffee  (decaf)
Lunch;  Protein Shake (with almond milk)
Afternoon Snack:  100 calorie Bag of Skinny Pop popcorn
Dinner:  Vegetables - steamed or lightly sauteed

Average daily calories:  650-750 calories
Average daily protein: 80 gm

(It should be noted, that I'm kind on a protein shake kick right now! LOL!)

Exercise:  6 days a week - routine is either an hour on the treadmill, or a 60 minute workout video (Richard Simmons, Walk Away the Pounds, etc.)

Best advice:  Measure everything you eat and keep a diligent (and above all, honest!) food log.   I know some will disagree, but I think that tracking everything you eat is a very powerful weight loss tool.

I'm 6 months out and down 75lbs. I have 700-800 cal, 40g carbs, and at least 80g of protein. I work out 4-5x a week doing dvd's of either Walk Away the Pounds or a Biggest Loser one. A typical day for me is:

Pre work out shake
Breakfast:egg white omelet or greek yogurt w/ 1/4 blueberries or 3 strawberries
Lunch: 2 oz of chicken or beef (usually leftovers from the night before)
Snack: cheese stick or 1oz Turkey Jerky
Dinner: 2oz of chicken, beef, or fish. 1/4 c of veggies
Snack: veggies and 2 tbs dip, turkey pepperoni, or GY mixed w/ SF pudding that I froze

Advice: Weigh and measure everything, eat only the portion you weighed out and log your food.

Weakness: I was always a snacker at night so I try to brush my teeth and get ready for bed after my evening snack before camping out on the couch to watch tv so I'm not tempted to eat again.

Just jumping in to also add my thanks for this post! I'm preop - surgery on 9/17. I've written down so much just from this post alone!
Thanks everyone!!

I'm 3.5 months out -- down 49 lbs since surgery, 60 since pre-op.  I walk every day and have been adding yoga, Pilates and strength training to my regimen.

My typical day:
breakfast is oat bran + LF cottage cheese + vanilla protein
                      ginger tea with protein concentrate
snack  1/4 c fruit
lunch is 2 oz chicken or other meat and vegetables
dinner is 2 oz chicken or other meat and vegetables
snack  1/2 c LF Greek yogurt

I aim for 600-800 calories, carbs < 40 and protein 80+

Best advice -- plan and prepare your meals ahead of time.  I spend one weekend morning cooking my meals for the week.  So I have healthy and tasty lunches and dinners that heat up quickly.  Lessens the chance of me reaching for something impulsive when I am hungry. 

 I'm 6 months out and I have lost 117lbs.  My typical day includes the following:

2 Cold glasses of something right when I get up...I try and do plain water but most days end up with unsweetened tea...for some reason this seems to "jump-start" my metabolism for the day!
B - hard boiled egg and a piece of turkey sausage
L - some type of sliced deli meat with mustard and some cut up cukes
Snack - handful of planter's mixed nuts...I think they are the heart health ones...green label
D - 3 oz of some baked or broiled protein, small salad and some grilled veggies

I try and stay around 700 calories and 30-40g of carbs a day but I find that some days that leaves me feeling drained and I will bump it up for a couple of days (I do this by adding maybe 20-30g of HEALTHY carbs****il I start feeling like myself again!  

I also make sure and get in at least 60g of protein but a typical day is usually closer to 70-75.  
Water is KEY!!!!  Make sure you get your liquids in! I went thru a period where the thought of drinking that much made me gag, but it also showed in my loss for that couple of week period.  If you can't tolerate plain water, find something you like.  Just be careful because even the low cal, low sugar, blah, blah, blah is sometimes packed with carbs.  I love the diet tea by Gold Peak!  

I exercise but I am no fanatic by any means!  I do the things that I enjoy mostly...kayak, swim, play with my kids, bike....and then I also supplement that with my treadmill and elliptical when I feel that I didn't have a very active day.  I'm sure the farther along I get, the more I will have to work on this though!

As far as weaknesses, I think the only thing that really gets me are potatoes!  Damn those delicious things!  I can say no to chocolate, cakes, pies, pizza, etc....but put any type of potato in front of me and I fall apart!  Thank God I do the cooking in this house and on those other rare cir****tances that I cannot escape them, one or two bites seems to satisfy me.

My biggest advice (other than the book I have already written) is to not get discouraged!!!  Stalls are going to happen, you are going to feel like a failure and that you are doing it all wrong, you are going to compare your losses to others even when you know you shouldn't.....and guess what....2 months later...or 3 months...or 6 months or whenever it is you are hardly going to remember that you were struggling at one point.  Follow your program and it will work!!!  

Fun idea!

1yr 5mo out, down 121.5 from the day of surgery.

Typical day is:

Protein shake & vanilla Premier in my coffee
Bfast:1 egg omelet w/ 1oz meat, some veggies maybe and .5oz cheese for bfast, or dinner leftovers!
Lunch: 2.25oz tuna/salmon salad made with lime juice, cilantro, onions on romaine leaf with .5oz cheddar & some guac
Snack: protein/fat/veg like cheese stuffed mushroom "pizza" or the like.. 
dinner: 2.25oz pot roast 1/4C cooked veggies like squash & mushrooms
snack: greek yogurt with chia seeds or bran crispbread with low-cal cheese spread

I keep my cals in the 900-950 range during the week, and weekends tend to be higher at times. Carbs 45 or under (I try to get close to half fiber if I can) and around 100g protein a day. I never track fat, and generally avoid sugars and grains of any kind.. Meat, veggies, cheese & fat.. I drink tons of ice water a day, well over 100oz.. 

Best advice: measure, track & log your foods, always! Pre-plan your day's eating as much as you can, it makes it so much less involved decision-wise if you already know what you've got on your menu.. and pound tha****er.

Weakness: chips & dips, salty crunchy stuff, sometimes good home-made sweet treats. Worse if I have an adult beverage(s) as my inclination to nibble goes up.. I have alcohol on weekends at parties & get-togethers, and it is way too easy to keep drinking and nibbling sliders all night long if I don'****ch it. Those calories add up very fast over a night of fun as inhibitions drop, and I can easily hit near 2000cal doing this..

16 months post op...from 246 to a low of 130 lbs...been maintaining in 133-136 range...
Weight loss phase, focused on PROTEIN FIRST and fluids, did not limit carbs per se...just didn't have much room...now there's more room so I have to be more careful...my dangers are CHIPS & NACHOS & CANDY...luckily, ice cream makes me nauseous post op, so it is no longer a favorite...now I love tropical SF popsicles.

Didn't track consistently, but in WL was about 800-1000 cals and maintaining at about 1800-2000 cals...usually at least 70 grams of protein and 150 carbs or more....I went from working out hard core 5x weekly during WL phase to once or twice a week now...I just continue to do the weight lifting, dropped the cardio except on occasion....other than that, I am just a more active person in daily life, walk the dogs more, go out and about, work more, etc....

All labs good, and all health conditions resolved and am not on prescription medications anymore....

Typical day of eating....

8 oz coffee w/ french vanilla creamer
4 oz greek yogurt mixed w/ agave nectar & handful of kashi lean cereal
8 oz green tea
2 scrambled eggs w/ cheddar cheese, 1 turkey sausage link
8 oz gatorade/water mix
1 Polly O mozzarella cheese stick & 8 wheat thins
8 oz coffee w/ french vanilla creamer
1/2 cheeseburger w/ sauteed onions & ketchup (no bun)
8 oz gatorade/water mix
1 snack bag of Plantars nutrition
1 snack bag of Pirate's booty cheddar popcorn
1/2 cheeseburger (leftovers) (no bun)
8 oz green tea
8 oz water


Sometimes, I switch off a protein shake for the eggs for my mid-morning meal...and if I am not eating a cheeseburger, I eat a Lean Cuisine turkey medallions & half the whipped sweet potatoes..some days I eat pretty good, some days unfortunately, I eat more junk food...but I still never eat bread, never eat pasta, and never drink carbonation and I still try to eat PROTEIN first, and then only carbs if there is still room to eat....those are my rules that help me.

Great idea!  Especially for the preops and newbies

I will be one year out on 9-13-12.  I have lost 132 lbs and 84".  I just measured my waist and it is 30".  I wear size 6 pants ( a little loose).  I reached goal in 9.5 months and am now 14 lbs under goal.  Still trying to lose that last 3.8 lbs...it's a *****!  I no longer have sleep apnea, cholesterol dropped 100 pts, was able to have a total knee replacement in March,and labs are perfect.

My day yesterday:

Breakfast:  2 cups of hot tea
                    2 Jimmy Dean turkey sausages

midmorning: 28 oz. of iced tea sweetened with splenda and 1 scoop of Unjury unflavored protein powder

Lunch:  3 oz. chicken salad made with Chobani 0% nonfat plain Greek yogurt and celery

midafternoon:  28 0z. iced tea sweetened with splenda and i scoop of Unjury protein powder

Dinner:  one Jennie-O turkey burger with 2 pickles, slice of onion and tomato, 1 tbsp. Chobani yogurt, 1 oz. italian blended shredded cheese, no roll ,and a cup of hot tea

Evening:  depending on what my cal/carb/protein counts look like, I could have 1 Frigo light cheesehead cheesestick,  Quest protein bar,  Chocolate peanut butter protein fudgsicle, or another 28 oz iced tea with scoop of Unjury protein powder.  Yesterday I had the chocolate peanut butter protein fudgsicle---yummy!!!

I still count calories (600-800, usually around 700), carbs (try to stay at 20 or under, but usually about 30) and protein (80-100 gm, usually hit 90-95).  I have never paid attention to fat content or counted it.

I try to take in as much protein as possible thru my food.
I shoot for 100 oz of fluids.
I log EVERYTHING I put in my mouth--EVERYTHING.  I also weigh myself every day and record in a copybook.  I find these help me to keep myself accountable.
I eat nothing white: flour, bread, pasta, rice, etc.
I am a carbaholic--eating carbs trigger me to go off plan.
I found that if my protein intake was high and carb intake was low, it sped up the weight loss.
You CAN continue to lose after the first 6 months.  From months 7-12, I have lost 48.2 lbs--but I followed my plan pretty diligently.


Good luck everyone!!  

Marie

Thanks everyone so much for responding to my post. I think this is gonnna help alot of people out, new and old. And it is kinda cool to see how different we all are. Also thanks to the vets who continue to post and prove that there is no magic"window"for weight loss. I wish drs would stop telling people that. Its hard work but can be done.
Lets see how long we can keep this going.
AND CAN WE ALL TAKE TWO SECONDS TO BE PROUD OF OURSELVES FOR EVERY POUND WE'VE LOST. I DON'T CARE IF YOUR PRE-OP, POST-OP, IN A STALL OUTER DROPPING LIKE CRAZY, BE HAPPY AND CONGRATULATE YOURSELF.

call me crazy, I'm in a good mood today, lol

I'll be a year out next week, and I've been a very slow loser, dropping 79 lbs. I lost 60 lbs. the first six months and only 20 lbs. the last six months, even though I've really upped the exercise.

My typical day is this:

B: 2 Jimmy Dean turkey sausage patties
MS: Premier RTD chocolate protein shake after exercise
L: 3 oz. beef tenderloin (my husband grills up a bunch on the weekend and I eat them during the week)
AFS 2 oz. beef jerky
AFS: 4 pepperjack cheese cubes
D: Whatever meat we have for dinner and then a few green beans, cherry tomatoes, etc.

My protein intake is fairly high and I eat a lot more beef than many on the boards do. I struggle with iron deficiency, so I eat a lot of red meat and supplement a lot as well. I'm hopeful that next week's doctor's appt. will qualify me for IV iron drugs. My carb intake is low to very low. I really hate protein shakes but I have to have them to get my intake where it needs to be, so I find I can chug them down when I'm still hot and sweaty from my workout.

I do heavy cardio/strength workouts twice a week, a separate weight workout once a week, and walk 3-4 miles at 3/5 mph 5xs a week. As I've mentioned, my loss is slow so I'm concentrating more on inches lost and how my clothes fit rather than the scale (at least I'm TRYING not to concentrate on the scale, but it's difficult).

My best suggestion is to have a body composition test to see what your fat/lean body mass percentage is and work from that. Your daily calorie burn will increase with greater lean mass. You can be thin and still be unhealthy and you will lose lean mass as you lose weight.

My biggest weakness is chocolate, without a doubt. When I'm hormonal, I want to take down a candy store bite by bite. So I buy Hershey's Kisses, eat a couple a day, and put it into my calorie allowance.