Can someone tell me if this is a good day's worth of food?

I had my sleeve 3+ years ago. I have not used it properly and still need to lose 100 pounds. I have been drinking a lot of calories, which I'm cutting out.

The thing is, I look at what people eat and I'm stunned by how little it is. It should seem obvious to me, as I have the sleeve too. But I'm years out and can eat a little more (although, to be honest, I don't like eating because I have a narrowing in my sleeve, but that's something I have to get past and just eat very slowly). One thing I notice is that newly sleeved individuals don't eat many vegetables, probably because of the limitation. I'm trying to make sure I do that since I'm so far out. Anyway, here is what I think is an appropriate menu:

B-2 scrambled eggs with peppers/onions/mushrooms and 2 slices canadian bacon
S- apple with cheesestick
L- tuna salad (3 oz?) with 5 triscuits
S- celery with 2 T peanut or almond butter
D- 3 oz salmon, 1/4 sweet potato, 1/2 cup broccoli with olive oil

I have been eating off-plan for a long time; so I have no idea what this should look like. But I think this looks pretty good. This far out, do I need snacks? I know some people eat them and some don't. Some NUTs recommend them and some don't.

Does this look ok?

Thanks,
Shannon

Maybe some of the vets that are further out will chime in. But here's my 2 cents:

I think your this looks fine. Not fantastic. Not horrible.

The only thing I would say, if you want to keep losing is to make sure that protein is always first. Some people keep their carbs low, some don't. If you don't see weight loss, try lowering your carbs. Maybe get the Cracker Barrel pre-cut cheese squares and put the tuna salad on them instead of the triscuit. I do that all of the time. It's yummy.

It's really about figuring out what type of eating helps you lose the most weight. For some, lower carb works. Some people eat under 800 calories a day while in the weight loss phase. Some people find they lose weight eating more calories.

The most important thing to do is to figure out what works for you. I worry about saying it's trial and error, because I've seen too many people take that as "cool I can **** up and fix it later."

Just make small changes if you are not seeing any weight loss.

Make sure you are getting enough water/fluids. That always helps.

Great, thanks! I appreciate it. Thanks for the tip on the cheese squares. It really is trial and error. I think I need carbs. I don't feel well too low-carb (never have). I don't have insulin resistance either. I know my fasting insulin is like 2 or something. So I think I am okay with carbs. But I have to watch my grains, though, because they can give me reflux.

 
Without examining it more closely.......

It looks more like a maintenance menu.......(I don't think I could have lost weight on that)

If you have 100 more pounds to lose and want to do it in 12-24 month time span...... I would suggest that you choose one of the more aggressive plans......

This of course is just my opinion....... which may vary greatly these days.......

I've seen Dr. Pleatmans name on here for a while..... maybe the first step is to contact him or his RD.

frisco

Did you plug it into a calory counting programme? I would be curious to see how much that adds up to...looks like more than 800 cals. Can you actually feel any restriction? Personally if I eat 2 scrambled eggs and two pieces of bacon for breakfast I am pretty full and I don't have the sleeve yet! When you say you have been eating off plan, would you mind sharing what you have been eating and for how long you have been off plan? Might help newbies like me...

Was going to say get myfitnesspal and record your daily intake. I would say get rid of the crackers and peanut butter. Snacks should be protein. Try some protein shakes. As Frisco stated you are probably in maintenance mode.

The ideal day would be about a gallon of water, 800 or less calories, 80 plus protein, carbs under 40. What about exercising?

These last 20-38 pounds for me are a big struggle they don't want to budge, can't imagine looking at 100 at 3 yrs post op. Do what you can for now, but it might be a harder fight for you where you can eat more now, but protein, protein and more protein. I heard you don't feel well on low carbs but you can get carbs from milk and fruit but the sugars will add up as well. I still very seldom have fruit or veggies and I am one year out, never have had a potato since my pre op.

 Double yep to the use myfitnesspal.com AND measuring.  You should make that a critical habit until you are able to adjust the portion size.  Boot the crackers and peanut butter- a lot of calories, not a lot of protein, and there are much better options out there.  Here is a list of my regular items that I use for snacks:

light string cheese or other light cheese
Carbmaster yogurt (particularly if I am running low on available calories)
Kroger Light Greek yogurt- worth the extra calories for almost double the protein
Soy nutlettes- sprinkled on the yogurt like granola- very filling
sliced apples, mango spears- always measured out
sliced veggies with 1 laughing cow cheese wedge for dip (fond of chipolte version for this)
leftover protein from the day before
lunchmeat slices with cheese

If you are going to do peanut butter, at least try to find the reduced fat stuff.  Trader Joe offers one called Better than Peanut butter.  Walden Farms has a no calorie option that I have never tried, but Rhearob likes that product so much he buys it by the case.  

I would also recommend doing a protein shake at least once a day.  I don't seem to lose if I skip that.  

Add in exercise- that was critical for me.

Great job working on refocusing!

So here is my honest opinion.  Your eating day looks a lot like my maintenance, not my losing days.  If I wanted to lose weight this far out, I would do the following:

1) I would eat three main meals with two snacks a day.
2) The three meals would consist of 2-3 ounces of lean dense protein and a 1/4 cup of green veggies.  If that didn't fill me up, I would add in one more ounce of protein.
3) The two snacks would be veggie based, they would include things like my green chicken soup, or a low carb, low calorie salad, like the ones I have on my profile.  The bottom line being, fibrous veggies to close my pyloric valve. 
4) I would not graze or drink any of my calories
5) I would take my vitamins and drink my water
6) I would journal every single bite.
7) I would do this until goal, no changes, no experimentation when I would "stall", just keep moving forward. 

My calories would fall somewhere under 800 every day, and my carbs would be under 40, protein at 80 plus.   There would be no time limit or weight goals, I would do this until....

Elina,

Thank you so much for taking time to write this. I really appreciate it. You are a veteran sleever and your opinion really matters to me.

Eating under 800 calories scares me; I'm not sure why. It obviously worked for you (and many, many others). I'm really going to focus on what you said, though. Get rid of the carbs and starches. I might have to have some carbs by the way of fruit, though, because I get very light-headed and irritable on low-carb diets. But, again, I haven't been truly low-carb for a couple years, so maybe it's different now.

I am going to track, track, track. I can do this. I know I can. I have to get over my fear of hunger and desire to drink instead of eat. Those are my biggest challenges.

The carbs are making it hard for you, they are spiking your sugar and making you hungry.  I could not eat 800 calories during the losing phase and eat fruit.  I would have been starving all the time.  If you  need to talk to me more about how the 800 calories can work, send me a PM.  Take care and good luck no matter what you do, I know you can do this.