almost 6 months after surgery and need HELP

Hi - I'm almost 6 months out and have lost about 56 pounds (started at 298) which isn't bad but I need to get back to basics because I find myself eating too many sweets.  My question is what do you eat?  I want to start kicking butt and would like to know what a typical day of food (and exercise) looks like for those of you 6 months and more out.

Hey,

Sorry..this is kinda long...apologies...

I am 8 months out but what I eat now is very similar to what I was eating a couple months ago. I eat an egg white omlet for breakfast daily with different herbs or veggies and either put low fat cheese in the omlet or eat a couple slices of thin Canadian bacon. I like my breakfast to come in over 20 g of protein.

Either in the mid moring or mid afternoon (depending on when I get my lunch) I have a snack. 1/2 cup of plain greek yogurt, or cottage cheese with a small handful of strawberries or blueberries, or a lowfat cheese string.

Lunch is usually leftovers of the previous nights dinner (high protein, chicken, fish, shrimp or lean pork) with a little bit of veg like a small salad, spaghetti squash, eggplant and tomatoes sauteed...something like that.

Dinner again is protein first...for example tonight was a stir fry with shrimp and chicken thigh with snow peas, zucchini, mushrooms and bean sprouts. I add a little soy sauce and some sirachi or another splash of a bottle asian sauce depending on what is in the fridge.

I do use protein shakes regularly to replace a meal or as a boost when I am working out. I like to drink Syntrax Roadside Lemonade at the gym.

The volume of what I can comfortably eat has of course increased so I have to be careful. I do use a scale and measure my food about 80% of the time very carefully. I would say I am eating 3/4 cup to 1 cup. I put it on a fancy small plate (thanks to Frisco who suggested that in a post I read early on) and am totally content with what I am eating MOST of the time...sometimes I would like to be able to eat what I serve my husband but hey...I have to suck it up!

So...in a nutshell...for food I try to stick to 650-750 calories, under 40 g of carbs, 20 g of fat, and 80 g of protein. This is the basic diet my surgeon set out for me at the beginning and it has certainly worked for me. I absolutely LOVE that I can come on here and see that a lot of other people are following a similar plan and that the successful vets who have managed to maintain their losses back a similar plan. As soon as I started lurking on OH preop I bought into what the long time vets like Elina, Frisco, and Keith were saying. It seems to have worked for them and I feel it has worked well for me.

Now..that being said...I am human and have had the occasional glass of wine (truly once in a blue moon) and there was an incident on the beach at Christmas in Costa Maya where I somehow helped to polish off a bucket of Corona??!! A small piece of chocolate passes my lips once in a while and i am becoming very good at making homemade meringues when I need a "sugar fix" once in a while.

As for exercise, I do a pilates, step aerobis or cardio/muscle mix class 3 or 4 times a week. I walk when I can and I teach 5 year olds so I am on the move all day at school.

I am less than 10 pounds from my goal of 170 which I have since revised and I would like to try for 160. I was 307 and dropped in the 3 week preop diet, 285 the day of surgery and am presently 177. I am 9 months out in two weeks. So...I am thrilled with the results so far.

Okay..that's what I do. I'm sure you'll get lots of different responses and will have to figure out what's going to fit into your lifestyle the best. If you are interested I am teachren on MFP and my food diary is open so send me a friend request if you want to check it out.

Good luck getting yourself back to basics...it's not easy but I do think that it's the best way to maximize your weight loss. You want to take advantage of the restriction as long as you can!

Hi.  Thanks for your response - you have certainly given me a lot of ideas to get back on track.  Much appreciated!