New with Question

OK this is where I am at: I had my surgery in 8/08. I have only lost 71lbs. My nutritionist says only eat 2 oz a meal, and get in 60grams of protein, 64 oz of water. There are no other restrictions or help. Roughly 600 calories.   I know I havn’t been following this. I have been eating a candy bar once a day, I crave it nonstop. I barly get in my 60 grams of protein. I know this is not correct.   My second month after surgery I didn’t lose but 5 lbs following her restrictions. Once I started eating, whi*****luded the candybar, I started losing weight again. So of course, in my mind it was a license to eat incorrectly.   I am over this, I want to do it right. I started going to the gym, I have been doing 1-2 hours a day. Whi*****ludes cardio and weights. I have been doing for about 2 weeks and have not lost any weight.   My question is, where should I be with calories protein and carbs?   Thanks any help is appreciated. And yes, I know I need to cut out the candy!

Look I'm not a big fan of telling someone that they cannot ever, ever, ever eat foods they enjoy for the rest of their life and that's that.   That's the primary reason why so many of the diets I was on in my life failed.   I would deny myself foods and then when I did eat them I would eat WAY too much.  I moderate what I eat now and yes, I still have candy on occasion.  I'll eat a Reeses Peanut Butter cup as a post workout snack daily and once or twice a week I'll even have a regular Coke or Dr. Pepper with a meal.   The difference between you and I is that I am one month short of 3 years out.   You probably shouldn't be eating sugar or candy within the first year but you know that so I'm not gonna preach.   You've taken the diffucult step  and made the decision to have the weight loss surgery.   Make it work for you, especially during the first 6 month honeymoon period.  You will lose the most weight during that time.  I bet everyone else on the board will concur that after that honeymoon period it gets a little harder to lose weight.   You have to really work at it because your pouch turns into a weight loss 'tool' and nothing more. 

After you reach your one year anniverserry and you want to work some 'favorite' foods back in your diet then have at it.   The thing you will have to do is establish a workout routine NOW and STICK to it, then you can have your candy if you want it...  IN MODERATION.   The key to making this weight loss surgery thing work is EATING LESS and MOVING AROUND MORE.  Moderate what you eat and establish an exercise routine now and you are guaranteed success.  

Best of luck on your journey!

Chad
www.team464.com

60 g of protein doesn't seem like enough to me. That's around what women without WLS are supposed to eat and you are malabsorbing. My program recommends 70-90 g a day minimum and I'm supposed to get 100 g because of my activity level.

You need to cut out the candy, not because it's "bad" but because if you eat an entire candy bar, you won't have room for the good stuff. You say you are having trouble getting in your protein and I bet that's at least partly why. OTOH, if you ate a bite of a candy bar every day, you probably still would be able to get in your protein.

So don't think of it as "candy bars are bad and I should never eat them and protein is good so I have to eat it" because that's thinking like a dieter and diets don't work!

I think you have to think of it as a health issue. I must get in my protein so I don't go bald and my muscles don't waste away. Once I get in my protein, I can have other things. Then, if you know you *can* have the candy, if you want it, you may find you don't want it. Or maybe only 1-2 bites will be enough.

For calories, your calories are going to go up as you get farther out and can eat more. I started around 500 a day on liquids and now, at 5 months out, I'm up to almost 900 a day. If I eat less than that, I get draggy and I can't get through my workouts. You have to eat enough to support your activity levels or you will be reducing your activity which reduces your calories out.

Oh and another thing about candy bars? When you eat food like that, you crave more of it. When you stop eating them, your body forgets about them. Again, this another reason to limit yourself to 1-2 bites and maybe not every day.