The dirty little secret of RNY...(long)

I experienced the same.  I used nuts, about 170 cal per ounce and shakes to up my calories until I could eat more.  I still loose slow but I'm so longer stuck in starvation mode. 

Post Date: 9/10/09 5:08 am

Well, I got my new Bento lunch boxes in the mail last night and it has made me be a little more creative, a little more munchie but during this TOM I am happy to have good munchies.

B: DD wake up wrap
     coffee
S: string cheese
S: 1/2 sliced apple w/1tbsp almond butter
L: 1/2 c. cottage cheese
S: multi grain tortilla chips w/hummus
S: soy crisps
D: pulled pork and green beans

So there, have some snacks!  I am looking forward to it though. Lately all I do is eat all morning and by 1 or 2 I have eaten most of my food and my hunger has gone.  That lasts till supper and I'm good to go! 

Cal: 1088 Fat: 44 Protein: 67 Carbs: 109 (way more than I usu. get.... Oh well maybe I need it)

Undereating has been a real problem for me since about 6 months out. that's when my nut. put calories into my program for real and i tell you, i still have issues!! I went home from work yesterday at 630 calories! When i stalled a month or so ago, i increased a bit and boom! the scale moved...now i'm back to the 1200 a day deal and I'm back in the rut...it's a mental block.

  I struggle with undereating and honestly, I think it IS an issue with me. I’m slightly over the 3 month mark (by a few days lol) and it’s becoming really bad for me. I switched one unhealthy way of looking at food to another unhealthy way. I HATE food now. I HATE the process of eating, figuring out calories and protein, trying to make sure I do it every few hours to keep blood sugar consistent, etc. If I could, I’d just as soon forget about food all together, but I KNOW I can’t. I walk almost every day, so I very much need to quit worrying about it and make sure I get in nutrition, but I just can’t. Normally I average about 700 cals a day, which is WITH me struggling to eat and putting stuff in my mouth. If I left it alone, I probably wouldn’t eat at all. I literally force myself to eat some days, because I’d be at like 200 cals/day otherwise.  

Complicating matters is that I have both a very picky/sensitive pouch and an ulcer from you-know-where. The ulcer is mostly under control, but the pouch is not. I literally have days where I live off string cheese and protein shakes (like today and the last 3 days) because everything else can and DOES make me violently sick. I’ve had my surgeon check it, it’s not a stricture, the pouch is healing/ed fine, it’s just picky. Very rarely I have big pouch days where I feel like Starvin Marvin, but what’s funny is even on those days when I eat, my pouch still gets mad at me and feels awful. I can either satiate the hunger and deal with the nasty pouch, or not eat much and be hungry but the pouch is happy.  

And what’s funny is I DO get hungry. Real hunger, not just head hunger or thirst, but the pouch just won’t let me comply. Plus, I don’t WANT to- I’m sick of food and tired of it.  

Anyway, feel free to dissect my food issues. I know I have them :) Like I said, I traded one set of issues for another set.

There were days post op that I would be happy if I did not have to eat.  There were a few months that I had to make myself eat. It was daily struggle. Still it is some days.  
6 months after surgery my nut told me that I do no need to journal my food - and I still did - not only to make sure I would not eat too much - but to make sure that I eat enough.   Knowing that going below 800 cal per day may put me in starvation mode - I set up my goal to 1000 cal per day - +/- 200 calories.  with the 1000 per day as average per week.  
Maybe that is why I lost my weight and reached the goal? who knows.  I know it worked for me in a long run.
Now my cal intake is set as 1400 -1600, with more fat than net carbs.  That keeps me full, happy and not hungry - read - not craving carbs.    

Guilty as charged.
If I posted in the daily WAYET and honestly put what I eat on there for the full entire day I'd  get the ass kicking I deserve.
It's not nearly enough, too much other stuff when it should be dense protein and I do realize it's something I need to work on.

I post on there. I keep waiting for my ass kicking (which I very much deserve too lol)

For two years before surgery I was on a strict 1200 calorie diet.  I worked out and tried to eat healthy choices... but never lost weight (blame it on the PCOS).  For years before that I tried very low calorie diets, again with little to no success.  And of course the dieting industry brain washes us to think that low calorie diets are the only way to lose weight. 

So yeah.... coming into WLS with all those preconceived notions about how to lose weight really makes it difficult to realize that we must EAT to lose weight.  Sure, the 600 calorie thing works fine for us right after surgery.  Surgery is forced starvation, that's the whole point and the only way we can be successful in the early months post-op is to follow those strict rules.

But when I had my 1 year follow up appointment and the Nut told me I should be eating 1500- 1800 calories to support my activity levels and help the scale move again - I thought she was nuts.  I simply couldn't do it.  I tried, but my brain wouldn't let me eat that much.  I mean... I'd been eating less than 1200 calories for 3 years straight, so 1800 sounded like a pig-out fest that would end in doom and gloom. 

Then I had my RMR tested and guess what?  That dang Nut was right.  My body needed 1450 calories just to live and survive and function .. and that didn't take into account any extra energy needed for activities like training for a half marathon.  Duh Pam!

Then I got the GoWear Fit and even more science supported the notion that I needed to eat.  I burn 2200 calories on a non-active day.  If I'm only eating 1200 calories how can my body function properly?  It can't.  It's in constant flux about what's happening in the world and how much longer we'll be able to survive.  "There's a famine, let's shut down and conserve energy so we're not the first to die!"  -- that's what my body was screaming at me. 

So knowing the science, I increased my calories.  Yes, still difficult to wrap my head around needing to eat more.  But it was easier because I had science on my side this time.  So I've been eating more for the past 3-4 months.  Went from 1200 calories up to around 1500-1800 depending on my activity levels per day.  No gain.  No lose.  Weight is stabalized but my body fat percentage is slowly decreasing (need to update my siggy line).  And my quality of life is better because I have more freedom of eating and enjoying food without feeling like I'm on a lfelong diet. 

I still have weight to lose.  But so far, my body doesn't want that to happen.  I haven't lose anything in 10 months and I've come to realize that even if I don't lose anything else, ever, that I'm fine with my body as it is.  I'm healthy and that's the most important thing.  So what if I don't wear a size 6 jeans.  That was never my goal in the first place.  Being "Normal" was the goal. And eating more makes me feel normal.

See... there I go rambling again.  It's a disease and I might be contagious.  Sorry.

I track my food via my phone every day. I get so confused and frustrated with knowing what my body's "sweet spot" is for losing. My nut told me a few months ago to work up to 1200 cals a day. I am approaching my 6 month mark(hard to believe!) and things seem to be going slow. I've also had people on here tell me that they are 9, 10, 11 months out and do not eat 1200 cals and that they would advise against that. I remember rule numero uno to listen to OUR OWN nut, but it is still discouraging hearing it from others who've "been there, done that." I usually eat between 8-1000 cals, which is pretty darn good, because I was eating 5-700 cals at most. I have hungry days now, and I have small pouch days. I also have days where I don't eat(very rarely) and I almost feel good about that--sick, huh? I lectured myself about that and my mini-anorexia is out the window. I was just thrilled to see the scale move, being that I had no food in me. Speaking of scales, my digital scale's battery went out, and for me, I think it is a good thing for me right now--although I'm ancy and will be very upset if I weigh in a few weeks and see no movement. This whole experience is a bumpy ass road, but even if I stopped losing now, which I hope the hell I don't, I am healthier and happier than I have been in years. I have about 80 more pounds to go and have lost over 103 pounds in 5 months. Not too bad! To think, 80 pounds is NOTHING to lose considering where I began! If only it would come off like it did in the 1st three months!!!

which app do you use for your phone?