SUCCESFUL VETS- HOW ABOUT SOME TIPS? I WANT TO SUCCEED LIKE YOU!!

Hey successful veterans- how about sharing some tips? I'm just about 3 weeks out- my surgery was 12/24/2012 and I'm 20lbs down.  I'm following the diet to the best of my ability.  No real complications except my blood sugars aren't coming down as quickly as I had hoped. My doctor says that's my fabulous insulin resistance.  I'm avoiding carbs except  from beans/lentils and one 2 oz of fruit a day, meeting my protein goals, and my exceeding my fluid goals.  Tomorrow I'm starting light cardio, and at 4 weeks post-op I'm going back to my favorite exercise- kick boxing classes- but I want to know the diet and exercise plans of you succesful and long term successful vets!! I'm sure I"m not the only one! Thanks in advance

My tips:

1. Do the mental/emotional work.  Like, if you are an emotional eater, find new ways to deal with your feelings.  If you are addicted to food, get treatment for addiction.  Therapy helped me a lot and I'm sure not everyone needs it, but I bet most people could benefit from some counseling.

2.  Get support. This forum is great for support.  Support groups help, too.

3.  When you slip - and we all do at some point - just start over witih the next meal or snack. Don't make a big deal of it.  Just start fresh with the next food choice you make.

The best advice that I have and few people want to hear is to avoid refined carbs, bread, crackers, wraps, pasta and the like.  For some reason people seem to be in a hurry to add those things to their plan even though it add no nutritional value.  During the losing phase I think it's important that all food we eat contribute to your nutritional health.  Of course you can do things to make food pleasant and tasty but there is no reason for a sandwich at 3 months out, just to see if you can eat one, or a Subway 6 inch sub which it seems a lot of people are very proud that they can eat.

I tell people that if you want to maximize your weight loss and hopefully get to goal then the losing phase is not the time to see how many cookies you can eat without getting sick.  Once you reach the weight you want to be then you can experiment if it's so important but it seems that most of the people I see that complain that they never reached goal or they have regained a bunch of weight are all people who think that eating bread and stuff is important to be able to do.  Oh, and for some reason people want to be able to eat pizza.

Personally, I gave up all wheat products and I have gone gluten free and I feel it really helps with any cravings (I haven't had any) and to keep my weight off.  I do eat gluten free products occasionally but those don't seem to affect me the same way things with wheat do.

And of course, I avoid anything with sugar.  That goes without saying for me.  Even if I didn't dump (I found out accidently when I thought something was sugar free and it wasn't) my addiction to things with sugar was the main factor in my morbid obesity.

I am pre-op and my doctor took me off carbs, breads crackers, etc... immediately.  I've lost 26 lbs.  Breads or mainly  tortillas were my thing, you see I'm Spanish and omg to do without tortillas was so hard the first week but I did it!!!

I have long suspected that wheat is an issue for me, but no real proof. I have also committed to trying to go gluten free since surgery. I had 1/2 piece of rye toast with a poached egg and piece of sausage this morning. I dunked it in the 1/2 cup decaf I'd gotten. 

Rye is considered gluten.  I often eat gluten free bread.  Franz has some that is really good and there is a Franz outlet near me so it doesn't cost an arm and a leg.  But keep in mind that I am in maintenance and able to get away with a lot for some reason.  I do believe that the reason maintenance has been relatively easy for me is because I avoid sugar and gluten.  I have no problems with hunger, in fact I rarely experience hunger and have to eat by the clock and I also rarely if ever get any cravings.  Even in the past, before WLS when I was able to lose weight and keep it off for any amount of time it was when I avoided wheat.  And every time I began my slide into regain it was always because I told myself that now I can handle that (bread, pasta, cracker) or whatever I thought I could handle.  I couldn't.  I have no issues with gluten free things like pasta and crackers but real bread is like crack for me.

In fact I was cleaning out my freezer and found a loaf of gluten free bread I had bought over a year ago.  That never would have happened with real bread.  It would have been gone in days if not sooner.  Bread and the like are crack to me.  Once I start eating it I never know if or when I will stop but it was rarely before I had regained all the weight I had lost and then some.

I always suggest to people to give it up for 30 days or until you reach your goal and see if things aren't better for you.  It isn't going any where, you can always pick it up again if quitting doesn't help you.

I heard a very good book about the subject is Wheat Belly.  I have read excerpts and interviews with the author and what he says makes a lot of sense.  Wheat has been so tampered with and genetically modified that the wheat grain of today has little resemblance to the wheat of the past.  He calls it super wheat or something like that.

I also wanted to add that going gluten free has been pretty easy for me because these days the food labels are very good about listing wheat as an ingredient and most restaurants and even fast food places have their nutritional information available and most even have a gluten free menu.  We ate at Olive Garden recently and they had a gluten free pasta dish that I loved.  Eating at home usually means that my meals are basic, meat and vegetables and never prepared things like boxed dinners or frozen dinners, although I have found a lot of gluten free choices in my supermarket.  I don't usually eat them because in spite of being gluten free they are loaded with a lot of carbs like rice.

Gluten free  bread is nice though because it makes it easy to take a sandwich to work even though I usually eat the insides first then maybe a few bites of the bread.

What Ladytazz says plus ...

What you are doing at 3 months is what you need to be doing for life ...  And there's no need to change anything once you have finished losing all your excess weight - at that point you should know exactly what you are doing and JUST KEEP DOING THAT!!!!

If you are still struggling with insulin resistance, I would cut the fruit down to 2 or 3 times per week max - I am diabetic and only eat fruit once or twice per week maximum and even then I stick to berries.   If I find my blood sugar levels are running high I cut it out altogether ...

What do you eat instead of fruit to round out your meals? Do you eat veggies instead? 

I eat all my protein (no shakes or bars) so my meals generally consist of protein and vegetables - I sometimes put berries into plain greek yoghurt as a planned snack, rather than buying the fruit on the bottom kind which seem much more sugary than the natural fruit.

 

I did not come blindly to my decision to have WLS. I looked into it for many years, and very seriously for a year prior to having RNY. 

 

I am very independent. I do not wait for others to hold my hand. I get all the resources I feel I will need when making a major decision. I make my choices with solid understanding under my belt. I develop a mental plan of direction and write down my course of action. 

 

I prepare myself for the challenge ahead knowing I may run into some roadblocks along the way. I create a way out to overcome whatever obstacles I may encounter. If I find I need more resources, or I need to gain more knowledge, I actively seek it. 

 

I do not make excuses. I know what I want and where I am going. I do not cry over a mis-step. I do not get others to join me in a pity party.

 

I remain positive, purposeful and upbeat. I hold myself to a higher standard. I do not care about what everyone else is doing. I have come to know myself and have addressed those secret places in my life we all tend to avoid. 

 

I have always had a clear goal and plan and I have never swayed from it. I am very strict and strong-willed. My personality, tolerance, life experience and stamina are all part of the equation. 

 

I know myself and my limitations. When I began this journey, I felt I was fully prepared mentally for any challenge I would come across. I put in a lot of time doing research, and I continue to educate myself as time goes on.

 

Now that I am in maintenance, I eat every 2-3 hours. I eat 3 main meals and 4-5 snacks daily that include protein.

 

I am a Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian. I eat at least 100 grams of protein a day. I eat simple carbohydrate dairy products that are no fat/low fat. I eat eggs. I eat complex carbohydrate beans. 

 

I also eat simple carbohydrate fruit and complex carbohydrate vegetables and whole grains. I do not count daily carb grams. All carbs are not created equal. I would definitely refrain from eating refined carbs.

 

I drink at least 64 ounces of liquids daily. I take all my vitamins, supplements and calcium.

 

I do not participate in a formal exercise program due to Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteoarthritis. I do move around a lot more and do a lot more walking.

 

I have been able to maintain my 200 pound weight loss eating this way since November 2011.

 

I have never introduced a food into my mouth that I have not planned to eat. I always consider the protein and nutritional value of each morsel. 

 

I know this rigid, controlled way of life is not for everyone, but it works great for me!