What's on the menu today, RNYers?

Hi all!  Happy Saturday!  Snow is falling yet again, in DC.  Nice day to hole up inside and go through my closets :)  Tomorrow is my two month surgiversary and I am 1.8 lbs away from losing 50 lbs.  Yayyyyyy!  And lest you all compare yourselves to me, most people haven't noticed because I have THAT much to lose :/

Time Since Surgery: 2 months tomorrow!

B: Got this idea from someone who posted on here.  I heated a small non-stick frying pan to a hot heat.  I added a slice of pepperjack cheese and it cooked and bubbled and got a crust on it!  I added 2 oz of Boar's Head Blackened turkey deli meat and pressed it on the piece of cheese.  Then I flipped it over and heated the turkey on low for a minute.  DELICIOUS!  The cheese makes a crust so it's like an open faced sandwich!

L: For the fourth meal, I will have some leftover Pad Ka Prow chicken from a Thai restaurant.  And then I will throw the rest away :(

D: I am having a friend over and I am planning to sauté Argentinian red shrimp (frozen from Trader Joe's) with a little pesto AND I am trying Shirataki soy noodles for the first time.  My friend is game, so why not.  Those of you who have made Shirataki noodles - do I boil them all tonight?  Or store the unused ones in the liquid they come in?

S: Maybe protein hot chocolate made with Swiss Miss DIET powder, one splenda, one scoop chocolate protein powder.

I will be at almost 600 calories, 26g of fat, 15g of carbs, and 70g of protein.

What's on your menu today?

Thank you for posting your daily menu.  I know. This will be a huge help once I can eat again!  

Congrats on your weight loss!  Is that 50 from surgery date?   I am a bit shocked I have lost 10 on my liquid diet this week!

i am hating the shakes!  I made chicken and veggie soup last night so I could have the broth.    

Ahhhh yes, the good old liquid pre-op diet!  I had to do liquids (protein shakes, sugar free jello, sugar free pudding, low fat cottage cheese) for two weeks, and I lost 18 lbs in those two weeks.  I was 351 the day of surgery, and today I am 302.8. I have read a ton of posts on this forum and (this is solely my opinion and not the opinion of my doctor, my NUT, or many others on here) many of the people who have had great success have done so by eating high protein and low carb.  Carbs are my weakness, so I have had to cut them out.  While some people go to soft food and eat mashed potatoes, I did not.  I stuck to tuna.  I have found ways to "feel" like I am having carbs, like cheese crisps and kale chips...but I have not had a bite of noodle, rice, wheat, or potato.  It's just not worth it for me - if I have a bite of noodle it escalates into half a pound lol.  Well, I supposedly have restriction now, but I don't want to chance it.  So yes, I have managed to lose quite a bit of weight in two months, and generally eat around 700 calories a day, 60-75 g of protein, and less than 20 g of carbs.

The liquid diet is tough and I found that my favorite thing was Minor's chicken base (ordered on amazon) with unflavored protein powder added.  I needed some savory amidst all that sweet!  I also bought (from amazon) the Bariatric Foodie Guide to the Perfect Protein Shake.  What a lifesaver!  While I was initially mixing water and powder in a shaker bottle, the book taught me to make DELICIOUS shakes.  Like a shot of Da Vinci sugar free mint syrup with unsweetened almond milk, chocolate protein powder and a packet or two of Splenda.  Or try adding PB2 (also from amazon!) which is powdered peanut butter and has protein and is low cal (45 cals in 2 tbsp) to a chocolate shake, or even a strawberry shake!  I am telling you, the possibilities are endless!  You got this!  And 10 lbs in one week - how good does that feel?!  Wait until you're 50 lbs down - you will be walking on air :)  Welcome to an incredible journey!

Thanks for the great ideas!   I am not allowed pudding or cottage cheese... Just shakes and of in a total bind I can have broth "but don't make a habit of it".  I will see what I can find to mix in to these shakes.   Thanks again. 

Good morning to you, too! I got a late start to the day, my hubby and I were up late last night gaming so I slept in today. Well, until the cats protested their empty tummies, at least! So now I'm off to do errands and such. I like your cheese and turkey idea! You obviously like spicier food than I do, but I'm looking forward to trying this with a slice of muenster and some deli turkey for myself.

So, at a little over eight weeks out from surgery:

B: Protein shake (Jay Robb vanilla in unsweetened almond milk) Still adding shakes until my second dilation next Friday, as I never know how much of my "real" meals I'm going to end up not keeping down

L: Gonna hit the salad bar at Whole Foods again, get some chicken or tuna salad and fixin's. While "Whole Paycheck" can be spendy, but I find that with the small amounts I'm eating the salad bar is a great value these days!

D: Husbeast and I are going to a seafood restaurant to celebrate a belated Valentine's Day, since he knew he'd have to work late last night on a big project. I'll get lobster of some sort, he'll eat what I can't

S: At some point today a SF jello dark pudding cup. I'm feeling acute chocolate deprivation!

V, E, W will all get there by the end of the day.

I know what you mean about people not noticing the weight loss, Emily. When I told someone the other day I'd lost almost 60 pounds they said "16 pounds? That's great!" They were flabbergasted when I corrected them! I blame all the layers of clothes I'm having to wear lately to stay warm, and the fact that I haven't traded in any of my wardrobe for smaller sizes yet. It's an embarrassing testament to how tight I was wearing my clothes before that with all the weight I've lost I really haven't lost any sizes yet...everything is fitting very loosely, true, but it still fits. I must have looked like ten pounds of sausage in a five pound casing. No, scratch that, I KNOW I did! It was denial, for so long I would have to walk around the house with my jeans unzipped because they were too uncomfortable to wear zipped up unless I was in public, of course. My husbeast told me over and over again to go buy new clothes, but I refused to buy anything larger than a 24. I'm convinced I was really a 26, if not a 28, though! Funny how we can rationalize to ourselves, "If I don't buy larger sizes, then I'm not really that size!" Yeah, right!

The original person who made the crusty cheese thing (it's so delicious and that description makes it sound gross lol) used muenster cheese! You'll love it. 

I hear you on the clothes sizes. I was wearing a mixture of 22/24s and 26/28s. My pants are way too loose now but luckily I have a whole mini work wardrobe in 24 so I'm still ok. It's jeans that are the problem! I can pull mine off without unbuttoning them. I look ridiculous! I have cold weather 24s to get me to Spring and I honestly think I may be o****il May or so. It's going to be painful to have to buy a work wardrobe in 22 and 20 and 18...I work in marketing and I can't really wear the same thing everyday because I work in a very fashionable office. I will be throwing money out the window basically :( But Pam just know you're not alone! It sucks when people don't notice you've lost 60 lbs. someone asked me last week (excitedly) "So is it working?? Have you lost weight?"  SERIOUSLY???

And the days of you looking like a sausage stuffed in casing (if you ever did!) are over so onto smaller and better for us!!!

Ah, good to know I'm not alone! I feel for you on the work wardrobe thing, I'm not working at this point and lucky enough that I don't have to work, so even though I want to go back I'll wait about six or eight months before seriously looking again. In the meantime I can wear all the slouchy clothes I want; jeans, t-shirts and sneakers are my uniform. I may have some things boxed up that I couldn't bear to part with even though they were too small, so that will help fill in any gaps until I decide it's time to shop.

I doubt seriously you look "ridiculous"! You're obviously very stylish judging from your profile pic. But I hear you on the not noticing thing, and thanks for letting me know it's not just me! I'm sure another 20 pounds or so will make a big difference, and getting rid of these winter layers will help a lot as well!

Yes, no more sausage days. Smaller and more importantly, healthier, is definitely better!  

Pam, you're so sweet! I think you and I both are gonna have people suddenly just be amazed at our loss! I already get the "your face looks so much thinner" comment. I think people are often hesitant to comment on weight. Saying, "Have you lost weight? You look great" could be taken to mean "You aren't as fat and ugly as you once were" lol. At least in other peoples minds, so maybe that's why they don't tell us how fit and fabulous we are looking ;) That is what I tell myself anyway! 

I have taken a few pics along the way and it's noticeable!

Enjoy your chocolate pudding! I bought a banana cream light and fit Greek yogurt in case of a sweet craving. I also like hot chocolate when it's cold out, with protein powder added in! Have a great Saturday!

DCgirl, 

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend. I am not sure if your a dress girl, but I can say that as I started loosing I bought dresses cause and some of the suit jackets that have a bit of stretch in them then mix and match. I have been wearing those same dresses for almost 50lbs and I think I probably have another 20 out of them. Once I got in the 100's the sizes are changing faster so not positive. 

Heather

B: egg scrambled with cottage cheese & a slice of tomato

S: click espresso shake made with skim milk (HATE protein shakes, but I'm trying to increase my protein and hopefully decrease my carb cravings)

L: Panera hummus power bowl (I can probably eat about 1/3 of it I'm having a large pouch day lol)

D: my oldest is home from college this weekend so I'm grilling ribeyes for supper. I'll make a big salad to go with it

S2: protein is great today so I'm not sure. Probably have carrot & celery sticks dipped in peanut butter