Worried

I read this forum on a daily basis.  I read how good all of you eat now.... But I am concerned, I hate cooking always have.  The other thing I can not get apple sauce or cottage cheese down, I guess its the consistency .  What am I going to do once I have the surgery???   It cracks me up... I have always ate ww foods (prepackaged) I read the box and seen the carbs in there and I thought no wonder I am fat...LOL... I am soooo worried that I am going to fail..

Jill

 Jill:

I couldnt eat cottage cheese for a LONG TIME.  I do eat a lot of Greek and Icelandic yogurt.  But, there are a lot of options that can give you a diverse diet and dont require cooking.  Tuna salad - I make it with white beans, olives and peppers or green onions and peppers.  Chicken salad.  I do cook pork and chicken in the crock pot but that isn't really cooking - that is dumping things into a pot -- then I package and freeze in portions so I always have something on hand.

The World According to Eggface has a load of food ideas - all easy to make.  

You CAN do this.  REALLY!!

Stop worrying! I actually love to cook, but if it's just me, I don't bother cooking much. I am 10 weeks out, so that may change, but the amounts you eat are so small, they won't require cooking expertise. One thing I tried which may sound gross is 1/4 cup of canned baked beans mixed with 1/4 cup of cottage cheese. Made the cc easier to get down and added some fiber (also some carbs if that is a concern for you). I am still doing 1 protein drink per day, soups, yogurts, dense protein with a dab of vegetable, really easy stuff.

You can do this!

Liking to cook is not a requirement for successful WLS!! 

First of all, you may find your tastes and preferences change after surgery.  Second, there are *tons* of options that aren't applesauce or cottage cheese.  I haven't had applesauce in years!  Okay, I eat cottage cheese every day, but that's another story!

I did not cook at all while I was on liquids.  I ate canned or boxed soups and broths, protein supplements, yogurt and jello.  I strained all the solids out of take-out Indian chicken soup and ate just the broth out of soups at restaurants. 

Once I was on purees, I added whizzed up lo-fat chicken salad in the blender, and found these great 100-calorie packs of lo-fat tuna salad that had 13 grams of protein.  I bought Mexican gumbo at Qdoba's and ran it through the blender and ate on it for a couple of days.  I didn't do the canned refried beans, but I hear that's popular too. 

I cook more now, but usually in batches that I freeze.  For lunch, I buy pre-packaged strips of chicken breast in the deli aisle.  I also bring home leftovers from restaurants (like steak or chicken) that I can eat the next day.  There are many, many options that don't involve cooking.  Please don't let that put you off!!

I know folks on here will have a problem with this because of the sodium but at one of my pre-op classes there was a woman and a single guy who asked the same questions and the nutritionist steered them toward lean cuisines and healthy choice meals. All food groups taken care of.  I think you have to do the best you can and i don't think it's a big enough deal not to have surgery and who knows maybe you'll start to want to be in the kitchen more. i certainly cook 500% more than i did before.  I'd cook if i was having a dinner party and enjoy it but other than that it was dinner out or picking up something.  Now i want to know what I'm going to eat and don't want to leave it to chance.

I don't cook but I make easy stuff like "fake" BLTs with turkey bacon (yes you have to cook it but you cook like 10 at a time and put them in a bag and you have 10 meals) with sliced tomatoe wrapped in lettuce. You put the bacon in a pan once and you have 10 meals. It's really just flipping bacon with a fork. That's not cooking. Then they have frozen grilled chicken breast thats microwavable and veggies that come in a bag and they're microwavable. Easy... Canned chilli and you can put cheese on it (turkey chilli). You can make white chilli and it's not hard.  Microwavable turkey sausage, make an egg in 2 seconds and that's a meal. I found some fully cooked italian sausages made out of chicken. I weigh it out, cut it up and put mustard on it, microwave it and it's low calorie and high in protein. There is turkey jerky that you can have as a snack or even a meal. Almonds as a snack or meal. I spend about 2 hours or less of my sunday evenings cutting and weighing things and separating them into tiny tupperware containers and ziplock bags so it's all in the fridge so that I can grab 3 things for my work day without thinking about it. Each thing is always high in protein and low calorie and I already know because I've prepared it ahead of time. I don't have to think about it. Also, once you have the surgery, cooking a regular recipe can usually feed you for a week so you don't even have to cook that much if you do end up cooking.

You said you hate cooking... well I hate not eating out. I used to eat out for every single meal. I hate chicken and turkey, and actually, I hate protein! It's nasty as hell! I want my ******g bread and pizza and cookies and cakes and all of that stuff... but you know what I don't want? The 52+ pounds I've lost so far.

If you want to do this, you will find a way to be successful. Preparing meals is the easy part. You're making a LIFESTYLE change, not keeping the same habits. Don't expect to keep them and have your life change. We all already tried that and saw how that worked out for us and that's why we're here.

Get your head in the game and start making lists of easy to prepare meals if you're concerned about this.

I'm a tough love kind of girl.

a) You're hilarious and awesome.
b) I love the pre-measuring and containering stuff on Sunday so you can grab 3 things a day method, that's really cool.

That is all. Keep it up.

I look at the whole surgery thing this way:

What you've done to this point has made you fat.  You need to be willing to give up old habits and behaviors and pick up new ones in order to be successful in changing your weight and your life in a sustainable manner.

Maybe you should be open to learning how to cook.  Maybe that's a change you can make that will help you to lose old habits (processed and fast food) and gain new skills and behaviors (eating clean, making time to provide your body with healthy, nutritious food). 

I hated to exercise, especially run, before WLS.  I exercise and run regularly now -- and you know what?  I'm starting to like it and look forward to it.  Learning to make time and put forth effort into exercising is a change that I'm glad that I made.

Open yourself to new opportunities and be willing to change.  You cannot live your life in the same way that got you fat.  It won't work.  Commit to learning new skills, trying new things and allowing yourself to be disciplined and accomplished.  You may just amaze yourself.

well the first few weeks are protein drinks and they come pre mixed.  after that you can order lots of barriatric foods that just need water added. my husband has these for lunch as he is not a cook and i am not home midday. there is lots of prepared deli food you can get - a roast chicken, chili from wendy's and other minimal prep things. bet you can make a scrambled egg.  you might like cottage cheese later as tastes change. but don't worry if you don't. no big deal. sometimes i eat a mcdonald's grilled chicken sandwich and just don't eat the bun. Carl's jr has a low carb burger wrapped in lettuce but its too large for one meal. you can do this. there are ways.  diane