DS Eating At Two Years

[Joanne]

I'm glad to see so many new DS'ers here. I'm over two years out and maintaining my goal weight for about a year. When I was newer, one of the things I wondered about is just what life would be like longterm - ie what would I be eating, what volume of food would I be able to eat, and how easy would it be to maintain. I thought I'd start a thread to let you know what's typical for me, at this point.

Disclaimer: I am just over two years out. There are many here longer out than me. Luckily, this far, I haven't seen the scale go up, really no matter what I do. There are weeks that my clothes feel a little tight, or I see the scale go up more than a usual bounce of 3-4 pounds. All I do is cut the carbs, and like a miracle it goes right back down. I expect that I'll get some bounceback at some time, and I'll either accept it, or do what I can to cut back more.

Here's what I ate today, which is a pretty typical day for me:

B: Went out to a diner with my husband. I had:
-Coffee with cream and sugar. I use real sugar, but a tiny amount, like less than half a packet. I dont like things overly sweet.
-Egg, Cheese, and Sausage on a Hard Roll. I got the "deluxe" which was double egg and sausage. I ate about 1/4 of the roll, really just as a base to pile the eggs on, and then just almost all of the egg, sausage and cheese. I was stuffed silly from this, but it was so good.

S: A few hours later, when we got home I decided I wanted a latte. We have a new espresso maker for Christmas so I made one "breve" style which is half and half, espresso, and some sugar free vanilla syrup.

L: We were out shopping and went to a little deli. I got a grilled cheese panini, and ate half. More carbs than I usually eat, but it looked so yummy and I was craving a toasty grilled cheese.

S2: Since I didn't have great protein for lunch, I made a double scoop protein shake. Usually I will eat better protein at lunch and not have a shake.

S3: Around 5pm I was getting hungry and ate two chocolate truffles from a Harry and David box someone gave us. The fat content is high, so even though they are simple carbs, when I crave something sweet I try to make sure it has a high fat content so I have some benefit of malabsorption.

D: Not very hungry, I picked at some leftover spiral ham, and had a wedge of cheese.

That's it!

And oh yeah, I'm sitting here wearing size 6 jeans and a size S top. It still blows my mind.

[Gail R]

Yep-That's about right! At two years out I find that I'm not that hungry at dinner time so if I want to go out to eat, I go early. I eat so much more and varied than I could when I was always dieting pre DS. My daughter is sort of jealous of my ability to eat. She's home form college trying to lose what the cafeteria food packed on. She requested I do some separate shopping for her as in, non fat Greek yogurt, low fat milk, etc. She enjoyed dinner tonight but reminded me that it didn't help with her weight loss. I told her it was perfect for mine though. We had a rich fondue with dippers of fruits, veggies, ham and toast.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

[Joanne]

Hi Gail,
I live with my husband and college age son, and neither of them eat particularly healthy, but neither have a weight issue either. Funny, though, is that my son's GF is here quite a bit, and she's started to keep a few things in our refrigerator like nonfat yogurt, skim milk, etc. Kind of funny to see my Fage Total next to her Light and Fit Dannon. So glad I get to eat mine.

[Deleted]

The problem with all the low-fat, non-fat stuff is that it is packed with carbs and other crap I can't pronounce. The carbs make you fatter and the artificial sugars trigger hunger and can cause insulin resistance.

I posted this part somewhere else here:

I live with my son and he eats what I eat, I just don't put 'extra' fat on his food. We use real butter, full fat sour cream, etc. He has lost weight and his cholesterol has gone down eating this way. Back when I was dieting, Atkin's was the only diet I actually lost weight on and lowered my cholesterol pre-op.

[Joanne]

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Jan 1, 2012 0:02:28 GMT -5 @shales said:

The problem with all the low-fat, non-fat stuff is that it is packed with carbs and other crap I can't pronounce. The carbs make you fatter and the artificial sugars trigger hunger and can cause insulin resistance.

I posted this part somewhere else here:

I live with my son and he eats what I eat, I just don't put 'extra' fat on his food. We use real butter, full fat sour cream, etc. He has lost weight and his cholesterol has gone down eating this way. Back when I was dieting, Atkin's was the only diet I actually lost weight on and lowered my cholesterol pre-op.

That makes so much sense. My husband lost about 15 pounds since I had my DS, and I use the "real" stuff when I cook. I dont overdo it with anything, but I dont go out of my way to use lowfat, either.

My mother in law stayed with us around Thanksgiving and was bashing all of my food, and the fact that I used the full fat (ie regular) versions of food. I tried having that argument with her but most of it fell on deaf ears. Of course she is a product of the food in a box, margerine, and Tang era….

[Sandra C.]

Thanks Joanne for starting this post. Love to hear how life will be like down the road. The difference between you and me at 4 months, is the ability to eat larger meals, but not much larger. I'm told it will change with time.

We have always lost the most weight on the Atkins diet too, pre D.S. This is one of the main reasons I chose the D.S. , to be able to eat healthy, the way I was used to. When we go out to eat my family watches closely what I eat, especially tonight for my first visit to the Chinese Buffet, our New Years tradition. I had lots of roasted chicken- skin on, cold shrimp, insides of crab rangoon, frog legs, a little real ice cream.

[actiongirl]

I also appreciated this post. It's good to hear a practical take on eating years out from surgery. Thanks for sharing that!

[allraindrops]

Yeah thanks! Right now it feels like I won't be able to eat more than half an egg, good to keep hearing that things will get more normal with time:)

[Deleted]

Yep, just about right. I'm almost 3 years out and started out with a little tiny 1 1/2 oz. tummy. I eat very similarly to Joanne. For instance, I've been eating (for about the past 30 mins.) a breakfast of two eggs, fried in butter, 4 strips of baon, a homeade waffle (my only gluten-ey food of the day is usually in the morning) and a large latte with heavy cream and SF syrup. For lunch I'll probably have some clam chowder with extra cheese and bacon added. Dinner is going to be spira sliced ham and sauteed green beans. I might have a handful of nuts for a snack or a chunk of cheese. Maybe some leftover rotisserie chicken, if I'm really hungry.
DS eating is good at 3 years out! BTW, I've lost 180 lbs. and have been maintaining that loss for about 18 months now.

[Deleted]

^^ I'm just a little over three years out and I'm similar.

When I want to eat less food overall I stop drinking with my meals and I'll eat far less than when I drink. I use that trick when I like a particular food and want to eat more of it. In general though, I'm still eating small amounts. I snack if I need it otherwise I don't bother. I use heavy cream in everything (1/2 cup in each cup of coffee!) and liberally eat cheese. I'm not afraid of sugar and eat real sugars instead of the fake sugars (they upset my stomach) and I try to avoid gluten containing foods and focus my carbs on rice, beans, corn products and the like. A fave meal is a Chipotle burrito bowl which is usually 2-3 meals for me. Rice, beans, chicken, cheese and sour cream. A guac & chips is not usually too far behind! If I eat guac and chips, I easily get three meals out of the bowl. Or I'll just get a side of chicken and a side of guac and chow down.

Some days I eat what feels like a lot and "all the time" and other days i have no interest in food. Some days I crave protein shakes so I drink them, other days I feel OK. I take my supplements and I just take each meal and moment as it comes. My body knows when to step back from the table and what foods work best. It knows when I've had too much junk and I start craving salads. It's a balance.

[Deleted]

Five years out here. My appetite is way down at the moment because I've had a pain flare and a bit of surgery this week.

Typical day (I'm on semester break, so not eating in the dining hall) looks rather like this:

First breakfast: About 12 oz. of Greek yogurt with soy nuts and sometimes almonds.
Second breakfast: 6-7 slices of bacon
Lunch: Varies, but something resembling soup and sandwich. Tuna salad and roast beef w/provolone are current sandwich preferences. Yes, I eat some bread. Currently using Arnold's Double Protein Bread, which is nothing special.
Snack: Minimum 4 oz. of chunk cheese, which I nibble while at the computer. Currently indulging in Harry and David's pears with Jarlsberg cheese. Pears make me fart like a maniac, but hey I'm home more or less on sick time anyhow. LOVE those pears.
Dinner: Lots of hot gooey casseroles at the moment. Last night was a kinda Tex-Mex seasoned layering of hamburger, refried beans, black beans, corn, olives and a whole lot of mozzarella cheese, with vast glob of sour cream on top. (I was out of the usual shredded "Mexican" 4 cheese blend, so had to improvise on the melty stuff.

Last night's snack was toffee popcorn with cashews and almonds. GOOOOD poop stuff. Usually I use trail mix and/or more cheese, sometimes with crackers. Or maybe a protein wafer thing if I'm feeling righteous.

Most days nowadays I drink one protein supplement, which I mix with just enough water to chug it down. No fancy shake things for me most of the time, although for some odd reason I'm considering a chocolate peanut butter banana shake. Must be the anesthesia remnants.

[freckled1]

Honestly, EN! Are you one of those people who throw whatever they feel like in some sort of cooking vessel and it always tastes great?! Between this casserole and the hunk o' critter, I am impressed!

Send leftovers, please! Just don't tell my boys because you know what 15 year olds do to food!

[freckled1]

Oh yeah. I also intended to respond to the actual post. Sorry about the highjack!

I'm 8 years out and I still have restriction. I sometimes think I can eat a lot but I can't eat enough to meet my protein needs. I take a 2 scoop protein shake every morning like it's medicine. I've tried getting all fancy but I really just tolerate them.

Currently, I have very little appetite so my days have consisted of the shake, plain greek yogurt with low sugar maple syrup (stop laughing at me!), cheese slices, and chips with ranch dip. Oh, and obnoxious amounts of coffee. This will likely change tomorrow when the kids and I return to school. I do well with routine.

I do have days, sometimes weeks, when I eat much more.

[valgroce]

I'm not the best example to follow, as I have a very hectic schedul and rarely have opportunity to sit down to a respectable meal.

Breakfast is usually about a cup or so of greek yogurt and toast (or oatmeal if I fancy it), then as I finish my cheese sauce for the mac & cheese at Porky's, I take a slice of bread and wipe out the inside of the saucepan.

Just before Porky's opens, I call dibbs on a corn muffin coming fresh out of the oven

When I get an opportunity, I'll grab about 4oz of pulled chicken or mix the same amt of pork with green beans and sweet bbq sauce

As soon as the first slice goes, I call dibbs on the fatty corner of the smoked brisket, and enjoy it and another slice or two.

Later on after that, I'll get about 4-5oz of homemade mac&cheese.

When I'm done for the day, I'm usually hitting some kind of fast food or going to my favorite restaurant thats open later than me, where I'll enjoy 5oz of a 10oz steakburger or a half a Cuban Sandwich

I really live a life of grazing, which is the only way I manage to get in my protein. If I find myself short, I'll work on a bottle of Kefir, which gives me an extra 40g of protein.