Ok all, let's get things moving.

[nandmsmom]

So, tell me. What does an average day of eating look like for you. Please include how far out you are.

[redbabe08]

i am coming up on 4 months post op revision from lapband - back at goal.

today i've had:
double protein coffee
1oz of aged cheddar / 1oz of sopressata / few olives - picked on that for a while
grilling mahi mahi for dinner with some grilled veggies too - i'll probably eat an ounce or so of fish & some asparagus

i have no appetite & try to pick on stuff all day long - today was busy outdoors.

[muffinsmom]

18 mos. out. Here's a fairly typical day.

Pre-breakfast - Premier Protein Shake, which is useful for taking my morning vites & pills. (I take a rx PPI and rx Lipitor.)
Breakfast - usually 1/2 c blueberries, 1/2 c cottage cheese, 1/4 c gr yogurt, Torani SF hazelnut syrup for flavoring, 1 tsp. Carlson's Lemon fish oil. I make these up 6-8 at a time and keep em in the fridge & take em to work. Today and yesterday, I had the Pioneer Woman's Make Ahead Muffin thing, see recipe section on here.
Lunch - White chili, made with chicken breast, cheese, white beans. My recipe makes 10 servings, which I also put up in individual servings so I can take to work.
Dinner - EN's hunk-o-critter, see recipe section on here
Snack - a 100-calorie bag of popcorn, or a 100-calorie Klondike bar, or a couple flourless peanut butter cookies, or a handful of cashews or almonds. Sometimes more than one of these kinds of snacks.

Calories are usually 1200-1500 or so. Protein in the range of 100 gms, carbs anywhere from 60-100. Don't look at fat content, although SparkPeople does track that, I don't care about it. I log my food religiously, including any off-plan eating (like the six pieces of Whitman's someone gave me for Valentine's Day, or the bag-o-Cheetos I enjoyed over the course of 2 days a while back.) Maintaining a weight of 133 lbs at this point, more or less. (Today I was 133, the other day 136.)

ETA: Couple cups of coffee after the Premier (which I count towards my liquids), and all vites/supps with meals. One meal needs to be without dairy so that I can take my iron supplement. I discovered that taking the iron on an empty stomach upsets the sleeve. I still avoid drinking with meals, so stop drinking a half-hour before eating, and resume about 90 minutes after eating.

[Brandilynn]

3 months shy of 3 years out

I have a vat of coffee then another vat with 2 scoops of protein in it

feedings after that are usually 2 ounces meat with 0.5 ounce cheese and greek yogurt made into a salady thing, one of those usually on a Wisecracker crackerbread, or or 2 ounces of roast beast with 0.5ish ounce slice of horseradish cheddar and ground mustard on a Wisecracker cracker bread (I typically have one crackerbread doodad a day). Or the meal I have with my iron, I just have meat mixed with artichoke tampanade and maybe some kalmata olives, but no cheese or crackerbread or anything that would diddle with the iron.

I feed about 5 or 6 times a day. I recently ripped a calf muscle and so am coming back from that, but when I am typically active, one of those feedings above is followed by a serving of naturally more peanut butter, smooshed in with dark cocoa and rolled up in a slice of havarti.

In the evenings after working out I have another double scoop of protein.

I CAN eat all the protein I need, but my labs show that no matter how much I eat, my protein values go in the shitter, so 3 shakes a day keeps me in the middle 6s. I am seeing if 4 will get me to mid 7s.

Calories are generally anywhere between 2500 and 3000 depending on activity, or, like recently if I have been wounded and so have had a bit of a decline in my metabolism. I use the diet power program to tell me what my cals need to be. eazy peazy lemon squeazy. I bounce between 150 and 153 anymore. It used to be between 145 and 150, but I got a little bewb back and am pleased with it! :}

When my calories are higher I just add oils and nut butters and avocado, and change my meats to higher calorie meats, so it changes caloric value of the same volume of food.

[nandmsmom]

This is all great to see. I'm 6 weeks out tomorrow and am just finishing up the soft proteins phase. So far I eat 2-3 oz of some form of protein 6 times a day. No problems getting anything down and my protein has been at 85-95 per day with calories about 800 or so a day. No labs yet to see where I'm at, but am hoping that will happen at my follow up on Thursday. I also get to go into the last stage, where I can eat most anything that I want. Other than adding a few veggies at this point, I'm thinking the rest will stay about the same.

Thanks everyone. Keep the info coming.

[Brandilynn]

You may well already know and plan on this, but I would STRONGLY ENCOURAGE you to get copies of your labs and track them for yourself. Doctors tend to just look at whether its between the typical lab normals and more often than not, do not judge labs based on the last labs drawn.

I have caught some seriously important dropped balls and its proven to me that I need to keep an eye on that stuff and not just count on them!

[nandmsmom]

Brandilynn, you are absolutely right. I'm an RN and have caught many a mistake. I tend to manage my own health care as much as possible, doctors are just for doing my bidding!

[Brandilynn]

Yes M'am and right the hell on! Good for you. Some folks need a disaster to prove it, and that's a screaming bummer.

[Deleted]

Here's a couple days for you- I'm almost a year (April) and still in the losing phase, slowing.. but still going down the way I want it. I'm w/i 20-30lbs of where I eventually hope to land (10ish to "goal") & will need to fine tune it with some body comp tests as I'm approaching a normal weight.

coffee 40cals 1carb 4prot (Atkins RTD as a creamer works great!)
Chia in water 80-8-4
1/2 meat & cheese wrap on lc tortilla 125-5-12
protein shake 100-0-23
pickles-20-2-0
chia in yogurt w/protein powder 180-12-22
2oz shrimp & sauce 75-4-12
oh yeah prot wafer 105-4-7
oils 10-0-0

totals:735 cals - 36 carbs (16fiber)- 84 protein

Most days are still 675-750 cals, 20-30carbs majority being fiber, and 70+ protein, sometimes higher cal wise.. rarely lower at this point. Early out till about 6mo or so, I was ranging mid 500's to low 600's, so there's def been a slight natural increase in calories these last few months as I can eat a bit more.

I do about 2-2.5 oz solid protein max, or as much yogurt as I want (soft stuff like yogurt, cot cheese.. could eat a big bowl full if I tried, meat of course shows how much room I really have!)

Today, I've had little appetite and been busy around the house doing organizing stuff, so I'm sitting at only 370 cals.. so after chicken tonight, I be having at least one protein wafer treat!

I eat 4x a day usually, sometimes more if needed/wanted.. but everything gets recorded regardless. I generally get in a 25g protein first thing in the am with or right after slugging my first coffee of the day. I generally use 1 to 1.5 protein shakes a day (20-35g from supplements) the rest is food or the occasional protein-candy treat *aka protein bars/wafers.*

[mark540]

1 year 361 days out.

brkfst:
2-4 eggs
2 oz cheese
2 oz ham or bacon or sausage

snack:
yogurt
small fruit

lunch:
6 oz meat, chicken or fish
small vegetable
2 oz cheese
pickles

snack:
nuts
cheese

dinner:
6-8 oz meat, chicken or fish
small vegetable
small potatoe or small roll

snack:
some desserty type thing
might be yogurt, ice cream or cheesecake
maybe a cookie, maybe peanut butter

water and diet soda all day

[jillybean720]

I will be 3 years out on March 27, and I'm currently 35 weeks pregnant (actually, my due date IS my 3-year surgiversary!). Honestly, I do not HAVE an "average day of eating." Every day is different!

Like Brandilynn (though not quite to the same extent as her), I have found that even though I can EAT plenty of protein through food, my protein levels do best when I include protein shakes, so I try to incorporate at least one per day (it doesn't always happen nowadays because my schedule is so hectic and my eating patterns are so wonky, thank you pregnancy...).

Dammit, now I'm hungry! Time to wander down to the cafe in my office building for maybe a breakfast burrito or just some sausage, eg, and cheese in a bowl, and maybe some fresh fruit...

[Avonlea]

I am only six weeks out, but I have found it best to start my day with protein shakes so I reliably get 20g protein first thing in the morning.