a day in the life

one of the things i wondered about most when i was pre-op was what my day would look like in terms of food. one on hand, i felt embarrassed by the idea that i was having weight loss surgery, about to change my life so drastically forever, and yet what i was thinking about was the food. but that's the reality for so many people considering the surgery - in some ways, it's the mentality that got us here, and it's not easy to break just because you've made the decision to have the surgery. if we were able to overhaul that way of thinking, we wouldn't need the surgery...and the cycle continues.

i was afraid to ask people online, in my support group, even my nutritionist what a post-op day of food looked like because of that shame, so i wanted to share it with you. i figure i'll do it once a week or so, so you can see the variety of foods i eat, the amounts, the times and what my feelings/thoughts are about each meal and snack. i know it would have been helpful to me beforehand, in fact one of the best message board threads i came across on this site was about what foods you were afraid you'd miss once you had the surgery and how you feel about it now. it was such a relief to me to see that other people had food fears and thoughts beforehand and that i wasn't alone. so i hope these posts can offer some comfort to people who need to know what their new life will look like. 

in broad strokes...

• between 80g and 100g of protein daily is non-negotiable. 
• i try to stay between 1000-1200 calories a day, closer to 1000 if it's not a day i'm working out. also, if i am working out, the extra 200 calories should be mainly protein. 
• carbs should be around 45 net carbs daily or less; nothing white, must be WHOLE grains
• sugars are minimal...i never eat more than 9g sugar at once, and i try to stay lower. 
• i use the website sparkpeople to track all of the above everyday

okay here we go...and as you can see, it's always a work in progress and a learning experience.

6:30 AM

before my shower, i went downstairs and had a kashi trail mix bar even though i wasn't particularly hungry...i ate it anyway because for the past two days, i didn't eat in the morning because i wasn't hungry and i had a bloated, gassy feeling all day which i think was from taking vitamins on an empty stomach.(you can read more about my up and down hunger here). i thought about adding a light mini-babybel cheese for some protein but really couldn't eat more.

140 cals, 5g fat, 4g fiber, 6g protein, 6g sugar, 16 net carbs

after my shower (having waited the recommended 30 minutes since eating), i had iced coffee with skim milk (a few of them, if i'm honest, which totals one cup of skim milk for the day).

86 calories, 8g protein, 12 carbs  

-these carbs are milk sugars, and don't really factor in heavily in terms of carbs...sort of abstract but my nutritionist and i have it down

12:40 PM

for lunch, i had five ounces of the tofu peanut stirfry i made over the weekend. it's a mixture of tofu (which didn't turn out as firm as i hoped, any suggestions?), edamame, mushrooms, scallions, crushed ginger, peanut butter, broccoli, cauliflower and soy sauce. oh and some rice vinegar and sherry (i've made it without those two ingredients and it tastes exactly the same). i also throw in some cumin, curry powder and chili powder. it's good - better than it looks, and sort of hits that chinese food spot. i've made it with chicken too. 

so this i measured out into 5 ounce portions after making it, and i was feeling like although it was physically comfortable to eat all 5 ounces, it was starting to look like a lot to me, portion-wise. and this is a tricky thing...there's one school of thought that says never to eat more than 4 - 6 ounces at once, and then there's another that says you have to find the limits of your "pouch" so that you're satisfied...i do a combination, while never eating more than 6 ounces if that makes sense, and some foods (like chicken) are denser and fill me on less than others (like nuts and cheese and sugar free desserts...go figure). i ran into a friend in the kitchen at work while i was reheating the tofu who was shocked at what a small portion it was. that made me feel pretty good.

approx 268 calories, 13 carbs, 19g fat, 17g protein

-this is a little high in fat, i think i have to find a way to go lighter on the peanut butter, but overall it's okay, just have to balance it later in the day

1:35 PM

another iced coffee as mentioned and accounted for above, but i added a scoop of pure protein powder to bulk up my protein intake for the day since my breakfast was a little light in that department.

50 calories, 12g protein (milk in coffee counted above)

3:40PM

2 hard boiled egg whites, 1/2 oz gorgonzola cheese, 7 small black olives, 7 grape tomatoes (no reason for the 7's, just coincidence)

i love snacks like this...it's a good mix of textures and tastes, and it all feels healthy and whole. i'm a little uneasy because i didn't weigh it, but i think it's about 5 ounces all together...egg whites are heavy. i need to get a scale for my office.

approx. 140 calories, 4 carbs, 8g fat, 13g protein

4:06 PM
hungrier than before i had my snack, just waiting to drink some water which might help. this still happens, this hunger. some people have the experience of never being hungry, but i'm not having that experience. sometimes i feel like it would be a lot easier if that happened for me. but my nutritionist asked me "do you want that experience?" and i guess i don't. that doesn't seem like a healthy relationship with food either. 

6:25 PM

on the train home and needed a snack...had 2 mini sugar free reese's pb cups...these are somehow not a trigger for me, and work well as a pretty low calorie (considering) sweet bite when i need one. admittedly a little crappy as food goes, but i'm okay with it if it's not all the time.


68 calories, 5g fat, less than 1g net carb, 1g protein

worked out at around 7:30 and actually wasn't really hungry afterwards for a while. that's unusual for me, usually i'm starving after working out. so i drank some iced tea and waited until i felt a little hungrier. i think somehow the reese's really filled/satisfied me.

8:45 PM

had 2 ounces of ground turkey with taco seasoning, 2 tablespoons of an herbed sour cream i made (scallions and chives, and i like to call it "herb crema" cause i'm fancy), 1/4 cup of cajun black beans, some chopped scallions and 1 ounce of smart puffs. that's the part i feel not so great about. but they're really tasty, pretty healthy and surprisingly, not a trigger for me. i buy them in the individual bags and they take a while to eat and i really enjoy them. it's another "as long as they don't replace real food" situations.

307 calories, about 20g net carbs, 14g fat, 18g protein

DAILY TOTAL: 1,059 calories, about 50g net carbs, 51g fat, 74g protein

ASSESSMENT: OKAY. 

calories - i could have had some more calories since i worked out, but didn't want to have snackfoods (like a granola bar or more smart puffs which i definitely wanted)...i would have had to have more meat or cheese and that would have increased the ounces of my dinner. if i had waited a while and eaten more after dinner, it would have been too close to bed. 

i could have... had another ounce of turkey with dinner and skipped the beans, or added some more protein powder to my coffees, or had a more protein-heavy snack on the train.

carbs - a little high on the carbs...the granola bar for breakfast didn't help. better to stick with things like eggs and cheese and turkey/chicken for breakfast. also, the smart puffs are high in carbs. i think a granola/protein bar are an either/or situation with the same day.

i could have...had a better, more protein-focused breakfast

fat - also a little high...peanut butter needs to be reduced in that tofu recipe, but i'm over that recipe for a while now anyway. 

protein - almost! it's hard to keep the calories down and the protein up, which is where the shakes do come in handy...

i could have...if i had added another scoop of protein, would have been fine. or i should have made sure that my snack in the afternoon had more protein.

was this helpful for anyone? it was for me! it was really interesting to me to see how much my hunger fluctuated throughout the day. i always think that some days i'm hungry and some days i'm not, but by writing it all out, i see that actually that happens several times within a day.

does it look like more or less than you expected?