Current Diet

Sometimes people ask how I'm losing weight and now, unless they specify that they know about the surgery, I just tell them that I'm eating less. Which is true. I just had someone today ask me about this in a tangent manner...basically, "Are you dieting or did you have the surgery? My cousing had the surgery..." and she kept describing from there.

I said, "I had the bariatric surgery, but really it's just eating less." It's true. The surgery is a jump-start tool to kick you in the ass in getting a healthier lifestyle. What you do with it after that is up to you. I could snog down most things that are unhealthy as long as I do it in small doses and my waistline would reflect that. Eventually. There's a lot of skin there...but that's another topic.

It sounds like my loyal public follower on the blog, Lee (Hi Lee!) primarily eats a chile recipe he cooked up and occasionally modifies. From the sounds of his blog, that's his primary food source. He makes it in batches then eats that until it's time for another batch. I don't know how much variation he gets.

Eating a non-variety of foods for meals is generally deemed counter-productive. I don't know the entire reasoning off the top of my head, but maybe due partially to my wiring I don't mind repetition as much as most other people apparently do. Like Lee (unless I'm mistaken about his habits), I tend to stick to one thing with only a little variation.

I take an azteca tortilla wrap and then warm up a thin slice of turkey and ham with one or two slices of cheese (normally low fat 2% cheese), put those on top, then fill with sliced green giant mushrooms and some tomato sauce (Ragu chunky style is pretty good), salsa, or mustard. Roll it and microwave again then put them in the fridge for the following day.

I think of them as food pellets. Not too messy. Convenient. As they cool, moisture from the heated mushrooms and meat soften the tortilla then it all re-solidifies into a soft bready pocket. of tasty yum. I can easily carry it with me in a cooler to work.

Sometimes I get a Panera sandwich. I eat half of the smokehouse turkey, and the other half becomes my next meal.

I do snack to tide me over sometimes. Not constantly (at least I hope it doesn't come to that! I follow my weight progress quite diligently...) but I have mixed nuts, peanuts (no honey roasted! I love them, but it turns out that the honey roasted have something in the mix...um, probably sugar...that gives me intestinal issues. Not going to do that again.) peanut butter with the nuts sometimes and broccoli. Sometimes I put mustard or salsa on the broccoli.

No, I don't have them all at the same time. That would be weird.

There you have it. That's my primary meal source. Protein, some fat, little thin carb. To drink? Water. No tea. No coffee. Never drank coffee. Soda was forbidden (really miffed that I can't try the soda coming out now with real sugar in it instead of the fake stuff!).

I could, and have, eaten at "real" restaurants although normally I carry my pellets in. I really liked Red Lobster but with money being tight lately and given that we normally have a four year old Little Dude in tow we haven't gone anywhere more extravagant than Panera. If you haven't had a four year old crying out that he wants a burgercheese from McDonalds in the middle of Red Lobster you're missing out.

It's not the same anymore, of course, since I avoid anything more than a bite of something fried or battered. One bite because anything more risks pains or ...something unpleasant later. I don't know if it was the surgery or just being more aware of my digestion and body, but sometimes even if I don't become sick I will feel just blah when I tempt the fates.

Instead I have to have broiled or grilled food like the scallops or the stuffed flounder. I just eat a little and pack the rest in a carry container.

It's really hard though. I don't think people can quite guess how hard it is if they don't have dietary concerns themselves; I went to a very fancy place for my anniversary, a haunted castle-turned-restaurant. It was beautiful and the food was magnificent. I had this brandy-cherry-grilled chicken entree (don't see it on the current menu) with a bed of pilaf thinking that the alcohol would be mostly cooked off. Indeed, didn't taste alcohol. But something in it didn't agree. About ten minutes after eating I had pains. I ended up getting up and walking it off. Delicious, but dangerous.

So you can tell that trying new things is a risky venture for me now. Before I could have scarfed the whole thing and had dessert, maybe even taken something extra home. Here I ate half and was walking for ten or fifteen minutes. At least I got a little exercise. It was worth it in the end, though (definitely recommend you check this place out if you're ever in the area).

So that's my current diet situation. It's not too bad. But it fits me, and it suits me for now. Other people may not be able to stand it. If you're looking to lose weight, it's a matter of calories in and calories out. My diet is probably in the 1200 to 1400 calorie range, once you factor in nuts and broccoli and I'm thinking my wraps are about 300 calories each, plus or minus. When I was overweight I'm estimating my caloric intake was easily triple that, and some days maybe even four times that amount which is roughly what a bodybuilder eats.

The surgery gave me tools and a free pass to allow myself to cut back. I don't avoid cakes and cookies because they're bad for me. I avoid them because I don't want to get sick. I don't indulge in sodium and calorie rich restaurant food because of chemicals or health, I avoid it because I don't want to get sick and I don't want the anxiety of breaking routine and wondering if I'm going to balloon up from eating a "proper" portion size that was still laden with excess calories. I am far more reluctant at this point to slide down the slippery slope of "just one more Oreo". I really miss Oreos. But hey...Oreo or stomach pains? I'll take a handful of peanuts instead, thanks.

Technically you don't need the surgery to do this. I lost something near 70 pounds before the surgery in three and a half months or so by diet alone. The surgery just helped give me a lifelong additional reason to avoid cake and ice cream. If you figure out your calorie intake and expenditure and keep to that budget, couple it with a change in dietary lifestyle, you can lose weight too if that's what you want to do. But it's up to you.

If you need the additional crutch like I did then surgery may fit the bill. Otherwise focus on your lifestyle, not your diet. I'm convinced it's our lifestyle that kills us. And cell death over time. They both kind of factor in.