Please put me straight on my diet...

Ok. I really need your opinion.

Here is my diet for the last few days.
Please tell me if this is too much food, not enough or the wrong sort or what...
I have no idea what I should be doing at all and feel like I am just getting from one day to another and walking along a dark tunnel. I wish my band had just worked from the moment it was placed and then everything would have been ok. Now I just dont know what to do with myself. :tired

Today:
Yoghurt (muller with a fruit corner)
Borscht (not meat)(beetroot and root veg chunky soup 1 tsp butter)
1 chicken breast, mushroom, cabbage, celeriac, bacon in stock
1/2 bottle red wine

Yesterday:
pot noodle
2 packets crisps
1 portion of lasagne (about the size of 4 decks cards)


Monday:
chocolate bar
2 banana's
home made chick pea and prawn curry


Sunday:
1 croisant
1 pot of mussels in tarragon (1.5 pts with shells on)
3 very small slices of bread
2 glasses white wine

Saturday:
1 slice brioche
1 tablespoon fois gras (chick liver pate)
tomato, olives, olive oil/balsamic vinegar with 1 slaice brioche
1 pot moule marniers
1 ice cream desert with nuts and meringue
1 bottle red wine

Friday:
1 slice Brioche with 1 slice salami and gouda
1 potato gratin with cheese and cream
green salad

I don't know what some of the stuff in your list is (crisps, pot noodle, pot moule marniers, brioche) but I'm seeing A LOT of carbs and not enough protein or veggies/fruit.

Watch the calories on the wine too. I *think* a 4-6oz glass has around 80-100 calories.

There are a few threads where people post their daily menu. That might be helpful to you.

Do you log your food? I like fitday.com and a lot of people seem to like thedailyplate.com. I think you might be surprised at the calories in some of the stuff on your list.

Hi there,
well crisps are the american 'potato chips' and one bag = 30g small bag
brioche is a soft sweet french bread
moules is french for mussels... You just eat them, they are a shell fish. They are pure protein as far as I know...

I think there is protein every day, but I cant get fruit other than banana down. Everything needs to be wet or not very chewy...

Wine is full of calories I know...

Any other ides?

Is it too much?

I have 4.5mls in a 10 ml band.
its 2 months since my band has been fixed.

I don't think it's too much...it's just very heavy in calories. And, I agree with Candle...a lot of sugars, carbs, fat. (Although I don't know what half the stuff you put on there is!)

We were not allowed to drink alcohol of any kind for the first year of banding as well.

Where's your fresh veggies, lean meats, complex carbs like brown rice?? You asked for our opinion so mine is that you are just eating way too rich of foods and foods that are very calorie-dense.

I agree that your portions don't look too big, just not the best choices.

I've not heard that about waiting for 1 year for alcohol. I'm not a big drinker but do love wine! I just have to be careful because it can aggravate my GERD sometimes.

You can eat mussels but not fruit? Aren't mussels super rubbery?

As for the fruit - you can blend a few berries in milk and make a smoothy. You can bake apples with a little cinnamon and brown sugar. You can squeeze oranges and have fresh OJ. Most people do ok with melons. As long as you add more veggies, I wouldn't worry *too* much about the fruit part.

A woman should get a minimum of 60 grams of protein a day but most docs suggest at least 70-80 grams. Do you think you are getting that? Protein really does keep you full longer and carbs just make you want more and more and more ...

I have to tell you the Calorie Counter, Diet Tracking, Food Journal, Nutrition Facts at The Daily Plate is wonderful. Track your foods for a couple days and you will see exactly how many carbs, protein calories etc... It made me realize I could have alot more healthy food and less calories. I track everything even if I am having a bad day. I looked at it last week and said to myself now was 3 cookies worth the 300 calores fat etc... ya maybe 1 was but not 3! It helped me make better choices this week, like Kashi Crunch cereal for breakfast! Tuna melt with low fat cheese and only 1 slice of weight watchers bread. Just some thoughts hope it works for you.

I use The Daily Plate calorie tracker too. I agree with everyone else: more protein, less carbs. An average bottle of red wine has over 500 calories in it. IMO, one 4-6 ounce glass a day would probably be okay. And on the days you have a glass of wine, you may want to steer clear of desserts, so you don't comsume too many calories. Good luck and hope this helps.

I want to eat what your eating, it sounds yummy!

Okay...here goes.

Friday:
The "sweet" french bread, should be sugar free, and 100% whole wheat is always better. Salami is loaded with fat. Try a leaner meat. If it's to dry, add a little moisture without adding fat. A nice mustard maybe? The cheese (gouda) is okay. The potato augratin with cream... Cream is very high in fat. Can you substitute 2% milk? the salad is very good.

Saturday:
Again, watch the sugar in the brioche. Maybe limit the bread to once a day. The moule marnier is an excellent protein. So is the fois gras, just a little high in fat, but you didn't eat a lot, so that's good. Limit wine to one glass per day? Alcohol is a lot of empty calories. the ice cream desert... Sounds wonderful. Nuts have some good protein, but they are high in fat. So is the ice cream unless you were able to get fat free ice cream. The meringue isn't to bad. It's mostly egg whites and air with a touch of sugar. I would add some more vegetables.

Sunday:
Again... no vegetables. The mussels are an excellent source of protein. Limit the bread. Croissants are made with butter. High in fat.

Monday:
Other than the chocolate bar, this looked like a good day, although it appears you may not have eaten enough. One meal a day will leave you hungry. The curry sounds wonderful. I love curry, and it helps moisten any meat. It's easy to stew things in curry without adding calories. the prawns are an excellent source of protein. If you like it, by all means
continue.

Yesterday:
This was a lot of carbs. I too love crisps and find them very difficult to avoid. I didn't see any lean meat or vegetables. The cheese and tomatoes in the lasagna is good, but you had noodles twice. To many carbs.

Today:
sounds delicious.This was your best day. Yogurt with a little fruit was good. Root vegetable soup. Very good. (just remember, root vegetables are higher in carbs than other vegetables) chicken breast with cabbage. Very good. Just watch the wine.

I don't know where you are from, so finding vegetables may be a problem, but some of your dishes sound wonderful.

Lower your carb intake and up your protein. Also, try and limit your alcohol consumption.

I really suggest you set a calorie limit. Before I had fills and a lot of weight loss, my calorie limit was 1,600. I could lose steadily eating 1,600 or less.. although I admit it was hard to do initially. Then track your calories on myplate. 1/2 a bottle of wine I would say is about 400 calories? That's really not good, that would leave 1,200 more calories for your food.
I didn't cut out things I liked (re: bread, cheeses, whatever), but I made sure I stayed in my calories. As you lose weight and gets fills, your daily calorie requirements not only drop, but your ability to get that many calories in (without drinking a bottle of wine or a milkshake) is a lot harder as well.

Thanks for all your ideas..

Aubrie, this is exactly what I wanted. Thank you.
I am actually from the UK, but have been in France and Russia for a while. I am not back in blighty and finding it really hard to remember what the heck to do.

When you said the last day was my best day, that was actually when I was back here... so maybe there hope yet.

Today I have had:
1 meatball (quorn ones full of protein) cooked in oxo and lots of onions and 2 tablespoons of dry sherry. Had it with peas and mashed potato.
Portion wise Its about a childs portion
I also had 2 yoghurts - muller fruit corners

I can only really cook an oven meal because of the way I work... So i have to prepare it at midday and throw it in the oven for my husband to turn on at 6pm. I struggle with what to eat for lunch if I am home. I always used to have a sandwich, but thats no good now. So I froze a load of the borscht I made and can have that for lunch... but it gets boring.

Wine.. yes this is not good and I know its a load of empty cals. I have taken to having wine rather than sugary snacks like donuts or cake or pudding (the ice cream nut thing was a rarety!). I actually dont want to have anything, but it seems I have to substitute it for something... wack I know.

I quit smoking, started eating, stop eating now drink. ARGHHH I probably have about 14 units a week which is about 2 bottles red wine, however I dont have it spread out. I half half one day, and none the next that kind of thing.

Do you guys think I should just go for Tee Total in all honesty? I am thinking it might be good.

also I love sauces and stuff and I cant stand plain old vegetables without a sauce or coulis or something tempting to make me feel like i am not on a diet.

Who thinks this is good advice...
Eat ready meals and have a glass of wine in the evening. Eat whatever you want it will all start to happen..

This is the kind of support I get from my fill doctor.. Not good hence I am changing. But Its really hard to get up and shake off the doldrums when all I want to do is eat. Its what makes me happy... obviously! HA HA so if I am depressed at no weightloss i just want to eat.

i have used daily plate too and it was excellent, but then people mess with the amounts on it and I logged in and I had consumed 25000cals just because some idiot changed the amount. It just started to tick me off too much. Also I find it impossible to work out the amount of calories in a potato gratin when its just dished up on a plate witout having a degree in pure maths. I really thought, and was TOTALLY led to believe, that my life would just be normal. I cant handle it any more. I just dont know what to do with myself.

Also, all this stuff about protein and that... my surgeon said its not true and its balance that counts... so who do I believe. There is so much confusing info out there its like I cant trust anyone at all anymore.

I am really upset about this and I appreciate you guys helping me out trust me.

It really is different I think for everyone. I have read so much on this website, spoken to different people and everyone is different. Some do not look at carbs and just count calories. The good thing about protein is it keeps you full! My best protein is Almond Butter

Yes, you are absolute right that balance is the key! But, the thing with protein is like Crispy2 said it helps keep you satisfied longer so that you don't want to eat between meals...same goes for the complex carbs over just simple carbs. Plus, protein helps your body maintain/build muscle and muscle burns fat even when you are not exercising so we all could benefit from having more/healthy muscle. So, that's why we're all told to eat a lot of protein.

Don't get frustrated...you're doing your best and you are trying to find answers. It's different for those who just don't care and eat a bunch of crap then complain because they aren't losing weight...you are learning and asking questions so that shows you're on the right track!

I have no idea what Tee Total is so I don't know if its something you should consider or not.

Just hang in there...keep asking questions and soon things will start to work out for you!!!!!

Try roasting your vegies in the oven with a little bit of olive oil and seasoned with whatever you like--basil and oregano, or rosemary, parsley, whatever. I don't need sauces when I cook them like that.

I try to cut out rice, pasta, and potatoes from my meals. They are pretty much empty calories. It is better to have a bit more meat and vegies than to eat the high carb stuff which will just make you hungrier in a short time.