Last night I went to support group. It was an interesting meeting. I lost 16 pounds during the three month challenge, but did not win the challenge. A gentleman there lost about 7% more than I did, you can totally see it on him too! His round tummy is almost flat!
The topic of soda pop came up so I asked whether my surgeon (who was not there this time as he just had double hernia surgery on Thursday and was home resting) allowed for drinking diet soda or not. The group leader said he did. You just have to try it and see how it affects you. So, one of these days, I shall give it a try in the late afternoon, after I have given my lunch plenty of time to pass through my port into my lower tummy.
What was interesting, was after I asked my question, the guy who won the challenge said oh don't drink any pop because once you do you won't be able to stop! Um, just because you had an addiction to diet coke (he was drinking upwards of a 12 pack a day) doesn't mean that I have the same addiction. I mean, yes, it was a rare day that I didn't have a Diet Pepsi, but I didn't often drink more than three in a day. I'm not looking to replace my water with Diet Pepsi, but I want to know if I find myself wanting one, like I did last Saturday, that I can have one. And who's to say that I'll even be able to drink soda? I have to try it first, as for some people, drinking carbonated beverages after the band is painful for them. So please, don't push your addictive reactions on to me!
The leader also went over portion sizes. She handed us a couple of pages of various food items and what the normal portion size is (ounces, tablespoons, cups, etc.) and the number of calories in the portions. It was pretty interesting. As a bandster, we often times are eating no where near a normal portion of most food items, but there are some things that we can easily eat that we may be overeating. Such as avocado. A serving is 3 ounces and has 120 calories. I can easily eat more than that, even with the band. I love avocado. Whether it's sliced up with a little garlic salt, or mashed into guacamole, or mixed with some fresh salsa. Even though avocado is one of the "good" fats, it is still fat, and I have to remember that I shouldn't eat the entire avocado!
So overall, the meeting was informative. The nurse got after me, again, for eating my morning yogurt. But I will continue to ignore her because for me, the 12 grams of protein along with the 8 grams of protein in my cheese stick, is a great breakfast choice! The benefits of the live active cultures in the yogurt and the calcium and the protein far outweighs the slider factor. So I'm okay with it.
