Tracking after Surgery: What Works for You?
seattlehorn
Posts: 15 Member
I'm scheduled for a sleeve in 13 days (excited! nervous!) and I'm eager to get my ducks in a row. Are there useful hacks for tracking post-surgery water, protein, vitamins, exercise? What worked for you?
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I use MFP for food and exercise tracking every single day. For water, I use an app on my smartphone called Water Your Body. It's a bit more convenient and it also gives me reminders to drink more water. As far as tracking in general, the most useful hack is just doing it! You will see a lot of "veterans" in this group who can tell you that it's one of the most, if not THE most, important tool to help keep you on track. Good luck to you! What an awesome way to start off the new year!0
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I use MFP too. I like the app for my phone. I changed the times on the food diary to 10am and earlier, 10-1pm, 1-4pm, 4-7pm, 7-10pm and 10pm or later so that when it takes me an hour and a half to eat something I don't feel like I have to figure out if it was lunch or snack or whatever. That helped me to better track.
As for water, I have found that making a gallon of Crystal lite at a time and keeping it in my fridge really helps me to drink it. Before surgery I was a diet coke addict and I would go literally weeks without drinking water and I still really don't like the taste of plain water so making my flavored water as accessible as possible is essential.
Stick with this site and this group, these guys are full of great ideas!0 -
I use MFP too. The food tracker helped me keep track of the amount of protein I was (and am) eating per day. I don't use a tracker for my liquid. I have a 32 oz glass at work and I just know that during the work day I have to drink 1 1/2 full and then the final amounts at home.0
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I use this site for tracking food, exercise and water. Really for everything. It's a great tool.0
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Just had surgery Friday, I have been just jotting everything in a memo on my tablet for right now. Yesterday I had 1 ounce of pureed cottage cheese, took me 4 hours to eat it. Lol right now want to make sure I get at least 2 ounces of water every hour, so I don't dehydrate. For the time being this is easier than trying to log in mfp0
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I did not see the point of using MFP until I started eating "real" food. I was on liquids for about a week after surgery. Once I went to soft foods, I started logging-- primarily to make sure I was getting enough protein.0
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Thanks so much for the input. I'm really excited about this journey.0
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I am 5 weeks post op and have been tracking everything on MFP since I started my journey in February. I changed the headings of the times I eat to "Early AM & Vitamins, Lunch, Afternoon Snack, Dinner and Evening Snack. I also keep a hard copy in a notebook. I find it very helpful to refer back to meals I have had before.
Also, I love seeing the way MFP breaks down every food into calories, carbs etc. I wouldn't get that with the notebook alone.
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Yup, I too find the food diary on MFP to be very easy and useful. I started using on my 2 pre-op diet..it is a good habit to get into!0
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MFP is great. Especially for tracking the protein and water at the beginning. Later when on real food then for the calories too.
I learned my lesson. I tracked at the beginning and then about 3 months after I quick tracking for a while. I notice my hair falling out. Doctor asked me "are you tracking your protein". I had not! So been doing it ever since.
This site is great!0 -
One hack that I suggest is to change the format of your diary from the default. I did it and I love it. Instead of the default 3 meals and snack, my daily diary is divided by "Breakfast - 200 calories", "Mid-Morning Snack - 100 calories", "Lunch - 200 calories", "Mid-Afternoon Snack - 100 calories", "Dinner - 200 Calories", and "After Dinner". It is more reflective of how I actually eat (many small meals), and the calories reference is just a guideline that I allow myself to fluctuate from, and you set your own depending on your caloric goals.0
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