Indymom

I only did it twice when I was on liquids.

I'd wait at least a few weeks (if not a month) for the hot & sour. It's one of my favorites but the spicy stuff didn't sit well for me until I was at least a month or two out. Ask your nutritionist if you're not for sure what they recommend. Chinese is definitely a green-light for post-sleeve eaters. You just need to make sensible choices. Obviously the general tso's chicken with a side of fried rice isn't going to work that great . . . too much breading/starch. I typically get garlic chicken from my local carryout place (chicken isn't breaded, yummy garlic sauce with mushrooms and Water chestnuts). A small order lasts me multiple meals! I'm sure the garlic sauce is not that great for me - but since the chicken isn't fried I enjoy at will. I also like to get potstickers/dumplings and eat the insides dipped in the potsticker sauce. The insides of an egg roll are good too.

I tried to hit my 75-90 grams of Protein target right away, but it was tough. I also got very tired of the sweetness of the Protein drinks, so what I ended up doing was mixing unflavored protein powder with decaf coffee, a little milk (about 3 oz) and splenda. I had this in the morning and at night for about 60 grams of protein total (the protein was 23 grams, plus the milk added 6 or 7 grams of protein). I didn't do a lot of cream soups but I don't think you're going to overdo it with just liquids . . . they should be passing through your sleeve pretty quickly. However, it's not a bad idea to stick with the portions your nutritionist recommended. Even when I was on full liquids and purees, I was to limit myself to 2 oz per meal.

If you're going to an Applebees there are some decent choices there. You can get french onion soup and leave out the crouton (or eat around it). They have applesauce for the kids' meals so you could likely get that as well. At 4 weeks you probably couldn't tolerate a grilled chicken breast yet, but if your meal plan allows it, they have a pretty yummy fiesta lime chicken breast that has mexi-ranch and melted cheese on it. I generally order that, without the rice and tortilla strips - I can usually eat a little more than half of it and it makes for decent leftovers. I know the mexi-ranch isn't great for me but it's awfully good so it's a splurge I allow myself sometimes.

I desperately need to pick up some new things. I hate to spend the $$ though!! I guess I should just suck it up, I'll probably be at this size for a while since my weight loss has slowed down.

I don't mind telling people how much I've lost . . . I'm glad I decided to talk about my surgery because there are a couple women at work who are considering VSG because of me. I think everyone is different though, and people shouldn't pressure you to reveal the # if you're not comfortable with it. People can be so nosy!!

WOOT! I am no longer obese . . . just plain ol' overweight. I changed my weigh-in day to Wednesdays (because I realized that most of my transgressions occur on the weekends . . . helps to have a couple extra days to rebound) and yesterday morning I officially hit 174. I'm almost 90 lbs down total and less than 25 lbs to goal. It's a real stretch to think I'll be at goal by my 1 year surgiversary, but a girl can dream, right? BEFORE: AFTER (most current taken from about a month or so ago):

Like Lissa, I am almost 90 lbs down and have enjoyed most of the foods I loved pre-op, just in reasonable quantities. For example, my food intake today: B ~ 1 egg scramble with 1 oz diced ham, 1 sliced mushroom and 1/2 oz 2% shredded cheddar morning snack ~ nonfat mocha latte (no whip) - this was an indulgence at 220 cals/43 carbs - but it did have 13 grams of protein!! L ~ grilled chicken breast with spicy "wing" sauce and melted pepperjack cheese (I ate about half) and a few waffle fries D ~ 3 mini homemade meatballs, about 1 oz of cooked angel hair Pasta, and about 1/4 cup pasta sauce with sliced mushrooms, onion & garlic Overall I hit about 1200 calories, 125 grams of carbs (that's a lot for me - damn latte!), less than 50 grams of fat and 75 grams of Protein.

I go by the sodium recommendations on My Fitness Pal (but sometimes I go over). I notice generally that if I exceed my sodium recommendations for more than a day or two in a row (and if I don't drink enough water) it reflects negatively on my weight loss.

My deviled eggs are pretty standard - I just use mayo (or miracle whip), yellow mustard, salt/pepper, and a little pickle juice (dill) or white vinegar. The vinegar/pickle juice gives it a little "zip". I use the same base recipe for my potato salad too.

You look fantastic - congrats!

Congrats! Those are GREAT NSVs!

I'm more like June. I didn't focus on calories in the first 3-4 months post-op - I followed my food plan which was based upon portion sizes per meal and "approved" foods. So if my 3 oz per meal put me above or below a certain calorie amount, I didn't necessarily worry about it. I just focused on my Protein, keeping my carbs reasonable, and I also tried to watch the fat intake. I looked back at a lot of my food tracking at that point and I was probably getting 600-800 calories max and had steady loss during that time. I'm almost 9 months out, and I am usually at about 1000-1200 calories/day, with less than 80 grams of carbs (usually), less than 50-60 grams of fat, and at least 75 grams of protein. My weight loss has slowed to 1-2 lbs per week, but since I'm less than 25 lbs from goal I know that's normal. I'm happy as can be!!

You might be a little early out for chunks of chicken. I didn't start eating "regular" chicken (and other meats) until 8 weeks out - after week 4 my nutritionist allowed canned chicken and tuna, but I always mixed with a small amount of mayo and dill relish for tuna/chicken salad. That made it really moist.

You might have hit a stall, it's pretty common around the 3-week mark. Don't be discouraged, just keep up your Protein and once the stall breaks, you'll likely have a big loss. I used 1-oz plastic cups to measure my meals at a month out. I was to eat 2 oz per meal, so I would have 1 oz of applesauce and 1 oz of cottage cheese, for example - or 1 oz of refried Beans and a string cheese stick.

I agree 100% with Cheri. I have days now that I sometimes hit 100+ carbs - and I'm not in maintenance yet. It doesn't happen too often, but also doesn't seem to be impacting my weight loss. I'm still losing 1-2 lbs/week which I am thrilled with . . . it's a marathon, not a sprint.

I'm thinking I will try some of the wonton recipes but skip the middle layer of wonton, just to avoid a bit of carb and filler . . . I'll report back when I get to that point.

Sorry I've had a crazy week! When I take my lunch (remember I'm 8 months out) I usually take about 3 oz of meat Protein (usually leftover chicken breast); 1 oz 2% cheese chunks; and then I have some "filler" like sliced cucumbers, a few wheat thins or cheez-its, maybe some fruit. I also will take leftovers if it's something that is easy to reheat like chili, taco meat, etc. One of my favorites is leftover taco meat with shredded cheese, reduced-fat sour cream, salsa, etc. (with sometimes a few tortilla chips). If I buy lunch at work I do a very small salad from the salad bar and load it with protein like hard-boiled egg (I try to get mostly egg-white and less yolk), shredded chicken or diced ham, sometimes a bit of bacon if I'm feeling a little decadent. The only thing that sucks is the dressing choices because I like homemade vinaigrette dressings and the salad bar dressings are generally terrible. I might do a drizzle of ranch or italian.

I am a big believer in "clean eating" too. Most non-fat (and many low-fat) products have lots of nasty things in them. I will do lowfat dairy (like lowfat sour cream, yogurt, cheese). I have found that my sleeve doesn't like mayo so I rarely have any. I do track all my food on MFP, and I watch my fat and carbs - but I focus mostly on calories and Protein, and as long as I hit the appropriate targets for both, the fat and carbs don't seem to matter all that much for me.

french onion soup (no crouton)? I was allowed soft cheese at that point in my post-op diet. YUM!

I didn't have a soda addiction or problem pre-op, so I occasionally have a soda post-op - not even flat or anything. It's rare, so I don't worry about it. My dietician was OK with it, we discussed it at my 8 month appt on Thursday. However, if you were a soda junkie pre-op, I'd stay far, far away . . . I stay far away from certain things.

I wasn't cleared for full-blown exercise until after the first 4 weeks. Every doc's recommendation may be different.

I got a bunch of wonton cupcake recipes off this site: http://www.emilybites.com/ I haven't made any of them yet but they all sound yummy!

I don't make much from the Eggface site, she uses far too many SF products for my liking. I would rather not eat sweets than eat all the SF stuff.

I love Skinnytaste - I've been cooking from her site since I was doing weight watchers! A WW-friendly diet is also good for sleevers, as a lot of the recipes tend to be high in Protein and lower in fat and carbs. She has a number of things I have made that are awesome, including: http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/03/chicken-and-mushrooms-in-garlic-white.html http://www.skinnytaste.com/2010/06/chicken-and-white-bean-enchiladas-with.html (post-op I normally just eat mostly the filling and maybe a bite or two of the tortilla - these are time-intensive but delicious) http://www.skinnytaste.com/2012/03/mediterranean-chicken-kebab-salad.html (this one is AWESOME) I want to try this next: http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/05/grilled-chicken-bruschetta.html