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Oh man, I am craving meat, which is ridiculous because I eat meat so rarely most people I know think I’m a vegetarian. Time for an exciting dinner of bone broth. Good luck to everyone who has upcoming surgeries this week! You are going to rock it. I would have never believed I would feel this good on Saturday after my Tuesday surgery. On Tuesday I was miserable, in pain, and nauseous. Wednesday I was still not feeling well at all. Thursday I was feeling a bit better but still struggling. Friday I started feeling pretty ok, and today I feel great. I’m on track to get in my protein and liquids and vitamins, I feel good, and my incisions aren’t bothering me at all. If you have a rough time the first few days, please know it DOES get better, and at least in my experience, fast!

I mostly eat that way. The problem after surgery is so little food. It makes it hard to get the protein grams in a few tablespoons of food. I’ve always preferred to eat at least vegetarian. I’m not sure how to handle this. I’ve bought plant protein non flavored powder supplement, hoping this will work. I think vegetarian would be easy with eggs and dairy to increase protein. I don’t do well with dairy... but there are so many dairy alternatives now. What I’ve found is they have higher carbs/sugar or fat to “fix” the flavor. Bottom line, I totally support any healthy eating that works for you. Let us know how to support you! You got this!!

Hi Everyone! I am scheduled November 12th for gastric sleeve surgery. I am on mostly liquids and low carb foods if I choose. Does anyone else follow a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle? The doctors and dietitians keep having me think that it's going to be nearly impossible to do. Sent from my SM-G955U using BariatricPal mobile app

I also wanted to say I can only drink the premier protien shakes, chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, Blueberry and apple cinnamon. I like them because they aren't slimy, chalky, chunky or too sweet. If you have not found the ones you like keep looking AND when you begin solid foods get lots of high protien meats if you're not a vegetarian that is! I do a lot of lemon pepper cod, I hate canned tuna so I make tuna fish with light mayo, celery seed and relish juice from tuna steaks! I eat my protien first and I just try to make it a priority on my plate. I can only eat about 3-4 oz of food at a time so it makes cooking the better quality more expensive food options go a longer way in my freezer or fridge making options for better quality foods more available in my budget

No thanksgiving here but it will be a quiet/low key Christmas this year. Just my sister, her family and myself. Our mother passed away recently and other family will not be travelling here this year due to travel restrictions. Since our gourmet cook sister won't be here this year, we will be buying an already cooked bbq chicken and just roasting some veges, and for the two vegetarians making a nut roast. Usually there are lots of pre-Christmas dinners and drinks with friends and family as well as a work Christmas party. All this will be low key this year too. Very much a good thing as I am still not doing well with meals out and about (I need to remember small bites, lots of chews and wait awhile between bites).

As Tek indicated, do you really want to go down the dieting road again, and then learn how to maintain a healthy weight? keto will work as well as any other diet out there - about a 95% failure rate beyond a year. The usual problem with these diets is that people get tired of them and quit, or they reach their goal and go back to their old habits because they never established the healthy dietary habits that help maintain their weight. There is such a thing as "bariatric keto" which tailors it to WLS needs - basically higher protein and lower fat. It is essentially old school Atkins, but people can tell everyone that they're "doin' keto". The problem of all the other diets still remains which is what do you do once the fad fades - keep on with a "so yesterday" diet or jump onto the new latest thing? If you do want to adopt keto as a lifestyle, I suggest that you do just that - take is as a serious iifestyle and learn how to live with it and minimize the nutritional deficiencies that are inherent in it. Think of it as similar to those who chose to go vegetarian/vegan - if one looks at it simply as not eating meat, then trouble is lurking as one needs to learn how to get adequate protein, and the right kinds. Likewise, with keto, one needs to learn how to get all of the vitamins and minerals that we normally get from carbohydrate rich foods (all of our fruits, veg and grains.) At least, if one is really serious about it, our Covid19 days are a good time to try it, as with our normal social distancing protocols, one will be less likely to offend others with their keto bad breath and BO.

I must preface this with I don’t vegan protein shakes but I did do a google search and found a couple that might be suitable for you but most I found had around 10g of carbs. These ones are around 170 calories 7g fat, 10g carbs, and 20g protein https://liveowyn.com/products/protein-shakes/ These are 110 calories and 5g of fat, 12g protein with 8g carbs https://www.amazon.com/Pirq-Plant-Based-Gluten-Free-Dairy-Free-Vegetarian/dp/B07PK2WMWQ/?tag=onegrepla-20&th=1&psc=1 These ones are 170 calories, 6g of fat, 11g of carbs, and 18g of protein. https://www.amazon.com/ALOHA-Organic-Protein-Coconut-Non-GMO/dp/B07PNJKD7W/?tag=onegrepla-20&th=1&psc=1

Vegetarian burrito (red bean+ mushrooms+ cheese) on low carb tortillas with a side of light sour cream & avocado I'm stuffed. Before and After

The first is imitation crab meat salad made with light Mayo, gochujang, fish sauce, and soy sauce and tossed with orange peppers and kimchi. I ended up eating it over 2 meals and my kids pilfered my leftover nori from the first meal. The second is a weird tart I made from fat free vegetarian refried black beans, cheddar cheese, tomatoes and an extreme wellness spinach tortilla. Ended up eating 3 slices and the rest might go in the garbage because the bottom didn’t crisp and I’m not about to eat soggy tart. 😬

OK then I did understand. I don't believe I'll "never do that again", but I've worked hard for a long time on my relationship with food and I hope that will help me when the time comes. I have spent a long time changing my diet long before surgery. I don't eat things like processed or fast food. I eat mostly vegetarian. I prefer healthy food. I'm not saying I never want junk, but I just don't keep it in the house. I know I will have treats now and then in the future, but they won't be a major part of my diet. I didn't get as fat as I was by not eating a bunch of crap, but I did work on that for years before surgery so I hope that will help me. This is a lifestyle change and it's important to me to change my life and live healthy. I'm just going to keep working on all my habits, working on my mental health, and use this tool to the best of my ability. Sent from my Nokia 7.2 using BariatricPal mobile app

@Onmyway301 Hi there! Yes, I’ve been working on whittling myself down about 100-150 calories every couple of days, so I can eventually sit back down between 1500-1800 calories daily. They told me to aim for 1500, but I figured I can slow go aim for it. I tried going 0 to 60 and ended up basically going on a food bender for a few days because the panic was too great. When I slowly ease back down I tend to do better. I’ve been logging my food every day for the last two weeks only skipping one day. I already have dinner calculated in today, and I still have about 350 calories I can play with (I might make an instant coffee, so that will cut it down a little bit more). My goal for today is to stick to as close to 2000 as I can, and get a minimum of 30 minutes of exercise (done, and I’d like to do more!). @qianmij Hi there! I do try to think of my kids often and what their parts play in the grand scheme of things. My kids are special needs, and are ages 2.5 and 4.5. I don’t want to leave them behind because I died of a preventable metabolic disorder. So I often do my Just Dance time with the kids around because they like to wiggle with me, and it’s so fun! I frequently remind myself that it isn’t just for me, it’s for my kids, and my husband as well. I basically need to be gentle with myself while also urging myself to cut the crap, so to speak. Haha @BigSue Food Funerals, that’s great. I told my husband I’d like to at least get one Mountain High Mudpie to share at Red Robin before this surgery happens. No way will we finish it, but still. It’s one of those things I know that I won’t be able to enjoy in moderation after the surgery because it’s HUGE. Like MASSIVE. Haha. It’s a family mission to take down this thing. But at the same time, I’m not sure I’m going to have true food funerals. I’ve read about people going on basically like a food bender before the surgery and the pre-op diet. Eating all of their favorite foods. I have a lot of favorite foods, but I believe I can likely still have most of them. Like a (vegetarian) hamburger sans bun. I’m cool with it. Or a taco, or a small burrito. I discovered a local pizza place will just throw toppings, sauce, and cheese in a bowl and bake it...and I thought hey now that’s smart. I can still get that “pizza” feel without the crust. And I can recreate it in a ramekin here at home. I love pizza, probably my favorite non-breakfast food item (I love breakfast like whoa). But I can happily give up the crust if that means living a longer and healthier life. I think just putting out my initial post on this topic helped shift me back into the right mindset, and hearing everyone’s positivity on the subject. Thank you all so much for your kindness. It really does mean a lot. I’ve been finding that part of my soul that loved to move and groove, and that’s helping a lot!

@loridee11 I’ve been able to hang with the concept that it’s a lifestyle change, and overall I do well. I’ve been getting exercise most days (I set a goal for September to just get a minimum of a minute of exercise most days. In the last week I’ve been smashing that and getting 30-50 minutes a day. I honestly really enjoy dancing and found that Just Dance (video games) is a lot of fun! It gets me up and moving around and I love it! I don’t drink soda (I drink soda so sparingly it’s easier to say I don’t drink it. I’ve haven’t had a soda in over a month, and before that it was likely 3-4 months since the last one). I don’t drink alcohol. My vice is sweets (which is why Gastric Bypass will be good for me, because I won’t be able to overindulge anymore!). I did a baking swap with a neighbor recently, bread for cookies. I shouldn’t have done it. One day I ate 4 cookies, but I countered it by getting more than 40 minutes of exercise. I’m not thinking about exercise as punishment though, because I’m really enjoying the dancing! The food swaps you suggest are great, however I’m a vegetarian, so I don’t eat heavy red meats anyway (though it’s something I miss on occasion). I get my protein requirements daily so far, in that I eat a lot of eggs, beans, and nuts. I’ve stopped eating things like chips and most snack foods—but like I said, I like sweets. If I just keep them out of the house it will be ok (I’ve been able to meter myself with those cookies now!). @WishMeSmaller Thank you so much! The air is horrendous over here. I haven’t had exercise outside in a long time, and haven’t been able to go to my farmers markets to sell my jam and bread because of the air quality. It’s awful. Up until the summer heat hit and then the smoke, I was walking a mile every morning. That made it a lot easier to stay motivated! Then the heat came (110+ days for 5+ days in a row), then the smoke...I have asthma, so I haven’t been able to be outside much. I think that took the biggest blow to my depression. Going on a walk in the morning before eating anything or even drinking coffee...it was nice. It set my tone for the entire day! And here I am now. But like I said to Lori, I’ve been doing Just Dance daily, and it’s really helping get me back out of that depression! @tarotcardreader Hi there! My surgeon isn’t giving me any flack over this. I haven’t even talked to her since my initial appointment. I think it’s more of a self mental block that I’m stressing out over. My PCP said that it isn’t a major issue if I don’t lose exactly 20 pounds. I’m back down about 8 since I posted this, though. I’ve gotten a lot of my motivation back and ditched the depression! Thanks for looking out. ❤️ @BigSue Thank you for this! You’ve inspired me to try out IF again. I’ve been not eating until 10/11am, and finishing eating by 6/7pm. It’s really helping to keep me back in check. Right now I’m just adjusting to the IF and logging again, and getting a lot of movement in. And then I’ll start adjusting my calorie goal to below 2000 again (they recommended 1500 for women at my first nutrition meeting). I figured it’s kind of hard to go from 0 to 60, so I’m going to ease back into it (someone suggested it somewhere! To just cut down a little at a time, instead of the shock that tends to come from going 2500 calories to 1500 overnight. It is likely to cause binge eating!). Anyhow, thank you so much for your encouragement, it means a lot!

Hi HS. Today I got my labs results. I’m low on vitamin K and my bacterial test came back negative. They’re think it is lactose intolerance indeed. Of course I got the email after my egg breakfast and cottage cheese lunch 🙃. So for now, I have to abstain from the dairy and my premier protein shakes. Does anyone have experience with this or know someone who does? I have to rethink my entire purée diet. That leaves me with low fat vegetarian chili, deli turkey and roast beef. That is all I have without dairy. Oof. Thanks in advance for the ideas guys.

It was Kroger brand. I hope they cook it properly but you never know. I ran to Safeway in between BM sessions and picked up turkey and vegetarian chili by Valley. Hoping this could be a simple fix 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻

Yellow rice and pink bean stew w/ salad for the BF because he should finally eat like an vegetarian 🤣 I just had the salad and beans

*Vegetarian Stuffed Chicken Parmesan (Ricotta, parmesan & provolone cheese used) Only calling it stuffed because there is a layer of ricotta between the chicken patty and provolone/parm cheese. Also maybe because I could only eat 1/2 before feeling ridiculous 🤣 The vegetarian chicken patty used:

When I'm awake I don't really miss the bad foods all that much. But when I'm asleep I dream of eating all sorts of forbidden things, and then freak in my dream that I'm gonna dump. Also I'm a vegetarian and I dream of eating hamburgers all the time. It's such a relief to wake up and find out that I didn't really eat the forbidden fruit...

Hi everyone, I posted this on two other forums but I thought I'd post here too. I'm having my bypass next Wednesday, 7/22. I was calm for the most part until the past few days, when I started getting nervous, but that was the nervous that I'm assuming everyone feels when surgery gets close. For some background, I'm 22 years old, 5'1, and started working towards surgery in October of last year at 260 pounds. As of today, I'm 50 pounds down, and that's of course on my own, before having surgery. Yesterday, I started having serious second thoughts. These normal nervous thoughts had me wondering if I could do it on my own since I've been able to lose 50 pounds by myself before surgery, and I keep telling myself I worked hard for this, and surgery is right around the corner, and if I didn't think I needed it, I wouldn't have started the program in the first place. Like I said, I was calm until a few days ago, but yesterday it really started hitting me. I started getting the feeling that I'll be unsuccessful with the surgery. Most, if not all, programs require a high-protein diet after surgery, including my own program. My issue is, I'm an extremely picky eater. I'm a vegetarian, and while I'm not totally vegan since I'll eat products containing milk and eggs, I prefer not to eat (or drink) those things if I can avoid it. So aside from not eating meat, I don't eat cheese or regular eggs prepared in any way (if I try I will not be able to stomach it). I also am grossed out by tofu. This honestly leaves my only options for Protein for the rest of my life to be Protein Drinks and yogurt (which I would prefer not to eat all the time, it's not my favorite thing). My nutritionist said lentils and Beans are ok, but they have a lot of starch so to eat other things if I can. I'm on my pre-op diet so that means I'm stuck on my protein drinks and yogurt for now, and after talking with my nutritionist a few times yesterday, the nerves I was already feeling worsened, and I started having normal doubts to real second thoughts. I was wondering if I'm actually cut out for this kind of surgery since I know I can't keep up with the protein that I'm being asked to eat, and I'm not sure I can compromise since I already know I won't be able to handle things like eggs, cheese, and tofu. If this kind of thing relies on me eating protein all the time, what kind of success can I have if I'm not able to do that? Yes, it'll physically restrict me from overeating, at least for the first year or two, but I'm afraid of a stall after only losing a small amount, or regaining the weight and having gone through all of it for nothing. I'm also thinking how if I lost 50 lbs on my own, I could try to lose the other 100 lbs on my own too, even if it's not the rapid weight loss that the bypass would give me. Like I noted earlier, though, I wouldn't have started this program in the first place if I didn't feel like I needed to go through it and wouldn't have worked so hard to make sure it happens. I'm 22 years old, should I wait a couple of years since I'm having these thoughts and try things out on my own and see how things go with that? Or should I go through with surgery next week? I have no idea between my doubts and the hard work I went through.

Hi everyone, I'm having my bypass next Wednesday, 7/22. I was calm for the most part until the past few days, when I started getting nervous, but that was the nervous that I'm assuming everyone feels when surgery gets close. For some background, I'm 22 years old, 5'1, and started working towards surgery in October of last year at 260 pounds. As of today, I'm 50 pounds down, and that's of course on my own, before having surgery. Yesterday, I started having serious second thoughts. These normal nervous thoughts had me wondering if I could do it on my own since I've been able to lose 50 pounds by myself before surgery, and I keep telling myself I worked hard for this, and surgery is right around the corner, and if I didn't think I needed it, I wouldn't have started the program in the first place. Like I said, I was calm until a few days ago, but yesterday it really started hitting me. I started getting the feeling that I'll be unsuccessful with the surgery. Most, if not all, programs require a high-protein diet after surgery, including my own program. My issue is, I'm an extremely picky eater. I'm a vegetarian, and while I'm not totally vegan since I'll eat products containing milk and eggs, I prefer not to eat (or drink) those things if I can avoid it. So aside from not eating meat, I don't eat cheese or regular eggs prepared in any way (if I try I will not be able to stomach it). I also am grossed out by tofu. This honestly leaves my only options for Protein for the rest of my life to be Protein Drinks and yogurt (which I would prefer not to eat all the time, it's not my favorite thing). My nutritionist said lentils and Beans are ok, but they have a lot of starch so to eat other things if I can. I'm on my pre-op diet so that means I'm stuck on my protein drinks and yogurt for now, and after talking with my nutritionist a few times yesterday, the nerves I was already feeling worsened, and I started having normal doubts to real second thoughts. I was wondering if I'm actually cut out for this kind of surgery since I know I can't keep up with the protein that I'm being asked to eat, and I'm not sure I can compromise since I already know I won't be able to handle things like eggs, cheese, and tofu. If this kind of thing relies on me eating protein all the time, what kind of success can I have if I'm not able to do that? Yes, it'll physically restrict me from overeating, at least for the first year or two, but I'm afraid of a stall after only losing a small amount, or regaining the weight and having gone through all of it for nothing. I'm also thinking how if I lost 50 lbs on my own, I could try to lose the other 100 lbs on my own too, even if it's not the rapid weight loss that the bypass would give me. Like I noted earlier, though, I wouldn't have started this program in the first place if I didn't feel like I needed to go through it and wouldn't have worked so hard to make sure it happens. I'm 22 years old, should I wait a couple of years since I'm having these thoughts and try things out on my own and see how things go with that? Or should I go through with surgery next week? I have no idea between my doubts and the hard work I went through.

Hi everyone, I'm having my bypass next Wednesday, 7/22. I was calm for the most part until the past few days, when I started getting nervous, but that was the nervous that I'm assuming everyone feels when surgery gets close. For some background, I'm 22 years old, 5'1, and started working towards surgery in October of last year at 260 pounds. As of today, I'm 50 pounds down, and that's of course on my own, before having surgery. Yesterday, I started having serious second thoughts. These normal nervous thoughts had me wondering if I could do it on my own since I've been able to lose 50 pounds by myself before surgery, and I keep telling myself I worked hard for this, and surgery is right around the corner, and if I didn't think I needed it, I wouldn't have started the program in the first place. Like I said, I was calm until a few days ago, but yesterday it really started hitting me. I started getting the feeling that I'll be unsuccessful with the surgery. Most, if not all, programs require a high-protein diet after surgery, including my own program. My issue is, I'm an extremely picky eater. I'm a vegetarian, and while I'm not totally vegan since I'll eat products containing milk and eggs, I prefer not to eat (or drink) those things if I can avoid it. So aside from not eating meat, I don't eat cheese or regular eggs prepared in any way (if I try I will not be able to stomach it). I also am grossed out by tofu. This honestly leaves my only options for protein for the rest of my life to be protein drinks and yogurt (which I would prefer not to eat all the time, it's not my favorite thing). My nutritionist said lentils and beans are ok, but they have a lot of starch so to eat other things if I can. I'm on my pre-op diet so that means I'm stuck on my protein drinks and yogurt for now, and after talking with my nutritionist a few times yesterday, the nerves I was already feeling worsened, and I started having normal doubts to real second thoughts. I was wondering if I'm actually cut out for this kind of surgery since I know I can't keep up with the protein that I'm being asked to eat, and I'm not sure I can compromise since I already know I won't be able to handle things like eggs, cheese, and tofu. If this kind of thing relies on me eating protein all the time, what kind of success can I have if I'm not able to do that? Yes, it'll physically restrict me from overeating, at least for the first year or two, but I'm afraid of a stall after only losing a small amount, or regaining the weight and having gone through all of it for nothing. I'm also thinking how if I lost 50 lbs on my own, I could try to lose the other 100 lbs on my own too, even if it's not the rapid weight loss that the bypass would give me. Like I noted earlier, though, I wouldn't have started this program in the first place if I didn't feel like I needed to go through it and wouldn't have worked so hard to make sure it happens. I'm 22 years old, should I wait a couple of years since I'm having these thoughts and try things out on my own and see how things go with that? Or should I go through with surgery next week? I have no idea between my doubts and the hard work I went through.

I can't do shakes (I developed an allergy to whey after surgery, and the bone broth and pea based proteins taste horrendous), and I get all my protein from food. I usually am anywhere between 60-90grams a day. I eat eggs (egg whites because I have to do low fat; my gallbladder failed a month into my recovery), turkey bacon bits, ham, and cheese omelettes in the morning with either broccoli or asparagus inside. My snack is ostrim turkey jerky and either nuts (I like 0.5oz of cashews), 3 grapes, or mozzarella. Lunch is lunch meat or vegetable sausage (morningstar is good) with 4-5 triscuits and some laughing cow. Dinner is varied, but it's usually some kind of meat and veggie together. I eat a lot of actual meat and vegetarian protein, but I did find one protein product that was super tasty. I'd get fairlife milk (lactose free and high protein) and Magic Spoon cereal (protein cereal made with allulose!!! It's so tasty!) and eat that occasionally in place of one of my meals or my snack. I also will occasionally eat a One brand protein bar, but that's only on days I can't make it home to eat my regular meals (high protein, low sugar). You gotta get creative sometimes, but it's totally doable to go without shakes. Bleh.

Never seen Tofurkey so far. However, there are quite a few decent tasting vegan and/or vegetarian cold cuts available. Not every store carries a good variety though.

@summerset can you find this brand in Germany? A vegetarian sandwich (my BF) & my wrap

Your choice to make. Your original post didn't make your intentions clear. I am not a vegetarian and I get my protein from a variety of sources including chicken and red meat mince meat, milk, yoghurt, eggs, legumes/beans, cottage cheese, protein shakes and some white fish. Probably not so much red meat and fish they are mostly occasionally.