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Went for my two week check today. I have lost 10 lbs since surgery. My wounds are healing nicely so I can take a bath. Yea! I have moved on to stage 3 and can have puréed food. I am a vegetarian so my protein choices are limited. Any suggestions?

Hi, Indiangirl! I somehow missed your post. Congratulations on your weight loss! I hope you are recovering well! Are you vegetarian? I've heard that many of the nutritionists in India aren't doing an ideal job on meal and nutrition planning. When I was in Bangalore, I had a few staples of daal, dahi, paneer, and milk. All of those have a good amount of Proteins, carbs, and fats. If you eat eggs, those are great, too! In your initial food stages, you might want to stick to these items, because they are all very easy to digest, easy to prepare, and can me thinned down (or thickened up) according to your needs. Peanut Butter is great, too! Try to stay away from kidney Beans or black-eyed beans initially, because those cause more gas. I had my surgery on August 31st of 2011, so I am about 18 months out. I have been maintaining for about 6 months!

Ok so first of all "psychprof" No one has an issue with comprehension and yes I do take that as an insult. I believe that I am aka, HUMAN and like other people jump to conclusions when I hear certain things a certain way, my mind jumps to "Okay so, I'm going to get sick an die if I don't do it this/that way soon!" And no my surgeon did not set up my diet although he agrees as well with my nutritionist and the team that I work with in regards to my bariatric lifestyle. The nurses I work with highly advise against protein powders, so while you're trying to imply that I'm somehow full of ****..learn to becareful with your words. I'm not a liar, I exaggerate at times, or misinterpret things but I'm not going to make crap up, or do things based off another surgeons advice/rules because I for one believe in following my surgeons program, when I do things a little different its because I WANT TO. Like taking Protein powder for example, which was recommended against! And Yes I know the obvious, I get vegetarians get protein. I ment to the extent of a meat eater because for one I was a vegetarian for YRS and have veggie friends as well! To top it off even going back to meat, my family and I have never personally ate meat all that much, so once a day most of the time was enough.

Bone broths are awesome! chicken bone broth has healing properties that help dispatch a cold quicker. Healing properties that university study-findings support. Beef bone broth extracts nutrients and natural Gelatin into the Water. Have you ever noticed how beef bone broth 'solidifies' when refrigerated? it's the natural gelatin extracted from the bones & marrow. I learned that one from my vegetarian daughter when she explained she couldn't take a supplement I'd offered her. Gelatin caps that encapsulate medicines are mostly made from beef bone gelatin. Who knew? There's some kind of French dish that Julia Childs made called beef gelatin mold or something like that. Could probably find the recipe online. Probably also excellent for hair, skin & nails Fish bone broth is also yummy for soups and gumbos or to cook brown rice in for added flavor in a seafood meal. It's kind of gross to make though. I usually buy a big, whole fish gutted, head on & bake or poach it. Get all the meat off for meals then pop the fish heads, back bones & tail into the pot- bring to boil, then simmer & drain. You can also save the bottom water from steaming clams & mussels. The chefs call the infused steam-water something special but I forgot what. I often just pop the bones in the freeze for later when I'm in the quantity-cooking mood. I make big batches and freeze them; soup-sized (gallon zip bag), rice-sized (2c in a zip bag), and in cubes, frozen in ice trays and popped into gallon zip bags- for added flavor when sautéing etc. Frequently, I add onions, garlic, carrots & other veggies into the pot to boil with the bones. Sometimes I take the veggies out when draining, & toss em. Other times, I pop the cooked veggies into the nutribullet & liquify them & add them back into the broth for a creamed soup texture w/out all the heavy cream calories. If I know my daughter's coming, I make a veggie broth with lots of root veggies, onions, garlic, etc. This one's particularly yummy with roasted acorn & butternut squashes, and carrots nutria-bulleted into it. Tastes SO fattening, but isn't @ all w/ no cream or butter added.

I've lost a total of 39 #'s since Feb 2013, because I was on the Dukan diet. But since surgery on 07/16/13, I've only lost 17 #'s. I just got out of a two week stall! It was beyond awful because my body was still trying to adjust to this new life. As a woman, my cycle is out of whack and so is the "regular" part of my digestion if you know what I mean. I actually lost a day of work over it. I have vowed that will never happen to me again. I've never been so sick in my life like that. Since water and fiber are fighting the protein for space in my belly, it has really disturbed operations. I now have Fiber Choice sugar free chewable tablets, Fiber & Calcium Gummy Vitamins, Flintstones chewable complete vitamins and B12 that dissolves under your tongue. Everything seems to be back to normal now and I'm feeling stronger by the day. As for what I'm eating now, it really hasn't changed much since from before. I was never a junk food junkie. Just a volume eater. So now I still eat healthy, just one ounce at a time about 5 or 6 times a day. It also helps that I am a borderline vegetarian. I don't eat beef or milk at all. I do love seafood, eggs and yogurt. I try not to eat cheese, because it's just binding. I love veggie burgers, black bean burgers, egg beaters and Almond Silk for my protein shakes. I cooked a 2lb butternut squash and froze little servings of it. Let one serving thaw out in the fridge for dinner time, sprinkle some pure cinnamon on it and it's so yummy. Eat it warm or cold. I just bought some fresh crab. Put that in little servings and freeze it. For special yummy treats, I love a frozen banana half, with a little bit of Silk and peanut butter. Blend it for a "frozen ice cream" treat. SF Choc pudding is good too! I will also make some frozen shake pops, which I love! Most people on here seem to complain about their shakes, but I love them. I have no problem with my whey shakes what so ever. And they are not fancy or expensive or organic. Just some cheapy brand I picked up at Walmart. So that's my update! Good luck to everyone out there! And don't get down about the stalls! You'll make it through!

I got a hold of Jenn and my next fill is schedualed for the 14th (next tuesday) at 6:10, we'll see how much the time changes between now and then but I'm glad to be going in so that maybe I can start feeling some restriction. I do have some bad habits that I need to work on. One thats been mentioned alot here lately is the the drinking with meals. I guess when you have no restriction it doesn't make a difference. I'm hoping that when I start feeling some restriction I will notice a difference as to fluid intake with food. Not a good way to start I know. I also believe that I'm taking too large of bites and not chewing enough, but again this doesn't seem to make any difference at all so I almost feel like its hard right now to eat differently when nothing feels different.. if that makes any sense at all. I too was worried fish that I was stretching out my pouch... not the case since with the back pain issue I had an x-ray and CT scan and nothing was ever mentioned about the pouch looking too large. I do have an MRI schedualed mid-august continuing to investigate the back pain stuff even though it magically disappeared. I'm thinking that I should send an e-mail out to Danielle the Dietitien because as of late I've been thinking about becoming a vegetarian and I'm looking for some advice food wise. Its not something new, I've been thinking about it for months but lately the whole meat deal has been bothering me more.

This is an interesting topic. I do find that I crave more veggies and fruit but based on what is recommended by my nutrionist, these food options comes last. I won't lie, I do enjoy meat, seafood & fish but I want to try to eat less red meat. I've started researching the Paelo diet as well. I doubt I will ever be nor do I want to be a vegetarian, but I do want to find a happy balance. As someone else posted, we each have to find what works best for us while keeping in mind the nutrients that we need to maintain a healthy body.

When you say you don't eat these foods, does that mean that you don't like them or they don't agree? At this stage, those foods do make up several good ways to get in your Protein. You can puree just about anything to make something to eat. I put canned chicken with a little bbq sauce and pureed that. You can put vegetarian chilli in a blender and blend that, but you should strain it afterwards. You can also have cream Soups that have been blended and strained. Unflavored Protein Powder can be added to those. Just a side note, I would not recommend eating baby food. Those foods are manufactured for babies and you can't get the proper nutrition from them. Protein shakes at this stage is also a really great way to get what you need. You may want to open up a little bit and try different types and see if you can find one that you like. Good luck!

Now to try to convince some surgeons of that. They stress protein but what they mean is meat. How do vegetarians and vegans stay alive and healthy, the ones I know are. They are obviously getting protein in.

I can do some chicken and some turkey. The rest, vegetarian. I do Protein drinks & powders, but I can manage 1.5 out of 2 eggs at a time (1 boiled, 1.5 scrambled which I reheat later on). I also eat Beans, chickpeas, peas, things that are highly protein based. No nuts, but that might be an option for you. My last memories of fish and red meat (several types) are about as positive as my ones of nuts. Its like sodas, after a while, its like whatever & you don't care if you eat it or not.

I have been a vegetarian for over two years for ethical and health reasons. I recently had the roux n y done so most of my thoughts and advice are from pre surgery, keep that in mind. That being said, it is entirely possible and not difficult to be a vegetarian! Before or after surgery! Protein staples post surgery will be eggs, dairy in general, beans, tofu/soy products, including faux meat like my favorite, gardein's meatless ground "beef". I love black beans and chickpeas, lentils, peas.....Bob's Red Mill makes a veg soup mix that I add additional beans, corn, tomatoes, etc to with some veggie broth. Moroccan Chickpea soup is a fave, too. I also love cheese and dairy so I make quiches , add cheese to up flavor and protein, as well as use plain greek yogurt as a topping replacement for sour cream. Experiment with veggies and recipes you can find online, especially through allrecipes.com. tofu can be substituted for any meat, though there are premade tofu dishes that you may want to try first. Also, once onto regular foods diet, Tempeh is great to make veggie reubans. Yum! Oh and Quorn makes excellent faux chicken. Highly recommend! I find this stuff I. My grocer's organic aisle, Wal-Mart doesn't carry this stuff yet to my knowledge. Commit for a week, preplan and pre make your dishes because healthy vegetarian done right requires some cooking and planning. Then go for two weeks. If you are craving tuna or some other meat, indulge and then go back to no meat products. I still will eat a burger every now and again, and then I move on. I have felt so much better since becoming a vegetarian. My food tastes better, I can isolate the individual flavors without the heaviness of meat drowning it out. Also, season I.g is a big key component to making veggies and food more than just ordinary. It became a lot of fun for me to try new stuff and introduce my family to it! If you are interested in any recipes I utilize, please let me know. I don't like anything too complicated or time consuming. Sorry I kind of jumped around, I get so excited when other ppl take interest in bettering themselves and the world through their forks. OH...YOU MUST WATCH "Forks Over Knives". Must. I saw it on Netflix. It is a great documentary, will change how you look at health and food and history.

I don't thi!k you should get discouraged just yet. Like others mentioned speak to your medical team about the concerns you're having. I didn't have much side effects of the surgery but 1st month was definitely difficult in terms of energy. I didn't even have energy to walk few mins on a treadmill which has gotten so much better now 6 weeks post-Op. Now I can easily do 30 to 35 mins. Even now though, there are some days which are easily fatigued than others. I am sure as time passes, it'll go away too. Plus as you progress, you should be able to tolerate various foods. I have tried other foods, and I haven't gotten dumping yet. So I am sure down the line, we should be able to enjoy our favorites, ofc in limit. As for gross tasting protein, try other brands. And even if those don't work, try to get protein from wholesome foods. On my program, we aren't allowed protein powders or any processed protein. We are told to consume protein from food. I am also vegetarian, so my options are mostly dairy products. And I still make my goal of 70 to 80 grams of protein. So protein powders aren't the only means. Try Greek yogurt or even better *ice landing yogurt*. Both easily available at grocery stores. Ice landing yogurt has 15 grams of protein on 0.5 cup. I can have about 1 cup a day (split) and easy 30 grams in. Then therea are various cheeses, cottage cheese, milk, lentils, beans etc. So many options out there for protein alternative. Good Luck with your journey.

Hi! I am vegetarian and am having my surgery on the 15th. Anyone have ideas for vegetarian protein food in beginning of post op? Thanks

: Vegetarians main Protein source, Paneer or cottage cheese with sautéed bell peppers. Paneer kadhai, yes? Looks very good!

You're right. To give you some examples of what's available: fried pork cutlet on a bowl of rice. Ramen and gyoza. Udon with any number of fried (tempura) vegetables on the side. Japanese curry rice. The curry is sweet and has meat and maybe some vegetables. Sushi - more rice than fish. Omurice - about a cup of rice wrapped in a very thin egg omelet. It might have some cabbage on the side. Even the little rolled omelets that you get here have sugar (as does sushi rice) - despite not liking overly sweet things Japanese actually put sugar in a lot of things you wouldn't expect. I'm not saying that all of these things are unhealthy, but if you are looking for protein + low carb and maybe some real nutrients (veggies) on the side, it's hard to find anything. At least near my university. Go to the touristy areas or downtown there are a lot more options - tofu restaurants, vegetarian ones, etc.

I ve changed animal protein to vegetal ones. I can't eat chicken anymore or pork or turkey. It hurts too much and I don't like the taste anymore. I eat instead cottage cheese, peanut butter, alpro yogurt, greek yogurt, tofu, black beans, lentils, eggs, milk. I feel is time to become a vegetarian.

I wish I knew more high protein low carb foods I could eat as an ovo vegetarian. Sent from my SM-G955U using BariatricPal mobile app

BLEDgirl, Are you actually a vegetarian? If so, wha are you eating most days?

I do vegan/vegetarian, WFPB, lifestyle. Slowly changed before WLS and have kept at this. It’s nice, easy, healthy, no counting, no journaling, just eat healthy food when hungry. It’s the best lifestyle for me. No dieting about it.

I've had some trouble with this... Wish they had a bariatric setting, lol... I have been ignoring fats because I am just eating the usual safe bariatric foods for my stage, but will pay more attention to that when I branch out more, food-wise. I set my protein to 68... I was told to get at least 60g of protein a day and I have read between 60-80, so I just randomly picked 68. I set my sugars to 32. I've learned that anything more than 8g of sugar per meal makes me start to "dump" (I hate that word, btw), so i figure no more than 8g x 4 meals, so 32g a day. I just generally watch my carbs because they often fall in line with sugars (but not always!). My doctor kept his advice pretty simple... get in your protein, preferably shakes and plant proteins (he is a vegetarian, lol), and be careful of your sugars. I have trouble with meats now anyway, can not seem to chew beef and ckn very well, so i have been eating a lot of legumes, seeds, etc... He is big on "legumes"! Some of my favorite things... -The Good Bean salted chickpeas -Salted pumpkin seeds -Trader Joe's coffee cold concentrate (I mix with Carbmaster Milk (kroger) or fairlife milk over ice and sometimes add Unjury unflavored protein powder to it). The concentrate is easy and almost 70% less acidic than regular coffee. I have trouble with reg coffee now -Prosciutto wrapped mozzarella sticks dipped in Rao's or Mario Batali marinara sauce (both of them have low sugars) -Simple Mills muffin and bread mixes (had to order these online, but they contain all the stuff that I would use if i made mixes at home... almond flour, cauliflower, etc. low sugar/carbs Just made the pumpkin muffin and i have one each morning! -Practically the only thing I am really jonesing for is pizza... i've made the chicken crust pizza and, while it is good, i am not sure that will cut it for me all the time. regular pizza is out, but simple mill's makes a low carb/sugar pizza crust that I am going to make this weekend... hopefully is is good! -trader joe's sugar free choc covered almonds -diet snapple k-cup lemon iced tea -i'm sick of protein shakes, but i still have premier protein vanilla once a day to get in my protein for the day -I can not get on board with protein bars (quest are supposedly the best for us). I have a stockpile of quest but have only been interested in them when I am out and about and have nothing else. -oikos triple zero yogurt is AWESOME.. tons of protein and taste good, i am jsut tired of the flavors and wish there was more variety. -heb carries the Enlightened brand ice cream bar... i LOVE chocolate mint! only 5 sugars and it has 7 grams of protein! low fat and high fiber... awesome!!!

Hi Jay... my surgery scheduled for May 6 with Dr. R. will probably be pushed back, since I had an asthma flare, was put on steroids Thursday, and I got sicker Friday night and was sent by Urgent Care by ambulance to hospital to be admitted... fortunately the situation turned around and they let me go home early in the morning, then called me back in for a CT scan with contrast... which turned out NORMAL... but they want me to see a pulmonologist. So with my pre-op eval. scheduled for Tuesday at the Weiner Center, and visit with Dr. R. afterwards - I am quite sure everything is going to be pushed until a Pulmonologist will sign off on the Surgery, not to mention the weight gain from steroid caused fluid retention... and probably cannot stay strict pre-op when so sick... I am not going to let this get me down though... I just ordered a feather bed for the post-op need for fluffy-luv, and a bunch of low-glycemic vegetarian and vegan cookbooks from Amazon for my post-op reading, to prepare for post-mushy phases and a new lifestyle. :laugh: :thumbup: :thumbup:

I am in the process of transitioning to being a vegetarian. (I think, I'm still eating dairy and fish.) I'm hoping to find someone else who can help with ideas.

My surgeon has his patients do one month of the post-op diet. I think I lost 2 pounds in the month. However, it was enough for the dietician to reccomend me for the surgery, which was good enoughfor me. I had my surgery December 8th, 2006 and I'm down about 40 pounds so far. I was interested when you said you are a vegetarian because since I have had the surgery I eat lots more veggies and very little meat. Meat does not agree with me at all since I had my surgery.And that's ok with me. Good luck to you with you upcoming surgery.

My surgery is scheduled for 2/28/11. Are there any vegetarian or vegan banders out there? I am slowly working my way back to being a vegetarian (was one for a few years back in the 70's - 80's) with the ultimatee goal of becoming vegan. Just wondering how it is working the band as a vegan....

I'm not a vegetarian but I have had a type of allergy testing done called delayed reaction where you might have a reaction a couple of days later. In this instance regular allergy testing or food elimination diets don't identify them. I'm trying to tough out the pre-op and post-op liquid diet with protein shakes, etc but feel terrible. I am sensitive to milk and milk products including whey, wheat, peanuts, and eggs. The only other things I can think of to eat in liquid stage would be maybe some pureed beans or tofu shakes. Any suggestions?