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Hi all! So I am working on Maintenance, I feel good, I *think* I look good, health is great, I am eating anywhere from 1800-2000 calories a day. I am burning around 500-700calories for my workout and walking over 10k steps a day usually hitting 11,500 steps. I am maintaining which is great! I am hungry or I get lethargic which when I eat helps a lot! My obese mind set is slightly freaking out. and I am scared because I'm still within the year of my surgery I am messing it up. I have tried all week to stay within the 1500-1700 calories, 140g carbs, 40g fat that my bariatric packet tells me, and its IMPOSSIBLE. I know I have done well on this journey, I am just terrified of going back and eating too much and ruining all this progress. My approximate daily macros: 1700-2000 calories 100-150g carbs 130-175g protein 65-80g fat Just need reassurance I am not alone in this journey.

It's been a life changer for me, honestly!! I came up with the idea by chance after finding the zero net carb street taco size tortillas at Walmart - they actually have 5g of Protein per two, which is a major bonus! I'd been eating a lot of tuna since it's high in protein and seems to treat me well, same with canned chicken. I figured I could have a tuna version of a cheese quesadilla, and boom! I like that they are small and easy to eat, I do out a dab of butter on the pan before I cook on each side - and I figured out yesterday that a little garlic//onion powder on the meat or Italian seasoning gives them a great added flavor, and so does Everything but the Bagel seasoning! I either have one and cottage cheese or two made a bit on the thin side. So tasty! 😋

If anyone likes Waldorf Salad, this was a good one. I made half the recipe but added one Skinless chicken breast (pretty big, 6.9oz after it was cooked) so I used the correct amount of yogurt. Low calorie, high protein relatively tasty dinner is marinating in the fridge ✔️ Some of you may want to peel the apple and leave out the walnuts of course, maybe even omit the celery (I just chopped it really small) and I know most of you guys can’t eat quite as much as me volume wise but for the halved recipe with the added chicken it makes two 1.5 cup servings and that’s 207 calories, 25g protein, 17g carbs. I will probably end up having half for dinner and the other half later for a snack. I figured if I find something I like maybe someone else will enjoy it too. Here’s the link. https://skinnyfitalicious.com/healthy-waldorf-salad/ If anyone else comes across healthy recipes that aren’t bad. Please share. I am really trying to commit to this. I didn’t try this hard with that sleeve and I’m hoping by finding a variety of healthy stuff I like that this time will be different for me. It certainly feels different so 🤞

Do you supplement with protein shakes or protein waters. The waters were my go to to reach my goal that early out. Another thing is the drinkable yogurts. I have all three on hand in case I’m low on protein through my meals. If so, I have one as a snack. I have actually made the drinkable yogurt myself with a regular yogurt and almond milk and a little fruit in a blender. Mine actually taste better.

I love that they gave you daily goals. I feel like the drs only gave me a protein goal and it’s 114 grams… and I’m still in the purée stage to needless to say, I am failing that every day. But everything I eat has high protein and I probably am getting about 60 grams a day, so your post made me feel better! I feel like my weight loss is super slow but at least it’s in the right direction and happening! I can’t wait to start getting rid of clothes that don’t fit!

To ensure I get all my protein, I focus on incorporating a variety of protein sources like lean meats, legumes, and dairy into each meal. I also include protein-rich snacks throughout the day, such as nuts and Greek yogurt. Lastly, I consider using protein supplements if needed to meet my daily goals.

Do you track (weigh and measure) everything you eat and drink? Are you following the plan set by your surgeon and dietician? Are you meeting your fluid (alcohol doesn’t count) and origin goal every day? Are you focussed on eating protein rich and nutrient dense foods? Yes, alcohol will slow your weight loss. Did your surgeon really say live your life? Did they mean alcohol? Did they know how much you drink? Did I drink alcohol while I was losing? Yes. I had a gin & tonic at around month 3 (nursed it for hours) and then a couple of single glasses over the next 6 or so months after that. This first 6 months to a year or so are a gift. You want to embrace this time to lose the majority of your weight. So yes, you will have to make some sacrifices but for these few months it’s so worth the lifetime of future benefits. Doesn’t mean you can’t go out and socialise. It just means you have to make best choices you can in whatever situation you’re in and put yourself first. The reset diet of returning to the liquid stage is an old wives tale. You’re not trying to reset your tummy but reset your head, your thinking. You can do this.

That seems about bright. I was eating about a cup at 6 months which is what my surgeon advised. Slowly I was able to eat more until I am where I am now. So about a good cup of vegetables and about 3 or 4ozs of protein. My portions fit nicely on an entree plate (9inches/23cm). Doesn’t matter how large a portion you eat you can still enjoy and try a variety of foods. Five years out and my restriction is still there too. Not as tight as it once was but it can still shout no stop when it wants too. But yes, picking is the devil. So easy to lose track of how much you’ve actually eaten and because it’s usually such small portions, whatever you have left of your restriction, isn’t going to kick in. I have specific times I snack and I generally don’t snack or pick outside of those times (of course there are odd times or situations when I don’t stay the course perfectly). @SleeverSk did you speak to your GP or your bariatric surgeon about GLP -1 meds? Wonder if your surgeon may be more open to you trying it if you only spoke with your GP.

You must be so incredibly frustrated! Which type of surgery did you get, the sleeve or the bypass? I'm at about 7 weeks post op from getting the sleeve + intestinal revision and my calorie consumption ranges from 500-700/day, with my carb intake less than 35/day and a protein goal of 60/day with fluids of at least 48oz/day. I agree with others - it seems like a good idea, regardless of any advice you get from this forum, to revisit your surgeon. That said, I do believe you hit the nail on the head for one with the alcohol, and secondly I'd ask how many of your calories are coming from carbs. It's ok to include carbs in your diet, but really, this early, unless you are very physically active there isn't cause for many of them. At this stage it's typical to eat no more than 1/2cup - 1 cup of total food per meal, three times a day (or spaced out into 4 meals if needed). That's including your protein, which as someone else said should be the first thing you eat. Another thing about alcohol - it tends to cause dehydration - so you'd need to be consuming even MORE water throughout the day to compensate for that, just like caffeine. If you aren't hitting your hydration goal (PLUS, because of alcohol) then your body will struggle to convert your stored fat into energy, which is what causes most of the weight loss. An example of what my diet looks like at this stage is a single serve yogurt for breakfast (I have been getting the Aikos zero sugar or 2Good ones) - Remember no drinking 30 minutes before or after, and your meal should last at least 20-30 minutes. For lunch I might have a 'tuna melt' - which I make out of 1/3 can of tuna in water, a zero net carb small tortilla, and maybe 1/8 cup of shredded cheese or a low fat string cheese (I cook it folded over like a quesadilla) with maybe 1/8 cup of low fat cottage cheese, then for dinner a serving of one of the many bariatric recipes - there's a ricotta bake (lasagna with no noodles, basically), unstuffed cabbage rolls (Kind of like egg roll filling), or maybe chicken or tuna salad made with low fat mayo and a dab of relish with some cucumber slices/2-4 saltine crackers. I use the free Baritastic App to track my food and fluid intake. Using a tracking app increases weight loss significantly from what I've been told because you can see and understand what exactly you're putting in your body. The good news is that as far as I know, it isn't too late to backpedal and reset yourself! I'm NOT a doctor but my understanding is that if you get off track after weight loss surgery, especially this soon, one way to 'reset' is to go back on a liquid diet for a week or two, with zero-sugar jello, zero sugar pudding, and protein shakes (less than 5g of sugar each) to hit your goals. After that, work your way back up to puree foods for a week, then soft foods for a week. I strongly recommend eyeballing the nutrition information on any shake you think of buying, too, because there are some that are loaded with sugar and have as many as 22g of carbs EACH. After weight loss surgery it's also strongly discouraged to have fried food at all for the first 6 months, and after that maybe once per month. The same goes for sweets and baked goods. I hope this helps, and again - I feel like you should really follow up with your surgeon and a nutritionist! Best wishes!

im 6 yrs out in a few weeks, and these days i can eat about 1-1.5 cups in volume in one sitting...more if its salad, less if its's dense protein or fluffy bread or pasta. but i mean, i could eat another 1-1.5 cups after i digest in a couple hours... further, i don't normally eat low-calorie on purpose...i try to average to 2300 cals a day more or less to maintain my current physique. you will find that you will be able to eat a little bit more as well as more frequently as time goes by. hopefully you will learn what amounts you need to maintain based on your activity level/health state and adjust accordingly as your needs change. ❤️

In one of my groups I'm in a licensed therapist on the baratric team stated when we see ourselves gaining again, go back to the beginner basics the way we treated our bodies right after weight loss surgery: Go back to those high protein meals/ veggies getting full on that and not snacking and indulging. That stuck with me.

That's a lot of calories so early out, and yes, alcohol will definitely stop your progress. Especially this early out. What are you eating? How often are you eating? Slider foods can also derail things. Prioritize protein first, then veggies, then carbs and healthy fats. Make sure you get enough fiber, hit your fluid goals, and cut way down the alcohol. There are significant dietary changes you have to make with weight loss surgery. Eventually, like at a year or more out, you can start to live/eat/drink more normally, but this soon out, there are big changes that should be made to maximize your weight loss.

Really you need to toe the line in the first 6 months to give yourself the maximum weight loss. This way we learn how we should eat. Our bad habits need to be changed. This is the theory. 0-6 months is the sweet spot for the easiest weight loss. This of course does not allow for real life BUT if you have too much life, you will struggle with this surgery. You can't do what you did pre surgery. That will only lead you back to where you started pre surgery. You need to find a midline you can live with. If you are truly on 1200 calories a day then you will loose weight, especially if you are exercising like you are. Do you log your alcohol calories, your non alcoholic calories ? Some mixers can hide serious calories. And if you drink a lot and log your calories, you are not getting the nutrients you need on such a calorie deficit, How many grams of protein do you need per day ? Every surgeon has different guidelines.

I'm 14 weeks nearly 15 weeks post op, I have only lost 19lbs overall, I was on holidays and have had a some social occasions, I started at 93.6kg, I'm 85.5 this morning, my calories intake is only every 1200, I'm hitting my protein target, I walk 4 to 5km a day and started doing couch to 5k. It's so frustrating, is it alcohol stopping me losing weight? I have an active social life I thought the sleeve I would be able to lose weight and maintain that. I know other people's surgeons said no alcohol for the first 6 months, but my surgeon was like go be free live your life, maybe I'm expecting too much?

I found out I can't have soups. So if the soup is clear broth I will have the broth first and the protein after (albeit it not being comfortable at all) so I only do it if I'm under the weather. But if the soup is not clear (lentil, rice based or even cream based) then I can't have it with anything else so it's either soup or solid food so I just avoid it all together because who wants to go out to have soup?

Nah. I don’t think losing too much will be an issue. I mean we can always add more calorie dense foods. Malnourishment is a possibility if you don’t keep up with your vitamins and get your labs done regularly though. Just have to be diligent. I have alarms set for all those times I mentioned that I eat a small meal and take a vitamin. 8am to wake up the. 9, 12, 3, 6 and 9 I eat my meals and snacks and take my vitamins. It makes it so much easier to just stick to that schedule. I keep them drinkable yogurts and protein shakes in the fridge for if I’m way too busy to stop and eat and that seems to work just fine for me. Just watch the labels on the yogurts because they like to sneak added sugars in there. I actually made my own the other day and plan to continue when I’m home because they are kinda pricey for the healthy ones. I just blended a container of vanilla high protein non fat greek yogurt, 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk and 1/4 cup fruit. (I made it with fresh mango and it was really good but you can use any fruit of course). Ooh while I’m thinking of it, clear protein water and unflavored protein powder will come in handy during your first couple of stages to get to your protein goals. Not sure if you used them after your sleeve but they came in handy.

Ugh. Conflicting information is so frustrating. I have gotten a lot of that with the SADI being new too. I just started making more appointments with the NP and I’m going with her advise. I had my Baritastic app open so I could show her a couple of weeks of nutrition at a glance and I told her my average step count from my watch. She actually had me increase my carbs and protein a bit because of my activity level. But she started me at like 60 carbs so your plan is different. Now they are good carbs. All veggies, fruits and whole grains like real oats or brown rice. I am now supposed to be around 80 but I haven’t quite gotten there. It’s hard to do after reaching 90g protein. I’m up to like 70g carbs and still lost 4 pounds last week (I started at an average of 5). I’m sure not all of our bodies are alike though or they would be able to land on one ideal diet plan that works for everyone. I don’t eat a lot of rice or oats. Most of my carbs are from veggies, fruits and beans. Once a week I have a low carb wrap which makes the carbs go way up but it’s mostly fiber so I think that’s okay (that’s on my list of questions) For your exercise bike, start out whenever you can fit it in but once you get the boost or energy it gives you to keep going try doing it first thing in the morning I started walking at night but with the rain had to do it in the morning a couple of times and realized that it gave me a tremendous amount of energy for the day. I even work in more movement throughout the day now. It’s pretty great.

Have you tried smoothies? I find even with my restriction, I can down 500-600 calories in smoothie form, vs maybe 300-400 cals of most other things before I'm full. You can load it up with fruit, peanut butter, protein powder, etc. to suit your tastes.

Hello folks! It's been a while since I posted; been somewhat all over the map just trying to figure out what and when to eat and how to up my hydration. I finally settled on the fact that I'm just still not liking eggs, which is annoying, that tuna, salmon, and chicken are my go-to protein sources, and carbs?? UGH. I literally had two providers in my back to back nurse practitioner then nutritionist give me conflicting advice regarding carbs at my one month post op. Due to a rescheduled appointment I had that appointment on 9/11 as opposed to the week earlier - my surgery was on 8/5. The nurse told me that my energy level was probably flagging because of not hitting my hydration goals and that eating carbs after hitting my protein goals was fine, as long as I avoided sugar. Then the nutritionist came in and talked about how I should still be avoiding carbs in order to hit ketosis, and that supposedly once I hit ketosis I'll feel like a million bucks. Eesh. I've been tracking everything in my Baritastic app and I have only gone up to 31 carbs like, two days since my surgery, and it was because of applesauce and cream based soup. I'm wondering when I'm supposed to start feeling fantastic?! The third week plateau was REAL and incredibly obnoxious; I didn't see movement on my scale for almost a week despite hitting my protein goals and struggling to hit my hydration goals. I broke through it, though I'm still not losing as quickly as I'd like. I find that eating Greek yogurt in the morning serves me pretty well, and I've also noticed that sometimes I have to split my meals into 'part one' and 'part two' in order to hit my protein goal. Like; I'll have my yogurt, wait the thirty minutes, hydrate for a while, hit the timer, then 30 minutes later have another small protein snack. It's definitely been a struggle to keep my energy up and not get burned out on this whole thing. I felt like I was rocking along until after purees, then I just ended up baffled as to what I could or should eat. Honestly, the limits on vegetables don't seem to be holding particularly true for me; I've been fine with tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, onion, mushrooms, carrots, and beans. I've not had much as far as fruits - one day I was out and didn't have any food with me so I got a kids meal from arby's with a bottled water, just the meat from a slider, and a packet of applesauce. I split that applesauce pouch into three portions, honestly, and only ate about half of the deli meat they gave me. Maybe I'll try to find more recipes using cream cheese - I'm annoyed that my grocery order didn't have the cabbage I ordered because I was looking forward to making some of the unstuffed cabbage rolls for this week. Guess I'll have to suck it up and go to the store for the missing items tomorrow. I bought an exercise bike I'm looking forward to using - It's a recumbent bike and I haven't figured out the right TIME to try to use it. It's been a bit of a struggle to find the timing between meals, hydrating, meds, vitamins, housework, etc but hopefully returning to this forum will help me get more on track. For anyone it might help - I've found that low fat cottage cheese and tuna melts made on a zero net carb small tortilla with 1/3 a can of tuna and two thin slices of colby/jack or a skim/reduced fat mozzarella string cheese are my main sources of protein. A couple of days ago I made a veggie mix of zucchini, broccoli, bell peppers, and a bit of diced onion. I've sliced up thin bits of both chicken and pork separately and use some of that zero sugar stir fry sauce to make meals of them. It works, even if not particularly exciting, and has a nice flavor at least.

Just a bit of an update; I'm currently sitting at 142-145lbs (at 6'1/male) and I was hoping to be around 150-160lbs. I'm fine with how I look and I'm pretty content with it so as long as I don't drop any further, but seems like it's been stable now I'm a full year (and a few months) post-op. I'm currently trying to get some weight back, hoping I can get it via muscles; just gonna have to figure out how to bulk with a smaller stomach, but I guess that's what the protein shake is for.

I'm almost a year and a half since my RNY (November). I've lost about 135 give or take (I bounce between 125-130lbs). I haven't lost any fat free body mass since month 3, and have actually gained 5lbs of fat free mass since May. At my 1 year, in May, my body composition said I was at 18.1% body fat which is on the low end of "lean" I did another one last week because I was feeling off (tired, muscle cramps, brittle nails, headaches) My body fat percentage was at 12.3% which translated into roughly 16 pounds of my overall weight (130 at the time of the test) being fat. Anything under 15% is "at risk". I eat, what seems like all day long, I get my calories, protein, healthy fats, fiber. I take all my supplements. All my blood work I've had this year for random things and specifically for post surgery, has been normal. Nothing, other than feeling off, pointed to this. I do have an appointment with nutrition and my bariatric team this week. But wanted to see if anyone has gone through this, heard of this... Anything? My initial thought is how my body is absorbing nutrients, but again, my labs have been normal.

So I found these drinkable yogurts that are super convenient if your running out the door and don’t want another shake or your shirt on protein for the day BUT, the healthy ones are quite expensive. I just made my own. I used a container of yogurt, 1/2c of unsweetened almond milk and 1/4 cup mango. It’s a tad thick so I may try more milk next time. I made it in my nutra bullet and next time I will probably just drink it out of that cup because I feel like I’m wasting a lot of it sticking to the sides of that and another glass but regardless it’s easy and good for yogurt on the go. Just thought I would share.

Hello. I am 6 weeks out and down 41 pounds as of today (which includes a 2 weeks low carb preop diet where I lost 13 pounds). I went from a BMI of 39 to 33 and will be 32 with one more pound loss. I was 235 when I had my sleeve and lost down to 167 but I stalled there for a few months and then started gaining it all back plus 23 pounds. Aside from a few blisters that are slowing my walking down I feel fantastic. I have more energy and motivation then I have had in years. I’m exercising (walking 5-7 miles a day) and making all my meals from scratch. I am also planning to start yoga the week after next when I am 8 weeks. The NP actually said 6 weeks is okay but I’ve never done it so I’m afraid it will be strenuous and I’d rather be safe than sorry. I did have a pretty tough recovery. I was in the hospital for 5 days because they couldn’t get my pain to a level that was manageable with meds they were willing to send me home on. Well once I finally passed gas like 5 times I was fine without any pain meds but it still was a far tougher recovery than my sleeve. Not sure why but with my sleeve I was home and out front the next day and asked my husband to pass me the basketball because I forgot I had surgery and that was with no pain meds. This time they also took my gall bladder out though because it looked bad. I wasn’t expecting it because I never had any symptoms so we didn’t discuss it but the post op pathology came back that I had gall stones so it saved me from another surgery I guess. I suggest discussing some of the things like that which may pop up during your surgery and what your wishes are since they can’t wake you up to ask. I was kinda surprised that mine went ahead and did it but the NP said his thought was that it already looked bad and that the anticipated quick weight loss was going to only make it worse. Anyways, I took it easy for the full 6 weeks this time. My floors have never been so disgusting. I have done laundry because I have the pedestals and dishes and that’s about it. My hubby has freshened up the bathrooms and changed the sheets but other than that it’s all waited for me. I confess that it’s still waiting. I am supposed to be cleaning now but I sat down for lunch and got started on here 😂 My surgeon does not believe in resizing the stomach so my surgery was only on my intestines. This made my recovery in terms of food tolerance go way quicker. I am back to normal food already. I had raw veggies in my spring rolls even and that was fine. Of course ask your team before you do it. I didn’t have any food tolerance issues after my sleeve either though. I have not had any of the diarrhea that they warned me about. They said some of their SADI patients had it for 3 months. One had it so bad it interfered with work. I have been eating very healthy though. I was actually constipated In the beginning and even with the stool softeners I had to do milk of magnesia a couple of times but now I am able to eat a bit more fiber in my diet so I am trying to cut back the stool softeners slowly. if you don’t log your food now I suggest the Baritastic app. You can log EVERYTHING there. You food, weight, measurements, exercise, moods, even your bowel movements and you can also set notifications for your vitamins (although I don’t hear them so I have alarms set as well). I really like looking at the trends and graphs to see how I am progressing. A fitness watch is really good too. I had a much older Apple Watch that I dusted off and it makes it so much more fun to do my walking and stuff because you can see how fast it adds up. I never exercised with my sleeve but I talked on the phone with my friend the first few times and then my husband got me these awesome headphones that don’t go in or over your ear so you can still hear traffic while listening to music. They are called “bone phones”. Now I just put on my music and take off walking. Makes the time go by so much faster. I wear them all day actually. You can listen to music on low and hold a conversation with someone even. I also started posting here and attending the in person support group meetings before my surgery this time so post surgery I have had lots of support. I go to check in with my NP more often than they generally require too because I have pretty severe anxiety and that comes with lots of questions and I just need the reassurance that everything is okay. Don’t forget to take photos and do measurements before you start your preop diet and again before surgery and set reminders in your calendar for once a month or so to keep doing them. And if you want to use that Baritastic app you can also keep track of your protein and water on there so familiarize yourself with it early. I kinda rambled but I tried to cover everything I could think of that may be helpful.

Ok...so...when you have a food allergy, even a "mild" one, take it seriously. I'm allergic to peanuts and shellfish. With shellfish, it's literally life and death. I can't even be in the room when it's being cooked because the proteins in the air set me off. It's really that bad. I go into anaphylactic shock and I was told if it happens 1 or 2 more times, I could very likely die. So...no shellfish, which breaks my heart because me an crab legs...omg. Love affair for the ages. But peanuts.....that's not bad like shellfish. My mistake was comparing it to the shellfish. I was told my shellfish allergy is the worst case my doctor has ever seen. So comparing anything to it is not smart. But that's what my stupid a$$ did. I forgot that every time I eat something I'm allergic to the reaction gets worse. Well, I'll never EVER forget it now. I ate 2 Kind bars. I bought them because there was no mention of peanuts (ordered them from the Starbucks app). Only mentioned almonds. YUMMY!!! We love almonds. WooHoo!!! Hubby goes to get my Kind bars and my drink and comes back and tells me there's peanuts in them. I think "well, there's not a huge amount because there's more than 1 kind of nut, and my reaction has always been fairly mild, so I should be ok" (tingles in my lips and tongue, slightly nauseous and mildly light headed, but over in 15 or 20 minutes) so I figured I could eat them and deal with the reaction for maybe 30 minutes or so and then be on my way. WRONG!!!!! To be fair, hubby said I shouldn't eat them but I did anyway. Within 10 minutes of eating them, my usual symptoms set in. Ok, I was ready for that. Within another 10 minutes, the nausea got worse, I got super shaky, and the light headedness increased. Sucks, but still not the end of the world. 10 minutes later, the absolute sharp, stabbing pain in my stomach started. It hurt so bad I couldn't catch my breath and I couldn't stand up straight. It increasingly got worse and worse. I couldn't sit, stand, or lay comfortably at all. It took 30 minutes for it to get this bad. I dealt with it for an hour, then the throwing up started. And throwing up. And throwing up. OMG... Once I was done and brushed my teeth, I went and laid down and fell asleep until now (3:30am). I slept for about 6 hours (not peacefully, but still slept). I feel a lot better except I'm weak, tired, and a little nauseous still. Hoping to go back to sleep soon. But let this be a reminder that even MILD food allergies can escalate out of nowhere and become major ones. Anything peanut related is like the devil as far as I'm concerned. Now I know I have a major peanut allergy and will NEVER even think about testing it out again. Hoping to feel better soon because OMG this is absolute bull$%#t!!!.

I'm 1 month poat op and to be honest I get hungry the most is before bed. Like I literally go to sleep hungry. Not sure if it is really hunger and I don't know if I am eating enough. My dietician recommended 8 meals a day and I reach around 6 so perhaps I must add a final snack before bed like some Greek yogurt or a protein bar hmm.. I am just worri3d about calories