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I am using a yogurt dressing on the salad. Bolthouse. Only 2 tablespoons. Will quit the chili. Have to think of something else for lunch though. Thank you. But, I am curious about people losing weight after surgery. Don't they eat only around 800 cal a day and drop a ton of weight? Sent from my SM-J700T using the BariatricPal App

Doing low carb for a month. Lost 5 pounds, that's it. I am thinking it was mostly Water. My diet consist of 1 premier Protein shake for Breakfast Egg and slice of cheese for a snack lunch is a cup of chili with a chicken salad, bolthouse yogurt dressing Another premier shake in the afternoon With maybe a boiled egg and slice of cheese dinner is usually stir fry with cauliflower rice, shrimp, chicken, vegetables Snack at night 2 to 3 sugar free popcycles. I can tell you one thing I am, and that's- Constipated! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Sent from my SM-J700T using the BariatricPal App

Yogurts and soups will NOT help you doll. They are slider foods and won't fill you up! They pass through your new anatomy very quickly. The denser and more solid the protein or veg. The more texture they have, the more filling it is and the more it stays with you. If you're hungry, eat more protein - dense protein. Try a hb egg and a cheese stick. Almost impossible to be hungry after that meal/snack at 1 month. You probably won't be able to finish it. If a hard boiled egg doesn't sound good to you? Then it's head hunger, rather than true hunger. Also, when hungry, try water loading. Sip your water quickly until it fills your tummy up. Then wait a minute or two until you can hear it draining, and then continue to take a sip-wait, sip-wait, sip-wait. Then reassess your hunger in 20 minutes. Works almost ALL the time for me! Plus it helps you get your fluids in. So many of us mistake thirst for hunger! Hope that helps!!

We had our surgery on the same date and I too have lost only 7lb. The ease that I have getting fluids, and soft foods in worries me. I wonder if they did the sleeve the same as others, because I had a band in that was tigh. They took the band out and did the sleeve. Greek yogurt is a great way to get protein in. Can you drink skim milk? That helps too.

So I know how we are supposed to eat 1/2 to 1 cup of food per meal. This is easy to measure if you are eating soup, yogurt, oatmeal, protein shake, etc. And this maybe a silly question, but say you are eating a sandwich, salad, chicken wing, pizza, etc....pretty much anything that you can't really put into a measuring cup. How are you supposed to know how much to eat??

Well it changes a lot, I get real bored if I eat the same food over and over. Yesterday I had; a Greek yogurt with some grape nuts on top for breakfast, one of the small lunchables(turkey, cheddar and crackers) and for dinner I had 4 one once meatballs with sauce and mozzarella cheese on top. I eat a lot of fish in the evenings, like grilled mahi or cod. I buy them from Sams or Costco in the freezer packs. they are usually between 4 and 6 ounces, pop them in the micro wave or in a skillet. Breakfast is usually yogurt or a protein bar, on the weekends when I have time I'll do one egg with some sausage or bacon crumbles and cheese. lunch is different everyday, I am on the go with work and never know where I will be when lunchtime get here. so a lot of the time I just pop in a 7-11 and grab a lunchable, quick and easy. if I am home for lunch I might eat a can of tuna fish or just roll up some lunch meat and cheese. Exercise, well. Most of the exercise I get is just working. I am always moving heavy stuff around outside or just walking around a lot. I have been trying to hit the gym but am only making it once a week or so. The gym I am going to has a lap pool, I really like swimming laps. I am hoping to get there at least three times a week. I am hopping that I can drop my remaining 70+ pounds by the end of the year. I know the weight is going to start coming off slower now, but it will come off. AND STAY OFF!!!!!!!!!!

Oops have different post op diets. After day four I could begin to add full liquids which included cream soups, shakes, yogurt, sf puddings, broth, sf Popsicles and of course sf jello. None of these hurt me at all I just couldn't eat much at a time. Love mush sp... So don't feel bad about your cheats... I think your diet is a tad strict . Not that I'm saying anything Negative about it, just don't be hard on Yourself! You guys are doing great!

So there I was at work with a plain greek yogurt and no Torani Syrup to flavor it, so I start digging around and find a crystal light packet fruit punch flavor and pour it in...... I have to say IT WAS GOOD! I think I might just like it better than the Torani Syrup

What?!!! Something better than Greek yogurt with Torani syrup? I can't wait to try it.... Thanks for posting the tip!

Thanks for this tip! I was just having Plain Greek Yogurt as I was reading this and had Crystal light tried Raspberry in it and it is awesome! G

Well, I eat chicken breast for breakfast most days, but that is probably not appealing to you I would suggest: Greek yogurt with some PB2 or peanut butter stirred in, cottage cheese with salsa, salad dressing, or peanut butter, any kind of eggs (my favorite!). A small amount of refried beans with cheese is a little higher carb but filling and has good protein, too. I also like veggie burgers (the kind from Morningstar Farms and similar).

Hi! I am new to the forum, and wanted to share. I started puree this week and tried the Beans with lowfat cheese, noodle Soup, smashed potatoes, carrots, and my stomach is not taking it. I had experience the dumping syndrom. (vomit) is it the same thing? I am going back to shakes for now, and am trying light yoplait yogurt and it seems to come down easily. I was thinking of trying other foods, but i am thinking I am hurting my self by vomitting. How much longer should i wait to try some food again. Thank you, Angie1409

Wow! Look at the Protein in that! I will have to do some scoping out of some of the stores around here to see if I can pick some up. I'm in no rush however as during my post-op diet stages I found like two things I liked and stuck to them the entire period so for full liquids all I ate was yogurt and pudding for like 10 days haha, so I'm not rushing out to buy either any time soon

Breakfast - 3 oz 1% cottage cheese mixed with 2oz (half of a 4-oz Dannon Activia yogurt - favorites are vanilla or blueberry) sprinkled with half an ounce of Kashi Good Friends high Fiber cereal. Yummy!!! 161 cal, 4gms fiber, 14 grams. Sooooper fast. lunch - One 3 oz packet tuna, 1Tbs low fat mayo, half an ounce of feta all mixed together. Eat on 1 ounce of "food should taste good" multigrain chips (from Costco). 311 cal, 3 gms fiber, 27 gms protien. Favorite snack - low sodium V8, or half an apple sprinked with cinnamon. Also love Laughing Cow cheese lite wedges (35 cals each!!!).

I wasn't on liquids or mushies on day ten either. I was on soft proteins, though. That is what my doctor advises. So I could eat eggs, chicken, turkey, cottage cheese, refried beans and low fat/low sugar yogurt. I would be really careful about what you are eating because your band sight is healing and you need it to heal really well because you are going to need it for a long time and don't want to mess anything up. For me, restriction varies from day to day and also at different times of the same day. But please be really careful! Try to eat only soft foods. And try to concentrate on protein.

In my opinion it looks like you are not eating enough... have you tracked your calories? You need to be between 1200-1500 or otherwise your body will hold onto any food ittakes in thinking you are starving it. It also does not look like you are getting 60 grams of protein in a day either. Breakfast - Low Carb Slim Fast - 20grams protein per serving Instead of a Liquid Protein try a solid protein like scrambled egg whites they go down easier then real eggs add a piece of turkey sausage or turkey bacon. Lunch - 1 cup taco soup - PB'd on the last bite Instead of a soup which again is liquid calories try eating some sliced lunch meats with some sliced cheese, it wil lstay with you longer and has more protein. Snack - 1/2 cup dry Cherrios Dry cheerios are full of carbs which does nothing to curb hunger and will only make you crave more carbs, how about trying a Protein Bar, it is solid and will stay with you longer Supper - 1/4 cup tuna, 1/2 cup green beans - PB'd the green beans Snack - 1/2 c no sugar added vanilla yogurt Again yogurt is a soft food and we all know soft or mushy foods do not stay long in your pouch. If I needed a snack Iwould eat a handful of nuts with a piece of string cheese they both have protein and are solids. Water - Consumed 4 16oz bottles today between meals/snack times What is your current fill level? I ask because if you can not eat solids without slime or PB you may be a tad too tight. Having as little as .1 or .2 cc's removed will make a difference in being able to eat solids, one thing my Dr. stressed to me was if I PB more then once a week, Iam too tight, he told me I should beable to eat solids without PBing, If I cant then Iam too tight. Something to think aboutPbing often is not good for your band, too tight of a band is not good for the longebity of your band and does not help with your weight loss.

Just checking in. I stocked up on yogurt and fresh fruit. Also bought EAS protein shakes. Made it two days without snacking. Taking it one day at a tme. Its been raining like crazy and I haven't gotten any walking in. Live out in the country and have no malls for walking. Does anyone have any cheap ideas fir indoor fitness? Going to take one day at a time and hope for the best.

Find things you enjoy! I eat a lot of fish and homemade chicken salad. If you are still on soft food, anything you like can be put in the blender to at least give you a different flavor. I also ate a lot of yogurt and cottage cheese at first. Now I pretty much eat whatever I want (healthy) in a very small amount. If I eat bread, it is multigrain round flat bread and only half of it. If I am having heavy meat (prime rib or filet) I even sometimes have a bite of mashed potatoes or sweet potatoe with my veggies. It is amazing how your taste buds change along with your habits as time goes by. I log everything and still only eat two meals a day (typically) and about 550 calories. I think every NUT has different suggestions. I am down 122 lbs, still see the dr every 3 months and have 25 pounds to go. She also says you have to be satisfied. Good luck everyone. I have had an incredible journey so far and it has been with the help of all of these veterans.

Here is today's! Breakfast: 1 Protein shake, 1/4 cup eggbeaters. Lunch: 1/2 c. squash casserole made with lowfat ricotta, 1/4 cup applesauce, 1 c. skim milk Dinner: 1/2 cup cottage cheese, 1 cup beef noodle soup, 1/2 cup cooked carrots Snack: 1 lowfat yogurt It was a good day!

Ditto to all these suggestions. Bean soups have tons of protein and you can purée them to fit your "mushy food" phase if you want to. Drink skim milk (1g protein per oz) Have you tried plain Greek Yogurt with SF syrup or water flavor drops? I'm on soft foods and still can't even come close to getting enough protein without my shakes. Maybe get unflavored protein powder and add it to EVERYTHING. I even add mine to my mashed potatoes (but I still eat no more than 1/4 cup/day) But it definitely seems you need to decrease carbs and really up the protein.

My surgeon requires me to me a 2 week liquid diet (His offices uses Optifast, which I actually really like - some of the bars are super tasty). I'm on my second day of full Optifast - 4 shakes and 1 bar a day, plus broth and jello if I want. I was also told I needed to lose about 10% of my body weight before surgery, so while I was doing all my pre-surgical testing, I was doing Optifast 'lite' (2 shakes a day, 1 bar, a meal consisting of 4-6oz of protein and 3 servings of veggies. (But no peas, yams or potatoes) I was also allowed 1 serving of fruit OR yogurt, and all the jello and broth I wanted. So far I lost 14lbs, and I expect to lose another 10 by my surgery date, which is almost the 10% (I started this all at 264lbs) I think that starting the diet before the 2 week liquid was a big help. I've cut back on most of my cravings, and I think its a good way to prepare for learning to eat well after surgery. The two weeks of liquid should shrink the liver and such to make the surgery easier and safer. Lol, I was doing so well on the Opti-lite, but as soon as they said to start on full liquid, I have a massive craving for a chimichanga! But its passing.

Thought it was about time for an update! Long rant...Heads up! Completed ins requirements Dec 2014 & approved by ins the first week of January. Wooo hoooo! NOT! Surgeon changed hospitals so he is currently doing ZERO surgeries. My luck, right?! I waited and waited.. Now, 2.5 months after approval still no surgery. I went to another surgeon. Their office submitted all of my documents again under their name. Insurance cannot just change their info over to another DR.. They have to open an entirely new case. Its okay.. The first go around only took approx 3-4 days to get approved- cross your fingers that its the same this time too! In the mean time, I got started on buying Protein drinks. I tried some powder stuff. GROSS! I am sooooooo bad with textures of foods / drinks. I tried mixing it with greek yogurt. Nope. Gross. Tried super cold Water. Nope. Tastes like old milk-literally. Thats a sure way for me to lose weight though-- I will throw that crap up with a quickness. I did find Isopure through GNC. At our local store it was $5.50 per 20oz bottle (zero carbs, 40G protein) OR $40 a 12 pack. There are a few different flavors to choose from too. I poured half of the bottle into a water bottle and mixed it up. To me it tasted like kool-aid without sugar & super watered down. I can actually stomach it. I suggest trying a single bottle if you are afraid of spending $$ and not liking the product. I wasted $$ on powered stuff and I'm glad I found this Isopure stuff! Oh! I have also read a few posts lately about commodities (or lack of) and weight gain during supervised diet. Let me give you my advice as I should have listened to other people when they were telling me the same thing.. Every insurance is different. Call and speak to a rep from the insurance company. I found that sometimes they are very vague with requirements though. But your DR knows what will and will not work to get you approved (typically). My insurance normally denies people if they gain so much as 1/2 lb. HOWEVER, per somebody here's suggestion, I found a loop-hole. If your Dr documents a reason for a small gain you should be okay. For instance, I could not exercise at a normal rate for awhile due to my foot pain. Then my GYNO put me on the Depo Shot for my endometriosis. Gained weight then too. Documented. Then I had a hysterectomy and was out of commission for exercising all together. Documented. I gained 6lbs roughly during the 6 month period. Still approved.. But like I said I made sure the DR noted it all on the surgery paperwork. As far as commodities go... Some insurance companies have OTHER comorbs aside from sleep apnea, high bp, diabetes, high collest, etc. I fact, there could be as many as 30+ that could qualify you. I dont have ANY of those typical commodities. I was just pre-diabetic with a few other medical probs but not the typical that qualify for surgery. I only just recently ( after 1st ins approval ) was diagnosed with having edema. Aside from that, I am perfectly healthy for being so over weight. When I spoke to my ins company I specifically asked if those typical conditions were the ONLY ones they accepted and they said yes.. However, I did have those and still got approved. Anyway.................. Hope this has helped some of you!

. Gonna have a hard time, I don't like yogurt, cottage cheese, retried beans, tuna, fish. I found out today I tested positive for an infection from tan antibiotic they give u at surgery that can cause diahreah and nausea. So it most likely wasn't the mushy foods I tried but the infection. So have to take meds for 14 days and things should subside in next 3 days- I will try again then. I have had nothing but Gatorade since Tuesday

Yeah I am down 16 lbs in 2o days. I am so happy.. This is just the beginning.. I also bought a good protein powder mixed it with skim milk, half banana yogurt and an omega smoothy. I went into a health food store today and got chewable vitamins that taste good, chewable ascidofolus (sp) and macasure. The macasure is the only thing in pill form and man could I feel it going down. OOUCHY.. But I need this have been off it for months and man I am a mega Bit&^ without it. So here is to starting a new healthy life... I also found out my doctors scale and my scale are the same so I will probably just weigh in on tuesdays on my scale and his scale once a month to make sure that mine is all good.. OHHH my I just about sneezed would have been the first one since the surgery. I paniced and stopped it LOL... I dont want it to hurt.. I also spoke with my nurse my fever is gone, my bloodwork was good so I am all good. I asked her about the pain around the port site and she said that that is normal.. It is stitched to the abdominal wall. So hopefully that is gone soon cause I cant bend over very well. Had my daughter lotion my legs this morning.. Poor girl LOL... Well I am going back to my yummy shake. Happy knowing I am getting in all my yummy nutrients..

I was on full liquids the first 10 days cream of wheat, yogurt, creamed soups, smoothies, oatmeal, ect. Then soft foods scrambled eggs, beans, cheese, grits. Drs. guidelines vary so much that first month. Good luck to you