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I love this thread... We can all use something to compare our diets to. I saw you use EAS shakes, and I do too, but I use the EAS Carb Advantage~ 100 cal, 17gm of Protein. Breakfast~ weight control oatmeal morning snack~ Eas Carb advantage shake lunch 2oz nonfat, plain greek yogurt mixed with dannon light and fit vanilla greek yogurt 1/2c blueberries, 1/2 c. Strawberries and 1/2 oz sliced almonds Afternoon snack~ either EAS Carb advantage Shake or Grande Skinny Latte Dinner: Tonight it's chicken lightly breaded with panko, mozzarella cheese and Pasta sauce and a small spinach salad on the side Evening Snack: sugar free/fat free pudding I usually average 1000 cal per day and 80 gm of protein I drink at least 80oz of crystal light per day...

I am almost 6 weeks out and went to a concert and stayed overnight in a hotel. I took a little cooler with protein drinks, cottage cheese and Greek yogurt. However I did find some reasonable options at the restaurants. So used my extras for breakfast and snacks.

@@AllisonK1986 your welcome last year we bought a cool stove top it had 5 burners instead of the 4 i'm used to now i am able to "cook" 5 pots of Water at the same time in other words i am not much of a cook read about recipes from places like EggFlace you'll get good ideas per your request, a few protein examples but this is protein 101 i do bake alot of chicken (no barbecue sauce!!) salmon too!!!! eggs cottage cheese tuna fish premixed pkg i eat sooooo much Fage 0% greek yogurt luv luv luv baby bell cheese (other cheese too) cottage cheese Quest Protein Bars too (those bars are addicting to me - so i have to be careful on occasion i will have have a swiss chocolate pre-made GNC lean shake (25 gr protein) we don't to go out to eat very much anymore "they" say you'll save a lot of money what "they" don't tell you is all the money you save on eating out you spend on new clothes when we do go out, i usually order a yummy 6oz steak i ask for a to go container when my food arrives put 1/2 the steak away immediately check the computer you'll get more suggestions on foods with protein special place on this board too remember to drink drink drink 64+ oz of water a day the water situation can be hard to get used to all the water rules are very very important never, ever drink with your meals people have been shot for less good luck kathy

To those entering the stage that allows yogurt... I can't recommend enough the Oikos brand greek caramel yogurt. It is the best tasting yogurt I have ever had. It can be hard to find - but try Target or Walmart. It is amazing.

No blame here, so take this as it is given. Most of us have had the same issues, it takes some learning about what works for you. 1. You might not be able to eat the things you have chosen. Some can't do chicken, or beef or something fried. 2. Slow down, also try eating alone. With a recent fill I have found that if I talk I will have a problem of some sort with the meal. It's been over a year but this started with the last fill. 3. If I drink and eat I am done for. I seem to take in to much air and create a bubble in my chest very, very painful. 4. Small bites well chewed. 5. Don't drink at least an hour before eating, might make it a little better. 6. I am tighter in the morings so I do a Protein drink. Since the fill I am also tighter after 6, so dinner has to be by 5 or I can't get more than 2 bites down. Now this is BIG, at 4 months how are you clothes fitting? I wasn't loosing on the scale but my clothes had gotten to big. Sometimes as the body adjusts to the change the weight might not come off, but relocates moving from the tummy, legs, face or the back. Giving the smaller size pants and a better overall appearance. You aren't doing it wrong, listen to your body. You don't want to be uncomfortable so stop at 2 bites, wait an hour and have a Protein Drink or some yogurt. You may have been given info from the dietian about Snacks or 5 or 6 really small meals until you stomach is done healing.

I generally have not tried to replace Pasta, bread, etc. So, if I had been eating sandwiches, now I'd just eat a meat/cheese/mustard (whatever) rollup. And some veggies or fruit on the side. meat and veggies. The occasional potato. Breakfast has always been rough for me too. I usually would do a Protein shake in the morning, or just have a bit of tea/coffee, then have yogurt and a granola bar mid-morning once things loosened up.

I think u r suppose to go off total carbs. It sounds like we are both at a stall. I eat yoplait greek yogurt. Their vanilla flavor is really good and it doesnt have that greek yogurt taste. I don't know off hand the carbs but it's super low. I know it's less than chobani. How r u feeling? I'm taking my Vitamins but I'm feeling super tired still. I don't want to do anything.

Listening to your body. Many of us got where we needed surgery by pushing past that fll feeling. If you are concerned about hitting your protein, switch things up. Add a bit greek yogurt to your Protein shake. *Flavor your Water with a Protein Drink like Isopure NoCarb or Syntrax Nectars. Plan for 3 meals and 2 Snacks instead of 3 big meals. It will allow you to get in more protein without pushing your limits. *Isopure Nocarb drinks are 40gms of protein for 20 ounces. I divide the bottle into 3 parts. I use my 24 ounce water bottle. I try to drink 24 ounces 3 times a day. I add the Isopure and carry my bottles everywhere and sip whenever I am not eating. It makes meeting protein & Fluid goals easy.

Oh dear, so sorry. Hope you feel better today. It's a reminder to us to take it easy, choose wisely and chew slowly. I don't eat bread as not only is it too gummy but I am also trying to do Protein first then veggies. I have had a slice of gluten-free toast with an egg on it -- the GF is not glutenous (well, duh) but also the egg soaked into the bread and made it softer. However, now that I've had another fill I doubt I would try this again. I just had a stuck episode recently (it was fish, cold and overcooked and I probably ate it too fast!). Even the day or two after I was still taking it very easy, doing liquids, smoothies, applesauce & yogurt, etc. Now I'm back to having a bit of chili, etc. "Real" food, which is my goal. Best part of this post is that you called it in and got advice from your surgeon's office. That's what they are there for! We are here to tell you we have done it as well and we sympathize! Best wishes!

Hi, I wanted to share my shopping/preparation list, because I feel I was very well prepared and never felt I didn't have everything I needed after surgery. It might overlap some with the other lists posted on here, but here it is: Tools of the trade: Heating pad Blender or food processor (for mushy phase) Pill cutter/crusher A Recliner (slept in it the first two weeks!) Cordless phone Medicines/supplements: Adult strength liquid Tylenol Adult strength liquid Tylenol PM Benefiber Anti-nausea medicine (prescription) Sedative like xanax or antivan (prescription) Prescription pain medicine chewable Vitamins Food: Split pea Soup Butternut squash soup Potato and leek soup Sweet potato bisque Carrot bisque Vegetable juice Jello sugar free popsicles Low sugar grape/cranberry juice Water sensations Crystal Light on the go packets unjury Protein powder in different flavors Cream of Wheat "Stomach Ease" tea chicken broth Decaf teas in assorted flavors Soy milk (I advise cutting out dairy completely for the first few weeks) Regular apple juice (helps with low blood sugar when you can't get much down) Mushy phase foods Soups like lentil, black bean, chicken noodle, etc, blended in blender Hummus Baba ganoush Yogurt Chili blended down Tuna salad Chicken croquettes mashed up Mashed potatoes Indian foods blended (saag paneer, potatoes with chutney, mixed vegetables with curry... all so flavorful) Cottage cheese Rice cereal/cream of wheat/oatmeal Refried Beans Crabcakes mushed up To prepare: Clean house thoroughly Do laundry Rent movies Buy magazines and books Pay bills Start eating small portions and not drinking before and after meals Give up carbonated beverages No drinking with a straw Msc: Thank-you notes for all the people who send flowers/cards, visit, or call I think that's everything! A recliner (I slept in this for two weeks and don't know what I would have done if I hadn't bought it)

i like to use milk for my chocolate Protein. i just hate the foam/froth and sometimes i don't have the time to let them settle. i would like to have the consistency of a Wendy's frosty, but i haven't mastered that yet. As for my vanilla shakes, i would use fruit, yogurt or coffee with milk to flavor, along with syrups. but now that i'm on my all liquid diet pre-op, i use Water with a pack of crystal light for flavor. gives it a creamsicle like flavor. i may just start freezing them and making creamsicle pop lol. i never tried milk half and water half.

Thanks for watching over me. This feels like a big slip. The restriction is at my sternum. I burp and it comes from much lower. I am getting reflux. I am down to full liquids so I'm eating soft Soups and yogurt. Soup is soothing. I had two questions: 1. Is repairing a lap band (with insurance) covered under the intial surgery after-care time period or is it something i'm going to have put in a seperate claim for? 2. Could I have done this to myself by starting Ab crunches two weeks ago? I am still pretty overweight so my crunches are'nt very huge, but I am doing simple ones and cross one where I attempted to touch my elbow with my opposite knee.

Hi Cinderella, I think you are right that I wasn't getting enough Protein. I had my husband pick up a container of pho (vietnamese soup) broth for me yesterday and drank it all, and today when I woke up I was feeling better. Tomorrow I go on full liquids which includes Protein Drinks made with milk/soy milk and I think that will help too -- I have unjury chocolate splendor and vanilla to try out. Also trying yogurt starting tomorrow, so my protein grams are going to go way up compared to what they have been.

Yogurt is only my list from my surgeon, but I don't know how...it has so many carbs!

I don't know what nectar is, but I can say from my own experience that I think you need MORE Protein and Vitamns. When I don't get my protein and vitamins.I am exhausted... but when I do, I feel great. Are you getting the 60G daily....???? It is hard to do, try making your own Protein Shake and add some Yogurt drink to it to pump it up. I like the unjury Protein Powder. Good luck, Cinderella

I think tracking is important, I do that too. I am just always getting mad about those foods. Yesterday, my husband brought a bag of "baked" chips. They had 10 calories less for a serving but a lot more ingredients than regular chips. Add to that they don't even remotely taste as nice as normal chips - no good crunch, not as satisfying - and the calorie savings are really not worth mentioning. That said, I think it is perfectly fine to use less butter, use a cut of meat with less fat or use ground turkey instead of ground pork, but I think the problem starts when fat (sugar/carbs) are replaced with artificial stuff. I noticed from tracking, that I seem to not even get the recommended amount of fat even though I am eating 2% yogurt, drinking 2% milk and am cooking with olive oil...but I also don't want to eat a spoon full of Peanut Butter just to up the fat...but maybe I should? Or almond butter?

Hi there! I am 2 weeks out and I eat the Rosarita canned refried beans-Vegetarian, soft tofu,cottage cheese, mashed avocado, mashed potatoes, oatmeal, cream of wheat. My doctor told me that as long as it's baby food consistency...i mash the heck out of it! LOL...I also have yogurt. You can add banana and other fruits to the blender and add to your shakes or yogurt. Oh yeah SF popsicals. I hope this helps some.

Get a light greek yogurt. The kind I buy (Danon Light & Fit) is 9 carbs and 12 grams of Protein.

Whoops, I'm drinking yogurt Greek now. Can t to talk to you tomorrow. Very confused.

My program is no fluids 10 minutes before meals and 30 minutes after and I can definitely tell if I drink too soon. It hurts and backs up on me. However, during the liquid stage I didn't have "meals" per se but fluid goals to meet, so I drank whatever went down that got me to my goals. Within 6 hours of surgery I could drink 1 ounce of protein fluid and 1 ounce of water, at the same time, every 15 minutes. I always took my meds with protein fluids to "coat" my stomach. Now in purees (started 2 weeks out), I follow 3 meals and 2 snacks with water all day between. Protein shake for breakfast and a lot of cottage cheese, greek yogurt, hummus, eggs, and pureed meats and pureed steamed veggies. I can eat way more volume than predicted in a sitting, though, and can drink 20 ounces of water in 45 minutes. I drink 70 to 90 ounces of water a day and get around 80 grams of protein. I have atypical GERD where it only flares with my asthma, but also mild gastritis so I'm on omeprazole for 3 months. I feel "hungry" a lot but often find that I am actually thirsty (or its head hunger and habit/boredom). I also bought some antacid chews and find 1-2 of those a day really cut down on the sharp feeling in my stomach. My doc says that the hunger and larger volume per meal will steadily decrease the more I move away from puree to soft to regular as solid food is more filling per volume. I've had a breakfast shake for years, so I will keep that to help with my protein goal but really hope to stop wanting to eat because I feel hungry soon. Plus it will be easier to make fewer separate meals when cooking for the family.

Here's a typical day in Protein for me: Wake-up: Soy Latte, 8 grams protein Breakfast: 1 cup greek yogurt, 1 .slice whole grain toast: 26 grams protein Lunch: 2 oz. light salami, Baby Bel light cheese: 20 grams protein Dinner: 3 oz. of fish, chicken, pork, or beef: 21 grams protein That gets me to 75 grams of protein. Before I could eat so much at one sitting, I had a mid-afternoon snack of light cheese or lunch meat and sometimes an after dinner cup of soy milk to get more protein in. Lynda

I am 25 days post op and still sticking with, chicken, fish, cottage cheese, yogurt. I am no where ready to try beef. Good luck

Happy Labor Day from BariatricPal!#subject#> body,div,dl,dt,dd,ul,ol,li,h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6,pre,form,fieldset,input,textarea,p,blockquote,th,td { margin:0; padding:0; } table { border-collapse:collapse; border-spacing:0; } fieldset,img { border:0; } address,caption,cite,code,dfn,th,var { font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; } caption,th { text-align:left; } h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { font-size:100%; font-weight:normal; } q:before,q:after { content:''; } abbr,acronym { border:0; } address{ display: inline; } html, body { background-color: #d8dde8; color: #5a5a5a; } body { font: normal 13px helvetica, arial, sans-serif; position: relative; } h3, strong { font-weight: bold; } em { font-style: italic; } img, .input_check, .input_radio { vertical-align: middle; } legend { display: none; } table { width: 100%; } td { padding: 3px; } a { color: #225985; text-decoration: none; } a:hover { color: #328586; } div.outer { margin: 0 auto; padding: 14px; } table.wrap { max-width: 800px; margin: 0 auto; } td.logo { background-color: #0f3854; padding: 8px; } td.content { background-color: #fff; font-size: 14px !important; color: black !important; line-height: 150% !important; padding: 8px; } ul { margin-left: 25px; } Hey BariatricPal Members, Happy Labor Day! It’s the last official chance to throw a summer party, go to a parade, and if you’re lucky, see a few fireworks. It’s a good chance to make sure you give summer a healthy send-off and you greet autumn with healthy intentions…and that’s what we hope this newsletter does. Here’s what you’ll find. Packing Your Labor Day Picnic Basket Getting Back into the Groove Enjoying the New You – A Reminder Have a great time going through the newsletter, and also have a great and healthy holiday. Happy Labor Day from BariatricPal! Sincerely, Alex Brecher Founder, BariatricPal Packing Your Labor Day Picnic Basket Going on a picnic this Labor Day? It’s a nice idea if you’re going to watch a parade, take the family to the park, or watch fireworks later on. Here’s how you can get in a good meal without going off your WLS diet. Picnic Favs You Can Eat Picnics tend to have a lot of food you can’t eat, at least, not if you’re serious about losing weight. Fried chicken, tuna salad subs, and potato chips just aren’t on the diet. But there’s no reason you can’t make your own picnic favs! Have grilled chicken or baked “fried” chicken coated with high-fiber cereal instead of breadcrumbs, or make tuna lettuce wraps instead of tuna salad sandwiches. Instead of potato chips? Try baked kale chips. You can round out your basket with proteins and veggies like hard-boiled eggs, fat-free refried bean dip, salad, and cut raw carrots, cucumbers, and celery sticks. Prepared Salads…The Healthy Way It’s not a picnic unless it has pasta salad. Just skip the pasta! Take your favorite pasta salad recipe and make a few small changes. Use cooked zucchini noodles or spaghetti squash instead of pasta. Substitute fat-free Italian dressing for full-fat dressing, or use Dijon or spicy brown mustard as your main flavor. Add plenty of veggies, such as cherry tomatoes, green onions, and broccoli florets. Add some sliced olives for a little healthy fat and a lot of flavor. Add low-fat feta or diced lean pastrami for some flavorful protein. You can always healthify other traditional prepared salads, too. Use cooked cauliflower instead of potatoes in potato salad. Toss shredded cabbage with low-fat Asian dressing instead of mayo for coleslaw. Use Greek yogurt or fat-free mayo instead of full-fat mayo when making tuna or other salads. The “Extras” Can Fit into Your WLS Diet The “extras” at a picnic can be high-sugar, high-calorie, and devastating to your weight loss efforts. Drinks like soft drinks and sweet tea, and desserts like brownies and chocolate chip cookies, can set you back by days, not to mention make you feel sick. Be sure to pack plenty of cold water to drink. Also, bring some appetizing fresh fruit to eat instead of sugary, fatty desserts. Apples and oranges are about as easy as it gets, but you could also make a red, white, and blue fruit salad with strawberries, white peaches, and blueberries. Getting Back into the Groove Summer is a little more relaxed than the rest of the year. Even if you’re not a student or teacher who gets an extended summer break, the season is a little slower moving. It’s easy to lose focus. Your diet may get a little less strict, or you might have trouble getting out the door for a workout in the summer heat, or you may be a little less aggressive about being on the phone with the insurance company or finding the right surgeon for your WLS. After Labor Day, that all changes. Now that kids are back in school and people are back from vacation and going back to their regular schedules, it’s time to take a look at your own schedule. Did you hit your summer goals? Are you following your WLS diet to a “T?” If you haven’t had surgery yet, are you doing everything you can to get it scheduled and paid for? Think Back and Ahead Think back over the past couple of months. Were there some times when you knew you weren’t making the best choice for your health, like when you went out for ice cream and got your own scoop instead of bringing an apple to munch on? Did you skip a few workouts? Did you get out of the habit of measuring your food? Did you stop making phone calls to the insurance company because you just couldn’t face being on the phone anymore? Plan Your Schedule With everything starting up all at once, things can get pretty hectic. That gives you the opportunity to create a new schedule for yourself. You can be sure to include the things that are important to your new healthy lifestyle, such as time for cooking at least once a week, and going to the gym a few times a week. Sometimes it seems hard, but success is largely a question of building a habit. The sooner you get started, the sooner your healthy behaviors will be habit. You won’t have to think about making the “right” decisions, and it’ll be easier for the weight to come off! Enjoying the New You – A Reminder The WLS journey is hard, no question. You form new eating habits, give up some favorite foods, develop new relationships with food and sometimes with people. You may spend a lot more time thinking about your health and acting on those thoughts. With all that hard work, we thought we should take a second to remind you to enjoy the rewards! There are probably some victories you can’t help but notice and celebrate, like hitting milestones on the scale. But don’t bury yourself so deep in the daily choices that you forget to enjoy the journey. Notice how much better you feel when you’re sitting in the car, or how much easier it is to push the shopping cart around the grocery store. Notice how much easier it is to spend time with your kids, friends, and other people. You can even appreciate your changes in mentality, from “I can’t,” “I’m not worth it,” and “Maybe I shouldn’t be eating this pizza,” to “I can,” “I deserve it just as much as everyone else,” and “I’m so proud of myself for enjoying these carrot sticks!” Thanks for reading the newsletter and making BariatricPal part of your Labor Day weekend. Have a healthy, happy, and safe holiday, and thanks for your support!

Thanks! I just tried it again with a small strawberry yogurt, skim milk and ice in the blender. Much better!

Its not that i dont like food, but theres 3 meals a day and if i cut out the protein shake, theres just not enough protein or calories in it. For instance, today i had a half an egg for breakfast and a whole 5.3oz yogurt for lunch, which was way more than usual. Thats literally maybe 110 calories and 15gs of protein. I cant have some huge dinner..