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I had two weeks of a modified liquid diet (the shakes all day and a small, lean meat and veggie meal at night), and then another week of pure liquids, no snacks, no pudding or yogurt, just shakes! It was SUCH a marathon... Then I had 2 full weeks of strict liquids post-op, no puddings, no yogurt, and I couldn't tolerate any protein shakes or jello. But post op it was easier in a way because my body was telling me very clearly it didn't want any of those things! Pre-op the diets are a serious head game. LOL

VSG Jan 24, 2024. So far so good! My surgery was uncomplicated. Once home I didn't need any pain medication. I've been doing okay on full liquids and I'm looking forward to pureed foods (not something I ever thought I'd hear myself say) after my first follow up with my doctor on Feb 8. I was surprised to find that I experience hunger--genuine, not head hunger. I guess I thought I'd never feel hungry again. I'm dealing with it, though, by sipping something a little thicker when I feel hungry. There are some really good protein shakes in The Gastric Sleeve Bariatric Cookbook by Sarah Kent MD. Yogurt is a little too thick and doesn't sit well but I tried thinning it out with some skim milk and that helps! I'm sleeping well. The only concern I have is that I am still very sore on my left side and it doesn't seem to be getting better. Or maybe it is, but just so slowly that I am barely registering it. Is anyone else experiencing this?

Had my surgery on 1/25!!! I’m still struggling with pain after I take sips. It feels more like pressure or “gas”. I’m trying different temps of fluids to see if that helps. Also added yogurt today. I was really hesitant that anything dairy related would do a number on my stomach AND the taste would be nasty. But so far so good!! 😊

OMG, I posted the same thing last night! I also had my sleeve done on 1/24 and I am shocked to find that I am actually having hunger pangs and growling. I'm at the same stage...full liquid, but I can have cream soups, sugar free pudding, yogurt, protein shakes, etc. I have to thin the yogurt with some skim milk to tolerate it and even then it's not great. Today I am going to add some Isopure flavorless protein powder to pudding. I think if I can get more protein in, I might feel less hungry. I'm drinking Protein 2 0 water and protein shakes in addition to plain water. I'm sorry you're feeling hungry but I'm relieved to find that it's somewhat normal. Good luck!

Thanks for responding. I'm not craving a particular food, or even necessarily "food" at all. In fact, I don't even really have an appetite just yet. I just have plain old hunger pangs and growling. I am plenty hydrated and feel I can maybe get more grams of protein in with some yogurt or pudding with added protein powder...both allowed per my doctors, so I'm not breaking any rules. It's just hard to get it all in 1 ounce at a time! I totally was not expecting to feel hungry and I'm curious if others have had the same thing happen.

Thank you....I was SO not expecting this, and I'm pissed off! I feel exactly as you felt---didn't I do this to NOT feel hungry? I think I need to follow my body's cues and try to get more protein in the form of maybe yogurt and pudding with added flavorless portein powder. I am definitely getting enough hydration because I am urinating several times a day and it is almost clear.

AHHHH!!! okay! I needed the science behind it lol! Yes I am on modified liquids so I can have strained cream soups, yogurts ect....Sweet! thank you, I thought I was going bananas

I just joined this forum. I had my Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy on 1/24/24. I apologize if this topic has been created before but I didn't see a place to search. I am 5 days post-op. Doing full liquid. My doctor says to concentrate more on hydration than protein at this point but I am drinking a protein shake and Protein20 in addition to water, so I'm getting at least 45 grams of protein a day. In addition I'm trying to get a few more grams here and there with yogurt and pudding with unflavored protein powder added. My long term goal. is 60 but the doc said not to focus so much on that right now. I am absolutely stunned to find that I am hungry! Genuine hunger, not appetite (which is not really present at the moment). I was not expecting that at all. Has anyone else experienced this? What did you do? Help!!!

Protein is essential but look at your sugars, per serving and added=total. To much sugar you will have dumping. I had surgery in 2008 and I still watch sugar intake. I eat to much, right away I get hot, start sweating then run for a bathroom. Everyone is different but I might be able to eat a half of cupcake or bite of a rich cake then I'm done. I use injury protein powder. I prefer the unflavored can add it to anything. Milk is to sweet and thick for me trying to get extra protein and calcium with milk I have unfortunately turned to skim. Unflavored you can put in yogurt shots with less sugar and adding much needed protein.

I start my 2 week liquid diet on Feb 7, but if I had to drink milk, I don't know what I would do . I can't stand the stuff! I haven't had a glass of milk since I was about 8. Thankfully, I can have protein shakes, yogurt, pudding, broth, and jello. If I start to feel grumpy about it, I'll remind myself I could be stuck drinking milk!

Hi guys! I’m on day 5 of my two week liquid diet. My surgery is scheduled for February 6th. I have to say that even though it’s not as horrible as I expected, it absolutely does SUCK having only liquids, sugar free jello, popsicles and broth! The weird thing is that technically I only get hungry around normal meal times. I do miss actually chewing and I have super low energy and headaches. I also am having trouble sleeping. I’m all out of wack. I’m not working because of disability, so I’m thankful I don’t have to worry about WORKING. Whenever I feel bad or super hungry, I look on TikTok for before and afters for motivation. In the wee hours of the morning if I’m awake I’ll “cheat” and have a zero everything Greek yogurt. It kind of makes me feel better. I don’t think my doctor will mind, but I’ll ask tomorrow. It’s hard, but I’m trying to find distractions too. I just want this time to go by faster.

Yeah, I got a pack of these freezer safe glass 4 oz baby food jars on Amazon and they've been really helpful with portioning!! At first I could only eat about half of one, so about 1/4 cup total. A bit less if it was solid protein in meat form other than fish (beef, chicken, and pork sit heavier). That was it for about two months. In this third month my portion size suddenly increased to about 1/2 cup in total now! As far as meat and veggies are concerned at least. I have always been able to eat a little more of soft things like yogurt and pudding... But my PA told me that increase at 3 months is perfectly normal, and I could expect it to increase in stages throughout the first year or two, to not panic over it, hunger is natural and mine never went away from surgery, so I've really had to cultivate a healthy relationship with it. Because those stomach nerves are still healing, I watched my portion size carefully and really paid attention to discovering new fullness cues. For me those are a runny nose, hiccups, burping, and aggressive sneezing fits! Plus this building pressure or weight in the center of my stomach. These are all normal signals for bariatric patients, but we all get our own unique combination so be on the lookout for discovering yours! I think 2-3 shakes a day paired with things like yogurt and soft cereals seems really normal. It is great you are progressing so well! The problem with forums and support groups is we get used to seeing people post with problems and then we expect to have a slew of problems ourselves! And sometimes we do. But often times we don't... The majority of bariatric patients have no complications, progress their diets easily, and worry about eating too much and if their surgeon even did their surgery. 🤣 Your metabolism has been reset, it will handle calories a bit differently now. Just stay on the conservative end with simple carbs, as they can slow weight loss sometimes. Focus on that hydration and protein, and later on when cleared for all foods, on adding complex carbs like veggies, beans, and some fruit. Protein will help with the hunger, as does healthy fat and the fiber once it is safe for you to digest. My dietician told us to think more about macros than calories. So, to make sure things had less than 10 grams of sugar per serving, more than 20 grams of protein per shake, less than 10 grams of fat per serving, and keeping our total carbohydrates for the day under 50 grams in the early months...and that was their advice for all surgeries, with varying protein goals for each different one. Baritastic app has been really helpful with the tracking!

Yeah, that sounds 100% within the normal range of early post-op calorie consumption. I am having gastric bypass in 3 weeks, and my program suggests 3 meals and 3 protein supplements per day for the first several weeks. In the beginning, the word "meal" is used very loosely. This is basically limited to yogurt, cream soup, cream of wheat, pudding, and applesauce. The expectation is you can maybe have a few bites. All the protein is coming from those 3 shakes (20-25g per shake). Calories are pretty much irrelevant, at least for now. Your entire metabolism has been rewired. If you follow what you're told to do, you will lose weight on a wide spectrum of calorie intakes. My program suggests no more than 200 calories per protein shake serving, with a limit of 5 grams of sugar and at least 20g protein each. So, if I had the recommended 3 shakes and went with the max calories, I would consume 600 calories in those daily supplements, plus another maybe 100-200 in "meals" depending how much of the yogurt/cream of wheat/pudding I manage to swallow. My shakes actually only have 90 calories each (23g protein), so during my pre-op liquid diet, I won't feel at all guilty if I drink 4 or 5 of them, or even 6 if needed. Post-op, I doubt that will be possible, but even then, I wouldn't see an issue with having that many if I could physically manage it. All of which is a longwinded way of saying you're doing fine! Congratulations!

Hi all, I had my surgery 1/24, the first two days I consumed 250-300 calories with only broths and Water. I could hardly choke down a sip or 2 of Protein Shakes. Today I was able to incorporate yogurt and modified liquids. My “stage 2” stats are 64oz of water 72g of Protein, 16g carbs and 11g of fat with 502 calories. I had two “meals” bfast was a 2oz of hot cereal with FF fairlife milk and protien powder, then had protien shake, lunch was zero sugar chiobani yogurt, then had another protein shake. I really want some soup but that’s a head hunger thing. is this too much?

Good luck with your surgery!! I was on liquids for 2 weeks post op and didn't tolerate protein shakes, so I drank mostly water with sugar free flavoring packets in them (plain water made me gag), broths, strained soups, Fairlife milk, and after about 2 weeks I could finally get in a protein water. My surgeon cleared me to eat fish and soft eggs at 2 weeks (much to the annoyance of their dietician), which interestingly was easier for me to digest than the protein shakes. I couldn't tolerate jello either. In the pureed phase I tried pudding and yogurt but they sat too heavy, so I mostly ate fish and soft eggs and all the liquid things. Plus I was able to tolerate cream soups. In the soft stage I ate anything that could be cut easily with a plastic fork, mostly fish, yogurt, and cheese. By a month out I was finally able to handle the feeling of a protein shake... My tummy was just really sensitive. Be aware you may have issues with lactose early on, so I recommend a lactose free milk like Fairlife if you are in the US. I spent a lot of money on protein stuff it turned out my stomach didn't like or my tastebuds found offensive. I HIGHLY recommend sticking with sample packets of things. Those will easily get you through a few weeks. BariatricPal has a good number of them, I liked Syntrax Nectars best. Seeq has a sample pack available and I really loved their watermelon flavor of protein water. You can get samples from Unjury too, they have some protein broth flavors some people like. I also spent a lot of time pinning recipes on Pinterest for the stages, but I never used any of them because my tastebuds preferred really simple things. I couldn't tolerate anything with cooked tomatoes/tomato sauce for at least 2 months and I wasn't allowed to add raw fruits or veggies to shakes or smoothies, but every surgeon's guidelines are different.

Hi all, I had my surgery 1/24, the first two days I consumed 250-300 calories with only broths and water. I could hardly choke down a sip or 2 of protein shakes. Today I was able to incorporate yogurt and modified liquids. My “stage 2” stats are 64oz of water 72g of protein, 16g carbs and 11g of fat with 502 calories. is this too much?

Sorry you guys are dealing with this! Are either of you on a PPI (proton pump inhibitor), this could be something like omeprazole. Typically the over the counter dose isn't high enough, so it is best prescribed by your doctor. Some people end up taking it twice a day. Omeprazole never worked for me, I take pantoprazole in the morning and Dexilant in the evening. Both are prescription. Bariatric patients typically need a PPI after surgery to protect their stomach from acid and help the sutures heal. Our new tummies are still producing the amount of acid we produced for our whole stomach, which is obviously too much acid for a little tummy. This can cause pain, nausea, vomiting, a feeling of not being able to swallow because acid is washing into the esophagus and irritating it. It can also cause that classic heartburn feeling... If you aren't on one, tell your doctor you want one. If you are on one, it's possible it isn't working, you may need a higher dose or a different medication (some people metabolize omeprazole too quickly). In addition to this, it takes a while for our new tummies to heal the nerves that were cut and our fullness cues and stomach sensations can be different than they were before. Fullness may feel completely different and very uncomfortable. After I eat I feel pressure at about the middle of my stomach and a feeling of heaviness sitting there. It is my signal not to eat anymore. If I persist, I'll start hiccuping and sneezing aggressively, and sometimes vomit. I am very careful not to get to that point. But I can eat a normal bariatric sleeve portion for 3 months out... Sometimes heavy proteins like meat sit very heavily in new stomachs for the first year. It isn't unusual to not tolerate beef or chicken breast. Proteins should be moist (like chicken thigh in a sauce), with small bites and very thorough chewing. You'll probably eat a smaller portion of them than you would yogurt or eggs. Fish and other seafood are the easiest meat proteins for us to digest because they are lighter and softer, so try that if beef and chicken are too heavy. If after a few weeks on a PPI you are still not able to at least advance to moist fish without pain or vomiting, I'd be requesting an endoscopy or other imaging to ensure there isn't a stomach stricture or scarring getting in the way of you eating. Strictures aren't super common in sleeves but they do happen.

For all my 1/24 surgery twins, we did it! But man has it been a RIDE already. I had some issues at the hospital surgery day with post surgery blood vomiting but that’s apparently normal. It was horrific and scary though. It went away and when I got home the next day, I did great with fluids. I’ve been keeping 64 ounces down. Starting soft today. Protein shakes/yogurt and more jello. So heats hoping. But the worst is the gas and incision pain. So much swelling but, trying to focus on the long term success. Sending love and healing to all!!!

For smoothies I started with milk, added Greek yogurt or 0% flavoured yogurt. Some yogurts have lots more protein in than others. Fruit and some low sugar peanut butter. I never had any protein shakes.

Awww no girl soft foods as in yogurt 😂 I have to wait another 2 weeks for all that goodness of food girl 😂

Congratulations on your loss. Whoo hoo! Might be worth checking your calorie intake & what your body actually needs to maintain your current weight & activity level. What portion size are you actually eating? I eat pretty much what is considered an appropriate serving size in maintenance e.g. 3-4ozs protein & a cup of vegetables. Took me to about 18 +/- months to be able to physically be able to eat that. I had been snacking a lot in between to try to stop my continued weight loss until I got to that portion size. I actually still do have to snack just not as frequently. Might be worth a conversation with your dietician to see if there’s something you’re missing & what you could add to your every day eating to help. Also, a growling tummy is more often than not your digestive system doing what it’s supposed to - digest food. Mine is noisiest during & after I eat for up to a couple of hours. Remember you can’t be really be hungry as you’ve just/recently eaten. Your cup of tea is a great idea when this happens. PS - I snacked on combinations of cheese, multigrain crackers & hummus, protein bar, fruit, peanut paste, nuts, yogurt, chia pudding, etc. about 5x a day. Yes I felt I was eating all day long. Now I snack 3 x a day on basically the same things & also occasionally beef jerky & baked fava beans/chick peas.

Don't over think this stage. My taste buds were telling me that lots of my go to food was blahhh. I had an awful taste in my mouth which didn't help. I just ate protein yogurt, ice pops, strained soups and the tiniest morsels of hard cheese left to dissolve on my tongue. I was allowed coffee so had latte's and home made milk shakes, milk, banana and peanut butter blitzed. My doc was against protein shakes

Today was a very very rough day for me. Im tolerating water wayyyy better than the first few days. Swallowing protein shakes no matter how smLl the sip always gives me that feeling like someones squeezinc my stomach and im forcing out a belch soon after. That feeling is not pleasant makes me not want to drink them at all. On average i can get through almost 1 protein shake a day. Greek yogurt was okay still has the same effect as the protein shake though. Also when i tried sugar free jello same thing. I actually tried cream of chicken soup watered down. I wanted to cry because the taste is amazing but i just cannot enjoy it like i want because of how easy i get gas. Like i dont understand how i can have to belch SO much after swallowing smooth things plain smooth its crazy. Its a little depressing that i have to stick with this full liquid diet another whole week. I feel like im going to go insane lol. I made my 1 year old scrambled eggs she loves them and omg my stomach wanted to eat itself. I havent had a hunger pain like that since before pre op. It really caught me off guard. I was so close to devouring her eggs. At the risk of pain is the only thing that stopped me. This is going to be a long road for me.

Here's to a smooth surgery and recovery!! There are some soft food recipes on the Baritastic app (if you use it). Check with your nutritionist as well. My nutritionist gave me some recipes compiled by my bariatric program- I didn't use any. I must admit that I was not adventurous with food in the first few phases. I stuck to the basics - shakes, yogurt, soup, etc. During the pureed stages, I added tuna and other soft fish.

Just finished not long ago my 3 week crawl through full fluid. My fav go to I've made is .5 cup of microfiltered lactose free protein milk, 1 tbsp of greek yogurt, 1tbsp peanut butter (i am not sure if this is okay on your preop.. but I tolerate it well post op and am very mindful of the fat content for the day, this is basically my fattiest meal), cocoa powder, probably .5 tbsp. and I put a full scoop of protein powder now, but was doing half a scoop before. I fill up my ninja smoothie cup the rest of the way with ice, blend it and it's like a peanut butter chocolate milkshake. Good luck!