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The food guidelines for WLS have acidic foods which isn’t good for a GERD patient. The guidelines for GERD patients the food is bland. I can’t always do GERD eating since I need my protein and consuming yogurt, cottage cheese with other nutrients sometimes triggers my reflux. I don’t think it’s the combination of the two that’s stoping my weight loss. I may have built more muscle especially in my legs and arms but the belly muscle I’m still trying to build up.

Homemade mix of sweet and sour and general tso’s chicken but with vegan nuggets (on clearance for $1.59 a bag!) with rice. Yogurt gummy snacks I bought my kid but they say they hate them now so I’m eating them. Chopped salad with crispy corn tortillas- pinto beans, tomatoes, onions, bell pepper, jalapeño, tajin, cumin, and lime juice

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!!!

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!

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?

I've been home for a few hours now. I passed out pretty much as soon as I got home. I'm currently sipping on a Gatorade Zero, and now that I'm out of the hospital I can do a liquid diet instead of just clear liquids. So there's that, at least lol. My biggest problem is water. Doesn't matter if lukewarm or cold, straight water makes my stomach cramp. But because I am able to consume other liquids just fine, they went ahead and sent me home. The water thing is just something I'm going to have to keep working on. My other big issue was my body did the opposite of that they expected it to do in regards to my blood sugars. AKA, every time they tested, I was in the 200-300 range when they were expecting me to go down post-op. So I came home with rapid-acting insulin on a sliding scale. Hopefully soon we can discontinue that. For those of you asking about recipes, my doctor has me use the Baritastic app for my logging and tracking. It does have recipes on there as well, if you are looking to spice things up in the land of boredom. Now time to catch up on posts. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @ShoppGirl - Amazing that they had you drink Gatorade 2 hours prior to arriving for surgery. I had to drink mine the night before, and absolutely nothing by mouth after midnight. It's wild to me how different doctors prefer their things to happen. As for taking the shots, I'm sure you are going to rock it. I struggled with the idea of giving myself shots, but over the years it just became another thing for me to put on my calendar to remind me to take. Your question about how long to wait between trying new things, my doctor said I could not try anything new on the same day. So if I tried something and it seemed to work, that would be my thing that day. Then the next day, I would keep that for the first meal, and then as long as it still agreed, I would try something new for the 2nd meal. Maybe that helps you out some? Thank you again for the recipe/website. The site has been bookmarked for me. So the straw thing is for life, it sounds like? At least based on your experience. Chewing your eggs to liquid is still really good. My nutritionist said that every bite I take from now on needs to be the consistency of applesauce before I swallow it. And that chewing even beyond that would be great. But you're rocking it! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @Pepper_No_Salt - Thank you for the idea of mixing things in. I guess I've been scared to do that because I didn't know if it was allowed or not. How do you like the Orgain powder? I use the Owyn premade shakes and Vega powder. They sent you home same day?!?! Holy crap, and I mean that in the best way possible lol. My doctor and nutritionist vehemently told me no straws. Apparently because you can actually suck up air as well as the liquid if you use a straw. I just don't know if that is forever, or just in the post-op period. But my stomach cramped drinking straight water no matter what temperature. However, I did exceptionally well with ice chips - letting them melt in my mouth and then trickle down with a swallow. That didn't affect me at all, so maybe see if you can get some ice chips from Sonic or something similar to maybe give you an idea of how much a 'sip' is? Another suggestion I got from my nutritionist as well as people who my husband work with that have had the RYGB is to buy shot glasses for your water. It should take you about 10-15 minutes to finish a shot glass of water. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @AndreaJD - Thank you for the well wishes! Water was a struggle, but I was up walking on my own the next day. So I feel like I was doing pretty good for myself! I get to start my full liquid stage today now that I'm home. But man, I can't stay awake enough to do much of anything. Hospitals and rest do not go in the same sentence, unless it's discussing negative rest. (My care team was absolutely great though, so I very much appreciate all they were doing for me even if it meant not getting nearly enough sleep.) This will be an experimental phase for me as I have to find dairy free options to make my life easier. But even if I had to literally water down yogurt, that would be better than the chicken broth I had in the hospital. lol ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @Hiddenroses - I have a bunch of staples as well, and have never experienced them before. So thank you for that explanation. Hopefully when I get mine out at the 10 day post-op, I'll be able to at least tolerate it now that I've kind of been forewarned. And yay, WrA peeps! Honestly we probably did cross paths, but in the early days of RP for me I was stupidly shy. For your chair question - I noticed sitting in any chair for longer than an hour bothers me currently. Which they didn't like in the hospital, because they wanted me in the chair for two hours at a time. And I just... could not do it. It ached too much. Even being home now, sitting in chairs I've sat in previously, I have about an hour long time span before it starts to ache. I take that as my sign to get up and move around. Dry mouth is a problem in particular for me. I still try to sipsipsip but I hate the feeling of dry mouth. And that's made worse by the fact that I'm a diabetic. And yes, I was thrilled (/s) to find out I was starting my period. Thank God for mesh panties and pads they had on hand. They assured me this happened quite often, but it still annoyed me to no end (especially when I'm on multiple birth controls to prevent having said periods due to endometriosis). As for poor executive function, I have that in spades as well. I had to come off my Adderall a couple of days prior to surgery because you know, they want me to go to sleep during anesthesia and not be on stimulants. And hoooo boy did that make the problem that much worse. If it wasn't for my poor husband, pretty sure I would have lost my head and left it laying somewhere. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @Onemealplan - Did your doctor allow ice cream for the puree foods? That's kind of awesome. I don't have recommendations for that stage yet as the earliest I will get to it is 8/28 after my post-op appointment. I do remember a recipe back from one of my diet days (Weight Watchers, maybe? I don't remember) that I think might be helpful. You take a helping of ricotta, mix it with Splenda (or whatever sugar alternative you prefer), and some cocoa powder that has no added sugar. Makes it a friendly chocolate treat. I can't give exact measurements on it because I played with it some to get the consistency I liked at the time. I also don't think I could handle the pureed proteins lol. I'll be saving those for when I get to the final stage. I can survive on tuna for a while, especially when I'm having protein shakes alongside it. They gave me a walking goal of 4 laps per 12 hour shift. i was doing those just fine, and when they finally let me walk on my own I extended how long a lap was. But I could not pass gas until they started giving me what is essentially children's Gas-x. And even now, I only pass gass within the 2-3 hours after I've had it. So thankful they sent me home with some. As for in the hospital, the only options i had was water, chicken broth, ice chips, and no sugar added hot chocolate when I specifically asked for it. They brought in 10oz bottles of Dasani water, and it would take me 12 hours to get through one of those due to the cramping. But everything else went down fine. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @Rob Nissam - Thank you for that explanation. My left shoulder was hurting the most over the last day, and they said it was the gas pain. It was the thing that made sure I did not skip any pain medicine, because I was almost in tears over it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Okay, I think I got through all the posts and everyone. If I missed someone, I am really sorry. For those of you in recover, I pray the pain lessens and the intake gets better daily. For those of you who are still waiting on surgery, YOU GOT THIS! I'll be praying for a safe and healthy surgery for you, and that your recovery process is simply fantastic. ❤️

Yeah I do, I think because it's always ready and there. I feel lazy a lot of the times. I hate cooking, but the only time I do kind of like to cook is dinner. But I did make a really yummy protein smoothie. Fairlife milk 13g protein, 17g of protein in the yogurt which of course makes it a 30 gram smoothie. But I also tried a another yogurt before I buy a big container of it and it has 25 grams of protein in it. It just sucks that I couldn't drink it all. Anyways, I also think we have this stuff (the processed foods) because it's cheaper than the healthy foods. It sucks and gotta do what we gotta do to get by. But yes I get that the money we spend on the processed foods, we could put towards healthy foods. Healthy foods don't last long which also sucks. 🤔 always can meal prep and freeze it. There's 6 people here and one who never eats what I make. So ill have to make sure that there are 5 of everything for the 5 people. Sorry just rambling

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.

A certain amount of sugar is usually fine, especially the natural sugar found in dairy or applesauce. Added sugar is going to be where your doctor will probably have strict limits, and things may change as you get further out from surgery. Chobani complete drinkable yogurt has no added sugar, so that's a good sign, even if the overall sugar is 11 grams. But you'll want to talk to your practice about how many you can have and when they're okay. If you haven't yet, you should soon receive a booklet from your dietician with all the rules they want you to follow, and yes, they will be different from rules other people get at other practices, even if they are getting the same surgery! My rules include finding protein supplements with less than 5 grams sugar, at least 20 grams protein, and 160-200 calories per serving. But that 5 gram limit is specific to the protein shakes, not to all foods or meals. I can also have Greek or light yogurt, and I happen to know plain Greek yogurt has 7 grams sugar naturally. One of those little snack cups of unsweetened applesauce has 11 grams of sugar (again, naturally occurring). So, I think the Chobani complete drink would probably be approved for me, although I'm fairly sure I would be told to limit myself to a certain amount per day and not use them interchangeably with protein supplements, which generally have way lower sugar.

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.

I have a huge restriction, lucky me. At almost 2 years, I was only on about 800 cals a day. I had to eat so many protein yogurts to get in my quota of protein. After 2 years I decided to call it a day and upped my cals to 1500. This gives me a good number of cals and as I am not a great exerciser, could do more if I wanted more food. Counting my 3 week pre op diet, I lost about 90 lbs at 6 months out

I don't know if this helps, but when I saw the nutritionist last week for my last pre-op appointment, she suggested choosing three regularly spaced meal times, 4 to 6 hours apart. I've decided on 8:30, 1:30, and 6:30 because it works best with my daily work schedule. She said to eat what I could of "real" food at the mealtimes, but not to let myself keep eating beyond 30-40 minutes. My goal is 20-25g protein at the meal, but let's say I managed to eat 10g for breakfast. In that case, I would want to supplement 10-15g of protein shake at 11am (halfway between breakfast and lunch). If I managed to eat 20g of protein at lunch, then I could skip the supplement between lunch and dinner. But if I only got 5g protein at dinner, I should supplement with 15-20g of protein shake a couple hours after dinner. That way you're trying real food first, but not letting yourself get behind as the day goes on. She said it would take quite some time to ween off protein supplements completely and that was fine. Eventually, she wants me to be at 3 meals and no snacks with 60-80g protein per day. If you don't want to rely on protein shakes but you find you can easily eat something like a Greek yogurt in between meals, you could do that instead. But basically it's just going to take time, and even after you are at a point that you can usually get all 20-25g of protein in a meal, there still may be some days where you can't and you need a supplement.

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!

I don't know where my other post went - I swore I typed one up earlier. Oh well - Here we go again! So, I'm at 3 weeks out exactly today from my SADI (Sleeve + Intestinal shortening) surgery and I'm definitely starting to feel less pulling and pinching with movements. I'm beginning week two of my puree diet, and I feel like it's going pretty well. During the Protein shake / liquid post diet for two weeks I did deal with constipation. It's still leveling out, but as I eat more 'regular' food (Even as a puree) that seems to be lifting a bit. I did still take some milk of magnesia yesterday out of caution because I hadn't 'gone' in two days, and didn't want to worry about it worsening. I'd say the hardest part for me continues to be the 'No drinking 30 mins before/after meals' but I use the Baritastic app to set a timer. I also use the timer to make sure my 'meals' take at least 30 minutes. Want to make sure I don't rush and end up feeling poorly afterward. Things that have worked well for me during my puree stage include egg drop soup, chicken/tuna salad made with puree chicken or tuna, light mayo, and sometimes a bit of relish, and for added protein a boiled egg or two, with or without the yolks per preference. (Dill relish is healthier than sweet relish). I did allow myself 2-3 saltines with those, usually about 3.5 oz of the tuna or chicken salad makes me feel sated. Other recipes that have worked include the ricotta bake and unstuffed cabbage rolls, pureed low fat/0 sugar yogurt or cottage cheese with Genepro powder and cooked, strained strawberries or blueberries (I added a bit of 0% Milk to make it more of a smoothie), Riccotta pureed with either a bit of fruit or avocado, small serving of oatmeal pureed with fruit (test yourself with an ounce or two less than you normally eat for oatmeal because it sits heavy and often swells - add some zero or skim milk to make it thinner if needed. Other recipes include homemade no-noodle chicken soup of sorts with rotisserie chicken, chicken broth, and pureed carrots w/a little bit of onion powder or diced onion. I also made a homemade 'philly cheese steak' filling of sorts with some sautéed bell peppers and a bit of diced onion, some roast beef lunch meat, and cream cheese. Others speak highly of pureed refried beans with a bit of seasoning to taste more like taco meat, adding either a bit of mild salsa or a combination of onion powder and perhaps a bit of cumin. That's a personal choice, and definitely suggest going slow with your seasoning due to possible heartburn. You could add a bit of shredded low-fat/skim mozzarella or even low fat sour cream to round it out. Today I made 'chicken pot pie w/no crust' which was basically just cooked carrots and finely diced celery and onions with finely diced rotisserie chicken with a can each of 98% fat free cream of celery and 98% fat free cream of chicken. I haven't had any yet because I'm a little unsure about the celery, even cooked, but pureed and in a small serving I'm sure it would treat me fine. The Ricotta Bake I made was super simple and I know there are a lot of variations to the recipe online. I made my own marinara sauce by peeling about 5 smallish tomatoes, dicing them, and simmering them with a little less than equal parts water, Italian seasoning, and a bit of diced onion. The ricotta mixture was easy; just used 8oz ricotta cheese, 1 egg, 1/2 cup of grated parmesan (I used the shaker but fresh is better) and 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese. I put a layer of half the mix on the bottom of a buttered baking dish, topped it with 1/2 lb cooked and seasoned ground beef, then put the rest of the mixture on top. Poured about 3/4 of the homemade marinara over it then covered the dish with aluminum foil and baked at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. It's basically a no-noodle lasagna. The Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls I made were equally easy - I used a rotary grinder (Works SO well, bought on Amazon for around twenty bucks) to grate half a head of lettuce. Instead of canned diced tomatoes I once I again peeled about 5 small/medium tomatoes and diced them, adding to the skillet along with maybe 1/8 cup diced onion and another 1/2 lb of the ground beef. For seasoning the recipe I used just had me add a packet of Italian Dressing Seasoning mix. The family enjoyed it and after pureeing the ground beef a bit I found it fine to eat, although slowly and very well chewed (same with the ground beef in my ricotta bake). Both it and the Ricotta bake probably make about eight 1/3 cup servings with about 22g of Protein each. I want to respond more to folks - @Pepper_No_Salt I hate that you're dealing with so much nausea! I absolutely second talking to your care team about that. There are some nausea pills that dissolve under the tongue and work more quickly for me than the Zofran, they'd probably be willing to call you in some. Things that made me feel queasy were taking meds or vitamins before my meal had hit bottom, drinking too quickly, not walking around after I ate, and taking calcium and my multivitamin with iron too close to my Calcium. Not sure if any of that helps - I am also taking Prilosec for heartburn in the mornings and they had me add Magnesium Citrate at bedtime to help with constipation. Sometimes when I'm due to pass gas or have a bowel movement working its way through my system I'd start to feel a little icky and not really nauseous but more anxiety / feelings of fullness. I found that for whatever reason putting an ice pack on my chest or low back helped. I hope you find some relief! Oh, I also found that as soon as my thirty minutes post-meal is up it helps me to sip on REALLY cold water or Gatorade zero, especially if I do it while standing and moving around a little bit. I equate it to the need to get the burps out after eating, just like I had to do post-surgery. @ShoppGirl - Thanks for all of your support and input. I continue to read your posts and while I'm low energy on responding right now I hope the details of my recipe for the unstuffed cabbage bake is helpful! @draikaina8503 - Congratulations on your walk! I still wear out quickly even at three weeks out, but I knew the first month or two would be a slog and do feel my energy is rebounding. @Onemealplan - Sounds like you're doing great and I hope you enjoy the heck out of your vacation! I second what you said to @ShoppGirl about trying the crab, and hope the meals you do get to taste on vacation treat you well. I think her advice to just explain you're recovery from stomach surgery should more than reassure any staff concerned about your small portions. @AndreaJD I'm so glad your sister has been supportive! My 'chosen' brother and best friend has likewise done the same. He's been on a Keto journey for about two years with great results and I worried at first that he would think I was taking the 'easy way out' and now that he's heard more he's been great in reassuring me that he does NOT think that is the case at all, and in fact believes I chose a great option for myself that moves things along quicker but certainly with a lot of sacrifice and hard work. I also completely agree with you on the 'mind hunger' vs 'body hunger'. I'm lucky that I do feel a bit of pressure in my chest that I now identify as a feeling of 'fullness' as opposed to anxiety and I'm less worried about my protein goals now that I have the Genepro protein powder. I love that it isn't gritty when I mix it in with things as long as I mix it with something room temperature FIRST. That's on the instructions, actually, as is the fact that for your macros to count it as like 30-ish grams of protein per scoop rather than the 'weight' listed in Nutrition facts of 11g/scoop. Just wanted to make sur eI mentioned that! Oh - in regards to weighing - I get on the scale every day or so to kind of 'reinforce' what I'm doing, but remember that sometimes you see more from your measuring tape at the waist, hips, etc than the scale will show. Also head's up, a lot of folks plateau for a handful of days around week three and it will happen on and off moving forward, so don't be discouraged by that! @RRenaeL23 - I hope these recipes and suggestions for your puree diet work well! I'm still finding myself comfortable eating no more than about 3-4 oz at a meal, and certainly am following the no drinking 30 mins before/after meals. It's absolutely easier for me to do if I make sure my meal is on the moist side, even if it means adding a little extra water. It's better to add protein powder (Can't speak highly enough of the unflavored Genepro) to hit your protein goal than to overeat to make it, that's for sure! I'm always eager for my 30 minutes to be up so I can sip on icy cold water or Gatorade Zero. @Meme Campbell - Best of luck to you on your surgery tomorrow! Don't hesitate to ask for ice packs and pain relief and take advantage of the pain relief to get some walking in, especially the first couple of days. The pain lessons as you walk because it works the gas out. I also strongly suggest sipping your shakes / water / propel sitting as upright as is possible and not laying back until about ten minutes has passed or you've burped a few times! Keep us updated! Most of us in this thread have already had our surgeries but if you read through the first 3-7 pages you'll get a pretty good idea of what to expect if you don't already feel prepared. It's a bit of a process but the pain WILL start to lessen in the coming weeks! Don't be surprised when you get tired super quickly and be gentle on your body. Across the board surgeons seem to agree that your #1 priority fresh out of surgery will be walking as tolerated, focusing on your hydration, and getting as much protein as you comfortably can. Don't let yourself go more than three days without a bowel movement - Milk of Magnesia works wonders for that. I let myself go 5 days post surgery and that was a somewhat painful and unpleasant process to reverse. Colace makes your bowel movements 'smoother' but is NOT a laxative. If you deal with heartburn talk to your team - they put me on Prilosec for now. We're rooting for you! Sorry for anyone I missed; not sure what happened to my other post. Wishing you all the best in surgeries and recoveries!

Yeah it should be fine, just keep the sugar low. As long as you're hitting your daily water and protein goals, and the sugar amount is in single digits per serving, you should be fine. I've been eating Fage plain greek yogurt as my snack since it has 17g of Protein and very low carbs. I love the 5% milkfat version but the saturated fat is a tad high. I know I should have the 0% but I don't like the flavor. 2% has been my compromise.

So i started taking the b12 complex ( advised by the doctor to switch to complex) and it hasnt completely cured the itching but im not wanting to scratch my skin off now lol hopefully within the next few days it stops altogether. I also have been using cocoa butter to slow it down. Now the other issue im having is eat pureed foods. I have threw up every time i try to eat the recommended foods and measured amount. I tried to puree the food myself but maybe im not doing it right. I called the nurse anyway and was advised to puree it more, take smaller bites ( i mean how small do i need to do really like a baby spoon? ) and if im still having issues in 2 days call back and they will figure out something from there. When i swallow it feels like its stuck in my throat and just sits there and it hits my gag reflex when i drink water ( after 20 min of eating) so everything is just floating around in my throat and blam its coming back out. I feel the measurements i was advised to eat is still too much for me 1/4 cup i cant eat it. The only thing close to normal i can eat is yogurt and that is technically in the full liquid category. Im getting agitated again because its like man when will i be able to EAT!?? I dont care if its broccoli or carrots at this point i just want to be able to eat food again lol but im stuck at full liquids at this point i dont know how this is going to go but as always ill keep you all posted. Wish me luck.

Hello everyone, and happy Sunday! I'm feeling quite a bit better now that my body finally evacuated what was bothering it. I'd kind of forgotten about the Milk of Magnesia I'd purchased, and yesterday it came to my rescue. Those protein shakes (30g) are no joke, especially if you're taking any medication that slows your digestion further. Yesterday afternoon, even after getting past the constipation, my body just wasn't feeling like much intake, either liquids or 'food'. I found myself getting full after only an ounce of the chicken noodle soup broth and a few teaspoons of yogurt. I struggled for the first time getting my fluids in; I think I had gotten lax about the sip-sip-sip method and maybe was trying to drink too much at once when I drank. It's definitely hard to resist the urge to go back to gulping, especially when the beverage it cold and satisfying, and I feel dry mouth creeping in. Tomorrow is technically my puree day but I skipped ahead just slightly to try to move away from those heavy protein shakes. I realized I'm very sensitive to the texture of my scrambled egg and had to recook it, pre-mixed with about a half tablespoon of skim milk, and instead of the butter he'd initially tried I just used a very light splash of olive oil. That gave me the light, moist scrambled egg I was looking for. I reread my book and while it suggested you might want to start with just egg whites I just couldn't make myself hold to that. I am trying to get better about spacing out the 'not drinking 30 mins before/after' now that I'm beginning to eat some actual food. That's a very hard thing to do, honestly, because I'm noticing that no matter how much I chew without a drink the food just feels kind of stuck in my throat for a bit. I can see now why my friend said she found drinking a broth type soup in the morning 'primed' her stomach for the day. @draikaina8503 & @Pepper_No_Salt - How are you two feeling? I hope that your surgeries went smoothly. @Pepper_No_Salt I'm glad you can mix in some variety with additives to your plant based shakes - I was close enough to losing my mind during the pre-op diet so I think that being limited further would have driven me over the edge! I'm going to look up that PB2 you mentioned because I'm curious about it! (Back to you, @draikaina8503 , just saw your post-op post!) Oh my gosh I hate that your body did that to you RIGHT before your surgery. Mine at least gave me two days I'm very glad they kept you at least another night! I hope they are helping you keep your pain managed. Yeah; it will definitely take some walking to get that gas pain to leave but in the mean time don't be shy in asking for those ice packs and your pain medication! Sometimes managing the pain, then walking with the ice pack is the only way to work it out - at least that was my experience, and I've heard the same from a few others. Thinking back, one thing I wish I'd done while in the hospital was be a BIT more squeaky - I remember now that when my Mom was in the hospital I had to shove a bunch of pillows behind her back when I put the hospital bed up at an incline so she could get a good enough angle in bed to safely sip liquids. I think that would have helped me tremendously, because I relegated myself to using their recliner a lot just so I could be upright, and it didn't work very well AT ALL. Hope you're starting to feel better! (Coming back to you @Pepper_No_Salt since I now see your post-op post!) : Oh my gosh I feel you on the cold drink thing! I was a bit grumpy when I asked the nurse at my 10 day post-op and she casually said, "Oh, room temperature is mainly just the first few days because foods of extreme temperatures CAN cause uncomfortable cramping'. My fella covered his mouth to hide his snort of understanding at the look I gave him, having had to hear me whine off and on for ten days about how I'd give anything for a COLD drink of something. Figuring out the sips is tricky. They gave me little medicine cups that hold about an ounce and for me, sipping one of those 2-3 times felt about right at first. I'm sure this is another one of those things that depends on the person. I also alternated one ounce of gatorade/proper (they had brought me a kiwi watermelon that elicited heartburn, the berry was ok if I went slow - Also weirdly orange gatorade zero goes down better than watermelon, guess its all based on the acid and flavoring? @draikaina8503 - I read where you discussed being pretty limited on the shakes due to dietary restrictions. That's rough It's very cool that you write the same genres as me - I, too, have given Nanowrimo a try but never seem to stick with it to the finish line. Maybe I'll try it again this year! I'm glad you mentioned it. Yes - I meant to follow up all week long on making sure I was on the waiting list, and lo and behold... it's Sunday, and I never did. I'm bad on a good day at executive function, so during stressful times like this recovery - whew. I need to add it as a task to my Finch app so my mind stops blanking on it. I hope they were able to do your full surgery with no complications. @Singingbarista - I hope your recovery is going well! I didn't feel too terribly at first but I am suspecting more and more based off of people's feedback that I almost certainly had a nerve block that took a good 4-5 days to completely wear off. The achiness has built over time, and I hope that is different for you! @AndreaJD - Yay! Another writer & Nanowrimo participant! I guess it isn't too surprising that several of us writing folks would find one another on a forum, but I still think it's really cool. Superhero fan fiction sounds fun; I'd say that some of the powers my characters have are very overlapping, like magic use. It would be awesome if you could get some productive writing done during recovery but I also wanted to encourage you not to be too hard on yourself if you can't. My mind feels muddy and I feel drowsy far more often than I would like. I know I'll probably feel SO much better in about a week, but it's sure hard not to be impatient. I also wanted to mention that I didn't have much trouble at all getting my fluids down at first, either, and that's definitely not a bad thing. My nurse told me there will be good days and harder days, and yesterday I definitely experienced that. It was the first day I didn't make my fluid goal, like I wrote above - and I tried to push it in the evening but that was a bad idea. The Berry Propel I drank a bit too quickly before laying down (should have waited longer, d'oh!) ended up giving me heartburn that woke me up around 3am. It's all trial and error, I guess. Dang - wish I'd thought of having tomato soup pre-op! No idea why I didn't - now it'll probably be a while before I dare due to potential acid reflux. Ahh well! I'm going to try some of that blended Progresso Chicken Noodle in my puree stage I think if it passes the 'book check' - it sounds amazing. @Averdra & @caseyash30 - Are you two still surgery twins on the 21st? I'm trying to backtrack and I know that you said there were possible concerns do to a potential Covid case, @Averdra. I hope that's smoothed out for you! I realized while I was doing my recap that I never mentioned - traveling to Lithuania sounds so exotic to me, as a resident of the Midwestern U!. The furthest I've ever been is Alberta, Canada! Not that you would get to go sightseeing or anything; I get it. I know a lot of folks from the US travel to Mexico for their surgeries. Very cool that you were another WoW OG! The game sure has changed a lot, hasn't it? @caseyash30 - How goes the pre-op diet? Are you getting nervous or eager as the date approaches? For me it all just felt really surreal. @Onemealplan & @Greekmom4 - Tomorrow is my 14 day post op! I was paying close attention to your discussions about puree - because to be honest, I'm kind of stumped on this particular stage. I just managed about half a scrambled egg and a couple of teaspoons of my sugar free Chobani and I just feel so full. The whole time I was eyeballing my sugar free gatorade, thinking how ready I was to just be through with food so I could set a timer to be able to start hydrating. As it is, I have hiccups from the two tiny sips of Gatorade I allowed myself just to make the egg not feel stuck in my throat. I know everyone's experiences are going to vary significantly; the friend I have who had surgery previously said she had a lot of luck sipping the French onion soup mixed, especially in the mornings. She's two years post op and doesn't seem to have trouble eating small servings of most anything she wants now, minus much fried foods or rich desserts. She had a full gastric bypass, for reference. She told me that ricotta was a big win for her because it could be blended and made either savory or sweet, depending on if you chose vegetables or fruit, and also said she really enjoyed refried beans through the puree with mild seasoning to make it more like a taco. I have a gastric sleeve cookbook that offers a lot of different smoothie varieties. Other than that - I'm just not sure what sounds appealing as a puree, despite the nurse saying 'you can puree almost anything but stringy / dense meat!' I can see how the chicken or tuna salad would work - tuna just scares me for some reason. I wonder if I'd be able to do a salmon salad instead of tuna salad. Also - @Onemealplan - Yeah, I tried having my fella puree me some canned kidney beans on Friday, just to test the waters, and they didn't settle well for me. I can't say they are what caused me to have trouble passing gas and extra trouble with my constipation - it seems unlikely since I skimmed away the 'shell' and only ate probably a teaspoon and a half worth, but I just don't know. It tasted great to me, but just made me nervous. This is probably in part because I've dealt with IBS and beans of that sort along with ground beef or tomato sauce with too much basil were trigger type foods for me. I concur on the puree'd meats sound distinctly unappetizing. I'm hoping I can get away with mashing cooked salmon or something like that. Wooo! I did it! I hope I didn't miss anyone - I feel caught up finally! Now, to go rest with my ice pack.

I have to eat every 2-3 hours and have since I was post op, so I eat 5-6 small meals a day. I prefer this because it keeps me from mindless snacking, provides a rhythm to my day, and allows me to get in a variety of flavors and textures. I'm only 3 months post op, there is no way I'd get my daily macros in with just 3 meals a day. My stomach doesn't have that capacity and if I go past 3 hours without eating my energy crashes, I feel light headed, nauseous, shaky, and irritable. Each person's body is different, but by necessity I ascribe to the "eat less more often" method and I'm not alone in that need. My target macros are 120 grams of protein, 100 grams of fat, 40 grams of total carbs, calories don't matter because I malabsorb a good percentage of fat and a moderate percentage of protein. 8:00 am Premier Protein Vanilla Shake 9:30 am 3 tablespoons hashbrowns, 4 cherry tomatoes, 1 1/2 scrambled eggs 12:00 Ratio Coconut Keto Yogurt and 2 tablespoons Diabetic Kitchen Granola 3:00 pm Espresso with 1/2 cup Fairlife Whole Milk, Quest Spicy Sweet Chili Protein Chips 6:00 pm 1 grilled chicken thigh, no skin, 3 tablespoons green beans 9:00 pm 14 Wasabi Soy Roasted Almonds, 1 Choxo Dark Chocolate Coconut Cup Total Macros: 116 grams of Protein, 40 total grams of carbs, 78 grams of fat, 1305 calories. This is pretty typical for me. I don't always eat the protein chips, I was just in a hurry and they are one of my go-to snacks when I can't have something perishable. Normally they'd be a protein and veggie.

You are 6 days post op?? You should be getting the bulk of your protein from things like protein shakes, protein waters, fairlife milk, and other things like that. Your tummy is way too small and way too raw to be getting your protein from actual food yet. I know every surgeon varies and some do purees early, so I won't comment on that, but even then, you can't possibly get enough in on food alone to hit your protein goals. Some soft things to try on the puree and soft food stages: very softly scrambled or poached egg, cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, greek yogurt, sugar free pudding, sugar free jello (you can even get protein jello), some even include bean purees though I found those VERY hard on my stomach. You can also puree proteins into a soup base. I did a lot of cream soups and strained soups. I was on strict liquids the first two weeks. In soft foods you can also try things like egg salad, chicken salad made with chicken thighs because they are more moist, and tuna salad, but don't add things like onion and pickle to it yet. Too rough. ETA: Generally patients are encouraged to focus on their hydration goals for the first two weeks. This is because dehydration is the number 1 complication of bariatric surgery. Our bodies have protein stores that will last us the first few weeks after surgery. So focus on those 64 oz of water and if that is going well, then you can think about getting some protein in as a bonus!

Today is 11 days post op and I’ve had serious cravings over the past two days. I started having a protein shake again which also helps the leg and foot cramps, then added a 4th meal a day. I also had a cup of broth in case I just needed salt. Yesterday it got so bad and I realized that I’ve been eating only yogurt and puréed cottage cheese so I got some smoked salmon and ate one ounce of it, that has set me back to rights again. Woke up feeling so much better this morning. It’s been an adventure, we live in the Midwest and lost power Friday evening, we’ve been in a hotel since Saturday. I brought my scale and a small container so I could portion out yogurt or cottage cheese but didn’t have any meat or fish. i don’t really feel hungry in my belly anymore, just a vague feeling of alarm that I need something. Most of the time I can just reassure myself but yesterday I knew it was hunger and that I needed something more substantial. The smoked salmon is very soft and I chewed it for forever, and I loved every moment of it🙂. (Note: I’ve been on purées since the day after surgery, tomorrow is my 2 week post op appointment, and I would have blitzed the salmon but I’m just making do the best I can with the snowy adventures. I also ate scrambled egg at Denny’s, I measured out 2 ounces and just fork squished the heck out of it and that went well too.)

I am on day 2 of 14 of liquid diet for preop and did not realize I’m not supposed to have sippable soups or yogurt!!! Now I’m worried I’ve messed up my whole preop diet.

I did not skip the liquid phase, but my program does skip purees. They emphasize adequate protein and nutrient dense, natural foods. Here is what I ate, according to the directions my doctor and dietician gave me (for comparison, not giving you medical advice, obviously!): Hospital, 1 day post op (gastric bypass): Water, Jello, Chicken broth, sugar free popsicle. These all went well and I was able to finish them at a slow pace. Home, 2-6 days post op: Protein shakes, bone broth, sugar free yogurt, applesauce, plain kefir, Fairlife skim milk in decaf tea, herbal teas. Nothing that required chewing during this stage. Spoke with nurse via phone call, who confirmed I was meeting my 60g protein and 64 oz water goals consistently. She told me to start taking my vitamins and to incorporate soft proteins as I was able and to continue to consume 60g protein from shakes in addition to food. Days 7-13, here is what I added: Tuna salad with low-fat mayo, poached eggs, deviled eggs, scrambled eggs, hard boiled eggs, refried beans with melted cheddar, baked haddock, feta cheese, ground turkey with taco seasoning, cottage cheese, pickled herring. 2-3 shakes per day to hit 60g protein total (in addition to what I got from food). Met with surgeon in office on day 13. Based on having no issues with water, protein, or any of the foods I had tried so far, and healing nicely, I was told to start incorporating non-protein foods in the following order: non-starchy veg, fruit, starches/grains. I was told I could use protein shakes as needed if the food I consumed did not equal at least 60g protein but could skip the shakes if I hit 60g. Raw veg is fine. I need to wait until 3 months post op to add beef, lamb, and pork. Starting Day 14, these are the new foods I have tried: spinach, strawberries, edamame, turkey sausage, ricotta, chicken salad, steamed broccoli, kalamata olives, smoked salmon, black beans, cucumbers, matchstick carrots, tomatoes, grapes, sliced almonds. Today is day 18 post-op, and this is my menu today: Breakfast: A smoothie made from 1oz power greens, 1 cup frozen berry blend, 8 oz Fairlife skim milk, 2 scoops Syntrax Nectar unflavored protein, 1 Tbsp hemp seeds, 4 small pieces frozen avocado. 16oz total, 36.5g protein Lunch: 1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese, 4 no sugar added peach slices, 1/2 mini cucumber, 4 grape tomatoes, 1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar. 14g protein. Ended up eating half at noon and half a few hours later because I filled up very fast. Dinner: 3 oz baked salmon with pesto, 3 pieces steamed broccoli. 18g protein. I also will have had 64oz water, 28 oz decaf tea, and 4 oz skim milk by the end of the day. I have not added in any grains at this point because I can just manage to finish a serving of protein and a few bites of veg or fruit right now. Once I get 20-25g protein at lunch and dinner instead of 15g as I'm averaging now, I'll add sweet potatoes, but I'll hold off on white potatoes and breads. I really hope this helps! I would be very mindful of getting in enough protein and fluids in this first week, with an emphasis on fluids first. But as you can see, in another few days, it's very possible to be able to tolerate a variety of protein rich soft foods.

My first birthday post-op was about eight weeks after surgery. All I remember was I had about two tablespoons of ice cream as a treat, and felt guilty about it for days afterward! (it didn't make me sick, but I was bound and determined from the get-go that I was going to be 100% compliant with my plan until I got all that weight off, so I felt terrible about eating that ice cream!). The next holiday was Thanksgiving. That was about five months after surgery. I took some Light & Fit pumpkin yogurt to eat while the others were eating pumpkin pie, so no guilt! (I will admit I was a bit of a drill sergeant with myself the first year after my surgery, but again, I was 100% determined to get that weight off! I wish I still had that resolve!!)

Hi and welcome to post SADi Life. I had it in Nov 2014 and understand where you're coming from. Before you stress over the list below, I eat all of the items on the list, and some are daily must eat for me. The gas for many SADi and Hess DS patients is triggered by: 1) Dairy (cheeses, milk, sauces with cream), 2) Onions, 3) Sorbitol and certain sugar substitutes but not all, 4) Some Fiber 5) Fruits like grapes. 6) Anything Carbonated. Strategy => after your morning major bowel movement which should happen if you have a good nights sleep, you won't have any gas. Morning => Start every morning eating healthy (Banana, Chobanni Greek Yogurt, eggs, oatmeal). Fruit (no grapes but any berries, mandarins, peaches, oranges, etc., and chocolate during the morning. Lunch => Sandwich, chocolate, fruit (but no grapes), and min trigger foods, so no gas likely Dinner and later => Anything you want which may cause gas but less concern at night. I eat Ice Cream, cheeses and chocolate every day.

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.