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Ricotta Bake (google it - Bariatric ricotta bake) No sugar added applesauce Cottage cheese Scrambled eggs Greek Yogurt Real Fruit and vegetable smoothies Tuna (From a can -- it's typically chopped small enough for puree stage) pureed Veggies (steam them first...then they're easy to puree) Refried Beans oatmeal Sweet Potato (mashed) Mashed Cauliflower There's a lot more but that's off the top of my head remembering what I ate at that stage. You can look on this forum and find many more recipes by stage that will be helpful also. Just make sure you meet your liquid and Protein goals every day!! Best of luck!

Greek yogurt is good on Protein and lite. Seafood. chicken. Im 6 weeks out and I don't get enough Water in either...or protein. I have to make myself drink and I try to make all my meals have good protein but the meals are so small. Its hard.

6 weeks after surgery. I started low BMI but i still losing weight. My issue is actually still progressing to soft food and eating proper protein rather than shakes which i tolerate very well I can tolerate yogurt plain and with natural fruit. and tiny amount of cheese.(cracker size). tried lentil soup - there are days I can tolerate more of it and days I just can't. I am now 163 pounds down from 190 Surgery day. Any ideas about varieties of food (protein) that you can tolerate acknowledging of course that every individual is different.

marinading these meats are important....They are very lean and dry out fast...Cook as you would a roast but not as long....there are many marinades out there for beef...You can use onion Soup mix, yogurt garlic and thyme....The sauce makes a great gravy! My son bagged a moose 2 years ago and we ate a lot of moose meat.....using the slow cooker was a life saver....

Had my Surgery May 19 as well. Down 29 pounds at last appointment on 6/2/14. I have a very unreliable scale at home and it seems like I may be in a stall since then. I'm hoping its just the scale. Hahaha. Eating pureed foods. SO SICK of Protein shakes! Sticking to greek yogurt, cottage cheese, and refried Beans. I also found these frozen greek yogurt bars calld "YASSO" bars. There are so great and like 8 or 10g of protein. It was fun going back to work and having people notice the loss. Its mostly in my face, neck, and stomach. Everyone knows I had the surgery because I just figured if they are my friends they won't judge me, and if they judge me, they AREN'T my friends and I don't care what they think! Keep up the good work everyone! Breaking up with food IS hard but so worth it!

Good luck to everyone! I had my surgery on 9/11. Down 16 lbs at my 1 week appointment to have staples removed. That was on the 19th. I had a little trouble at first getting my carbs and liquids in, but the further out I am, the better it gets. Eating eggs, cottage cheese, pimento cheese, and chicken salad now. But the best is WENDY's CHILI. Lots of Protein and taste great. Started Carbmaster yogurt today for extra protein. Also eat 1 tbs of Peanut Butter, slowly, once a day.

Almost 8 weeks out, down 26 pounds from 271 to 245 So I got my first fill last week, and I am REALLY tight. So much so that I've lost 5 pounds in 6 days! I am finding it extremely difficult to eat anything in the morning. I even feel stuck just trying to drink some water or juice in the morning; warm coffee seems to go down much more easily. I had a particularly bad day this last Saturday: so let me first say that of course I recognize that no one who is trying to lose weight has any business eating anything at McDonald's. However, every so often I allow myself to indulge, and Saturday morning was that occurrence. I was soooo excited about eating some of that sausage biscuit, let me tell you. I was going to be taking a quick road trip of about an hour on Saturday morning, and I figured with this great restriction it would practically take me an hour to eat about a quarter of that delicious biscuit. Well, I think I managed to eat a total of one normal sized bite, taken in teeny tiny little pieces which just REFUSED to go down. UGH! Never has a human being been so disappointed. I cursed the band, let me tell you! I wanted to eat that damn biscuit in the worst way! And, to showcase my food addiction even more - instead of throwing the blasted biscuit away when I reached my destination, like any sane person would.....I wrapped it up and saved it, thinking to myself, maybe I'll loosen up later today and I can still eat some of this later!! I tried, not once, but twice more throughout Saturday to eat some of that biscuit, and EVERY time I tried it was worse. Waaaahhhhhh!! I also had my first PB (productive burping) episode on Saturday. I now know that it was precipitated by the biscuit incident in the morning, but I wasn't smart enough to be worried about that when I sat down to lunch with my husband and some friends......I unrolled my chicken salad wrap and picked out a tiny forkful of tender shredded chicken. I chewed and chewed and chewed until it was liquid, and when I swallowed, at first I thought it was OK, but after a few seconds I got that awful pressure feeling in my chest. So I sat there and talked and waited for it to subside and eventually decided to take a bite of my fruit cup - one tiny cube of mushy peach, which I chewed up to nothing and then swallowed. I immediately got the stuck feeling, and my mouth started filling up with saliva. This has happened to me before many times, but somehow I realized, luckily, that this time was different. My husband's colleague was in the middle of asking me a question, and I literally jumped up from the table, completely cut him off mid-sentence, and was barely able to choke out 'please excuse me' before I was running to the ladies room. As soon as I got in there, up popped the peach, and lots and lots and lots of saliva. BLECH! I thought I would feel immediately better, but I didn't. I stayed in there a while trying to regain some composure. In previous episodes where I would get that stuck feeling, and would "slime" for a while, at a certain point I'd feel things settle down and go through, and I'd be fine and would actually want to resume eating. This time, however, there was no way I was going to try to eat anything else for a while. I had to be really careful even drinking water for the rest of the day. I finally had a very few morsels of dinner (a couple bites of mashed potatoes and a tiny piece of husband's soft and gooey chicken quesadilla) many hours later, around 8:30pm. They went down OK, but I was scared bc we were in public at a bar, and I did NOT want to have to race off to the bathroom again, so I didn't push it. Sunday morning there was very little change, I still felt extremely tight and had to be careful even swallowing my yogurt. But, by lunchtime I had loosened up and was able to eat half of a turkey sandwich with no problems. So, on Saturday I was feeling a little panicked, and thinking - maybe I'm too tight?? Maybe I should get a slight unfill? But, now, a couple of days later, I've realized that there's something to be said for being this tight - it absolutely forces me to take tiny bites, chew properly, not drink after eating......it basically forces me to be accountable at all times to the band. I think as long as I'm careful and don't PB all the time, maybe I'll just deal with it?? Because you know, of course I'm loving, loving, loving watching the scale drop each day! The only thing I'm worried about right now is how to explain my sudden bird-like portions to friends. This weekend when someone made a comment, I just said, "Oh, you know me! I'm just trying to lose some weight....AGAIN, ha ha ha..." I just wonder if someone is eventually going to catch on to my secret! I really, really, really hope not.

You should be fine with that. I am not a lap-band patient, but us sleevers still deal with the slider issue. I have protein smoothies all the time, and it holds me over pretty well. I would choose the lowest sugar Greek yogurt you can find. As far as fruit, maybe some raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, and/or strawberries. I add 1/2 banana to mine along with about a 1/2 cup of frozen spinach. If you add all of these in frozen, they make a great milkshake type protein shake. I have made 32 ounces at one time, and divided it into four 8 oz. servings. I then drank two each day. It really is more filling than regular protein shakes. If you have access to seeds in Scotland, those are great as well. Chia, Hemp and Flax seeds add good fats and protein to your shakes as well. Good luck!

Well ... to me, this begs the bigger question of just what we are willing to do to be successful in our journey. So, let me start off by saying, I'm not judging anybody, we all have our own journeys and our reasons for following that path. OK, that being said, the foods that you talk about are the processed, out of the box variety where you don't have much control over the content. It has been these types of products which attributed to my obesity. Bottom line for me, is I prepare pretty much all of my foods from scratch. Just started making my own yogurt after I took a long look at the ingredients. HOLY COW! When did yogurt become junk food? I missed that one. I'll have the occasional Protein shake (Premier), which I approve of the ingredient list. I do have salad dressings which are higher in fat than I would like, but I gotta have my blue cheese. I didn't get the sleeve to restrict my menu, just my portions. When I prepare all of my food, I know what is going in and I can control the amounts. I know a lot of people are going to jump up and down saying, "It takes too long ... I don't know how to cook healthy meals ... It's only me eating and I don't want it to go to waste." Here is what I say to that ... I am a parent of two young kids who is a Scout leader and work well over 50 hours a week. I also have other side projects which take my time. All of the recipes I cook with are available on the internet with instructions. I cook huge portions and toss the leftovers into jelly jars which I take out on my way to work or pull out for dinner. You can have total control over what you put into your body. If you do this, then you don't really need to worry about eating the one-off packaged meal.

I have not seen this product, but after watching that Dateline NBC program on dietary supplements and the bad lab testing - after what happened to that one gal when she got her product from what I recall was GNC (not knocking all their products or the store), and also know about mad cow disease, I would not want anything that came from a cow if I could not be sure exactly how it was made. Just too risky. Then one also has to consider the overuse of antibiotics in these feed lot raised animals, if this is where they get the "beef" from. Not putting down anyone’s decision to use this product, just stating my concerns and why I would not choose this. That said, I totally understand how you feel about the whey protein. It is no fan favorite of mine either but I figure it is better than losing my hair once I am sleeved here in April. I am on my liquid pre-op diet now so I am very limited, but after, when I can mix it up with some yogurt and fresh organic fruit as a real smoothie, I think I will be able to choke it down better. I ordered the unflavored to give it a try post-op in some fruit smoothies.

I'm feeling fine. I was weak this am, but I had some slimfast and yogurt, (not mention a little nap), and I feel great!

Holla bandmates! I hope this finds you nice and cool in the perspective areas in which you reside, cause it is HOT in the midwest for sure. They are canceling the fireworks around here and nearby cities, please be careful it is indeed dry, I expect to see tumbleweeds roll across the prairie anytime now. I've had a little excitement today. First I had my first BM today, I know I can hear the applause coming from you through cyber world! Next, had a little "tiff" with someone because he thinks the United States started going downhill when they gave women the right to vote, no wonder I have a headache. I believe the headaches are being brought on by my cold turkey dismissal of Diet Mountain Dew, not to fret as I have found a not only suitable replacement but a Fabulous one: Crystal Light Wild Strawberry (energy) it has some caffeine it in and my headache subsided quickly and it does taste like strawberry, I don't know how Wild it is, but it works for me. Today I had about 25 oz of Chocolate protein drink, I prefer vanilla, but the Chocolate Malt wasn't bad and change is good. I also had a cup of Kroger brand "Carb smart" tropical yogurt. The Carb smart brand is more the consistency of pudding and you don't have to stir it up and of course there are less carbs, and as an added bonus you can get 10 for $4! I also had about 16 oz of water and who knows how much CL lemonade. I also walked 1.3 miles and I took my time. I'm an early riser so that's when I walk, this may change however to when it's dinner time. Although I'm not too tempted with food at this time, I'm sure it's right around the corner. I've decided when I fix dinner, I will either walk, go to Zumba, the gym, bird watch, underwater basket weave, anything not to be around when the table is set. The boys can then put the food away, etc. so it's done and over with upon my return. The thing I'm missing is a glass of wine, I put my CL in a wine glass but I would like to have a glass in the evening, or a bottle of tequila, same thing. I hope whomever's reading understands and "gets" my humor, laughing burns more calories than not laughing, it's a fact! My pain level is at a 1, still a little sore but feels like I just did like maybe 20 crunches after not doing any ever. I have an appointment for my first fill Thursday, however, after posting my concerns and reading the forum regarding your first fill, 9 days after surgery seems very fast and I can't locate another that has had a fill that early in the game. My conclusion is when they called to schedule it they said "fill" when what they probably meant was "Post-Op" visit. Either way I am not afraid, I am excited and welcome each and every step of my yellow brick road. I reference that because like the "Good Witch" says: "You've had the power all along" and what a true statement. We have had the power, we just needed the perfect tools-and by gosh we finally have the tools that we may tap into that power, not only for now, but forever. Thank you bandmates for being candid, honest, and sharing your stuff to inform, enlighten, and sometimes make us laugh or cry with each other. Until tomorrow, Onward and Upward, and as always Lo & Behold! .....Velvet

I puréed and added unflavored Protein powder to every kind of Soup I could find (that didn't contain rice or noodles)....cream of shrimp, lobster bisque, butternut squash, split pea, French onion, bean with ham, ginger Thai, Chinese hot and sour, Tuscan chicken broth, cream of asparagus, broccoli cheese, chili, etc. Also had refried Beans with melted cheese, soft scrambled eggs, cottage cheese, hummus, plain Greek yogurt flavored with Protein Powder and/or Torani syrups, mashed potatoes with unflavored protein powder, homemade guacamole, egg salad, and pureed tuna fish with mayo and mustard. And of course still drinking Protein shakes through all the stages.

Call your NUT and express how you are feeling. Are you on full liquids or Protein shakes ONLY? If full liquids you'll most likely be able to do fat free yogurt and there are other protein options, like Isopure drinks, that are protein but different enough to get you through it. Again, call your NUT.

Ok, I was sleeved Wednesday June 20th. IF I could have found Marty and Doc on June the 21st, I would have figured out how to power the 1.21 jigawatts the flux capacitor needed and would have time traveled back 48 hours and RAN LIKE HELL (as much as a fat chick can) in my UGLY shoes AWAY from the hospital. As it was, I didn't find them and here I am................so very glad I couldn't. Back to Wednesday..... My surgery was scheduled for 12, so I was my usual self until the surgeon's office called saying I'd neglected to make my final payment arrangements........so we rushed out the door to pay the surgeon and on to the hospital. Hey, surgeons don't work for free. They got mouths to feed and I asked him to do this to me. I just forgot about final payments, that's all. It's all good. So, I get to the hospital, anticipating a 2 hour wait when I get the call from the OR nurse......as we are parking, saying they are ahead of schedule today and let's do this. I'm high on emotion.....I STRUT my 255 pound self into pre-op (dressed in jeans and leopard print top with marvelous brown/gold flip flops), complete with little twirlie at the end and say "I'm here, let's get this thing on!"........ 5 hours later....... I have a NEW, EXCITED, EXUBERANT nurse ( I am a RN 25 years in practice) in my face telling me I have to get up and walk - (and she's calling me dear and sweetie. Those who know me realize I am dear to only those who love me and I am never ever described as sweet). I'm trying to figure out where I am and this very excited, young, so-happy-to-be-here chickie won't get outta my face!!!! Then, the radiology transport person arrives telling me I've got to get up, into a wheelchair, go to radiology to have an contrast upper GI to be sure the sleeve isn't leaking. I finally figured out I was in a room.....a very small room with no sofa. I say "No" and youngster tells me "You HAVE to!!" I was saying no to this impossibly small room with no sofa.......not her fault......she couldn't read my drug deluded mind. So, Miss Energetic is in my face telling me to get up, the radiology transport looks confused and I say..........to Miss Thing......"You have got to STOP TALKING to me and get outta my way. HE'S here (indicating the hubby)" Once she got the point to shut up.........I was up.......in the chair.......to radiology.......swallowed 1 swallow of the contrast, got a good picture.........the ALL IS CLEAR.......and back to my room. The night shift nurse was awesome!! A grown up nurse. Thank GOD. I did get up.......all thru the night walking because this isn't my first rodeo. I've had a C-section and a total vaginal hysterectomy. The key to overcoming any surgery is walking.....soon and often. If you have to have pain medication to do it, fine ask for it and as soon as the pain is at a point you can stand and shuffle your feet.........get to shuffling........and shuffle I did - 4 times on night shift........humming to myself "every day I'm shufflin, shufflin" Later on in the shift, I asked if CUTIE PIE was back in the AM because I was requesting another nurse. The old wise one just chuckled and said......."I'd already figured that out and it is handled. You wont' have to work with her." I was so grateful!!!! So, the only other thing that stunk was.......I was unable to urinate post surgery. It happens sometimes. The body and mind wake up from the anesthesia and the bladder is still sleeping.......thankfully, I don't wet the bed in my sleep.......but this was to the extreme. So, my urethra became a 4 lane highway with all the frequent catheterizations to drain my sleepy, lazy bladder. Finally, about 48 hours post procedure, the bladder woke up and I got to come home!!!! What if my bladder had stayed on vacation? Well, the doctors's plan was I'd just learn to self-cath and head on home until it woke up. One doctor, a urologist friend of mine, laughingly said....."it's like putting a tampoon in, the first hole south of the pole." Well the last time I put a tampoon in, my guts had not just been re-configured!!!! I haven't had a hard time with nausea.....and I've figured out that painful, cramping twisting motion in my gut means I'm hungry and should eat. I've developed a love for chicken broth and apple sauce. I had yogurt this morning. I've also figured out, gotta eat very slow. 2 teaspoons, pain, means stop and come back in about 5 minutes. I'm mixing UnJury Protein in my Crystal Light to get the protein needs met and sipping, sipping......all the time. Today, 5 days out........I am happy I didn't go "Back In Time"......think I've spent enough time there as it is.

I was banded on July 7th and I am miserable. I don't know what to do. I have the support from my family and friends for whatever I need, but they don't understand or know what to say. Especially on days like today where I get to the point that I'm so upset I can't stop crying. I guess my main issue is the fact that I'm so hungry all the time. If anyone knows anything about the "twilight" series, i feel like the Cullens; living on tofu to keep me strong but never satisfied. I've been reading a lot of blogs on here and am confused because my surgeon told me that there is nothing in my band right now; that my first fill is 4 weeks after surgery. I'm confused, because it seems like everyone else has fluid in their band right after surgery. I have my old appetite but am forced to stay on a post op diet which consists of applesauce, protein shakes, yogurt, and broth. This is "BANDING HELL" as one person posted. I know it will get better and I'm trying to stay active but when everyone is eating actual food and I can't, it's making me nuts. Not to mention that I'm not having carbs or sugar or fat for that matter, my body hates me. You would think with a diet like this I would have lost some weight already. NOPE! Please please please, any advice or stories on post op hell and how it will get better would be much appreciated!

Wednesdays meals Breakfast: chicken cauliflower fried rice Lunch: Ham and turkey rolls with light cream cheese and zesty pickle spears Snack 1: Chobani greek yogurt and pink lady apple Snack 2: guacamole 100 calorie pack and beanitos black bean chips. Dinner: Syntrax chocolate truffle shake with collagen, fairlife fat free milk and 1/4 frozen riced cauliflower.

Honestly? It's widely available but it's got a buttwad of extra sugar that is unnecessary. It's more inconvenient, but I order Peanut Butter Slim from Vitacost. It's similar without all the extra added sugar and the burnt peanut taste that I always taste from PB2. I heart the stuff and buy it 2 jars at a time. LOL. I use it in my yogurt, cottage cheese and protein smoothies. YUM!

Question: I got my first fill today and was told to only have liquids today and tomorrow and soft foods like yogurt and cottage cheese for the next 2-3 days before returning to solid food. Has anyone else been told to do this? I am ok with it but just curious what other doctors are doing. Other than that, I love my band and have been feeling great and losing weight. Am down about 28 lbs since surgery on 1/16.

I can't stand the pre-made shakes. I've been making my own shakes with skim milk, greek yogurt, some instant espresso dissolved in a little warm water, & a scoop of vanilla protein powder. The powder doesn't taste so sweet with the other stuff cutting it & the coffee flavor keeps me happy first thing in the morning. I've also used unflavored protein powder a couple of times with skim milk & yogurt & a little Mio or Crystal Light mix & that gives me an even less sweet drink.

It is certainly true. I used to love peach and banana flavors for most my adult life in yogurt, drinks, etc. after being sleeved, these no longer appeal to me and makes me a little nauseous. I used to love the banana creme light yogurt!!

I just ordered Unjury unflavored protein. The thought of taking another drink of a protein shake made me seriously gag. The unflavored powder can be placed in any drink, or food, cottage cheese, yogurt, mashed potatoes, etc. Im thrilled to never drink another shake. Yack!

I tried oatmeal too as one of the first soft foods and it did not go well for me either. I switched to cream of rice, I made it with skim milk and splenda and it was pretty good, went down MUCH easier than oatmeal and I didn't feel like garbage afterward. If food is getting stuck, you might not be chewing it enough...I know! Chewing oatmeal? The other problem could be taking bites that are too big. Eating anything is completely different than before surgery. I am one month out today, and I learn something new every day! Today has not been a great food day for me, so I am just taking it super easy, more (yucky) protein drinks, yogurt, soup blah blah...Good Luck!!! Hope you find that eating gets easier. OH! The other thing I had to do when things felt stuck was take little TINY sips of water, just to lube things up and get it down. I know we aren't supposed to drink and eat but when you can't swallow....

Surgrey was great it's almost 2 weeks and I feel great. I do notice there is a pain in my lower back Hoping it will go aWay. Best dishion ever. I notice I'm getting full and when I be I stop eating in the middle of the day. With everything with Protein drinks, pudding yogurts he gets to be a little too much for my stomach. I know that I lost 17 pounds so far. Sent from my SM-N910T using the BariatricPal App

Ah.....the benefits of making your own Greek Yogurt at home. Thanks mom for teaching me!!!! LOL!