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No regrets but struggling with depression after surgery. I am wondering if I will ever enjoy eating again. Every time i try to eat its such a struggle. I always feel like my food is stuck . If it's not shakes or yogurt it seems to feel like a rock in my stomach. Help??

I seriously don't think I can make it another 11 days on this liquid diet. After the first 7 days, I was so hungry I begged my doctor to move me up to soups and yogurt. That worked for a few days but now, I'm tired of the soups and yogurt also and ready for something more substantial. How did you guys get through the 3 weeks on the liquid diet? Any tips, tricks, ideas? I'm basically eating only 400-500 calories a day. I'm lethargic and starved all the time and my doctor wants me on liquids for 3 weeks before moving to the pureed foods. This seems a little extreme. I welcome any thoughts. Thanks.

I think the person to be asking this question to is your doctor. He would be the best persons instructions to follow. I know my post op diet is 4 days Clear Liquids, 10 days full liquids, 14 days pureed foods. My doctor says this is so that you can heal up completely and that while maybe you feel like your fine to eat something that doesn't fall into those categories or during the proper stage time frame - doesnt mean that you should. That they have this post op diet in place for a reason and that while it may not seem to have any affect to you now - maybe 6 months down the road if it turns out that you have slipped or something of the sort it could very well be tied to any post-op indescretions. That in itself scared me enough to not risk trying ANYTHING out of turn. Good luck with your healing - today's day 1 of my pureed food stage and I am VERY excited to be having pureed tuna for lunch instead of yogurt and pudding!

I'll be 3 weeks tomorrow and while I definitely can eat more than I am supposed to I'm also definitely as hungry as I used to be. I'm trying to eat 3 small (but not small enought) soft/healthy meals, late morning I break out the string cheese and late afternoon I eat a small low fat yogurt...it seems to be the magic combo that will keep me from grazing until my next meal....I don't know what else to tell ya, it will get better, just do your best and be patient! Good luck!

Just bring a protien shake and a yogurt with you. Put that on the table and eat with the rest of your friends. Sent from my SM-G900V using the BariatricPal App

Either Protein drink or yogurt for Breakfast. Baby turkey meatloaf for lunch. (like 2 oz) Protein Drink between lunch and supper Turkey meatballs for supper. (2) With a little marinara sauce and two broccoli crowns.

the same thing happened to me the other day! I was there around lunch time and I was hungry! I ate the samples by the time I left, I had had steak kabobs, cheese, yogurt, grilled chicken, cherries, a cracker with spinach dip and a small piece of cake! I was done til dinner! What a great way to have a free lunch! AND they said, "there are no free lunches!" they must not have been a bander at CostCo!

I'll be 4 weeks out on Tuesday & I haven't tried an egg yet....but I can tell you what I've been able to eat, to see if our eating coincides? I've had chicken nuggets...can only eat 2. I have eaten pieces of cut up grilled chicken breast (bought at costco, already cooked, just need heating), & I can only eat 4 pieces of the cut up chicken & I had a 1/3 cup of over cooked cauliflower. I made a grilled ham & cheese for my son & he couldn't finish his sandwich & since I had nothing prepared for my lunch, I ate the 1/4 remaining of his sandwich & I was stuffed. I can eat 1 whole greek yogurt, or a 1/2 cup of mashed potatoes, 1 package of cream of wheat, or 1 package of oatmeal (& in both I mix in about 3 tablespoons of no sugar added apple sauce for flavor.) So how does that sound in comparison to what you can eat?

Well, glad you had the unfill. But, incase your surgeon's office did not say anything, you should stay on liquids for a day or 2 to let your stomach calm down. My surgeon recommends 2 days clear and 2 days full liquids after aboth a fill and unfill. Only one time did I break that rule, that was when I, also, had not had anything for a day. But, generally you need to let you swollen stomach relax. Take it easy!!!Karen PS:Even yogurt is hard to get to pass if you are swollen.

I use salad dressing: ranch, vidalia onion, and italian are my current favorites. I either cook the food in the dressing or use it as a dip. Egg Face has a ton of recipes for dips made from greek yogurt and other liquids if you like different flavors. I'm still working on the flavor/spice thing as far as my tastes go, so dressing works well for me. I adore cocktail sauce these days, too!

I would love yogurt! But, my doc said the liquids have to be clear the first week. I can start yogurt and pudding in a few days though...I hope!

I made several home made soups post op, and used my magic bullet to purée. It worked out fine. I even took meaty tomato sauce and puréed it. It was delish. I was so sick of sweet protein shakes! You can also drink Kefer probiotic yogurt drinks. Those are very filling. Making home made soup is the way to go. It gives you something to do as well as some good standing and moving time.

What type are you using? If you haven't tried a pre-mixed drink like Premier protein shakes, give that a try. Or maybe use an unflavored protein in some unsweetened applesauce or yogurt if you have progressed to puree. Usually the nausea will get better over time.

I got sleeved on Nov 4th. A lot of gas buildup as well as all the IV fluids coming out in more ways than one (haha). Doing good with no nausea. Drainage stopped from where the drain tube was, and thankfully was able to switch to a normal bandaid instead of the huge gauze dressing because the tape was breaking me out in a rash. Still a lot of bruising around one of the stapled incisions, but otherwise doing great. Get to start having yogurt and applesauce tomorrow (along with other stuff)--YIPPEE--FOOD!

I'm on day two also! But I am on a 2 week blended diet, alternating 800/1200 calories every other day. I use protein added to milk, some yogurt, fat free sugar free pudding, banana and other frozen fruit no sugar added. I am also not a milk drinker...but the nestle non sugar chocolate powder actually is growing on me! Probably cuz I am starving... But does make me feel full! Good luck!

My preop diet was three protien drinks and two yogarts a day for 2 weeks. I was on that same diet for 6 weeks after surgery. That's a total of 8 weeks! I was so excited about working food back into my diet but even at 8 weeks, my stomach doesn't like much so guess what I'm eating? Protein drinks. I developed a painful lactose intolerance but still end up eating yogurt because it's one of the few things that doesn't hurt going down. Hang in there. I was angry that two weeks too. I knew people that didnt' have a preop diet. That made me even more mad!

Hi there! It's been over a week since I've last posted, and I've spent that time transitioning from liquids, to pureed food, and am now eating soft solids... but it hasn't been without it's trials... The first three days home from the hospital, my surgeon's plan calls for a pureed diet. For me, this consisted of mostly Greek yogurt, protein drinks, and some delicious pureed mushroom soup that my husband made for me. I'm sorry, but the idea of pureeing meat or fish or something just turned me off, so I didn't go there, but I feel like for those few days, I actually was doing well at getting in my protein in. Managed to get about 50 grams most days. And I have never had an issue getting my fluids in. I always get 50-64 ounces of straight fluid, not including my protein shakes. No, my big issue those first few days was with swallowing my pills. I was still having a fair amount of pain, so I was taking the Vicodin my surgeon prescribed probably twice a day, plus trying to take all of my vitamins, and the Pepcid. No matter what time I tried to take them, or what I took them with, I would inevitably get something "stuck" and end up "sliming" until I eventually vomited. More times than not, the pill itself stayed down and just water came out.... weird. This is a huge change from the pre-op me, who could swallow all 6 of my vitamins at once, and not flinch. Needless to say, I've stopped taking my vitamins in pill form, instead I got some calcium chews, and some Biotin chews (I'm very worried about losing hair), and I found these cool things at Costco that are like a Crystal Light powder that you put in your water, but they are chock-full of vitamins! I drink two of them a day in my water. So the only thing I'm still a little worried about is my Iron, but I just can't tolerate plain Iron pills, it makes me nauseous... and I've been doing enough vomiting lately without adding in anything that may upset my little tummy more! So on Post-op day 4, my surgeon's plan called for me to start trying some soft foods. On the list of soft foods allowed was soft baked fish. So my husband decided to cook dinner for us on Sunday, and made me a beautiful, tiny piece of tilapia, which he served over some soft polenta. It looked and smelled so delicious that I dug right in, and ate more than half of it without any regard to how my tiny tummy was handling it! With about one bite of food left on the plate, I realized what I had done, and knew I was in trouble. I spent the next two hours running into the bathroom. Every time I thought I was through, more would come out! It was awful, but not unexpected. I knew what I had done, and vowed to eat more slowly next time. Well, the next time turned out to be the following night, when I made what sounded like a wonderful recipe for a Ricotta cheese bake. But, yet again, it smelled and looked so good, I ate about half of the 1/4 cup portion that I had served myself way too fast, then got sick again... So, long story short, I am becoming a professional vomiter. I keep a pillow next to the sink to splint my incisions while I puke out whatever it is that I took one too many bites of. It's gotten better over the past day or two, as I've kind of learned to take one bite of something, and then wait about ten minutes to see how it will sit. If it seems to be settling well, I'll eat another two bites. But three bites of any soft or pureed texture food seems to be my limit. I've also become more severely lactose intolerant than I ever was pre-operatively. During my two week protein shake diet, I was able to enjoy at least one of the Premier chocolate shakes per day, as long as I took a lactaid pill with it. And I never had any issues with yogurt. Not the case post-operatively... I've sworn off of the Premier shakes entirely (too bad, because they pack 30 grams of protein in each one!), and as of yesterday, decided that the yogurt wasn't working either. So there went two big sources of protein. Between the vomiting, and the lactose intolerance, I've been really struggling to hit the protein goals set by my surgeon. I'm probably averaging about 40 grams/day, with a goal of 60 grams. So with all this talk about what's not working, this probably sounds like a pretty discouraging post. So let's talk about what is working! Foods that I can eat in small amounts with no issues: Eggs, refried beans, powdered protein shakes made with almond milk, and bananas. Sounds like a pretty short list, but here's the thing: I'm never hungry. Like, never. If I wasn't worried about my hair falling out, I would happily just drink my vitamin water all day and not eat at all. Once in awhile I get a craving for something, like yesterday I kept thinking about bagels, but it's never accompanied by actual hunger. It's just a craving, and it passes. Pain-wise, I haven't taken a Vicodin in three days, and prior to that I was only taking them at bedtime, and taking Tylenol during the day. Now I don't take either. I get an occasional twinge of pain under the incision on my left side (where they took the stomach out), but it goes away in a few seconds. As far as my surgical incisions go, all of my steri-strips (the little tape like things over my incisions) have fallen off, and I have to say, they look good! Three of them are completely healed over, and the last two just have tiny scabs on them. I've been putting vitamin E on them. And now... the big scale question. I have lost (drumroll please) 24 pounds since I started the pre-op diet, with 11 of those pounds having come off since surgery. So that's 11 pounds in less than two weeks, 24 pounds in less than a month. I am pretty pleased with that. And, hey, I just realized that 24 pounds is more than 10% of my starting weight, which is something I never managed to accomplish in months of sitting through meetings at Weight Watchers! The pictures below were taken yesterday. I decided after looking at someone else's before and after pictures to wear the same clothes in all of my progress pictures... I can really see a difference in how the shorts fit around my butt and thighs. My husband can't get over how much thinner my face is already. So overall, very pleased, despite all of the challenges! I have my first follow-up appointment coming up this Wednesday, and then I go out of town for 10 days, so I'll have some info to put in another update pretty soon!

If you are looking for over processed items that hardly resemble food you will find your choice a lot more limited than you are used to. If you are happy with fabulous fresh produce , artisan breads, divine yogurt etc then you will be happy. And if you like coffee apparently ours is better than in Italy

Not much but my surgeon said to concentrate mainly on protein! 6 months out and I only eat 500 calories a day and some days less! Try to only look for Protein i.e., Greek yogurt, almond milk Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Mine was protein shakes, greek yogurt for a total of 60 grams protein, 4 ounces of juice, 8-12 ounce of broth, unlimited sugar free jello and popsicles. This worked very well for me in 3 weeks lost 22 pounds.

Curious what everyone had that was solid after surgery for food? I'm currently having shakes, yogurt, cottage cheese..but can't stop thinking about solid food! Wondering if you start bland or what others had? Sleeved 9/12/16

The taste of the roxicet is making me gag even with the zofran. Just revisited my Greek yogurt strawberry smoothie as soon as the roxicet hit my throat. All over my shirt, glasses, toilet, bathroom rug, ugh.

Amy, I'm doing good. I feel great, having a hard time drinking all this Water, it is too darn cold. I move to mushies after my 2 week post op on the 21st, until then it is full liquids. But that includes yogurt, pudding, blended cottage cheese and anything that goes through a funnel. How are things on your end of the country?

Apple and almonds? That's actually pretty tough on your stomach. I wasn't allowed apples or nuts until almost 3 months post-op. I had sleeve though, not bypass, and I know some of the guidelines are different. How do you do with Greek yogurt? Cottage cheese? Scrambled eggs? Were you throwing up in your puree stage or just once you moved onto solid foods?

Hi SK, Oh yes. I took the advise from this board and changed my diet around a little bit. I switched from my oatmeal in the AM to a piece of toast and some yogurt. Sometimes you have to fool your metabolism a little bit. You should get a lot of responses! Also, some of my nasty habits starting to crawl back and had I to give myselft a good kick in the buttocks! Such as snacking in front of the TV. Once I start that business...I am in trouble again. I am losing again, but I did struggle for quite some time til I sat down and really figured out what was going on here. Good luck! YOu can do this!!!!