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Hey everyone, I just wanted to take a moment to share my experience and vent a bit about the difficulties I've been facing after my gastric bypass surgery. It's been tough, and I could really use some support and understanding right now. Firstly, one of the biggest challenges I've encountered is the loss of taste. It's incredibly disheartening to try different food and drink options, only to find that nothing tastes good anymore. I've experimented with various yogurts, protein powders, shakes, and even crystal light flavors, but unfortunately, the enjoyment I used to get from eating has vanished. Even something as simple as finishing a bottle of water has become a struggle for me. To add to this frustrating situation, I've been dealing with a persistent metallic taste in my mouth. This unpleasant sensation affects how everything tastes, making it even more difficult to find pleasure in eating or drinking. Despite my efforts to maintain good oral hygiene by brushing my teeth four times a day, the taste persists, and it's incredibly discouraging. On top of these physical challenges, my energy levels have plummeted, leaving me feeling depleted and drained. It's hard to stay positive and motivated when you're constantly battling fatigue. Unfortunately, this has taken a toll on my mental health as well, and I find myself struggling with depression. It's a heavy emotional burden to carry, and I often find myself crying myself to sleep at night. I apologize if this post sounds like a downer, but I really needed to vent and share my experience with people who might understand. If any of you have gone through a similar situation, I would greatly appreciate any advice or encouragement you can offer. And to those who are willing, please keep me in your prayers. The support means the world to me during this challenging time. Thank you for taking the time to read my post and for being there for me when I needed to let it all out. Together, we can get through the tough times and find strength in each other.

Not sure what you mean by gross ingredients? I mostly went with broths and some cream soups in the 3rd week of clear liquids, I'd mix one can broth to one can cream soup. My fourth week sent me into soft foods which was mostly eggs, ground sausage or beef and some fish. Week 5 I moved into chicken. Chicken being so very dry it seems harder to digest than anything else, ground beef was so much easier. I can't much do the protein shakes, the only way I've been able to choke them down is to literally put in a blender with some extra protein powder & yogurt and ice and make a smoothie/milkshake thing and top with keto whipped cream. I use it more as a dessert bc I can't drink all that sweet stuff in the early morning. Not much of a breakfast person but since this surgery I wake up famished but I guess 3-4 oz only takes so long to digest and if I eat at 7-9 pm by the time I get up at 9-10 am it has been a long time. I got the Walgreen's extra protein shakes, small town, limited choices around here.

Lol. Same wavelength again! I have been eating a lot of egg salad made in Greek yogurt this past month.

I get most of my protein from meat,yogurt,cottage cheese,eggs and regular cheese. Have you tried any of these ? I never thought I'd like yogurt,but I'm loving the Dannon light greek vanilla

Hi everyone, I’m new here & hope ur all doing well. I had gastric bypass on 8/15. I did well overall. I had never been under general so that was a bit off putting when it was hard to take deep breaths after. They jumped me right into stage 2 and sent me home the next day. I’ve been meeting my fluid goals and doing mostly ok on my foods bc I’m good about eating super slow. I had a couple of unpleasant experiences. One was dehydration bc I took an extended shower and I must have missed my timer-that was scary. The other was that my husband measured the baby food a little over 1/4 and I felt overly full. ffwd to today. I was excited to begin stage 3 since I’d be taking my vitamins & trying textures. I was told to have a poached egg & 1/2 cup greek yogurt for breakfast (seemed like a lot but ok I’d try). The egg took forever but I ate it (this was around 7:45 am).The yogurt was not going to happen but I thought it could wait. I soon started to feel horrible. I felt (still 3:15 pm)feel like I ate a truck of concrete. I hear gurgling noises and even water feels like I can barely take it in. I called and they tell me I need to “wait it out” (??) Nurse says I should have eaten the egg in 1/4 increments ( I was never told this), as I said it took me forever. She told me to chew a Gas-X and use a phenergan suppository for nausea.She told me she is not so worried about how much (or little) I eat today, but I must stay hydrated. TBH, I can’t think of eating a bite! I am terrified of that “dumping” syndrome. Has this happened to anyone here? I have other health issues-I have MS. This is stressing me out & I can’t even rest bc I am so uncomfortable. Can anyone share wisdom and/or hope that this will pass & improve? I am feeling fearful & wondering if this was a bad decision Thanks for reading my long msg Emme

I'm scheduled for bypass on Sept 7th....I start my 7 day pre-op diet Thursday. I was a little anxious about doing the liquid diet but my surgeon has a different plan. i will be having a protein shake for breakfast, one serving of fruit and a light Greek yogurt for mid morning snack, protein shake for lunch, a string cheese or hard boiled egg for mid afternoon snack, dinner is a lean cuisine or healthy choice frozen entree with a good source of protein (approx 300 cal) or 3oz of lean meat/fish and a serving of non starchy veg and an evening snack of a string cheese or hard boiled egg, and drink a minimum of 64oz of water. No liquid diet at all!

So I have an appointment with my nutritionist on the 29th. I will make sure to make this a priority question on my list for discussion. I know the “manual” and Google says no snacking. But meals and protein shakes are getting old with me REAL fast. And before I force myself to eat a meal or shake and feel crappy after? Id rather a snack like fruit or chickpeas makes me feel better and accomplished for the day. I seem to be doing really good with cabbage beans and peas. Seafood such as shrimp and salmon. And fruit such as melon. My current prepackaged snack items have been babybel cheese protein yogurt pickles sugar free pudding and jello. I recently added probiotic soda poppi. I open it and wait for it to get flat so I can safely drink it without the gas problems that follow it.

I like granola more than cereal too. But I really like crunchy cereals and for a short period right after WLS I ate a lot of fiber one bran squiggles with yogurt.

I did protein shakes and greek yogurt for breakfast for my first year. Boring, but yummy and satisfying!

I agree with @The Greater Fool. It doesn't have to be eggs. It can be soft/shredded chicken, tuna, or beef, a protein shake or high protein yogurt, or even oatmeal with added protein powder. I would cook my oatmeal til it was a little dryer and then add 3-4 tablespoons of my favorite flavor of protein shake for added protein.

Awesome! I am 17 days out and have finally started getting some energy back because I'm now able to eat yogurt, thinned refried beans, hummus, and tuna.

Awesome! I am 17 days out and have finally started getting some energy back because I'm now able to eat yogurt, thinned refried beans, hummus, and tuna.

I'm looking on the BariatricPal shopping site now and on Sam's and Amazon. Sweets have never been my thing much so a protein bar seems like a candy bar, which is awesome for some folks. I like savory snacks like Cheetos, Potato Chips and Popcorn, etc. (which is why my fat arse needed surgery to begin with) and was looking at the Protein Chips options and saw a big tub of cheetoh type cheese balls on Sams for around $20 and some things that look like Doritos from various companies. Obviously, I don't want to sit around eating chips and snacks all day bc even the healthy snacks add up pretty quick calorie wise but I'd like to find some snacks as well that are "light" versions but satisfying. I will say MsTeeTee that if you want a simple protein snack, I purchased a 10 pack of boneless, skinless pre-cooked, seasoned diced chicken breasts which was in 3.5 oz individual portion vacuum sealed packs. It was $14.99 which isn't a great bargain but for just one person, convenient. I'm retired but if I were working a regular job I think I'd buy some meats up, marinate/season them and cook them and freeze them up in Rubbermaid small containers. I've already done that with several varieties of beans (red beans, Lima beans, 15 bean soup mix and cream peas) and it makes it an easy lunch or dinner. I'm not sure when(if) we get to eat things like pork, burgers, steak, etc. but things like chicken, pork, steak fajita mix thrown in a small container with a low carb tortilla would make a quick snack. I saw a cute idea at a convenience store where they had taken hamburger meat and shaped it into the shape of a hot dog. I was thinking of doing that and tossing in the air fryer, again, using lc tortilla. If you wanted to make 10 or 20 of the hamburger dogs and toss them in zippy bags for a lunch bag when you leave home, it could make things very convenient later in the day. IF you aren't into cooking Tyson and Springer Mountain both make bags of 8 oz pre-cooked chicken you could buy already made. I'm looking forward to getting to the stage where I can eat something besides soft bc I'm not doing so well on it so far, I'm only tolerating eggs w/sausage gravy, some beans, cream of chicken soup, yogurt. Good luck with finding snacks!

First Question: How do you get your info on the left side of screen to show? I can't get it to let me edit my screen to put that stuff in.... PeggyAnne: You are NOT alone! I see a HUGE difference in the various drs and care that we all seem to get. Some of us get all the hand holding and people who are there every step of the way, others get a handout and a call if you have questions kind of experience. My dr suggested ground sausage and so I got some Jimmy Dean ground breakfast sausage, cooked in air fryer then diced it on a cutting board until it was finely minced and kept part to put in my scrambled eggs and took the rest and made a sizeable skillet of sausage gravy to go over those scrambled eggs. Honestly, it has been the least painful of foods. I got brave again and tried the mashed potatoes and gravy for lunch and am now regretting it!! It seems to create a suction/vacuum feeling in my stomach, weird and uncomfortable. I have enough gravy and eggs to last through September so I may just stick to that Beans work okay too as long as I have enough broth with them, I have had red beans and then lima beans but the Limas with a lot of broth and picked out the ham and sausage that was initially cooked with them before I froze them into containers. Dry foods seem incompatible at this point, no matter how soft. My dr SPECIFICALLY TOLD ME NOT TO EVEN TRY CHICKEN IN ANY FORM AT THIS POINT BC HE SAID IT IS ENTIRELY TOO DRY and I'm thinking he's right. I may try the same thing with some ground beef at some point and a brown gravy. Everyone seems to jump up and down when you mention this food or that food but what he basically said is that the goal at this point is just to find things that will actually go/stay down without making you sick or stuffed and in pain. I am seriously a very slow eater but it hasn't helped me here bc even eating slowly, putting utensil down between bites, chewing slowly, etc. some things are just making me feel like I ate a whole slab of beef! The eggs may work well bc they're scrambled? maybe the gravy makes it mushy enough? I don't know but I can't do 'pureed' and he said not to try chicken bc I was asking if I could make a chicken salad (NO) and so I'm just like you WTH can I eat? LOL my list says eggs, pureed veg, yogurt & pudding. at the end of week tomorrow that's 4 weeks and I guess I could move to the next stage but frankly not comfortable moving forward after another mashed potato fiasco today. I have a cake "frosting" recipe made of SF cool whip, dry pkg of sf jello and crushed pineapple and I'm very tempted to make it. I've only had one chocolate protein drink/shake and I mixed w/ice in blender and put sf whipped topping and it was like a milkshake but I'm not much into sweets so I may just have to make myself drink them.

Deli meat, jerky, nuts, peanut butter with a peeled apple, cheese and grapes. I always have a Amfit bar from Amazon in my bag for emergencies. We can buy tinned fish like tuna salads and sardines in tomato sauce. Protein yogurts are everywhere now, find a brand you like.

Protein bars that are low in sugar. Some are like candy bars so read the labels! I like Pure Protein bars that I get at Walmart. Amazon too. Great flavors. Only problem is long list of artificial ingredients. RX bars have more sugar, but better ingredients I also like certain low sugar yogurts such as Oikos Triple Zero, Ratio with 25 grams of protein and Skyyr Icelandic yogurt made by a couple different brands. Also, boiled eggs, cottage cheese and cheese sticks are good. Sent from my SM-G981U1 using Tapatalk

So one thing I do is I calculate my protein goal for the day divided by what I want to eat for the day. I make it up and then it can take me a couple of hours to finish it but I get it in me, take a break for a few hours then have my second meal which also takes hours to finish. I'm almost 3 months post op and am still having a hard time with textures, so I make eggs with greek yogurt, cheese, unflavored protein powder, and ranch powder for breakfast and then my evening meal is cream of rice prepared with chicken bone broth instead of water, with at least one jar of chicken or turkey baby food puree and some parmesan cheese (high in protein!) for snacks if I'm feeling a bit like picking at something and I've already reached my protein goal, I'll have a couple of baby animal crackers or a single Simple Mills nut butter sandwich cookie. (basically anything that crunches up into a soft paste when chewed like Simple Mills' cheese crackers) But textures like Pasta or Rice are no good for me.

I don’t see cereal as a good option for me since surgery. I’m post sleeve -5 years. You have to be careful with cereals bc alot of brands claim to be “healthy” but they have hidden sugars etc-and tons of carbs w little or no protien in them aside from the milk. I feel like for me cereal would be more of a slider food. Like it wouldn’t fill you up. Not a lot of protein in it. Also, I’m not a breakfast person so that’s prob easier for me to say too. Bc I’m not. My go to is Ratio Coconut Yogurt w fresh blueberries. Ratio is low in sugar 3, 25g protein and 170 calories, 8 carbs

I could not do the puree stage. Pureed meat just was not for me. I had soft cheese, squashed cottage cheese, soups with lentils in for extra protein [squashed with a fork]] Potatoes mashed with grated cheese with gravy, protein yogurts. As you can see I like dairy produce. Milk blended with peanut butter and banana

I went to my nutrition thing today and they told us no blending things into our protein drinks for several months because of indigestible fiber bits? I don't know. I was bummed out, I like adding things to shakes! But every program is different so you might ask your dietician about it? They also said it is really important to progress the stages even if you have food aversion. To keep trying because the body needs more nutrition than you are getting in those shakes and the stomach needs to progress gradually towards normal foods. I thought that was really interesting. I hate pureed things so I figured I'd just keep doing liquids but after that I've spent the rest of the day thinking about things I can eat that don't have weird pureed textures. Like yogurt, protein puddings, sugar free puddings, blended soups and stews, instant oatmeal, more yogurt, etc... I think I can handle a week of that! Especially after all those liquids... I've also found a lot of good pureed recipes in bariatric cookbooks too! Things I never thought of like sugar free custard, blended lentil soups, eating hummus by the spoonful, cold soups like cucumber soup (the cooked kind) and the ever famous ricotta bake!

Milk is full of protein and low in calories if you use full skimmed milk. Buy protein yogurts if you can find ones you can eat or Greek yogurt has lots of protein in it. Soups with lentils are usually mushy and have plenty of protein. I ate all the soft cheeses too. I could not eat eggs for nearly 1 and a 1/2 years after surgery. I tried them monthly. So nasty. I still have foods that disagree with me. I am a similar age and a similar starting size to you so I understand your sleepiness. I slept all the time whilst recovering. it was like nana naps on steroids. I think the anaesthetic makes you have brain fog. All these symptoms pass when you manage to hit all your liquid and food goals. Now I have so much energy, it makes me smile every day

I'm almost 4 months out (September 1 will be 4 months). I don't like eating breakfast, so I still do a protein supplement then. I like the Bariatric Pal protein shots which have 25g protein. You can find them in the Bariatric pal store, and i think Amazon, if you're interested. They are 3 oz shots, but i add them to 4 or more oz of water because they are tart on their own. I asked my nutritionist about them vs the other protein supplements out there and he was okay with them. I normally get 60-80g of protein per day, sometimes more dependingon the day and how hungry i am that day. I usually have high protein yogurt, a variety of lean animal protein, reduced fat cheese, hummus or vegetable proteins throughout the day. I mix this up each day for variety. If I'm going to be short my goal, I'll do another protein shot. For you, if your program allows, you can have strained soups and add unflavored protein powder to them to get a variety of flavor besides primer protein. And once you're on puree, you can add protein powder to those meals as well. I needed variety and most protein supplements tasted awful to me. Are you working to get your fluid goals in too? In the early days, and even now, I feel like I am drinking ALL day. At 5 days, don't feel pressured to hit all your goals each day because you're still pretty swollen from surgery at this point, just work on getting there. You protein drinks count towards this and it's great you're able to get two in. Hydration, protein, and your vitamins and supplements are so important. If I remember you had the sleeve, so I'm not sure what long term vitamins and supplements look like for you, but for now, make sure you're taking them each day as your doctor or nutritionist suggests. For RNY folks, those are for life. How are you feeling?

I am averaging about 80g protein per day and I am as of today 19 weeks post-op. I still have a protein shake most days, but it's in the form of a Proffee. I will either use a Core Power or Nutrition Plan shake as my milk mixed with espresso or have a Chike iced protein coffee packet and mix with part water, part Fairlife skim milk. I also like to add a scoop of collagen. So it's 30g+ of protein to start the day. Midday there is usually some version of eggs and/or cheese somewhere in the 12g of protein range or an Oikos Triple Zero or Oikos Pro yogurt which is 15-20g. Lately I have been adding some blueberries and Catalina Crunch cereal in yogurt for texture which adds another few grams of protein. Dinner is almost always some form of protein and veggie. Grilled chicken, ground turkey/chicken/extra lean ground beef, tuna pouch, chicken burger. I like to make cottage cheese bowls, so maybe some turkey taco meat and mix w cottage cheese and some low fat mexican cheese blend, lettuce, tomatoes and some salsa. I even mix my tuna with cottage cheese and have it with sliced cucumber and tomatoes. The portion of meat can range depending on the way it's cooked and what else I'm mixing in, but I can manage 3.5 ozs or up to 4oz of a protein. I can't seem to manage 5 small meals so it usually lands around 3-4 small meals/snacks. Depending on the day my restriction doesn't leave me wanting to have a lot of solid food. If I'm coming up a little short and don't want to eat more, I will drink some Protein2O protein water. I do also love the Quest Protein Chips - my #1 is now the Spicy Sweet Chili flavor. I keep them around for days I either don't want to eat something heavier or when I'm with friends and they are having the regular chips. They pack 19g protein a bag.

I'm down 50lbs from right before my pre-op diet but, I've been struggling with textures still, but I found some solutions for the meantime until I can tolerate more. I can't do the protein shakes anymore but I add unflavored protein powder to anything I can. Cream of wheat/rice cooked in chicken bone broth with a bit of cheese is a great high protein base for things. To increase the protein I started adding a jar of baby food chicken or turkey. I occasionally add a jar of the veggie blends to it if I want to change things up. I also am really liking greek yogurt- ranch powder for savory cravings and sugar free jelly or fruit baby food jar mixed in. Going to make some frozen bars with that. But I can eat the ranch blend with a spoon straight out of the tub. The other thing I've been doing is using liquid egg substitute, mixing that with the ranch yogurt and cheese and cooking it up that way to make nice fluffy eggs with flavor and lots of protein. Gotta have my sugar free ketchup though! Another thing that helps me with the nausea feelings is baby animal crackers. I've found I'm having heavy cycles since surgery so I'm craving carbs around that time, and those have iron in them. Not trying to become anemic and these are lower carb and break down pretty easily without textures. For fluids, I cannot drink plain water. I gag and can't tolerate it at all. It has to have some sort of flavor and "thickness" or "body" to it. So I do 1/3 of a bottle of sugar free powerade and fill the rest of the bottle up with water. The true lemon powdered drinks with stevia are good too! But I'm trying really hard to get my fluids in.. it's a hard task every day. All of my bloodwork is fantastic thankfully... but hydration is holding me back. I've had both legs swelling up daily from dehydrated water retention. Minimal hair falling out but some.

Okay. But by eating mashed potatoes, you’re eating both vegetables and carbs. I’m with you on the fish, unless you’re making something like salmon mousse. There are websites that sell low carb versions of some of our favorite foods, including Bariatric Pal, Bariatric Eating, and Diet Direct. My post-surgery regimen went: liquid (broth, shakes), soft foods (yogurt, ricotta, cottage cheese, eggs), soft cheeses, soft fish, hard cheeses, flaky fish, chicken and low carb veggies, the rest of the meat group.