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I use a little plastic sandwich bag and then I use a hammer to crush them. I use apple sauce, yogurt is awful and pudding isn't as good.

King Soopers/Kroger makes a low carb yogurt. I ate it while I was healing.

Milk products contain milk sugar (lactose), so they will not ever be completely sugar-free. In yogurt, most of the lactose has been converted to lactic acid, which is what gives it the characteristic sour taste...the carb count stays the same but metabolically, lactic acid does not cause as much of an insulin increase. As long as you are staying away from added sugar (i.e. stay with plain yogurt), you are fine. Most folks here go for greek yogurt for the added Protein. I mix berries and a little splenda in mine, however, fruit has natural sugars as well.

Hey everyone!! I’m 6 months post op this 23rd and have lost 107 lbs since surgery! I’m ecstatic for my progress so far and need to lose about 40 more to be at my goal weight (fingers crossed). But lately I’ve been seeing myself being able to eat more that usual. I’ve went from 2-3 ounces to eat 4-5 ounces of food. Most of the time it consists of a good diet such as chicken salads or eggs, sausage , yogurt fruit and etc and I do keep up with my fluids. I just want to know if it’s normal to be eating this amount at 6 months post op? Also I don’t eat any carbs if it isn’t a pretzel here and there. I just want to be consistent and I’m scared that I maybe eating too much and my pouch has stretched !!! Any advice is appreciated Here’s a before and after pic!!!

I eat a lot of fish lemon sole - sauteed in butter and lemon chile - burgers (just the patty 10% lean) I havent' made my staple chicken breast marinated in olive oil, lemon and oregano Veggies usually portobello mushrooms grilled. Have done baked eggplant w/ the greek garlcky yogurt.

I love adding chia and flax to my oatmeal, yogurt, and shakes. YUMMY

Strained soups, water, choked down the protein drinks, milk and milk diluted yogurt.

I have had a few disastrous weeks myself. I think for me, I have to go back to eating proper meals, I've been picking and of course when you pick, you can eat a lot. So this morning, I"m having a big Breakfast, which is a proper breakfast. I might have Cereal and fruit AND then have yogurt. I know if I eat that lot, its a good healthy balanced meal but it will keep me stuffed for hours. Once I break a cycle I'm pretty right. That's what I'd suggest. Eat well at meals, dont try to eat too little, and make sure you have enough in your tummy to get by on so you dont pick.

7/24 - 10 weeks out, 30.5 pounds down, from 271 to 240.5 Well, I'm truckin' along, and although it SEEMS slow to me, I just realized it actually hasn't been all that slow since I got my first fill. I just looked back at the calendar, and my fill was 2 weeks ago, on 7/10. On 7/10 I weighed 249, and I now weigh 240.5. So, that's a little less than 10 pounds in 2 weeks!! That's actually fantastic!! Wow, all of a sudden I'm counting how many weeks till we go to the beach for our summer vacation, and calculating potentially how far down I COULD be if this restriction holds out!!!!!!! I could be a svelte 210 pounds by then if I play my cards right! Ahhh!! Can't even let myself hope for that, because I don't want to end up feeling discouraged. I've been telling myself that I'd be happy if I could be somewhere in the 220's by September 6, which is the day we leave for the beach. Haven't seen the 220's in several years. Haven't seen 210 since I met my husband in 1999. Under 200 - haven't seen Onederland since I was in college in the early 90's!! The last time I was able to squeeze into a woman's size 12 was when I was in either 9th or 10th grade, and I was able to wear one specific pair of my mom's jeans. They were a size 12, and I have no idea why she had them, because she has always been a size 8 her entire life. But for whatever reason, she had these jeans that were a size 12, and I BARELY fit into them, but I could button and zip them, and that's all that mattered to me. It made me feel so good about myself for that brief period when I could wear them. Funny how you remember things like that. So, getting into a size 12 again someday is going to feel like a HUGE milestone for me. Anyway, so since I got this fill 2 weeks ago, I have noticed that I experience what many other bandsters have described on LBT - my restriction seems to fluctuate day by day, sometimes hour by hour. It's weird, there doesn't seem to really be any rhyme or reason to it? Some days I can eat breakfast and lunch, albeit carefully, but with no problems whatsoever. Some days I can hardly get yogurt to go down without a whole lot of gurgling and noise and burping (non-productive) and other fanfare. On most days, I've found that it's much easier to eat dinner than lunch, and breakfast, forget about it. By the time I get all my pills and vitamins down in the morning, I'm full and don't have any time left for breakfast anyway. That makes me feel guilty, because I know it's bad to skip breakfast, but I really can't help it. Sometimes I'll bring a yogurt along to work with me, and I can eat that at my desk, although it takes a while. Several times I've tried to eat lunch and ended up having to throw it away. I know that SOMETIMES it's because I take too big of a bite right off the bat and don't chew it enough, and then whatever it was gets stuck, and then I'm just done - can't put anything else on top of that bc that will just make it worse (learned THAT the hard way) so I just have to give up and wait till the next meal. But sometimes even if I'm following all the rules and being very conscious about it, even the smallest most chewed-to-liquid bite won't go down easily at lunch time. It's very strange! Every few days I find dinner is challenging as well, but most days dinner is easier than lunch. Mind you, I'm measuring my food intake in bites now, not cups. Lord, I never thought I'd say that. I'm amazed at how my sense of portions has changed. I still have food envy when I watch my husband take a gigantic bite out of some big juicy cheeseburger, or gobble down a bunch of crispy crunchy salad vegetables. (never thought I'd say THAT either! LOL) But when putting food onto my own plate I've gotten very, very good at taking the smallest possible servings of things. And then after I eat, I'm constantly worrying in my head that I've eaten too much, that I'm ABLE to eat too much, that I'll never lose any more weight if I eat this much, etc. And then I remind myself that I only ate, for instance, one tablespoon of mashed potatoes, or something like that. It's weird how your brain processes this phenomenon. Mostly what I've read on LBT is from people saying that they are still ordering the Extra Large Value size of everything, even though they can only eat a small fraction of it. With me it's been the opposite. I automatically order or plate-up the smallest portion, but then have some sort of dysmorphic thing happen where I panic I've eaten too much. I think part of the problem is that I never really feel hungry anymore - and I also never really feel full. That is to say, I never get the feeling of full that I got pre-band.....which was a sickening, oh-my-God-all-I-want-to-do-is-unbutton-my-pants-and-lay-on-the-couch sort of feeling. I regularly ate up until I felt that way at dinner time, almost every night. Not so much at lunch, because I had more distractions from food during that time of day, I guess. I wouldn't say that I MISS that awful stuffed to the gills feeling.....but maybe psychologically I miss having a full belly feeling?? I don't know. And I can't really say that I have ever really recognized true stomach hunger - certainly not pre-band, bc I ate all the time. And not so much post band either. I don't know, maybe I'm just not skilled enough to recognize the feeling yet? So, without being able to discern those specific feelings - hungry vs. full - I think I have a tendency to panic and to STILL think that this surgery is not going to work for me after all (present evidence disregarded) and that I'll end up sabotaging myself, despite my best efforts, as I have always done in the past. I know I've got to work on that. In my ideal world, I wouldn't have to think about, worry about, panic about, plan endlessly for, or obsess over food a-n-y-m-o-r-e. I dream of a day when I can just live my life - and eat whenever it's appropriate to do so to feed my body. Period. I think I'm on my way. I'm amazed to no longer be compelled to nightly binge sessions in front of the TV. I'm incredulous that leftover cookies or bbq chips from weekend cookouts will stay in my pantry, unmolested for weeks. Pre-band, these foods would have literally called out to me over and over again, every time I was in my house, until I either devoured them, or in a fit of fortitude stoicly dumped them down into the gargage disposal so that they couldn't torture me any more. Now, I FORGET that they are even in there. Now, that's not to say that I don't still have a weakness for junk food, and believe me, if it's in a basket somewhere at a party, I'm definitely going to eat some of it. But I don't feel like it has a power over me anymore. That is really quite remarkable. This band certainly requires it's share of sacrifices, but so far, I'd say I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat. Thirty pounds, no longer weighing me down, gone forever. Amen!

I like the pure protein bars, The EAS Advantage Carb Control protein drinks only have 100 calories and 17 grams of protein and taste great. Light and lively Greek yogurt is really good too and turkey or beef jerky. I find all of these to be a good snack for protein.

Give up the granola, and probably the yogurt and have dense protein or a protein shake in the morning. Give up the fruit until you have lost your weight. Fruit is still sugar, even if it is natural and comes with some fiber. Granola is a starch if it has oats in it. The granola and fruit is probably slowing your weight loss, give it up for 2 weeks and see what happens.

BREAKFAST I HAVE YOGURT WITH GRONOLA SNACK PROTIEN SHAKE LUNCH GRILLED CHICKEN MOST DAYS SNACK FRUIT LIKE APPLE OR SOME GRAPES DINNER SALMON OR CHICKEN GREEN VEGGIES NO STARCHES WHAT SO EVER NO CARBONATED DRINKS OR CAFFINE JUST WATER PLAIN OR WITH CRYSTAL LIGHT

I just bought Special K Low Fat Granola. It has 6g protein. Not high protein but it's better than cereal and I'll mix it with yogurt and fruit. Simple and Quick. I get plenty more protein throughout the day.

Hi, I think beef is very difficult to chew properly, and frankly I think it may be even too early for you to experiment with steaks. You may want to get comfortable with the soft foods first. If you really crave beef then try the meatloaf or Salisbury steak instead. You will need to cut it into very teeny-tiny pieces like a green pea, if you want to eat a beef steak. I have been also worried for a long time that I ate more than I should have. people have reported that they can only eat one cup of food at a time. However, I could always eat 2 cups of food. As long as they are low calorie options (fruits, vegetables, low fat yogurts etc) you may be just fine. For me when I eat my lunch, (I still finished it very quickly, in 10 min), I have to sit and wait 5-10 minutes - I try to browse the internet or read a newspaper until I feel that my stomach is full. Usually, it takes 10-15 minutes for the signal to go from your stomach to your brain and let you know that you are full. If you can manage to wait 5 minutes between "meal courses" you may eventually feel full at some point.

I get a similar feeling - and like you, with food not drink. It's possible that it's happening as the type/consistency of food you eat changes. Or maybe it's that signal that your belly is reaching full. I'm about 11 weeks out and still introducing foods - and then removing them again if they don't sit right. Red meat hasn't really factored in my diet yet, mostly white meat and not every day. Vegetarian seems to sit best with me so whilst I try and keep an eye on my protein intake, some days I just eat what feels right. A full stomach is an uncomfortable (and sometimes painful) one for me so I'm learning to pick that moment to stop and not put that one more mouthful in, even if it's within the half cup limit! The type of food has an effect too. I'm feeling a bit adventurous today and thinking about cooking a chicken curry.....I used to eat chilli just about every single day and miss it! fresh fruit and plain yogurt goes down a treat.

At my third month visit with the bariatrician, I was switched from chewables to Bariatric Advantage AE, which I get online from www.bariatricadvantage.com. I call them my bariatric advantage AE horse pill stink a** Vitamin. They are huge like a pre-natal vitamin and have everything in them that I was paying for all of the chewables individually. At my six month visit with bloodwork, my numbers were excellent. No lie, they are big. I could not swallow them. I cut them in half - still too big. I cut them in fours which made them swallowable, but the pieces had sharp corners on them. So now I pulverize it with a mortar and pestle and add them to yogurt (which I put sugar free raspberry jam in it) or fruit flavored Jello Water or chocolate pudding to mask the berry-ish stench. I have even put it in cranberry-grape juice, which was sort of ok. The vitamin does its job, but ewwwwww!

This post was started a long time ago but I thought I would share what I use since I no longer take chewables. I cant even stand the taste of Flinestones Vitamins and the gummies hurt my teeth for some weird reason. I started taking a new Vitamin line about 1 month ago and so far love it. Its called Thrive by Le-vel, it also has a probiotic that is equal to 1600 cups of yogurt so for me its perfect! I had a baby almost 1 year ago and had a life threatening condition that caused me to lose a lot of blood and I became very anemic, so these vitamins are exactly what I have been looking for. I literally cant swallow regular prenatal vitamins as the make me gag, but Thrive is small capsules, a mineral mix and wearable nutrition patch so I have zero issues with gagging!! Anyways just thought I would share and maybe this will help others. you can check it out at www.702layla.le-vel.com

Every surgeon is different. I was on clear liquids for 2 days only and then full liquids (which according to my clinic included yogurt, pudding, cream Soups, smoothies)

Are you on "clear liquids" or "full liquids"? If you are on clear, you can't have any of those. My doctor let me have yogurt starting day 6 post-op. But the others (cottage cheese, applesauce) weren't allowed until "mushies". Hang in there and STAY STRONG!! You don't want to risk it!

Very informative Daisy! We must be our own advocates on this issue and investigate! Thanks so much for this link. I am so much better but plan to up my probiotics with yogurt. I was really surprised how easy it was to stop PPI's.

Your NUT/surgeon should provide you a list of foods for each phase. Based on memory so this list might not be complete. What I used for my first phase, based in my surgeon's program: ProtiDiet liquid beverage concentrate ProtiDiet tomato basil and creamy chicken Soups Premiere Protein RTD sugar free Popsicles Bone broth Sonic crushed ice Crystal Light For my second phase all of the above, plus: GNC Lean shake 25 V8 Cottage cheese Light and Fit Greek Yogurt

I ate loads of SF popsicles mainly to keep myself hydrated, broth, and my protein drinks. I could also eat 1/2 of a yoplait light or 2 table spoons of no sugar added apple sauce but I would only do those two as my breakfast so I could sprinkle my prilosec & biotin onto them. Jello hurt to eat until week 3. i also didnt start drinking milk until week 3. Basically I stuck to broth water popsicles yogurt and applesauce for 2.5 weeks. It got boring so fast! I was so happy when I could start eating food with flavor & texture!

My doc is very conservative and I am so glad. I have had no issues at all. Two weeks clear liquid diet Two weeks liquid diet, Protein shakes, yogurt, milk. Two weeks puréed. Mashed taters, mashed Beans, baby food, oatmeal, cream of wheat On week 7, normal diet. Introduce one food at a time. Aim for 100 G protein and no less than 75. At least 64 oz water/ liquid. Protein Shakes don't count as liquids.

Yes, but since I won't eat sugar free pudding or yogurt, it is pretty much strained cream of chicken soup with unflavored protein powder, along with water, a protein shake in the morning and some sugar free jello sometimes.

I agree with the previous posting that yogurt is pretty good and Yoplait Greek 100 has a lot of protein and good flavors. Also ensure active high protein has 19 grams of protein and vanilla and chocolate flavors so you can add to your diet. The ensure is 8oz so you don't have to worry about drinking a whole lot. If you could tolerate a egg drop soup that's loaded with protein. You can try making your own. Feel better soon.