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I feel you on this, so bad. I am five days post op and I've been watching recipe videos and craving normal food SO BADLY, things like steamed salmon and veggies.. not even unhealthy foods. I am never "full", but when I eat greek yogurt I can't imagine eating anything else but that goes away quickly. I've always disliked liquid calories (juices, milkshakes, soups), even before starting my journey, so this is pure torture to me.

Day 13 Post Surgery - 215.6lbs (-6.8lbs) Holy cow!!! I slept great AGAIN!!! And woke up full of energy and joyful intentions toward the morning!! I can NOT explain the boost and motivation that it gives a person to see quick weight loss success on the scale! LOL. And I know I will ride that muthah truckin' wave til it ends! And there will be an end cuz all magic has a price. Doesn't it, deary? Hehe. I know sometime between now and the next couple of weeks the awful, terrible, very bad, 3 week stall shall descend upon me and my house. And there will be a pox and a scar upon the land complete with wailing, pissing and moaning, and gnashing of teeth! Ha! I will step on a non-responsive scale multiple times during the day just to confirm it's bitchi-ness. I was so ready for the scale to start moving, though. I KNOW my body. And my body HATES whey protein isolate in large amounts. It can take having 1 protein drink a day, or some supplementation with it, but not for all meals every meal! It's too insulinogenic for me. But give me low fat protein and low fat veggies? And BAM baby. Just like that, my body will start to tap into its fat stores!!! And that is exactly what's happening. Oh, and it doesn't hurt that I'm only taking an occasional 20ml of liquid sf tylenol for transient pain rather than taking gabapentin, tramadol, or worse, narcotics and muscle relaxants! I'm walking as much as I can. Yesterday I hit 40 minutes for the day--almost back to pre-op. I am so limited by the hip bursitis. My hips are back to hurting like a little b***h. But I'm still walking on them at 10 and 20 minute intervals. I think this is really important! Two things concern me right now. I am not getting a sense of fullness. I can easily eat 1/4c of food and could probably eat more than that, but I'm trying to be very conscientious about following my doc's orders. Until last night. One of my diet forms says at Phase 3 soft foods I can have 1-2oz dense protein + 1/4c soft veggies. So I am taking them at their word. Last night I had 1.75oz of grilled tilapia + 1tsp low fat nut-less pesto, 1oz frozen broccoli, 1/2oz avocado, 1/2oz heirloom tomato (skinless/seedless). I wasn't full, but my spidey senses were on alert to tell me I should not eat any more. But and it's a big butt...I did NOT feel full. And I WANTED more food! LOL. That was me all day yesterday! But I still ate my 1/4c of egg scramble, my 3tbsp egg salad + 1/2slice of low carb CheezeItz crackers, 1/2c of yogurt/cottage cheese+apple sauce and cinnamon, plus my 9oz Premier Protein in decaf coffee for a grand total of: 512cals; 61g protein; 18g fat; 15g carbs; 1g fiber; 14g net carbs; 7g sugar naturally occurring. I hope the lack of satiety is because I have little inflammation and because my nerves are not yet firing on all cylinders? OK, more later. Will come back to share my Guiltless Nut-Free Pesto later.

I am four and a half years out and my surgery is just as effective as t was six month out. If I chose to eat the wrong things or snack, that’s on me, but I’m still limited to about 4-5oz (2-4oz dense protein, 6oz Greek yogurt) and can’t eat for a couple hours after. While I’m sorry it isn’t the same for you, you can’t use such sweeping generalizations. My body also doesn’t “fight to get back to fat.” I can be quite lenient with what I eat over the holidays, etc, and gain about 5lbs but it would actually be quite hard for me to gain much and it’s fairly easy to lose again.

I’ve been doing well I lost 8 pounds so far I’ve not been reaching my goals as far as intake yet but I have been making sure to sip my water. I tried to get back into my protein shakes but it made me vomit so I’ve had Greek yogurt and now I have the protein water and it’s working out for me

Time for breakfast! Some sliced avocado, Bananas, BlackBerries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, & clementines mixed in vanilla yogurt, topped with flax seed & granola. Bon appétit!!

I’m handling water just fine I also had Greek yogurt the protein shake is what made me vomit and nauseated I haven’t tried soup yet

For now, at Day 13, I can't trust myself to know how much is too much. That's why our doc's and RD's give us material that says about how much we need to eat at each meal. Mine is very specific. At this Phase, I'm at about 1/8-1/4 cup - eating slowly, small bites, protein first for 20-30 minutes. Or alternately, I'm to start with 1oz of dense protein, plus a bite of veg. I can work up to 2oz dense protein and 1/8-1/4 c. veg. But that is over a 2-3 week span of time from where I am today. So I measure and weight all the stuff. They do allow 1/2c of yogurt and sf jello since it's a slider food.

Today is my 4th day post-op and now I can have non-clear liquids (includes nonfat yogurt)! I had nonfat yogurt this morning and it took me an hour to finish a cup of it, I didn't feel overly full or anything, is this normal? I am glad I seem to be recovering, but the incision pain is still very much real.

My surgery went well they wanted me to do 2 weeks liquid diet as well but on a few occasions I had a boiled egg it was protein and I was starving with a hunger headache but I’m 4 days out and I’ve been doing ok, I’m down 8 pounds since surgery and I was suppose to start back on my protein shakes yesterday but it didn’t work out so I’m back to water and I had a few scoops of Greek yogurt

This isn’t a bad question at all- especially because the docs don’t want us dependent on protein shakes. Ideally you should be eating food to get your protein and keeping Cals in a weight loss range. It’s a great question because understanding how to do this is exactly what the docs want us to be doing. Learn how to eat properly and lose weight. Then eat properly and maintain it. Drinking shakes is fine for the start but not a way to maintain a lifetime of healthy eating habits. When you can only eat 2-3 oz at a time it’s tough. Here is what I’m just now beginning to do as I move out of soft phase and in to all textures. Egg with cheese 150 cal for breakfast 10 grams Geek yogurt snack 110 cal 14 grams Grilled chicken 3 oz 15 grams with veg for lunch 150 cal Babybel cheese for snack 70 Fish dinner 3-4 oz with edamame or chick pea pasta 300 cal 25 grams

Dayum. I'm so off on getting my meals in! Cuz I think I'm starting too late? Dunno. But had a quick protein snack and will eat dinner in a couple of hours (too late). But this tastes like semi-apple cobbler! Apple Cobbler (Phase 3 Soft Foods) Serves 1 (about 5oz) 57g Greek fat free yogurt (HEB) 56g 2% cottage cheese (Daisy) 1floz Premier Protein Vanilla RTD 4drops liquid vanilla stevia (Vitacost) 35g unsweetened Granny Smith applesauce (Mott's) 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon Stir everything together. Enjoy with moans and groans of goodness! Nutritionals: 110calories; 15g protein; 1g fat; 8g carbs; 0g fiber; 7g natural sugars* *Note: Most of our instructions say not to exceed 4g of sugars per serving. 2g from the cottage cheese, 2g from the plain Greek yogurt, and 3g from the natural sugars in the unsweetened applesauce. Use this recipe at your own risk! Hope I don't dump from 7g of natural sugars!

What a difference a couple days makes. It's still not perfect, but I can have small amounts of protein shakes and a spoon or two of Greek yogurt. thanks for the support everyone!!

I am eating sugar free Jell-O, sugar free pudding, Greek yogurt and chicken broths, I eat maybe 2-3 bites and I just put it down because it isn’t something I enjoy doing, the most I have eaten in one Day is a sugar free Jell-O cup and water

Raman noodle broth is High in Sodium. Might make you retain fluid and slow down your loss of weight. Yogurt, sugar free puddings and Jello, thin cream of rice or cream of wheat, cottage cheese. You might even be able to eat soft scrambled egg if you're close to the pureed, mooshy stage.How about a tiny bit of ripe banana? Just a few ideas off the top of my head. Sent from my VS880PP using BariatricPal mobile app

I am 4 days post gastric sleeve, I am not hungry at all, yet I am craving every kind of food known to man. I mostly desire cheez-it’s and zaxbys buffalo chicken tenders, and thin crust pizza. I’m not going to give into it, but is anyone else having cravings like this? I can’t stop thinking about when I get to the soft food stage and can finally have something other than broths and Jell-O and Greek yogurt I am so miserable [emoji31]

Hey MominCanada, welcome and thanks for sharing. I had an ESG in November last year in Houston. I checked out Dr. Marvin and was confident in him, you should have a good experience. Stalls, great question, we all have them and there is usually more than one in my experience. It's a large change that our bodies are going though and each body reacts differently, it's not a linear process. I had a stall for 10 days where I didn't lose any weight, gained 1 pound and then afterwards in 2-3 days lost 3 pounds. Difficult for me as an engineer to explain. Water consumption and keeping it high seems to have something to do with it, see several recent posts in ESG forum. A number of us have had stalls, gone back and increased our water intake back >60-80 ounces per day and continued to lose weight. I have a goal >> than 20% weight loss and am about half way there. I would encourage you to discuss your goals clearly with Dr. Marvin and ask his opinion with your specific body size/shape and goal is ESG the best way to go. I had this same discussion with my Dr. and concluded VSG or ESG would work (I did not want something temporary like balloons) and eventually chose ESG due to the simpler procedure and quicker recovery time. My diet is very similar to a ketosis diet (only smaller portions) and when I have my blood checked I am deep into ketosis. Typically eating 2 eggs in AM, 3 ounces of protein at lunch and dinner with 1/4 cup green vegetables and 1/4 cup brown rice or pasta. I will do a yogurt for snack in AM and sugar free chocolate pudding for snack in PM. Total 800-1000 calories/day. When I spoke with the dietician we agreed this was very similar to a keto diet. I have the same approach with sharing, other than my wife not talking about procedure with others. I have told them I'm working with a doctor on a very strict diet, with blood monitoring, etc. Diet is focused on on lean proteins and similar to keto approach. So far so good on that front. Keep the questions coming, we're here to help! Please keep sharing it can help so many others! Tex

This phase is one of the harder transitions, I became sooo averse to any thick shakes. I diluted ready-made Isopure blue raspberry with crystal light lemonade and drank it all day long - one bottle is 40gr and then tuna salad and cottage cheese or high protein yogurt like Siggi made up the difference. Hang in there as swelling and healing take place you will be able to eat more solid protein. Also bone broth soups, it has more protein than regular broth - blend chicken and black beans with chicken bone broth add some spices.

I am almost 3 weeks post op RNY (2/12/18) and I'm doing great with getting in my fluids but having a really hard time with protein. I thought it would be easier with drinking protein shakes but every time I drink them I get terribly nauseous. I'm on soft foods and tolerating cottage cheese, blended tuna salad, eggs, fish, yogurt, etc but just can't eat enough of it to meet protein goals. anyone else have this problem? I've tried premier protein pre made shakes and syntrax nectar powders. I also have some isopure unflavored powder ive tried mixing a little into my foods but It's basically not making a difference because I can only eat a few tblspoons at a time anyway. does anyone else have this issue? any recommendations for a protein powder or drink that may be easier on the digestive tract? Sent from my SM-G900V using BariatricPal mobile app

One thing that might help you with long term success is to realize the mistake many doctors and even their nutritionists make, encouraging their patients even right after surgery to eat sweet tasting foods. This is a huge moment for you to rid yourself of sugar cravings. Stop eating anything sweet, period. Get your protein powder from grass fed PLAIN whey (or another plain protein powder, no sweetener in it, no flavor). I mixed it into full fat milk, or even water (really tasteless and boring), and then learned to enjoy it with a bit of flax seed in the wonderful full fat plain Greek yogurt. Get used to plain water. Unsweetened tea or coffee (use fats at will, cream, ghee, coconut oils). No fruit. And no fake sugars. None. No sweet tasting anything. Eating is difficult at first, and your gut bug population will change from your pre op diet. What a glorious opportunity you are given, to change the content of your diet. The surgery provides portion control for a long long time. But YOU can grab the opportunity to stop eating sweet things. When your gut population evolves over that first month, it will end up being the good bacteria that crave resistant starches like cooked and cooled potatoes and root veggies. You can even add some inulin (a fiber powder) or potato starch to your protein drinks. These starches will feed your gut bugs and keep them happy and regular, and they will only have you crave those starches. You won’t crave sweet foods if you avoid the sweetened whey powders and drinks and the fake color, sucralose jellos and crap. Broths and cheesy bakes taste way better than fake flavored fake sugared jellos. And keep you losing. Use the pause in your diet to choose nonsweet foods. What a great opportunity not to waste.

Fairlife milk (It's in a blue jug usually with the organic milk) is higher in protein (13 per 8 ounces) and less in carbs. It's ultra filtered and much easier to drink than protein shakes. I was able to get my protein in without the shakes. Using fairlife milk, bone broth, and cream soups made with fairlife milk while I was on fluids. Once I was on pureeds I added cottage cheese and greek yogurt which also helped reach my protein goals.

These days? Breakfast: 1/2 caramel Premier Protien in my coffee. one cup regular, on cup decaf, whole wheat english muffin Snack: greek yogurt Lunch: Oatmeal with chopped dried cherries and pecans Snack: Apple slices and peanut butter Dinner: Steak salad...steak, egg, lowfat swiss, lettuce, avacado, cuke, onion, pepper Snack: frozen greek yogurt pop

I shoot for 80 - 100G and routinely do it in under 500 calories. The key is protein dense foods. Here’s a typical menu for me (I’m pretty boring so I eat almost the same thing every day and like it): .5c egg whites with .5 oz mozzerella cheese (17g protein, 106 calories) 3.5 oz chicken (28g protein, 105 calories) 3.5 oz of chicken for dinner I will usually have 1 - 2 snacks of string cheese (7g protein, 50 calories) or cottage cheese (10g protein, 90 calories) or sigg yogurt (15g protein, 110 calories). Sometimes I just repeat a meal for a snack (chicken). Recently my favorite meal has been a little higher calorie, but tastes great: 3.5 oz 99% lean ground turkey w taco seasoning (25g p, 140c) .5 oz mexican cheese (4g, 50c)) .5 oz sour cream (.5g p, 30c) The key is all calories are protein calories. My plan doesn’t allow carbs until 6 or 12 months. This does seem to be helping me maintain muscle mass, which is the goal of this particular plan.

Breakfast: 1 slice white toast with 2 tablespoons peanut butter Morning snack: Greek yogurt Lunch: 1 cup chili Afternoon snack: String cheese, protein shake Dinner: Protein and salad

I buy the Bariatric Fusion meal replacement powder. It is intended/sold as an actual meal replacement product - i.e. just add water and that's your meal, but I started out getting it because they sell it in single serving packets and I wanted to try something without spending $40 or more on a huge tub, in case it tasted awful. I figured out that each tablespoon of it has 7 grams of protein (I figured out all the macros for my food journal, but don't remember off the top of my head). At first I just added one tbs to various things to test out the texture/flavor. I put it in Vitamin Water and while it didn't add a texture or different flavor, I feel like it may have made it taste a little sweeter or something - I'm not exactly sure but I didn't like it. But I can add it to literally everything else - yogurt, applesauce, mashed potatoes, oatmeal, homemade frozen protein pops & fruit pops, and it has no added flavor or texture to me whatsoever, and being up to 3 tbs per serving, has really made it easier to get my protein in. I'm buying it by the tub now. Everyone is different, but I highly recommend it.

Not at all. I take limited, slow sips. The water usually feels like rock going down, then there’s no feeling. But about 30 seconds later I get a shooting pain on my right side. It’s making me not want to drink. Ugh. Same thing with my full liquids - yogurt and cream of chicken soup. Doctor said everything looks great, X-rays, blood work, and I had no soreness when he pushed all over my abdomen. He said keep going slow on drinking and eating and it should go away. I see him for my first follow up on Tuesday.