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Well, since I started this thread, I'll bite. It's been about 8 weeks since I had the procedure. During weeks 1-7, I chose to stick to the liquid only diet - which in my case consisted of only protein shakes (specifically I drank only Beverly International UMP and MTS Machine Whey protein - in other words very high quality and great tasting protein) 3 times per day. Occasionally, I would have about a cup of chicken broth or sugar free jello (the cups they sell pre-made and refrigerated in the grocery store). The first week was easy and the second week was difficult. The third through seventh weeks were very easy and I really enjoyed it (so much so that I continued past the 4th week until week 7). I found that I had a ton of energy and felt the best I've felt in years. Ironically, I spent a lot of my free time watching cooking shows and learning some new recipes. My wife thought it was torture, but it actually seemed to keep me focused on not eating with a goal of cooking more high quality meals after I was done with the liquid phase. I started walking a lot by the second week (some on my treadmill at a medium speed but a steep incline - some outside) for about 30 - 50 minutes at a time - including some targeted running at the end of the walk (High Intensity). I walked 5 times a week and found other things to do to keep my mind occupied when I wasn't at work. After 30 days, I began lifting weights - for about 90 minutes at a stretch. It's been a while since I lifted weights so I was VERY sore. This means that I've only lifted twice a week since that point - which is fine with me. Last week I began eating again - not very much and mostly soft foods like eggs and yogurt. I also went out of town to a friend's retirement which found me drinking some liquor (mostly cranberry juice and vodka) and going out to eat. In all honesty, I couldn't eat much of anything (even though I wanted to) and I took some protein shakes with to drink. Over this past weekend, I spent a lot of time cooking some healthy meals but didn't really feel like eating too much. I really enjoy spending a ton of time in the kitchen cooking (some of the meals I made took 4-5 hours) and not caring about eating. So far, I have had a pretty good variety of foods (albeit very small portions) including all types of meats, cheeses, vegetables, and small amounts of grains/breads. I have had no trouble tolerating any of the foods (except a bit of meatloaf I had last night that just didn't sit well) but my portion sizes are a fifth of what I used to eat - and I'm only eating food for dinner. During the day, I am sticking with protein shakes - for now. If I were to guess, I would say that I have been between 600 and 800 calories per day since the procedure. Every once in a while, I get a little lighted headed when I stand up - but not often. I have enough energy to work out and drink tons of water. I just started drinking coffee again this week - but not first thing in the morning - that's when I have a protein shake. As far as weight loss goes - I don't know my number. When I started this program, I promised myself a few things: The number on the scale would never be a part of what success was for me. I've spent the greater part of my life worried about that number and my past behaviors got me to this point - so they need to change. No more weighing myself. My goal was, and continues to be, to feel good each day. It's that simple. When I go to bed at night, I want to feel good with where I am - and how I spent my day. So far, I have succeeded and feel better than I have in 20 years. I started off at 267 (5'10") and I can tell you, without a doubt, I have lost a ton of weight. My pants went from a tight 45 to 40 and I can fit easily in XL from a tight XXL. I have no doubt that I have dropped 40 or more pounds and even started toning up. I wouldn't be surprised if I weigh below 200 by my 6 month appointment in March - when I will have my next official weigh-in. It's coming off that quick. Having this procedure is one of the best decisions I've ever made. I am planning on spending the winter lifting and losing so I can continue long distance running in the spring - in the hopes of running a marathon by next fall. I have begun investigating hiking and backpacking throughout the US and am committed to being healthy. What's amazing, is that after the second week, it has been pretty darn easy. I have no real restrictions now - and have absolutely no side effects (other than massive fat shredding). To sum it up - if you just had the procedure or are having it soon - here is the best advice I can give you: Buy and drink the highest quality protein you can afford. I buy mine from Tiger Fitness - as they are the cheapest with the quickest shipping. The protein costs a fraction of what I used to spend on food - so I would recommend you avoid muscle milk and anything you can find at Walmart or your local grocery store. Buy what athletes and nutrition experts buy. The cookies and cream from MTS nutrition will blow your mind. Don't run from food - embrace your new lifestyle and focus on enjoying every bite you take. Just keep the portions small. If your doctor approves and you feel good, stick with the protein shakes as long as you can. The amount of weight I dropped during this phase is phenomenal. I intend to use protein shakes as a supplement for the rest of my life - including occasional protein shake fasts. When you are on a protein/liquid only diet, take time each day to reflect on where you are at and where you want to be. Call it meditation or whatever you want - but think about your thoughts. It will make your will stronger and you will eventually regain lost confidence and be capable of anything. Daily victories begin to snowball. If you can, don't weigh yourself. At least not frequently. Nothing good can come from it and it is a horrible indication of your health. Trust your feelings and instincts. If you feel good - then you are moving in the right direction. Good Luck and enjoy the journey.

Thanks Sosewsue, I wish I did not hate all types of yogurt, but I do. I think I will stick with protein shakes, soft boiled eggs, cream or wheat (I might sprinkle some unflavored protein powder in it) and soup for now. No need to rush things and feel gross. Thanks for your response!!

@dzelaya90 3 week surgiversary - you are still a virgin!! people will not feel ANY restriction while they are on liquids. liquids pass right thru you. yogurt is a "slider", easy to eat, can eat lots without a prob. (not true for everyone, but for me it is) you can eat yogurt though. stop when you are supposed to stop. cookies, candies, popcorn, chips are also easy to go down, and you won't feel any restriction. so these foods are a sad "no no"!! if you have a meal, and you still are feel hungry - KNOCK IT OFF!! LOL amount you are allowed (even if you feel you could eat more - ) don't do it. People have been shot for less!! LOL there is a saying in WLS land - JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN, DOESN'T MEAN YOU SHOULD!! Ignore the head hunger (easier said than done) you should/need to measure and ONLY eat the allotted amount per NUT. (nutritionist) Not losing weight for one, two weeks is not an "official" stall. 3+ weeks is a stall . most people do stall during weight loss. stop worrying (you'll give yourself grey hairs/headaches) down 17 lbs - that's great. you are doing fine. good luck kathy

Are any/all of you on acid reflux medication? A lot of veterans swear that this hunger is actually acid reflux and you need meds/ different meds/ increase in meds. Restriction happens with dense protein, if it is always eaten first and no more than 4oz at a time, then vegetables, then whatever else is allowed. Soup, yogurt, tuna are all soft or semi-liquid and will not feel restricted. I feel restriction with chicken thigh meat and grilled salmon - that is the only thing I have consumed so far that is fairly dense. I feel no restriction with refried beans or soups or tuna - unless I were to eat an actual tuna steak maybe.

So sorry for your child's hurt. Please seek therapy for the family. This is going to sound a little odd, but when you relive it over and over in your mind and try to take blame you are just causing that pain to yourself. The original pain has already happened and you cannot change the incident; while it takes healing and dealing with that when you revisit it you yourself are continuing it. I know it is new information and takes time to absorb. Don't give it power by hurting yourself with food, then you become a victim and it wins again. if you can't do therapy for whatever reason, go to the library and look up books by Byron Katie, one I found useful was 'Loving What Is'. There are others and other authors that help with trauma. At your desk, bring snack bags of 20 almonds, a couple string cheese, and maybe a greek yogurt. I know you say you don't move around much at work, but I worked a desk job and I know you are allowed breaks - so especially at the break after lunch I insist you take it and you walk for 10 minutes, and don't eat lunch at your desk. You are actually more productive if you take those breaks. You are already a success with your weight loss. Honor that now by continuing. Good luck.

Since we need protein powder for the rest of our lives, i had to figure out something. I only want unsweetened unflavored protein powder form healthy grass fed animals. But mixing that with water is yuck. Mixing it with milk makes me feel sweaty and dizzy. FINALLY I have figured it out. I’m now mixing the 20g protein powder portion into a cup of greek yogurt, adding some flax seed and some coconut water (to get the powder stuff to mix), and put them into two little metal lunchbots and taking them with me all day (with coolpack if needed). Finally I can get that extra protein we need, no sugar, no fake sugar. No weird dizzy low blood sugar reaction.

I will be 3 weeks Post Op Wednesday and I literally cannot stop eating (nothing unhealthy of course) I am only eating what is on my list and next week I will be already on an unrestricted diet. I am concerned with the amount of food I am able to eat and I do not feel restricted at all. I eat breakfast, lunch and dinner and a snack but I always find myself so hungry a few hrs sometimes even minutes after every meal and find myself snacking on string cheese mostly. I lost 17 pounds the first two weeks but I’ve been stuck at a stall the past week which I’m not too concerned about I am more concerned with the amount that I am eating with no restriction. The stage I am in right now consists of fish, tuna, yogurt, eggs, string cheese, beans, lentil or split pea soup and soft cooked vegetables. I am not sure if I should just ignore my hunger or eat. Has anyone else experienced this in the early stages?? I just feel like I’m doing something wrong !

@ProfessorSlim - try some greek yogurt, it has lots of protein - stir just a little no sugar jam in it. Maybe you are still swollen and need a little more time. Drink warm tea right before trying anything, don't worry about the rule of stopping drinking 30 min before food at this point - that is for when you are on solid food - all we do all day at this point is to get all the liquids and all the protein in any way we can. Hang in there.

I was going to say the same thing. Make sure you can take in water, broth, tea, jello. That type of thing. Then if you can, try protein with one meal. you can even get the unflavored protein (Genpro or Unjury) and add it to broth or tea. This is what I do when I cannot stand to drink another shake. I also will take 1/4 cup plain 0% Fage greek yogurt and add a scoop of unflavored protein and a tablespoon of sugar free pudding (vanilla or chocolate). I add some water and then I take my time eating that. Just go slow. We'll all get there. good luck

How about freezing the leftovers instead of throwing them out? And don't forget to make turkey chili or turkey vegetable soup afterwards, or turkey enchiladas w locarb wraps and substituting greek yogurt for the sour cream.

Cottage cheese and yogurt.

11/13/17..Phase change from all liquid to puree. Yuck. Gross. How the hell am I gonna get through this? Puree is just...yuck. Luckily, I can have scrambled egg beaters, yogurt and smoothies. So gonna start making smoothies with my Ninja bullet and get through this stage. The good news is I am down another 5.5 pounds and weigh 229.9. Yeah I know- 230..but 229 sounds better. :-)

Same was happening with the puree food getting stuck so I mixed in puree vegetables and this seemed to help. I am getting the itch to eat more; and more often, but the worst I have done is have an extra yogurt. Pain has almost completely subsided so happy about that. Hang in there and before you know it you will be able to receive and give those awesome hugs! Sent from my SM-G925V using BariatricPal mobile app

Hi everyone! I'm back from the blowout weekend at WurstFest. All things considered, I was fairly good for a blowout weekend. LOL. But, despite everything, I'm still up about 2.8lbs to 233lbs this morning. Some of that is fluid in my ankles from travelling. God, I will be glad when I don't get that anymore! It's a real drag. I hope to hear that the insurance is approved and I get my Nov. 28th surgery date today. That would mean I would start my pre-op liquid diet tomorrow. Oh my! Here's my menu from yesterday! If y'all don't mind, let's just keep this thread until the end of November, then we can start a December menu thread? I'm still concerned about filling up the Recent Posts area on the right side of the screen with the Menu Threads. I didn't think the diet/nutrition area showed up in the Recent Posts area. So a daily thread would be terrible in my opinion. Nobody wants to sort through eleventy billion menu threads to get to the real juicy stuff! Sunday Menu: B-1 brisket egg taco with cheese and avocado, 3oz sauteed spinach with garlic L-Kreuz's Market BBQ (1oz turkey, 3oz moist brisket, 1 sausage link, 1 jalapeno, 1oz onion, 5 pickle slices, 1oz cheddar cheese) WOW! D-1 bowl Yogurt, Cottage Cheese, Granny Smith "gruel" (1/4c yogurt, 85g 2% cott cheese, 1oz skim Fairlife milk, 1oz GSapple, 1oz pomegranate seeds, 5g toasted slivered almonds, 5g Fiber One Cereal, cinnamon) Daily Totals: 1507cals; 78g protein; 97g fat; 70g carbs; 22g fiber; 48g net carbs

I was sleeved on 10/17/17. Down 28lbs since pre-op. Things were fine the first two weeks after surgery while I was off work. Went back to work working a lot of hours and third shift and I was having a hard time figuring out when to eat. Gained 2lbs and I re-evaluated what I was eating and I was only getting maybe 30 grams of protein a day. So I went back to what I did when I lost 7lbs a week , which was more bean soups and meat , greek yogurt and cottage cheese .Lost the 2lbs in a few days . So I’m hoping that helps.

Yes normal not to lose for a time after some great losses. What about canned chicken breast, greek yogurt, canned tuna, blended cottage cheese? And you need 64oz of liquid a day, or you will get dehydrated which will make you dizzy and weak.

I hear you! I can't even keep all of my water down yet and I'm still missing food! Has anyone else noticed how every other commercial on TV is for food? It's become a running joke in our house! I can't wait until I'm able to eat yogurt or SOMETHING!

I'm struggling with my gut having fits, like seizing up. VERY painful. Takes my breath away. In the hospital it did that and gave me nausea pretty bad. I was sleeved 11/8 and released 11/10 but they almost were not going to release me cuz of that. Once I got home, I figured that I was just DAMNED HUNGRY!!!! At that point I had been 5 days with just liquids! So since I could have protein drinks, I made myself a nice smoothie and spent some time drinking that down. That helped so much. So I think my gut seizes up when I'm hungry ....that's my new hunger pain! Problem....it will do it about midnight, 2am or so. So I am literally getting up and putting something into me, shake or yogurt or jello or something to get it to stop. I am not struggling with the protein because I will double up on my scoops for a shake or use some Greek yogurt or add a scoop of medical grade whey isolete to my tea (30 grams right there with the tea!!). However, I am struggling with my fluids. My new gut HATES water. Which is weird because other than 2 coffees in morning before all I drank was water and not flavored or anything just a gallon of water every day. But now that same water makes my gut hurt a bit. So....what counts as "fluids"? I know if I make a cup of decaf tea or coffee that I can count that. Same with any flavored waters. I'm assuming that broth can be counted. Popsicles were mentioned. How about Jello? What about milk to make protein smoothies? I usually add water to them as well, and count that. I feel like I may be getting in my "fluids" just not counting them correctly. My husband and I had a good system yesterday. He was making himself a sandwich and wanted soup with it. I said what if we open 2 cans and I take the broth from one can and you can have the noodles etc. He said open one can, I hate the broth. Which I agree with but now I have to love the broth LOL So he had a pile of soup noodles and veggies and I had that broth. It was delish. I'm not on any pain meds. In hospital I didn't want narcotics and was able to manage any pain with super doses of tylenol and motrin. I've never had surgery or any reason to take pain meds so I was able to get away with that. My whole belly is very bloated. And seems "heavy". So much so that I find myself holding it when I walk down stairs and sometimes just walking. I have not been good about walking at home. I got released Friday night at 6pm and it was like -15 out with windchill factor. Same with all day yesterday (Saturday), insane wind and wicked wicked cold. Today is supposed to be cold but not as bad and sun out...so I will be taking advantage and going on multiple walks. My little dogs are going nuts without there walks. Oh and my hubby is driving me insane. Every time I move, are you ok. I get out of bed in the night to potty, are you ok. I get that he's concerned, but I really am doing ok with the exception of my damned new stomach seizing up. He goes back to work tomorrow and I will go back to work on Thursday. Hopefully he'll stop a bit once he's busier. LOL So any suggestions on the fluids. I'm open. Just want to make sure I'm doing everything I can to heal and get to living again. Oh and PS....my husband was eating potato chips and I wanted one soooo bad. I wanted his grilled cheese sandwich too!!! I didn't feel hungry, so there's my head hunger just a day out of hospital!! ugh!

I have done the surgery more than 2 years ago and I still get those cycles of diarrhea , eating yogurt before going to bed helped me for a while and my bowel movements seemed normal . the thing is that I don't get the diarrhea throw the whole day I just get in the first part of day from waking up until midday I seem to loose every thing during that period and then no bowl movements until the second day

Hello I’m about the same amount of weeks. 10/11/2017 surgery date. Every doctor is different. My nutritionist and doctor have me eating no more than two ounces three times per day. Ex: breakfast...one egg 1 oz and 1 oz turkey sausage. Lunch 1oz of deli sliced turkey 1oz of veg...carrots or green beans. Dinner 1 oz cod and 1oz cooked spinach...snacks ....2oz Greek yogurt and laughing cow cheese.....most of the time I️ have to still add in one protein shake. Sometimes two..... my team told me no starches until I’m at my goal weight. That includes beans, nuts..etc so I’m suppose to be eating on a daily basis 60 to 80 of protein and no more than 45 to 50 carbs... most of my carbs come from Gatorade, G2 and sugar free popsicles. Also, I️ use an app called net diary and I️ scan everything I️ eat. Also, I️ weigh and measure everything and put it in 1 and 2 oz containers... hope this helps.....

I was on broths post surgery for 1 week. After that, i got to eat soft meats (chicken, fish, turkey, tuna), yogurts, eggs, cott cheese, beans, fruit, cooked veg - not blended and whipped, just regular. This is for 2 months. Coming up on my 2 mo visit, when i get opened up to be able to eat raw veggies (ie, SALADS!,) and most other things. Only after 6 MONTHS can i eat grains, nuts, bread, rice, pasta. It all just depends on the doctor. Each ones plans are different.

Surgery on November 2, had minimal pain (the IV helped), Slept for hours post surgery, had to stay an extra day to adjust insulin and medications. I am feeling great, no pain, sipping warm tea, decaf coffee, and water all day. Protein shakes, cottage cheese (small bites at a time)' yogurt. Staying moving as much as I can. This is going well for me. I feel like the weight of the world has lifted off my shoulders. Been a long time coming and prepping, and now it's real. My decision for surgery was for health, with diabetes, high blood pressure, and arthritis in my hips. My hope for the future is to get mobility back and get healthy.

I had 8th too. Home as well a couple hours now. I am getting the worse cramps in my gut. It's like my stomache is siezing up. I've had a few sips of tea, some jello. My dr has us take a prolisec each day. You open the pill and mix the beads with a bit of applesauce or yogurt and swallow. Well since I did that, my sleeve is cramping up even more.Does this ever go away? I'm prett miserable.

At 3 weeks out, I was mostly drinking a lot of milk and protein kefir, eating yogurt and cottage cheese, and I think I started on thinned refried beans and split pea soup. Everything had to be completely smooth and runny. Not sure what you mean by "disappointed".. but this early, it's all about getting your fluids and protein in a smooth, non-irritating texture.. no worries about enjoying your food.