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I think the #1 basic guideline for me is to get to my green zone and stay there. Some of my other basics: -Know my full signals and stop eating -Stay busy when head hunger sets in (sewing, crafts, cleaning house...) - Stay away from fast food - Stick with fat free or sugar free the best I can -Take my vits. -Try to drink fluids between meals. I like iced tea and coffee, and sometimes water. I do not measure and am sure it's not 64oz a day. -I drink a yogurt smoothie with protein powder every weekend (used to more often) -Try to eat a variety each day. Sometimes this is not easy because I do still never eat bread, pasta, rice, dense meats, eggs, fried foods....... -Weigh several times a week to make sure my weight does not creep up too much and then modify as needed. -I ate quite a bit of chili in my weightloss phase to get in protein. Not large amounts, just small amounts often. -I do not think of this "diet" or lap-band as a punishment

Here's the basic list: Water Broth Jell-O Decaf tea Decaf coffee Sugar free Popsicles Sugar free drinks that are not carbonated (This list was taken from the obesitycoverage.com website), but it also reflects what I've read on many, many posts here. For the sugar-free drinks, try Crystal Light for flavoring. I think you can also have protein water during this phase . . . otherwise, only the broth has any protein, I think. At any rate, as soon as you move to the full liquid diet, it adds quite a bit--protein shakes, sugar-free pudding, cream soups, nonfat yogurt, and so on.

My doc has me on soft foods for a month. Cream of wheat, yogurt, soup, tuna salad, cottage cheese, etc.

I was sleeved on 10/17. Every protein shake and powder gave me issues. And Just couldn't deal with them. In the hospital I wasn't going to be calling for a nurse for diarrhea and be caught without their attention. At home I just didn't want to deal either. I would attempt to do a smoothie every other day with frozen vanilla yogurt, Greek yogurt, mango ice, (allergic to bananas) and V-Core vanilla bean protein powder, 1/2 scoop gives 15 g protein. By the time I was done, a 4oz glass was about 20-25g protein, and I could probably not have any issues if like I said I did this every other day. On pureed now.

I use Genepro Medical Grade Protein powder. I bought it on Amazon.. $30 or $40 , don’t recall, but it has 30 servings in it. Each scoop is approx 30g protein (same as 1 premiere shake) I use a scoop of it and put it in my broth. It has NO taste. Once I move on to more foods I will add it to my yogurt, cottage cheese, anything. When you use it, to avoid clumping, I mix the protein powder in a few oz of liquid first. Mix it well to get rid of any clumps then I add it to my larger portion. I tried it as a recommendation on here from someone else. It works great for me!

I dislike the taste of plain nonfat Greek yogurt, but when I add a liberal amount of Lawry's chili-lime seasoning to it, it makes a tasty enough dip for celery sticks.

I had surgery June 13th. I went into the surgeons office because my incisions weren't looking good to me. Not only were my incisions ok I weighed. I went from 330 June 13th to 317 today! Feeling good about the weight loss but I did find out I'm eating too much yogurt!

Surgeon wants me to get back down from 700-800 calories to only 600 per day. Sooooo I'm trying even though I feel better eating at 700-800 daily. you know what? Ever! 3 months out: B - Fage Greek yogurt and three strawberries S - coffee with cream L - 2 oz chicken with sauteed mushrooms S - string cheese and 5 special k crisps D - Fish or chicken of some sort (going out) vites- Done! water- working it! exercise- going to see Rock of Ages so I'm exercising my right to be entertained... I hope!

Happy FAT Tuesday! I think it is a Party day! YAY!!! Ok going to not party today and save it for after Lent is over and the weather is warm and we can party outside! So on the menu for today! B- Protein shake (powder, 2% milk, 1/2 banana Keira ate the other half, SF caramel syrup and some PB) L- 2.5 oz of that lovely shrimp S- yogurt or some pretzel crisps what ever strikes my mood D- not sure what mom will cook, last night it was spinach ravioli and i ate 3 of them! YUMMY! vites are in Water is half done! YAY ME! exercise is going to be a walk later on break NEXT>>>>

Oh, I forgot to answer the question about meal planning. I don't really do that. I should. I have every intention to but I'm a procrastinator and I leave everything to the last minute. I wish I could be like those people who prepare their meals on Sunday and freeze them...but I never do. I just try to make sure that I have things available that I can eat. I make sure we have plenty of beef Jerky, cheese, lean meats, eggs, tuna, chicken, cheese, yogurt, etc. so that when it's time for me to eat, I have good choices. Lately, I've been eating pork rinds as a snack. The BBQ ones that I buy have 80 calories, 8 grams of Protein, and 0 carbs per 1/2 ounce serving....and I can eat the whole serving...so, to me, that's a great snack and it satisfies my craving for chips, and crunch!

You look amazing. Very happy for you. I am one week post-op and have been using the sample they gave me at the nutrition class. 1/4 cup of chobani plain yogurt with 1/4 scoop of Syntrax Nectar nets 11.5 grams of protein. Is not the best tasting thing I've ever eaten but not horrible. I have tried it with 2 favors so far. I haven't really tried much of the Unjury brand yet, but did spend some time on their website yesterday, and am thinking I will probably be ordering a container of unflavored. Seems you can add some to a lot of different foods without altering the taste/texture too much. Haven't tested that one out yet. Although I did just make a batch of jello with their protein powder added. Haven't tried it yet. I'll see how that goes. I'm hoping I like it. Seems if I can add a little here and a little there throughout my day it'll help. Each scoops is 23 grams of protein, so a sprinkle here a sprinkle there will add up. I HOPE. lol sounds good in theory but putting it to practice, well we'll just see. I can see me now, I'm going to be like one of those ladies you see pulling packets of sweet 'n low out of their bags, except for me it'll be protein powder . Haha Wish me luck

Thank you thank you thank you. I'm still on my third week so I will def try them... I'm tired of yogurts haha

Revs! Good news on the sleep! I'm glad you found a fix until this sorts itself out. Yes food choices, I'd keep it a bit bland for now. your stomach sounds like it's just not ready for much yet... I raise my yogurty spoon to yours in a show of solidarity! (Yes I'm eating yogurt)

I have to do a 2 week liquid diet. I did one week then my surgery was canceled bc of a sinus infection. It was very hard! I like the " oh yeah " protein drinks. They are good. The vanilla and chocolate so I bought a case of them on amazon it was cheapest there. I can also do broth, cream based low fat soups and blend out so there's no chunks and they were good too. I also had the sf jello which wasn't so bad but I didn't like the sf Popsicles. I did make a smoothie of low fat yogurt low fat milk a banana and a scoop of vanilla protein. Blended it up and it was good too. Hope this post helps some.

Ok, I went back and looked at my food log. I was between 600 and 700 calories (closer to 700 most days) at that stage. I was drinking 2 Premier Protein drinks per day at that stage and then filling in the other meals with a couple of tablespoons of hummus or 1/4 cup (or less) of refried Beans with 1 tbsp. of lowfat cheddar melted on top or 1 ounce (weighed) of deli turkey with a Laughing Cow Light cheese wedge or 1 egg white scrambled with a little cheese or 1/2 container of Greek Yogurt (I like Dannon Light & Fit Greek strawberry Cheesecake or Key Lime) mixed w/ 1/2 scoop of Protein powder (I use Precision Engineered whey Protein Isolate vanilla - also love the chocolate) or Ricotta Bake from theworldaccordingtoeggface.com. At this point I was still having some broth and/or sugar free popsicles if I thought I wanted something else. You will find in the beginning that you will repeat a lot of meals. At least I did. You have to add in foods so slowly so when something works for you and you eat so little of it, you tend to eat it again for a week or so. I stayed at 700-800 calories for the first 6 months or so then transitioned to 800-900 for a month or two then 900-1000 and now 1000-1100. I sometimes have 1200 but find I don't lose at 1200 so I am trying to transition back to 1100 max until goal. Hope that helps!

cheese a few almonds or cashews sometimes some grapes but not to many due to the sugar and I try to be as sugar free as possible a yogurt but generally I have a yogurt for lunch but if I'm low on Protein I may have an extra one A Protein Bar some low carb crackers with cream cheese Sent from my iPhone

306lbs., 09/11/14. 175 lbs., 03/11/16. yea! but, i current exhibit what seems like "morning sickness" all day until i can pass all the gas and clear the bowels. i am having difficulty drinking Water, and the mere sight of any food makes me want to puke. i'm also fatigued, lack much strength, suffer from depression. i found a frozen fruit/veggie bar (strawberry/rhubarb) that i can tolerate, half at a time; or a dollop of yogurt with slice banana/strawberry is of comfort. anyone else have anything like this?

Hi all, I am ten days out from VSG. My first eight days I had a tight feeling at the top of my stomach. Not hungry, but when I had something (even water) I would take a sip or little spoonful and have to wait 5-15 minutes before I could even THINK of having another. All was well. I had some nausea and discomfort but it was liveable. Day 8 was the most comfortable for me, I could even lay on my left side pretty well. I didn't take any pain meds that day. I made a poor decision and smoked a little bit of marijuana with a friend. Just a bit. And all of a sudden, that super tight, super full feeling is GONE. I am able to comfortably have a few decent sips of Water at a time. Instead of maybe 3 little baby spoons of yogurt in a time period, I was able to manage five. Did I mess up, because the restrictive feeling is gone? Am I okay? Is that supposed to happen anyway? Is that normal just in general for it to just go? Along with these things I've also found my nausea and acid reflux to be much less severe.... But still worried.... Did I really do something wrong, or is it just odd timing of a natural process? Is it normal this far out to be able to do these things? If you're going to be negative and not nice, just don't say anything. I'm not looking for you opinion on pot, either, please. To each their own. I did what I did and if I really messed up then I have to live with that... But maybe I didn't and one of you could have answers for me.

I make my own cheesy sauce that is great with pasta or veggies like broccoli. I do not use the processed products, as I don't think they taste that good, they are expensive, and I try not to use processed food products as a rule. To make a cheesy like sauce, I soak cashews for 30 to 60 minutes in hot water. Then I put them in the blender with a cooked yellow potato, soy milk, a small avocado, and sometimes some tofu.. Add a good amount of nutritional yeast and some miso paste, pepper to taste. Blend until smooth. The avocado taste does NOT come through, but the fat makes it "creamier." I will admit that the Beyond Beef burgers are pretty tasty. I might have one of those once a month or so, but not often. My protein comes from a wide variety of legumes, nuts, seeds, whole grains, tofu, tempeh, soy milk/yogurt or Nancy's Oatmilk yogurt which is pretty high in protein. I easily get 60 grams a day. Sometimes I will add a half scoop of protein powder to a smoothie or yogurt bowl.

I went for my one week postop visit today. I am acting exactly like a sleeve patient being miserable the first week or so. He wasn't happy at how weak I was and told me to drink fruit juice or yogurt smoothie to get sugar into me. He was surprised I was able to drink a protein drink. He said I looked a lot better compared to the hospital. The reason for not being able to take deep breaths is because he had to cut the muscle a little bit deeper where the port was to get the band out, very little scar tissue and bruised like you know what! He said I could start blended food for a week then try soft foods and see how it goes. I really liked him. I gave him hell and he laughed. Plus another week off of work! Good. I've had a hard time with this. Ask me anything.

Hi Everyone, Why to first month is so difficult. You are about to change everything you know about eating and your body. Your brain for all of you life has been used to you eating almost anything you wanted and large amounts of food. I never stopped and gave this much thought, when I wanted to have WLS. All I was thinking was about getting the fat off my body and feeling healthy again. I spent a lot of year being fat and this was my chance to change the roller coaster of losing the weight and regaining it again. So for me I had to spend the first 10 days having nothing but Clear liquids. I could only have about a ¼ of a cup of anything when it was time to eat. I felt pretty good, but this first 10 days were the worst. There are only some many clear liquids. I had various kinds of broth—chicken was my favorite. I had Jello, white grape juice, apple juice, Water with Crystal Light, decaf tea—Earl Gray and my life saver was sugar free all natural fruit popsicles. If my stomach felt quizy this really seemed to clam it. I had problems finding a Protein Drink that was clear that I liked. I since have found some. They are made by Syntrax and they are called Nectar—all kinds of flavors that can be mixed with water. It is very important that you try to get some protein the first 10 days. These first 10 days are difficult because my brain is screaming at me “I am hungry.” We call these head games because your brain is trying to control you. Your brain can play some mean and ugly games with your mind and what you are thinking. You are NOT hungry; you are getting what you need for these 1st 10 days. You NEED to give your new stomach time to heal and that is why you need to follow exactly what they tell you to eat. The next 10 days is so much better. 10 days of nothing but creamy foods. I thought I was in heaven when I got to this stage. I could have my favorite Protein Drink. I love Premier Protein Drink—I get mine at costco. I have since found 2 other Protein drinks made by Syntrax that I also love—Mint Cookie and banana Cream. I could have cottage cheese, sugar pudding, yogurt, and creamy Soups. Some Creamy style Peanut Butter. I still could also have any of the clear liquids I was having before. Remember you are only going to be able to eat about 2 oz. of anything when you eat. Your new stomach can now only hold food about the size of your thumb. The next 10 days are getting a little better. It is 10 days of mushy food. I found this stage a little harder, but I became a little creative. I took some home made chicken Soup and put it in the blender, veggies worked great to make mushy, sweet potato was great instead of a regular potato. I also had applesauce at this point too. I tried to watch my carbs too—no more than 20 carbs per day. I always made sure I had my protein drinks at least 2 per day. I was told to have at least 70 grams of protein per day. Premier Protein had 30 grams per drink box. Another challenge I had was drinking enough water and getting the Protein Drinks down too. It felt like I was always sipping and drinking something. This is just what you have to do. Eating is like having a job and you have to do the best you can to get everything inside your body that you need. I had problems swallowing my medication during this time. I learned to smash the meds up into a power with a mortar and then mixed the powered medication with applesauce and that is how I took my meds. You may have problems with constipation too. I use 1 cap full of Miralax everyday in the morning. I put 1 cap full in with my Protein Drink and mix it in my Magic Bullet. I still use Miralax all the time. It is not habit forming and helps because we eat a lot of protein and that causes the constipation. Remember there is a reason you need to follow the diet that your doctor has given you. Different doctors have different things they may want you to be eating. These were what my doctor had me do. If you have any questions please feel free to ask me. Suzanne Sleeved 10/28/2008 Lost 105 lbs.

My surgeon's plan doesnt do puree until 3 weeks and IMO that was a good pace. As far as foods Canned chicken or tuna or hard boiled eggs with kraft fat free mayo ran through a food processor until there were no chunks left and a smooth consistency, Add some mustard if you like it as well as some seasoning to flavor it up. Its actually pretty good. I was surprised One of my other favorites was Fat Free Refried Beans with a little plain salsa mixed in. Some people say you can add some plain greek yogurt too but I never tried it. Some people mentioned being constantly hungry. I personally did not have any hunger the first 2 months, you may want to look at what you are eating. If it is high in carbs, that may be what is causing you to be hungry all the time.

Almond milk has very low Protein in it. Use soy if you are having trouble getting enough protein! I use almond milk occasionally now (3 months post op) but when I do I'm using Greek yogurt and a scoop of Protein powder with it in my shake. So I "fix" the low protein aspect of the almond milk. Sent from my iPad using VST

Gross subject, I know! But I have not been able to have a bowel movement since the night before surgery which was on Tuesday night (12/17), so 5 days. At what point do I worry about this? I was not allowed any foods at all on 12/17 (only liquids) or the day of the surgery which was 12/18 and I didn't get my first sip of Water until 12/19 and later that night I was given a chocolate Protein shake. Since that time I have been drinking 2 Protein shakes a day, plus water and about 1/4 cup of low fat yogurt. I haven't been very gassy either and not peeing much.

I am days away from my six month surgiversary. The only carbs I get are from dairy (yogurt and cottage cheese), veggies, fruit (in my smoothies) and the occasional piece of flatbread/cracker or melba toast with cheese. On special occaisions, I may have 1-2 T of rice or mashed potatoes. I also have indulged in fried hushpuppies once in six months (just a couple). I do not eat white carbs (rice, noodles or bread(white or wheat)). Carbs are what I ate mindlessly before - I would anesthesize myself with them. It is better for me to stay away from them.