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I was doing yogurt for 3 days before surgery, I hardly ate anything. Didn't eat anything at all the night before my surgery.

I am on day 9 of a 20 day preop diet consisting of protein shakes, cottage cheese, yogurt, broth, and SF jello and popsicles. I've lost 13 lbs which is great. I'm trying really hard not to complain because it could be worse and I could be on full liquids or only protein drinks, but...I'm on burnout. I'd kill for just a salad, a cucumber, something with substance and crunch! In November, I kicked a 15 year habit of smoking cold turkey. During that time I munched on baby pickles when I got a craving for one. When I traveled I ate sunflower seeds. I thought i was over it, but now that I can have very little I want a cigeratte, a big Dr Pepper, and the right side of the menu from the burger place down the street! (ok, i really want the whole menu) I don't know why today is so hard, but I've just stayed in bed and slept since yesterday afternoon. I'm fighting caffine, nicotine, and every food craving imaginable. Any suggestions? How did you make it through?

I have Celiac and was sleeved 11 months ago. One of my favorite foods is Subway????. I order a turkey sub without the bread. They put it in a salad bowl for me and I eat it with a knife & fork. Greek yogurt, string cheese and turkey bites are a staple for me. I don't eat bread at all, even gluten free. Doesn't go down or sit well????

This morning for breakfast I actually took EAS carb control protein shake (strawberry cream), 4 strawberries 1/2 banana, 1 cup strawberry Greek yogurt and 4 ice cubes and blended it, I must say it was rather delicious!

Hello everyone - well, I'm 3 weeks out as of yesterday, and tomorrow or the next day Ramadan will start. Will anyone be fasting? Are there any issues in it? The doctor was fine with fasting and actually said that this Ramadan would be my easiest. I was too out of it to ask any questions... I know that I'm going to face a huge reduction in Water and Protein - and the problem is that I'm still healing. It takes me forever to finish a bottle of water or drink a cup of Soup. The maximum I'd be able to force down over a 24 hour period would be 2-3 cups of water, some hummous or skimmed yogurt, and a Protein shake. Will this be enough for me? I'm already dehydrated. Please help - suggestions please!

My post op instructions were to use milk of magnesia if needed. I never needed it then. At 6 weeks I added an iron supplement as instructed by my nutritionist. ( two flintstone chewables). Now I mix 1/2 capful miralax into my morning Greek yogurt 2 to 3 days a week and that keeps me at a bm every other day. My doctor said it was best to just dose it to achieve regularity and didn't need it every day.

I am so glad that you are feeling so much better and that your body is adjusting. I'm doing a lot better these days myself. I actually am beginning to experience some constipation. I began taking a liquid supplement by Bluebonnet called Calcium Magnesium Citrate Plus Vitamin D3. It helps me tremendously by keeping me regular and soft. I take it every evening along with my evening Vitamins and medications. I have progressed to solid foods and have found that some things don't agree with me as the once did. I used to love Peanut Butter. I have found that now it's too sweet and too oily. I can't stomach red meats either. Carbmaster has a new low carb smoothie that I tried today and it didn't sit well. I think the smoothie was too thick. I can still eat Carbmaster low carb yogurt with a scoop of added Protein. As of this past Monday 29AUG16 I started going back to the YMCA so I could swim in the early mornings. Well.. I started off doing Water aerobics for thirty minutes and swimming for ten minutes before I got tired. I have been going every day this week and have been increasing my endurance. I now do water aerobics for twenty minutes and swim for twenty minutes. When I get cleared by the surgeon I will begin to add some light weight lifting on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday so I wont loose all on my fat free muscle mass. I will see him in two more weeks. I must say that my weight loss has been considerably slower. My surgeon had prepared me by informing me that the weight loss would be slower than before. I just need to relax and let the process work no matter how long it takes. I'm not competing with anyone just my preconceived ideas of how this should work for me. I'm glad that you did read my response and know that I am here if you need me. Truthfully I need as much support as I can get especially since this is a revision and I am deathly afraid of failing!!. So please keep me posted of your progress as well. I really appreciate knowing that there is someone else on this board who has a similar background as I do. I don't feel so alone anymore. Thanks

Hi everyone.. I was sleeved on the 24th as well.. Im down 27 pounds.. That includes 2 weeks pre-op.. I have been on puréed foods since Thursday and will stay on that for two weeks.. I kinda think I am having a stall.. I haven't lost in two days infact, I gained 1.5.. So, trying not to get discouraged.. However, I'm not getting all of my protein in.. So I'm working harder on that and hopefully it will send me back to losing.. As for what I'm eating.... Soups, pudding, yogurt and Popsicles.. Ready for the next phase.. Some days are soooo hard!!!!

Thank you so much for this article. I needed to read this. I have been enjoying my WLS portions of watermelon, strawberries, grapes, blueberries and kiwi. I've been making smoothies paired with greek yogurt, Kale or Baby spinach and although I've not had any stalls in my weight loss yet, I often wonder would I do better without it? Listening to so many others in the community with their take on what we should and should not eat I have to cipher through the nonsense and do what makes sense. I will continue to enjoy my faithful 3-4 servings of fruit daily. Thank you again!!!

I don't do much different than what was listed above - I've been fortunate to be able to reach my daily protein, liquid and vitamin goals since pre-op Week 1. I still have a protein shake each day (but I have fun with the blender and recipes!), and focus on protein I can handle at this stage - Greek yogurt (only the flavored ones - that unflavored stuff is nasty to me), fat free refried beans with lowfat cheese, turkey chili (blended), various Campbell's Healthy Request soups (blended), etc. When I grocery shop now, I look for higher protein foods that I know I can handle. I'm still in the "puree" stage and found that food still needs to taste GOOD for me to want to eat it!

In order to continue to drop weight you need to remain at 600-800 calories a day. I feel like thats the most important thing to keep losing. All those calories should come mostly from protein.Eggs,fish,steak,ground beef,lentil,beans,shrimp,greek yogurt ,cottage cheese and cheese sticks. You need 75 or more grams of protein a day also important. Drink 64 or more ounces of water a day. When I dont drink water my weight stalls, I think because the body cant remove waste without enough.Take your vitamins daily to keep energy levels up. Try to exercise 3-5 days a week. Measure your food and blog it in myfitnesspal.com. It allows you to see daily protein intake ,calories,carbs etc..Measuring cups,spoons and a scale are also very helpful. Good luck on your journey

Fruit and yogurt have carbs and carbs are stored in the liver. The goal of the pre-op diet is to shrink the liver/burn all the stored carbs in your liver. My pre-op diet was basically Adkins phase 1 (high protein, very low carb).

My yogurt shop has one yogurt on hand that is mainly for diabetics, its sugar free, and its pretty darn good, they rotate the flavor so you can try different tastes.

Thanks for the welcome Kaninag. I went back and read a lot of the old posts and I am now beginning to feel like I know some of you. I am looking forward to getting support/advice from all of you that are ahead of me. Someday, maybe we can meet at group. Have a safe day. I have a question: I am on full-liquids and can have yogurt w/o chucks. My poor hubby has brought home two different kinds. The yoplait smooth is nice but way too high in everything. The other is okay on the label but it is so bitter! Could someone just tell me a brandname of plain yogurt to buy? I hate to keep buying it and can't eat it or won't eat it. I love yogurt and think it will probably save me often when the going gets tough or something.

I need some help here! :eek: I am not looking for sympathy, coddling, lectures or criticism, only serious ideas/suggestions that I can apply to my life to get me back on track. I've seen from reading the boards that a lot of ladies on here are nurses so they can probably best understand my situation and give me solid feedback because I'm sure they've been there, but I'm open to all ideas, from everyone. This may be somewhat scattered, so please bear with me... I'm having several problems adjusting the band to fit my lifestyle right now due to my schedule/job. So I guess a little background first would be good... I work in a busy ER. I work 12 hour night shifts 7pm-7am. I work a stretch of 7 days on, 7 days off. Which equals out to roughly 84 hours in one week, give or take. I am not a nurse (yet...working on that part now) but the Unit Secretary (or HUC depending on where you work). Which means I'm pretty much chained to my desk my entire shift, save for the times I volunteer to run errands in an attempt to get in some movement :biggrin: and my ten minutes sometime between midnight and 3 am where I grab my dinner out of them fridge, heat it up and use the restroom while I'm waiting. I'm probably making this sound horrible, but in reality, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my job. :sneaky: My weeks off are fine. I've got a good routine going and feel like a normal human. Most my weightloss happens during this time. :biggrin: My weeks on are a completely different story...:biggrin: Working out is a challenge. When I work out in the morning, it amps me up and I have a horrible time winding back down to be able to go to sleep...which is already hard enough during the day. Trying to wake up to work out in the afternoon and get to work on time is craziness because I'm exhausted from poor sleep quality/fried nerves/stress/etc (especially towards the end of my week), my mornings are everyone else's evenings so the gym is packed, traffic is horrible, etc. (Sounds like a lot of empty excuses, even as I'm typing it, but please bear with me here, because it's my reality). :biggrin: As I've stated before, I try to get up and move around as much as possible...answering call lights, running errands ( getting ffp from lab, running paper work to registration, getting the charts from our fast track instead of waiting for them to be dropped off, etc.), asking to go on walks on the rare occasions we're not busy or I'm not needed, etc. but a lot of times we're too busy and I simply don't have time or am not able to leave the desk because everyone else is busy and I'm the only one at the nurse's station. I'm also wondering how people manage to chew properly that have jobs such as mine. :blushing: My phone rings constantly and my desk is always covered in charts, so if I don't make quick work of getting my food in my belly and out of my mouth/off my desk, it becomes a problem rather quickly. As a result, I'm inhaling food and getting overfull. I spend the majority of the last few hours of my night feel nauseous and have come dangerously close to PBing several times. This isn't a huge problem now as I haven't had a fill yet, but I know it will be once I do and I'd rather just get things figured out and form good habits now. Maybe sticking to soft foods such as yogurt/soup? Or just having a Protein shake for my work meal? I'm just worried about relying too heavily on slider foods because as those of you who work in these enviroments know, there's a constant supply of candy/snacks/other unhealthy garbage available for grazing to keep energy up and keep you awake since no one knows when/if they may get the chance to stop and eat and I don't want to not feel full enough and fall back into that bad, bad habit. :biggrin: Also, since I pretty much do nothing but work and sleep during my week on, I basically have 12 hours to get in all my protein and Water...which are all spent at work. Water is not as hard. I don't always manage to get it all in, but I bring 2 1 liter bottles with me everyday and sip constantly; the protein is much tougher. The way I have been structuring my day goes something like this: 5pm-6pm (depending on when I feel awake enough to get up) Breakfast 12am-3am (depending on when I get time to eat at work) lunch 7:45am-8:30am (depending on when I get home for the day) Dinner Then immediately after that, bed. Repeat x7 days...well 6 because on my last day I stay up until roughly 7pm (or whenever I pass out from sheer exhaustion, but it's usually about 24 hours) to reset myself so I can be awake during the day and function like a normal person on my week off. :cursing: I'm pretty sure this is not the greatest approach.:biggrin: (The eating right before bed thing, not the staying up...that, I can live with. lol) So that's where I am. Have to say I'm not loving it. Love my job, my life is great, just a little (ok, incredibly) frustrated when I don't see the scale move for 2 weeks out of the month because of my schedule. Would greatly appreciate useful feedback on how to make this band work for me amidst the chaos.

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for your replies and give a little update. You all had great suggestions and I've been trying them over the past couple weeks to see what works and what doesn't. I am now taking more slider/convenience foods with me to work and taking sort of a grazing approach to eating my work meals. A lot of yogurt, crackers and cheese, Protein shakes, etc instead of actual meals. I do still keep a couple lean cuisines in the work freezer or run to the cafeteria for a salad if we're slow and I have time for dinner. Thank God summer is over so we seem to be slowing down some now that motorcycles, ATV's, boats, etc are being put away for the year! My hospital also has a contract with WW and nearly everyone I work with signed up at some point over the past year and has been following the plan. I resisted for as long as possible thinking my band would be enough, but maybe it's not. I still have to learn to eat healthy and stick to a proper diet, right? So I signed up for that yeterday and will actually start next week after I see my doc for my apt on Monday. I talked it over with her beforehand and she wants to take some points away and tailor the program a bit to fit my band. Hopefully I can also talk her into a fill because I'm in desperate need of some restriction!!! As far as excercising goes...special thanks to Lori Ann for understanding where I'm coming from since it seems we live a similar lifestyle. I too have decided to stop the insanity and just accept my limitations. No more trying to work out on my weeks on, then being stressed if it doesn't work out right, then beating myself up about it. ENOUGH! In a perfect world, I'd be working out everyday for an hour or so reguardless of what else was going on. Turns out we don't live in a perfect world, and understanding that has made my life so much easier and less stressful! That being said, I have teamed up with some people I work with and am doing the couch to 5k program...as time and my schedule permits...and am shooting for our local Icebreaker 5k at the end of April. It'll be my first one and I'm super excited...if not a little terrified...about it! Also, another coworker and I have gotten into the Zumba craze and ordered the dvd's online. That starts next week when she gets back from Portland. Hopefully the combination of all these things will help. I've been super frustrated lately with the fact that although people keep noticing and commenting on my weightloss, my scale is still stalled and I haven't been able to move down a clothes size yet. (in jeans anyway) Soon though, hopefully very soon!

My surgeon gave me a book with all the information I would need. The day before surgery liquid diet has to be clear liquids. water coffee tea apple juice, grape juice, cranberry juice, bouillion broth, clear popsicles, soda and gelatin After mid nite no food or drink. Stomach has to be empty for surgery. one week after surgery still clear liquids. sugar free jello can be included. second week after surgery Full liquids milk, milk products, or one special protein drink carnation instant breakfast, no sugar added tomato soup plain yogurt Every surgeon requires different things for their patients. I shared my surgeon liquid diet. Sip on 64 oz of water also daily. Please do talk to your surgeon. I am sure its not too much diffence.

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.

Celery and Peanut Butter I also do popsicle apples and Carmel low fat yogurt juan phone

Greek yogurt and string cheese

I had Bariatric Advantage banana w light strawberry yogurt for Breakfast, Water then potato's I couldn't eat. Water. chocolate for dinner. Then more lovely water. There's 27 grams in a serving. Working third right now so water water. Hoping uping fluids will help Sent from my 5054N using the BariatricPal App

It amazes me how everyone is given different guidelines....for me I was given for weeks 1-3 I'm allowed...geek yogurt, applesauce, sf pudding, sf jello, sf popsicles, scrambled eggs, peanut butter, oatmeal (thinned out), cream of wheat, refriedbeans, melted cheese, puréed meats, and strained soups, mashed potatoes...I'm sure I'm missing something but is that strange?

I know you did! But when she flopped it out there....I couldn't help it! Then Lisa wasn't there...so I got Dr. Miles and the nurse told me "Your gonna need the numbing medicine - he hasn't done many fills". Why would you want to tell a first timer that???? Just to FREAK me out even more! LOL.... I do have a question for you guys...since my fill I have been able to eat like before (solids) but just smaller amounts. Ok that's good...but today I have developed a pain in the middle of my chest, right below where my breast bone ends ~ like the hernia spot. Any clue as to why??? I have been munching on yogurt and it is coming and going....even took Gas X

So I made my first ever smoothie today. Used some unflavored Protein powder (and, no, I can't taste it), Fage 2% Greek yogurt (I know why it's a substitute for sour cream), blueberries, milk, ice. I think I needed to use more ice or milk or add some Water to it. Smoothie is good - but really thick - like normal yogurt. However, I really can taste the sourness of the Greek yogurt. I know others have sweetened it with SF syrups. However, before I buy big bottles of this stuff, I was wanting to try them to see if there are any flavors that I won't like. Does anyone know of where I can get samples of the SF syrups? Thanks.

How about a papaya shake, with yogurt and papaya and ff milk blended into a liquid? Years ago my surgeon recommended this after a surgery (not WLS), to promote healing. It worked for me.