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My surgery was Aug 27th. I was 350 day of surgery and now I'm at a standstill at 265. Before I could only eat 6oz. The size of a yogurt cup. Recently I increased going to the gym and am now Gibson.g myself so hungry. Today I had soup and then lunch was 3 inches of a turkey hoagie. All low fat. But not even an hour later my stomach was growling so bad and I was hungry again so I ate the other 3" of the hoagie. I'm not supposed to track calories but I am supposed to track portions. Am I eating to much??? Is there anyone else hungry like me? And how about going to the gym, is anyone really hungry afterwards?

Your weight loss surgery diet takes a lot of work. You need to measure your portions, focus on protein, and think about every bite that goes into your mouth. There may be days when you run out of time or are sick of worrying about everything. That’s when you turn to your freezer. Nope, you’re not about to desperately dig into a carton of Haagen-Dazs. You’re reaching for a pre-portioned meal or snack that is high enough in protein and low enough in calories to fit into your diet. A frozen meal or snack may not quite be a locally grown, organic, freshly made gourmet meal, but it sure beats the alternative if the alternative is opening a bag of chips or ordering a pizza. If you like having frozen meals around, these are some good ones to consider. What better time than now to think about your freezer, since March is National Frozen Foods Month? These suggestions are good sources of protein and not too high in calories. Heat and Eat You’re on your way home from work, you’re exhausted, and you’re starving. Is it time for you to swing by the Chinese or restaurant on your street for some take-out? No, because you don’t have thousands of calories to play with. Plus, you know you have some good choices in your freezer that are just a few minutes away from being ready to eat. At least, you do if you’ve stocked up your freezer! Read labels carefully when shopping for frozen meals. Check not only the protein and calorie content, but also the serving sizes. Some meals, especially pizzas, seem like they’re for one person, when they really have three or more servings. Lean Cuisine, Weight Watchers Smart Ones, Michelina’s Lean Gourmet, and Amy’s Kitchen have frozen meals you can work with. Keep some in your freezer at home, and, if you can, stash a few at work to have for lunch. They sure beat opting into your coworkers’ group order for Italian subs and potato chips. Here are some frozen meals with at least 10 to 15 grams of protein and no more than 250 calories. Lean Cuisine Steak Tips Portabello with 15 grams of protein, 150 calories, and 14 grams of carbohydrates. Lean Cuisine Herb Roasted Chicken with 16 grams of protein, 180 calories, and 5 grams of fiber. Lean Cuisine Roasted Turkey and Vegetables, with 16 grams of protein and 200 calories. Lean Cuisine Cheese and Tomato Snack Pizza with 10 grams of protein and 180 calories. Lean Cuisine Pepperoni Snack Pizza with 12 grams of protein and 210 calories. Michelina’s Lean Gourmet Salisbury Steak with 10 grams of protein and 180 calories. Michelina’s Lean Gourmet Shrimp with Pasta and Vegetables with 11 grams of protein and 240 calories. Michelina’s Lean Gourmet Baked Pepperoni Pizza Snacks with 11 grams of protein and 250 calories Weight Watchers Smart Ones Chicken Quesadilla with 170 calories and 12 grams of protein. Weight Watchers Smart Ones Spicy Szechuan Style Vegetable and Chicken with 240 calories and 11 grams of protein. Weight Watchers Smart Ones Chicken Santa Fe with 160 calories and 19 grams of protein. Amy’s Kitchen Light and Lean Swedish Meatballs with 260 calories and 12 grams of protein. Amy’s Kitchen Light and Lean Quinoa and Black Beans with Butternut Squash and Chard with 240 calories, 10 grams of protein, and 11 grams of fiber. Start Your Day Off Right Okay, what would be the ideal breakfast on your weight loss surgery diet? Maybe an omelet made with baby spinach and mushrooms and low-fat feta cheese? Cottage cheese protein pancakes served with freshly cut fruit? Nice, but you probably can’t make these kinds of breakfasts every day. If you’re going to talk about being too rushed to cook healthy homemade meals, you have to mention breakfast! Most of us just don’t have time to cook a hot, high-protein breakfast. Frozen meals can do the trick in a pinch. If you’re feeling ambitious, grab a piece of fruit to eat with your breakfast and up the fiber. Here are a few good choices. You can easily turn these breakfasts into grab-n-go meals by wrapping up the sandwiches or packing the other meal options into a container. Lean Cuisine Veggie Scramble 16 grams of protein and 180 calories. Lean Cuisine Turkey Sausage Scramble with 18 grams of protein and 180 calories. Weight Watchers Smart Ones English Muffin Sandwich with 210 calories and 13 grams of protein. Weight Watchers Smart Ones Three Cheese Omelet with 13 grams of protein and 200 calories. Jimmy Dean Delights Egg White with Spinach and Mozzarella Honey Wheat Flatbread with 11 grams of protein and 160 calories. Meal Minus One What else should you have in your freezer so that you’re just minutes away from a meal that fits on your weight loss surgery diet? I like to call these “Meals Minus One” because you just need to add one (or a few) ingredients to make them a meal. Here are a few ideas – but check your grocer’s freezer for other healthy varieties. Morningstar Farms Meal Starters Grillers Recipe Crumbles, with 9 grams of protein and 70 calories per half-cup. Toss with fresh or frozen veggies and – optional – top with low-fat cheese for an easy breakfast scramble. Morningstar Farms Garden Veggie Patties with 10 grams of protein and 110 calories. Stir fry with frozen stir-fry vegetable mix and teriyaki sauce. Van’s 8 Whole Grains Lite Waffles with 3 grams of protein and 65 calories for 2. Serve with nonfat Greek yogurt and fresh or frozen berries. Jimmy Dean Delights Fully Cooked Applewood Smoke Sausage Links with 120 calories and 10 grams of protein, served with 1 packet of instant oatmeal. You can have a quick, high-protein breakfast with only a little bit of imagination, and even less time and effort. A Note on Frozen Foods and Health Are frozen meals really that healthy? Aren’t they processed? Don’t they have preservatives in them? Yes, you’re right. Many frozen meals are high in sodium. They can contain added sugars, and be higher in fat that you expect. Weight Watchers Smart Ones Chicken Santa Fe, for example, has 800 milligrams of sodium or more than one-third of what you need in a day. Ideally, you could cook each meal from scratch using fresh, wholesome ingredients. That’s not possible for most people. When “perfect” isn’t possible, it’s time to look at the “next best” option. And if your choice happens to be between a Jimmy Dean Delights Maple Pancakes and Turkey Sausage Griddlers with 10 grams of protein and 240 calories and, admittedly, 12 grams of sugars, versus, say, a fast food sausage biscuit with over 500 calories and a day’s worth of saturated fat, frozen doesn’t look quite so bad. Frozen foods can bail you out those times when you just need something quick and easy. Spend some time going through the freezer section at your local supermarket so you’re not caught empty-handed when you get desperate. And this March, check the specials at the grocery store to capitalize on Frozen Foods Month.

I am 7 days post op. I have been enjoying yogurt since day three. I have had no problem with it at all. It is actually very enjoyable.

At six plus months out, I can eat 3-4 ounces of dense protein and a few bites of vegetables. That is for dinner which is the largest meal of the day. Breakfast is primarily a protein shake and lunch is leftover protein wrapped in lettuce leaves. Snacks are yogurt or protein bar, maybe some nuts or cheese.

I am using it now and am 6 days out of surgery. It's awesome. I have a tube of that which is 42g of protein then have a 23g shake and a 12g yogurt and that does it for the day. Great favors like watermelon and blue raspberry. I add 4oz of water because it is very sweet.

Curious what everyone had that was solid after surgery for food? I'm currently having shakes, yogurt, cottage cheese..but can't stop thinking about solid food! Wondering if you start bland or what others had? Sleeved 9/12/16

When I was in the soft food stage, I would eat the hummus with a little bit of greek yogurt on top for extra protein.

Haha yeah I felt that way in the beginning but just remember the full liquids are still liquids.. pudding, jello, drinkable yogurt (yogurt with milk added), etc.. I found pudding to be super delicious and filling and went down nicely and gave me a “liquid” that I could feel was like a food since I’m eating it with a spoon. Much of this is trial and error. It gets easier

@@future Mrs - First, let me be clear. I am not at all saying these are necessarily the healthiest things to be eating, but honestly they aren't too bad. It will cure your wing craving though.... Oh and just eat the dip with a fork. Tiny bites at first. I had a tough time with shredded chicken early on. Buffalo Chicken salad (apologies to the person who posted this originally - I didn't write down the name so I cannot give credit where credit is due!) Shredded chicken breast, about 9 oz. (I usually poach my own, but I've also used canned or rotisserie chicken) 2 oz. crumbled blue cheese 5.3 oz container plain Greek yogurt chopped celery/onion garlic powder/dried dill/S&P to taste Frank's Red Hot until it's at your preferred spice level (as @@Valentina said - take it easy on this until you know if you will tolerate spicy) Buffalo Chicken Hot Dip - not sure where I got this one - probably here also - I have taken this one to parties and it was a hit. No one even knew it had lower fat options in it. • 2 cups Chicken Breast, chopped • 1/2 cup Reduced Fat Blue Cheese Crumbles, crumbled • 6 oz 0% Yogurt • 8 oz Cream Cheese 1/3 Less Fat • 1 tbsp The Original Ranch Salad Dressing & Seasoning Powdered Mix • 1/2 cup Low-moisture Part-skim Sliced Mozzarella Cheese, shredded • 1/2 cup Red Hot Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce Oh also - not buffalo flavored but if you like lasagna, check out the Ricotta Bake from theworldaccordingtoeggface.com. It is to die for! Basically lasagna without noodles! http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/2007/08/pureed-foods.html

Egg drop soup was my favorite and filled me up. I also ate thin gravy, yogurt, fruit juices, bouillon cubes. Hope this helps. Good luck.

I am 7 days post op and I've been doing great with my diet of liquids but I'm curious what full feels like. I have yet to feel hunger so I am eating because I need to. I haven't eaten until I feel pain or discomfort so I'm starting to get concerned I'm not noticing it. What did full feel like to you this early on? I eat (drink rather) my broths and such very slowly and eat my Greek yogurt very slowly but I don't feel anything.

yogurt (kroger carb master, danon light smoothie/yougurt) low fat cottage cheese,apple sauce (will be hard to find sugar free bc of natural sugar) cream soups (solid pieces strained, you shouldnt be eating any chunks!) broths. Protein shakes (3 gram rule. no more than 3 grams of fat/sugar per serving) Dont exceed 4oz per meal Just because its a liquid doesnt mean you should eat it lol. Thats the list my surgeon has given me. I will have to do that for 3 weeks.

I took my heart meds the morning after my first night at the hospital. They crushed them and added them to diluted apple juice in a medicine cup. I took the Effexor later on that night at home. Don't try mixing the capsule granules with jello... Yuck, tasted terrible. Yogurt or applesauce mask the bitterness better.

The answer to this question really depends on where you are in the post op cycle. I'll give you my typical day from the 2 years post op view, but you may be looking for something more immediate. Not sure.... Breakfast - Protein oatmeal most mornings from bariwise, and of course coffee. OR iced caramel latte (small) with skim milk and sugar free syrup (but not both the oatmeal and the latte....that would be way too many carbs) Nothing between breakfast and lunch Lunch - Usually a version of a salad with grilled chicken, maybe a hard boiled egg chopped up with it for extra protein,, and a fat free dressing. I always eat the chicken off first and then have just a little room for salad after that. Something else that I like, depending on whether our cafe at work is open or not, is a scoop of chicken salad, a tiny salad, and 2 saltine crackers to scoop the chicken salad up with. Afternoon - I usually have a snack of some sort - either a snack sized protein shake, a greek yogurt, a fat free cheese stick, peanuts, etc. dinner - Usually whatever I make for my family, just in smaller portion and I eat the protein part of the meal first. If they are having Pasta, I avoid that altogether (or pizza) and saute up some shrimp with lite soy sauce. That's a quick and easy go-to single serving meal for me. I throw in a few pieces of frozen broccoli and it's delicious. Evening Snack - I try to avoid this altogether, but sometimes my family is snacking and I just can't resist. I keep sugar free popsicles, protein pudding from bariwise, peanuts, fat-free cheese stick, or sugar free Jello on hand for these kinds of cravings.

String cheese. Kashi cereal mixed with the Greek yogurt. The kashi I eat has 9g protein per serving.

this past week I had: leftover rattatouille Pasta a fresh, prepepared mexican salad - greens with an avocado dressing basically a gourtmet fruit greek yogurt (quite large) camambert and crackers leftover pork green curry Just dinner leftovers, a salad, cheese and crackers or things like rice cakes spread with avocado and a slice of low fat cheese, basic stuff.

I just started putting salsa in my cottage cheese and I really like it. Also try ricotta with some maranara sauce. I eat a ton of shrimp and I make a greek yogurt wasabi sauce which I love on my salmon too. I tend to get most of my protein from fish and cheese since I dislike meat. Just watch the calories with the cheese.

fat_free said it all. I had too much Soup, broth, and yogurt on hand, our church food pantry is stocked up now. I did great with the sugar free pudding and Jello, but your taste buds are insane.

think of the acronym HOPE. high fiber...35grams daily omega 3 2grams daily probotics...6 billion daily enzymes 1 with every meal i eat the new oatmeal that has high fiber. plus i eat a salad everday. try yogurt without sugar for probotics. flax seed oil and salmon for good fats. you can buy papaya enzymes at health food store. our bodies as we age dont make enough digestive enzymes. we need amylase to break down fats. protease and amylase for starches . check the label. the best way to get enzymes is live foods. apples and berries etc..... try to drink protein shakes. you need 60 grams of protein. if you work out a lot you need more. also my doctor, dr. romero has me take l-cartanine. an amino acid that helps to metabolize fats . drink lots of water. if you take a fiber suppliment dont use psyllium. use oat bran . all organic if you can too. i eat only when im hungry. i have to eat really slow. i eat a lot of fish and salad. i try not to eat junk , but i have had a bit of ice cream too, good luck.

Honk - Thanks for your input. I should have clarified a few things. I only use 80 cal. light yogurt and my Protein powder is 120 cal./scoop, 1 gm fat, 3 gms carbs and 24 gms protein. The cheese I use it Jarlsberg Light (50 cal./slice, 2 gm fat, 9 gms protein) or sometimes I do use the Laughing Cow Light and spread some on each slice of turkey. Dessert is usually on a Friday and/or Saturday/Sunday night, because I tend to eat less and drink more on the weekends when I'm running errands. Never more than 2 nights a week though. I also eat VERY small portions if I do have dessert. My doctor requires that I focus on protein and carbs and not so much on calories. I do buy lighter varieties of products if their carb count is not severely compromised. I'm VERY diligent about eating healthy foods. My husand and son get mad at me because I refuse allow them to live on junk food and am always looking at the nutrition info. on the products that I don't buy on a regular basis. Luckily, I've always been a healthy cook and eater and I want them to both have healthy habits as well!! I'll try and do a calorie breakdown on Fit day or something and see what my calories look like. I don't think they're very high though. I could be wrong, but I will do some calculations. Thank you for your thoughts!! I truly appreciate your response :0)

I was told the eventual goal is 3 meals per day with no Snacks. But also that everyone is a little different and if you feel you need a snack it should be healthy, choose fruits and veggies, or a yogurt or ounce of cheese. Although I'm still on post-op full liquids so I can't say what I'm doing yet!

Had my surgery on the 23rd. Everything went well. First 24 hours were a bit rough, but now I'm doing okay. Walking 2-3km everyday since Thursday, getting most of my water and protein in. Still sleeping in a recliner, but hoping in the next couple days to move back to my bed. On strained thin liquid diet for 10 days, then smoothie consistency liquids for 10 more days, then purees for the next 10. Hate every protein shake I've tried, so I've been putting unflavored protein in my soups, broths, yogurts and that's been okay. Think I really hit ketosis today because my breath is awful and the taste in my mouth is so, so bad even right after brushing my teeth. Oh, weighed myself this morning for the first time and I'm down 13.8lbs from surgery--YAY!

You are so lucky you get to have full liquids on day 2 out of surgery. I have to wait a week. The first thing I'm gonna try I think will be a cream Soup then maybe yogurt if i can handle the soup good. That's if I can have yogurt on full liquids I have to check my list. Unlike revdrkatie I don't have to get out and do anything big till Monday. I had my surgery the same as you and her. I'm wondering if you can stretch your pouch on liquids because I feel so full and bloated when I drink anything. How about you? Good luck with your recovery. ~~~Stephanie

Too tight is exactly that, TOO TIGHT. It can ultimately mean that most of the foods you should be eating get stuck so you start eating easy (slider) stuff that doesn't necessarily get you the nutrition you need! RestlessMonkey says she can eat just about anything, but in much smaller amounts than pre-band. There's a couple of things I choose not to eat (soft bread, flour tortillas) because they get stuck often enough to not be worth the trouble and I don't need the carbs anyway. I'm sorry your doctor hasn't made sure you understand this! Basically, you have it right for the most part. The band creates a smaller stomach out of the very first part of your stomach. You should be able to eat somewhere from a 1/2 cup to 1 cup of food at a meal (for me, it varies depending on what I eat .... for instance, I can eat more salad than if I ate just Protein and a vegetable). You shouldn't drink during or immediately after a meal so that you don't make the contents of your pouch prematurely empty into the lower part of your stomach. Restriction is what the band is. SATIETY is what it makes you feel. What is satiety? Satisfaction from eating. When you eat the prescribed size meal, you should feel comfortably full (not stuffed to gills) and you shouldn't feel hungry for about 4 hours or so. If you're so tight you can barely eat, then you are too tight. You can be so tight you can't even drink. If you were that tight, you'd call the doctor right away! So just remember that it's really no different if you can't really eat a meal. My doctor sais that a meal should be 3 oz of lean protein, a steamed or raw vegetable and if you are still truly hungry, to eat a single serving of a whole grain carb. At lunch, I am always still hungry, so I eat some whole grain Special K crackers. At dinner, I'm usually good with just the protein and vegetable. For Breakfast, I have been having a Protein shake just because it's convenient but I've gotten completely sick and tired of them, LOL ... and I should be! The last few days, I've been eating a serving of Greek yogurt for breakfast. It's still convenient and that's all I care about in the morning. I don't really want to have to cook a meal for breakfast. And, if you have a long stretch between lunch and dinner, as I do (I get off work at 5:30 and sometimes traffic keeps me from getting home until 7:00 or so), then you should have a small snack of pure protein. LIke a little low fat cottage cheese or a boiled egg. That way, when you are preparing your meal you don't start grazing your way through the kitchen:tt2:.

Hi guys! I am on my puree stage and I got all the staples I have been reading about. Like sour cream, greek yogurt, cream cheese, baby bell cheese, etc. I puree'd chili yesterday. I had the bacon potato Soup puree'd, not a big fan! What about meat? If i made tuna salad, do i have to puree it? What else can I eat that will help my puree stage go better? I dont eat sushi or tofu or any of that! Any avise would be 100% appreciated! I am getting so frustrate! Thanks guys!!!