Search the Community

For shakes I have a few options. I did buy a couple sample packs of unjury (http://www.unjury.com/store/protein/)and nectar powder (http://www.vitacost.com/syntrax-nectar-whey-protein-isolate-powder-twisted-cherry)Protein. I am actually trying my first nectar one tonight in the pink grapefruit flavor. I can't decide if I like it or not. It's tangy and sweet and I think it's a yes, but I'm only like 2 bites in, so I'll give a more clear answer once I'm through it I guess. I also own just a basic whey protein random brand from Meijer that is vanilla flavored that I can mix with pretty much anything. This is gonna sound a little weird, but I've been having a lot of trouble getting protein in. My mom came up with the idea of taking plain greek yogurt (I like the brand Fage, but any would work) that has no fruit and mixing it with the protein powder packet (or a serving size of the powder if you have the big jar) and then adding a little bit of milk to make it into like a thin yogurt consistency. Just mixing 1 packet + 1 yogurt + a few teaspoons of milk makes about 3 small meal size servings that pack a ton of protein. When she mixed the plain yogurt with the vanilla protein powder she added a teaspoon or so of strawberry Jello that'd already set and that gave it a little bit of flavor contrast. As long as it is thin and has no fruit chunks my doctor's office considers yogurt part of a full liquid diet. It has gone done smooth and I haven't had any issues. You could also just mix the protein powder with a little bit of milk or a little bit of Water.

I have had a few disastrous weeks myself. I think for me, I have to go back to eating proper meals, I've been picking and of course when you pick, you can eat a lot. So this morning, I"m having a big Breakfast, which is a proper breakfast. I might have Cereal and fruit AND then have yogurt. I know if I eat that lot, its a good healthy balanced meal but it will keep me stuffed for hours. Once I break a cycle I'm pretty right. That's what I'd suggest. Eat well at meals, dont try to eat too little, and make sure you have enough in your tummy to get by on so you dont pick.

This far out you should be eating pretty close to a regular diet. I would start with yogurt, oatmeal, mashed potatos, jello and other smushy stuff if you havent transitioned to it yet.

Hello from the land of women's health care teaching - Discharge, thick, white or yellow. It's yeast. If you can eat yogurt that is great or acidophilus from health food store, they have chewable my son needed it when he was little. OTC monostat, etc. Burning on urination, frequency, urgency, weird smell. Thats a UTI and you need antibiotics and cranberry juice unsweetened. Either way, a pain in the u know where!

grits, yogurt, sugar free pudding, sugar free popsicles, puree vegetable beef or chicken noodle soup in your blender. You can puree pretty much anything, like spud mama says -- it may not always look good, but it tastes the same.

I too am 6 days out.. Only cream soups I can think of is cream of chicken or mushroom.. To me that sounds gross.. Lol.. Mushies in my handbook says anything soft u can mash with a for.. Examples from my book: scrambled eggs, low fat cottage cheese or ricotta cheese, puddin, apple sauce, smashed banana, cream of wheat/rice, grits, oatmeal ( soup consistency), mashed sweet or white potatoes, puréed acorn or butternut squash, canned veggies ( cook until very soft and mash with a fork) purée peas, carrots, green beans, beets, puréed chicken, turkey ( no skin) or mashed canned chicken, tuna, soft fish- haddock, tilapia, cod, salmon, fat- free refried beans, blended light low fat yogurt or Greek yogurt ( higher protein count), condiments, such as low fat mayo, mustard, fat free butter spray, spices & herbs, hot sauce, & vinegar. Hope this has helped some ) I'm excited to hear of your journey..

VerticalSleeveTalk Newsletter By Hey, Sleevers!The weather’s warm, zucchini and watermelons are abundant and the Summer Games are providing inspirational moments for all of us. We hope life is good for you and you’ve been achieving your own goals this summer. To help you stay focused, here’s another newsletter from VerticalSleeveTalk.com. This is what we’ve got for you: Burning Question: What are the Best Sources of Protein? Member Spotlight: Kyllfalcon! Sleever Challenge: Record Your Diet! Life with the Sleeve: What’s Your Emergency Plan? We hope you enjoy reading the newsletter and you get inspiration and a few great ideas from it. Of course, when you’re done reading, come on over to the VerticalSleeveTalk.com board and talk about the newsletter or anything else that’s on your mind. Also remember to drop me a line any time if you have comments or suggestions for the boards. Thanks! Sincerely, Alex Brecher Founder liquid diet after weight loss surgery, Protein shakes and Protein powder can help you meet your needs. Fat-free milk is another good source, and it also has Calcium and Vitamin D for strong bones. In the pureed foods stage, you can add in things like canned flake chicken, extra-lean ground beef and light tuna. Tuna has an extra benefit because of its heart-healthy omega-three fatty acids. Fat-free yogurt is another great option. You always want to look for lean meats and fat-free or low-fat dairy products instead of full-fat ones. That’ll help you limit your calories and reduce saturated fat, which is unhealthy for your heart because it raises your cholesterol levels. By the time you get to the soft (semi-solid) foods and solid foods stages, you have a lot more options. Fish, crab, white-meat, skinless chicken and turkey, and egg whites are almost pure protein – plus some essential nutrients. Be very careful to avoid any bones or gristle in your fish or meat. Some vegetarian options are tofu, Beans and low-fat cheese. Melted cheddar cheese makes a delicious topping for almost anything. Always eat slowly, savor the flavors and chew your food well before swallowing. Choosing Proteins that are lowest in calories and saturated fat will help you lose weight and stay healthy. Did you miss the previous Burning Question? You can always see the earlier Burning Questions in our scale victories has been while clothes shopping. Her old size was a 3x. After surgery, she mail-ordered a 1x pair of pants, and it was too big. She exchanged it for an XL, but that didn’t work, either. She finally settled on a size large – and we bet it’ll be too big for her soon! Kyllfalcon’s also proud and relieved to say that she can still enjoy family parties while losing weight! She can share in the pizza and birthday cake, but now she’s in control and knows when enough is enough – and when the party’s over, it’s time to get back to business. Kyllfalcon’s arthritis has improved a lot, and her blood pressure is under control. Water has been a little tough, but she fixes it up with Crystal Light. She reports a pretty smooth weight loss journey so far, and we think her success is due to her positive attitude. Kyllfalcon counts VerticalSleeveTalk.com as part of her official support group, along with friends, family and coworkers. She visits each day to get and give support. Some of her tips? Keep fighting – if you fall down, “get right back up to fight another day.” She also encourages you to “see yourself thin and healthy.” Thanks, Kyllfalcon, for being such a great role model and sharing your story in our member spotlight! Each newsletter features a different VerticalSleeveTalk.com member in the sleep. You should plan your own diet and exercise so that you always know what to do. Keep a log. An Olympic athlete keeps a training log to record each day’s workout and be able to look back and see what worked and what didn’t. Keeping your own diet and exercise log keeps you on track and lets you look back to see what patterns led to success and where you could have improved your choices. Visualize success. Most successful athletes take time each day to visualize their victory. They think about running that last lap in record time and accepting their medal on the victory podium. You can think about the bikini that you’re planning to wear next summer and the proud look on your spouse’s face when you two go out to dinner in the future. How will you let out your inner Olympian? Let us all know in the member Challenge Forum! Tell us what you did and whether you think it worked for you! The challenge is completely non-competitive, but we’d love for you to share your experiences. You’ll help inspire others to chase their own dreams. Miss a challenge? No problem! Just go back to the old newsletters to see what the challenges were. It’s never to late to try something new and tell us about it on the forums. Life with the Sleeve: What’s Your Emergency Plan? It’s Sunday morning and you haven’t been able to eat or drink all night because of nausea and vomiting. Your surgeon’s office hours are from Monday through Friday. You wait miserably until first thing Monday morning, when you call your surgeon. The receptionist is horrified to hear about your ordeal and says, “Why didn’t you call yesterday? We have someone here 24/7 for emergencies!” This scenario comes up all the time on the boards, and it’s truly heartbreaking because in most cases, the suffering you feel is entirely unnecessary. You should know what number to call when you have trouble. If your surgeon didn’t give you an after-hours number, ask for one. You should never have to wait a whole day just because your emergency happens on a weekend. And with that advice, we’re done with this newsletter. You can always read it again and look through old newsletters in the Newsletter Forum. We’re always happy to hear from you and to see increased participation on the boards, so log in and get talking! Thanks for your support. Take care of yourself and each other, Alex ============================================================== If you no longer wish to receive this newsletter, you may unsubscribe by going to your Control Panel and clicking on the Newsletters tab, or clicking on the following link: http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/index.php?app=core&module=usercp&tab=newsletter

I did use yogurt as well. The drinkable ones are less thick , so they are probably easier to go down, which would be a good choice. good luck to you!

I hope I will be able to have yogurt. That is one of my daily foods. I havn't had surgery yet.

Hi Erin! Hope you are doing ok. Are you on Clear liquids or full liquids? I could't have anything you can't see through for 12 days. Then I went on full liquids, which is anything you can pour, for another week so the drinkable yogurts were ok at that point. I haven't been on line in a few days how did your surgery go?

You can stir unflavored protein powder into lots of things: soup, broth, yogurt, and cottage cheese, for example. If you are allowed to eat things like mashed potatoes or oatmeal, you can use it there too. But keep the amounts small or it will taste funky. For example, I used a half of a scoop of the Syntrax Nectar in my chai tea (approx. 8 ounces of tea). Be careful mixing into anything hot -- you need to test it with a food thermometer and make sure it is under 140 degrees or the protein will denature and clump, which is truly nasty. I find it works best with things that have a pretty strong flavor of their own and which are more on the savory side than sweet.

Okay, here's my formula: I'm all-in with my doc's guidelines to minimize carbs and focus on lean Protein and fluids – AND take all my Vitamins and supplements. I have one 30g Premier Protein shake every morning to kick things off, a 24oz tumbler of Fluid (Crystal Light decaf iced tea) throughout the morning, lean protein and maybe a few veggies for lunch, another 24oz tumbler of fluid throughout the afternoon, a healthy (low-carb, no starch) dinner, one last 24oz tumbler of fluid throughout the evening, and maybe a couple of Snacks, like low-cal Greek yogurt, as needed. I haven't had a bite of processed sugar since surgery, and don't miss it. I don't really worry about calories because they take care of themselves, and my secret weapon "comfort" snack (or meal replacement) is beef Jerky (low-fat and tons of protein). I try to walk 40 minutes per day, and try to go to the gym on Saturdays. Lather, rinse, repeat. I go to tons of social eating events and quite a few restaurants, but always plan ahead in order to control what goes in my mouth. If necessary, I bring my own food and drink. And I Celebrate each and every scale and non-scale victory while focusing on enjoying the ride. So far, so good! You may notice that this involves a somewhat selfish, or self-centered approach. I kind of think that's necessary in order to always keep your program as one of your top priorities. Stuff happens along the way, but we can't let it derail our journey. Don't leave the possibility of failure as an option. That's "old thinking". A positive, I'm gonna do this, no matter what! attitude really helps. Good luck!

Well, I have to say that I am a bad patient and I haven't followed post-diet guidelines very well. I think I started eating mushies on Day 4 post op. I had about four tablespoons of mashed potatoes and I waited for something to explode inside but everything was fine. My surgeon doesn't put any fill in during surgery so I'm still wide open, and I swear the hunger pains were so bad I couldn't stand it. Since then, I've had well cooked vegetables, including some mashed sweet potato last night. I ate about half of a rotisserie chicken breast with it, eaten in small bites and chewed well. I've not had a stuck episode or any PB'ing yet. I've had several very moist turkey meatballs and tonight I'm having some grilled lemon pepper fish with a small salad. Also, my surgeon isn't as strict as some - he says Clear liquids day one, all liquids days 2 and 3, mushies from day 4 on through 3 weeks. I've just introduced some normal foods here and there to make sure and I'm doing fine. I told him yesterday during my post-op followup that I had turkey meatballs and he didn't even flinch, said I was healing very well and not to worry about weight loss until my first fill, which is now scheduled for May 5th. But to answer your question, I've had mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, refried Beans with cheese, yogurt, instant oatmeal, cottage cheese, Soup including the noodles, sugar free pudding cups, sugar free Jello cups, sugar free pudding "mousse" cups, the list goes on

Here we are folks day two of recommitment to my weight loss goals ~!~ Sunday was kick off day. I didnt do too bad with food, considering I only had a scrambled egg for Breakfast and some sausage. I drank a lot of Water through the day. The day went so quick I just didnt feel like eatting. I had some issues going on that caused me GREAT stress, and since my band is stress sensative, its prolly for the best that I didnt eat. I guess that was something like the beginning phase of after lapband surgery...I did get some exercise in.. actually it was unintentional but HEY it happened. I was involved with an animal rescue...and I helped two other people spend three hours chasing a cat around... I caught the cat, I felt like Rocky catching the chicken!!!! Day two...I ate a lil more. I had a yogurt for breakfast and some coffee....lunch was salad and a Protein shake. dinner, baked chicken. I gotta admit, I am still hungry.. I know its not time for a fill yet. We will see what the rest of the week is like... Thanks all for your support.

I'm able to eat a whole "cup" of yogurt. It's been 3 weeks since my surgery. I don't think 5 or 6 oz is too much considering it's a soft almost liquid that will pass thru the stomach faster than a solid would.

Since about a week or so out I have used Dannon Light and Fit Greek Yogurt. I still eat it almost everyday. It is a bit thinner and I get the Vanilla. 80 Calories and 12 grams of protein in the whole container. I never had an issue with the sugar and my Dr was OK with me eating it. I started out really slow and was fine.

Just try to remember being on liquids and dreaming of something mushy! I remember that first yogurt.....it was so good after broth! Definitely keep that Magic Bullet handy for after fills! You will get through this as we all did! The benefits of the sacrifice will amaze you!

At the hospital theysaid its a two week pre-op visit and they even gave me a 6 week calendar of foods. So by my second week when i see him i will be able to move up to liquid puree foods like yogurt and scrambled eggs ( mixed with almond milk so its a more liquidy consistency ) and cottage cheese. They didnt give you like a meal planner for the next 6 weeks ?

Canadian, my fingers are crossed, good luck. Tommy!!! That's fantastic, 93 lbs, now that is encouraging for all of us. As for the ice cream, have you ever tried frozen yogurt. My husband is a big ice cream fan and now he eats frozen yogurt. Chapman makes several flavors, my husband's favorite is cappacino with chocolat expresso flakes and for 1/2 a cup it's about 100 calories. lol about the laundry. What kind of football did you play? We are big Canadian football fans in this house and we have season tickets to the Montreal Alouettes. Go Als Go!

I am at a VERY frustrating point in my journey. I had a lap band on 9/2011 & I'm only 40 lbs down. I work out daily & I record what I eat. I can proudly say I am a very good lap band patient. I do everything right. Which makes this maintaining rut I'm in all the more frustrating! Dr. office tested my resting metabolism, it said I should consume 1900 calories to lose weight. But I am only consuming about 1100 - 1300. But my band simply won't allow me to eat much more! It's so strange, in the beginning of this journey, it was all about eating less, and losing weight. But could it be that now I need to eat more to lose weight? I can easily eat three meals, but remembering to sneak in some Snacks is hard, I'm simply not hungry. But maybe I have to give it a try. So this week I'm going to try to increase Protein. I have a few friends online that are lap band patients and they seem to do well when they increase the protein. My morning Breakfast is already packed with protein. I make a shake in the morning that has Jay Robb Protein powder, plus Chobani Greek yogurt, milk and fruit. I also munch on a few almonds, so my breakfast has 62 grams of protein. My dietitian for lap band told me that we need at least 20 grams of protein with each meal. So I'm obviously getting a jump start in the morning. But others I've seen have lunch and dinner with protein in the 20-30-40 grams. So maybe that's what I need to be doing? This weekend I went to Sam's Club and spent a fortune on pre-cooked meats (because it's easy). I bought sliced beef brisket, chicken sausage, pork Jerky (because it's tender), and chicken. I feel like a total carnivore! LOL! I was just wondering if anyone else out there is or has experiencing the same problem. Any suggestions? Thanks!

I have a pretty loose fill now (1cc in a band that holds 4cc's) because I had previously had an unfill due to a too-tight fill (1.5cc's). It seems I'm eating alot more than everyone who answered! I eat a minimum of 1 cup of food per meal, and sometimes even 1.5 cups. However, I keep my calories to 1,000-1,300 per day via strict calorie counting. Since I've had my loose fill and have started the strict calorie counting (I have also cut out white flour and sugar), I am losing much faster than before, even while eating the 1-1.5 cups per meal. As an example, my dinner last night was 1/2 cup of squash with Beans, and 1/2 cup of whole grain Pasta with low cal yogurt sauce. So that was a cup total, but then shortly after that, I snuck a few more bites of each and had about 1/4 cup of whole grain Indian snack mix. So my total dinner intake was probably 1.5 cups or just under. Despite this, my total daily caloric intake was under 1,300. So, I feel that as long as I don't feel overstuffed and am watching calories, I am doing fine.

I'm planning to continue the Optifast through the first few weeks, as it's nutritionally pretty complete. That's what the info I was given said to do and to supplement with some fruit juice, some vegetable juice like V8 and some drinking yogurt. Otherwise I'd be worried about getting what I need.

I also posted this on the Pos-Op board, but I thought I should share it with my December friends, too. :biggrin: It's been two weeks since my surgery, and I have updates. I lost 20 pounds on my 2 week pre-op diet, and since then I've lost 14 pounds more. I've been absolutely fanatical about following all the rules of each stage of the diet. I want to succeed, and I especially don't want complications (slips, erosions, etc.) I know sometimes that's unavoidable, but at least I won't have any guilt if it happens. liquid Phase: After reading on these boards that many people gain weight before their first fill, I was deeply concerned that I would lose my progress. So on my liquid phase, after the first few days where I could only get down broth and tea, I stuck pretty much to my pre-op diet, not eating the vegetables of course, but adding in more Protein shakes, for a total of 800-1200 calories a day. I did not drink diluted juice even though it was "permitted," sticking instead to Protein Shakes and, two times, fat-free milk. Mushy Phase: I knew from reading these boards that a major pitfall for many bandsters is the mushy phase. Being that we're hungry and mushies go down easily, the calories can easily add up - many people understandably gain weight during this stage. I didn't want that to happen, so I was afraid to move forward to mushies - but I knew I should leave the liquid diet behind already. I was trying to solve the problem, when I decided that I could do mushies but I would have to keep track of what I was eating and how much. So, I joined Weight Watchers. Diets never worked for me for very long in the past, but I figured the 3.5 week liquid diet should have shrunk my stomach a bit, and knowing I have a fill coming makes it mentally easier to hang on and not go off plan. Before surgery I didn't think I'd care if I gained a little before my fills, but now I do. I've lost 34 pounds in 4 weeks, and I just don't want to go back. I've been sticking like glue to the plan. I weigh and measure everything before I put it in the food prcessor, and I track it online as soon as I've eaten it. I eat mostly low point foods, but I've also splurged on higher point items - did you know you can process french fries? To make them mushy I mixed in some Soup, which I also have to count points for, but they still tasted like french fries, and were worth every point LOL! I've also pureed pizza with a little extra sauce - it doesn't taste like pizza by the time you add the sauce in, but it was fun. Mostly, though, I stick to low point foods: sugarfree pudding, fatfree yogurt, scrambled egg whites with fatfree salsa (pureed), boiled vegetables (pureed), unsweetened applesauce, etc. I also eat whatever my family is having for supper, measured out and pureed. All in all, I've lost 14 pounds since surgery. Anyway, that's where I'm holding now. I have my first fill next month, and I'm terrified. I hope it won't be too painful! Anyway, that's the update. Good luck to everyone on this journey!

Every Dr. And nutritionist has their own " rule book", but here's what mine told me to do. Again everyone is different and I'm not saying my plan is right for you but atleast this will give you some guidelines. Daily Gummy multi-Vitamin Daily gummy Calcium supp 64-80 oz if water-shoot for 80 60-80 grams of Protein per day 1200 cal. Per day Your plate at each meal should contain: 3-4 oz of protein 1/2 cup veggies 1 serving of carb, like 1 slice whole wheat toast, 1/4 cup brown rice or fruit. be careful some people have a hard time with rice because it swells (I personally never eat it). Now there's an order to how you eat what's on your plate. ALWAYS, ALWAYS eat your protein First, then your veggies and then IF you still have room eat your carb. I try to limit my carbs to once a day and some days don't consume any except for what's in the veggies and fruit. Do not drink anything while youre eating or 45 min.-1 hour afterwards. Always stop eating BEFORE you fill full, only eat to satiety. Watch for soft stop signs, they vary from person to person like runny nose, burps sneezes anything you notice that happens consistantly etc. You should stay away from soda and all carbinated beverages. Stay away from sliders like ice cream, chips, Cookies. Basically anything that slides through and doesnt fill your pouch up to give you that satisfied feeling. Don't drink your calories. I always watch my sugar intake as well, no medical reason to its just not good:) You should feel/stay full for 4-5 hours after each meal. If not and you find that you're starving in between meals and its TRUE hunger and not head hunger then feed your body with a nutritious snack, like a 100 cal yogurt, fresh veggies etc. If that still isn't doing it then it maybe time for a fill. If you're having problems with eating certain foods or are productive burping (pb) or can't keep food down call your doctor, you probably are too tight and may need a slight unfill. If you have any specific ??'s let me kniw and ill do my best to answer based on my journey. You'll do great!! Best of luck!!

My question would be what does your doctor consider mushies. My first week of mushies was yogurt or cottage cheese. Oatmeal would not have been approved by my doctor nor eggs. Both of those would either be second week of mushies or solid. My recommendation would be to stick to less dense foods for now such as cottage cheese, ricotta or yogurt.